Land of Plenty - Land of Poverty

We are grateful for family & friends who are supporting our mission in Lira, Uganda with your prayers & financial support.  As God works through you He can accomplish much & extend His kingdom around the world.

In Uganda there is plenty of rain & great soil. The people work hard, doing all of their gardening by hand. This is Maize Season…like our field corn. They pick it quite mature, boil it in the husk & sell it on the street. Or…they might roast it over a fire & sell it on the street. It is typical to see people walking around eating corn on the street for break, lunch, even in church. They discard all the corn husks in the street or wherever they happen to be. They grind it to make a very fine flour to make posho (similar to grits). G-nut (peanut) harvest is beginning now. They boil, roast & grind these as well. But in this land so plentiful with vegetation there is extreme poverty. Unemployment & inflation are very high. The value of their shilling is very low. Many live in extreme poverty. Dennis tried his hand at roasting maize.

July has been a month of change & challenge for us. The other resident missionaries, Andy & Cami Flege left on furlough in the U.S.  July 5^th. They took time to train us well & God has led us step by step as we’ve tried to help fill in the gap while they are gone.

Dennis has been working with Pastor Dennis & regional directors trying to get rice farming started which could supplement income for the orphanage. He has been working on getting the soccer (football in Uganda) field ready. First the old wiry grass which hurt the kids’ feet had to be killed off. A line had to be dug with a hoe around the whole field to mark the outside line. Then a line had to be dug down the center.  This week the field will be sprigged with new grass (by hand). Dennis did some of the work & the teachers also helped with it.

Margie is doing the in-country bookkeeping while Cami is on furlough. This week will be our first payroll during their time away.  She has also been directing Children’s Church at the Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship which meets on the orphanage grounds.

Our son, Terry & his family have been experimenting with raising chickens on our farm while we are away. The following picture shows the typical method of getting chickens to market in Lira. These chickens are alive. They are tied to bicycle handlebars to be transported to market. We understand that the chickens make no sound until they are released. This picture was scanned from a photo a friend of our took so the quality is not as good.

Dennis drives to Calo Me Lare (the orphanage) every day on Aduko Road. It has become almost impassible in spots. Last week a road grader attempted to fix the road for which we are very thankful. We received a lot of rain right after he worked on it, so it is slippery & treacherous in some areas, but it will be better once it dries. See pictures below.

Pastor Dennis, his wife, Grace, their son Mark (on the right), a niece Sharon & a neighbor boy came to our house for lunch on a Sunday after church. It was delightful having that fellowship & made us miss our Community Group from our church, Discovery Bible Fellowship. This picture is taken in our front yard. Pray that Pastor Dennis & family can move out of their apartment into a house with some land for gardening. Grace spends weeks at a time gardening in an area far from Lira.

We were saddened the last week to hear that a dear friend from Discovery, Irene Rusk, went to be with the Lord. Irene was a jewel & everyone loved her, including us. I had the privilege at age 11 of being baptized along with my sister & Irene. We are glad that our hope is not in this world, but our eternal home is in heaven where we will be reunited. Our sympathy goes to her family.

It's time to drink our popo tea. Actually it is a tea made of boiling a papaya tree leaf in water. We've been told by locals that this will prevent malaria. We're not sure how, but the horrible taste would be worth it if we dodged malaria. Of course, we know God is answering your prayers.

Blessings,
Dennis & Margie

Where's the Beef & Kampala Here We Come

Thank you again to all of our faithful supporters & prayer partneres. We pray for you too & trust God is showing up in your life like He is in ours.

In July we enjoyed having the second missions team with Project Hope Worldwide here for close to two weeks. They followed a schedule similar to the first team, with the exception that on their final Saturday they sponsored a community celebration in Bunga Bunga (the village surrounding Calo Me Lare). This was well received by the community. We planned for about 500 people. When it was time to begin there were around 300 people, but as soon as food was being served a trail of people began entering the front gate. Estimates were from 700-1000 people. One photo shows the local dancers who came with the caterers to entertain the crowd.

Our special task was to prepare the beef for the celebration. Andy Cami, Derk, Kelley, Dennis & I cut up the beef on Friday. Then Saturday morning Dennis & Andy started the fires in the grills they had made while Cami & I set up our mosquito-net type tent to keep flies away (worked pretty well). Then we began cutting the beef in smaller pieces, putting it on skewers & dipping it in marinade while Dennis & Andy cooked it. Worked pretty well, but none of us wanted beef for a day or two. See photos of the crowds & the cooking. Dennis took the photos whoso you won't see him in them.

