June 2020 Newsletter:

Our special June greetings to you. We hope our Newsletter finds you well. We continue to trust the Lord, especially in this time of COVID-19 pandemic, and we seek His hand more, that He will heal the world. In Uganda it continues to spread, but we have not heard of any deaths caused by COVID-19 in the whole country. However some things have been lifted in the Lockdown. But still life is still very hard as many people cannot easily move around or work - even those in villages who might have their gardens far from them. This has created shortage of food, essential medical care, and churches are still not allowed to gather. Simon and I we meet each Sunday to worship and pray for you, and all other facets of this ministry. Simon has recovered from the malaria that you would have read about in the May Newsletter - it’s a tough disease!

As you see in the picture, Simon has been able to make liquid soap from chemicals he buys in Kampala. This is especially for people who come to get food for their families (especially those affected a lot by COVID-19). So as well as coming to get rice, they also get some good soap.

Below is Nabatanzi Joan - one of our church members (a single mother with two daughters) handing out rice to other ladies.

The man below had just given his life to Jesus Christ when the churches were closed the week following Covid-19. He was super happy to get food for his family. His wife Sylvia came to Christ through this church, but he was slow to respond to the gospel. In the picture he is getting rice for his two kids.

Food distribution has been a great relief for most of the families in our church. We had Agnes share with us how her daughter burnt herself, and as a result of taking her to the clinic, she spent all her money on medication. There was no food at home so she came to our church and we helped her. Her husband is at home with no work. 

In the picture below is Pastor David who has planted many churches in the Kyegegwa district - an area where there are many refugees. We met Pastor David when I was doing discipleship training from the book of Romans, and many refugees attended the seminar. Since then Pastor David has been taking Bibles to these people from our ministry. He has been a good ministry friend to us. He was so happy to get these three Bibles for his church members.

It had rained on me as I was delivering the Bibles to him (you might be able to see the dirt on my heavy riding jacket). 

We want to share with you that we don’t have any Bibles left now, and we are in great need. We want to thank every one of you who has been able to stand with us in the past months, to make sure we had Bibles. May God richly bless you. Please pray that God will provide in His own way. Also we thank God for all the food provisions to this ministry - your contributions are greatly appreciated.

Keep praying for the people who have come to the Lord during this time of Covid-19 - that God will strengthen and empower them. Pray for Irene who comes from a family which believes so much in satanic practices such as witchcraft; bewitching etc. to appease demons.  When she came to Jesus, her relatives (mainly brothers-in-law) came to know about it. They were furious, and hated her. They are trying to cause turmoil in her family in order to upset her. When we met with her she was in great tears. She was sick and in need of medical care.

The picture above with Irene sitting on the white mat was taken back in February when she had just come to Jesus. Pray that also God will raise up more women in this ministry to work alongside us, especially when in comes to visiting Christians in their homes, to pray and encourage them. Sometimes this is not easy for me and Simon, or in fact any other man. It’s a challenge I have come to encounter in this ministry. It’s a challenging venture in ministry. If you have been a church pastor or at the frontline of a ministry you will understand what we mean and what it entails. 

Our piglets below are about to make two months. The big ones on the left are pregnant (3 pigs). The number of our pigs has reduced greatly, but they have been of great support to us during this time. Now that we only have a few left, we can’t sell them any more - we just have to wait until they increase in numbers again.

Please pray that God will provide for us; for this ministry; and for Bibles.

In His name

Alex and Simon

May 2020 Newsletter

Our special greetings to you in the most precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Our May newsletter has come to you late, but it’s such a joy to share with you again what God has been doing here in this ministry. Uganda is still in lockdown with covid-19, and just a few restrictions have been lifted. However, the number of cases of people affected keeps rising. There is an ongoing need of food for people in both urban and rural areas. Only the hand of God can sustain people in such a situation. 

Simon has been sick and I took him to the clinic where he was diagnosed with Malaria plus. This is the worst level of Malaria. The doctor says he must have had it about one to two weeks before he felt sick. He was admitted to the hospital and discharged the following day. He really lost weight and didn't have much appetite. The good thing is that he got the right medication and is getting well.

Last month Alex rode our motorbike to South-Western Uganda (Mbarara-Mwizi), bordering on Tanzania and Rwanda. The total journey was approximately 500 km. He had gone there specifically to meet church leaders and also to give them Bibles. This was after he received a call from Pastor Samuel who is a church planter in South-Western Uganda. He later met up with other leaders as well and found that they were in great need of training. There is a hunger for the Word of God there, both in the leaders and the congregation. This was very encouraging.

