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

      

November 2019 News

Our special greetings to you! The year is coming to an end and very soon it’s going to be Christmas😊

November has been a month of reflecting on 2Timothy 4:1-5. We have been learning the importance of emphasizing the Scriptures in this ministry. It has become paramount for us to make this our ministry theme. 

Our Thursday Bible study groups at church have really grown. We have had new people join - some from other churches, or some who have come to know the Lord and have joined our church. 

During this season of emphasizing the Scriptures, Peninah gave her life to Jesus. We had met Peninah three years ago when we were doing our Monday door-to-door evangelism. At first she refused to believe in Jesus - she was not openhearted to the gospel. This time round, she received Jesus with tears! This was the first time I have seen tears flowing down the cheeks of someone receiving Jesus after hearing the gospel.  We prayed with her and encouraged her to come to church. Our church – especially the ladies will give her a special welcome and will encourage her and lead her to know Christ more. 

It is still our hope and trust that next year we will be able to have more seminars for church leaders in our region, especially those that can travel to our church. We are thinking that by God’s grace we will be able to have seminars each month, but that will depend on the financial provisions we need for it to happen. We are thankful that many pastors/church leaders have come to trust in the doctrines which we teach in this ministry. So far, some of them have begun asking about the way forward for these seminars. As a ministry we believe that if we train church leaders, and they believe and hold to true biblical foundations, we will have a better church in the future which will produce true followers of Christ Jesus. 

Therefore, having these leaders texting and requesting more information about the seminars is a sign that what we do makes sense for them and they would like to keep it up. Many of these leaders have encouraged their congregations, not just to read the Bible, but to put it into practice. Many of them have taken Bibles to the churches in their villages. For us, this has been so encouraging, especially when we see the leaders encouraging believers to have the Scriptures in their homes.

We continue to ask you to support us in our ministry, especially in the distribution of Bibles. We

have been without Bibles for a while now. We continue to trust the Lord that He will make provision to meet this need. Above is Pastor Mumpe Julius with Alex. Below is Pastor David getting Bibles for his local churches back in Kyegegwa district. 

Testimonies from people following the evangelism medical team that came to treat the village people have continued to emerge. A lady, whose name I don’t remember, told me how her breast was healed after medication. She had a pain in her left side breast and she was breast feeding. After getting medication from the medical nurses, she eventually got well. Another lady had kids with high fever malaria, and they were healed too. People who were tested for HIV were thankful for free and quick testing of their blood. Mothers who had kids with flu were thankful for treatment that made their kids better. The only disappointment was that we have hardly had anyone thankful for the gospel that was shared that day ☹ - although we are sure that the seed we sowed will sprout in its own time. Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is so important. 

Women in our church have developed prayer altars in the homes of any person who welcomes them. These are done every week on Friday and are led by church members. Some of the people who have joined these prayer meetings have been converted, and have come to know the Lord through the Word and the prayers offered to them. The picture below is a recent one at Julius’ home. We had Frolance share the Word and Scovia shared her testimony. Scovia was once involved in witchcraft and had gone through a painful life serving Satan. She is thankful for having met Jesus, and now has touching testimonies about what the Lord had has done for her. The picture was taken without any lights. We were praying for the boy in a yellow t-shirt whom the doctors had diagnosed with blisters in his throat. Please join with us to pray for him that God will restore his health.

Will you please with us pray for:

•      Sunday School shelter construction
•                Bible financial provision
•                Spiritual strengthening of this ministry
•     The Lord’s comforting hand on our side

Thanks
Alex and Simon

October 2019 News

Medical evangelism team

October has been a very busy month for us. We had a medical evangelism team here for one day treating people. We were expecting about 200 patients, but we were over whelmed by the turn up. We had 0ver 500 patients show up! People started coming at 7:00am and through to evening time. Fortunately the doctors were able to treat patients up 3:00pm. Pregnant women were checked and given Maama Kits (a special package for pregnant women during childbirth).

