The Rains Have Come

After surviving three months of hot, dry, dusty, uncomfortable weather it is already a distant memory as we enjoy pleasant temperatures and lots of rain. Everything has returned to its normal green lush beauty. It’s much like spring at home except that we know the weather here will stay pleasant and rainy through December. See pictures of an unidentified flower, bougainvillea and a very popular colorful bush. Everyone knows it’s gardening time and they spend hours and hours digging up the rich soil with a hoe. A few use oxen and a plow, and the ground richly rewards their efforts. The only way most people survive is by growing maize (our corn) beans, g-nuts (like our peanuts), millet and a few lesser crops. The offerings at church should increase, with people bringing offerings on Sundays of produce from their gardens & fruit trees. These are auctioned off for the offertory. (Yes, we do that)!

The spiritual rains have been abundant as well. We have gone hut to hut sharing the gospel several times in the past few weeks and had the joy of seeing 15-20 people accept Christ. We held an Evangelism Class at the church and 19 people came to learn how to share their faith. They were very excited to go out and practice what we had learned. But the devil is also hard at work and has many people addicted to alcohol and all the problems that are the result of drunkenness. 



Today I (Dennis) was teaching a Sunday School lesson to 14 adults on how we can prepare ourselves for rough times. We were talking about our hope in Christ and how we can know with assurance that God will see us through any difficulty. We ended up on the topic of assurance of going to heaven and out of the 14 people in class (some church leaders) only one person raised his hand when I asked if they knew without a doubt they would go to heaven when they die. So pray for us and the church, that God would open their hearts and minds to understand their salvation and position in Christ.
We want to share some Easter photos with you. Last year one of the children asked that the mothers would get new clothes for Easter. Someone donated money and we were able to purchase a new dress for each house mom. They were very excited, clapped their hands and made the shrill sounds which in Uganda mean great celebration. 

We also made special treats for the kids this year. Margie’s sister had sent special candies to decorate them. It was fun seeing the kids’ excitement about them.

We asked the kids to dress up on Easter. Here are some of their pictures along with Dennis:

Alal Susan, the Director of Project Hope Uganda threw a great Easter party for the staff the day before Easter. It was fun to share a meal together and interact with the staff. We were very happy that there was a spiritual emphasis in the party. Susan planned a time of reflection. We sang several worship songs. Then Dennis & Susan both shared some thoughts from the Bible about Easter. This is a picture of our intern accountant, Jackie with Margie at the party.

We continue to enjoy our time here and we know that your prayers and support are just as important as our presence here. We’re hoping and praying that the road we travel on to the orphanage from Lira which is 5 kilometers will be repaired SOON. It is taking a toll on our vehicles. Our van has been in the shop for 2 days. They are trying to weld it back together (literally). 

Our time here is moving on quickly. Thanks for your prayers.

Love to all,

Dennis & Margie

Uganda 2014

The Lord has done so much for me; I cannot tell it all,

I cannot tell it all, I cannot tell it all,

The Lord has done so much for me; I cannot tell it all,

I cannot tell it all.

This is a song the people sing in the village where we serve in Uganda. We feel that way. God has really blessed our ministry in Uganda these past seven months. We have been blessed with opportunities to disciple kids and adults, good health and energy to serve Him and a great group of missionaries in Lira for mutual encouragement. We are just so thankful for those who welcomed us with open arms as we returned. We are so grateful to all of you who have prayed for us and supported us. Your prayers have been answered and we praise God. 

Dennis is pictured here with some of the kids we work with. Mentoring kids was mainly done by just spending time with them. We taught Character First to the staff on Mondays…the teachers taught it to the kids…the whole staff worked on living it out and helping the kids live it.

Sunday was our biggest ministry day. We taught a Mentorship Class on Sunday afternoons at 4pm. We explored six scriptures each week together with the class. It was fun for us to dig deeply into each verse, trying to anticipate the questions we would be asked - questions revealing the great differences in their culture and ours. We went through a series of 30 topics. Dennis group finished 24 lessons, whereas the women finished 22 lessons before we left. Since then the remaining lessons were finished, taught                                                                                         by Pastor Fred Musungu, his wife Moreen                                                                                     & Grace, who was Margie’s translator.

One highlight of the women’s classes was our friend, Nastanzia, who came each week & is totally blind. She has a great sense of humor and demonstrated a lot of faith as she walked down the road each week being led by her very young grandson. Most of the village men & women do not speak English.