Other photos are of the beauty in our yard (Notice the one tree-type plant that looks like a poinsettia), mangoes on our tree & a photo of us celebrating our 47th wedding anniversary on July 2 at a local restaurant. For our anniversary dinner we both ordered Tilipia (the kind with the eyes on it). Neither one of us ate the eyeballs, although the locals tell us they are pretty tasty. We'll take their word for it.

Andy & Cami, who have been our lifeline, went to the U.S. for a couple of months, so we will be facing some challenges in the weeks ahead trying to help fill their shoes. We will really miss them. We took them to the airport in Entebbe (about an 8 hour drive). Dennis drove both ways. Kampala is massive with traffic you wouldn't believe, but God guided Him & kept us safe. Thank you for your prayers. We continue to need & appreciate them.
Blessings,
Dennis & Margie

Our Awesome God!!!

Nile River behind Paraa Safari Lodge

Our God is so awesome! He arranged for us to go on Tuesday with Project Hope's first team from here to the airport & then to pick up the second team at the airport on Thursday in Entebbe. This trip included a safari & stay at a great lodge near Murchison Falls. What a treat! We enjoyed spending time with this team from the States so much! (We knew about half of them beforehand. They were a young team & the only male on the team was 16 years old, so that's why we went this trip). And what a variety of things to see, from vegetation/landscape to birds/animals. We are so blessed.

We had excellent drivers to manage the roads in Uganda. These were more interesting than most. We had a photographer with us who has promised to share some of her photos with us, so we may be able to put some of them on the blog. Some of the animals we saw on the game drive & boat ride were antelope, heartabeasts, hippos, cape buffalo (like water buffalo) crocodiles, giraffes, & wart hogs. Dennis also went back in the evening with a couple of the gals on the team & SAW LIONS! See some of our pictures below.

We all completed a "challenging" hike to Murchison Falls. It was awesome to see God's creation. This waterfall was something to see & the water splashing out felt really good after a hot hike.

It was great to see the second team (most whom we did know). We arrived in Lira on Friday night & spent Saturday morning with them at the orphanage. The children & staff always put on quite a celebration when a new team arrives. Dennis helped the team with the work day in the afternoon & Margie came home to get things in order.

We went hut-to-hut with the first team in the Bunga Bunga village where five people came to know Christ. A couple of team members prayed for a young boy & he was healed instantly. His father stood up in church the next Sunday & praised God for it.

Having the teams here is just another reminder of how much we love & miss our family & friends in the States. It also makes us very thankful for your prayers & support. May God bless you for all you have done to make our ministry here possible. The other missionaries will be going to the States for a break soon, & we will need your prayers then more than ever. We are thankful to be here, serve the Lord and see His hand at work at Calo Me Lare (the orphanage) & at the Bunga Bunga Bible Church. Who knows what else He will do while we are here. He is AWESOME!

Life in a Third World Country

Thank you again, family & friends, for all your prayers & support! The last couple of weeks have been full, preparing for the US teams arrival. The first team arrived this afternoon. It was exciting to see Pastor Derk, Clay, Montana, Jesaca Gibson & Chase Mills from Discovery + a few new faces. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner with them at their hotel, the Margaritha.

Dennis preached last Sunday, May 27th at the Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship, the church that meets at the orphanage. It was a big encouragement to Pastor Emiku Dennis & the church as a whole. The message was on sanctification.

God did a miracle for us on Wednesday. We were driving to the orphanage over very rough roads & must have hit a rock at the side of the road as we were meeting an oncoming car. We heard a huge hissing sound & every turn of the wheels we kept hearing it. We kept going and a little farther down the road the hissing sound stopped. We drove about 10 more minutes before reaching the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage we found a tire that was mostly flat with a bent rim. Some way God had sealed up our tire and gotten us safely to the orphanage. We used the spare, had the rim repaired & all is well.

Bananas growing on a banana tree in our backyard.

These are mud bricks, made by hand, laid out to dry with straw over the top. They will dry until they are cured enough to stack. Then they will stack them in a pile with a hollow center so they can build a fire inside to fire them. (See photo below). Everything is done the hard way.