The most common diseases village people suffer from are malaria, sexually transmitted diseases; or teeth, eye and malnutrition diseases. The medical team had to move around five villages. 

Medical team

We now have testimonies that those who had malaria, flues, or fevers got healed. No doubt you have heard that malaria in Africa is one of the most common fatal diseases; yet people can recover when they are treated. We praise the Lord for such a great help to this community, especially for those who were unable to go to hospitals. Simon and I, through the little financial provisions we have, occasionally take babies and expectant mothers who are in dangerous situations to hospitals for medication. 

We had Mare, Deogracious and Duncan share the gospel and pray with these patients. Two of these men are part of this church, and Duncan came with a Doctor from Zana Presbyterian church. We were encouraged with the way Mare shared the gospel. If you remember, Mare and his wife are the couple who left witchcraft. He never had or read a Bible for the 30 years before he met Christ, and he is now a serious believer. We pray that he will continue to grow in his relationship with the Lord, and be able to serve Him to a greater level. We praise the Lord for the great teamwork this church exhibited in the midst of such a huge crowd. Above are people waiting for treatment.

Student discipleship graduation

We had a graduation of six high school students in our discipleship trainings, and each of them got a certificate. Kembabazi shared with us and other students how she has benefited from this training. She was a Christian from a Christian home, but she was unaware of the importance of developing an intimate relationship with Jesus, and of growing in her knowledge of Scriptures. She also had not given serious attention to reading the Bible. Kembabazi now has a Bible; she shares the gospel with other students; and ministers in the school chapel. On the right are the students that finished their training, with the headmaster (Bursar) in the red T-shirt on the far right.

Prayer meeting

We had members of our church and other nearby churches come to pray with us in our home. It was an awesome time for us as they were thanking the Lord for His work going on in our community, through our church and theirs. As you see in the picture, our small sitting room was filled with people. It is encouraging for pastors to have people who care for them; who pray for them; and work alongside them. The people read Psalm 121 for us.

Sunday School

Our Sunday school continues to grow. Many kids are learning from the Bible, and some have learnt to pray. Friends, honestly speaking - this is something we did not expect when we started this ministry. Some kids now have Bibles! This is something we never saw here three years ago! It is not an understatement when we say that God is working and growing this ministry. We are seeing people in our church who have been converted from Islam to Christianity; and people turning away from witchcraft and now becoming Bible teachers. It encourages us to steadfastly continue to proclaim the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. Col 1:28

Piglets

Finally, our black pig gave birth to four beautiful white piglets. It started giving birth at 1:45 am, and continued through to 3:32am. It was raining on us in the dark as we watched the birth of the piglets. 😊 If you've ever had pigs, you know that when they produce, they can sleep on the young ones and sometimes cause them serious harm. So they need attention when they are birthing.

As you know, these pigs have been a source of financial support for us and the ministry. We thought it would be a blessing for single mothers in our church, for us to give them a piglet as means of helping them make some income, and probably help them meet school fees, especially those who went back to school. We now have five of these mothers who have benefited from this project. Frolance got a pig from us about 9 months ago, and it will produce piglets next month. She lost her husband and has five children.

We thank God for Frolance. She is such a great blessing to this ministry. When we have functions at church such as trainings, seminars, conferences etc. she comes to help freely and with a joyful heart. She also comes to clean the church when weeds have grown around the tent. May God bless her for the labour she does for His Kingdom.

Prayer requests

1. Sunday school building construction
2. Continuality spiritual growth in our church
3. Financial provision

Yours in Christ,

Alex and Simon

September 2019 News

We have more good news about Mugura Frank and his family, whom we have written about a couple of times. If you remember, we met Mugura when he was a drug addict and an alcoholic, and deeply involved in witchcraft. But now Mugura, his mother, and one brother have given their lives to Jesus and burnt all their related witchcraft things. God is now using him for greater work in this ministry as he takes Bibles to fellow Christians in his village. He has shifted from our village and he is going to a church where many have the Word of God. We went there to visit his family and pray with them, and he took us to his pastor. Many people in his village are still bound by satanic powers, but Mugura is a changed man. He no longer beats his wife or is addicted to alcohol; nor does he practice witchcraft - praise God! The joy of the Lord has become his strength. 

