April 2021 News

The month of April has kicked off well with very busy schedules. We have been continuing with the ministry registration process with Gideon our Lawyer, including making more payments. We had to make a few trips to Kampala to sign some papers, and we can’t wait to hear when it’s finished.

We have a program underway for single mothers to learn various skills. Esther Musiime is seriously into the ministry of skilling single mothers - being helped, or working along with Simon. She did a short course on how to make different products with the aim of helping and serving the Lord in that area as a church ministry. She does this every Monday afternoon and has really done well. On the blue tray below are two white soap bars which she made as a demonstration to the group.

She also handles Sunday school kids (below) each Sunday -being helped by Jenifer, a high school student. This is a great relief to us and was one of our prayer requests a few years ago when this ministry was starting. There was a time when Simon and I would lead the choir, preach, and lead Sunday school. We would divide the church roles between the two of us. When we now see that people have joined us and willingly taken up ministry opportunities, we praise God.

 The ministry registration is moving on well, but we have a slow government processing system. We had some officers from the district come here to check things out. They were happy to meet with the church committee and hear about all the activities we do in this community, and they encouraged us to do even more with evangelism. With all that, they gave us a recommendation letter to continue with the registration. By the grace of God our ministry continues to reach out to this community in many ways, including giving out food (since Covid-19 began in Uganda), evangelism programs, mercy/charity ministry - e.g. helping the needy, meeting school fees for a few vulnerable girls in our church, making Bibles available to poor Christians in their mother languages, pastoral conferences or leadership seminars etc.

Alex and Christine (my wife) went to the drum store to buy music instruments for the church (with our drum on motor bike after being mended). It looks brand new!!! Drums are very expensive in Uganda. The good thing about them is that they don’t use electricity 😊.  So now we have two drums in our church. 

Below is the choir practicing on Saturday for Sunday. Friends, you can see the picture now, but it has taken a number of years to have a choir like that in our church. The girl holding a mic is Patricia who is being supported through school by this ministry. For the last five years she found it uncomfortable to stand before people and sing, but it's now our joy to see her with the others, praising the Lord without fear. It was one of the prayer requests we made years ago when this ministry was starting.

Our Church, and  Simon preaching.

This month we have been able to buy a few more piglets to boost our piggery farm which has been reducing in numbers. This has been the main backbone of income for us personally and for this ministry. There is no way we could have made it without pigs. Sometimes when they give birth to more piglets, we give some to the ladies in our church. And we can honestly say at least 85% of the women in our church have benefited from our piggery farm.

We want to thank you who have been able to help. Last month we talked about Joyce who was able to sell her pig that she got from here to pay tuition fees for her daughter in senior four.

We are still raising the walls to extend the piggery as you can see in the pictures below. Simon is doing a great job, and Pasco and I are there as helpers most of the time. The trees we used are from our land which has helped to minimize material costs.

This month we had Katushabe Violent (a twin mother), Catherine, and Allen join our church. Allen is a new born-again believer who needs spiritual guidance and love from the church. We are joyous that she loves the church and shows her need for spiritual growth in the Lord. Her family doesn’t know the Lord yet, although they love to come to church and be part of prayer and the teaching we offer them. Simon has made an appointment to meet up with them at their home each Saturday evening when they have come back from the gardens. Allen’s father is our local council chairman. It’s such a blessing to see this family beginning to realize the truth in our community.

Praise items

Thank the Lord for the provisions to build new pig stays and be able to have enough sties to accommodate them once they have multiplied.

Thank the Lord for people who were able to get food and help from this ministry.

Thank the Lord for the two girls being supported through school by this ministry.

Prayer requests

Please join with us at Lungala Bible Ministries Uganda and pray that God will always provide for us to serve Him better and to reach out to His people.

Pray that the families in our church will grow in love and obedience to the truth that we teach from Scripture, and that they will learn from training skills to make a living for themselves.

