A couple of months ago one of our partnering churches contacted us about how they could get more involved in our mission here. We shared with them that our scholarship account for a Kikongo Primary School was getting low and that it would be such a blessing to give it a boost. The school is located on Buvuma Island (2.5 hour car ride + 2 hour boat ride from our home). WGM missionaries do community health empowerment trainings on Buvuma Island and we also partner with the school by helping give scholarships to the approx. 250 children (many orphans) that attend. The church decided to collect money at their VBS for the scholarship account. As if that wasn't enough, many members of the church (including Jade's Dad, Step-Dad and Mom) participated in a local July 4th 5K to raise even more money. It was awesome hearing from different participants that, for the first time ever, they were training for a race. They called it 'couch to 5K training'. :) Each participant got several sponsors for the race and the funds were matched by a generous family from the church! Incredible!
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The 5K participants. These are some godly folks!
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Jade's Mom, Agnes, Jade's Dad, Jade's Stepdad and Floyd
Floyd and Agnes attend New Beginnings Holiness Church and are so special to us. Like family really! We even named our dogs after them! :) |
We had 5K of our own here in Uganda the same day to show our support and join in the fun! It was a blast! |
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| Teammates and friends joined us! |
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| How overconfident does Nathan look casually drinking his water? He doesn't know what he's gotten himself into! These hills are killer! |
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| The kids cheered us on at the finish line. It was so sweet! |
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| We all gathered at our home after the race for a breakfast. The last team brought us Starbucks coffee so we thought opening it was well deserved. :) What a treat! |
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| New Beginnings Holiness generously sent us t-shirts to wear during the race. |
Those are some tough hills!
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An 'after race' photo to prove we really did it! Haha! :)
It's hard to put into words how meaningful it is to have people on the other side of the world so deeply involved in the work here. These last 6 weeks have been a huge boost to our ministry and hearts! It brings us to tears just reflecting on God's faithfulness to bring people alongside us. Look at what else God orchestrated in just the last 6 weeks...
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| Another VBS in Indiana, McGrawsville UMC, chose us as their missionary project. The children hit the financial goal for the week so that meant Pastor Kenny got a pie in the face! :) |
The Sunday School class we were involved in back at our home church 'reintroduced' us to the class. There have been a lot of new people join since we have been here who don't know our family. We love that they thought to do that!
A group of 12 ladies from all over the USA came to serve orphans and women alongside our family. It was an incredible 10 days together! God was glorified and we were proud to see how they loved the Ugandan people.
Another team of 3 men from our home church came for a visit. It was such a boost to Nathan's heart to have close friends come and see our home and ministry here. Praise God for good friends!
A week ago God began putting together plans for some major new movements within Nathan's work here in Uganda. He was shocked to return from a meeting of 'dreaming' to a message from a friend asking "I think I am supposed to come to Uganda. Do you have a reason?" David Jourdan quickly bought his ticket and was in country just five days later. Over these last few days Nathan and David have met with WGM and Africa Gospel Church leaders to develop the "dreams" into a community vision. It's been fascinating and thrilling to see how God pulls the strings and lines everything up with surgical precision!
Thank you so much to our amazing friends and family who support us, encourage us and (more and more) join us in the work here on the ground! We love you!
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