FHLM SEPTEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER

GREETINGS:

Greetings from the U.S.!  I arrived in Indiana late on 4^th Oct. On 30th Sept. it was a sad good-bye between the youth and myself, but God willing I’ll be back soon. I pray this verse over all that I left behind in Uganda and upon those of you reading this newsletter. “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring”. Isaiah 44:3

DIRECTORS UPDATE:

Board Meeting: On 23^rd Sept we had our final board meeting of the year. We discussed various topics from the SOAR Youth, and their programs, to the youth centre. Our main focus was on the current centre’s land and if the ministry has the opportunity to purchase it. We also discussed the building of a future Youth Centre on the site and looked at the architectural renderings. I’m thankful to God for the diligence and commitment of our board. I brought the architectural drawings and bill of quantities with me to the U.S., so people can see our vision.      

U.S. Furlough: It has been 2 years since I last went on a U.S. Furlough. This year’s furlough schedule is below:

• Indiana 04^th – 25^th October
• Colorado 25^th October – 08^th November
• California 08^th – 19^th November

As I visit each state I’ll be speaking at different churches & organizations. I also look forward to seeing and meeting up with many of you reading this newsletter! Please pray for God to grant me journey mercies and for His protection and provision as I travel about the U.S. Also for God’s guidance and wisdom as I speak at various churches and organizations. Thank you so much and may God Bless you all!

YOUTH UPDATE:

Prep for Annual Trip: We spent the week of 4^th Sept preparing for our annual outreach and educational trip to Kisoro. Each youth took on a leadership role for the trip; Eddy-food manager, Immy-outreach/trip coordinator, William-games & sports, Milly & Pamela-praise & worship leaders, Ruth-nurse, Pius-transport manager, and Charity-time keeper. They all executed their leadership roles very well this year! During our prep-week we had special prayers for the trip and many of us fasted, because both Pamela and Shakirah had received bad dreams of something happening to the team while in Kisoro. We praise God because He broke those things and protected us the whole trip!!        

Annual Outreach & Ed Trip to Kisoro from 09^th Sept. to 13^th Sept:

Sept 09-Day 1: We began the journey from Masaka at 7:00am and we reached Kisoro by 4:00pm. As we traveled through some areas we saw zebras, kobs and crested crane. After a long 9 hour journey we were ready for a late lunch and to settle into our guesthouse. Before dinner we had our first Evening Glory on Obedience led by Pius and Milly. We read in the book of 1 King 17:7 and Jonah 3:1-10.

Sept 10-Day 2: We attend Sunday morning service at Gitenderi Church of Uganda. Gitenderi is a village about 30 minutes from our guesthouse. This is the home village of Aunt Kellen, our old social worker. We were blessed because she was in from Kampala for the weekend to attend her sister’s introduction and wedding. When we reached the church we were welcomed by Reverend Bernard and his assistant. During service we were fortunate to minister with three songs we had learnt the previous week. The sermon was given by Sister Sharon and the theme was Returning based on Jonah 3:1-10. Note: it is interesting that we had studied these verses the night before. After service we went with Kellen to visit her parent’s home. There we were greeted warmly and given sodas and wedding cake! After we went back to the guesthouse to change, go for lunch, and then drive to Lake Mutanda. At the lake we went on a boat tour and were shown some of the islands. It is a picturesque lake with views of the Virunga Volcanoes and mountain range. There were many different bird species on and around the lake. Upon returning from dinner we had Evening Glory led by Ruth and Pamela. The theme was The Spirit and weread in John 4:24.

Sept 11-Day 3: On Monday we were blessed with Morning Glory by Shakirah and Charity. They taught on Saul’s Disobedience in the book of 1 Samuel. Then after we had taken breakfast, we went with the director of Virunga Massive Community School, Mr. Bernard, to the school. The school lays past the village of Gitenderi and up the mountain. Our driver was very good at navigating the lava rock and muddy roads. When we reached we were greeted by about 50 barefooted and dirty children. Several of our youth made the comment, “These children don’t have anything”.  Getting out of the coaster we carried our equipment further up the hill to the school. After introductions, Pamela led praise songs to about 120 children in their language of Lufumbira (the local language of the Kisoro region). She then gave the word of God based on our theme, Be Strong in the Lord, from verse in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  She also shared a lot about not fearing, but instead putting trust in God who gives us strength. The message was well received by the children and staff.

After the word we did a craft. We went desk by desk and traced the children’s hands on a piece of paper. Then we wrote “Jesus loves you’’. I then explained and demonstrated to the children that this picture of their hand will remind them that if they are fearing, that Jesus loves them and will always hold your hand if they are scared. I said, He is our friend and will make you strong. Then it was time for games! William ushered all 120 children out the door and organized them for the games of balloon bust and sweet string, We finished with local songs & dances from the Batwa children and their parents and a dance off between William, the director and one of the parents. It was an exciting way to end the morning!

We bounced back down the mountain to Gitenderi Church of Uganda where we were welcomed by the assistant Reverend. The reverend’s wife and some ladies of the church made us and a few of the church’s outreach team a lovely lunch! After we split into 4 groups and we set off to visit the elderly.

My team of Milly, Ruth, Mr. Bernard, and sister Sarah from the church, walked about 2 kilometers up and down hills and through fields to Jessica’s home. She is a 69 years old women of little means, living in a mud house with a dirt floor. She narrated that about 10 years ago she was very sick and at death’s door. She said that the doctors said she died and was resurrected. Since then, she has had a burning joy and love for Jesus! She said that Jesus has given her new strength and so much life. I have to say she glowed with God’s glory and her eyes sparkled! She said that every week she walks to the hospital to pray for people so they can gain hope and know Jesus!  