The September team gave us a Prayer Seminar during the normal Bible Study time. It was wonderful! It was a great encouragement to everyone in our Bible Study groups. As the team shared their life stories of how God worked through prayer the people connected with them. Most of our church members came up for prayer at the end of the session. It was our joy to be part of that prayer team. Five teams from the U.S. visited this year. Team members are a great encouragement to the kids, staff and us personally. Praise God for calling people to serve in that way. Here we are eating with our hands during the lunch that day.

  

In August we helped teach a marriage seminar, which God really used in the village to change the lives of the people. On the first day it was to begin at 9:00am. One couple came and waited until noon when others began arriving.

We spent quite a bit of time with Pastor Fred Musungu & his wife Moreen. They are a lovely pastoral couple. This picture was taken at a lodge less than two hours away where we went to enjoy God's creation, have lunch, see the animals and the Nile River.

We arrived home on October 28th. Some long-time friends have a great one-bedroom house adjoining theirs, which is so nice! Sari and our family had stocked the kitchen and the other rooms with everything we need. We are so thankful to them and to the Lord.

We plan to return early next year but the date is uncertain. “Thank you” to our wonderful prayer partners. We value your prayers so much. Please ask God together with us to send others to Uganda who will love and care for the kids, the house moms, and the church.

We volunteer with Project Hope Worldwide. If you would like to know more about this vital ministry, or if you would like to support in prayer, please visit http://www.projecthopeworldwide.org.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie Baltzer

Easter Celebration!

Easter is the second most celebrated day in Uganda, second only to Christmas! In Uganda Good Friday and the Monday after Easter are national holidays. Calo Me Lare (the orphanage where we serve, sponsored by Project Hope Worldwide) and Hope Alive Fellowship also went to extreme measures to celebrate Easter.

There are no Easter bunnies or egg hunts included in the celebrations here. Everyone knows it is Jesus resurrection we celebrate. Families try to come together to have a special meal, singing, dancing and games. How would we make Easter special for our CML (Calo Me Lare) family?!

A few days before Easter our Administrator met with the moms, child representatives from each home, the Social Worker and the three of us volunteering from the U.S. with the specific purpose of planning Easter Day. He wanted the children to tell us what THEY would like to see at Easter and then wanted us to try to arrange it. Singing, dancing, & eating were at the top of their list. One of the girls, Lucky, wanted the moms to have new clothes for Easter. This is how it played out:

Rachel had clothes that the December team had left for the moms. She had given out the kids’ Christmas clothes and had run out of time and energy. Little did she know that God was keeping the mothers’ clothes “for such a time as this.” Rachel & I went through the clothes and were able to give each full-time mom and each step-in mom one outfit plus an extra garment. It was amazing to see how God had prepared in advance for this!

We had a great service Sunday morning. There was much singing, dancing and jumping up & down in praise to our Savior. The children love to sing and worship Jesus. Pastor Fred delivered a powerful sermon about the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus is alive we know we also will live with Him in heaven when He comes again! While He was preaching the children’s teachers were telling them the Easter Story. Each child got a sweet (hard piece of candy), which is a very special treat for them. There must have been about 150 children.

After church we all went to the Center House for our special Easter meal which the children chose: chicken, rice (the moms added cabbage) & sodas. They were all so happy. The children sat in groups in the center house; it was great! J (The moms are wonderful cooks! Each mom cooks for her own children and each day one of them cooks for the staff as well).

Above, Dennis & Rachel are eating lunch and playing with some of the kids.

After lunch Walter, our Social Worker, played some worship songs we would be familiar with in our churches in the U.S. He showed pictures of the children before they came to CML and had them guess who each one was. That was a special time for the kids & staff.

Next, there was a dance contest for everyone who wanted to participate. The kids lined up in fours and competed against each other, dancing to local music. The winner of each group was in the final competition and two boys were the overall winners. The kids had so much fun! There was a lot of laughter. J

Each mom gave her children a small gift, a bookmark which was left by Connie Madden, our President’s wife, last March. The verse on it was John 3:16. I challenged them to memorize it and over half of them did.

Now it was time for the football (soccer) competition. The older kids competed against the moms. The kids won 3-0, but everyone had fun! The moms really seemed to enjoy being with their kids on Easter.

In the evening everyone had supper and we saw The Ten Commandments at the church. Actually, we only saw half of it when the power went off, but it was 9:30 and some of the kids were sleeping so we were dismissed. What a wonderful day!!! 

We are so thankful to be here and share some of these joyous memories.

Thank you for your prayers and may God bless you abundantly for all you are doing to support us and these precious children.