I met up with different families, and had some very interesting times with them. Makaru is a new convert who has just come to Jesus with all his family. We had a good time studying the Word and praying together. We did the same thing with Byereta’s family. This family does not know the Lord yet, but they were so willing to hear the Word of God. Unfortunately my phone shut down due to no power there, so I wasn't able to take any pictures – except for those that I took when I was on my way back. The trip was worth the cost of the fuel and the energy spent. 

I visited the family above when I was on my way back from S-W Uganda and had a stopover at the equator. 

Below is the motorbike parked at the equator. For those of you have been there, it’s a good place to relax. It was good that there was no rain during these long rides, although I experienced thick mist/fog on the way back. It was a bit uneasy riding through it. 

The ministry of giving people food in our community.

As we said above, many people have no work, and therefore it’s hard to make a living. We have been able to help many families with the food we have been able to give to them. Here are some of the photos of people getting food.

During this time of food distribution, we have had many people come to Jesus, including Kemirembe (above) who had recently lost her husband. She is pregnant. We prayed with her as she was shedding tears of pain. Please keep her in your prayers. 

We also had Bright and Salongo (below) come to Jesus. Salongo and all his kids had been Muslims, and now they want to know more about the Bible. 

Above is our motor bike loaded with food. Our church is surviving. Some church members have been calling us and asking for scriptures each Sunday. So now we send scriptures for them to meditate on (via phone). Our church is very young and we don’t have live streaming. During this time when we have food to give people, I make sure that I have ample time to share the Word and pray for whoever comes - keeping social distance. This has been encouraging to them. 

Above are Violah, Brendah and other kids who had come to get rice.

Please keep praying for Alex as he will be going back to South-Western Uganda to meet up with those church leaders again very soon, if God provides the finances and Bibles. 

One of our pigs gave birth to four very beautiful little piglets. They're cute aren't they? As are the newly hatched chickens below

Prayer items

Pray for financial provisions for our ministry, and that we will be able to get more Bibles

Pray that God will raise more leaders in our ministry

Pray for protection

 

We love you all, and God bless you for you love to us.

Alex and Simon.  

April 2020 Newsletter

Our April Newsletter comes to you with great joy over what the Lord has been doing; even though what surrounds us produces sorrow and grief. In Uganda, we have not lost any person due to COVID-19. Up to 27 April the total number of cases has been 79, with 46 recoveries. But because of the government lockdown there is no work; no public gatherings for the safety of people; and many people are jobless. Up to Covid-19 our economy has been bad, but now we are at our worst. People are starving; there is no food for many; and no sanitizers or liquid soaps for people.

We are so thankful for the people who have stood with this ministry to help and save lives through giving out free foods e.g. posho, beans, and sanitizers, liquid soaps etc. As you see in the pictures, many families have been helped. Most of these people are from our church, and a few from other churches. We have also had some Muslims come to get food. Our motorbike has given us the means of saving people from hunger. It has done a great job.

The picture above is of Mama Gladys with 5kg of posho in the black bag. She is in her seventies and it is difficult for her to do hard village work. She was so thrilled for such a kind gift of love from this ministry to the local people. She comes to our church and prays with us.

Through this difficult time, God has enabled us share the gospel with people, and we have had four people give their lives to Jesus. Some of these we had never met before, but they came to know how they could give their lives to Jesus. Like Margret, a mother of twins, who was tired of living a life of sin. She shared the testimony how her family had been living and serving demons, and how they had met so many witchdoctors. She was tired of it all and wanted to receive Jesus. She really needed help.

The beautiful kids in the picture are the ones Margret came with. Some of them are hers and the others from her mother. Once the pandemic is over it will be so good to have them come to our Sunday school😉. Simon gave them a cup of tea. We are so thrilled for this heart touching ministry which the Lord is using to touch the hearts of people. In her testimony, Margret says she was working in Kampala, cooking chips. She was a bread winner for her family, but when the Corona virus lockdown came she was forced to vacate her job. However, it has been a real help to her to get food relief from Lungala Bible Ministries.

Above are three young men (From left - Osbon, Jonathan and Violah). They came to see us, asking how they could come to know Jesus. We prayed with them and Osbon and Violah received Jesus as their Saviour. They were also in great need for food.

The ministry of Bibles: We got a call from one of the village Pastors who wanted two Bibles for this lovely  mama (with such a joyous smile after she got them). She says that the only hope that most people have is the Word of God, and a church where they can find comforting messages of God from the Bible. She took the Bibles with great joy.

As most people are indoors in this lockdown, many have found the Bible to be their source of hope. As you saw from above, we are amazed at the number of people who have come to Jesus in this hard time.  With the mama is Alex sitting on the motorbike, with the helmet on his head, and wearing a rain jacket.