Beautiful but strange!!! This is a worm Dennis saw at the orphanage a couple of weeks ago. There were several on one particular tree, but they are not there now.

We thought our computer had crashed on Friday, but the battery had run down. We are very limited on space, have other issues & are not sure whether we will be able to post again for a couple of weeks. We are getting another computer from the US , with the second team. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.

You're in Uganda

These huts are near the entrance to our orphanage, Calo Me Lare. You might see huts like this in town as well.

The mounds of dirt we saw throughout Uganda were intriguing to us…until we found out they are termite mounds. This is why homes are not built of wood here. The only way to eliminate a mound is to dig until you destroy its queen. Very interesting…

 This is a picture of the street we drive on to market or to Calo Me Lare. People everywhere…walking, riding bicycles or motorbikes, cars, vans, trucks. Day or night, there is never silence. Birds singing, people talking as they walk by, the band playing at the bar down the street, church services, or the cry for prayers at the local mosque. And then there is the goat sounding very much like a kid trying to get attention. (Maybe it is)!

Our family has partner-sponsored Elizabeth at Calo for a couple of years. She is a very soft-spoken six year-old girl. In this picture she is wearing the backpack our granddaughter, Emma, crocheted for her.

 It rains almost every day in our area & the foliage is lush! Dennis planted cucumbers & zucchini after we arrived & they are doing well. He planted a flowerbed beside the entrance to the Administration Building. Everything is done the hard way here, as you can see in the above photo where men are cleaning up extra dirt around the new houses, loading fill-dirt into a truck by hand. They loaded 3 loads one afternoon.

These are photos of our house, living room, 2 of the kitchen & the bedroom.

Wednesday night we attended a sharing & prayer meeting in the neighborhood with several people who are living in Uganda now but who are from other countries. It was a wonderful time together! The electricity went off just as we are starting (much like it does every evening), we had sharing & prayer by candle-light, & just as we finished praying the electricity came back on. God’s ambience is amazing!

This week Margie had the privilege of spending time getting to know some of the moms & praying with them, which was a delight!

The Bunga Bunga Bible Fellowship is very different from our church back home. The people are definitely more animated. They have been very welcoming. Pastor Dennis’ love for the Lord oozes out of him to everyone around him. This is a church with many new believers who are eager to learn. We met with the Elder Board after the service today. They were most welcoming. Pastor Dennis invited us to dinner in his home Monday evening. We look forward to serving together.

Andy & Cami Flege have been so helpful with our transition to Uganda. We will try to get photos of them for our next update.

Thank you again for your prayers & financial support.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

Hello from Uganda

Thank you so much to our family, friends and church family for all your prayers! We have seen God at work in many ways. We have been in Lira one week. What a beautiful time of year to arrive. It thunders and rains almost every day, with an occasional loud crack of lightening which reminds us of home.

We’ve learned a whole new way of shopping as the pictures will indicate. People are everywhere, mostly walking or riding bikes. They are very friendly! Early in the week Dennis had his first experience driving on narrow, crowded streets on the left-hand side of the road, filled with potholes (some huge).

We now know a few of the children by name and it frustrates us that we have to keep asking their names, but eventually we will know them all. Nancy is a very good dancer and Gloryia has a perpetual smile. Elizabeth is shy but sticks close to us. Harriett is very busy. They all got their heads shaved on Saturday which makes them even harder to distinguish. What timing!!!

All plumbing and electrical issues are finally resolved!! PTL! We have a very good landlord who has helped so much getting things in shape in the house. PTL for Andy and Cami with Project Hope, who have been wonderful and most helpful. Things would never have happened this quickly without them!!!

The first six pictures are of the market and buying furniture. There is a picture of our van and a picture for Logan and Zach of the best climbing tree in the world located in our front yard..

Dennis and our security guards who also work as lawn keepers have really done a great job of getting the property cleaned up and looking nice. To begin with it really was a jungle trek in our backyard! But now it's beautiful! We'll send photos another time.

Love,

Dennis and Margie

Crunch Week

We're packing and re-packing, weighing and re-weighing and set to go. A BIG "thank you" to all those who have been supporting us in prayer and financially. God is doing amazing things through you! Special thanks to Andy and Cami, our hosts in Uganda. A couple of days of flying, travel and setting up before we touch base again. Blessings to you all!