Dennis & Margie

Here We Are Again!

Thank you for your interest in our blog. We arrived in Entebbe late on March 28th. We spent a few days resting up and preparing to come to Lira, Uganda. We arrived the evening of March 31st.

Our first day at Calo Me Lare, the orphanage where we will be working, was April 1. The children and staff welcomed us warmly! They told us they had been praying that we would decide to return. We told them that we wanted to come back, but that we are here because God called us to come back. We have enjoyed the children and staff so much! 

We spent a few days in a bunkhouse located beside our apartment and moved in to our cozy little furnished home away from home on Friday. It came complete with a few furnishings, dishes and a few kitchen items. We purchased a few more things to make cooking easier. 

This is  the kitchen. The cabinets are really nice. We even have an oven, sort of. J I baked a pizza last night, using a long stick to keep the oven knob in place so the stove would stay on. It took about an hour and never really got brown, but it was thoroughly cooked. Dennis adds, “And good.” The staff at the cafe has offered to bake whatever I mix up. Sounds good to me!!!

We have a little patio outback which is really nice. It is shaded and gives us a cool, peaceful place to sit when it is hot inside. The birds’ singing is interrupted occasionally by a chicken or neighbor’s pig.

Our neighbors are directors of another large orphanage, and they have done everything possible to may our stay a good one.

Things are definitely built differently here. The bedroom has a wash basin. The shower room has a commode and clothes rack. They may be in a different location than we are used to, but we have everything we need and more

We live adjacent to “The Path Café”. This is a definite expatriate hangout, with a peaceful atmosphere. We can get a meal there if necessary. Included in our rent is morning tea or coffee and a cinnamon roll or muffin. The café opens at 8am, so we usually cook breakfast or pick up something the night before from the café. The menu includes a bowl of beans and rice for 5,000 shillings (about $2). They also serve hamburgers and chips (about $6). Every once in a while they make fresh ice cream (soft serve), so don’t feel sorry for us. J

Palm Sunday is very much celebrated here. We wish we had stopped to take pictures that day. In town at one spot we saw about 100 people standing near a tree, waving palm branches (and some with yellow flowers attached) and singing. It was quite the sight! In Hope Alive Fellowship (at CML) we also celebrated! Many of the children and adults brought their palm branches to church. Some of them were braided, some with yellow flowers. At one point in the service Pastor Fred explained the significance of waving the palm branches. He told us to sing “Hosanna” to Jesus our King while waving our palm leaves. We sang, “Hosanna” several times. It was a very worshipful morning.

Our next blog will be about Easter. Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

Here We Go Again!

Greetings from Oklahoma! We have enjoyed our time at home with our family, church family and friends so much this winter with the exception of the cold weather. God has called us back to Uganda and we are ready to begin this new chapter in our lives. We plan to leave March 27th and return October 27th. Then if we are still needed we plan to return to Uganda January 15th, 2015 for several more months.

The verse God gave us is Revelation 3:8: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

We will be staying in a furnished guest quarters adjoining “The Path”, a restaurant in Lira which the expatriates enjoy. We will not have to set up a home like we did last time, so we can jump right in and begin helping at the orphanage Calo Me Lare (pronounced chau-low may laaaah-re) sponsored by Project Hope Worldwide. Our primary ministry will be mentoring at the church & orphanage.

This photo was taken at the annual dinner/auction called Kwero, where funds are raised for Project Hope Worldwide. We are excited that all the proceeds will help orphans around the world. In addition to the funds raised, 27 people became new sponsors for orphans in Uganda and in other countries. If you are interested in sponsoring a child go to www.projecthopeworldwide.org.

We appreciate all the prayer support and encouragement we have received from everyone as we prepare to leave. One of the most encouraging things Jesus said to Peter was found in Luke 22:32: "But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen the brothers." God bless you all for praying that our faith will remain strong and that God will use us to strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters in Uganda. Be assured that we will be praying for you too.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

The Journey

We left Kampala on September 28th & arrived in Tulsa, OK the evening of the 29th. Our flights couldn’t have gone smoother. Not only were they early, but we both slept on all of them, PTL!

Being home with our family & friends has been so good! God has blessed us so much with a wonderful support team. We can just imagine God putting in your hearts just what needed to be prayed for us each day. And He certainly supplied all of our needs and beyond, thanks to your generosity.

Greetings from all of our friends in Uganda, the staff at Calo Me Lare, & the kids. They all appreciate so much your sending us to be with them the past 17 months.
 
