FHLM MARCH 2023 NEWSLETTER

GREETINGS:

Greetings from Masaka! Well rainy season has delayed, but we praise the Lord for answered prayers for rain! “Therefore be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.” James 5:7

DIRECTORS UPDATE:

Women’s Day: March 8^th was International Women’s Day. This year’s theme was “Embrace Equity”. Having young ladies in our ministry we support this year’s theme, because we want to make sure that all women everywhere are treated fairly and impartial.  

In honor of Women’s Day we ladies of Hilltop Church ministered on 12^th March. From intercessory prayer to praise to preaching we led every aspect of the service. I was personally involved with ushering and dancing with the praise & worship team. It was a blessed day!    

Board Meeting: We had our 1^st Quarter Board Meeting on 18^th March. The meeting was rescheduled from the 11^th.  The board discussed staff and the hiring of the new social worker. We also worked through quarterly programs, and new youth policies. One of our major discussion points was the siting of potential land for the organization. We are looking at acquiring land in 2023 and praying for the funds. We also reviewed each of the SOAR Youth and I shared about Ruth joining the sponsorship program.     

YOUTH UPDATE:

Justine: On 3^rd March she received her Secondary 6 UCE National Exam results. We praise God that she received 10 points; 2 principle passes and 1 subsidiary pass. Her best subjects were Math and Economics. These results will allow her to attend a university for her top choices of either a bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Statistics. We are looking at a few universities and hope to visit her top two choices in April. Well done Justine!!  Please pray for God to lead her to the correct university.   

Oliver: She received her grades for 2^nd Year/1^st Semester and she once again was the top of her class!! We congratulate her for doing so well! She is very hard at work completing projects in dress making, African hand crafts, and their final project for the last semester of 2^nd Year.  

Visitation Day: On the 11^th we went to Masaka Secondary School for the youth’s visitation day. It was “Club Demonstration Day”, so all of the school clubs had tents and tables explaining what their clubs do. There are a wide range of clubs at the school from Scouts to Music & Drama.  Eddy is president of the Food & Nutrition Club, so he was very busy all day making Rolexes (omelet wrapped in a chapatti). Besides Rolexes, the club was selling baked goods, fried chicken and samosas to raise money for the club. Pius, and Charity are part of the Entrepreneurial (Ent) Club. They had items that they had made like crafts and liquid soap for sell. The members even demonstrated how to make liquid soap. Ruth is a member of One For All Club, which advocates for human rights. Milly is in both Scouts and Sports Club. We the members of Sports Club playing table tennis and other games. After visiting most of the clubs we took a tour around campus and walked to most of the youth’s home room classes. 

Since both Milly and William are secondary 4 candidates they were in lectures until early afternoon. We waited on them to complete and then went to Masaka Elgin Restaurant for lunch. The day was very nice!      

Joshua: When I was in Kampala on personal matters I was able to meet up with Joshua on 22^nd March. We met at Acacia Mall and I bought him lunch at KFC. It was his first time for him to visit the mall. We were able to spend a few hours catching up. He told me that since he is still waiting to receive his university provisional results he has been “volunteering “or practicing at Avelino Pharmacy near Makerere University in Kampala. He said that this time has helped him gain a better knowledge of medicines, and helped him to be able to analyze how to treat walk in clients. We are praying that once his results are received that the pharmacy hires him.   

Eddy & William: On the 22^nd the guys, along with their secondary 6 and secondary 4 Foods & Nutrition classmates went to Kampala for an educational trip. They first visited Hot Loaf Bakery in Industrial Area. Eddy said that they taught them how bread is made in large scale. They were also shown how to make other confectionary products. Secondly they went to Gaaba Water Treatment plant. William said he learned how water is moved by gravity to its various treatment areas, filtered, calcium added and then sent out for public use. Finally they went to Freedom City Mall. Eddy said that at the supermarket they were shown many new commodities that are not found in Masaka. William said it was his first time to ride an escalator. They both agreed that this trip help to expose them to many new items and it was such a blessing to attend the trip.

