FHLM July 2019 Newsletter

Greetings from Masaka! Again we’ve had a different weather month. The first half of July in rained almost every day. But thank God by mid-month it became normal July dry season; sunny, breeze and 80-beautiful! The people can now harvest their crops. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. I’ve really kept this verse on my mind and close to my heart all month.    

Director’s Update:

Well every time I’m back in the U.S. people ask me “what’s a normal day like for you” and I always say that each day can be different. Well on Wed. the 3^rd I was at my desk working on a report and I see an object go by the window and then hear something running, so I look out and it’s a baby cow. Then I go out and sure enough it wasn’t just one, but four baby cows running into our lower compound. Well I spent the next half hour herding them through the bushes and brush to the upper compound and out of the small gate door. I can now add Herdswomen to my resume! As you can see life in Uganda is certainly not “normal” and that day proved it.

Not many of you know this but for the last 8 years I’ve been attending a Thursday morning Women’s Bible Study with fellow Masaka missionaries. It has been a blessing in so many ways; from learning the Word of God in new ways, to fellowship, to making new friendship. Over the years we’ve seen the group change as missionaries come and go, but God has sustained it. In those years I think we have gone through almost every Beth Moore study and a few others. In July and also August I will be blessed to host the ladies at our home. It has been especially good to have the “extra” support from sisters in Christ while I go through the grieving process.

I want to send out a BIG THANK YOU to all those that heeded the call and contributed to the “Send Rita Back Home” fund! You have been a tremendous blessing, not only to me and the ministry, but to my family, and most especially my Mom Patti. After the loss of my Step-Dad it has been her priority to get me back to Indiana. I thank you all for helping with that and also for your continued prayers for her and my family.

That said, in mid-July I was able to purchase my international ticket to the States. I will be travelling on 08 September and returning back to Uganda on 28 Oct. I will be spending a month in Indiana with family and then the month of October in the Colorado Springs area, Denver and San Diego visiting family, friends, churches, and organizations. I will give you all a more detailed schedule in the next newsletter. I’m so very thankful and grateful for all that believed, faithfully prayed and graciously gave to this year’s trip to the states. May God richly bless you back!

This is what our youth were up to in July:

Youthz Update:

Counselling: Since returning to work Jane has had new hours, she comes in at 11am and works until 6pm. This helps her with baby Elijah’s routine. Because of her new hours she is now meeting with the SOAR Youth for one-on-one counselling on Monday and Friday’s after school. This has really helped us to get a better insight into the lives of our youth. We are able to guide them spiritually, and help them in their daily lives, continually building our relationships and their trust in us.

Masaka Secondary School Visitation Day was on the 6^th and it was a pretty standard day. We all met at the registration tent. I went first to the Secondary 1, Willy & Hanisha’s, classrooms and then to Eddy’s Secondary 3 classroom. I picked their reports and meet with their class teachers. Each student and I spent some time with the teachers discussing their beginning of term reports and how they are performing over all. I also talked to the teachers about the student’s attitude & participation in class. Jane met with Immy’s secondary 2 class teacher. Unfortunately Oliver and Justine’s Secondary 4 teacher was not around to talk to, but we did pick their reports. Overall the youth are performing well, but we are counselling Hanisha about her performance. We pray that she will take heed and settle down. We also had a few administrative items to sort out with the bursar and the deputy head master, so we were at the school till 2pm. But afterward we were all able to go have some fun and have lunch out at Masaka Elgin Restaurant.

Home Visit: On the 8^th Jane, baby Elijah and I went to visit Eddy’s family and his home. Over the 2 years that Eddy has been in the program his family has moved 3 times and along with his father’s frequent health issues, these have contributed to much instability and issues for the entire family . But praise God this year they were able to build a home in Kasijjagirwa (near Masaka town) and moved in a few months back. His parents were very excited to host Jane and me and they warmly welcomed us and took us around the plot. Then they ushered us into the new house where we were showed Eddy & his brothers bedroom, the girls’ bedroom, Mum & Dad’s bedroom and then to the living room. Eddy’s Dad prayed a blessing for the two of us and then blessed the food. After the prayer, Mummy brought a full plate of food for each one of us. Oh my! the food was too much for any of us to finish. They told us that in their home country, Rwanda, chips and much food must be prepared to the honoured guests and they said we were their honoured guests that day. She said because they are so very appreciative and grateful of all we have done for Eddy and the family over the years. Eddy’s parents don’t speak any English, so it was only because Jane interrupted for me that I got what she said. I really enjoy Eddy’s parents and despite their health issues we appreciated them for being responsible parents and a good example to their children. We were still enjoying, but then it was time for us to leave, so I prayed a blessing to the family. Eddy’s Mum was so generous with what they had in the garden and brought beans and maize for Jane. We had a lovely visit that day!

