A Day At the School

Today we loaded the car with our toys and gifts and went for a day at the school. They put together an "assembly". Several of the classes performed cultural dances and sang songs. This was the first time they did this in front of people from outside the school. Then, we brought in the gifts in and they were presented to teacher or students representing the different classes.

The sporting equipment went over especially well. They have never had new sports equipment before. Sandi had also bought 4 dictionaries which we found out the school had none of.

We had also bought a sack of shoes for children that had none. Pastor Godfrey stumbled on a shoe market but had found that kids shoes were mixed in with adult shoes and they were somewhat expensive. However, a person at the market offered that if Pastor Godfrey came first thing in the morning (6am) they would let him dig out the kid's shoes and give them to him at a great price.

This is about it for us. Tomorrow we will have a good-bye meeting with some of the students and friends here and then head to the airport for our flight home.

Thank you for keeping up with us on this blog. Your prayer support has been invaluable through this time. We will seen you soon.

Pastor Kurt, Robert, Sandi, and Erica.

Down Day

After eight straight days of visiting and ministering, we took a down day yesterday, went to the Nile to play and then took Pastor Godfrey, Evelyn, and Charles (our driver) to a nice dinner out on the town. We will be back at it today spending the day at the school.

Thank You! You Changed Our Lives So Much

The children came pouring out of their classes as we arrived at the school yesterday. They were so excited to see us. Pastor Kurt noticed a visible difference in the children since the food and medicine program started. Pastor Godfrey proudly showed us the medicine storage room with malaria medicine, cough syrup, anti- diahrrea (one of the biggest life savers) medicine, and special juices for dehydration. The school has a sick room which used to have anywhere from 20 to 30 children a day and is now running 3 to 4 a day and the time spent there has gone from days to hours. We echo what the children shouted together - "THANK YOU MR. BLAINE !!!"

We then went into town and bought things for the school such as jump ropes, play balls, hula hoops, writing pads, chalk, pencils, coloring books, and much more. Thursday we are going back to give them to the children. We also bought 2 bags of shoes (about a hundred pair) we will be giving out. Thank you Love Fellowship for those shoes! We are looking forward to it.

Thank you for your prayers for Bobbie. She is in Iowa with Pastor Mike now. We miss her here! The team is doing well. Pastor Kurt's throat is almost back to normal. It is hard to believe that our time here is wrapping up quickly, but we are also looking forward to coming home to our families and all of you. We love you!!!

Bobbie Has To Fly Home

Monday, Bobbie had to take the first flight out to go to Iowa. Her mother had a massive stroke and is in coma. Please pray for Bobbie's mom, Pat, the family, and the long trip home.

Fortunately, Bobbie was able to participate in the all dayWomen't conference on Saturday, the church service on Sunday and take in a Ugandan Cultrual Dance on Sunday evening. We got the news early morning on Monday and she is able to fly out this evening.

No Electrical Power - But the Power of God!

Sunday morning we arrived at church to find there was no electrical power, the generator not working, and Pastor Kurt with a very sore throat. But God's word will not be silenced! We continued right on with the choir doing a fantastic job of singing without instruments or microphones. The team gave words of greeting and then Pastor Kurt preached a powerful message on Romans 1:8 "encouraging each other in the faith". He had to sip on a great deal of water and even suck on some candy while preaching but made it through 45 minutes of preaching and was heard all the way to the back just fine.

Women's Conference

Saturday's Women's Conference was a HUGE success. Almost 250 women came from all over Kampala to hear Bobbie, Shea, Sandi, and Erica share from their lives and hearts. It started at 9:00 am and went non-stop until 6:00 pm. We even fed all the women with a hot meal which they said nobody has ever done before. We had drawings and gave out gifts such as cook-ware and practical household items. The whole town of Kisugu made their way to the church just to see what was going on.
Robert spent his time entertaining the children with strings and tricks (top left). Pastor Kurt spent the morning taking pictures and videos and then went to the hotel to work on his message for Sunday. He rejoined them later in the afternoon to find them praising God, shouting to the Lord, and singing just as they had done in the morning. Needless to say the ladies went back to the Hotel exhausted by glowing from what God had done!

(I wish I could put more photos on but they are taking up to a half hour to download. More when we return)

Day 3

From Left to Right (back) Grace, Bobbie, Sandi, Eve, ?, Zipora, Shea (front) Betty, Dorcas, & Erica.

