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Prince & Heidi Sabena
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Fellowship International Mission | Kampala, Uganda
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May 20, 2019
Click the link below to go to an update from Obed and Loreen.
https://mailchi.mp/7ede3f88ba64/support-loreen-714099?e=a26f2d66fc
Click the link below to go to an update from Obed and Loreen.
https://mailchi.mp/7ede3f88ba64/support-loreen-714099?e=a26f2d66fc
May 15, 2019
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/ff0afcffa21e/prayer-opportunity-housing-situation?e=a26f2d66fc
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/ff0afcffa21e/prayer-opportunity-housing-situation?e=a26f2d66fc
May 1, 2019
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/c7bb8e3c417a/exciting-news?e=a26f2d66fc
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/c7bb8e3c417a/exciting-news?e=a26f2d66fc
March 4, 2019
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/3e1008c863b0/february-2019-obed-loreen?e=a26f2d66fc
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's most recent prayer letter.
https://mailchi.mp/3e1008c863b0/february-2019-obed-loreen?e=a26f2d66fc
March 4, 2019
| thank_you_-_february_2019_.pdf |
February 11, 2019
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's February prayer letter.
mailchi.mp/ecbc66f1c3e7/the-sabena-chronicles?e=a26f2d66fc
Click the link below to go to the Sabena's February prayer letter.
mailchi.mp/ecbc66f1c3e7/the-sabena-chronicles?e=a26f2d66fc
February 4, 2019
| thank_you_january_2019.pdf |
September 5, 2018
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3
It is a gorgeous sunny day here in Tipton, Michigan as I (Heidi) sit down to write to you. This has been our view for the past 3 weeks since we arrived. We have worked through jetlag and are settled into a new routine.
Kampala is a very noisy, hectic, and dirty place to live. The constant din of loud tropical birds, dogs barking, cars hooting, people everywhere day and night, churches, sirens, and neighbors all together make it a noisy place pretty much 24/7. I am thankful God has called us to live there but it is not a restful place, and I find all the various noises make it a hard place to think.
The last three weeks have been incredibly refreshing to us as we have enjoyed the peace and quiet of country living, wide open spaces of grass and fields, the beauty of corn fields, gentle breezes under the shade of beautiful trees, long walks down country roads, visiting dairy farms and introducing our girls to all the special treasures of growing up as a farm kid, soft clean grass to run on, the sweet gentle sounds of the birds, camping outside with the soothing hum of insects and frogs. We love being able to play hard outside all day long and sleep soundly at night. We really are so thankful to God for this special time here!
It has been so much fun to reconnect with family and friends in these last three weeks and introduce our little Hannah around. I personally was not prepared for how long it has taken our girls to warm up to Grandpa & Grandma. I mean which grandkid doesn’t want to ditch their parents and be with grandparents who adore them and will spoil them rotten. But the first two weeks the girls were very cautious around them and always wanted to be by our side which was so hard for me to handle. But I had to remember that EVERYTHING is new for them. A new home, new surroundings, new people, new foods, new beds, and even Grandpa & Grandma are new. But last week I was so thankful to see the girls wake up and want to run over to see them first thing in the morning. I just need to give them time and be a little bit more patient with these little ones.
As a mom I am loving the treasure of our local library. We are devouring stacks of books every week which is something we don’t have in Uganda. This Sunday we will begin our travels to visit and reconnect with all of our partner churches. We are excited that each Sunday we will be meeting up with so many special friends and partners and to have the chance to update you all in person on what God has been doing over the last two years in Uganda.
We are exceedingly thankful for:
Prayer Requests:
September Travel Schedule:
Have a wonderful day!
Joyfully Yours,
Heidi & Prince :-)
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3
It is a gorgeous sunny day here in Tipton, Michigan as I (Heidi) sit down to write to you. This has been our view for the past 3 weeks since we arrived. We have worked through jetlag and are settled into a new routine.
Kampala is a very noisy, hectic, and dirty place to live. The constant din of loud tropical birds, dogs barking, cars hooting, people everywhere day and night, churches, sirens, and neighbors all together make it a noisy place pretty much 24/7. I am thankful God has called us to live there but it is not a restful place, and I find all the various noises make it a hard place to think.
The last three weeks have been incredibly refreshing to us as we have enjoyed the peace and quiet of country living, wide open spaces of grass and fields, the beauty of corn fields, gentle breezes under the shade of beautiful trees, long walks down country roads, visiting dairy farms and introducing our girls to all the special treasures of growing up as a farm kid, soft clean grass to run on, the sweet gentle sounds of the birds, camping outside with the soothing hum of insects and frogs. We love being able to play hard outside all day long and sleep soundly at night. We really are so thankful to God for this special time here!
It has been so much fun to reconnect with family and friends in these last three weeks and introduce our little Hannah around. I personally was not prepared for how long it has taken our girls to warm up to Grandpa & Grandma. I mean which grandkid doesn’t want to ditch their parents and be with grandparents who adore them and will spoil them rotten. But the first two weeks the girls were very cautious around them and always wanted to be by our side which was so hard for me to handle. But I had to remember that EVERYTHING is new for them. A new home, new surroundings, new people, new foods, new beds, and even Grandpa & Grandma are new. But last week I was so thankful to see the girls wake up and want to run over to see them first thing in the morning. I just need to give them time and be a little bit more patient with these little ones.
As a mom I am loving the treasure of our local library. We are devouring stacks of books every week which is something we don’t have in Uganda. This Sunday we will begin our travels to visit and reconnect with all of our partner churches. We are excited that each Sunday we will be meeting up with so many special friends and partners and to have the chance to update you all in person on what God has been doing over the last two years in Uganda.
We are exceedingly thankful for:
- Our lovely rental van, which we are paying only $14 a day! Prince researched for a vehicle for us to use in our time here and rental vans were going to cost us $85 a day, which we obviously could not pay. But GOD provided this lovely car at such an amazing price!
- Prince had an excellent time marketing RedRoad Tours to potential clients at a student and youth travel conference in Baltimore, MD in August. We are hopeful some of these contacts he made will book trips with our company in the near future.
- A special time of camping with family over the Labor Day weekend.
- A lovely home to stay in next door to Dad & Mom while we are here for 4 months.
- For my parents who bend over backwards to serve us.
- The gift of being able to travel all over as a family and have this much time together.
- For Naomi who turned 3 years old on September 4th. What a gift to have enjoyed 3 years with this little sparkler.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for safety on the roads as we begin traveling from state to state.
- For strength, energy, humble, and thankful hearts as we travel.
- An enthusiastic desire to be used in any way God desires to use in the next weeks.
- For clarity in thought and in our words as we share our ministry with all of our partners.
- That the Lord would set a guard over our tongues as we speak that we wouldn’t say anything that doesn’t glorify Him.
September Travel Schedule:
- 9/9 ~ New Life Fellowship – Leslie, MI
- 9/16 ~ Country Bible Church – North Webster, IN
- 9/23 ~ New Life Community Church (Lakeview) – Chicago, IL
- 9/30 ~ Capital Hill Baptist Church (Attending) – Washington, DC
Have a wonderful day!
Joyfully Yours,
Heidi & Prince :-)
Dearest Family & Friends!
I am writing to let you know we have begun our journey home to the States! We are currently sitting in a children’s play area at the airport in Amsterdam!
The girls did well on the flight from Uganda and slept a little. They are real sweet troopers and have been so obedient and joyful! We are so thankful! 💗💗
I just got our first Starbucks Lattes since October of 2016. Yum!!!
We will board another plane in an hour for our 8 hour flight home to Michigan.
Please pray for continued safe travels, strength for the girls, and God honoring attitudes from Daddy & Mommy! 😂
See you soon!
The Sabenas 😊
I am writing to let you know we have begun our journey home to the States! We are currently sitting in a children’s play area at the airport in Amsterdam!
The girls did well on the flight from Uganda and slept a little. They are real sweet troopers and have been so obedient and joyful! We are so thankful! 💗💗
I just got our first Starbucks Lattes since October of 2016. Yum!!!
We will board another plane in an hour for our 8 hour flight home to Michigan.
Please pray for continued safe travels, strength for the girls, and God honoring attitudes from Daddy & Mommy! 😂
See you soon!
The Sabenas 😊
April 4th, 2018 ~
It was exactly a year ago today we had a very sick 7-day-old baby in our arms. We were faced with the real possibility she could begin to have internal bleeding and bleeding on the brain, which would lead to more serious complications, even death. We were so scared as we held our baby girl who was so lifeless and seemed to be slipping away in our arms and we didn't know what to do.
It was exactly a year ago today we had a very sick 7-day-old baby in our arms. We were faced with the real possibility she could begin to have internal bleeding and bleeding on the brain, which would lead to more serious complications, even death. We were so scared as we held our baby girl who was so lifeless and seemed to be slipping away in our arms and we didn't know what to do.
Little toes and fingers that were poked and poked and poked until they bled to find veins to draw blood. :-(
Our hearts were heavy as we pleaded with God to spare our little Hannah Belle’s life, and we reached out to you to pray with us that He would be gracious to her and heal her. You prayed, and He heard, and answered our prayers with life instead of death!!! And we worshipped HIM!!!
Our hearts were heavy as we pleaded with God to spare our little Hannah Belle’s life, and we reached out to you to pray with us that He would be gracious to her and heal her. You prayed, and He heard, and answered our prayers with life instead of death!!! And we worshipped HIM!!!
We know that in all things no matter what happened to Hannah, God would still be good, kind and trustworthy…ALWAYS and FOREVER… but we are grateful He gave us the privilege to live these 372 days with this precious spunky little girl!
It has been an emotional few days for me since Hannah turned 1 on March 28th as I have thought through the difficult 10 days following her birth. I remember the worries and fears we had as we faced the unknown with this little life but then I look at the healthy, chubby face of this spunky, fearless, jolly little girl who smiles with her 4 bunny rabbit teeth and my heart worships the Lord for His kindness to us!!!
Hannah turns 1!!! :-)
Prince doesn’t blubber like me but the tears locked away in that part of my heart seem to flow so easily when I think about how loved and supported we were through this scary time last year. Thank you for praying for us and showing us your care and concern all these miles away and throughout this entire year! We cannot express enough thanks to you all and we simply worship and praise God for allowing us to experience the body of Christ in action!
With Love and Thankful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi, Naomi & Hannah
With Love and Thankful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi, Naomi & Hannah
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December 23, 2017
Dearest Family & Friends,
Only 2 days left until JESUS’ BIRTHDAY!!! We wanted to pause for a moment and wish you a…Very Merry Christmas!!!
Having a little one I gave birth to only 8 months ago brings about so many thoughts as we consider how scary it was for us when Hannah picked up an infection that almost took her life just days after she was born. Yet she was born in a hospital. But Jesus…willingly left the splendor, extravagance, and cleanliness of heaven to be born in a filthy barn.
I am speechless when I think of Mary laying in straw, giving birth without the help of midwives and doctors, only to lay her fragile and precious little boy in a dirty trough where animals, with all their germs, eat!!!! How Jesus or Mary didn’t pick up an infection and die is truly a miracle in itself!!! Jesus was born in a dark and filthy place and His life brought life and light into the world and even today He brings life and light into our darkened and dirty hearts if we believe in Him.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save wretched and helpless sinners!!! That is good news for us!!! We are incredibly thankful for the grace and mercy God has shown us, and the love He has poured out in our rebellious hearts as we have seen in greater ways this year!
We are thankful that the JOYOUS message an army of angels sang out to the lowly shepherds the night Jesus was born, is something we experience in our daily lives.
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” ~ Luke 2:14
It is because of this precious baby we celebrate that we are able to have peace in our hearts each day. Our hearts yearn that those we have come to live with and serve here in Uganda, would KNOW God’s peace in their lives too. And it is our prayer that you would know and enjoy peace with God this Christmas season and for eternity!
As Prince and I have been reflecting on all that has taken place in 2017, we recognize we could not have done all that we have done this year without YOU!!! God has used you to make our work possible and for that we say a huge THANK YOU!!!!!!
Thank you for yet another year of faithfully partnering with us in this ministry!
Thank you for agonizing with us this year in all of our challenges!
Thank you for celebrating with us in our joyous victories!
Thank you for your kind words, your counsel and corrections, and your fervent and faithful prayers.
We are privileged to serve Jesus in many ways here in Uganda, but you have been faithful to your call from God to serve alongside us through prayer, financial support, and friendship.
Thank you for allowing us to be your voice to our neighbor children, employees, clients, friends, church members, boda drivers, neighbors, and to everyone we meet to shine the light of Jesus in Kampala Uganda. We hope God has used us in some way to encourage your hearts this year and to spur you onto loving Jesus more.
If God lays it on your heart to support our ministry please click this link: http://www.fim.org/get-involved/giving/#tab-id-4 to find out how to give a year-end financial gift.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration!
Merry Christmas,
Prince, Heidi, Naomi & Hannah :-)
December 18, 2017
Dear Friends & Family and ALL our Supporting Church Families,
Merry Christmas!!!
Only 7 days till Christmas and we are having so much fun counting down to Jesus’ Birthday with Naomi Gail this year. It is such a joy to build memories with her as we think about the amazing treasure of Jesus being born to save us from our sins.
Christmas Video...
We wanted to send you a Christmas greeting from Kampala. You can watch the video by clicking on this link:
Christmas In Kampala: https://vimeo.com/245799032
Password: christmaskamp (You can just copy and paste this password into the website.)
A Favor...
Also we wanted to ask you if you would bless us by sending your Christmas cards/letters and family photos even if it is after Christmas?
Our address is:
Prince & Heidi Sabena
Box 23396
Kampala, UGANDA
Please stuff our mailbox with all your lovely faces and news from home! It will be such a treat to read all your news!
We pray you will be able to make your home a place of joy and peace and many special memories as in these final days leading up to Christmas!
With Much Love and Christmas Cheer,
The Sabenas :-)
Dearest Family & Friends,
Only 2 days left until JESUS’ BIRTHDAY!!! We wanted to pause for a moment and wish you a…Very Merry Christmas!!!
Having a little one I gave birth to only 8 months ago brings about so many thoughts as we consider how scary it was for us when Hannah picked up an infection that almost took her life just days after she was born. Yet she was born in a hospital. But Jesus…willingly left the splendor, extravagance, and cleanliness of heaven to be born in a filthy barn.
I am speechless when I think of Mary laying in straw, giving birth without the help of midwives and doctors, only to lay her fragile and precious little boy in a dirty trough where animals, with all their germs, eat!!!! How Jesus or Mary didn’t pick up an infection and die is truly a miracle in itself!!! Jesus was born in a dark and filthy place and His life brought life and light into the world and even today He brings life and light into our darkened and dirty hearts if we believe in Him.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save wretched and helpless sinners!!! That is good news for us!!! We are incredibly thankful for the grace and mercy God has shown us, and the love He has poured out in our rebellious hearts as we have seen in greater ways this year!
We are thankful that the JOYOUS message an army of angels sang out to the lowly shepherds the night Jesus was born, is something we experience in our daily lives.
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” ~ Luke 2:14
It is because of this precious baby we celebrate that we are able to have peace in our hearts each day. Our hearts yearn that those we have come to live with and serve here in Uganda, would KNOW God’s peace in their lives too. And it is our prayer that you would know and enjoy peace with God this Christmas season and for eternity!
As Prince and I have been reflecting on all that has taken place in 2017, we recognize we could not have done all that we have done this year without YOU!!! God has used you to make our work possible and for that we say a huge THANK YOU!!!!!!
Thank you for yet another year of faithfully partnering with us in this ministry!
Thank you for agonizing with us this year in all of our challenges!
Thank you for celebrating with us in our joyous victories!
Thank you for your kind words, your counsel and corrections, and your fervent and faithful prayers.
We are privileged to serve Jesus in many ways here in Uganda, but you have been faithful to your call from God to serve alongside us through prayer, financial support, and friendship.
Thank you for allowing us to be your voice to our neighbor children, employees, clients, friends, church members, boda drivers, neighbors, and to everyone we meet to shine the light of Jesus in Kampala Uganda. We hope God has used us in some way to encourage your hearts this year and to spur you onto loving Jesus more.
If God lays it on your heart to support our ministry please click this link: http://www.fim.org/get-involved/giving/#tab-id-4 to find out how to give a year-end financial gift.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration!
Merry Christmas,
Prince, Heidi, Naomi & Hannah :-)
December 18, 2017
Dear Friends & Family and ALL our Supporting Church Families,
Merry Christmas!!!
Only 7 days till Christmas and we are having so much fun counting down to Jesus’ Birthday with Naomi Gail this year. It is such a joy to build memories with her as we think about the amazing treasure of Jesus being born to save us from our sins.
Christmas Video...
We wanted to send you a Christmas greeting from Kampala. You can watch the video by clicking on this link:
Christmas In Kampala: https://vimeo.com/245799032
Password: christmaskamp (You can just copy and paste this password into the website.)
A Favor...
Also we wanted to ask you if you would bless us by sending your Christmas cards/letters and family photos even if it is after Christmas?
Our address is:
Prince & Heidi Sabena
Box 23396
Kampala, UGANDA
Please stuff our mailbox with all your lovely faces and news from home! It will be such a treat to read all your news!
We pray you will be able to make your home a place of joy and peace and many special memories as in these final days leading up to Christmas!
With Much Love and Christmas Cheer,
The Sabenas :-)
Dear Friends & Family,
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We are in full swing for Christmas! :-) It is our prayer that you would find this month a time of rest as we carve moments out of our days to ponder the preciousness of Jesus who came to us as a baby…born to die for our sins.
Our home is all decorated and we are already enjoying a very natural opportunity every day to share the Gospel with Naomi Gail and all the children and neighbors who walk or peep into our home.
This Wednesday I (Heidi) have invited 4 ladies and their children to come home to have a Christmas crafting day. I love Christmas and all the many facets that go with it. Many of our friends we work with here are so poor that they are simply trusting God day to day to provide all their basic needs. Christmas decorations are simply not possible for them. Yet I know they would all love to have a tree and lights and all the special things that make a home so festive and cozy for our families.
So I am going to have them come and we will make a paper trees to tape on their walls, paper chains, stars and ornaments for them to use to decorate to make their homes festive and cozy for their families as they celebrate Jesus. I am really excited! I just found glitter in town so I am sure we will be literally sparkling from head to toe when it is all over. :-)
Shepherding A Child’s Heart…
Last Saturday we finished our last chapter in our Shepherding A Child’s Heart book with the group of couples in our parenting class. We began this wonderful journey in January of this year and it has been an amazing time of growing in our parenting, growing as couples and then as friends! It has really become a beautiful gospel community for us where we have shared life….all the ups and downs over the year…TOGETHER! :-)
Familiarization Trip…
The last week in November, Prince closed the office and took his entire staff on a “Familiarization Trip” on the Western side of the country to let them stay at some of the lodges we use and participate in some of the activities we sell to our clients.
This year has been incredibly busy for our RedRoad team and they have been working so hard. With as much business as we have had that also meant there have been a lot more mistakes and learning opportunities.
It was not only a wonderful time for the team to get a firsthand experience of what is available in the country to better assist our clients but it also gave the team a chance to spend 6 days together riding for hours in the car, doing strenuous activities, eating new foods, sleeping in rooms together, and having hours of learning each other’s personalities. They needed to get away to learn and laugh together. Prince said this trip was incredibly helpful for our company.
Our Church….
It is with heavy hearts we share some difficult news with you regarding our church. To be honest it is quite hard to know where to begin our story.
After we were married we went around to all of you sharing how we believed we were being called to do a two-fold discipleship ministry.
The church is small and yet there are many young men in the church who love God’s Word and really want to grow in their knowledge and application of the Word in their lives. In a day in age when we see many men not following God, it is amazing to see our church bursting with men who want to live for God! What a treasure! :-)
Over the last 4 years that we have been members of the church, we have grown to love and cherish our church family and see it as an amazing place to grow and serve.
Many of the people in the church have become incredibly dear to us and it has been a privilege to do life with them.
We shared with you as we prepared to return in 2015 after our wedding that we were excited to come alongside and serve our pastor and his wife by helping them with the discipleship ministry in the church. There are so few churches in the city that teach the Word of God in a clearly biblical way, but our pastor really does teach the Word so well and we agree with him 99% of the time.
However, over the last two years we have become increasingly concerned, that while he teaches such solid biblical truths we began to notice more and more, that our pastor doesn’t practice and live out what he is preaching.
When we first arrived to the church one thing we appreciated was our pastor telling his congregation that if there was anything he taught or did that we didn’t understand or had concerns over, we could come and talk to him about it. He encouraged us to be like the Bereans who were commended for searching the Scriptures to see if what Paul taught was true.
Prince approached him 2 years ago to discuss some concerns we had at that time, which pastor didn’t really appreciate and took a lot of offence from. Since that time Prince has been trying in various ways to win over his trust and friendship however all of our efforts have not brought any fruit instead his mistrust of us has increased to the extent that he has seen us as those that have come to destroy his church and ruin his ministry.
In these last two years he has slandered us to church members, sat down with people and warned and urged them to avoid us and those he sees as our “disciples” in the church.
Knowing this was not in any way true of our motivations we have for the most part chosen to ignore it, hoping that the more we served him and submitted to his leadership we would win his trust and confidence.
In the last couple of weeks we have been approached by a number of church members that were concerned with what the pastor was sharing about us in public settings. Prince was encouraged to address it so….we did. We sat down with Pastor and his wife for a 3 hour conversation 2 weeks ago and asked them if there was any way we had wronged or sinned against them because we would like to seek for their forgiveness if we had. However they said they had no fault with us but were suspicious of us and our influence over people in the church.
From our deduction their suspicion was not a result of any sinful actions on our part but rather as a result of our desire to serve the Lord first and foremost, rather than our allegiance to him as our pastor.
Through our meeting it became clear that our pastor has a different view of sin, love, and godliness from one that we share. For example, he does not see slander and suspicion as a sin he should avoid or repent of both to God and to the appropriate person. In addition we saw a desire to protect himself rather than having a brokenness over sin.
This has left us in a very difficult and uncomfortable place not knowing how to continue to serve and minister in our church. Over the last couple weeks we have sought out the counsel of our leaders and several of you and other ministry partners in the field on the way forward.
**We covet your prayers for us that the Lord would give us wisdom and patience as we seek to navigate these murky waters.
In the last 2 years we have not mentioned the struggles we have been having in the church. Partly because we were hopeful that this would be resolved and partly because we didn’t want to slander or paint our pastor in a bad light. However we now believe we are obliged to share with you because as partners in ministry with us, we are accountable to you concerning the decisions we make in regards to the direction of our ministry.
While these last two years have been difficult and at times very painful from the trials we are facing, we are thankful for how these struggles have helped us to grow stronger in applying the truths we have learned in Scripture. We are thankful for the lessons learned and the opportunities to be stretched in ways we have never been stretched before. We know God is using this time to shape our character which we learn from Romans 5:2-5 which says, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Thank you for standing with us and your continued commitment to this ministry! We hope you have a wonderful day!
Love,
Prince & Heidi :-)
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We are in full swing for Christmas! :-) It is our prayer that you would find this month a time of rest as we carve moments out of our days to ponder the preciousness of Jesus who came to us as a baby…born to die for our sins.
Our home is all decorated and we are already enjoying a very natural opportunity every day to share the Gospel with Naomi Gail and all the children and neighbors who walk or peep into our home.
This Wednesday I (Heidi) have invited 4 ladies and their children to come home to have a Christmas crafting day. I love Christmas and all the many facets that go with it. Many of our friends we work with here are so poor that they are simply trusting God day to day to provide all their basic needs. Christmas decorations are simply not possible for them. Yet I know they would all love to have a tree and lights and all the special things that make a home so festive and cozy for our families.