Our transition back home is very different this time after being away 9 months with no plans to return at this point. Also, this time we have a new granddaughter to add to our enjoyment here. She is truly a delight, as all of our grandchildren are!!! Here is our daughter Evie with our new granddaughter Selah.

We want to say a hearty, “Thank you!!!” for all the love shown to us through your prayers, encouragement and financial support. Our support base has been tremendous! If we ever questioned if God sent us there (which we didn’t…not once) your involvement would have shown the answer.

God changed our lives in many ways, giving us more of a world-view, of course, and putting faces & hearts to people who have real needs which we in America can never comprehend. But one thing is constant anywhere in the world, the need for a relationship with God. It has been our privilege to connect with people (adults & children) on a heart level, and connect people with God. That truly has to be the greatest joy that we experienced. We have seen God do some phenomenal things & it was just amazing to see God at work. Keep praying for the kids, moms, staff & the church at Calo Me Lare. They continue to need prayer. Here we are with an assortment of staff members & one of the younger children, Maxwell in front of the morning glories Dennis planted.

We tried posting a video clip of some of the kids singing at our farewell at Calo Me Lare, but it would not upload. These are the lyrics:

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye,

The time has come now for your departure,

You may leave, but pray for us.
 

We used to clap...sing...dance...eat...play together.

The time has come now for your departure,

You may leave, but pray for us.
 

  After being gone this long we have noticed some huge differences & some similarities & want to share some of those with you.

§  Family! We had each other & our Calo Me Lare family, but we really missed our family in America. If we had it to do over again, we would probably go for a shorter time & then go back. Our son & his family came from Plano, TX to meet us. Our children & grandchildren cleaned the house on Saturday to prepare for our arrival. AND they had stocked the refrigerator & kitchen!!! Our middle son & family also hosted our whole extended family for dinner the night we arrived!!! See the "Welcome Home" sign in the background on the first picture.

§  Friends! God has multiplied our friends! We have them here & there. He has blessed us with so many good friends! We’re so thankful! We love our Community Group at Discovery Bible Fellowship & really missed them. They were at the airport to welcome us back! God provided good friends in an Expatriate Bible Study on Wednesday nights. We would eat together (usually potluck) sing worship songs, and the host would lead the Bible Study. We were all missionaries so our time together was really good. This is Urs & Ursala from Switzerland/Germany who became good friends.

 

§  Rinsing our toothbrush & fresh vegetables under a faucet seems strange after 9 months of using filtered water. Having fresh greens for salad was rare & fresh dairy products were not available. We'll never take those for granted again!

§ For the first time in my life I am ashamed of all the clothes in my closet, wishing I could send some to Uganda.

§  Walking down our street, I met a couple of trucks. In Lira there was an endless parade of people, bicycles, cars, trucks, which never stopped until after the sun went down.
 

§  Driving in the right-hand lane is different here. The roads are much better & we normally don’t have to dodge people, goats, bicycles or buses.

§  Nights are quiet here. We lived 3 gates down from Lira Hotel which hosted many concerts that might end at 2:30am or later.
 

§  Celebrity status. In Uganda when we would walk anywhere kids would run out screaming and dancing, “Muno, Muno”, which means (European, or white person). When we spoke to them it would make them very happy. Sometimes as we walked in the market an adult would walk by and say, “Well done”. They didn’t know what we were doing in Uganda. They just knew we were there to help. This is Thomas with the bananas he picked for us before we left.

 



This is Santa & her children. She gave us a chicken. (Our friend, Joel, told us that when someone gives you a chicken it means they love you very much. Joel's wife, Monica, actually did most of the butchering of the chicken, & they helped us eat it that evening. It was pretty tasty).



 

§  Respect. Senior adults are looked up to in Uganda. It is believed that because of their years of experience they have gained wisdom & should be treated with respect.

§  Family relationships are different. Before a child is weaned from his mother’s breast, he is with her constantly. In many cases after a child is weaned he does not have much supervision. Many parents send their children to boarding school when they reach about 7 years old. Then they are together only on school breaks and holidays, about 2-3 months out of the year. But people are very loyal to others in their family or tribe and will help financially. It is common for a husband to live in one city while the wife lives in a village, or vice versa.

§  Convenience food. No such thing in Uganda. Everything is labor intensive. No pre-packaged, pre-cut, pre-washed food, very few mixes, canned, or frozen foods, unless you buy a few things in Kampala, about 6 hours away. Meat is uncommon for most people, except on holidays, such as Christmas, Easter & Independence Day.