On our way back it rained heavily on us so we were all chilled! When the other groups arrived back we all went to Reverend’s house for tea and a nice talk with the team. Reverend shared some stories and then we all prayed together. We really received a blessing from the church members and were so overjoyed by their hospitality! We said our farewells to the church members and went for the supper. It had been a long day and we were all exhausted, so we put off evening glory for another night.  

Sept 12-Day 4: We were up very early for our hour drive up the mountain to Mgahinga National Park. We arrived by 7:30am. By 8:00am we had had our briefing on the Golden Monkeys and set off up the mountain. Golden Monkeys are on the endangered list and they are endemic to the mountains in and around Mgahinga NP. We started our 2 hour trek up the mountain at 2,346 meters (7,696 feet) and reached a height of 2,591 meters (8,500 feet). Once the rangers spotted the monkeys we donned our facemasks and spent an hour watching them swing from the trees, climb, and then a whole troop came down to feast on bamboo shoots. It was very special to see them up close and personal! Then it was time for the 2 hour plus trek back down the mountain. It was a very memorable day for all of us!  Eddy and Aunt Juliet led Evening Glory and spoke about Love in the book of Romans 12:9-13.

Sept 13-Day 5: Immy, William and myself led Morning Glory and our theme was the blessing of protection. We read in the books of Psalm 61:3-4 and Psalm 23:1-6. After we had our breakfast at the guest house we headed out for our long drive back to Masaka! We were all sad to say good-bye to Kisoro!

As we traveled we all talked about how beautifully God created Kisoro and how blessed we are in Uganda to have such diversity. At round 1:00pm we reached Mbarara town, all the youth were saying that Mbarara is developing at high speed with many factories like the roofing factory, Coca-Cola factory, tea factory etc. After lunch we continued with our journey to Masaka and reached safely at around 6:00pm. We thank God for tremendous love upon our lives, keeping us safe and answering our prayers. All in all God was on our side and will never forsake us. For I know the thoughts I think of you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Back to School: On 18^th Sept the secondary youth returned for their 3^rd and final term of the school year.  Again we ask for your prayers for Eddy, Milly, and William, as they will be starting their national exams in Oct and Nov. Thank you!  

Birthday: On the 27^th after Bible Study we celebrated Immy’s Birthday! She turned 19 years old that day. Of course we had birthday cake, balloons and sang a few rounds of “Happy Birthday” to her. She said she was really happy and blessed!

YOUTH PROGRAMS:

Letters: The youth spent all afternoon of the 1^st and the morning of the 4^th working on beautiful letters to all of their sponsors and the ministry supporters. I’ll be mailing them out to those that I won’t be able to see while in the states, so please be looking for them in the mail. For all of you that I’ll be blessed to see I’ll hand deliver yours. I want to say THANK YOU for the amazing sponsors and supporters that the ministry has!! All we do is made possible by the grace of God and your generous love, prayers and donations! God bless you all.

Outreach Day: On the 23^rd the youth, Aunt Shakirah and Juliet went to the Masaka Women’s Prison for outreach.  When they arrived the Chief Warden welcomed them very nicely. They introduced themselves and had an opening prayer. Then they were blessed by praise and worship from the prison’s women’s born again. Then Shakirah gave everyone a word on Forgiveness from Mathew 18:21-35 and Ephesian 4:32. She also shared from Genesis 42 & 45 about how Joseph’s journey of trails, imprisonment and then forgiveness of his brothers. She shared that we can forgive others, and should not wait for other people to apologize and forgive. It is important to bring the pain to Christ, allow time for the process and to let the offender face the consequences of their actions.

After the word they interacted with the prisoners women. Some of the ladies gave their testimonies. Several said that despite all that they were passing through, they had hope, and some that didn’t have hope but gained hope by the visit of our youth. They begged them to come back if possible. The next time I saw our youth many of them said that this outreach was very impactful to them, shared stories, and said they want to go back to minister to the women.

Movie Day: On the 30^th after lunch we watched the movie ‘’SELFIE DAD’’. It‘s a movie about Ben Marcus, a Dad and former stand-up comic who was in mid-life crisis. Then he tries to become a social-media star until he and his family are radically changed by the Bible.  This funny, but life changing family movie helped us all learn many lessons about our faith, reading the Bible and our relationship with Jesus. Here are some of the lessons learned:

• Pius- The film showed us how to handle God. Marcus’ Youtube posts about the gospel almost made him to give up when people started “unscribing” to his page, but he persisted on God, unlike before. We are to be like Marcus and preserver with God!
• Precious- We are children of God and he doesn’t leave us because we are His. We are all loved by God. We need to show God that we love Him, the same way He does to us.
• Milly- Prayer can change, and the wife of Marcus prayed for him and God changed him.
• Immy- She supplemented that we need to lean on prayer for our situations to change. We need to make prayer our life and our life will be prayer.
• Shakirah- We need to be persistent in having time for and spreading the gospel in every situation, just like Marcus did with his YouTube posts.
• Pamela- Being proud of who we are in God we need to let God manifest in us. When he (Marcus) started reading the Bible, even when the viewers didn’t like it, he didn’t lose faith.
• Eddy- Our relationship with God has a great impact on our life. Even when we think we have everything, like Marcus’ family, something was lacking. It was the peace of mind of God and His Joy. When he (Marcus) found Jesus he gained peace, joy, and his family back.
• William- We need to read our Bible and pray every day.

BELA BULUNGI (GOOD-BYE):

We thank you ALL for your continued prayers, love, encouragement and support! May the Lord richly bless you ALL back 100 fold! Have a blessed day!

In His Grip,

Rita Bulegeya

Director -Faith Hope Love Missions

reetsindiego@yahoo.com