Today we spend most of the day visiting with Grace and some of the PEARL students. The ladies were fitted and ordered some dresses from Grace who is now working out of her home. The ladies spent several hours ministering to each other. This was such a God Moment as they began to just share testimony with the Women. The Women began to open up to them and shared deep hurts from their pasts...and in turn how Jesus has delivered them...WOW what a time...

Today we are doing the Women's Conference.

NOTE: There will be no blog update until Sunday evening your time - check Sunday evening or Monday morning for the latest new and pictures from the Women's Conference and Sunday Morning Service

Day 2

We were joined by Pastor Godfrey and his wife Evelyn (left) as we went and picked up Shea from the airport. It was actually a five hour endeavor due to traffic and an hour flight delay. However we had a wonderful time of visiting together with them and did some vision casting for the future of their school. After we came back to Kampala, we took Evelyn shopping at a department store for kitchen items. It was the first time in her life that Evelyn was able to go to a shop and pick out anything she wanted for her house. She was like a child in a candy store. She bought things like pans and knives sets and even some dishes - simple things she has never had in her life. (this was purchased with money donated by Women's Ministries and she sends her love to all the ladies at Calvary Christian Center for their love. As she said over and over again "THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LOVING US - YOU HAVE CHANGED OUR LIVES SO GREATLY."




On the right is the team (Pastor Kurt taking the picture) and Charles, our guide and driver at the edge of lake Victoria

Today we are visiting with the P.E.A.R.L students.

Please continue to keep us in prayer as the Ladies continue to prepare for the Women's conference on Saturday. They will be ministering to 200 to 300 women from all over Kampala at Kisugu Christian Center

Day One

After a somewhat restless night, with getting used to new surroundings and a strange bed, we headed out to do some exploring. About 10 feet from our hotel we got stuck in our fist traffic jam but finally made it through town. I was able to introduce the team to several people I have gotten to know here and we drove to Lake Victoria and took some pictures. We then did a little shopping for essentials and came back to the hotel to have lunch with Pastor Godfrey and his wife Evelyn. We had a great visit and planned out the rest of our visit. At about 3pm we were exhausted and all slept until after 6pm. We were supposed to go back to town but our driver was not able to make his way back to the hotel due to traffic. (this happens here and you have to be flexible) We wound up having a wonderful evening together as a team, having dinner, planning, and having a time of prayer together. Tomorrow we are picking up Shea from the airport and then we will get supplies for the women's conference on Saturday. Please keep our families at home in prayer. Sometimes the enemy attacks on the home front while the battle is going on far away - this is especially true in spiritual battles.
(unfortunately I'm still not able to download pictures at this time)

Arrived Safely

The team arrived safely after almost 30 hours of flying (or waiting at airports). We were greeted by almost 30 people from Pastor Godfrey's church. It was quite a welcoming committee! After many hugs and greetings, Pastor Kurt realized that he had left his waist pack with his cell phone, glasses, and other essentials including money, on the airplane which was already loading and getting ready to leave. Everyone at the airport told me that it was a lost cause and that the cleaning crew never turned in valuables. God had other ideas! I did not give up and after about an hour I was able to talk to the cleaning crew and a young christian man on the plane cleaning crew had found it and was happy to return it to me with ALL its contents in tacked. We all celebrated together before heading to the hotel. People at the airport and in customs said they had never seen anyone get valuables left on an airplane back. PRAISE GOD!!
We are now taking a rest and planning day and will pick up Shea tomorrow and get started ministering. Thanks for your continued prayers!!!

Prayer Requests

Physical Protection for Team

Women’s Conference (Sat. 9/22)

Long term Vision Casting

P.E.A.R.L. Students

Pastor Kurt’s Sunday Message

The Children at P.Godfrey’s School

Miraculous Signs and Wonders

The People of Kisugu, Uganda

Leaving Monday Morning

The team will be leaving Monday morning from San Francisco. We will be traveling to Minneapolis Minnesota and then to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we fly directly to Entebbe Uganda arriving on Tuesday evening about 8:30 p.m. We should be picked up by our driver and then it is about an hours drive to our hotel to the capital, Kampala, where some sleep will be very welcome. You should be able to view our first update on Wednesday (9/19) Please pray for all our flight connections and that our luggage arrives with us in Uganda.

Uganda2007 Missions Team