Pray for those of us involved in preaching, discipleship, and training at seminars /conferences, that we will live an exemplary life as required by God. 

We are planning for a one day pastor's seminar/conference next month. Pray for provisions. All up it will cost us UG sh. 860,500 (approx.  US$245 or NZ$340). We are targeting 30-35 church leaders.

Continue to pray for the leadership of this ministry that we learn to live like Christ, and seek to grow in our service to Him.

Pray that God will always provide for Bibles for this ministry.

Pray that God will show us what He wants us to about enlarging the church tent to cater for increasing numbers of people.

Our motorbike has broken down again, so please pray for God's wisdom to know what to do.

God bless you all,

Simon & Alex

March 2021 News

We bring to you good news of the turning point for the family of Davis and his wife Yudayah who have three kids. Along with Davis's brother-in-law Abubakari (formally a Muslim) they all gave their lives to Jesus. They came to our church at midnight following struggles with the unseen powers of darkness who had been disturbing the children at night, and also Davis himself. They came riding on a bodaboda (motorcycle - commonly known as bodaboda here in Uganda). We prayed and shared the gospel with them, and later we challenged them to give their lives to Jesus. It was not easy for Davis and his brother-in-law, but after wisely answering their questions, they were convinced, and they came to Jesus. Then Davis's wife broke a hidden secret about witchcraft objects in their home. They asked us to go and collect the witchcraft stuff but it was really late at night and dark. We promised to pick them in the morning and indeed we did. We got all that stuff from their bedroom.

Davis had collected it all from many witch doctors to heal his children who were being disturbed by demons. It did not work. He sought help from our church and we have really helped them, praying and teaching them the word of God. They are picking it up well, although they don’t have bibles. There are so many more people like Davis in this community who need our prayers to bring them to Christ Jesus. We burnt all the things he had dedicated to demons as you see in the pictures above. 

We have had some baptisms! Many converts in our church have not been baptized. The challenge was that we never had anywhere to immerse them. The only option we had was to go to Lake Victoria, which was not easy for most of the people to afford. We had 15 people being immersed!!! This was possible because we dug fish ponds in our compound as you see in the pictures. We pump this water from the swamp to fill up the pond, and there are already some fish developing there. It was such a privilege to have these brothers and sisters follow up on the call to baptism.  The water is not as clean as we would like it to be, but we hope things will get better. Sometimes church planting is not easy, especially when you have to start from scratch with a humble beginning. 

This same month we had a members committee meeting at Robinah’s clinic. They had very encouraging ministry suggestions for the progress of this ministry and reaching out to the lost people in our community. This is the same committee that was required for our church registration. We had a lunch together and a bottle of Soda. We think these meetings might take place monthly. We have been facing challenges to get consistent committee membership, but we think this time with these leaders it is being solved. 

Simon and Musiime Esther are training mainly single mothers with livelihood skills such as making liquid soap, sanitizers, bar soaps etc. as you will see on the label below. Those are the items they will be teaching these mothers.

As you know, Simon and I have had genuine caring love for these ladies. We gave most of them piglets to support them, and Joyce has been able to sell her pig to support her daughter through to senior four at school this year. So, it is still our desire to see how we can really help them. Here, many girls get pregnant so early due to school drop-out because of a lack of school fees. Our church has many single mothers, and we hope this skill training project will help them. Each student is required to pay 500,000sh (approx. NZ$200), but this vulnerable group may not be able to afford it. If you feel led by the Lord to help one or two girls with these fees you can email us. The pictures show you the group which has already started, and we hope that it will grow. We also use this program to share the gospel with those who don't know Jesus.