University Visit: On 09^th and 10^th July Joshua and I travelled 5 hours one-way to Ishaka, in western Uganda, to visit the Kampala International University campus. The western campus is the universities’ medical college.  He will be starting on 24th August studying toward a Diploma in Pharmacy. It was a fruitful visit and God gave us favour, as we were able to tour the campus, meet with the dean of students & admissions, and finalize his housing. I thank God too for the journey mercies.

Back to Success on the 13th started out a bit late due to rain, but all the youth gathered and decided to study Geography this month. This time it was different, Faridah, the leader of this class hadn’t come yet, so Oliver took the lead and she us through graph work in Geography. She taught a number on a combined bar and line graph showing rainfall and temperature. She gave them some key points a graph must have and these were; a title, scale and measurements. She also said that the figures on both vertical scales must be the same. We got a question from one of our student textbook library Geography books, and Oliver taught members how to plot rainfall and temperature on the graph.

By that time Farida came in and took over and discussed the two rain seasons in Uganda. After that, she went into objective questions of Geography in line of rainfall and temperature. As we went through the objectives, she pulled out some key words and gave definitions of them, like; Isohyets, Isotherms, Isobars, and Grids. She then briefly talked about weather station instruments. She ended by defining relative humidity as the amount of water vapour that is contained in the air. Much was taught about Geography and we hope this improves the youth’s performances in this subject.

Movie Day: On 20 July we watched the movie Where Hope Grows. It was about a man Mr. Campbell who had a daughter Katie. She had a boyfriend Colt. There was also a young boy they called, Produce, who knew Christ. Produce worked in a local supermarket with Colt but unlike Colt, Produce was a very happy and joyful young man that wanted to be friends with everyone.  He befriended Mr. Campbell and gave hope to his life and family.

These are the lessons that the youth learnt from the movie:

• We should not judge other people as Katie thought that Produce was a trouble maker because her boyfriend hold her he was. Also Colt, the boyfriend, teased Produce cause he was “different” because he had Down’s Syndrome.
• Your best friend may end up being your enemy. Katie loved Colt as a boyfriend and a friend but he tried to rape her. Yet the one she thought as a trouble maker and an enemy, Produce, became the one to save her from Colt’s attempt.
• We should always yarn to suffer for Christ because He is the only one who can give you happiness forever.
• In life you don’t need any one’s sympathy because your God knows where you need sympathy and He is the only one who can help you go through that situation. Mr. Campbell finally learnt that and so did Katie.
• Life with Christ is very joyous and Produce was an example of that. He was very happy in his poor life without his mother but because he had Christ, he was living a happy life. (written by: Justine Nalwadda-SOAR Youth Representative)     

Outreach Day: This month we did something very different for our outreach, we served with Hilltop’s “Church on the Go”. From 26^th to 28^th we took the church into the community of Kimannya with a few open air crusade nights, door to door evangelism and then Sunday service. The church is hoping to go into the communities around Masaka every month to share God’s Word! Pastor Sam and I have been “hatching” this idea for a few years now and by God’s grace and provision it finally became a reality! Our SOAR Youth helped out on Saturday with evangelism and those on the Hilltop Praise & Worship team were busy all weekend! The youth said they encountered many unbelievers but people were kind enough to let them pray for them. One Muslim man even gave one of the groups a tithe for the crusade. I had Hanisha and Immy in my group and it was their first time to do door to door evangelism. After we had finished they both said they were very scared at first, but by the end they were so happy they did this. They told me they had learned how to speak with people about Jesus, pray for them and even share a little about their own testimony. Glory be to God!!

As you have read God is on the move in Uganda and around Masaka and we are very happy and excited to be a part of it all! Please keep praying for all of us here. Thank you!! Have a Blessed day with our Lord!!

Love you all!

Rita Bulegeya

Director-Faith Hope Love Missions