So I am going to have them come and we will make a paper trees to tape on their walls, paper chains, stars and ornaments for them to use to decorate to make their homes festive and cozy for their families as they celebrate Jesus. I am really excited! I just found glitter in town so I am sure we will be literally sparkling from head to toe when it is all over. :-)
Shepherding A Child’s Heart…
Last Saturday we finished our last chapter in our Shepherding A Child’s Heart book with the group of couples in our parenting class. We began this wonderful journey in January of this year and it has been an amazing time of growing in our parenting, growing as couples and then as friends! It has really become a beautiful gospel community for us where we have shared life….all the ups and downs over the year…TOGETHER! :-)
Familiarization Trip…
The last week in November, Prince closed the office and took his entire staff on a “Familiarization Trip” on the Western side of the country to let them stay at some of the lodges we use and participate in some of the activities we sell to our clients.
This year has been incredibly busy for our RedRoad team and they have been working so hard. With as much business as we have had that also meant there have been a lot more mistakes and learning opportunities.
It was not only a wonderful time for the team to get a firsthand experience of what is available in the country to better assist our clients but it also gave the team a chance to spend 6 days together riding for hours in the car, doing strenuous activities, eating new foods, sleeping in rooms together, and having hours of learning each other’s personalities. They needed to get away to learn and laugh together. Prince said this trip was incredibly helpful for our company.
Our Church….
It is with heavy hearts we share some difficult news with you regarding our church. To be honest it is quite hard to know where to begin our story.
After we were married we went around to all of you sharing how we believed we were being called to do a two-fold discipleship ministry.
- Discipleship through Business as Mission with RedRoad tours.
- Discipleship/Biblical Counseling with people through the context and under the umbrella of the local church. Specifically as members of Berea Baptist Church in Kampala.
The church is small and yet there are many young men in the church who love God’s Word and really want to grow in their knowledge and application of the Word in their lives. In a day in age when we see many men not following God, it is amazing to see our church bursting with men who want to live for God! What a treasure! :-)
Over the last 4 years that we have been members of the church, we have grown to love and cherish our church family and see it as an amazing place to grow and serve.
Many of the people in the church have become incredibly dear to us and it has been a privilege to do life with them.
We shared with you as we prepared to return in 2015 after our wedding that we were excited to come alongside and serve our pastor and his wife by helping them with the discipleship ministry in the church. There are so few churches in the city that teach the Word of God in a clearly biblical way, but our pastor really does teach the Word so well and we agree with him 99% of the time.
However, over the last two years we have become increasingly concerned, that while he teaches such solid biblical truths we began to notice more and more, that our pastor doesn’t practice and live out what he is preaching.
When we first arrived to the church one thing we appreciated was our pastor telling his congregation that if there was anything he taught or did that we didn’t understand or had concerns over, we could come and talk to him about it. He encouraged us to be like the Bereans who were commended for searching the Scriptures to see if what Paul taught was true.
Prince approached him 2 years ago to discuss some concerns we had at that time, which pastor didn’t really appreciate and took a lot of offence from. Since that time Prince has been trying in various ways to win over his trust and friendship however all of our efforts have not brought any fruit instead his mistrust of us has increased to the extent that he has seen us as those that have come to destroy his church and ruin his ministry.
In these last two years he has slandered us to church members, sat down with people and warned and urged them to avoid us and those he sees as our “disciples” in the church.
Knowing this was not in any way true of our motivations we have for the most part chosen to ignore it, hoping that the more we served him and submitted to his leadership we would win his trust and confidence.
In the last couple of weeks we have been approached by a number of church members that were concerned with what the pastor was sharing about us in public settings. Prince was encouraged to address it so….we did. We sat down with Pastor and his wife for a 3 hour conversation 2 weeks ago and asked them if there was any way we had wronged or sinned against them because we would like to seek for their forgiveness if we had. However they said they had no fault with us but were suspicious of us and our influence over people in the church.
From our deduction their suspicion was not a result of any sinful actions on our part but rather as a result of our desire to serve the Lord first and foremost, rather than our allegiance to him as our pastor.
Through our meeting it became clear that our pastor has a different view of sin, love, and godliness from one that we share. For example, he does not see slander and suspicion as a sin he should avoid or repent of both to God and to the appropriate person. In addition we saw a desire to protect himself rather than having a brokenness over sin.
This has left us in a very difficult and uncomfortable place not knowing how to continue to serve and minister in our church. Over the last couple weeks we have sought out the counsel of our leaders and several of you and other ministry partners in the field on the way forward.
**We covet your prayers for us that the Lord would give us wisdom and patience as we seek to navigate these murky waters.
In the last 2 years we have not mentioned the struggles we have been having in the church. Partly because we were hopeful that this would be resolved and partly because we didn’t want to slander or paint our pastor in a bad light. However we now believe we are obliged to share with you because as partners in ministry with us, we are accountable to you concerning the decisions we make in regards to the direction of our ministry.
While these last two years have been difficult and at times very painful from the trials we are facing, we are thankful for how these struggles have helped us to grow stronger in applying the truths we have learned in Scripture. We are thankful for the lessons learned and the opportunities to be stretched in ways we have never been stretched before. We know God is using this time to shape our character which we learn from Romans 5:2-5 which says, "And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Thank you for standing with us and your continued commitment to this ministry! We hope you have a wonderful day!
Love,
Prince & Heidi :-)
Monday October 30, 2017
Dear Friends & Family,
Eddie and I returned home last night after another rich time with the pastors in Kasese. Thank you for praying for us while we were away! God was faithful to give us strength and wisdom to teach and answer their many questions.
The attendance was down this time because it is rainy season, so as they traveled down the mountains from their homes, they could not cross the river because the rains caused the water levels to rise and the current was too strong. It was dangerous for many of them to cross and they are too poor to hire a boda boda to drive them to the bridge where they could cross. Actually a few days ago 3 people died trying to cross the river.
Another reason was because it is coffee harvesting season so they were busy attending to their crops.
We continued our study through the book of Luke. We covered chapters 9, 10 and 11.
Eddie
I was excited to teach through these passages because of the lessons learned in my preparations with Eddie and Stanley. It was also a special treat to watch Eddie teach.
Eddie did a fantastic job teaching.
This was Eddie’s first time teaching for an extended time. Spending these last 4 days with him, really helped me get to know him better. Eddie is a very sweet, thoughtful, analytical type of guy. He loves to read, reflect, and ponder on everything. He’s a man of few words, at least compared to me, but loves the word of God especially Christ work on the Cross. He has the beautiful ability of seeing the Cross and the Gospel in every passage.
It was great to serve with Eddie because it gave us a few days of living together for me to see his many strengths but also to observe his weaknesses. Our focus here in our ministry is geared towards biblical discipleship and holistically developing people. One thing I observed is that Eddie is quite slow in his thinking. He can’t make a decision and if there are a lot of things thrown at him he will tell you he needs to lay down and just rest a bit. He is very forgetful, absent minded, and pretty lazy, which I spoke to him very honestly about one evening over dinner and he readily admitted he thought what I was pointing out was true.
I think a lot of this is tied with how he was raised. Eddie grew up as an orphan and never really hard the attention of a loving parent to nurture him. And so for all his good intentions, I have recently noticed that Eddie struggles to get things done. It stood out to me while in Kasese. Two or three times he had not prepared for his passages, and praise the Lord I had studied the passages too, and I was able to assist him.
All in all, my time spent with Eddie has given me a window into his life. Heidi and I have a clearer picture of how to be better friends to him, and how to help him grow and improve in these areas of weakness because we see how they affect his family and work life.
Luke
The book of Luke has been such a great way of learning about Jesus and I am so glad I made the decision to study the book with the pastors. Since I started going to Kasese, our goal has been to change their understanding of God and equip them with the true Gospel.
However I have learned it’s easy to focus on changing behavior rather than confronting the heart, the source of those behaviors. Most of these pastors really cling on to Jesus’ teachings and so when you teach them in a topical way, such as studying different doctrines in the bible, it confronts their heart attitudes but it doesn’t change them because they don’t think Jesus is the source of these teachings. They believe Jesus’ teaching is contrary to what we are saying.
The study of Luke has been a great way for them to learn about Jesus, his intentions, and why he did the things he did. This has been helpful for them to see him in a new light and see how they misunderstood his teachings. Luke, chapters 9-11, focus so much on Jesus’ teachings to the disciples, his most intimate followers. Therefore it was a great way to learn of what Jesus desires of us as Christians.
I think by the time we are done with the book of Luke, it will make it easier to teach other theological subjects.
If I summarized the major themes covered in these passages, I would say they are:
Pastor Andrew & Pastor Siku
Two people that stood out to me this time. Pastor Andrew and Pastor Siku.
Pastor Andrew usually translates as I teach. Eddie and I are amazed by his passion for God and his humble attitude. Many times, as we were teaching, he would get so moved by the subject, that he would stop translating for a couple of minutes, and he would go into this passionate plea to the listeners to heed what was being taught or he would try to explain what we were teaching in different ways to makes sure they understood. You got the sense he wasn’t just translating, rather he was consumed by the truth of the message. Sometimes he would exclaim and say, “Oh have mercy on us Lord!”
Pastor Siku on the other hand is from Congo. He came to Kasese as a missionary and told me he has served the Lord in many regions, but has never been to a region as hard as Kasese. He has attended all our classes and always seems to agree with what we teach. It’s been such a relief for him to have us come and affirm what he believes. He feels so validated.
Last year Pastor Siku’s wife went mental and started living as a “mulalu” (a crazy person) as they say in Luganda, and he had to take her back to her village in Congo. He is left raising their two children while pastoring. It is such a sad situation and he said to me one afternoon that, "you don’t realize how much you need your wife until she is gone." He really misses his wife so much!
What amazed me about Pastor Siku was his commitment to the class even though he had so many pressing needs back home. He would have to wake up, feed the kids, get them off to school, and then get ready and travel a distance to join the group.
Safari
Sunday morning Eddie and I loaded up the car and drove through Queen Elizabeth National Park so I could treat Eddie to an early morning game drive. The park was really empty and we saw lots of animals but our highlight was finding two male lions and one female lion alongside the road. It is currently mating season so we got to see nature happen right before our eyes. ;-) As we drove on we almost ran over a MASSIVE lion in the road. I don’t usually fear lions but when this one stood up I really panicked inside. He was like a horse crossing the road. Eddie really enjoyed being able to watch God’s beautiful creation up close.
Storms & Roofs
Andrew let me know this morning that it rained heavily with very strong winds last night. When he arrived this morning at the school where we had been meeting, he found the roof of the main building which was their most permanent structure, had blown off.
You can pray that the Lord would provide for them to put on a new roof and if you fee led to give towards this need, you can send a gift into FIM under the “Kasese Project” fund.
Thank you for your continued partnership with us in proclaiming Christ to these dear people in Kasese! We are so blessed to serve with you!!!
Blessings,
Prince
Dear Friends & Family,
Eddie and I returned home last night after another rich time with the pastors in Kasese. Thank you for praying for us while we were away! God was faithful to give us strength and wisdom to teach and answer their many questions.
The attendance was down this time because it is rainy season, so as they traveled down the mountains from their homes, they could not cross the river because the rains caused the water levels to rise and the current was too strong. It was dangerous for many of them to cross and they are too poor to hire a boda boda to drive them to the bridge where they could cross. Actually a few days ago 3 people died trying to cross the river.
Another reason was because it is coffee harvesting season so they were busy attending to their crops.
We continued our study through the book of Luke. We covered chapters 9, 10 and 11.
Eddie
I was excited to teach through these passages because of the lessons learned in my preparations with Eddie and Stanley. It was also a special treat to watch Eddie teach.
Eddie did a fantastic job teaching.
This was Eddie’s first time teaching for an extended time. Spending these last 4 days with him, really helped me get to know him better. Eddie is a very sweet, thoughtful, analytical type of guy. He loves to read, reflect, and ponder on everything. He’s a man of few words, at least compared to me, but loves the word of God especially Christ work on the Cross. He has the beautiful ability of seeing the Cross and the Gospel in every passage.
It was great to serve with Eddie because it gave us a few days of living together for me to see his many strengths but also to observe his weaknesses. Our focus here in our ministry is geared towards biblical discipleship and holistically developing people. One thing I observed is that Eddie is quite slow in his thinking. He can’t make a decision and if there are a lot of things thrown at him he will tell you he needs to lay down and just rest a bit. He is very forgetful, absent minded, and pretty lazy, which I spoke to him very honestly about one evening over dinner and he readily admitted he thought what I was pointing out was true.
I think a lot of this is tied with how he was raised. Eddie grew up as an orphan and never really hard the attention of a loving parent to nurture him. And so for all his good intentions, I have recently noticed that Eddie struggles to get things done. It stood out to me while in Kasese. Two or three times he had not prepared for his passages, and praise the Lord I had studied the passages too, and I was able to assist him.
All in all, my time spent with Eddie has given me a window into his life. Heidi and I have a clearer picture of how to be better friends to him, and how to help him grow and improve in these areas of weakness because we see how they affect his family and work life.
Luke
The book of Luke has been such a great way of learning about Jesus and I am so glad I made the decision to study the book with the pastors. Since I started going to Kasese, our goal has been to change their understanding of God and equip them with the true Gospel.
However I have learned it’s easy to focus on changing behavior rather than confronting the heart, the source of those behaviors. Most of these pastors really cling on to Jesus’ teachings and so when you teach them in a topical way, such as studying different doctrines in the bible, it confronts their heart attitudes but it doesn’t change them because they don’t think Jesus is the source of these teachings. They believe Jesus’ teaching is contrary to what we are saying.
The study of Luke has been a great way for them to learn about Jesus, his intentions, and why he did the things he did. This has been helpful for them to see him in a new light and see how they misunderstood his teachings. Luke, chapters 9-11, focus so much on Jesus’ teachings to the disciples, his most intimate followers. Therefore it was a great way to learn of what Jesus desires of us as Christians.
I think by the time we are done with the book of Luke, it will make it easier to teach other theological subjects.
If I summarized the major themes covered in these passages, I would say they are:
- Jesus’ rejection of a “works” based faith.
- The Jewish culture’s obsession on looking righteous before men. They sought the approval of man over the approval of God.
- The Jewish culture’s self-righteous disdain for sinners vs. Jesus’ empathy towards humble sinners.
Pastor Andrew & Pastor Siku
Two people that stood out to me this time. Pastor Andrew and Pastor Siku.
Pastor Andrew usually translates as I teach. Eddie and I are amazed by his passion for God and his humble attitude. Many times, as we were teaching, he would get so moved by the subject, that he would stop translating for a couple of minutes, and he would go into this passionate plea to the listeners to heed what was being taught or he would try to explain what we were teaching in different ways to makes sure they understood. You got the sense he wasn’t just translating, rather he was consumed by the truth of the message. Sometimes he would exclaim and say, “Oh have mercy on us Lord!”
Pastor Siku on the other hand is from Congo. He came to Kasese as a missionary and told me he has served the Lord in many regions, but has never been to a region as hard as Kasese. He has attended all our classes and always seems to agree with what we teach. It’s been such a relief for him to have us come and affirm what he believes. He feels so validated.
Last year Pastor Siku’s wife went mental and started living as a “mulalu” (a crazy person) as they say in Luganda, and he had to take her back to her village in Congo. He is left raising their two children while pastoring. It is such a sad situation and he said to me one afternoon that, "you don’t realize how much you need your wife until she is gone." He really misses his wife so much!
What amazed me about Pastor Siku was his commitment to the class even though he had so many pressing needs back home. He would have to wake up, feed the kids, get them off to school, and then get ready and travel a distance to join the group.
Safari
Sunday morning Eddie and I loaded up the car and drove through Queen Elizabeth National Park so I could treat Eddie to an early morning game drive. The park was really empty and we saw lots of animals but our highlight was finding two male lions and one female lion alongside the road. It is currently mating season so we got to see nature happen right before our eyes. ;-) As we drove on we almost ran over a MASSIVE lion in the road. I don’t usually fear lions but when this one stood up I really panicked inside. He was like a horse crossing the road. Eddie really enjoyed being able to watch God’s beautiful creation up close.
Storms & Roofs
Andrew let me know this morning that it rained heavily with very strong winds last night. When he arrived this morning at the school where we had been meeting, he found the roof of the main building which was their most permanent structure, had blown off.
You can pray that the Lord would provide for them to put on a new roof and if you fee led to give towards this need, you can send a gift into FIM under the “Kasese Project” fund.
Thank you for your continued partnership with us in proclaiming Christ to these dear people in Kasese! We are so blessed to serve with you!!!
Blessings,
Prince
October 28, 2017
Dear Friends & Family,
Just a quick update to let you know that Prince and Eddie reached Kasese safely yesterday afternoon. Thank you for your prayers for them as they traveled! :-)
They had their first full day of teaching today. It is 9:50pm and I still have not heard from him all day so I am excited to hear how it went. I will send you some news and testimonies from that side as soon as I talk with him. :-) They will be teaching again all day tomorrow.
Please pray that God would guide them as they teach and answer so many questions the pastors have for them. And for strength for them and for the translators who have such a big job of translating what is taught in English into two different local languages.
We are doing well back here at home without Daddy around. The first week of November, RedRoads will be hosting a medical mission team that comes every year to work in a very poor village in Uganda. For the past 3 years Shalom traveled with the group and prepared all the meals for the team which was a blessing to them and brought great peace to our minds knowing they were being cared for so well.
However this year she will be unable to go because she is now a new mommy, so we have been training up a young woman named Flavia this week in how to cook all the meals on the menu. She only cooks local Ugandan food so these mostly American style dishes are a whole new experience for her but we think she will do well.
Eddie’s wife Rhionah, and their little girl Sadie have been hanging out at our home all week too so with 4 little girls, aged 2 and under, and all of us women in the house we certainly have not been bored while Daddy is away! :-)
Have a great weekend!
Heidi :-)
Dear Friends & Family,
Just a quick update to let you know that Prince and Eddie reached Kasese safely yesterday afternoon. Thank you for your prayers for them as they traveled! :-)
They had their first full day of teaching today. It is 9:50pm and I still have not heard from him all day so I am excited to hear how it went. I will send you some news and testimonies from that side as soon as I talk with him. :-) They will be teaching again all day tomorrow.
Please pray that God would guide them as they teach and answer so many questions the pastors have for them. And for strength for them and for the translators who have such a big job of translating what is taught in English into two different local languages.
We are doing well back here at home without Daddy around. The first week of November, RedRoads will be hosting a medical mission team that comes every year to work in a very poor village in Uganda. For the past 3 years Shalom traveled with the group and prepared all the meals for the team which was a blessing to them and brought great peace to our minds knowing they were being cared for so well.
However this year she will be unable to go because she is now a new mommy, so we have been training up a young woman named Flavia this week in how to cook all the meals on the menu. She only cooks local Ugandan food so these mostly American style dishes are a whole new experience for her but we think she will do well.
Eddie’s wife Rhionah, and their little girl Sadie have been hanging out at our home all week too so with 4 little girls, aged 2 and under, and all of us women in the house we certainly have not been bored while Daddy is away! :-)
Have a great weekend!
Heidi :-)
October 25, 2017
Dear Friends & Family,
This letter might not be the cutest or have very many photos but I am determined to at least get something out to you today to let you know we are alive and well over here in Kampala!
In the last two months I have spent hours writing out many stories and editing and re-editing these drafts, but haven’t sent one of these many letters. With the challenges of living life here and raising these two little ones, I never find a uninterrupted chunk of time to be able to write, edit, and insert photos and get a letter out to you.
For Example...
Living life here is a lot of work and then adding two children to the mix has now made things busier.
My little tribe :-)
I marvel every day when I talk to my mom and hear that in one day she ran errands in Adrian, met someone in Toledo, OH for lunch, then ran over to the Detroit area for a haircut then back to Hillsdale, MI for a political banquet and then home to do a couple hours of paperwork and bills at her desk before going to bed. That is just NOT possible here!
One afternoon when the traffic was lighter, I ran 2 blocks up the road to grab some money really quick from the ATM. That ATM was out of service so I had to drive to 2 more ATM’s to finally find one that was working. I just needed money to buy milk, bread and a few yogurts because we were fresh out and I needed something to feed Naomi. When I finally got some money I went into a supermarket only to find they were out of bread, milk and yogurt. I had to run back across town to a little shop where I at least found some bread and milk and then went home. It took me almost 2 hours to accomplish only half of the simple task I needed to do!!! :-)
In the midst of diaper changes, frequent nursing sessions, busy toddler routines, cooking, laundry, ironing, cleaning, etc…I find it is challenging to accomplish all I have on my daily “To-Do” list.
Marketplace…
I decided, to write down how many people came into our home each day for the month of July. At the end of the month I tallied up the number and divided it by 31 days to see what the average number of people we host each day.
At the end of the month we found we averaged 11 people a day in our home…some days more, some days less but it was helpful to see how busy our home is each day.
Yesterday we hosted 17 people in our home throughout the day. Even the Ugandans who visit are amazed and call our home a marketplace! Haahaaa!!!! :-)
So as you can imagine it is hard to get into a good flow of work when you are constantly having a knock at your door.
On the one hand we love that God brings so many people into our home for us to love on. But it is also a challenge because there is that constant inner battle of, “Grrrr….I have so much work to do!!!”
But what is our work? Loving people to Jesus…so I hate it when my heart sinks every time someone comes and knocks on my door. But there are other important tasks to do as well… emails, letter writing, teaching, paper work, RedRoad tours work, etc.
Please pray that God would give us wisdom to know how to handle all these “interruptions” in the way that would bring Him glory.
HEIDI:
On October 31st we will have been back from America for 1 year now. As a “stay-at-home missionary” I have been enjoying opportunities to open our home in various ways this year:
** We long for Nico, Ivan and Vivian to come to know Jesus as they Lord and Savior. Please continue to pray for their hearts to hear His call!!!!
Children’s Ministry
At the beginning of this year Prince decided to take up the most neglected segment of our church, the children. Nobody in the leadership of our church has any genuine interest in the kids of our church. Everybody is interested in adult bible studies, preaching and music. They were very open to him taking on this responsibility.
Since January, he came up with a curriculum, recruited a few volunteers and we now run classes for the various ages every Sunday during the preaching session of the adult’s church service.
It’s been a joy to watch him serving these kids. Their questions, their willfulness, and their innocence have all been tools that have helped him grow into a better teacher, counselor, and I believe a better follower of Christ. The children's ministry has also really opened doors for Prince and me to build relationships with the parents of these kids.
Shepherding A Child’s Heart Parenting Class
We began a parenting class back in January with 5 couples from our church and it has become such a huge encouragement to all of us. We have been going through “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp.
What we have enjoyed the most are the discussions that result from working through this book together. As many of you know…parenting leaves you with a lot of questions but not always a lot of answers and we have found such great help as we seek to shepherd our little ones hearts and glorify God through the process.
Stanley and Charity Shifu and their daughter Joy are a lovely family from Cameroon. Stanley is currently in Uganda for his graduate studies and said to us last Saturday, “I have been longing to be a good parent for years now. I knew I needed to change something in my parenting but didn’t know what. I knew there had to be something better out there. I am so glad my wife and I joined this class. It has really changed our perspective on children and parenting.”
Next month’s class is our last class, but everybody wants to keep meeting together. The class has become a platform for good biblical friendship where we all hold each other accountable and encourage each other on to good works. Not just in parenting but in all daily living.
THANKFUL!!!
Oh my…I am thanking God sooooo soooo soooo much for the chance to sit here and catch up with you and actually send this out! What a huge gift it is to be able to share with you some of what has been happening since we last “chatted.”
As I have been sitting here writing at a coffee shop there are these two ladies who seem to be the best of friends having a lovely lunch, and now chatting away over ice cream sundaes.
It makes me smile thinking of what Shalom and I will be doing in the years to come when we are older and our children are all grown. What a gift it is to have friends from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Thank you for being faithful, committed friends and supporters to us!
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Girls :-)
Dear Friends & Family,
This letter might not be the cutest or have very many photos but I am determined to at least get something out to you today to let you know we are alive and well over here in Kampala!