      

Prayer requests

1.  Thank the Lord for the Covid-19 food provisions
2.  Thank the Lord for the ministry registration procedure, and Gideon, a lawyer doing it with love and passion
3. Thank the Lord for the rains we have had
4.  Pray for our church provisions. Our roof has holes from the heavy rains and hailstorm. We need to have it patched up.
5. Pray for the Bible provisions
6. Thank the Lord for our piggery which is picking up
7.  Pray for our home provisions. We still face serious challenge with transport. Our motor bike keeps breaking down

Yours in Christ,

Alex & Simon

February 2021 News

Our mission trip to Eastern Uganda went well. Thanks to you for all your prayers. Alex went with Jovia and Allan, while Christine remained back home, as did Simon to take care of the church through the week, and to prepare for preaching on Sunday. We left here on Wednesday 24th at 5am to beat the traffic jams in Kampala. Our main lodging was in Mbale City which is far away from Mpigi toward the eastern side of Uganda. Our first day of meeting was in Mbale. Have a look at the new modernized bridge at Jinja which crosses over the Nile River. 

Look at the welcoming mountains to Mbale city. Most Christians were coming from below those mountains. 

This is the first church where we met

In the group picture above is Alex on the right, then Allan Koki, and some of the pastors from the surrounding areas. Below is the group photo of some of the church members who came to graduate from the Book of Romans and Colossians studies.

The following day we went to Busia and our drive was really great on good roads - almost no potholes! It only gets worse when you go to villages 😟. The churches were so welcoming, and one of the Pastors took us to his home and gave us a good feed. Good Christians with a heart for the gospel. 

We had a meeting on Thursday with a good turnout. Through these ministry projects, we had an 83 year old man, strong in the faith, who has led five people to come to Jesus.

The Reverend of an Anglican church gave us and the Church leaders a warm welcome. 

We were expecting to have over sixty lay leaders with some other reverends involved in the project. Just as apostle Paul puts it in his letter, Ephesians 4:13-14 “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” This is what we really need as a Church now – the Church with leaders who can defend their faith and are discerning in all their teachings.  

Soroti mission - We met with Pastor David Ochua, and the Baptist Church welcomed us nicely too. Pastor Max had done really well in mobilizing people to come to the meetings. 

We had one participant who had finished the project on the book of Romans, but his house caught fire the last day before we came. It seems to me that due to poverty, many people still live in grass thatched huts. As we drove through, I saw many huts like that on generally flat land similar to where the man's house burned.  

In the picture above I am with some of the committee members planning the way forward. The committee was so thrilled at the way things were going, and they had really done well. The lady second on the left in the picture, is a brethren who has done really well to revitalize the ministry of women in that region. 

Where you see empty seats below, you might see a chicken in front of the right hand blue chair. After the meeting, the chickens entered the church- hahaha.

This same month we had evangelism at our church coupled with fasting and praying for a full week. Simon was leading in teaching about the purpose of the evangelistic church. Many church members joined the meetings, although fewer went out to share the gospel. Usually Alex, Simon, Scovia, Pasco, Easter, Robinah and two kids would go out (Pasco is a young man that we are trying to disciple and teach him how to serve the Lord with us). 

Below are Pasco (left) and Scovia (right) sharing the gospel with a village friend near our church.

We had five souls come to Jesus, and now we have Stella meeting and praying with us. Joyce came to Jesus through this ministry during such outreaches to the community. We are blessed to have her, and her spiritual transformation is really encouraging. Each Sunday she is at church before anyone else just to usher people in and make sure the church is set up properly. We are also proud of another man called Deogracious whose picture is not here. Each Sunday he comes really early to clean the church. It is such a great blessing having these people in the church. We trust the Lord that as we disciple Pasco, he will be of great service to the church as well.

We had one Muslim family come to Jesus during our evangelism. The wife had never been to church. Her name Yudaya is of Muslim origins, and she needs your prayers that God will heal her and totally transform her heart from the influence of Islam.