Because we have Bibles, we can share the gospel. In this picture are a couple of our church members sharing the gospel with the man on the left dressed in white. This was before strict Covid-19 measures were imposed by the government.

We believe that the block spotted white pig is three months pregnant and will give birth very soon

We had to sell off most of our pigs to sustain us during this time, so we are left with very few pigs compared to other seasons.

Alex is still reading the book of Jeremiah and it has been a wonderful journey. But the sad thing is that like most of the prophets, Jeremiah was inspired by God to pronounce judgements on the nation of Israel because they had forsaken their God and were worshipping idols. In the first 29 chapters Jeremiah speaks of calamities, disasters, and pestilences that would come upon them because of their sinfulness. And even worse than all that, God was about to send them into captivity for seventy years under Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

But there is another wonderful thing that stands out through the prophets, and that is the constant reminder of God's love and grace, and His call for His people to return to Him so that He could once again bless them. For example see Jeremiah 3 vs 12-14.

Then in chapters 30 to 33 Jeremiah prophesies about the restoration of Israel, and he worships the Lord for His awesome greatness, power, and His authority over all things. See 32:17-20. A summary of all the evil that Israel and Judah had done in the sight of God, and then the restoration and renewal of their hearts is found in 32:30-44.

A fitting point here is that the whole world is going through a time of disaster and epidemic where many thousands of people have died. Is this something that God is doing because of all the evil in the world? Is He allowing people to be in desperate situations where they would call out to God to help them? God is the Sovereign Lord over all things, and nothing is too hard for Him. See 32:17 & 27.

Just for your encouragement, God has given us many encouraging Psalms and other scriptures. One that I would suggest you read, as it is very suitable in our current pandemic situation, is Psalm 46.

We love you

• Pray that God will provide for us financially

•           Pray for the provisions of this ministry

•           Thank God for the people who have come to know him through this hard time

•            Pray for spiritual sustenance for our church and for believers to keep strong in faith

March 2020 News

Like most of the world, Uganda has been hit by coronavirus. Public transportation has been banned for 14 days, and public gatherings banned for 32 days. This means we can't have Sunday meetings or prayer groups at our church here. The government has imposed all these protective measures to safe-guard us from the Covid-19 virus. Unlike normal days, Kampala is now free of traffic congestion as people have been advised to stay home. Probably as you know, most Ugandans don't have personal transport, so unfortunately this will affect families in terms of food, medical treatment, etc.

Already there are families struggling with lack of food due to Covid-19. The picture above shows one of a number of families we are helping. We thought it wise to reach out to these homes with hand sanitizer, posho, beans, liquid soaps, and bread to save lives. 

Most of the families we are helping did not have hand sanitizer, and as you know, currently this is so essential to protect against the pandemic virus. Thankfully we have been able to provide them with this too. We appreciate all those who been able to help us do this.

As we have been making these deliveries, we found only two families had sanitizers. The rest did not have any, and yet soaps and sanitizers are very crucial at this time. 

Above is Nalongo with her family receiving a box of items to help in this crucial time. 

Simon doing deliveries with our motorbike.

All other ministry programs have been put on hold since we are not allowed to do them at this time. In the picture on the right are some of the church kids who belong to our Sunday school here. They normally come to have a free ride with their pastor. We love them. Some of them keep asking me:

'Pastor, don't we have church on Sunday?

[Me:] 'No'.

[The kids:] 'Why?'

[Me:] 'The diseases will attack us'. 

As you know, we have ministry for campus students and high schools. Simon was meeting these girls and giving them career guidance for their studies. Some of those have been in our discipleship trainings and have received Jesus as their Saviour. We were glad to meet with them and pray together. Most of our ministry activities are on hold as we wait for the Lord to deliver is from this pandemic.

Looking at what is happening all over the world, we would love to share with you a scripture which we would ask you to consider reading. You will all realise that most of us have been in lock-down in our homes for safe-guard, so please take time and read Psalms 33:10-22.

Let me just highlight verse 10: "The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples".

In spite of what is happening all over the world; in this Psalm, as in many other scriptures, God is teaching us that he is in control, with all the doctors we have, and laboratories, etc. Covid-19 has become a worldwide challenge. Each day we are losing lovely friends. Businesses and institutions are closed almost everywhere. Maybe God is saying, 'I can frustrate all your wisdom and plans'!

As God's people, let's turn to Him all the more, and intercede that He will grant us mercy in this time of adversity.

We love you and thank you so much for your prayers. We would also like to give a big thankyou to those who have provided us with money for Bibles. Distributing the Word to those in need is a vital part of our ministry.