In the last two months I have spent hours writing out many stories and editing and re-editing these drafts, but haven’t sent one of these many letters. With the challenges of living life here and raising these two little ones, I never find a uninterrupted chunk of time to be able to write, edit, and insert photos and get a letter out to you.
For Example...
Living life here is a lot of work and then adding two children to the mix has now made things busier.
My little tribe :-)
I marvel every day when I talk to my mom and hear that in one day she ran errands in Adrian, met someone in Toledo, OH for lunch, then ran over to the Detroit area for a haircut then back to Hillsdale, MI for a political banquet and then home to do a couple hours of paperwork and bills at her desk before going to bed. That is just NOT possible here!
One afternoon when the traffic was lighter, I ran 2 blocks up the road to grab some money really quick from the ATM. That ATM was out of service so I had to drive to 2 more ATM’s to finally find one that was working. I just needed money to buy milk, bread and a few yogurts because we were fresh out and I needed something to feed Naomi. When I finally got some money I went into a supermarket only to find they were out of bread, milk and yogurt. I had to run back across town to a little shop where I at least found some bread and milk and then went home. It took me almost 2 hours to accomplish only half of the simple task I needed to do!!! :-)
In the midst of diaper changes, frequent nursing sessions, busy toddler routines, cooking, laundry, ironing, cleaning, etc…I find it is challenging to accomplish all I have on my daily “To-Do” list.
Marketplace…
I decided, to write down how many people came into our home each day for the month of July. At the end of the month I tallied up the number and divided it by 31 days to see what the average number of people we host each day.
At the end of the month we found we averaged 11 people a day in our home…some days more, some days less but it was helpful to see how busy our home is each day.
Yesterday we hosted 17 people in our home throughout the day. Even the Ugandans who visit are amazed and call our home a marketplace! Haahaaa!!!! :-)
So as you can imagine it is hard to get into a good flow of work when you are constantly having a knock at your door.
On the one hand we love that God brings so many people into our home for us to love on. But it is also a challenge because there is that constant inner battle of, “Grrrr….I have so much work to do!!!”
But what is our work? Loving people to Jesus…so I hate it when my heart sinks every time someone comes and knocks on my door. But there are other important tasks to do as well… emails, letter writing, teaching, paper work, RedRoad tours work, etc.
Please pray that God would give us wisdom to know how to handle all these “interruptions” in the way that would bring Him glory.
HEIDI:
On October 31st we will have been back from America for 1 year now. As a “stay-at-home missionary” I have been enjoying opportunities to open our home in various ways this year:
- I continue to host a group of wives and we are going through the book called "The Excellent Wife” by Martha Peace. It has been incredibly challenging and convicting to all of us. Yesterday one of the wives in our group was absolutely heartbroken and carrying such a heavy burden in her heart because she and her husband are really at odds with each other. She is panicked, desperate and lonely. My heart was thankful to God to see all the women gather around her as she wept and poured out her heart to us. The women gave her such hope-filled, biblical counsel which gave her new eyes on the situation and encouragement to keep her eyes fixed on God and His great power as she seeks to love her husband well.
- We have had opportunities to host both the men and women’s groups from our church for their monthly meetings.
- We continue to have a great ministry to all the kids in our community. It warms my heart to see our house as the hangout place as soon as they all get home from school.
- Prince is leaving for Kasese TOMORROW (October 25th – 29th) to teach the pastors out there from the book of Luke. He has been studying with Eddie and Stanley, two men from our church, because his desire is to get more men from our church involved in discipling these pastors. I enjoyed being in the house last week listening to them pour over the text together.
- We THANK GOD as we watch Him provide so much work for our business, RedRoad Tours. Many businesses in the country are really struggling yet ours continues to grow at a slow and steady pace. All the people booking taxi trips and safaris alone is a HUGE testimony to our team! Prince and the team are constantly busy and we are excited for how God is using this business as a tool for ministry and outreach.
** We long for Nico, Ivan and Vivian to come to know Jesus as they Lord and Savior. Please continue to pray for their hearts to hear His call!!!!
Children’s Ministry
At the beginning of this year Prince decided to take up the most neglected segment of our church, the children. Nobody in the leadership of our church has any genuine interest in the kids of our church. Everybody is interested in adult bible studies, preaching and music. They were very open to him taking on this responsibility.
Since January, he came up with a curriculum, recruited a few volunteers and we now run classes for the various ages every Sunday during the preaching session of the adult’s church service.
It’s been a joy to watch him serving these kids. Their questions, their willfulness, and their innocence have all been tools that have helped him grow into a better teacher, counselor, and I believe a better follower of Christ. The children's ministry has also really opened doors for Prince and me to build relationships with the parents of these kids.
Shepherding A Child’s Heart Parenting Class
We began a parenting class back in January with 5 couples from our church and it has become such a huge encouragement to all of us. We have been going through “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp.
What we have enjoyed the most are the discussions that result from working through this book together. As many of you know…parenting leaves you with a lot of questions but not always a lot of answers and we have found such great help as we seek to shepherd our little ones hearts and glorify God through the process.
Stanley and Charity Shifu and their daughter Joy are a lovely family from Cameroon. Stanley is currently in Uganda for his graduate studies and said to us last Saturday, “I have been longing to be a good parent for years now. I knew I needed to change something in my parenting but didn’t know what. I knew there had to be something better out there. I am so glad my wife and I joined this class. It has really changed our perspective on children and parenting.”
Next month’s class is our last class, but everybody wants to keep meeting together. The class has become a platform for good biblical friendship where we all hold each other accountable and encourage each other on to good works. Not just in parenting but in all daily living.
THANKFUL!!!
Oh my…I am thanking God sooooo soooo soooo much for the chance to sit here and catch up with you and actually send this out! What a huge gift it is to be able to share with you some of what has been happening since we last “chatted.”
As I have been sitting here writing at a coffee shop there are these two ladies who seem to be the best of friends having a lovely lunch, and now chatting away over ice cream sundaes.
It makes me smile thinking of what Shalom and I will be doing in the years to come when we are older and our children are all grown. What a gift it is to have friends from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Thank you for being faithful, committed friends and supporters to us!
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Girls :-)
Tuesday July 11, 2017
SUGAR TREATS
I mentioned in my last update that Shalom and I hosted a baby shower for Ayantu, one of our Ethiopian neighbors who delivered her first baby on July 4th. I am always looking for ways to better know the ladies in my community and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to open up my home and love on these women. The Sudanese women did not show up for the party…we think it was because they were in the month of Ramadan and were fasting. But all the Ethiopians in the neighborhood came. When you think of a baby shower you think of lots of yummy snacks and desserts. Our menu was cupcakes, snicker doodles, watermelon, popcorn, and raspberry lemonade. Sweet and simple.
SUGAR TREATS
I mentioned in my last update that Shalom and I hosted a baby shower for Ayantu, one of our Ethiopian neighbors who delivered her first baby on July 4th. I am always looking for ways to better know the ladies in my community and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to open up my home and love on these women. The Sudanese women did not show up for the party…we think it was because they were in the month of Ramadan and were fasting. But all the Ethiopians in the neighborhood came. When you think of a baby shower you think of lots of yummy snacks and desserts. Our menu was cupcakes, snicker doodles, watermelon, popcorn, and raspberry lemonade. Sweet and simple.
Shalom and I noticed all the women hardly ate anything and what they had on their plate they picked at. As they were leaving we said, “Can we pack you some of these cookies and cupcakes?” They almost fell over themselves saying, “No. We are fine really!” We urged on saying, “Why don’t you pack some to take home to your kids when they get home from school?” “Oh no…they can eat those things when they come over to play.” We shut the door wondering if Ethiopians don’t eat sugary things so much? The next week they came and knocked on our door at 8:45am saying they were throwing their own shower for Ayantu at noon that day and could we please come. We gladly accepted the invitation and Prince said, “Now you can see if they eat sugar.”
When Shalom and I arrived we found we were the only guests they invited and they had prepared an entire Ethiopian feast. We started with passion fruit juice, an avocado smoothie then moved on to a plate with their traditional spongy flat bread called Njeera, which they place all the food and sauces on top of and you tear it off and scoop some of the food and eat with your hands. There was a lentil sauce, some beef stew, potatoes and beets and lots of chili to dip into. It was all so delicious!
They served us seconds and argued that we hadn’t eaten enough and to allow them to fill our plates for the third time! For dessert they served this thick bread with coffee. No sugary snacks to be found. Ayantu opened gifts while we nibbled on bread and drank small cups of coffee and then we went home.
So there you have it folks. I guess Ethiopians stay skinny by staying away from the sugar we Americans love so much! I wonder what they must have thought of our shower. But sugar or no sugar…we have grown deeper in our friendship with each other and that is a SWEET thing! :-)
MANGO WORMS
Well…I had heard of it and now have experienced it first hand! When I first moved to Uganda in 2004 I wondered why my house helper was ironing all my clothes, even my socks and underwear. She told me it was to kill any eggs that might have been laid on the clothes by mango flies that could imbed in your skin and cause worms to grow out of you. Ewww!!! :-(
So I ironed everything religiously for 8 years. But then over the last two years since I got married and had Naomi, I slacked off on the ironing of sheets, towels, socks, underwear, etc… And now being a family four making laundry...it is just TOO much to iron everything!
BIG MISTAKE!!!
Last Sunday I saw two big welts on my left hip. I thought maybe they were spider bites or something but as the week went on the welts getting bigger and bigger and more painful. Prince also mentioned he had a welt on his right leg. On Friday I decided to pop into the doctor to make sure everything was all right. The doctor took one look at the swellings and said… “Oh no. I was hoping it wasn’t this. You have mango worms/maggots growing inside of you!!!” YUCK!!! He squeezed two…living, moving worms out of my hip and I have had the creepy crawlies since!
Links to watch the videos on Vimeo of this living worm crawling if you can stomach it. :-(
Mango Worm Part 1: https://vimeo.com/225135632
Mango Worm Part 2: https://vimeo.com/225136935
Then on Saturday Prince squeezed a mango worm out of his leg!!! My hip became so swollen, angry, inflamed and very itchy. I worried maybe there were more worms growing inside so I went back to the doctor on Sunday. They were concerned because they said once the worms are out you should heal up quickly. They did blood tests and found I didn’t have a bacterial infection. So they put me on a 2-day dose of Prednisone/steroid to help with the inflammation. The swelling has gone down considerably by today and thankfully, I think I am on the mend. While I am so grossed out still at the thought of these living maggots growing in my body I am thankful it happened to Prince and me and not to our sweet baby girls.
We are now back to ironing EVERYTHING!!! It’s a huge job but better than having worms grow inside of us!
With love from the ironing board,
Heidi :-)
When Shalom and I arrived we found we were the only guests they invited and they had prepared an entire Ethiopian feast. We started with passion fruit juice, an avocado smoothie then moved on to a plate with their traditional spongy flat bread called Njeera, which they place all the food and sauces on top of and you tear it off and scoop some of the food and eat with your hands. There was a lentil sauce, some beef stew, potatoes and beets and lots of chili to dip into. It was all so delicious!
They served us seconds and argued that we hadn’t eaten enough and to allow them to fill our plates for the third time! For dessert they served this thick bread with coffee. No sugary snacks to be found. Ayantu opened gifts while we nibbled on bread and drank small cups of coffee and then we went home.
So there you have it folks. I guess Ethiopians stay skinny by staying away from the sugar we Americans love so much! I wonder what they must have thought of our shower. But sugar or no sugar…we have grown deeper in our friendship with each other and that is a SWEET thing! :-)
MANGO WORMS
Well…I had heard of it and now have experienced it first hand! When I first moved to Uganda in 2004 I wondered why my house helper was ironing all my clothes, even my socks and underwear. She told me it was to kill any eggs that might have been laid on the clothes by mango flies that could imbed in your skin and cause worms to grow out of you. Ewww!!! :-(
So I ironed everything religiously for 8 years. But then over the last two years since I got married and had Naomi, I slacked off on the ironing of sheets, towels, socks, underwear, etc… And now being a family four making laundry...it is just TOO much to iron everything!
BIG MISTAKE!!!
Last Sunday I saw two big welts on my left hip. I thought maybe they were spider bites or something but as the week went on the welts getting bigger and bigger and more painful. Prince also mentioned he had a welt on his right leg. On Friday I decided to pop into the doctor to make sure everything was all right. The doctor took one look at the swellings and said… “Oh no. I was hoping it wasn’t this. You have mango worms/maggots growing inside of you!!!” YUCK!!! He squeezed two…living, moving worms out of my hip and I have had the creepy crawlies since!
Links to watch the videos on Vimeo of this living worm crawling if you can stomach it. :-(
Mango Worm Part 1: https://vimeo.com/225135632
Mango Worm Part 2: https://vimeo.com/225136935
Then on Saturday Prince squeezed a mango worm out of his leg!!! My hip became so swollen, angry, inflamed and very itchy. I worried maybe there were more worms growing inside so I went back to the doctor on Sunday. They were concerned because they said once the worms are out you should heal up quickly. They did blood tests and found I didn’t have a bacterial infection. So they put me on a 2-day dose of Prednisone/steroid to help with the inflammation. The swelling has gone down considerably by today and thankfully, I think I am on the mend. While I am so grossed out still at the thought of these living maggots growing in my body I am thankful it happened to Prince and me and not to our sweet baby girls.
We are now back to ironing EVERYTHING!!! It’s a huge job but better than having worms grow inside of us!
With love from the ironing board,
Heidi :-)
Wednesday June 28th, 2017
Recently I (Heidi) invited a young wife and mom from our church to come over for the afternoon. I could tell as we talked her mind was distant and not really focused on what we were casually chatting about in our kitchen. I stopped and asked her how she and her husband were doing in their marriage and that opened up a floodgate of information. She sobbed as she told me that she has been depressed for months, contemplating divorce, and has even been suicidal, thinking it would be better to be dead and with the Lord than to push through and endure the suffering she is going through.
She and her husband have been slowly drifting farther and farther apart even thought they show up every Sunday holding their baby and smiling. No one would ever guess they are so cold towards each other and hurting deeply.
I was incredibly saddened to see my friend hurting and in such a dark and scary place in her life. This is a confident, well educated, articulate, vibrant and fun woman I got to know when she was a student on campus and watched her date and marry her husband. I thought they had such a great marriage and was shocked to hear all she was saying yet thankful she was willing to open up her heart and bear her struggles with me!
She knows the deceitfulness of the lies she has believed about God and her marriage but by keeping her struggles to herself she was spiraling downward fast. The initial sharing her heart with me began to help her see the truth and how even simple issues that are a part of our normal everyday life where becoming huge depressing mountains in her heart.
She left that day encouraged and I was thankful to God for the opportunity to listen and to be welcomed into the deep places in her heart. Since that time Prince and I have been meeting with her and her husband and are seeking to help them strengthen and grow in their marriage. We are so thankful for these opportunities to serve this special couple in our lives.
Despite having a newborn in our lives the Lord has kept us busy with beautiful opportunities to share how the gospel influences the everyday moments of our lives with others He is bringing into our home from week to week. We have been hosting so much more than we did with Naomi in the early days of her life. We always tell people who want to come over, “we would love to have you over but just be warned you are coming into a family home so expect conversations to be disjointed, the house to be a bit cluttered, be ready to hold a baby or give Naomi a bath, and maybe you will get food or popcorn for dinner. If you are okay with that come on over and join in our daily routine.”
It has been stretching for me to allow people to join in our beautiful mess.” I heard a quote recently which is my new mantra… “Entertaining is to impress. Hospitality is to bless.” We want to be used by God to be a blessing but so many times I lose the perspective of serving people with desire to honor and glorify my Savior. I have to catch myself as I am starting to stress about my house being a mess as people pop in and ask God to help me to not be focused on impressing this person but look for how I can bless them. It has been a wonderful season of hospitality and we are thankful to God for using our family as a powerful ministry tool here in Uganda.
HANNAH BELLE UPDATE
Today our dear Hannah Belle is 3 months old! We are happy to report she is healthy and growing like a weed. The first month of her life was really bumpy but she is doing so well. Thank you for holding us up in that scary time and for being our support when we were so weak. Thank you for also being patient with us as we have been settling into life with two little ones in the house. As you parents know who have 2+ children it is busy but Hannah is such a peaceful and patient little one so it hasn’t been as bad as we anticipated and we feel we are in a nice little groove. Thank you for your patience with us as we have been pretty silent trying to settle into our new life as a family of four.
KASESE June 14th - 18th
Prince recently returned from a ministry trip out to Kasese to teach pastors. The conversations and discussions were rich as usual and it continues to be fertile soil for continued ministry opportunities. They are such dear people who are so hungry to grow in their faith in Jesus.
He decided this time to take them through the book of Luke instead of covering doctrinal topics specifically as he and others have done in the past. Ugandan culture is very relational and people are very important. Going through the book of Luke gave them an opportunity to study the Jesus and the people behind the doctrines and for them to see how doctrine and the people cannot be separated.
It was his desire to see help them see Jesus and learn about His heart and the things He cares about so that is not just always doctrinal issues being poured onto them by theologians/academicians which they cannot relate too. In addition he has noticed that is easy for them to fight over and get bogged down in doctrinal debates and miss Jesus behind the doctrinal issues.
He was able to take them through the first 10 chapters in Luke and the response was very encouraging. The biggest surprise for the pastors/church leaders was to see the heart of the letter of Luke was about salvation and that Jesus heart was most concerned about salvation of people.
A lot of them had never really seen salvation in the gospels. In a general sense they thought Jesus’ concern was primarily about people’s welfare not for their souls. They thought salvation was found in Romans and the Epistles but not in the gospels.
Venecio, a young pastor, stood up on the second day with anger and expressed his outrage to their church leaders who were seated at the back of the class for teaching them the wrong message. He was angry because generally they have been taught to see God /Jesus as a welfare God which is why the prosperity gospel thrives here. But to see with his own eyes that Jesus actually cares most about the souls of men which was eye opening but also heartbreaking to him.
Prince always finds it so hard to leave us especially now with Hannah being so young and go out to Kasese but once he is there with the people he is so humbled by their passion to learn and grow and he is grateful for the opportunity to teach and learn with them.
Well…it is 5pm and all the neighbor kids are here coloring and playing play dough….and fighting as children do. I heard Ryann just say to Naomi…”We don’t eat Christian food.” To which Shalom quickly answered, “But you use Christian’s toys and crayons?” No answer! Haahaa!!! Well….we don’t know what type of things these children are hearing from their parents but we know they all are not as blessed to grow up in a Christian home like Naomi and our hearts yearn to see each one of these little lives come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We are thankful they love hanging out at our place every day and pray that their parents will continue to let them come.
We continue to thank God for all of you and hope you are having a wonderful summer season enjoying all the beauty of being able to be outside enjoying family and friends and God’s creation!
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi & Hannah Belle :-)
Recently I (Heidi) invited a young wife and mom from our church to come over for the afternoon. I could tell as we talked her mind was distant and not really focused on what we were casually chatting about in our kitchen. I stopped and asked her how she and her husband were doing in their marriage and that opened up a floodgate of information. She sobbed as she told me that she has been depressed for months, contemplating divorce, and has even been suicidal, thinking it would be better to be dead and with the Lord than to push through and endure the suffering she is going through.
She and her husband have been slowly drifting farther and farther apart even thought they show up every Sunday holding their baby and smiling. No one would ever guess they are so cold towards each other and hurting deeply.
I was incredibly saddened to see my friend hurting and in such a dark and scary place in her life. This is a confident, well educated, articulate, vibrant and fun woman I got to know when she was a student on campus and watched her date and marry her husband. I thought they had such a great marriage and was shocked to hear all she was saying yet thankful she was willing to open up her heart and bear her struggles with me!
She knows the deceitfulness of the lies she has believed about God and her marriage but by keeping her struggles to herself she was spiraling downward fast. The initial sharing her heart with me began to help her see the truth and how even simple issues that are a part of our normal everyday life where becoming huge depressing mountains in her heart.
She left that day encouraged and I was thankful to God for the opportunity to listen and to be welcomed into the deep places in her heart. Since that time Prince and I have been meeting with her and her husband and are seeking to help them strengthen and grow in their marriage. We are so thankful for these opportunities to serve this special couple in our lives.
Despite having a newborn in our lives the Lord has kept us busy with beautiful opportunities to share how the gospel influences the everyday moments of our lives with others He is bringing into our home from week to week. We have been hosting so much more than we did with Naomi in the early days of her life. We always tell people who want to come over, “we would love to have you over but just be warned you are coming into a family home so expect conversations to be disjointed, the house to be a bit cluttered, be ready to hold a baby or give Naomi a bath, and maybe you will get food or popcorn for dinner. If you are okay with that come on over and join in our daily routine.”
It has been stretching for me to allow people to join in our beautiful mess.” I heard a quote recently which is my new mantra… “Entertaining is to impress. Hospitality is to bless.” We want to be used by God to be a blessing but so many times I lose the perspective of serving people with desire to honor and glorify my Savior. I have to catch myself as I am starting to stress about my house being a mess as people pop in and ask God to help me to not be focused on impressing this person but look for how I can bless them. It has been a wonderful season of hospitality and we are thankful to God for using our family as a powerful ministry tool here in Uganda.
HANNAH BELLE UPDATE
Today our dear Hannah Belle is 3 months old! We are happy to report she is healthy and growing like a weed. The first month of her life was really bumpy but she is doing so well. Thank you for holding us up in that scary time and for being our support when we were so weak. Thank you for also being patient with us as we have been settling into life with two little ones in the house. As you parents know who have 2+ children it is busy but Hannah is such a peaceful and patient little one so it hasn’t been as bad as we anticipated and we feel we are in a nice little groove. Thank you for your patience with us as we have been pretty silent trying to settle into our new life as a family of four.
KASESE June 14th - 18th
Prince recently returned from a ministry trip out to Kasese to teach pastors. The conversations and discussions were rich as usual and it continues to be fertile soil for continued ministry opportunities. They are such dear people who are so hungry to grow in their faith in Jesus.
He decided this time to take them through the book of Luke instead of covering doctrinal topics specifically as he and others have done in the past. Ugandan culture is very relational and people are very important. Going through the book of Luke gave them an opportunity to study the Jesus and the people behind the doctrines and for them to see how doctrine and the people cannot be separated.
It was his desire to see help them see Jesus and learn about His heart and the things He cares about so that is not just always doctrinal issues being poured onto them by theologians/academicians which they cannot relate too. In addition he has noticed that is easy for them to fight over and get bogged down in doctrinal debates and miss Jesus behind the doctrinal issues.
He was able to take them through the first 10 chapters in Luke and the response was very encouraging. The biggest surprise for the pastors/church leaders was to see the heart of the letter of Luke was about salvation and that Jesus heart was most concerned about salvation of people.
A lot of them had never really seen salvation in the gospels. In a general sense they thought Jesus’ concern was primarily about people’s welfare not for their souls. They thought salvation was found in Romans and the Epistles but not in the gospels.
Venecio, a young pastor, stood up on the second day with anger and expressed his outrage to their church leaders who were seated at the back of the class for teaching them the wrong message. He was angry because generally they have been taught to see God /Jesus as a welfare God which is why the prosperity gospel thrives here. But to see with his own eyes that Jesus actually cares most about the souls of men which was eye opening but also heartbreaking to him.
Prince always finds it so hard to leave us especially now with Hannah being so young and go out to Kasese but once he is there with the people he is so humbled by their passion to learn and grow and he is grateful for the opportunity to teach and learn with them.
Well…it is 5pm and all the neighbor kids are here coloring and playing play dough….and fighting as children do. I heard Ryann just say to Naomi…”We don’t eat Christian food.” To which Shalom quickly answered, “But you use Christian’s toys and crayons?” No answer! Haahaa!!! Well….we don’t know what type of things these children are hearing from their parents but we know they all are not as blessed to grow up in a Christian home like Naomi and our hearts yearn to see each one of these little lives come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We are thankful they love hanging out at our place every day and pray that their parents will continue to let them come.