Here we are giving a Bible to Mugura's wife Jesca which Mugura was going to take to someone else.

Mugura with his children

Alex had a long drive on the motorbike to Lake Victoria to have a meeting with dear brethren. There was so much mud on the roads as it had rained heavily. On the opposite side of where he is standing is Entebbe International airport, and we could easily see the planes landing and taking off. When we came back we were all wet and muddy 😊. 

We are so happy with what God is doing here especially in the discipleship classes. We had each of the five participants discuss a particular question from the discipleship manual. The Lord is growing this ministry and we are happy as we see people who once served Satan, now serving our King Jesus. Praise be to His holy name. 

Discipleship students receiving their certificates

During the evangelism week, we visited two homes to encourage them to share food. God has used this outreach in an amazing way. Florance recently showed up at our church. She had received the Lord Jesus and wanted to join a church. We encouraged her to have a Bible, which she has now got, and she is also doing a discipleship course. She is so thrilled to be a part of Christianity. 

We are seeing the Lord use this ministry in His own way each step. Despite wrangles with people who don't want it because they believe in demons, we see many coming to Christ through its existence in this village.

This month we have been so busy with speaking engagements. Pastors often invite us to speak about the importance of a Bible for a Christian; and in these gatherings, so many Christians are enthusiastic about getting their own Bibles. One lady named Joyce shared with us how she used a public megaphone to speak about this ministry, and how we have helped people get Bibles - thereby encouraging listeners to develop a desire for God's Word. Joyce is in her 70's and you will be amazed by the good message she passes on about the Bible!

We are so thrilled with these people whom God touches to join us in the Bible ministry.It builds confidence in the authenticity of God's Word which we preach and teach here. What Joyce is doing requires strength and determination in a society which has many Muslims. The church continues to face two strong forces here - Islam and witchcraft. But the Lord has done great things, and the church continues to be triumphant in such circumstances.

We are thankful to God for all the things He does through this ministry. He is using all people in all ways to see His work continue to grow. We also praise God for the provision of more Bibles for us to distribute to the many who need them.

Would you please consider to pray for:

•  Sunday school construction


•  New believers coming to Christ through this ministry


•  Ministry financial provision


•  Protection from satanic attacks as we share the gospel

Thankyou dear friends,

Alex and Simon

August 2019 News

We want to thank you for all your prayers. This month we have been able to do the pastors/church leaders seminar on the 29th. It has been a long and tiresome preparation on our side. We had eighty-five people altogether. In each session we allocated twenty minutes for pastors to ask questions relating to the topic addressed and the teacher would answer them. Many comments were raised concerning the topic: ‘the pastor and his family’. We had some pastors share their experience of how they are teaching their kids to pray, and bringing them up in the love of God. It was a blessing to hear, especially for Simon and me, as we never had that good parental love - bringing us up in love of God. We came to know God when we were older. 

The pastors were so thankful for the seminar. Two pastors said, "Alex and Simon, your ministry has got a good reputation in this district because of the good biblical doctrine you hold to. You have a passion to see that we grow in the Word, and to have us gathering together to hear this message”. A few pastors took Bibles, especially those who came from far away villages. As we write this, we have no Bibles left. The few we had left were taken during the seminar. 

Alex giving a Bible to some of the participants

Lunchtime serving

We enjoy seeing the kids eating lunch too? This time we didn't have a bottle of soda. Most of us in the village prefer a soda. ☹

Evangelism outreach

 

On the 29^th we also welcomed an evangelism team from Kampala who have come to do door-to-door evangelism in our village. They will spend three days here, and three of them will sleep in our small house. The rest will sleep in three other homes with brethren who pray together with us. We are so thankful for those who are hosting the rest of the people sharing the gospel in this village. That is the only way we can bring hope to this community where witchcraft has gained root.