Prayer requests.

1. Pray that this world pandemic will end.

2. Pray that as I and Simon distribute foods and other help to this community, that God will protect us, and also give us more wisdom on how to protect ourselves.

3. Pray that God will provide for our needs. No more market for our pigs. Simon can't work, so we are at home and only able to do distribution of foods to the community.

4. Pray for the provisions for this ministry, and that God will show us how to reach out to church members with the Word while we are not able to meet together.

Yours in Christ,

Alex and Simon.

February 2020 Newsletter

We have had another good busy month. We did not have pastor/church leaders seminar this February due limited resources on our side. There are so many details involved in organizing such meetings. We are always thankful to God for enabling us to reach out to these people with messages of equipping through trainings. So, we will have another seminar of the same calibre in March 26th. The Theme remains the same - 'Apologetics and Cults', and we expect 25-30 people here at our church (Lungala Community Bible Church). We have already started to work out all the details.

We are so thankful to God for the sustainability He provides for this young growing ministry. We are also thankful for people who pray for us. May the Lord richly bless you. We are what we are because of your prayers, and we can only do what we do here because of your prayers. 

High School ministry hasn't started yet, as the schools have been on holiday. We hope to resume next week. We also hope to graduate the village people who have been involved in village discipleship trainings. With such ministries we are able to reach out to people of different beliefs. As we have already shared with you, we had a couple of Muslim students join these trainings and finally give their lives to Jesus. Also there have been a couple of students who have become vibrant church ministers in their local churches through these trainings. With love and joy we anticipate seeing this ministry kick off again.

We had ample time in the month of Feb to share the gospel by door to door evangelism. Below is a new church member - Winne. We had gone to her home to pray and encourage her. She is such a blessing to our church and has a great gift of singing.

In the picture below are Male and Babirye with their son Tylon; Joyce with a Bible in her hands; and Irene who is sitting on the mat. When we met Irene and shared the gospel with her, she gave her life to Jesus. She had been living a miserable life, spending her time consulting demonic worshipers. But praise God she has now come to Jesus.

The Ministry of the Bible.

We recently met up with these lovely servants of the Lord, and Pastor Kizito was badly in need of Bibles for new converts at his church. Because of the prices of Bibles in Uganda, it is seemingly impossible for poor village Christians to afford to buy one. We are glad that through this ministry, we can bring God's Word to His people. Kizito has such a passion to serve God and he will be part of the seminars taking place here.

Feel free to let us know if there is in any way you would support our ministry here in Uganda. We will be so grateful. We praise the Lord for enabling us to be able help other fellow Christians.

Would you please consider praying for:

1. Penninah and Irene who recently came to Jesus.
2. Pray for financial provisions for this ministry.
3. Pray for the March seminar and all the details involved.
4. Pray for the ministry of Bible provisions and distributions.
5. Pray for our Sunday school kids.

Many thanks

Alex and Simon

January 2020 Newsletter

Church leader's conference at last!
Our recent seminar went well in partnership with Africa Center for Apologetics. We had expected 25 pastors/church leaders, but 30 people turned up. Our theme was Apologetics and Cults and was an eye opener for most of them as they didn't really know what a cult was, or why they needed to be apologists for their Christian faith. (Apologetics is the discipline of defending Christian doctrines through systematic study or discussion). As you are probably aware, our ministry hasn't got the resources to handle a big conference with large numbers of people, but for the few we do gather with, there is real impact. These leaders were so thankful for the opportunity to meet together for the purpose of equipping them to be defensive for their Christian faith, and also to protect their flock as Paul charged the churches in Acts 20:28-32.

Equipping church leaders here is very crucial. Yes, many of them have had an inner call for pastoral ministry, but they have had little or no proper training at all, and this greatly affects the church in Uganda. Their request was ‘Can we have a seminar each month?’ Some of the pastors had a great need of Bibles for their church members, but unfortunately we didn't have any. Currently we are out of Bibles, so would you please consider praying that God will provide some more. 

Pastor Mwanje enjoying his Bible

Joyce and her team cooking for our lunch meal

Sunday school
Our Sunday school is still growing. The Lord has blessed us with many kids who come from different homes each Sunday. We are privileged that while Nakaye has been away, Henry took up the Sunday school teaching. At this stage, most of the kids can now recite scriptures from the Bible. We continue to trust the Lord that they will have a shelter, and they won't be disturbed when the rains come. They are still having their Sunday school on our house porch. 