YOUTH PROGRAMS:

Bible Study: This month we continued in the book of 1 Peter and finished it on the 29^th.  One of the Wednesday studies that stood out to me was 15^th March we read from 1 Peter 3:1-22. Here are some of the Holy Spirit insights from reading:

• Charity- (verse 2-3) You can’t be beautiful outside when your spirit is ugly. Let’s talk the walk and walk the talk. Let our spirits be beautiful. For when you have beauty of the spirit you going to draw many to Christ
• Eddy- (verse 8-9) The true meaning of beauty is to live in harmony with each other. For example we should learn how to associate with our neighbors. If we have battles let God fight for us. He is our avenger.
• Pamela- (verse 10-12) Beauty as believers is our righteousness. We need to keep our tongue in control to bring out the beauty we have in Jesus, because it is the tongue we use to spread the Word of God.  
• Immy- (verse 13-15) No one is going to harm you because you have done good. People talk, but let us not fear people. Doing good gives glory to God. If we trust God and do good we will never regret, don’t give up.
• Pius- (verse 20-23) God is waiting for us to enter the ark but we have failed to submit. God has been so patient to us but we are so busy with other things that are not constructive to our life. Because of Jesus sacrifice we are cleansed from sin, made alive, and brought back to God  

Outreach Day: On the 18^th the youth, Charles and Shakirah went the hospital for outreach.  Unfortunately Pamela and I couldn’t attend because of the rescheduled board meeting. This is Shakirah’s report of the day:

We went eight people and when we reached there, we split into two groups of four. One group went to the Children’s Ward and the other in the Women’s Ward. I led the group that went in the Women’s Ward, where we found nurses giving patients medication. We started with an old woman, Josephine, who was very sick. She was being cared for by her daughter. We shared the word of Christ with her and she was so happy to receive. We also prayed for Josephine who was suffering from pressure and was diagnosed with other diseases.

Immediately after praying the nurses told us that we should give them one hour for them to proceed with the medication of patients, after they had done we were free to continue. Instead of waiting for one hour we joined the other group in the children’s ward. We went there and we found a young mother with her baby called Asuman, we greeted her and requested to talk to her and pray for her baby. We proceed on another bed where we found a boy called Joseph with his mum who was taking care of him. She told us that she had spent almost a week there, she didn’t have money and the son was not getting better. We strengthened her with a word from Mathew 11:28, that God said to us that ‘’ come to me all who are heavy burdened, he will give us rest’’. She had no hope but I told her that she can kneel down, pray, and intercede for her son. We prayed for her son for total deliverance and the provision for the care. She appreciated us and promised to come to Christ and have Him in her heart, but later.

After that I proceeded with my team and continued preach and pray with others in the ward. After we finished the two teams joined altogether, had a closing prayer by Uncle Charles and we left for our homes. (Written by Shakirah Nabasumba- Social Worker)

Youth Workshop: On 25^th March we had a Safety and Security Workshop. It was led by Moses Mugume from the Criminal Investigation Department of the Masaka Central Police Station. He has been serving there for the last 10 years. Prior he worked on the Safety & Security Board at Bujagali Falls power plant in Jinja.

He kicked off the talk by asking the youth to define Security and Safety. He said that they are both protection from danger risk and harm. The difference is that in security we have a right to disable a person or thing that is trying to harm us or a place. He stated that we need to manage ourselves properly and to change our mind set towards security and safety. He asked, “How do we secure yourself?”  That we need to look at your environment. That the police guard us against external threats, but we, ourselves, guard ourselves and the inside of our home. That we need to identify the threats around you and set our standards! This is the mindset we have to have

We then had an interactive session, looking at the safety threats posed at the centre and our homes and how we can minimize those threats. We all came up with safety measures and were advised by Moses how to implement them. This workshop was a great learning experience and eye opener for us all. We are thankful to our board member, Gerald, for arranging the speaker.    

BELA BULUNGI (GOOD-BYE):

As you can see it has been another busy and fruitful month here at FHLM and in Masaka! We thank you all for your continued prayers, support, love and encouragement! As Paul wrote, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful day and month!

Love and blessings,

Rita Bulegeya

Director -Faith Hope Love Missions

reetsindiego@yahoo.com