We continue to thank God for all of you and hope you are having a wonderful summer season enjoying all the beauty of being able to be outside enjoying family and friends and God’s creation!
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi & Hannah Belle :-)
Tuesday April 11, 2017
Dear Friends & Family,
Today we celebrate Hannah being 2 weeks old! What a roller coaster these past 14 days have been and we rejoice in the Lord for the time He has given us to enjoy this little lady. She is such a strong little woman but very peaceful and calm. I (Heidi) am loving having such a peaceful baby to snuggle after having lived with our very active Naomi Gail.
We arrived back home on Thursday and have been closely monitoring Hannah. She has not had any fevers, is nursing well but continues to have diarrhea which we are keeping a close eye on to make sure she doesn’t get dehydrated. The neonatologist and pediatrician we have been working with said she looks fine and they want to see her in 1 month unless something comes up in between.
Naomi absolutely ADORES her Hannah and is very protective and possessive of her. She doesn’t want anyone to touch or come near her Hannah and will push and shove them and their hands away from Hannah when they try to get near. We love seeing how much she loves her baby sister but are also working hard to help her learn to be kind and polite to others and let them enjoy Hannah too.
I am slowly healing up and am so thankful for all the help I have at this time so I am able to heal and focus on caring for Hannah. Prince has been hosting a big client here touring the country in preparation for bringing a group of inner city youth from Atlanta, Georgia to come and serve in the country in July. We are so thankful for our wonderful staff at RedRoads who have stepped up and really cared for our client while Prince has been so busy caring for all his girls.
Our neighbors are desperate to visit us and get their hands on Hannah and have been so disappointed that every time they pop over during the day we are sleeping and they can’t understand that our pediatrician told us that we need to give Hannah a few weeks to heal and allow her immune system to strengthen before we start passing her around to everyone. My Sudanese neighbor friends have come 2 times now dressed to the nines in with all their children decked out in fancy dresses only to leave disappointed that I have not been around or have been sleeping. This afternoon Naomi, Shalom and I walked over to see them and smooth things out before they become too offended. They seemed very cold when we entered their compound but once they saw photos of Hannah with a cannula in her hand they settled down and were so happy for our visit.
THANK YOU!!!!
When we think about a week ago at this time watching Hannah lying limp in our arms and not knowing if she was going to make it…we are so grateful to God for sparing her life. We are completely overwhelmed and amazed at how many people were praying for all of us around the world. People were agonizing with us, crying to God on our behalf to spare this little one’s life and to allow us the opportunity to rejoice and not mourn. People were sending us Scriptures to focus our thoughts on and giving us such encouraging words to strengthen our hearts. We cannot understand how Hannah survived aside from God healing her. He heard all of our prayers and healed our little girl and we cannot thank you all enough for how grateful we are that you carried our burdens with us through this difficult time.
THANK YOU is not adequate to express our gratefulness but we trust the Lord will thank you on our behalf.
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince and All his girls…. :-)
Dear Friends & Family,
Today we celebrate Hannah being 2 weeks old! What a roller coaster these past 14 days have been and we rejoice in the Lord for the time He has given us to enjoy this little lady. She is such a strong little woman but very peaceful and calm. I (Heidi) am loving having such a peaceful baby to snuggle after having lived with our very active Naomi Gail.
We arrived back home on Thursday and have been closely monitoring Hannah. She has not had any fevers, is nursing well but continues to have diarrhea which we are keeping a close eye on to make sure she doesn’t get dehydrated. The neonatologist and pediatrician we have been working with said she looks fine and they want to see her in 1 month unless something comes up in between.
Naomi absolutely ADORES her Hannah and is very protective and possessive of her. She doesn’t want anyone to touch or come near her Hannah and will push and shove them and their hands away from Hannah when they try to get near. We love seeing how much she loves her baby sister but are also working hard to help her learn to be kind and polite to others and let them enjoy Hannah too.
I am slowly healing up and am so thankful for all the help I have at this time so I am able to heal and focus on caring for Hannah. Prince has been hosting a big client here touring the country in preparation for bringing a group of inner city youth from Atlanta, Georgia to come and serve in the country in July. We are so thankful for our wonderful staff at RedRoads who have stepped up and really cared for our client while Prince has been so busy caring for all his girls.
Our neighbors are desperate to visit us and get their hands on Hannah and have been so disappointed that every time they pop over during the day we are sleeping and they can’t understand that our pediatrician told us that we need to give Hannah a few weeks to heal and allow her immune system to strengthen before we start passing her around to everyone. My Sudanese neighbor friends have come 2 times now dressed to the nines in with all their children decked out in fancy dresses only to leave disappointed that I have not been around or have been sleeping. This afternoon Naomi, Shalom and I walked over to see them and smooth things out before they become too offended. They seemed very cold when we entered their compound but once they saw photos of Hannah with a cannula in her hand they settled down and were so happy for our visit.
THANK YOU!!!!
When we think about a week ago at this time watching Hannah lying limp in our arms and not knowing if she was going to make it…we are so grateful to God for sparing her life. We are completely overwhelmed and amazed at how many people were praying for all of us around the world. People were agonizing with us, crying to God on our behalf to spare this little one’s life and to allow us the opportunity to rejoice and not mourn. People were sending us Scriptures to focus our thoughts on and giving us such encouraging words to strengthen our hearts. We cannot understand how Hannah survived aside from God healing her. He heard all of our prayers and healed our little girl and we cannot thank you all enough for how grateful we are that you carried our burdens with us through this difficult time.
THANK YOU is not adequate to express our gratefulness but we trust the Lord will thank you on our behalf.
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince and All his girls…. :-)
Tuesday, March 28th
It’s early Tuesday morning, the sun is shining and the air is gloriously cool with only the sounds of lovely birds chirping instead of the deafening sound of 100’s of bats squawking and fighting for a spot to hang and sleep for the day way up in the palm branches all around. I am sitting at the dining room table listening to my Mom (who arrived 5 days ago to help get us ready for the birth of our newest family member arriving soon.) in the guest bedroom reading books to Naomi Gail.
Prince is already at work and the words mulling over and over in my mind since I woke up this morning are...
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided--
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!"
All I have needed His hand has provided and right now He has provided a few moments of peace and quiet to catch up with you before this city and neighborhood wake up.
When we returned to Kampala 4 months ago, I (Heidi) entered a whole new aspect of ministry…”Life On the Ground Level." In the 10 years I have lived in Uganda I have always lived in a 3rd floor apartment and it was easy to schedule people into my life. I could more easily control when “ministry” would happen.
It is a very Ugandan way of life for people to stop over at your house for a visit without calling at all hours of the day. But when you live on the 3rd floor, if someone stops over you can come downstairs and talk to them at the gate, then graciously thank them for stopping by and tell them you need to get back to work or whatever your excuse is and successfully avoid a 3-4 hour visit. Oh, I did a lot of hosting and offering hospitality in my home over the years…but it was always on my terms and scheduled into my day-planner. When people somehow slipped through the cracks and interrupted my plans in the middle of the day I found it extremely difficult to be gracious and loving, and I grumbled in my heart. But as Prince has been telling me for years now…"Babe…this is the culture in which we have come to serve and we must serve them in their context. We must be willing to change our plans and not come here making people bend to our cultural practices.”
Well, moving to a home on ground level, without a gate to at least keep people from coming right up to my front door and peeping in our windows at all hours of the day…I have been thrust into a new level of learning and loving that I haven’t experienced or allowed into my life before.
We now have 10 kids in the neighborhood who come and peer into our door to see if we are home and neighbor women who pop over anytime of the day for a visit during the week. You are expected to give them something to eat and drink, even something small like cookies and water. I find myself keeping my door closed and locked so people will hopefully think we are away and not pop over. But the children don’t get that social cue. They come and line up and stick their noses on the glass to see if we are inside.
At some point I thought…WE NEED A GATE to control these people!!! But then immediately I was so convicted by my attitude and thought of Jesus’ who was so open to people. His words, “Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” were ringing in my ears.
I thought…No, Heidi. We don’t need a gate which would allow me to close people out even more than I already try to do…a gate that would allow me to love people to Jesus on my own terms, in my own time schedule rather than being willing to allow God to work in both them and in me as I surrender control of my plans each day. And it forces me to share whatever I have on hand without apology. I try hard to make sure my house is always clean and presentable and make sure I at least have cookies on hand, but I also try to see the greater picture that sharing life with my neighbors is more important than having a perfectly clean sitting room.
Bats, Rats, Cats, Maggots and Cockroaches….
Also living on the ground level has also opened our home to many gross creatures I absolutely fear and abhore that I was sheltered from way up high on the 3rd floor. I walk around my house seeing shadows flitting by in the corner of my eyes all day long as I am on edge waiting to find a cockroach jump out at me underneath something in my kitchen. Last month the kids were playing in our compound when a fruit bat fell out of our JackFruit tree and lay there dead right where the kids were playing!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!! Gross!!!
Last Saturday morning our landlord burned tires under all the trees where the bats are living and had an army of young men banging iron sheets very loudly for about 2 hours to scare the bats away. He has done this numerous times and the bats get agitated and fly around but never leave. But this time they have left for a week now, and it has been heavenly for the whole community. Let’s hope they really stay away for good this time.
Recently in the early evening around 7:30pm a young man in our neighborhood killed a rat in the in the compound next to us. I don’t even think we can call it a rat…it was more like a dinosaur! It was soooooo huge and the young man said there are MANY running around this place every night. I think I would just die if I woke up one morning and found one of these climbing around in my house.
Then we have had a mangy white cat that roams our community jump in our windows at night time while we are sleeping. I found him sleeping on our sofa, in a suitcase in our closet, wandering through our rooms and going through our trash in the kitchen scrounging for food. We leave the windows open to get a little bit of fresh air, but we can’t do that now at night and are in the process of installing screens.
Living on ground level I have to keep trash tucked away from all the critters roaming around, but living in this hot climate day after day and by the time the trash is collected, it is infested with maggots every week. I don’t think I ever saw a maggot growing up so this really creeps me out.
Living on the ground floor has really been stretching for me over these last 4 months.
KIDS….
What has been amazing is that there are 10 children in this compound, and they are all Muslims. Muslims begin teaching their children from a very early age to be very proud to be Muslims and to defend their faith. I don’t remember walking around as a kid telling people, “Me. I’m a Christian.” But they tell us everyday, “We are Muslims.” We have observed that their parents care for their physical needs but don’t take time to really talk and listen to their kids, so they have lots of stories to share. We play games with them and read books.
I never realized this, but Naomi has a lot of fun books that have pig characters or farm animal books that have pigs in them. In fact, her favorite TV show is Peppa Pig and favorite book right now is Peppa’s Camping Trip. Well, pigs are absolutely filthy and unclean to a Muslim and you don’t even speak about them. So it has been horrifying to be reading stories with the children and come along in a book that talks about “three singing pigs say La La La.” Or try to explain to them why it is just silly and cute that a family of pigs are going camping!!!
We have also been reading stories to them from Naomi’s Jesus Storybook Bible where every story points us to Jesus. These stories have brought out a lot of great comments from the kids. Shazmeen told us that Jesus got run over in the road and that is how he died. Farid told us that Allah created Jesus and Jesus is not God. Roshan and Ryann tell us that Allah created God.
We also have noticed that Salsa who is 7 years old, dressed in normal westernized kids clothes and was very sweet and fun to talk at the beginning has now become a bit cool towards us. She shows up every day wearing her Muslim head covering and carries her children’s Koran with her. We are not sure what has happened, but the other children request for Shalom to read them stories from the Bible so we keep doing it.
We pray that Jesus would capture Naomi’s heart from an early age and that we would train her carefully in the ways of the Lord so that she will be a light and witness to all her friends who are muslims.
I am amazed when I look at the group of kids gathering at my house each day that we have an unreached people group (including Naomi Gail) to reach with the message of hope of Jesus Christ. It will only come through much prayer and the Lord opening their hearts to the message of salvation that Jesus offers. I am constantly praying that the Lord would help me to serve them so much that they would ask why I do that and I can tell them because I love them. And when they ask why I love them that I can tell them it is because Jesus loves them. I pray and ask the Lord to give me confidence and some good penetrating questions to ask them to help them think deeply about their eternal state…both the mothers and the children.
PRINCE
Prince continues to be an amazing guy!!! I don’t know how he does all that he does with such grace and cheerfulness. :-D
He sees everything as a ministry and loves the Lord and loves people genuinely. Everything that comes his way is an opportunity to serve Jesus and he jumps at the opportunity with such readiness.
Of course we are so excited to meet this little person God has been growing inside of me but as all of you know who have multiple children there will be a lot of adjustments with adding a second baby into the mix. Not only is birth a major event…but bringing a baby back into this community always brings new opportunities to trust God. Prince told me months ago, “Babe…just so you know, this baby will not be our. Everyone here will think they own this baby so just be ready for a lot of advice and having your baby pulled from your arms and passed around a lot.”
His words were so true when just a week ago my Sudanese neighbors told me in the same words Prince used, “We are coming to the hospital. We have to see our baby. Naomi is our baby and this new one is ours too!”
Naomi isn’t a huge fan of being held and squeezed by all the maamas around here…but that is her lot in life
in this community.
Everyone has all their funny advice. My Ethiopian neighbors think the reason Naomi is so chubby is because she takes too many naps and seem to be offended if I let Naomi run around in shoes and a diaper in the beastly hot afternoon sun. My Ugandan neighbors don’t mind naked babies crawling around in the dirt. My Sudanese neighbors rarely wash their hands all day long…they go from cooking with charcoal, to wiping one of their “communal” babies snotty noses, to pounding dried beef, to sitting on the ground “smoking” in a homemade sauna which is a glorified campfire in the ground, to shopping in the market handling dirty food, and money to holding my new pristine new baby! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! The dental hygienist in me cannot stop thinking of all the germs swirling around the place!
This is a “sauna” that all my Sudanese girlfriends use to….well I am not completely
sure why they sit and smoke over this hole for up to 2 hours at a time. Asmah told
me that if I sit over this smoking hole everyday I will be able to push this new baby
out in 3 pushes. Nsaiba seems to be sitting over it every day to loose weight and have
soft smooth skin. I guess it is good for whatever ails ya. ;-)
So it is a hole in the ground with coals and logs in it. You then sit on the pillow and put your feet on
the stick above the hole. You strip down to your undies and slather yourself up with some really
stinky oil and then they cover you up with 4 very thick blankets around your neck and all around your
feet kind of making a tent over you for all the smoke to come up and do it’s work. And you just sit there
for as long as you like. They absolutely love it and it is a place where all the women gather and enjoy
fellowship with one another. Shalom and I politely passed on the opportunity to try it. I just didn’t think
I would get up from there if I got down at this point in my pregnancy! :-)
But I have to look around and see all their children who have survived and just go with the flow and trust God will care for His new little one.
GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS, LORD UNTO ME! :-)
What a joy it has been to chat with you for a bit. As always there is so much more I could share but I better end for here for now. Prince and I so appreciate your faithfulness to us in friendship! We wish we were better at keeping up with you on a more regular basis but please know we pray for you all and are so thankful to partner with you in ministry!
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi, Naomi…and Baby Girl :-)
It’s early Tuesday morning, the sun is shining and the air is gloriously cool with only the sounds of lovely birds chirping instead of the deafening sound of 100’s of bats squawking and fighting for a spot to hang and sleep for the day way up in the palm branches all around. I am sitting at the dining room table listening to my Mom (who arrived 5 days ago to help get us ready for the birth of our newest family member arriving soon.) in the guest bedroom reading books to Naomi Gail.
Prince is already at work and the words mulling over and over in my mind since I woke up this morning are...
“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided--
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!"
All I have needed His hand has provided and right now He has provided a few moments of peace and quiet to catch up with you before this city and neighborhood wake up.
When we returned to Kampala 4 months ago, I (Heidi) entered a whole new aspect of ministry…”Life On the Ground Level." In the 10 years I have lived in Uganda I have always lived in a 3rd floor apartment and it was easy to schedule people into my life. I could more easily control when “ministry” would happen.
It is a very Ugandan way of life for people to stop over at your house for a visit without calling at all hours of the day. But when you live on the 3rd floor, if someone stops over you can come downstairs and talk to them at the gate, then graciously thank them for stopping by and tell them you need to get back to work or whatever your excuse is and successfully avoid a 3-4 hour visit. Oh, I did a lot of hosting and offering hospitality in my home over the years…but it was always on my terms and scheduled into my day-planner. When people somehow slipped through the cracks and interrupted my plans in the middle of the day I found it extremely difficult to be gracious and loving, and I grumbled in my heart. But as Prince has been telling me for years now…"Babe…this is the culture in which we have come to serve and we must serve them in their context. We must be willing to change our plans and not come here making people bend to our cultural practices.”
Well, moving to a home on ground level, without a gate to at least keep people from coming right up to my front door and peeping in our windows at all hours of the day…I have been thrust into a new level of learning and loving that I haven’t experienced or allowed into my life before.
We now have 10 kids in the neighborhood who come and peer into our door to see if we are home and neighbor women who pop over anytime of the day for a visit during the week. You are expected to give them something to eat and drink, even something small like cookies and water. I find myself keeping my door closed and locked so people will hopefully think we are away and not pop over. But the children don’t get that social cue. They come and line up and stick their noses on the glass to see if we are inside.
At some point I thought…WE NEED A GATE to control these people!!! But then immediately I was so convicted by my attitude and thought of Jesus’ who was so open to people. His words, “Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” were ringing in my ears.
I thought…No, Heidi. We don’t need a gate which would allow me to close people out even more than I already try to do…a gate that would allow me to love people to Jesus on my own terms, in my own time schedule rather than being willing to allow God to work in both them and in me as I surrender control of my plans each day. And it forces me to share whatever I have on hand without apology. I try hard to make sure my house is always clean and presentable and make sure I at least have cookies on hand, but I also try to see the greater picture that sharing life with my neighbors is more important than having a perfectly clean sitting room.
Bats, Rats, Cats, Maggots and Cockroaches….
Also living on the ground level has also opened our home to many gross creatures I absolutely fear and abhore that I was sheltered from way up high on the 3rd floor. I walk around my house seeing shadows flitting by in the corner of my eyes all day long as I am on edge waiting to find a cockroach jump out at me underneath something in my kitchen. Last month the kids were playing in our compound when a fruit bat fell out of our JackFruit tree and lay there dead right where the kids were playing!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!! Gross!!!
Last Saturday morning our landlord burned tires under all the trees where the bats are living and had an army of young men banging iron sheets very loudly for about 2 hours to scare the bats away. He has done this numerous times and the bats get agitated and fly around but never leave. But this time they have left for a week now, and it has been heavenly for the whole community. Let’s hope they really stay away for good this time.
Recently in the early evening around 7:30pm a young man in our neighborhood killed a rat in the in the compound next to us. I don’t even think we can call it a rat…it was more like a dinosaur! It was soooooo huge and the young man said there are MANY running around this place every night. I think I would just die if I woke up one morning and found one of these climbing around in my house.
Then we have had a mangy white cat that roams our community jump in our windows at night time while we are sleeping. I found him sleeping on our sofa, in a suitcase in our closet, wandering through our rooms and going through our trash in the kitchen scrounging for food. We leave the windows open to get a little bit of fresh air, but we can’t do that now at night and are in the process of installing screens.
Living on ground level I have to keep trash tucked away from all the critters roaming around, but living in this hot climate day after day and by the time the trash is collected, it is infested with maggots every week. I don’t think I ever saw a maggot growing up so this really creeps me out.
Living on the ground floor has really been stretching for me over these last 4 months.
KIDS….
What has been amazing is that there are 10 children in this compound, and they are all Muslims. Muslims begin teaching their children from a very early age to be very proud to be Muslims and to defend their faith. I don’t remember walking around as a kid telling people, “Me. I’m a Christian.” But they tell us everyday, “We are Muslims.” We have observed that their parents care for their physical needs but don’t take time to really talk and listen to their kids, so they have lots of stories to share. We play games with them and read books.
I never realized this, but Naomi has a lot of fun books that have pig characters or farm animal books that have pigs in them. In fact, her favorite TV show is Peppa Pig and favorite book right now is Peppa’s Camping Trip. Well, pigs are absolutely filthy and unclean to a Muslim and you don’t even speak about them. So it has been horrifying to be reading stories with the children and come along in a book that talks about “three singing pigs say La La La.” Or try to explain to them why it is just silly and cute that a family of pigs are going camping!!!
We have also been reading stories to them from Naomi’s Jesus Storybook Bible where every story points us to Jesus. These stories have brought out a lot of great comments from the kids. Shazmeen told us that Jesus got run over in the road and that is how he died. Farid told us that Allah created Jesus and Jesus is not God. Roshan and Ryann tell us that Allah created God.
We also have noticed that Salsa who is 7 years old, dressed in normal westernized kids clothes and was very sweet and fun to talk at the beginning has now become a bit cool towards us. She shows up every day wearing her Muslim head covering and carries her children’s Koran with her. We are not sure what has happened, but the other children request for Shalom to read them stories from the Bible so we keep doing it.
We pray that Jesus would capture Naomi’s heart from an early age and that we would train her carefully in the ways of the Lord so that she will be a light and witness to all her friends who are muslims.
I am amazed when I look at the group of kids gathering at my house each day that we have an unreached people group (including Naomi Gail) to reach with the message of hope of Jesus Christ. It will only come through much prayer and the Lord opening their hearts to the message of salvation that Jesus offers. I am constantly praying that the Lord would help me to serve them so much that they would ask why I do that and I can tell them because I love them. And when they ask why I love them that I can tell them it is because Jesus loves them. I pray and ask the Lord to give me confidence and some good penetrating questions to ask them to help them think deeply about their eternal state…both the mothers and the children.
PRINCE
Prince continues to be an amazing guy!!! I don’t know how he does all that he does with such grace and cheerfulness. :-D
He sees everything as a ministry and loves the Lord and loves people genuinely. Everything that comes his way is an opportunity to serve Jesus and he jumps at the opportunity with such readiness.
- He has been intentionally pursuing all the men in our church by meeting up with them for one on one “coffee dates” to get to know them more deeply and for them to know us better. It has been such a blessing for Prince to hear each of their stories and find out where God has brought them in life. We are thankful to God for the chance to grow in fellowship with the people at our church.
- There has been a great need for teachers for the children in our church and Prince has taken up this role as leading the kids program in the last couple of months. It has been fun to see him serve and grow in this new area of ministry for him.
- RedRoad Tours as a business continues to grow and is doing so well! In the country so many businesses are struggling and closing…we are incredibly thankful how God is blessing our business with….so much business. :-D Prince has been doing a lot of intentional training of his staff each morning before the day gets into full swing as well as doing a Bible study on the Beatitudes on Monday mornings…(Happy are the….humble…meek…etc…) It has been such a rich time of learning with them, and they are getting great exposure to the glorious truths about Jesus and His ways.
- The staff of RedRoads threw me a baby shower a couple of weeks ago. It was so touching because Vivian, the only female in the office had to try and set this up with 3 men. You can only imagine howfrustrated she was trying to get these men to get excited and motivated about a “Baby Shower!” Haahaaa!!! :-D
- Please pray for Prince to have wisdom to know how to balance two full times jobs/ministries (discipleship with men, our church, the pastors in Kasese, our community, and RedRoad Tours) as well as caring for us as a family. I know he is often torn on how to do all that is before him with excellence.
- Prince recently had a chance to do some teaching on Biblical Manhood and being a Christian businessman to a group of highschoolers at a camp.
- We are VERY excited that our baby girl will be welcomed into the world in 2 days on Thursday, March 30th at 9:30am by a scheduled C-section.
- We still have not picked out a name for our newest little one.