Responding to the needs of poor families
One Sunday, Josyline and Mary (in photo below) surprised the poor kids in our church by buying school materials such as books and pens which are greatly needed. The previous Sunday, Alex had encouraged the church to be giving towards the needy in the community. We praise the Lord for using these ladies to help these kids get back to school after the holiday time. As you saw in the Sunday school pictures, some of the kids from poor families don’t even have shoes.

Pig farming

Our piggery farm is still a blessing, not only to us, but also to many Christians in our church. They are growing well, but we are a bit short on food for them, and it's very expensive. Most of the pigs that the ladies have taken are looking healthy.

Prayer requests

Provision of Luganda and English Bibles
Door to door evangelism every Monday evening

Financial provision for the ministry

That the Sunday school kids and their teacher will grow in their knowledge of the Lord

Thank you always for loving our ministry and praying for us. 

Alex and Simon.

December 2019 Newsletter

Christmas greetings to you all. We bring to you our December Newsletter, and we praise the Lord that Christmas is just around the corner – the year is coming to an end. 

At our church we had a Christmas family day where we gathered together to pray; to worship God with songs of praise; and to have a meal together. The church members had to bring cooked meals (although some were cooked at our home). We had Mrs. Alice, the wife of the retired Rev. Bakunda of Resurrection Church, Bugolobi – a residential district of Kampala. The church they planted caters for over 1000 people a week. They had been in ministry for over 30 years and are so influential in church ministry. This was their second visit to our church. Mrs. Alice was a blessing to us – especially the ladies. 

As she was coming here with her group, it had rained heavily and their car got stuck in the mud on the road heading down to our home. The church members had to use hoes and timbers, etc. to pull it out. You can guess how the smartly dressed people came out of it ☹. We need to get some work done on this minor road, it’s so bad. 

At our Christmas family day meeting there was time of interaction with questions and responses. (That’s Mrs. Alice on the left in the blue top and black dress).

During the time we have been pastoring, we have come to know that village churches such as ours face major problems with parenting of children – similar to any other city church. During our family day Mrs. Alice had one on one discussions with the ladies, who are the majority in our church. We came to know that many men leave their homes and abandon their families, which leaves the children in destitute situations. She prayed for them and encouraged them to trust God and to serve Him more faithfully as hard working Christians.

We want to praise God for His faithfulness. Our church ministry is in an area where a number of people are deeply involved in satanic worship (witchcraft). Recently we had a horrible situation in which about 15 witchdoctors came to attack our church. They were dressed in their charming clothes and blowing pipes as they were calling on demons. It was so sad that even 10-15 year-old kids were also being recruited into witchcraft. Innocent kids! 

We took the situation calmly with other church members, and we joined in prayer as they watched. Later on they followed each other one by one and went away. For our readers, if you haven't been to Africa, you may not realise how common and active witchcraft is. The picture below was taken 3 years ago when we had just come here, and it shows witchdoctors passing by our church. When they are doing their rituals, they don’t wear shoes, and in most cases they are dressed in white attire.

However, on the good side of it, we have three people who have turned away from witchcraft and given their lives to Jesus – Male, Joyce and Nakaye. These people have become very strong agents for the kingdom of God in this ministry. As a church we have to stand strong, and biblically confront witchcraft. 

One time a witch stood in front of me and warned me to stop preaching the gospel that turns people away from following the demons of their ancestors! These are some of the unfortunate things happening around the church. Will you join us in prayer for this witchcraft group that Jesus will shine His light on them (John 1:9).

Next year (2020), we will be holding seminars for church leaders each month, mainly at our church. We will be focusing on cults and apologetics. So far we have 15 pastors who are willing to come and attend these sessions. We believe that if we train these pastors, and they then pass on the information to their congregation, effectively we will have trained many people. Pray that God will provide financially for these seminars. We will also need Bibles and any other materials that can help these pastors to grow deeper in understanding and sharing the Word of God. Any resource provision will be of great help. We are thankful to God, because this will be like reaching a milestone. The meetings with these church leaders will be in our church tent, on our plot. This will reduce all the other expenses of hiring a hall.

We want to thank you for being our ministry readers over this past year. We do take time to pray for you; that God will be with you, even in 2020; and that He will use you mightily for the extension of His Kingdom. We are thankful to God for you all. We trust that this festive season of Christmas will be a good reminder to us all of the purpose for which Jesus was born into the world. Let us praise God for His amazing love and grace as displayed in His Son Jesus, and for the salvation that He has freely offered to us all.

Merry Christmas to you all and a happy new year. 

Prayer requests

1.    Continue to pray for the Sunday school
2.    God's provision for us and the ministry
3.    Pastors seminars next year
4.    Raising more spiritual leaders in this ministry
5.    This ministry to flourish in the hearts of the people we reach out to

Love to you all,

Alex and Simon