FHLM August 2014 Update-Youth Update, SOAR Youth, General FHLM News

David’s1st Day at University

Greetings to everyone from Masaka! I would like to share the below verse that has been on my heart all month.

1 Timothy 1:12-17. ¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, ¹³ although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴ And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise,^[a] be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Glory be to God for His grace that has abound in my life! My whole being thanks God for His grace as I am so unworthy to serve, but I thank Him for allowing me to do so. With that said I humbly share with you what the Lord has done here in Masaka in August.

Youth Update: The 2^nd Term of Secondary School ended on 01 August and the much anticipated 2^nd Term Holiday began! The term end marked our 1^st Youth of Destiny End of Term Party! We had a fabulous fellowship afternoon with the youth, as we enjoyed games, dancing, sodas, popcorn and much laughter and smiles!

Since August was 2^nd Term Holiday we had several Youth Programs at the center, which is open to any youth in the community. On 06 Aug we had a Craft Day putting together a picture collage of all the activities the youth have done so far this year. On Saturday of that week we had our monthly Movie with a Message Day. This month we watched Faith Like Potatoes. This movie always challenges me and my faith! The youth and I had quite a discussion after about our faith and how the movie impacted them. The week of 11 Aug we had Equip Leadership Training. We meet each day teaching the youth what it means to have a Heart of a Leader. It was such a blessing to share what the Word says about a Godly leaders; character, purpose, spiritual gifts, vision, prayer, and discipline in God’s Word. During the 4 weeks of holiday several Youth Dropped into the center Library to; play games, put together puzzles, read books, look at magazines and study before 3^rd Term started. It is such a blessing that there is a place for them to do ALL these activities, thank you Lord for the Youth Center! (Please see below for an update on the Youth Center Building)

SOAR Youth: On 03 Aug all four of the SOAR Youth and I went had a fun day before all of their holiday programs commenced! We all went to church together and after went to lunch, and my house for a movie. By afternoon it had stopped raining, so we all went to a local pool for the afternoon! It was Babirye’s first time swimming and she enjoyed the pool SO MUCH! Rock also had a 1^st, as he went into the deep end of the pool and swam from one end to the other for the 1^st time. His confidence and swimming skills are increasing. These are such things that we, growing up in the Western World, take for granted. I am just so happy that these youth can have these experiences and the ones below.

• Rock went to National Scout Camp at Kaazi camping grounds on 08 August for a week along withsome 3,000 scouts and 272 scout leaders hailing from different parts of the country gathered to celebrate and share their scouting experiences. During his time at Scout camp Rock the others engaged in daily competitions that tested them academically and logically allowing their team spirit to excel. Some of the competitions included crafting, tree planting, cleaning up Busabala town and constructing temporary houses. Rock said, “It was one of the greatest experience he has had and that he has never heard so many languages in one place before”. Of course after camp he had to get back to the books and attended Holiday Studies to prepare him for his upcoming Uganda National Education Board Exams (UNEB) that he will be taking in 3rd Term.
• Babirye spent some of her holiday in the village with her guardian’s children digging in the fields and matooke plantation. However she did get some fun in, as on 15 August she attended her 1^st Scripture Union Camp at Kako Secondary School. This is an excerpt from “Her Kako Camp Experiences”; “Secondly, I learnt how to grow deeper in Christ by reading the Bible, worshiping, praying, fasting etc. So, when you launch deeper in the Lord, you will have no fear even if there is a big problem, because the Lord will be there for you.” You can find her whole letter on our web-site, www.faithhopelovemissions.org
• On 16 Aug David reported to school at Nagenda International Academy of Art & Design. Both Rock and I escorted him to university and got him settled in. David is the 1^st person in his family to attend university and he is so excited to be able to fulfill his dream of attending art school. A BIG thank you goes out to his sponsor for making this dream a reality!
• Faridah is still on university holiday and working at Nature Baby’s Home. During two weeks in August she replaced a worker that was on vacation and was shifted to nights, working with the toddles at the home. The remainder of the month she continued doing accounts for the organization, giving her much experience. She has been happy to be able to earn some pocket money and extremely happy to be able to worship and attend weekly fellowship freely.

General FHLM News: On 17 August David, Rock and I were able to meet up with Lauren and Chris Bowbly in Entebbe. They had been in Uganda leading a missionary team and the last full day of their trip we were able to meet with them. We had not seen them in a year and half! As you can imagine we had SO MUCH to catch up on and only a few hours to do it, but it was it was a joyous reunion.

We had a FHLM Board Meeting on 23 Aug. Despite the weather and the low turnout of members we were able to set a 3 month program for the upcoming school term.

On 25 Aug I had the honor of teaching the Word to the Royal Mutessa University Christian Union students. Since then their Christian Union leader and I have had several meetings, much prayer and we are now in partnership with the Christian Union. The students, most specifically their Outreach Team, will be assisting with the FHLM Youth of Destiny after-school programs, our monthly Secondary School outreaches and our Movies with a Message. We are very blessed and excited about this new partnership!

Please continue to pray for the Office/Youth Center building we are in. We are still in negotiation with the Masaka district and municipal council. We think we will be able to stay at the location, because they have said they want to increase our rent per month, and they wanted an additional 4 months of rent. Unfortunately they have not yet honored our receipts with all the money we have put in for renovations to the property–it adds up to 4 months rent. This is not good, but we will be happy not to move. That said, we need prayer for the funds to cover the rent increase, $25.00 per month for our portion, and also for favor with the district for a new rental agreement.

I thank everyone for their continued prayers, support, encouragement, and love! May you be blessed back 100 fold for this.

Have a blessed day!

In His Grip,

Rita