- My mom has arrived last Thursday and those that know my servant hearted mom…has jumped in with both feet and hands and heart to serve our family. She is an amazing grandmother to Naomi Gail and Naomi is absolutely glued to her side since she arrived. Grandma has brought out a side of Naomi we haven’t seen before.
- Having her here has given me the rest and break I needed, and I am feeling refreshed from just 5 days with mom around.
- We miss my Dad (and he is missing being with us) but he is doing the ministry God has called him to do, and I am thankful for his dedicated service and willingness to let his ministry partner leave him and come here and serve us!!! :-)
Of course we are so excited to meet this little person God has been growing inside of me but as all of you know who have multiple children there will be a lot of adjustments with adding a second baby into the mix. Not only is birth a major event…but bringing a baby back into this community always brings new opportunities to trust God. Prince told me months ago, “Babe…just so you know, this baby will not be our. Everyone here will think they own this baby so just be ready for a lot of advice and having your baby pulled from your arms and passed around a lot.”
His words were so true when just a week ago my Sudanese neighbors told me in the same words Prince used, “We are coming to the hospital. We have to see our baby. Naomi is our baby and this new one is ours too!”
Naomi isn’t a huge fan of being held and squeezed by all the maamas around here…but that is her lot in life
in this community.
Everyone has all their funny advice. My Ethiopian neighbors think the reason Naomi is so chubby is because she takes too many naps and seem to be offended if I let Naomi run around in shoes and a diaper in the beastly hot afternoon sun. My Ugandan neighbors don’t mind naked babies crawling around in the dirt. My Sudanese neighbors rarely wash their hands all day long…they go from cooking with charcoal, to wiping one of their “communal” babies snotty noses, to pounding dried beef, to sitting on the ground “smoking” in a homemade sauna which is a glorified campfire in the ground, to shopping in the market handling dirty food, and money to holding my new pristine new baby! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! The dental hygienist in me cannot stop thinking of all the germs swirling around the place!
This is a “sauna” that all my Sudanese girlfriends use to….well I am not completely
sure why they sit and smoke over this hole for up to 2 hours at a time. Asmah told
me that if I sit over this smoking hole everyday I will be able to push this new baby
out in 3 pushes. Nsaiba seems to be sitting over it every day to loose weight and have
soft smooth skin. I guess it is good for whatever ails ya. ;-)
So it is a hole in the ground with coals and logs in it. You then sit on the pillow and put your feet on
the stick above the hole. You strip down to your undies and slather yourself up with some really
stinky oil and then they cover you up with 4 very thick blankets around your neck and all around your
feet kind of making a tent over you for all the smoke to come up and do it’s work. And you just sit there
for as long as you like. They absolutely love it and it is a place where all the women gather and enjoy
fellowship with one another. Shalom and I politely passed on the opportunity to try it. I just didn’t think
I would get up from there if I got down at this point in my pregnancy! :-)
But I have to look around and see all their children who have survived and just go with the flow and trust God will care for His new little one.
GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS, LORD UNTO ME! :-)
What a joy it has been to chat with you for a bit. As always there is so much more I could share but I better end for here for now. Prince and I so appreciate your faithfulness to us in friendship! We wish we were better at keeping up with you on a more regular basis but please know we pray for you all and are so thankful to partner with you in ministry!
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi, Naomi…and Baby Girl :-)
Monday February 13, 2017
Dear Friends,
We hope you all have had a fruitful start to the year 2017. Heidi and I wanted to thank you for your prayers for us during the month of January. The month was filled with so much activity we found it hard to find time to slow down and gather our thoughts to share all the stories happening around us.
OUR COMMUNITY
We have had a burden on our hearts for the last two years to reach the community we live in directly with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have lived in this community for more than 5 years now, and we have built great relationships with several individuals in the community, and we have even shared the gospel with some, but we’ve felt that we weren’t doing enough.
We live in a very impoverished community, a lot of of them living in very basic housing and the way we tend to think we should go about is through building relationships. However in the recent months we have grown convinced we needed to directly confront our community with the gospel. But to be quite honest we were to afraid to step out and walk up to people’s doors and start “gospel” conversations out of the clear blue. So sadly we just sat and had good intentions for 2 years.
When Megan and Patrick asked if they could come serve with us in January we felt this would be such a help to us to get started at reaching out to the families in our community. Patrick has been working Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and both have a passion for children. Some of the best ways to reach a community is through serving their children. So we planned for a children’s Vacation Bible Study.
VBS
Patrick and Megan arrived on January 1st and from the 2nd to the 6th we conducted the VBS. On Monday 24 kids showed up and by Friday we had 60 kids. Most kids tend to have lots of chores to do at home. The average kid in our community wakes up very early in the morning and goes down the hill to a communal water source and has to fetch water for the whole household. Every day we watch them make several trips up and down the hill with 2.5 and 5 gallon jags of water. Then after that, they have to clean up their house, make meals (if their families have money for food) and repeat the whole routine over again. These kids don’t have time to watch t.v or even time to sit and relax after a good meal. Their lives revolve around work, work, and more work. And to be honest their parents need them.
So to have their parents release them for 2 hours each day was a huge ask. The VBS was set for 10am to Noon, however on the first day very few kids showed up. So I went around the village to ask the parents why they didn’t send them to us and that when I found out that they have chores they have to do at home. We agreed with the parents to move the time to Noon to 2pm, and that did the trick. On Tuesday the kids showed up on time and all dressed like they were going to Sunday church. Most of them have one nice outfit for special occasions and they wore that same outfit all week long.
Patrick and Meghan brought teaching material from CEF. The kids loved it! It made teaching bible stories interesting with all the pictures and illustrations. The kids did really well memorizing the bible verses with the hand motions to go with it especially since their English isn’t that great. We had great adult volunteers from the neighborhood and our church who interacted with the kids so well and served as translators for Megan & Patrick each day.
At the end of each lesson, Patrick shared the gospel with the kids and made an invitation. One kid called Isma (muslim), stood out to me. He came to me after the lesson and wanted to know how he can trust in Jesus. Unlike most of the kids, he really could articulate why he need Jesus. He said he needed Jesus because he had done bad things and that made him a sinner. So I shared the gospel with him again and he was very receptive. I hope and pray that indeed he put his trust in Jesus.
THE SLUMS
On one of the days after the VBS was finished, we went to a serve in a slum about 15mins from our house. There is a young Ugandan man also named Patrick who I have had the privilege to get to know over the last few years. Patrick was former street kid who was rescued about 12 years ago and now has dedicated his life to rescuing others off the street. He goes to the slum twice a week and provides a meal and healthcare to the kids. Through this, he is able to build relationships with the kids and identifies those that are ready to leave the street life. Most of these kids have gotten so used to this life that they can’t let it go even when you give them an option. The majority of the kids are addicted to drugs and many were high as we interacted with them. Patrick has a halfway house in the slum where he takes the candidates before being moved out of the slum to a safe house out of town.
"American Patrick" and I shared the gospel with a group of boys, while Megan and “Ugandan Patrick” assisted a doctor in that area who cleaned and dressed different wounds the kids had.
In the mornings Patrick and Megan played with the kids in the neighborhood right outside our door. We invited them to join us for our VBS but they very confidently said, “NO. We can’t come to that class because we are Muslims and you are Christians.” But Patrick and Megan played bubbles, sidewalk chalk games, and jump ropes with them then told them the same stories we used with the kids at the VBS. So they as well got to be apart of our lessons without even realizing it! :-)
PARENTING CLASS
On Saturday we were so excited to begin our first parenting class with couples from our church. The session was so good and all the couples left so excited and encouraged that this class will give them the Biblical foundation as well as practical tools for how to raise their children. And it was wonderful to introduce Megan & Patrick to our local church family on Sunday.
JINJA
We had been going full tilt with Megan & Patrick since they arrived and we wanted to give them another picture of Uganda and how beautiful a country it is. So we took them them the day before they flew home to a quiet town called Jinja right at the source of the Nile River. They were able to experience so many wonderful cultural things that make Uganda beautiful and unique.
They flew home on January 10th and we stripped the beds and made them up for Pastor Myron from Indiana and a man from his church named Brad who were arriving on January 12th to come teach and train pastors in Kasese and a town in the east called Tororo.
I will share more about their visit in the next update.
We are so excited to have built deeper relationship with more people both children and their families in our community and to have had opportunities to actually share the gospel message with many of them. As we walk down the road now we run into so many of our kids and it is fun to hear them say, “Uncle…let me tell you my bible verse” and to hear them quote the verse they memorized in class and to hear them ask when we are coming back to teach them is such a gift! Please pray that we would continue to work hard at reaching out to our community with the love of Jesus Christ!
THANK YOU for your continue partnership with is in this ministry! We love because HE first loved us! May many know HIS love personally!
More to come…..
Prince & Heidi :-)
Dear Friends,
We hope you all have had a fruitful start to the year 2017. Heidi and I wanted to thank you for your prayers for us during the month of January. The month was filled with so much activity we found it hard to find time to slow down and gather our thoughts to share all the stories happening around us.
OUR COMMUNITY
We have had a burden on our hearts for the last two years to reach the community we live in directly with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have lived in this community for more than 5 years now, and we have built great relationships with several individuals in the community, and we have even shared the gospel with some, but we’ve felt that we weren’t doing enough.
We live in a very impoverished community, a lot of of them living in very basic housing and the way we tend to think we should go about is through building relationships. However in the recent months we have grown convinced we needed to directly confront our community with the gospel. But to be quite honest we were to afraid to step out and walk up to people’s doors and start “gospel” conversations out of the clear blue. So sadly we just sat and had good intentions for 2 years.
When Megan and Patrick asked if they could come serve with us in January we felt this would be such a help to us to get started at reaching out to the families in our community. Patrick has been working Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and both have a passion for children. Some of the best ways to reach a community is through serving their children. So we planned for a children’s Vacation Bible Study.
VBS
Patrick and Megan arrived on January 1st and from the 2nd to the 6th we conducted the VBS. On Monday 24 kids showed up and by Friday we had 60 kids. Most kids tend to have lots of chores to do at home. The average kid in our community wakes up very early in the morning and goes down the hill to a communal water source and has to fetch water for the whole household. Every day we watch them make several trips up and down the hill with 2.5 and 5 gallon jags of water. Then after that, they have to clean up their house, make meals (if their families have money for food) and repeat the whole routine over again. These kids don’t have time to watch t.v or even time to sit and relax after a good meal. Their lives revolve around work, work, and more work. And to be honest their parents need them.
So to have their parents release them for 2 hours each day was a huge ask. The VBS was set for 10am to Noon, however on the first day very few kids showed up. So I went around the village to ask the parents why they didn’t send them to us and that when I found out that they have chores they have to do at home. We agreed with the parents to move the time to Noon to 2pm, and that did the trick. On Tuesday the kids showed up on time and all dressed like they were going to Sunday church. Most of them have one nice outfit for special occasions and they wore that same outfit all week long.
Patrick and Meghan brought teaching material from CEF. The kids loved it! It made teaching bible stories interesting with all the pictures and illustrations. The kids did really well memorizing the bible verses with the hand motions to go with it especially since their English isn’t that great. We had great adult volunteers from the neighborhood and our church who interacted with the kids so well and served as translators for Megan & Patrick each day.
At the end of each lesson, Patrick shared the gospel with the kids and made an invitation. One kid called Isma (muslim), stood out to me. He came to me after the lesson and wanted to know how he can trust in Jesus. Unlike most of the kids, he really could articulate why he need Jesus. He said he needed Jesus because he had done bad things and that made him a sinner. So I shared the gospel with him again and he was very receptive. I hope and pray that indeed he put his trust in Jesus.
THE SLUMS
On one of the days after the VBS was finished, we went to a serve in a slum about 15mins from our house. There is a young Ugandan man also named Patrick who I have had the privilege to get to know over the last few years. Patrick was former street kid who was rescued about 12 years ago and now has dedicated his life to rescuing others off the street. He goes to the slum twice a week and provides a meal and healthcare to the kids. Through this, he is able to build relationships with the kids and identifies those that are ready to leave the street life. Most of these kids have gotten so used to this life that they can’t let it go even when you give them an option. The majority of the kids are addicted to drugs and many were high as we interacted with them. Patrick has a halfway house in the slum where he takes the candidates before being moved out of the slum to a safe house out of town.
"American Patrick" and I shared the gospel with a group of boys, while Megan and “Ugandan Patrick” assisted a doctor in that area who cleaned and dressed different wounds the kids had.
In the mornings Patrick and Megan played with the kids in the neighborhood right outside our door. We invited them to join us for our VBS but they very confidently said, “NO. We can’t come to that class because we are Muslims and you are Christians.” But Patrick and Megan played bubbles, sidewalk chalk games, and jump ropes with them then told them the same stories we used with the kids at the VBS. So they as well got to be apart of our lessons without even realizing it! :-)
PARENTING CLASS
On Saturday we were so excited to begin our first parenting class with couples from our church. The session was so good and all the couples left so excited and encouraged that this class will give them the Biblical foundation as well as practical tools for how to raise their children. And it was wonderful to introduce Megan & Patrick to our local church family on Sunday.
JINJA
We had been going full tilt with Megan & Patrick since they arrived and we wanted to give them another picture of Uganda and how beautiful a country it is. So we took them them the day before they flew home to a quiet town called Jinja right at the source of the Nile River. They were able to experience so many wonderful cultural things that make Uganda beautiful and unique.
They flew home on January 10th and we stripped the beds and made them up for Pastor Myron from Indiana and a man from his church named Brad who were arriving on January 12th to come teach and train pastors in Kasese and a town in the east called Tororo.
I will share more about their visit in the next update.
We are so excited to have built deeper relationship with more people both children and their families in our community and to have had opportunities to actually share the gospel message with many of them. As we walk down the road now we run into so many of our kids and it is fun to hear them say, “Uncle…let me tell you my bible verse” and to hear them quote the verse they memorized in class and to hear them ask when we are coming back to teach them is such a gift! Please pray that we would continue to work hard at reaching out to our community with the love of Jesus Christ!
THANK YOU for your continue partnership with is in this ministry! We love because HE first loved us! May many know HIS love personally!
More to come…..
Prince & Heidi :-)
Friday December 16, 2016
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy Friday!!! We hope you have had a good week. There is so much that happens in a week so we decided to chose 5 things to share about from our end.
1. Kasese Update…
The fighting has settled down up to this point for which we thank the Lord, but the hurt that is brewing in the hearts of the people against the government is undoubtedly growing.
Thank you to those of you who have prayed for Pr. Andrew and the people of this area. We have been completely blown away this week to receive news that some of our ministry partners have raised money to help a man from Andrew’s congregation who had his legs shot during the fighting and had to have them amputated. They will be supporting him to be fitted with prosthetic legs.
Pr. Andrew and his wife Mary and their 5 boys have been staying in a home they loved. However they received news that the landlord was going to evict them and sell the house. So some of our ministry partners raised money to buy the house so they can stay there. WOW!!!
Pastor Myron from Indiana, who comes every year to teach and train pastors in the country will be coming in January to teach in Kasese, raised $1000 to buy study Bibles for the pastors. Praise the Lord!
2. RedRoad…
** On a sad note Prince had to let our driver David go last month. He is an older gentleman with a wife and 6 kids…one is just months old. Prince worked hard with him over the years to guide him and help him grow, but when we returned from the states we were getting reports from many of our committed clients that his driving was beginning to become very dangerous and people were fearing for their safety while riding with him. We hated to let him go but could not put our clients in that kind of danger.
Prince gave him 6 months salary to give him time to find a job and we are praying the Lord will give him something that will not be as strenuous for him at his age. He was devastated at the news and cried and cried. This gave Prince the chance to share the gospel with him, that he needs a job but his greatest need is to be in a relationship with Jesus. Not that Jesus will fix all his problems but He will forgive his sins and give him hope for today. That even in the midst of challenging circumstances we can look to the Lord for help and guidance.
Prince is taking him to an eye doctor on Monday to see if his eye sight could be fixed and maybe he can be able to do some personal driving for a family or something.
** Losing our main driver was hard but God provided for us and we are excited to welcome a young man named Sam who is joining our team as our new driver. Prince met him through a missionary who was retiring and going back to the States. The missionary spent the last couple years witnessing to him and brought him to Jesus and Prince is excited to walk with him and help him know Jesus better.
** Prince’s brother Bright started interning with us last Monday because his university was shut down last month by the president because of a lack of funds to run the university. It is not clear when it will reopen, so instead of him sitting around being idle he asked to join us. We thought it would be a great idea because it will give Prince an opportunity to be of great influence in his life.
(A) Prince with his mom and brothers. Bright is in the middle wearing the blue shirt.
** Prince now has 4 young men working for him on a daily basis and even though they are a apart of us in the disguise of work, the real work for Prince is the time he spends teaching them about God and life skills. They are either orphans or come from broken families with absent fathers and have never really had a figure of authority in their life for day to day wisdom and direction. So the opportunities and challenges that come through the business act as a platform to disciple and introduce them to God in every situation.
For example this week Nico was taken to prison for not wearing his seatbelt while driving to work and he was going to spend 48 hours there. Although it was frustrating for Prince and Nicolas it really gave a chance for Prince to talk to Nico about submitting to authority even when the authority is corrupt and unjust.
Sam who just joined us had his first vehicle mishap. He was coming back from carrying the body of a national missionary who had passed away on Monday to their home in the village for burial ten hours from Kampala when the van overheated and blew up the cylinder head. Because he was deep in the middle of nowhere with no mechanics anywhere to be found, he was stuck. Thankfully after two days of drama the car is finally moving and on its way back to Kampala just in time to be rented out to another missionary to use tomorrow.
So again a challenge like this helps to build relationships with these young men. The way Prince responds to these intense situations is giving the guys a picture of how Christians ought to treat one another. They all expected Prince to be angry and blow up at them and everyone around them. This is probably what they have grown up seeing from the elders in their lives. We want to do our very best in business and provide excellent services but not at the cost of ruining relationships or mistreating someone else.
(B) Nico & Prince…two of the handsome men of RedRoad Tours heading off
to work early one morning.
Ivan is recovering well from his surgery and doing his exams right now. His stay with us during recovery was deeply touching to him in a way that we didn’t expect. We just thought we were helping a friend out. He has a real sense of not belonging to anyone or anywhere so our gesture made him feel like he belonged and he was so emotional as he said his goodbyes. Prince and I were a little caught off guard and were kind of laughing at his attempts to thank us until we saw tears running down his face. We realized this was pretty huge for this young man. During his stay with us we saw Ivan open up more to us and shared with us his relationship with a girl he likes at school which gave us an opportunity to counsel him about how to be a godly man towards this girl.
3. Coming Up In January…
January 1st-10th ~ We are looking forward to hosting Megan from West Rome Baptist Church, our home church, and her fiancée Patrick to help us put on a neighborhood children’s camp. Prince and I wanted to reach out to all the kids in our old neighborhood and now in our new neighborhood and take time to invest in their lives and get to know them and their families more. Patrick works with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and they both have a heart for kids and serving Jesus. We are thrilled they are coming to help us with this week long camp which will be VBS style, games, songs, Bible lessons, memory verse time, and snacks with all the kids who are on their Christmas holiday break. Many of these children are from very poor homes in the slums and simply hang around all day with no adult interaction or supervision. We are praying that this camp from January 2-6th will be a great start to building deeper relationships with these kids.
PRAYER NEEDS:
** Our greatest hurdle at this moment is locating a venue where we can host these kids for 5 days from 10am-12pm. There simply is no grassy lawn anywhere in our community where we can gather the kids to play and sit and listen to Bible stories. Shalom and I have been going to schools in the area and they either do not have any grass (only concrete and brick playgrounds or they want to charge us a large fee to use their grass.) Please pray that we will find somewhere to gather with these kids every day.
** Pray that many children will come and will hear the gospel and that the Holy Spirit would open their hearts to accept the forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers.
Saturday January 7th ~ We will be beginning a parenting class with couples from our church. Several couples with young children have come and asked us to help them know how to parent their child. We ourselves are learning so we thought it would be a great opportunity to grow together with others in our church as we learn to shepherd our children’s hearts. We will be meeting every first Saturday of the month
January 13th – 20th ~ Prince will be traveling with Pr. Myron to Kasese to teach pastors for the week.
January 22nd – 24th ~ Prince will travel with Pr. Myron to Tororo, a town out in the eastern part of the country to help with teaching of church elders out there.
January 3rd ~ The Excellent wife ~ I have been treasuring starting up a book study called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace with 3 other ladies. We have met two times so far and will pick back up on Tuesdays in January. In just those two times the Lord has been chipping away at all of us as wives and helping us to see how many areas we need to grow and change…..which is awesome and painful all at the same time!!! It is exciting to think that with God’s help as we work hard to become the excellent wife God wants us to be we will see 4 marriages transformed and strengthened in this city and Lord willing that will have huge ripple effects to those around us.
Every week as I study the chapter I am I feel bad for my poor husband. I see so many ways I have not had an obedient heart towards the Lord and have been bitter, harsh, and unkind to my husband and Naomi and I don’t want to be that kind of wife and mother. I want to be growing in making my husband my primary ministry and serving him and Naomi with a humble heart, KINDNESS and JOY!!! But it also makes me so thankful to God for blessing me with a man who is so easy to submit to and follow. He is so forgiving and such a kind and gracious husband who is such a blessing to our family in so many ways!
(C) I am so thankful for my special man!!! :-)
4. BSF…
I have been so thankful to also join Bible Study Fellowship this year as we study deeply through the book of John which has been nothing short of amazing so far!! I am the only westerner amongst 200+ Ugandan women in the class each week which is fun. Studying Jesus’ life so indepth has been such a help to me as I interact with my muslim neighbors and Jesus has given me more confidence to boldly share Him with others. Also, I am thrilled that Naomi is also apart of the study in the BSF kids program. Every week she is getting these great truths planted in her little heart which I am so thankful for.
(D) So grateful for the opportunity to study God’s Word each morning
with the structure I need from BSF as a busy mom to keep focused
and growing in Jesus rather than falling asleep as soon as I sit down.
5. Pregnancy...
(E)~ We thank the Lord that I have reached 24 weeks (in my 6th month) of pregnancy. This little girl inside seems like she is trying to keep up with her busy sister Naomi and is flipping and kicking all day and night!!!! We are so excited to meet her! :-)
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are praying for each one of you as you prepare for this season where we look forward to celebrating the greatest GIFT of all time….Jesus Christ the Lord!
Love & Hugs,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi :-)
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy Friday!!! We hope you have had a good week. There is so much that happens in a week so we decided to chose 5 things to share about from our end.
1. Kasese Update…
The fighting has settled down up to this point for which we thank the Lord, but the hurt that is brewing in the hearts of the people against the government is undoubtedly growing.
Thank you to those of you who have prayed for Pr. Andrew and the people of this area. We have been completely blown away this week to receive news that some of our ministry partners have raised money to help a man from Andrew’s congregation who had his legs shot during the fighting and had to have them amputated. They will be supporting him to be fitted with prosthetic legs.
Pr. Andrew and his wife Mary and their 5 boys have been staying in a home they loved. However they received news that the landlord was going to evict them and sell the house. So some of our ministry partners raised money to buy the house so they can stay there. WOW!!!
Pastor Myron from Indiana, who comes every year to teach and train pastors in the country will be coming in January to teach in Kasese, raised $1000 to buy study Bibles for the pastors. Praise the Lord!
2. RedRoad…
** On a sad note Prince had to let our driver David go last month. He is an older gentleman with a wife and 6 kids…one is just months old. Prince worked hard with him over the years to guide him and help him grow, but when we returned from the states we were getting reports from many of our committed clients that his driving was beginning to become very dangerous and people were fearing for their safety while riding with him. We hated to let him go but could not put our clients in that kind of danger.
Prince gave him 6 months salary to give him time to find a job and we are praying the Lord will give him something that will not be as strenuous for him at his age. He was devastated at the news and cried and cried. This gave Prince the chance to share the gospel with him, that he needs a job but his greatest need is to be in a relationship with Jesus. Not that Jesus will fix all his problems but He will forgive his sins and give him hope for today. That even in the midst of challenging circumstances we can look to the Lord for help and guidance.