In the picture below are Joyce and Margret leading Dorcus to confess Jesus. Dorcus (on the right) is a young lady who went with an already married man due to lack of school fees and poorly stricken environment at her home. These cases are so common here, especially with school drop-out girls who end up with early pregnancies. Joyce and Margret tried to counsel her and show her what dangers she could meet in future if she does not make right decisions now. 

Could you please pray with us for the following?

1.       The five people who came to Jesus during evangelism to be sincere about their commitment

2.       Thank the Lord for the mission trip to Eastern Uganda and for the good fruits

3.       Thank the Lord for His graciousness and His provisions for food to this ministry

4.       For the provisions for funds to register this ministry to get a permit and registration for the certificate

5.       We are out of Bibles in both Luganda and Rukiga/Runyankole. Pray for provisions, we are in great need.

6.       We also need to enlarge our piggery farm which is diminishing and we need to revive it. Pray that God would provide for us.

7.       Simon has not been well, he has cough and flue. Pray that he gets well.

8.       We are planning to have a seminar at our church here in Lungala, pray for the ministry provisions. 

Yours in Christ, Alex and Simon. 

January 2021 News

Great wishes to you for the New Year in the name of the Most High King Jesus!!  We praise the Lord for this ministry again. You remember it has been our prayer that men would come to Jesus and willfully submit to His authority. In the last months we have had more men come to Jesus than ever😊. A few of them were spiritually down and needed encouragement, while others never had a Bible at all. But we were able to help them to meet their spiritual needs. We continue to thank those of you who have been able to donate a Bible, or a box of Bibles to this ministry. Each box of 24 Bibles from the Bible Society costs UG sh. 756,000 (approx. USA $205.00 depending on the exchange rate). There is no comparable treasure than that of helping someone to know God through His holy Word the Bible. 

This is one of the participants in the pastor’s seminars we hold. We were doing an exploration of the Gospel of Mark (Christianity Explored). 

In one of our Thursday Bible studies, our souls were rejuvenated as we heard Mare lead the group in the church. We continue to see the hand of God in this man’s life and his whole family. We were encouraged to hear him as he took us through scripture by scripture, and as he reminded us to examine ourselves to see if we are in Christ. He concluded by asking us to be pursuers of peace and love – 2 Cor 13: 5, 11). The reason this means so much to us is that Male had been deeply involved in witchcraft, but then he came to Jesus. When he did we burnt all the things he had been using to serve demons.   He had never been to church before, but now he shares the gospel and people come to Jesus. This is exciting for us and the church; we feel proud of the work God is doing in people here in this village 

That's Mare below on the far right corner .

Below are some kids pumping water for the fish ponds. We normally work with them, and when they are going to school we buy them stationery. This project started in June last year, so the fish are six months now. They have multiplied to thousands, and although they are still too small to sell for eating, maybe they could be for farmers who also want to breed. 

We dug a big hole in the ground and we pump water from it when it’s full. It’s in the swamp area. There are some bigger fish that can be eaten, available from the big pond in the photo below.

These are some of our weekly church services. 

    Below is the Mayor and his team visiting our church.

Some of the single mothers and a few men from our church have their own piggery projects. Some of the piglets were given to single mothers to enable them to have some income. Below is Jackline attending her pigs. Her sow is ready for the boar. 

Below is Joyce’s daughter Nantongo who had a baby when she was in secondary school (class S.3). It has been really very hard for her mother to push her on through school. We hope once her pig gives birth it will contribute a lot to her school fees. There are 15 people who have benefited from this piggery project, and many of them have got incredible testimonies. Most of them fellowship together with us. We think this project will enable them to support their kids in school and medical treatment if needed.

Ministry registration is still in progress with all the paper work is in the hands of the Lawyer. It has been a very complicated process for our ministry to work through due to the slowness of government officials. Also Covid-19 has affected so many things, and service processes have changed in most offices. This has led Madam and Uncle Dean (from NZ) to leave. They came with a tourism Visa (3 months), and were trying to apply for a longer term Visa. It was great to have them here for three months, and to work with them in serving in this ministry. We have been talking with the Lawyer and he says the final endorsement for the ministry registration will be ready by Monday or Tuesday, and then we will pay the last fees. 

