FHLM August 2020 Newsletter
At the beginning of the month we were all praying for rain because Masaka had been so dry and dusty for at least a month, but we praise God that on the 8th it rained! And the blessing hasn’t stopped! Acts 14:17 “Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
Director’s Update
Board Meeting: Due to COVID-19 we had not had a board meeting since 01 Feb, so we held our first off-site board meeting on 14 Aug. We went off-site so we could keep the numbers at the Centre down to 10 persons, per the government mandate. It was a good meeting, with lunch and many items on the agenda to discuss. One of our main discussion points was the summary of all that transpired with the youth and the ministry during the COVID-19 closure. The Board wants to personally thank all who prayed, sent special donations and continued to support the ministry during this time. We could not, and cannot do this without your continued blessings. Thank you so very much!
Change: Having the youth and Grace take over daily programs has helped me to finally be able to work on long range planning for the ministry, along with expenses & budgeting, keeping up with Social Media, our Website and emails with our donors and prayer teams, general overseeing, and weekly planning or issues that arise. Of course I’m involved in the daily programs and with the youth, but I’m so thankful that after 10 years I’m not always the one running everything. It also gives me more time to pray over the ministry and to hear from God on how to moving the ministry and vision forward into the next decade.
Youthz Update:
Babirye is doing well and has continued with computer training. Her Mom is much better, so we thank all that prayed for her. We celebrated Joshua’s Birthday on 11 Aug. He was very surprised by the little cake and celebration we had for him! He’s doing wonderful and still teaching “Centre Schooling” on Monday and Wed. Justine is continuing to represent the youth during our Board Meetings. We see both Justine and Oliver’s leadership skills growing, as the younger youth look to them for guidance and answers. Eddy, Immy, Benita, Milly, and, Hanisha are all happy and healthy. William was able to travel from the village back to Masaka on Aug 8th. We are so happy to have him back. Eddy is ecstatic to have another guy around!
Bible Studies: We are now open on Tuesdays and once again having Bible Studies that day! But this time Grace and I decided to change the studies up a bit. We are having a “monthly theme” and each Tuesday a team of 2 of the youth are leading the study sessions. We want them learn how to lead and be confident in the Word of God. This will help them in leadership, understanding and knowledge of the Word and teaching. It will also build their self confidence.
This month’s Bible Study theme was Celebration! Oliver and Immy where the first team to lead from the book of Psalms 118, it was so encouraging having them lead us. I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits of this new program! God is good, it’s really working for them.
“Talk It Out”: Grace came up with this new program name. She is doing Counselling on Mondays and Home Visits every Friday morning. She made a router of the youth and each week she meets one-on-one with them for counselling. Then on Friday she travels to one of their homes to assess the youth’s living environment and meet with the youth and their parent or guardian. She is really putting her Diploma in Social Work to great use for the youth and the ministry. We are blessed to have her!
Rabbits: On the morning of the 17th young William picked up the rabbits from my friend, Kelsey! We got a black & white female and a tan male. We all introduced ourselves to them that afternoon but they were very shy. Young William has raised rabbits before, so he’s familiar with how to care for them and the food they eat; sweet potato leaves, black jack, and cabbage. We hope that soon we will have some baby rabbits!
More Work: Uncle William has become our official “fix it guy”! During the month he re-set and cemented our broken volleyball pole, and cleared out the “jungle” of bushes and shrubs in the back compound. Having him help out is also keeping him employed, as he has lost his job due to the lack of government funding for the national re-electrification project that he worked for.
Monthly Life Skills:
On the 7th Uncle Alpha led a Life-Skills session on Setting Goals for Your Life. At the beginning of the session Alpha asked several of the youth if they had goals and if so what they are. I was surprised by a few of their goal,s but it was a blessing to know that many of them already had set goals and are working toward completing them already. One of Alpha’s main points was that we all need to write our goals down. Then put it somewhere we can see every day as a reminder to ourselves to strive and persist toward that goal. Having set goals and writing them reminds us of who we are and where we are going! Habakkuk 2:2 says: “Write the vision. And make it plain on tablets” He also told us to remember that in every challenge, successful people see an opportunity! What great words to live by.
On the 14th Joshua spoke to the youth about Sexual Purity. He opened with the statement, “Sexual Purity is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime.” He went on to share with them about how Sexual Purity is the key to Christianity. When you surround yourself with true friends that don’t lead you astray and live to please God your Christian walk of purity will be strengthened. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,”
He then asked them, “How can a young person stay on the path of a pure life?” He gave them these measures:
- Guard your heart, your eyes, and your ears; how & who you associate with, what movies, TV shows, and music you listen to can wake up your desires
- Make God your first accountability partner
- Know Jesus love you so much and created you in His image
On the 21st Oliver led us in Step 1 of bag weaving. She taught us how to take dried palm leaves, make them into strips and weave them into a chain-strip. It took a while to separate the palm leaves and then figure out how to weave. Many of us, including myself, had to ask Oliver several times how to get the weaving started, but she was very patient with us all. Because we ran out of time she gave us weaving “home work” so we would be ready for our session in Sept. This has been such a great skill for us all to learn and it could become a small business idea for some of our youth.
We are Praising God for all He has done in August! We also thank you ALL for your continued prayers, love, encouragement and support! May the Lord richly bless you ALL!
Love and Blessings,
Rita Bulegeya
Director- Faith Hope Love missions (UG)
reetsindiego@yahoo.com
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