Prince is taking him to an eye doctor on Monday to see if his eye sight could be fixed and maybe he can be able to do some personal driving for a family or something.
** Losing our main driver was hard but God provided for us and we are excited to welcome a young man named Sam who is joining our team as our new driver. Prince met him through a missionary who was retiring and going back to the States. The missionary spent the last couple years witnessing to him and brought him to Jesus and Prince is excited to walk with him and help him know Jesus better.
** Prince’s brother Bright started interning with us last Monday because his university was shut down last month by the president because of a lack of funds to run the university. It is not clear when it will reopen, so instead of him sitting around being idle he asked to join us. We thought it would be a great idea because it will give Prince an opportunity to be of great influence in his life.
(A) Prince with his mom and brothers. Bright is in the middle wearing the blue shirt.
** Prince now has 4 young men working for him on a daily basis and even though they are a apart of us in the disguise of work, the real work for Prince is the time he spends teaching them about God and life skills. They are either orphans or come from broken families with absent fathers and have never really had a figure of authority in their life for day to day wisdom and direction. So the opportunities and challenges that come through the business act as a platform to disciple and introduce them to God in every situation.
For example this week Nico was taken to prison for not wearing his seatbelt while driving to work and he was going to spend 48 hours there. Although it was frustrating for Prince and Nicolas it really gave a chance for Prince to talk to Nico about submitting to authority even when the authority is corrupt and unjust.
Sam who just joined us had his first vehicle mishap. He was coming back from carrying the body of a national missionary who had passed away on Monday to their home in the village for burial ten hours from Kampala when the van overheated and blew up the cylinder head. Because he was deep in the middle of nowhere with no mechanics anywhere to be found, he was stuck. Thankfully after two days of drama the car is finally moving and on its way back to Kampala just in time to be rented out to another missionary to use tomorrow.
So again a challenge like this helps to build relationships with these young men. The way Prince responds to these intense situations is giving the guys a picture of how Christians ought to treat one another. They all expected Prince to be angry and blow up at them and everyone around them. This is probably what they have grown up seeing from the elders in their lives. We want to do our very best in business and provide excellent services but not at the cost of ruining relationships or mistreating someone else.
(B) Nico & Prince…two of the handsome men of RedRoad Tours heading off
to work early one morning.
Ivan is recovering well from his surgery and doing his exams right now. His stay with us during recovery was deeply touching to him in a way that we didn’t expect. We just thought we were helping a friend out. He has a real sense of not belonging to anyone or anywhere so our gesture made him feel like he belonged and he was so emotional as he said his goodbyes. Prince and I were a little caught off guard and were kind of laughing at his attempts to thank us until we saw tears running down his face. We realized this was pretty huge for this young man. During his stay with us we saw Ivan open up more to us and shared with us his relationship with a girl he likes at school which gave us an opportunity to counsel him about how to be a godly man towards this girl.
3. Coming Up In January…
January 1st-10th ~ We are looking forward to hosting Megan from West Rome Baptist Church, our home church, and her fiancée Patrick to help us put on a neighborhood children’s camp. Prince and I wanted to reach out to all the kids in our old neighborhood and now in our new neighborhood and take time to invest in their lives and get to know them and their families more. Patrick works with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) and they both have a heart for kids and serving Jesus. We are thrilled they are coming to help us with this week long camp which will be VBS style, games, songs, Bible lessons, memory verse time, and snacks with all the kids who are on their Christmas holiday break. Many of these children are from very poor homes in the slums and simply hang around all day with no adult interaction or supervision. We are praying that this camp from January 2-6th will be a great start to building deeper relationships with these kids.
PRAYER NEEDS:
** Our greatest hurdle at this moment is locating a venue where we can host these kids for 5 days from 10am-12pm. There simply is no grassy lawn anywhere in our community where we can gather the kids to play and sit and listen to Bible stories. Shalom and I have been going to schools in the area and they either do not have any grass (only concrete and brick playgrounds or they want to charge us a large fee to use their grass.) Please pray that we will find somewhere to gather with these kids every day.
** Pray that many children will come and will hear the gospel and that the Holy Spirit would open their hearts to accept the forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers.
Saturday January 7th ~ We will be beginning a parenting class with couples from our church. Several couples with young children have come and asked us to help them know how to parent their child. We ourselves are learning so we thought it would be a great opportunity to grow together with others in our church as we learn to shepherd our children’s hearts. We will be meeting every first Saturday of the month
January 13th – 20th ~ Prince will be traveling with Pr. Myron to Kasese to teach pastors for the week.
January 22nd – 24th ~ Prince will travel with Pr. Myron to Tororo, a town out in the eastern part of the country to help with teaching of church elders out there.
January 3rd ~ The Excellent wife ~ I have been treasuring starting up a book study called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace with 3 other ladies. We have met two times so far and will pick back up on Tuesdays in January. In just those two times the Lord has been chipping away at all of us as wives and helping us to see how many areas we need to grow and change…..which is awesome and painful all at the same time!!! It is exciting to think that with God’s help as we work hard to become the excellent wife God wants us to be we will see 4 marriages transformed and strengthened in this city and Lord willing that will have huge ripple effects to those around us.
Every week as I study the chapter I am I feel bad for my poor husband. I see so many ways I have not had an obedient heart towards the Lord and have been bitter, harsh, and unkind to my husband and Naomi and I don’t want to be that kind of wife and mother. I want to be growing in making my husband my primary ministry and serving him and Naomi with a humble heart, KINDNESS and JOY!!! But it also makes me so thankful to God for blessing me with a man who is so easy to submit to and follow. He is so forgiving and such a kind and gracious husband who is such a blessing to our family in so many ways!
(C) I am so thankful for my special man!!! :-)
4. BSF…
I have been so thankful to also join Bible Study Fellowship this year as we study deeply through the book of John which has been nothing short of amazing so far!! I am the only westerner amongst 200+ Ugandan women in the class each week which is fun. Studying Jesus’ life so indepth has been such a help to me as I interact with my muslim neighbors and Jesus has given me more confidence to boldly share Him with others. Also, I am thrilled that Naomi is also apart of the study in the BSF kids program. Every week she is getting these great truths planted in her little heart which I am so thankful for.
(D) So grateful for the opportunity to study God’s Word each morning
with the structure I need from BSF as a busy mom to keep focused
and growing in Jesus rather than falling asleep as soon as I sit down.
5. Pregnancy...
(E)~ We thank the Lord that I have reached 24 weeks (in my 6th month) of pregnancy. This little girl inside seems like she is trying to keep up with her busy sister Naomi and is flipping and kicking all day and night!!!! We are so excited to meet her! :-)
We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are praying for each one of you as you prepare for this season where we look forward to celebrating the greatest GIFT of all time….Jesus Christ the Lord!
Love & Hugs,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi :-)
A B C D E
Sunday December 4, 2016
Hi Folks,
I hope y’all are having a good Sunday. I just wanted to give you a quick update about Kasese.
As you know, I was supposed to be heading to Kasese to teach last week but fighting broke out between the government and the tribal people of Kasese.
As I was about to leave, Andrew called and told me to stay home. Apparently the fighting had really picked up again Sunday morning and the government broke into the King’s palace that they had besieged for 24 hours and arrested the King and also shot and killed over 40 of the royal guard. They also blew up the whole palace and all the structures in the King’s complex. The conflict lasted a week and it’s been reported that there’s been over 120 deaths.
I have been getting updated from Pastor Andrew and he is devastated and angry. A lot of innocent people lost their lives in this conflict. There are a number of people from Andrew’s church that either lost a relative or got badly injured.
Pastor Andrew lost a niece who was shot by a stray bullet on a boda (motorbike taxi) as she drove past the palace heading home. He also lost an uncle who was also shot while fleeing from the scene. The military thought he was one of the King’s soldiers.
Then there was the story of a 14-year-old orphan girl that goes to Andrew’s school. On the day of the fighting when the whole town was deserted, she went to the nearby river to fetch water. When she reached there was a bunch of rowdy boys who raped her and left her by herself on the riverbanks. All these stories have summed up a week to forget in Kasese and in Uganda at large. Please pray for the people in Kasese especially believers like Pastor Andrew to trust the Lord in this difficult time when the temptation to seek justice on your own is high.
The fighting has cooled down. There has only been one death this week, but the situation remains very tense. I intend to go to Kasese as soon as I get the “all clear” from Andrew. I would love to go and be an encouragement to them in this time.
In other news, we had our hymn sing last night. There were 12 of us in total and it was a great time of fellowship. It gave an opportunity to some of the people who had left the church, to be apart of us again. I’m glad we were able to pull it off. I see it as the first step towards gaining involvement in the church. My goal is to help us get our minds and hearts away from struggles the church has gone through in the recent weeks and have us focused on Jesus and his purpose for our lives.
Thank you for your letters and for your prayers!
Have a blessed week!
Prince
Hi Folks,
I hope y’all are having a good Sunday. I just wanted to give you a quick update about Kasese.
As you know, I was supposed to be heading to Kasese to teach last week but fighting broke out between the government and the tribal people of Kasese.
As I was about to leave, Andrew called and told me to stay home. Apparently the fighting had really picked up again Sunday morning and the government broke into the King’s palace that they had besieged for 24 hours and arrested the King and also shot and killed over 40 of the royal guard. They also blew up the whole palace and all the structures in the King’s complex. The conflict lasted a week and it’s been reported that there’s been over 120 deaths.
I have been getting updated from Pastor Andrew and he is devastated and angry. A lot of innocent people lost their lives in this conflict. There are a number of people from Andrew’s church that either lost a relative or got badly injured.
Pastor Andrew lost a niece who was shot by a stray bullet on a boda (motorbike taxi) as she drove past the palace heading home. He also lost an uncle who was also shot while fleeing from the scene. The military thought he was one of the King’s soldiers.
Then there was the story of a 14-year-old orphan girl that goes to Andrew’s school. On the day of the fighting when the whole town was deserted, she went to the nearby river to fetch water. When she reached there was a bunch of rowdy boys who raped her and left her by herself on the riverbanks. All these stories have summed up a week to forget in Kasese and in Uganda at large. Please pray for the people in Kasese especially believers like Pastor Andrew to trust the Lord in this difficult time when the temptation to seek justice on your own is high.
The fighting has cooled down. There has only been one death this week, but the situation remains very tense. I intend to go to Kasese as soon as I get the “all clear” from Andrew. I would love to go and be an encouragement to them in this time.
In other news, we had our hymn sing last night. There were 12 of us in total and it was a great time of fellowship. It gave an opportunity to some of the people who had left the church, to be apart of us again. I’m glad we were able to pull it off. I see it as the first step towards gaining involvement in the church. My goal is to help us get our minds and hearts away from struggles the church has gone through in the recent weeks and have us focused on Jesus and his purpose for our lives.
Thank you for your letters and for your prayers!
Have a blessed week!
Prince
Dearest Friends & Family,
We hope you had a lovely weekend! It has been special joy for us to follow your summer days back home through the photos you post on Facebook and Instagram. Keep them coming…We love connecting with many of you this way. :-)
We have made a video sharing some exciting news with you. It is really easy to access it and you don’t even have to join VIMEO to watch it. It only takes 2 simple steps to watch it.
1. Click on this link: https://vimeo.com/174091617
2. Enter this Password: July (capital ‘J’ then the rest small letters. Or you can simply cut and paste this. )
3. You may want to hit play then pause and let the video load up first if you have a slow internet connection.
If the video doesn’t play you can simply read all the updates below. :-)
New Home….
On July 1st we sadly left our lovely apartment of 7 years. We didn’t want to move and had planned to stay for a couple more years as we saved to buy or build our own home. But 6 months ago a very rude church moved in next door and every day they have 1000+ people who come for what they call “Lunch Hour” prayers which last for 5 hours and the noise levels are unbearable!!! We tried for 6 months to make it work but we just couldn’t it handle it. It was especially hard for me (Heidi and Naomi) because I am a stay at home mom now and it felt like the church was in my living room for 5 hours every day, which was very agitating to my spirit not only because of the noise but also because of the false teaching about Jesus that is being proclaimed.
You can see how loud the decibels are from our kitchen at 11am.
The noise level out at the road outside our gate. 100 decibels.
So we moved into a new home on July 1st, which for the last 11 days has brought in a whole new set of challenges. Our landlord promised us the world and yet has proven to be very dishonest in his dealings with us so far. When we moved in we found there was no water or working toilets, no doors, and many unfinished parts to the house, and the parts of the house that he built have been built badly and we have had to redo many things to make it livable.
In addition we are surrounded by many large beautiful palm trees which upon entering the house we found to be infested with hundreds of fruit bats so our compound is like a bat sanctuary covered in bat poop. We feel like we have been camping for the last 11 days and it has been a stressful time for us and has added a large burden to Prince who is already very busy with all his work with the business. We are trying to make it work and each day gets better and better and we are learning to laugh and try to love our new landlord rather than grumble and complain about him in our hearts.
The community that we moved into is predominately Muslim with neighbors from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, India, and Uganda. We had 6 beautiful little neighbor girls pop in on us last week to play with Naomi and only one of them spoke English. All of them speak Arabic very loudly. Naomi sweetly shared her toys with them but was a little overwhelmed with how loud and vivacious they are. I have a feeling she will be speaking Arabic by the time she is 3 years old.
Coming Home…
We are excited to share that we are COMING HOME TO AMERICA in 2 days!!! We will be flying out on Wednesday July 13th and will be in home for 3 months. The reason for our trip is because our mission agency, FIM, has a conference in August (13-19th) that we are required to attend so we decided to use this trip to combine it with catching up with supporting churches and friends. It will be the first time for family and friends to meet Naomi Gail so it will be a JOY to catch us with as many of you as possible and introduce you to our sweet little girl!
Also, the last couple of months have been busy so we are looking forward as well to a bit of REST.
RED ROAD TOURS Update…..
STUDENTS
We enjoyed hosting a team of students from Spring Arbor University in Michigan for their study abroad class. They were here for 3 weeks which was a lovely time. It was a great time for Prince’s team to be exposed to many new things and have a chance to learn from Americans.
MOSES
There is a gentleman Prince has been working with for the last few months named Moses who we have been supporting in setting a up a farm so he can feed his family and take care of his personal needs. He was desperate and without hope for so long. So Prince has been counseling him in business and a few weeks ago Prince went to visit his farm and was very pleased with the progress he has made. He grew soybeans on 6 acres of land all planted by hand. We are excited because harvest season is coming up soon and we are praying that he will have a plentiful harvest and get a great price when he goes to sell his crops. Prince said one big change he noticed as Moses showed him around was that he had hope and a smile on his face again!
We want to THANK YOU for the support you give to us because it allows us to come alongside men like Moses and help them be able to get on their feet and support their families.
RedRoad Tours IS GROWING….
We are so thankful to God for how He is helping our business to grow. Prince is working so hard and I thank God for the wisdom He is giving to him as he leads and directs this company. So many doors are being opened and connections made as the company grows.
Naomi helping Daddy at the office one day.
VIVIAN & ADAH...
We are at the point that Prince really needed to hire on an office administrator and reservation manager. Prince has been wearing so many hats and bogged down in doing work that is not really his strength thus keeping him from doing what his strengths are to move the business forward. We put out a advertisement in the paper for the job positions and got over 200 applications. Prince, Shalom and I have been conducting interviews the last couple weeks and have finally hired on 2 lovely women last Friday. Vivian and Adah are the newest additions to the RedRoad family and are in the middle of intense training this week to get them set up enough to run the business with Nico and Ivan and David while we are way. Shalom and I got so excited as we interviewed Vivian and Adah for the opportunities we pray the Lord will give us to disciple and share Jesus with them.
I know it is really scary for Prince to leave the business for 3 months when we are in a place where we have finally picked up a lot of momentum. But we have to trust the Lord that He is in this and that He will help our team until we return.
Please Pray for Prince that he will REST in the Lord and HIS mighty hand, and that the Lord will guide and direct our team.
Nico and Ivan continue to grow in so many exciting ways!!! Ivan recently was asked by one of his former professors to speak to a freshman class at his college because his professor had noticed how much he has changed. She thought it was because of his new job. Ivan thinks it is the job that is changing him but we know it is GOD who is changing him.
We are so excited to see hopefully many of you real soon!!! :-) :-) :-)
Please Pray for us as we travel. We have 8 hours over to Amsterdam and then 8 hours over to Detroit. It will be our first time flying this long with Naomi and we are asking the Lord to give her strength and grace for the long journey that is even hard for us as adults.
With Love and Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi Gail :-)
We hope you had a lovely weekend! It has been special joy for us to follow your summer days back home through the photos you post on Facebook and Instagram. Keep them coming…We love connecting with many of you this way. :-)
We have made a video sharing some exciting news with you. It is really easy to access it and you don’t even have to join VIMEO to watch it. It only takes 2 simple steps to watch it.
1. Click on this link: https://vimeo.com/174091617
2. Enter this Password: July (capital ‘J’ then the rest small letters. Or you can simply cut and paste this. )
3. You may want to hit play then pause and let the video load up first if you have a slow internet connection.
If the video doesn’t play you can simply read all the updates below. :-)
New Home….
On July 1st we sadly left our lovely apartment of 7 years. We didn’t want to move and had planned to stay for a couple more years as we saved to buy or build our own home. But 6 months ago a very rude church moved in next door and every day they have 1000+ people who come for what they call “Lunch Hour” prayers which last for 5 hours and the noise levels are unbearable!!! We tried for 6 months to make it work but we just couldn’t it handle it. It was especially hard for me (Heidi and Naomi) because I am a stay at home mom now and it felt like the church was in my living room for 5 hours every day, which was very agitating to my spirit not only because of the noise but also because of the false teaching about Jesus that is being proclaimed.
You can see how loud the decibels are from our kitchen at 11am.
The noise level out at the road outside our gate. 100 decibels.
So we moved into a new home on July 1st, which for the last 11 days has brought in a whole new set of challenges. Our landlord promised us the world and yet has proven to be very dishonest in his dealings with us so far. When we moved in we found there was no water or working toilets, no doors, and many unfinished parts to the house, and the parts of the house that he built have been built badly and we have had to redo many things to make it livable.
In addition we are surrounded by many large beautiful palm trees which upon entering the house we found to be infested with hundreds of fruit bats so our compound is like a bat sanctuary covered in bat poop. We feel like we have been camping for the last 11 days and it has been a stressful time for us and has added a large burden to Prince who is already very busy with all his work with the business. We are trying to make it work and each day gets better and better and we are learning to laugh and try to love our new landlord rather than grumble and complain about him in our hearts.
The community that we moved into is predominately Muslim with neighbors from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, India, and Uganda. We had 6 beautiful little neighbor girls pop in on us last week to play with Naomi and only one of them spoke English. All of them speak Arabic very loudly. Naomi sweetly shared her toys with them but was a little overwhelmed with how loud and vivacious they are. I have a feeling she will be speaking Arabic by the time she is 3 years old.
Coming Home…
We are excited to share that we are COMING HOME TO AMERICA in 2 days!!! We will be flying out on Wednesday July 13th and will be in home for 3 months. The reason for our trip is because our mission agency, FIM, has a conference in August (13-19th) that we are required to attend so we decided to use this trip to combine it with catching up with supporting churches and friends. It will be the first time for family and friends to meet Naomi Gail so it will be a JOY to catch us with as many of you as possible and introduce you to our sweet little girl!
Also, the last couple of months have been busy so we are looking forward as well to a bit of REST.
RED ROAD TOURS Update…..
STUDENTS
We enjoyed hosting a team of students from Spring Arbor University in Michigan for their study abroad class. They were here for 3 weeks which was a lovely time. It was a great time for Prince’s team to be exposed to many new things and have a chance to learn from Americans.
MOSES
There is a gentleman Prince has been working with for the last few months named Moses who we have been supporting in setting a up a farm so he can feed his family and take care of his personal needs. He was desperate and without hope for so long. So Prince has been counseling him in business and a few weeks ago Prince went to visit his farm and was very pleased with the progress he has made. He grew soybeans on 6 acres of land all planted by hand. We are excited because harvest season is coming up soon and we are praying that he will have a plentiful harvest and get a great price when he goes to sell his crops. Prince said one big change he noticed as Moses showed him around was that he had hope and a smile on his face again!
We want to THANK YOU for the support you give to us because it allows us to come alongside men like Moses and help them be able to get on their feet and support their families.
RedRoad Tours IS GROWING….
We are so thankful to God for how He is helping our business to grow. Prince is working so hard and I thank God for the wisdom He is giving to him as he leads and directs this company. So many doors are being opened and connections made as the company grows.
Naomi helping Daddy at the office one day.
VIVIAN & ADAH...
We are at the point that Prince really needed to hire on an office administrator and reservation manager. Prince has been wearing so many hats and bogged down in doing work that is not really his strength thus keeping him from doing what his strengths are to move the business forward. We put out a advertisement in the paper for the job positions and got over 200 applications. Prince, Shalom and I have been conducting interviews the last couple weeks and have finally hired on 2 lovely women last Friday. Vivian and Adah are the newest additions to the RedRoad family and are in the middle of intense training this week to get them set up enough to run the business with Nico and Ivan and David while we are way. Shalom and I got so excited as we interviewed Vivian and Adah for the opportunities we pray the Lord will give us to disciple and share Jesus with them.
I know it is really scary for Prince to leave the business for 3 months when we are in a place where we have finally picked up a lot of momentum. But we have to trust the Lord that He is in this and that He will help our team until we return.
Please Pray for Prince that he will REST in the Lord and HIS mighty hand, and that the Lord will guide and direct our team.
Nico and Ivan continue to grow in so many exciting ways!!! Ivan recently was asked by one of his former professors to speak to a freshman class at his college because his professor had noticed how much he has changed. She thought it was because of his new job. Ivan thinks it is the job that is changing him but we know it is GOD who is changing him.
We are so excited to see hopefully many of you real soon!!! :-) :-) :-)
Please Pray for us as we travel. We have 8 hours over to Amsterdam and then 8 hours over to Detroit. It will be our first time flying this long with Naomi and we are asking the Lord to give her strength and grace for the long journey that is even hard for us as adults.
With Love and Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi Gail :-)
Prince, Shalom, Naomi and I loaded up on Mother’s Day and traveled the 7 hour journey to Kasese. It was a HUGE blessing to have Shalom with us to help me with Naomi during the day while I was teaching otherwise I would not have been able to go.
Naomi is a very busy little girl who hates being strapped in a car seat and usually cries non-stop until we reach our destination and is released from her straps. But the Lord was so gracious to us and she was a perfectly content and happy baby and didn’t cry the entire time but played and slept and kept us laughing the whole way. She was SO calm I was actually worried something might be wrong with her. Haahaaa! I can always find SOMETHING to worry about! ;-)
We reached Kasese safely and were welcomed by Pr. Andrew and his wife Mary and a very small sweet jolly man with no front teeth named Pr. Tembo who pastors a small church at the Congo border. Prince said that Pr. Tembo is so poor that he only has ONE outfit which is all Prince has ever seen him in in the 3 times he has visited.
Mary was my translator for the three days I taught.
What a hard job to try and understand my english and the concept I am trying
to get across and then translate it into two different languages. I found
out later too that she would spend the entire morning in the kitchen over the hot
fire making food for the group and was also not feeling well physically yet
she never complained and worked so hard to serve me. What a treasure!
Monday morning Prince left to go begin teaching. He decided to pick up from where Pr. Myron had left off back in January with teaching about the Trinity. He said he would come back to the hotel and pick me up at 1:30pm. Around 4 pm he arrived to pick me up. He said he had been teaching the entire time but never even touched his notes on the Trinity because they had too many questions about what Pr. Myron had taught on various topics like salvation, and baptism.