§  Produce is only found in open markets. Avocados & bananas are our favorites. Women carry huge trays on their heads with fruits which they are taking to market. These are a few of the bananas we left in our yard. A couple of weeks before we left we had 10 bunches of bananas getting ready to ripen.
 

§  No ants & critters in the house here. That is a blessing. In Uganda the ants usually don’t show up unless you have fruit setting on the cabinet. It was a great incentive to keep the dishes done & the kitchen clean. Geckos were just something we got used to.

§  Worship services. People don’t say they are going to church in Uganda, but rather, “We are going to pray.” The services include a lot of prayer. The morning begins with praise, worship songs & prayer. Everyone prays at once. The worship is much louder and more animated with a lot of singing and dancing. Children take part in worship & prayer. Praising the Lord gives them great joy! Worship at Hope Alive Fellowship is in two languages. Sometimes they translated only for us. Thank you! Worship at Discovery this past Sunday was wonderful and vibrant. We enjoyed the singing so much & the message was great!

We're not sure what God has in our future but we know He is faithful & we trust Him to lead us. We would appreciate your prayers as we embark on this next chapter in our lives.

Many blessings!
Dennis & Margie

 

 

Greetings From Cool Uganda!!!

God has blessed Uganda with great weather. Some nights the temperature dips to 58 degrees and days are usually less than 80° F. We have been experiencing rain the past two weeks, & everyone is very grateful. This is the rainy season, but it started late and many people were very concerned.

We appreciate all the love, prayers, support & encouragement from our friends & family back in the U.S. God has really given us much more strength & wisdom than humanly was possible, and we praise Him!

We have a very important new person in our family! Selah Evelyn was born to our son Terry & his wife Allison on July 8th. This is the only picture we have with her eyes open. We cannot wait to see her & hold her!!! Many of you already know that Dennis’ mom’s name was Evelyn.  We don't have an option to rotate the picture.

On May 15th Dennis became the Interim Director here and our lives and home have been an arena of activity ever since. We appreciate our dear friends, Andy & Cami Flege who pioneered as directors here & who were very helpful in passing the baton. Dennis has done very well, and God’s grace has been sufficient for every need. However, we have really not had an opportunity to blog since then. Our update follows.

We took Andy & Cami to Kampala on July 2, which is our wedding anniversary. The picture of them is taken in their backyard right before we left. They took us to dinner at the Cassia Lodge in Kampala with this wonderful view. The photo does not do it justice! The food was also fantastic! Andy and Cami flew out late on July 3^rd and we came back to Lira on July 4^th. They will return on September 25th, we will meet them in Kampala for a couple of days & then fly out on September 28th. We plan to arrive in Tulsa on September 29th.

Dennis is now a “Father Figure” for the girls in one house at Calo Me Lare. The Ugandan Ministry would like houses at an orphanage to be as much like a home as possible. So some of the men on staff have taken responsibility to pay special attention to the children in a certain house & see how they are doing. The girls were so happy when they were told Dennis will be their “Father Figure”. Below is his picture with the girls and mom in front of their house.

Pastor Fred has been visiting people in the community & doing a great work. Several people have been saved as he has visited them in their homes. This is a picture of Santa being baptized. Her son is pretty special to us, so we were so excited to hear that she was saved. And now she is baptized. She is a young widow who walks a couple of kilometers to church every week. Pastor Fred is on the right.

Dennis & I taught at a Marriage Seminar for the church at Calo Me Lare on August 19-20. It was a lot of fun and about 40 people attended each day, even though it is the season to dig. The staff also could not attend with Friday being a work day, so we praise God for the good attendance. We were amused that husbands came without their wives and wives came without their husbands...but they came! Pastor Fred thought we must have some experience to share since we just reached our 48th wedding anniversary. A couple of other pastors shared on Saturday. We had many questions to answer. Again, we thank God for what He did!

We have a new Interim Director, Alyela Denis, from Kampala. He comes with a lot of experience & we think he will be a great asset to Project Hope Worldwide. Please pray for him & his family.

These are some of the morning glories that Dennis planted on the fences at Calo Me Lare a few short months ago. They are covering the fences so quickly! They make a beautiful backdrop behind the red cannas he planted last year. The staff at CML will have good memories of his labor of love.

We thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to serve Him here. Words cannot express what a blessing it has been in our lives. We look forward to being home in September with family, friends & our wonderful Discovery Family. We appreciate your prayers that God will continue to lead us. We know His plan is always best!

Love in Christ,

Dennis & Margie