Prayer requests

1.    Pray for the complete registration of this ministry, and that God will provide the money needed for the fees. 

2.    Pray for the provision of Bibles. We have many Christians calling, and other church leaders needing help.

3.     Pray that Proscovia’s house will be finished

4.     Pray for high school ministry and university that we resume on a good note once schools open normally.

5.     Pray for the ministry provisions. Our church has holes in it. Recently we had a heavy rain with hailstorm and it left holes in it. When it rains people get wet. We also need to expand since the number is really big compared to the capacity of the church. 

Alex and Simon

December 2020 News

As we write to you our last newsletter of the year, we are mindful of our dear friends who are being hospitalized, and some who have died due to pandemic Covid-19. This has happened across the whole world. Just as a reminder, the Lord has not forgotten you. Isaiah 60:2 “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you”.

We had an exuberant Christmas day. Usually in Africa, on the day before Christmas, most people travel from Kampala to their villages to have Christmas with their relatives. We had new Christians from Kampala here, and the church was totally full. In fact we ran out of seats. We had a couple of testimonies and some were so touching. “I have not been in church for the last ten years, …”. Says Evaresto Niwamanya. He was thankful that he can be in church again after all that long time, and we pray that he will keep on coming.

  

We had Ester dedicate her son Gabriel. Ester is a single mom and supports her son. She loves the Lord and wants her son to grow in the Lord. She loves to serve and a couple of times we have had her interpreting in our church.  

This is little Shivon sleeping in church.

We had a great Christmas dinner. A lot of people turned up to eat with us and have a bottle of Soda😊. Sodas in villages are still a big thing. In the picture is Madam (Sherilyn) working with ladies, preparing for the big event - Christmas dinner. The ladies pealed all the bananas, ready for early morning cooking on the next day. We applaud Madam and Uncle Deane for their initiative in this ministry. That is a bunch of bananas from the garden on Madam's head.       

                                                 

Christmas Eve with people eating and all having a Merry Merry Christmas😊      

                                                     

We are still working around the clock to see that this ministry is officially recognized by the government, so that it is easier for volunteers, especially missionaries like Deane and Sherilyn, to complete the required documentation, and stay for a longer time. Our very limited finances make this difficult, and we ask you to keep this in your prayers. Usually such processes are not easy in our country as they may involve a lot of bureaucracy. In case you're wondering what this registration is about - it's to enable our ministry to get a work permit certificate. 

We are still fixing Proscovia’s house due to a wall falling on one side during the storm last month.  We now have workers, and sand, bricks, and three bags of cement. I have shown again the picture which we had in our last newsletter. For the last three weeks, collections (offertories and gifts) have all been made for this cause. We still need iron bars and a couple of more bags of cement, and then we can start work on raising up the walls.

Alex recently had typhoid, but it had not become too intense. He was put on the right medication and had to drink a lot of fluids. He is now back to normal. It was not to long after his recovery that one of the church member's daughter also got typhoid. She was severely sick and admitted to the health center. She is recovering now and has been discharged. 

Above is a box of Bibles on the motorbike for people to be able to have this Christmas. 

      This is Norah who leads an Anglican church in a remote area near Lake Victoria. 

She was taking Bibles to her congregation. 

                      

Prayer requests

•  Pray that our ministry will  get a work permit

•  Pray for the provisions of Bibles

•  Thank God for the growth of this ministry, and for all people who have come to Jesus this         year

•  Pray that the repairs to Proscovia’s house will be finished

•  Pray for families who have lost their loved ones due to Covid-19

•  Thank God for the food provisions for starving families here

•  Pray for the high school and university ministries, that we can resume on a good note once schools reopen here. 

  Yours in Christ,

  Alex and Simon