There were about 80 people in attendance and quite a few new pastors that heard about the teaching and wanted to come and learn too. Prince asked that they bring their wives which many of them did and those that didn’t regretted it and kept saying…I wish my wife was here with me to learn this too.
Pr. Andrew and Mary started a primary school which is where we taught the group for the three days and where they slept each night on the ground. In January they didn’t have a roof on the school and just put tarps over top to protect from the sun and rain.
Due to some very generous friends of Pr. Myron he was able to give Pr. Andrew money to buy iron sheets to roof the school building.
I asked Pr. Andrew if these people had blankets to help keep them warm in the cool nights. He said no but he was excited that this time there was money to rent mattresses for everyone. Some people were able to carry sheets but most didn't sleep with sheets or blankets. He said what made him feel bad was that one small baby that a mom had brought with her had welts all over his face from the mosquitos chewing on him all night. And that is a concern because of the risk for getting malaria. He was concerned that they need to get mosquito nets next time.
It is always so completely humbling to me when I have the opportunity to travel to the villages to see how poor people are. I have NOTHING to complain about EVER!!!
They joyously welcomed us in each day with such honor and respect giving us the best welcome they could give. Yet as I looked around I would see that many of them only had one outfit that they wear the entire time. It is very hot during the day and they don’t have money for deodorant. So they body odor was VERY pungent. It is was so strong that it stuck in your nostrils after you left. They shower in the morning and evening out behind the school with buckets of water but they have to put the same clothes back on day and night.
As I would teach and look into their faces I would see many women who struggle with a lot of facial hair having thick beards growing down their faces and it was shocking to me. I would go back to the hotel each night and be able to take a long hot shower to clean the dirt and sweat off and be able to shave my legs. But these women are so poor they don’t have money to even buy razors to shave their faces or go for waxing treatments at the salon.
And as a dental hygienist I was so sad to also see that there is such desperate need for dental care and education.
These pastors and the women are so poor but they are not dumb. They really studied and thought through each Scripture that Prince and Pastor Myron taught last time and came back with tons of well thought through questions. I was sending flare prayers up for Prince with each question thanking God I didn’t have to answer these questions. It was so humbling for me to see how well they know their bibles. I was looking up verses on google on my phone and yet they don’t even know about google. I was also so impressed at how well my husband knows the Word and various topics. He would teach and answer their very difficult questions by pointing them to the Scripture. I honestly didn’t know Prince knew His bible that well and learned so much sitting under his teaching!
Prince covered a lot of theological topics because it is crucial to have solid doctrine to guide our practical everyday lives. I taught more practical topics on how we live out what we believe about God in our daily lives. I was excited to have people come up and say…”I am so convicted by God’s Word that I know I have to go make things right with so and so…” I know the feeling of how God’s word is so convicting and I just have to go and practice what I have learned.
Prince has such amazing stories of God’s Word directly confronting cultural practices and ways of thinking and pastors being so broken and convicted and challenged to live according to God’s Word and not according to cultural norms. There is such deep rooted ways of unbiblical thinking that it is going to take A LOT of time getting to know them and walking with them at a slow pace to allow God to slowly do His work of change in their lives.
They want us to come and live there and certainly their is a huge ministry opportunity in that area but we do not believe that is where God has called us full time at this point. So we will keep going back as long as the Lord allows. One thing that I found incredibly frustrating was that it was hard to communicate and get to know the women. Prince does a bit better because he can understand a lot of their languages but the women adopted me in and chattered away at me even though I couldn’t speak back to them or get to know them on a deeper level. If I go back I will try to find someone who can be attached at my side who can translate for us in the breaks so I can get to know them better. There were some really fun and spunky women there that I bet had fun stories to share. :-)
Our hotel was next door to Charity’s parents home so we had a chance to spend time with Charity’s
Dad & Mom which made sweet Charity happy but incredibly homesick too!
Thank you for praying for us. God really helped us and convicted our hearts about areas that WE need to change and grow personally as we taught truths from His Word!
They thought we were coming back to continue teaching them in August but we will be back home in the States in August. FIM has a mandatory candidate orientation conference that we have missed 2 years in a row now so we must attend this year. We are so excited to come home and Lord willing see many of you in our short visit. More to come about that later. :-)
Thank you so much again for your faithful partnership WITH US in this ministry to these precious people. Pr. Andrew kept saying each day to the group. "God has chosen us to have the privilege to be taught these biblical truths. Prince and Heidi didn’t look for us….God loved us so much that HE brought them to us. They are not here to start a church or get us to join a group. They are not being paid and are not taking money from us. They are here because they love God and His Word and God wants us to learn these things they are teaching.
And we think it is so amazing to think that we are all instruments in God’s hands to show His love to these precious people that He loves out in Kasese, Uganda.
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,"
Titus 3:4-5
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi Gail :-)
Naomi is a very busy little girl who hates being strapped in a car seat and usually cries non-stop until we reach our destination and is released from her straps. But the Lord was so gracious to us and she was a perfectly content and happy baby and didn’t cry the entire time but played and slept and kept us laughing the whole way. She was SO calm I was actually worried something might be wrong with her. Haahaaa! I can always find SOMETHING to worry about! ;-)
We reached Kasese safely and were welcomed by Pr. Andrew and his wife Mary and a very small sweet jolly man with no front teeth named Pr. Tembo who pastors a small church at the Congo border. Prince said that Pr. Tembo is so poor that he only has ONE outfit which is all Prince has ever seen him in in the 3 times he has visited.
Mary was my translator for the three days I taught.
What a hard job to try and understand my english and the concept I am trying
to get across and then translate it into two different languages. I found
out later too that she would spend the entire morning in the kitchen over the hot
fire making food for the group and was also not feeling well physically yet
she never complained and worked so hard to serve me. What a treasure!
Monday morning Prince left to go begin teaching. He decided to pick up from where Pr. Myron had left off back in January with teaching about the Trinity. He said he would come back to the hotel and pick me up at 1:30pm. Around 4 pm he arrived to pick me up. He said he had been teaching the entire time but never even touched his notes on the Trinity because they had too many questions about what Pr. Myron had taught on various topics like salvation, and baptism.
There were about 80 people in attendance and quite a few new pastors that heard about the teaching and wanted to come and learn too. Prince asked that they bring their wives which many of them did and those that didn’t regretted it and kept saying…I wish my wife was here with me to learn this too.
Pr. Andrew and Mary started a primary school which is where we taught the group for the three days and where they slept each night on the ground. In January they didn’t have a roof on the school and just put tarps over top to protect from the sun and rain.
Due to some very generous friends of Pr. Myron he was able to give Pr. Andrew money to buy iron sheets to roof the school building.
I asked Pr. Andrew if these people had blankets to help keep them warm in the cool nights. He said no but he was excited that this time there was money to rent mattresses for everyone. Some people were able to carry sheets but most didn't sleep with sheets or blankets. He said what made him feel bad was that one small baby that a mom had brought with her had welts all over his face from the mosquitos chewing on him all night. And that is a concern because of the risk for getting malaria. He was concerned that they need to get mosquito nets next time.
It is always so completely humbling to me when I have the opportunity to travel to the villages to see how poor people are. I have NOTHING to complain about EVER!!!
They joyously welcomed us in each day with such honor and respect giving us the best welcome they could give. Yet as I looked around I would see that many of them only had one outfit that they wear the entire time. It is very hot during the day and they don’t have money for deodorant. So they body odor was VERY pungent. It is was so strong that it stuck in your nostrils after you left. They shower in the morning and evening out behind the school with buckets of water but they have to put the same clothes back on day and night.
As I would teach and look into their faces I would see many women who struggle with a lot of facial hair having thick beards growing down their faces and it was shocking to me. I would go back to the hotel each night and be able to take a long hot shower to clean the dirt and sweat off and be able to shave my legs. But these women are so poor they don’t have money to even buy razors to shave their faces or go for waxing treatments at the salon.
And as a dental hygienist I was so sad to also see that there is such desperate need for dental care and education.
These pastors and the women are so poor but they are not dumb. They really studied and thought through each Scripture that Prince and Pastor Myron taught last time and came back with tons of well thought through questions. I was sending flare prayers up for Prince with each question thanking God I didn’t have to answer these questions. It was so humbling for me to see how well they know their bibles. I was looking up verses on google on my phone and yet they don’t even know about google. I was also so impressed at how well my husband knows the Word and various topics. He would teach and answer their very difficult questions by pointing them to the Scripture. I honestly didn’t know Prince knew His bible that well and learned so much sitting under his teaching!
Prince covered a lot of theological topics because it is crucial to have solid doctrine to guide our practical everyday lives. I taught more practical topics on how we live out what we believe about God in our daily lives. I was excited to have people come up and say…”I am so convicted by God’s Word that I know I have to go make things right with so and so…” I know the feeling of how God’s word is so convicting and I just have to go and practice what I have learned.
Prince has such amazing stories of God’s Word directly confronting cultural practices and ways of thinking and pastors being so broken and convicted and challenged to live according to God’s Word and not according to cultural norms. There is such deep rooted ways of unbiblical thinking that it is going to take A LOT of time getting to know them and walking with them at a slow pace to allow God to slowly do His work of change in their lives.
They want us to come and live there and certainly their is a huge ministry opportunity in that area but we do not believe that is where God has called us full time at this point. So we will keep going back as long as the Lord allows. One thing that I found incredibly frustrating was that it was hard to communicate and get to know the women. Prince does a bit better because he can understand a lot of their languages but the women adopted me in and chattered away at me even though I couldn’t speak back to them or get to know them on a deeper level. If I go back I will try to find someone who can be attached at my side who can translate for us in the breaks so I can get to know them better. There were some really fun and spunky women there that I bet had fun stories to share. :-)
Our hotel was next door to Charity’s parents home so we had a chance to spend time with Charity’s
Dad & Mom which made sweet Charity happy but incredibly homesick too!
Thank you for praying for us. God really helped us and convicted our hearts about areas that WE need to change and grow personally as we taught truths from His Word!
They thought we were coming back to continue teaching them in August but we will be back home in the States in August. FIM has a mandatory candidate orientation conference that we have missed 2 years in a row now so we must attend this year. We are so excited to come home and Lord willing see many of you in our short visit. More to come about that later. :-)
Thank you so much again for your faithful partnership WITH US in this ministry to these precious people. Pr. Andrew kept saying each day to the group. "God has chosen us to have the privilege to be taught these biblical truths. Prince and Heidi didn’t look for us….God loved us so much that HE brought them to us. They are not here to start a church or get us to join a group. They are not being paid and are not taking money from us. They are here because they love God and His Word and God wants us to learn these things they are teaching.
And we think it is so amazing to think that we are all instruments in God’s hands to show His love to these precious people that He loves out in Kasese, Uganda.
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,"
Titus 3:4-5
With Grateful Hearts,
Prince & Heidi and Naomi Gail :-)
Dear Friends,
It is 11 days since we returned from a wonderful time in Kasese with some incredibly precious people and we have much news to share with you. I am so thankful for our dear servant-hearted Shalom who is staying with Naomi today so I can have some time out of the house to sit and write to you about our time away.
Prince and I would love to begin sharing periodic videos with you as well as letters to keep you updated on all that is happening here.
Here is our first video.
Click on the link below and enter the password to watch this short update. (Since we are new to this let me know if you are unable to access our 2 minute video.)
Video Link: https://vimeo.com/167708802
Password: Kasese
More to follow….
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi & Naomi :-)
It is 11 days since we returned from a wonderful time in Kasese with some incredibly precious people and we have much news to share with you. I am so thankful for our dear servant-hearted Shalom who is staying with Naomi today so I can have some time out of the house to sit and write to you about our time away.
Prince and I would love to begin sharing periodic videos with you as well as letters to keep you updated on all that is happening here.
Here is our first video.
Click on the link below and enter the password to watch this short update. (Since we are new to this let me know if you are unable to access our 2 minute video.)
Video Link: https://vimeo.com/167708802
Password: Kasese
More to follow….
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi & Naomi :-)
Dear Friends,
Today I am looking at this photo trying to imagine the women who will fill these chairs in 2 weeks when Prince and I are in Kasese? Each one of them comes with their own unique story and background?
Some may have husbands who are caring for them so well while others may have husbands who are unemployed and they themselves are the breadwinners of their families. Do their husbands love and care for them with gentleness or do they beat them each night?
What do they do for work there in the small mountainous village? Do they farm?
What type of home have they left behind? Are the walls made of mud and cow dung or made of bricks? Do they have electricity or running water?
Have they eaten breakfast or was there no money to buy even something small to eat and tea to drink?
How many children do they have an how many have they lost due to the fact they didn’t have any medical care?
What heavy burdens do they carry on their heads up the mountains? Coffee beans, cassava, potatoes?
What do they know about Jesus? What have they heard about this wonderful Savior?
He knows their hearts intimately and I pray He will lead me to the truths He wants me to share with them that will encourage, convict, rebuke, comfort and strengthen their hearts. Oh Lord please guide me!
I could teach them Bible study methods and daily Bible reading but with how labor intensive their lives are do they have time to read their Bibles?
Do they even own a Bible in their language?
Do they even know how to read being that many of these ladies may not have ever gone to school?
I could teach them about the Titus 2 woman. But how do I bring those truths alive to them in their context and for these women who have lived harder lives than I will ever even be able to IMAGINE.
What does biblical love look like in their culture? How do women practically love and submit to their husbands in Kasese? I know what it looks like in Kampala but what does it look like for them?
And how can I help them to find JOY in Jesus amidst their circumstances without making it feel trite and patronizing?
Needless to say, this opportunity to teach in Kasese is really a HUGE stretch for me. I have lived in Kampala for 9 years learning the culture and how people live. But I don’t know the culture in Kasese. How do I help them honor God in their context?
God’s Word and the truths in His Word are universal and are applicable to all cultures all over the world…but what will minister to these ladies? What is going on in their hearts and how does God want them to change and grow?
These are the thoughts and prayers I am wrestling through with the Lord as I study and try to prepare for our sessions in less than two weeks.
YOUR PARTNERSHIP WITH US…..
I am taking a moment to write to you and ask you if you will commit to pray for Prince and me as we prepare to teach these men and women. We want to be careful in wise in how we present the Word of God. It is our desire to honor God in all we do and say. Prov. 20:5, "The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out."
May we be people of understanding to help draw their hearts out with God’s wisdom and not our own.
Several of you have expressed interest in financially supporting our upcoming trip to Kasese to teach the pastors and their wives and the women in the local churches.
Honestly, Prince and I are so touched you have taken these dear people into your hearts. It is so beautiful that you desire for them to hear from God’s Word, and Lord willing, be challenged and refreshed.
We have set up a project with FIM and if you are interested in supporting this specific part of our ministry both now and in the future you may give to our Kasese project.
Here are the detail on how you can support our work in Kasese.
Make your check payable to FIM and send it with a separate note indicating “Sabena Kasese Project” to:
Fellowship International Mission
555 South 24th Street
Allentown, PA 18104-6666
Thanks so much again for your partnership with us in this work. We take you with us in our hearts!
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi and wee Naomi :-)
Today I am looking at this photo trying to imagine the women who will fill these chairs in 2 weeks when Prince and I are in Kasese? Each one of them comes with their own unique story and background?
Some may have husbands who are caring for them so well while others may have husbands who are unemployed and they themselves are the breadwinners of their families. Do their husbands love and care for them with gentleness or do they beat them each night?
What do they do for work there in the small mountainous village? Do they farm?
What type of home have they left behind? Are the walls made of mud and cow dung or made of bricks? Do they have electricity or running water?
Have they eaten breakfast or was there no money to buy even something small to eat and tea to drink?
How many children do they have an how many have they lost due to the fact they didn’t have any medical care?
What heavy burdens do they carry on their heads up the mountains? Coffee beans, cassava, potatoes?
What do they know about Jesus? What have they heard about this wonderful Savior?
He knows their hearts intimately and I pray He will lead me to the truths He wants me to share with them that will encourage, convict, rebuke, comfort and strengthen their hearts. Oh Lord please guide me!
I could teach them Bible study methods and daily Bible reading but with how labor intensive their lives are do they have time to read their Bibles?
Do they even own a Bible in their language?
Do they even know how to read being that many of these ladies may not have ever gone to school?
I could teach them about the Titus 2 woman. But how do I bring those truths alive to them in their context and for these women who have lived harder lives than I will ever even be able to IMAGINE.
What does biblical love look like in their culture? How do women practically love and submit to their husbands in Kasese? I know what it looks like in Kampala but what does it look like for them?
And how can I help them to find JOY in Jesus amidst their circumstances without making it feel trite and patronizing?
Needless to say, this opportunity to teach in Kasese is really a HUGE stretch for me. I have lived in Kampala for 9 years learning the culture and how people live. But I don’t know the culture in Kasese. How do I help them honor God in their context?
God’s Word and the truths in His Word are universal and are applicable to all cultures all over the world…but what will minister to these ladies? What is going on in their hearts and how does God want them to change and grow?
These are the thoughts and prayers I am wrestling through with the Lord as I study and try to prepare for our sessions in less than two weeks.
YOUR PARTNERSHIP WITH US…..
I am taking a moment to write to you and ask you if you will commit to pray for Prince and me as we prepare to teach these men and women. We want to be careful in wise in how we present the Word of God. It is our desire to honor God in all we do and say. Prov. 20:5, "The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out."
May we be people of understanding to help draw their hearts out with God’s wisdom and not our own.
Several of you have expressed interest in financially supporting our upcoming trip to Kasese to teach the pastors and their wives and the women in the local churches.
Honestly, Prince and I are so touched you have taken these dear people into your hearts. It is so beautiful that you desire for them to hear from God’s Word, and Lord willing, be challenged and refreshed.
We have set up a project with FIM and if you are interested in supporting this specific part of our ministry both now and in the future you may give to our Kasese project.
Here are the detail on how you can support our work in Kasese.
Make your check payable to FIM and send it with a separate note indicating “Sabena Kasese Project” to:
Fellowship International Mission
555 South 24th Street
Allentown, PA 18104-6666
Thanks so much again for your partnership with us in this work. We take you with us in our hearts!
Joyfully Yours,
Prince & Heidi and wee Naomi :-)
Hi Everyone,
I know Heidi has been giving you updates on what’s been going on here in Uganda but I wanted to take the “pen” in hand today and share a few things.
Today is April the 19th, which marks a year since we returned to Uganda. Wow! This year has really flown by. It seems like yesterday when we were a young married couple setting off from Michigan with 700 pounds of stuff, and now we have a 7 month old girl soon turning 8 months. It just shows how short life is.
Life moved from 20mph to 100mph, from the time we set foot on Ugandan soil last April 19th. It makes me wonder if this is how all married people feel. It feels like the pace of life changed. One thing we didn’t expect when we were moving around the States last year is how much life would be different for us returning now as a married couple. We thought we would simply pick up from where we had left off but that wasn’t the case.
It was more like we were coming to Uganda for the first time and we had to re-acquaint ourselves with the people and settle into what life would be like for us as a couple with a baby.
As it is with all new missionaries, it can take 1-2 years to get a handle on their new surroundings, gain an understanding of the needs around them, and get a direction for where God wants them to be involved. After a full year here we feel we have a better handle on the specific direction God has for us.
We left with the goal of discipling young people in Uganda through two avenues. The first being through Business As Mission (BAM), and the second avenue was through working with our local church, Berea Baptist.
We had a plan but we didn’t know exactly how this plan would come to life.
Most of the last 12 months Heidi and I have been quite anxious about this, wondering what our supporters must think of us as we tried to figure out what “ministry” looked like practically on the ground. It seemed like everything was moving along slowly and we just couldn’t seem to get anything started. It took us 7 months to finally acquire our visas. Of the 7 months, I spent at least 3 days a week at the immigration office due to the fact that I wouldn’t give into corruption and bribing to make the process go faster.
In addition, when we returned we discovered serious issues and conflicts going on at Berea Baptist. Our pastor became suspicious of everyone and couldn’t give us the freedom to serve in the church like we had hoped. We are thankful that, finally the dust seems to have settled and conflicts are being resolved and we are able to move forward.
The only thing that seemed to be working well and growing has been our tour and travel business and the ministry in Kasese.
I could write so much about all the ministry opportunities we have had with the business. Over this past year we have gone through the long process of rebranding our company to be called Redroad Tours
I have had numerous opportunities to make Christ known in many ways but most specifically in the lives of 3 men, and this has been an encouragement to me. My passion has always been to develop others holistically, and I am more and more convinced that using my business as a ministry tool is the way to go in this city. God has blessed our business and it is growing which is opening more doors for me to hire on more employees to be able to train and disciple.
If I was running my company simply to make money there is no way I would be employing the men that I employ because they have taken a lot of time to train. But because my desire is to disciple men I keep these men on the team and it is great to see how God is working in their lives and mine and growing the business at the same time. Let me tell you a bit about David, Nicholas and Ivan.
David, Nicholas and Ivan
David is a married man in his 50’s with 4 children of his own and another 4 children from his deceased brother. His life everyday is about trying to make ends meet. He works as our driver and safari guide, and he is an excellent guide with a lot of experience. Since we are a small company, we are not able to pay him enough to provide for his family. Therefore when he is not working for us, he is working in his garden trying to grow food for his family. He can’t find work anywhere else, so he depends on the $100 we pay him a month. His situation, has given me great opportunity to make Jesus known to him. He is a very prideful and private man, but over the last 6 months he has been more open with me.
Then there’s Nicholas and Ivan. Nico is 25 years old and Ivan is 20 and are both single with similar backgrounds. They both grew up very poor with no fathers. Nicholas’ mom lives in a slum. Everyday when it rains, her house is flooded. Her house is built in a swamp and has been steadily sinking.
Nico
Ivan’s mom is living with another man who is HIV positive and has infected her. He is physically and verbally abusive to her and her children. The man has other wives and recently kicked her out of his house.
Ivan
Both Ivan and Nico are the main source of provision for their moms and siblings. They are really sweet, honest and hard working guys. They don’t have much but they are filled with such joy and contentment. The opportunity to work for us has been a dream come true for them, and while they don’t earn much, they wouldn’t trade this job for anything. You would think they are working for a fortune 500 company.
What I love about working with these guys is it gives me the opportunity to be involved in their lives everyday. They watch every move Heidi and I make and by doing life with us it has made a huge impact on them and they have grown so much in knowledge, skills and understanding.
Recently I started a weekly bible study with them from the book of Luke. These guys know nothing about the bible, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing! But this has been the most interesting bible study I have ever been apart of. There is such innocence in their ignorance they are not afraid to ask or disagree with me. Talking about Jesus, and his Word has brought up a multitude of questions and they asked me if we could increase our meeting times to twice a week.
Two weeks ago we started reading about the birth of Jesus, and I talked about Jesus being Lord. This shocked them!!! They have heard about Jesus and know people claim that He is the Son of God, but they had never heard anyone say that He is Lord!
Nicholas exclaimed, “Prince, Jesus cannot be God!” They thought Jesus was just a normal human being who had some special powers and that’s all, and all of us Christians just make a big fuss about him.
This turned the table for them especially Nicholas. How can God be born of a human being? This led to some great discussion about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and His great love for us human beings. Then somehow I mentioned about Jesus coming back again...oh my goodness! This was even more confusing. Why would God comeback? Which led us into another very important discussion.
All this to say, I have had a great privilege of introducing these guys to our Lord Jesus. What an opportunity! I get to watch them grow in understanding and the fear of our Lord! I don’t think they have believed in Him yet, but I know that God is so much at work in their hearts.
What a privilege to watch the Lord working in these men’s hearts.
We affectionately call them “The Twins” because they somehow show up
everyday with matching clothes on and big smiles on their faces.
Naomi adores her twins and they adore her!!!
Preparation for Marriage Classes
As we continue to seek God’s guidance on where He wants us, and what He wants us to do, we are also thankful for how He is using at the moment.
Next month we are incredibly excited to be starting a discipleship class with two couples from our church who are getting married this year. They have not done any marriage counseling and as a way to support our pastor and help him shepherd his flock we have invited them for marriage counseling. Our goal is not to just counsel them, we believe they also need to be discipled.
Please, when you think of us, pray for these two couples, that they will submit themselves to God and come with open and teachable hearts.
Return to Kasese
It is my goal to go to Kasese on a quarterly basis to train the pastors we have been working with since we returned. I am planning to return to Kasese May 8th - 12th and will l be doing another Pastor’s training seminar with the 40 pastors Myron and I taught in January. We are gaining more and more involvement in what’s going on in the mountainous village of Kasese and it our prayer that God would give us wisdom to know how to serve them best.
I am also hoping to take Heidi and Naomi with me because the pastors have been asking me to do some teaching for the women, which I think Heidi can do better. They would also like to meet my wife. In some African cultures, a man who is not married cannot be a source of wisdom so I think it would open up the doors of their hearts even more if they were able to meet Heidi and Naomi in the flesh.
If I am to take Heidi with me, this will increase our ministry cost which are more than we can afford to spend at this time. Every time I go, we provide lodging and meals for ourselves as well as the attendees who come from up in the mountains to attend this training. It usually costs me $700 for 5 days, with Heidi and the women’s ministry we will need $600 more.
We need help raising the $600 extra. We thought we could give you the opportunity to be involved in what we are doing. If you feel led to support this ministry, please let us know. We are excited to trust the Lord to see how He will provide all we need.
So that’s it for now, from the Sabena family. Thank you again for all you who commit to support us. We truly wouldn’t have these opportunities if it weren’t for your commitment to us.
With Love,
Prince , Heidi & Naomi :-)
I know Heidi has been giving you updates on what’s been going on here in Uganda but I wanted to take the “pen” in hand today and share a few things.
Today is April the 19th, which marks a year since we returned to Uganda. Wow! This year has really flown by. It seems like yesterday when we were a young married couple setting off from Michigan with 700 pounds of stuff, and now we have a 7 month old girl soon turning 8 months. It just shows how short life is.
Life moved from 20mph to 100mph, from the time we set foot on Ugandan soil last April 19th. It makes me wonder if this is how all married people feel. It feels like the pace of life changed. One thing we didn’t expect when we were moving around the States last year is how much life would be different for us returning now as a married couple. We thought we would simply pick up from where we had left off but that wasn’t the case.
It was more like we were coming to Uganda for the first time and we had to re-acquaint ourselves with the people and settle into what life would be like for us as a couple with a baby.
As it is with all new missionaries, it can take 1-2 years to get a handle on their new surroundings, gain an understanding of the needs around them, and get a direction for where God wants them to be involved. After a full year here we feel we have a better handle on the specific direction God has for us.
We left with the goal of discipling young people in Uganda through two avenues. The first being through Business As Mission (BAM), and the second avenue was through working with our local church, Berea Baptist.
We had a plan but we didn’t know exactly how this plan would come to life.
Most of the last 12 months Heidi and I have been quite anxious about this, wondering what our supporters must think of us as we tried to figure out what “ministry” looked like practically on the ground. It seemed like everything was moving along slowly and we just couldn’t seem to get anything started. It took us 7 months to finally acquire our visas. Of the 7 months, I spent at least 3 days a week at the immigration office due to the fact that I wouldn’t give into corruption and bribing to make the process go faster.
In addition, when we returned we discovered serious issues and conflicts going on at Berea Baptist. Our pastor became suspicious of everyone and couldn’t give us the freedom to serve in the church like we had hoped. We are thankful that, finally the dust seems to have settled and conflicts are being resolved and we are able to move forward.
The only thing that seemed to be working well and growing has been our tour and travel business and the ministry in Kasese.
I could write so much about all the ministry opportunities we have had with the business. Over this past year we have gone through the long process of rebranding our company to be called Redroad Tours
I have had numerous opportunities to make Christ known in many ways but most specifically in the lives of 3 men, and this has been an encouragement to me. My passion has always been to develop others holistically, and I am more and more convinced that using my business as a ministry tool is the way to go in this city. God has blessed our business and it is growing which is opening more doors for me to hire on more employees to be able to train and disciple.
If I was running my company simply to make money there is no way I would be employing the men that I employ because they have taken a lot of time to train. But because my desire is to disciple men I keep these men on the team and it is great to see how God is working in their lives and mine and growing the business at the same time. Let me tell you a bit about David, Nicholas and Ivan.
David, Nicholas and Ivan
David is a married man in his 50’s with 4 children of his own and another 4 children from his deceased brother. His life everyday is about trying to make ends meet. He works as our driver and safari guide, and he is an excellent guide with a lot of experience. Since we are a small company, we are not able to pay him enough to provide for his family. Therefore when he is not working for us, he is working in his garden trying to grow food for his family. He can’t find work anywhere else, so he depends on the $100 we pay him a month. His situation, has given me great opportunity to make Jesus known to him. He is a very prideful and private man, but over the last 6 months he has been more open with me.
Then there’s Nicholas and Ivan. Nico is 25 years old and Ivan is 20 and are both single with similar backgrounds. They both grew up very poor with no fathers. Nicholas’ mom lives in a slum. Everyday when it rains, her house is flooded. Her house is built in a swamp and has been steadily sinking.
Nico
Ivan’s mom is living with another man who is HIV positive and has infected her. He is physically and verbally abusive to her and her children. The man has other wives and recently kicked her out of his house.
Ivan
Both Ivan and Nico are the main source of provision for their moms and siblings. They are really sweet, honest and hard working guys. They don’t have much but they are filled with such joy and contentment. The opportunity to work for us has been a dream come true for them, and while they don’t earn much, they wouldn’t trade this job for anything. You would think they are working for a fortune 500 company.
What I love about working with these guys is it gives me the opportunity to be involved in their lives everyday. They watch every move Heidi and I make and by doing life with us it has made a huge impact on them and they have grown so much in knowledge, skills and understanding.
Recently I started a weekly bible study with them from the book of Luke. These guys know nothing about the bible, and when I say nothing, I mean nothing! But this has been the most interesting bible study I have ever been apart of. There is such innocence in their ignorance they are not afraid to ask or disagree with me. Talking about Jesus, and his Word has brought up a multitude of questions and they asked me if we could increase our meeting times to twice a week.
Two weeks ago we started reading about the birth of Jesus, and I talked about Jesus being Lord. This shocked them!!! They have heard about Jesus and know people claim that He is the Son of God, but they had never heard anyone say that He is Lord!
Nicholas exclaimed, “Prince, Jesus cannot be God!” They thought Jesus was just a normal human being who had some special powers and that’s all, and all of us Christians just make a big fuss about him.
This turned the table for them especially Nicholas. How can God be born of a human being? This led to some great discussion about God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and His great love for us human beings. Then somehow I mentioned about Jesus coming back again...oh my goodness! This was even more confusing. Why would God comeback? Which led us into another very important discussion.
All this to say, I have had a great privilege of introducing these guys to our Lord Jesus. What an opportunity! I get to watch them grow in understanding and the fear of our Lord! I don’t think they have believed in Him yet, but I know that God is so much at work in their hearts.
What a privilege to watch the Lord working in these men’s hearts.
We affectionately call them “The Twins” because they somehow show up
everyday with matching clothes on and big smiles on their faces.
Naomi adores her twins and they adore her!!!
Preparation for Marriage Classes
As we continue to seek God’s guidance on where He wants us, and what He wants us to do, we are also thankful for how He is using at the moment.
Next month we are incredibly excited to be starting a discipleship class with two couples from our church who are getting married this year. They have not done any marriage counseling and as a way to support our pastor and help him shepherd his flock we have invited them for marriage counseling. Our goal is not to just counsel them, we believe they also need to be discipled.
Please, when you think of us, pray for these two couples, that they will submit themselves to God and come with open and teachable hearts.
Return to Kasese
It is my goal to go to Kasese on a quarterly basis to train the pastors we have been working with since we returned. I am planning to return to Kasese May 8th - 12th and will l be doing another Pastor’s training seminar with the 40 pastors Myron and I taught in January. We are gaining more and more involvement in what’s going on in the mountainous village of Kasese and it our prayer that God would give us wisdom to know how to serve them best.
I am also hoping to take Heidi and Naomi with me because the pastors have been asking me to do some teaching for the women, which I think Heidi can do better. They would also like to meet my wife. In some African cultures, a man who is not married cannot be a source of wisdom so I think it would open up the doors of their hearts even more if they were able to meet Heidi and Naomi in the flesh.
If I am to take Heidi with me, this will increase our ministry cost which are more than we can afford to spend at this time. Every time I go, we provide lodging and meals for ourselves as well as the attendees who come from up in the mountains to attend this training. It usually costs me $700 for 5 days, with Heidi and the women’s ministry we will need $600 more.
We need help raising the $600 extra. We thought we could give you the opportunity to be involved in what we are doing. If you feel led to support this ministry, please let us know. We are excited to trust the Lord to see how He will provide all we need.
So that’s it for now, from the Sabena family. Thank you again for all you who commit to support us. We truly wouldn’t have these opportunities if it weren’t for your commitment to us.
With Love,
Prince , Heidi & Naomi :-)
Our sweet Peach Naomi Gail :-)
Dear Friends & Family,
Heidi checking in with you today! We are boiling over here this week in the hot February sun thinking of you all back home braving the cold.
I have been longing to write to you for months about various things that are happening on this end. There is much to share but I find it difficult to get the daily household chores done much less getting my thoughts down on paper now that our sweet peach, Naomi Gail, is in our lives.
Prince has been back from Kasese for 2 weeks now but has been so busy with work, with various ministries with the men at our church, and with a business class he is taking every week night. I am trying to see how I can help make his life easier right now as he seems to be in a very busy season in his work/ministry. But we are thankful for all the opportunities the Lord is providing for us each day.
Both he and Myron came back with amazing stories from their week in Kasese training pastors. I was captivated by all they saw and heard, conversations they had with people, and in general all that God was doing and allowing them to be a part of.
Prince said one thing that really was so profound about their time in Kasese was how the pastors had such humble and teachable hearts and were so eager to learn which these days can be a rarity. Forty-three people stayed in the biggest church in the area which was simply brick walls, dirt floors, and no roof on the top. They slept on the ground each night in that church then set up chairs in that same space for the training each day.
They hardly had any food to hold them over each day as they learned sometimes for 9 hours. They had tea for breakfast, a small tortilla with a soda for lunch and then a dinner in the evening. They would begin their training at 9am until 7pm each day.
I cannot wait till Prince has some time to sit down and give you more details.
Heidi checking in with you today! We are boiling over here this week in the hot February sun thinking of you all back home braving the cold.
I have been longing to write to you for months about various things that are happening on this end. There is much to share but I find it difficult to get the daily household chores done much less getting my thoughts down on paper now that our sweet peach, Naomi Gail, is in our lives.
Prince has been back from Kasese for 2 weeks now but has been so busy with work, with various ministries with the men at our church, and with a business class he is taking every week night. I am trying to see how I can help make his life easier right now as he seems to be in a very busy season in his work/ministry. But we are thankful for all the opportunities the Lord is providing for us each day.
Both he and Myron came back with amazing stories from their week in Kasese training pastors. I was captivated by all they saw and heard, conversations they had with people, and in general all that God was doing and allowing them to be a part of.
Prince said one thing that really was so profound about their time in Kasese was how the pastors had such humble and teachable hearts and were so eager to learn which these days can be a rarity. Forty-three people stayed in the biggest church in the area which was simply brick walls, dirt floors, and no roof on the top. They slept on the ground each night in that church then set up chairs in that same space for the training each day.
They hardly had any food to hold them over each day as they learned sometimes for 9 hours. They had tea for breakfast, a small tortilla with a soda for lunch and then a dinner in the evening. They would begin their training at 9am until 7pm each day.
I cannot wait till Prince has some time to sit down and give you more details.
It’s hard to believe but it was 5 months ago TODAY that I was in labor with our sweet Naomi Gail.
Trying out her new car that Daddy bought her for her 5 month birthday today. :-)
I loved all the stories that Prince and Myron came back with but one about a woman in labor really touched me so much personally and I wanted to share it with you!!!!
On Wednesday (Jan. 20th) , the last day of the conference, it was the middle of the afternoon and Myron was teaching. All of a sudden they heard men’s voices yelling and they were running down the mountain carrying a body on a stretcher. Prince went out with one of the pastors (Pr. Sula) and talked to one of the men and he said it was a young woman was in labor. Her water had broken and she was a couple weeks early from her due date.
They were rushing her down the mountain to take her to a little clinic in the nearest town about 7 miles away.
Prince and Pr. Sula loaded up in the van and met up with the men carrying the woman.
When they reached her the men tried to lift her off the stretcher to put her in the van but because her water had broken and she was pretty far along, there was blood everywhere so they decided to keep her on the stretcher and load her up on top of the seats.
On the way to the clinic Prince asked them why they were not going to take her to the bigger government hospital in another town. They said the clinic was free and they didn’t have money to pay for her to deliver there.
Prince asked how much it would cost for her to deliver at the local goverement hospital and they said for a normal delivery and 2 nights stay it would cost 90,000/= Ugandan shillings which is $25. Can you imagine….$25 dollars for delivery and 2 nights stay in a hospital??!!!!
Prince thought…."If this woman or her baby dies because of $25 dollars I could never live with myself." So he said he would cover the cost and take her to the hospital instead of the clinic.
After having just gone through labor and birth with me 5 months ago and understanding how fragile life is for both mom and baby in that time…well his heart went out even more towards what this dear woman was going through.
When he reached the hospital they were met at the door by a really sweet midwife who was very gentle and knowledgeable.
After the midwife took some time to assess the woman’s situation, she felt that it would be a normal delivery and it should come within the hour. She said all together it would cost $23 dollars, $2 dollars cheaper. Can you imagine?!!!!
I was so overwhelmed with gratefulness to God when I heard this story. To think of how God cared for this young woman and her sweet baby so much and knew that she would go into labor early and HE provided Prince and Pr. Myron to be there at that time, in that place, and Prince had a car to be able to help her.
What is amazing is that God does that for ALL of us, all over the world, all the time.
He does it so we can look to Him, thank Him, and give Him the glory. In our times of need we are able to marvel at His presence and care for us.
And for those who don’t have a relationship with Him, He cares for them in their needs so they would turn and follow and worship Him. Romans 2:4 says that, "it is His KINDNESS that leads us to repentance."
THANK YOU!!!!
How can we ever thank you enough for your involvement in our lives and for how God has used you to indirectly care for this dear woman way up on a mountain and her newborn? THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for the resources you give that allowed Prince to travel to this area and be available minister to this lady and her baby.
On Wednesday (Jan. 20th) , the last day of the conference, it was the middle of the afternoon and Myron was teaching. All of a sudden they heard men’s voices yelling and they were running down the mountain carrying a body on a stretcher. Prince went out with one of the pastors (Pr. Sula) and talked to one of the men and he said it was a young woman was in labor. Her water had broken and she was a couple weeks early from her due date.
They were rushing her down the mountain to take her to a little clinic in the nearest town about 7 miles away.
Prince and Pr. Sula loaded up in the van and met up with the men carrying the woman.
When they reached her the men tried to lift her off the stretcher to put her in the van but because her water had broken and she was pretty far along, there was blood everywhere so they decided to keep her on the stretcher and load her up on top of the seats.
On the way to the clinic Prince asked them why they were not going to take her to the bigger government hospital in another town. They said the clinic was free and they didn’t have money to pay for her to deliver there.
Prince asked how much it would cost for her to deliver at the local goverement hospital and they said for a normal delivery and 2 nights stay it would cost 90,000/= Ugandan shillings which is $25. Can you imagine….$25 dollars for delivery and 2 nights stay in a hospital??!!!!
Prince thought…."If this woman or her baby dies because of $25 dollars I could never live with myself." So he said he would cover the cost and take her to the hospital instead of the clinic.
After having just gone through labor and birth with me 5 months ago and understanding how fragile life is for both mom and baby in that time…well his heart went out even more towards what this dear woman was going through.
When he reached the hospital they were met at the door by a really sweet midwife who was very gentle and knowledgeable.
After the midwife took some time to assess the woman’s situation, she felt that it would be a normal delivery and it should come within the hour. She said all together it would cost $23 dollars, $2 dollars cheaper. Can you imagine?!!!!
I was so overwhelmed with gratefulness to God when I heard this story. To think of how God cared for this young woman and her sweet baby so much and knew that she would go into labor early and HE provided Prince and Pr. Myron to be there at that time, in that place, and Prince had a car to be able to help her.
What is amazing is that God does that for ALL of us, all over the world, all the time.
He does it so we can look to Him, thank Him, and give Him the glory. In our times of need we are able to marvel at His presence and care for us.
And for those who don’t have a relationship with Him, He cares for them in their needs so they would turn and follow and worship Him. Romans 2:4 says that, "it is His KINDNESS that leads us to repentance."
THANK YOU!!!!
How can we ever thank you enough for your involvement in our lives and for how God has used you to indirectly care for this dear woman way up on a mountain and her newborn? THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for the resources you give that allowed Prince to travel to this area and be available minister to this lady and her baby.
*** I have absolutely NO idea who was taking photos of the whole process because Prince was busy driving and caring for the woman but I am thankful for the person who did so that we could see the story unfold before our eyes. It is incredibly humbling to be able to see the men carrying her down the mountain…most of them barefoot. To see the "better" hospital they took her to compared to the free clinic…it definitely confronts the picture of hospitals that automatically come up in my mind.
Thanks for your partnership in serving Jesus in all the different ways He calls us.
Love & Hugs,
Heidi :-)
Thanks for your partnership in serving Jesus in all the different ways He calls us.
Love & Hugs,
Heidi :-)
Dear WRBC Family,
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!
It has been awhile since we have been at home with our WBRC family as we have been on the road through Pennsylvania, DC, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan for all of October and November months visiting many ministry partners and all of our supporting churches.
It’s been quite the adventure. We have been overwhelmed by the weight of God’s goodness to us through so many dear people, great conversations over TOO much delicious food, hearing the stories of how God is using all of our friends, old and new, in their place of influence in their lives, sweet times of fellowship and prayer, and enjoying exploring new areas we have never seen. Other days we feel the exhaustion of being on the road for two months, staying in different homes night after night, feeling worn and tired from the speaking and traveling we do each day. But all of it has been for our good and we wouldn’t trade one moment of it!
I (Prince) am just going to take time and share some of the highlights of our trips.
In October we visited one of our supporting churches in North Olmsted, Ohio. We spoke at the church on a Sunday, and spent the rest of the week meeting some of the members of the church. We were overwhelmed by the interest many of the members had for our ministry. We met approximately with three different groups of people everyday for five days. And each group would out-do themselves in trying to care for us. From the big dinners, to the intimate times of fellowship over coffee, we were just amazed by their love for God and kindness to us.
The next stop in our travels was Indiana. When we think of our time in Indiana, we think of Rom. 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
We stayed with a friend of ours who is the pastor at a country church in North Webster. They wanted to show us around Shipshewana and as the Lord would have it we randomly met an Amish family who are friends to the pastor. This ended up leading into a 7 hour dinner and great fellowship with these folks. What made it exciting was getting to know Amish people who are Christians. They were just so thrilled to have people that they could freely talk to about God, Jesus, the Word of God without fear that they might be condemned or punished. We made such a great connection with them, that it was so hard to leave that night. They told us repeatedly over the course of the evening that God purposed for us to be there that evening to encourage their discouraged and confused hearts as they try to discern how the Lord is leading them as growing believers in a community where they could lose everything if they try to challenge what people are believing. We hope that God will avail another opportunity for us to meet them again.
I could spend time telling you about all the churches we have visited and what we shared with them, but what I feel even more compelled to share is God’s grace on our lives. We are very thankful to God at how He has used these trips to make us more dependent on Him.
He has used the fights we have had on the road, to teach us to love each other.
The Sunday speaking opportunities, to trust in Him who bears fruit, rather than in our abilities.
The fundraising challenges, to humble us.
And the coffees, lunches and dinners, to see His faithful work in other people’s lives.
Some days were not easy for Heidi or me, as we are learning to adjust to our new roles as husband and wife. I (Heidi) am learning to trust in Prince’s leadership in our marriage and ministry, and Prince is learning to lead me and this ministry. Please if you remember, pray that we will continue to work hard at this area of or marriage. We definitely see improvement but also know we have a lot to learn!
Lastly, we are going to continue visiting friends and partners that we have in Michigan in this month of December. We expect our support levels to be around 60% of the total that we need, but we will find out the exact figures from FIM next week. We are thrilled to be home this month. Just to spend time with family, have some rest, but all come back to our home church. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we look forward to being at West Rome this Sunday.
Thank you for your prayers for and friendship to us as we have been away!
Gratefully Yours,
Prince & Heidi :-)
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!
It has been awhile since we have been at home with our WBRC family as we have been on the road through Pennsylvania, DC, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan for all of October and November months visiting many ministry partners and all of our supporting churches.
It’s been quite the adventure. We have been overwhelmed by the weight of God’s goodness to us through so many dear people, great conversations over TOO much delicious food, hearing the stories of how God is using all of our friends, old and new, in their place of influence in their lives, sweet times of fellowship and prayer, and enjoying exploring new areas we have never seen. Other days we feel the exhaustion of being on the road for two months, staying in different homes night after night, feeling worn and tired from the speaking and traveling we do each day. But all of it has been for our good and we wouldn’t trade one moment of it!
I (Prince) am just going to take time and share some of the highlights of our trips.
In October we visited one of our supporting churches in North Olmsted, Ohio. We spoke at the church on a Sunday, and spent the rest of the week meeting some of the members of the church. We were overwhelmed by the interest many of the members had for our ministry. We met approximately with three different groups of people everyday for five days. And each group would out-do themselves in trying to care for us. From the big dinners, to the intimate times of fellowship over coffee, we were just amazed by their love for God and kindness to us.
The next stop in our travels was Indiana. When we think of our time in Indiana, we think of Rom. 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
We stayed with a friend of ours who is the pastor at a country church in North Webster. They wanted to show us around Shipshewana and as the Lord would have it we randomly met an Amish family who are friends to the pastor. This ended up leading into a 7 hour dinner and great fellowship with these folks. What made it exciting was getting to know Amish people who are Christians. They were just so thrilled to have people that they could freely talk to about God, Jesus, the Word of God without fear that they might be condemned or punished. We made such a great connection with them, that it was so hard to leave that night. They told us repeatedly over the course of the evening that God purposed for us to be there that evening to encourage their discouraged and confused hearts as they try to discern how the Lord is leading them as growing believers in a community where they could lose everything if they try to challenge what people are believing. We hope that God will avail another opportunity for us to meet them again.
I could spend time telling you about all the churches we have visited and what we shared with them, but what I feel even more compelled to share is God’s grace on our lives. We are very thankful to God at how He has used these trips to make us more dependent on Him.
He has used the fights we have had on the road, to teach us to love each other.
The Sunday speaking opportunities, to trust in Him who bears fruit, rather than in our abilities.
The fundraising challenges, to humble us.
And the coffees, lunches and dinners, to see His faithful work in other people’s lives.
Some days were not easy for Heidi or me, as we are learning to adjust to our new roles as husband and wife. I (Heidi) am learning to trust in Prince’s leadership in our marriage and ministry, and Prince is learning to lead me and this ministry. Please if you remember, pray that we will continue to work hard at this area of or marriage. We definitely see improvement but also know we have a lot to learn!
Lastly, we are going to continue visiting friends and partners that we have in Michigan in this month of December. We expect our support levels to be around 60% of the total that we need, but we will find out the exact figures from FIM next week. We are thrilled to be home this month. Just to spend time with family, have some rest, but all come back to our home church. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we look forward to being at West Rome this Sunday.
Thank you for your prayers for and friendship to us as we have been away!
Gratefully Yours,
Prince & Heidi :-)