From the little food provision we had, we shared some with Pauline, an old grandma. You might remember her, as she gave her life to Jesus together with Male. They had witchcraft stuff which we burnt. Here is the team of evangelists in her home to share the food and encourage her. Pauline has an eye problem and is unable to come to church. Also, her family can’t afford the transport to get to church, so we thought it was worth going to pray with her. Pauline is the one in a light yellowish dress on the left receiving a red bag.

Below is our motorbike which was torn apart for repairs. I had been using it a lot, but it got a problem with the piston. I thought we would never be able to use it again, but now it's back on the road. The mechanic kept telling me it will be well, and indeed it's now well. It gets a lot of use, often carrying very heavy stuff.

The high school discipleship classes are still on hold as many of them are still in holidays. We are going to be graduating them next term, along with the village team at our church. 

We are so thankful to the Lord for the great things He is doing in the lives of people here. We have shared with you about Joyce who came to Jesus during the first evangelism outreach from Zana. Joyce was deeply immersed in witchcraft since her childhood. They have shrines (small grass thatched houses where demons are called from) and some of her brothers still serve demons. We have to thank God for such evangelism mission-oriented groups; they achieve a lot in the lives of people. Now Joyce and all her family are serving the Lord in the Lungala Bible ministry. Her son Sari, formally a Muslim, came to Jesus a few weeks ago. Don’t we have many things to praise the Lord for!

We therefore wish to ask you to consider supporting this ministry, prayerfully and financially. Your contribution will help us in extending God's kingdom. 

Prayer requests:

1.         Pray for financial provision for this ministry.
2.         Pray that God will provide for the Sunday school shelter construction       
3.         Pray for the Bible provision       
4.         Pray that people who have come to Jesus in the evangelism outreaches will grow strong in Jesus      
5.         Pray that God will strengthen us as we lead this ministry

Yours in Christ,

Alex and Simon

July 2019 News

The Ministry of the Bible. 

Recently we had Kisakye Frank come here to get a Bible for his village pastor who lives in Sembabule district (over 60km) from us. Frank has been saved for some years now, but he did not have a Bible. However, he loves the Lord and wants other people to know Jesus as their Saviour. Having heard about this ministry, he desired to get Bibles; for his pastor first and then for himself. The most important thing about his testimony was - as he put it – 'I love sharing the gospel'.  'I asked - 'How have you been doing that without the Bible?' He replied - 'I listen to the radio, and if any preacher is preaching, then I write down the scriptures and share it with others.' After getting his Bible, Frank was so thankful that he kept lifting up his Bible and thanking God for such a blessing. 'I will now share the gospel, reading to people from this book' he said.

As we have earlier written to you, Bibles in our local dialects are expensive for most Christians. For you to stand with us and enable us bring the Word of God to needy people is a great blessing to the churches in the villages. Frank’s situation is similar to that of Faith, whom we shared with you two years ago. She was leading a Bible study, but had no Bible. She was also getting scriptures to share from the radio, and borrowing a Bible from the neighbors. 

In the photo above are a few other people who have benefited from the Bible ministry. Making the Bible available is the most effecting means of winning souls for Christ Jesus, and also the essential foundation for a strong biblical church. People can see for themselves from the Word of God. 

Joyce (photo below) has occasionally taken Bibles to her fellow Christian friends who did not have an opportunity to get Bibles. We met Joyce when we had a pastors’ conference. Her heart was very moved towards the ministry of helping believers to get Bibles. She has been one of our close associates in this ministry. Even in her old age, she has done incredible ministry to her church members. She also rears pigs and does farming on her land. The Lord is using her to bless other people with scriptures. We praise the Lord for the souls who have been transformed through His Word. 

Sunday School

The Lord has increasingly added to us many kids from around this community who fellowship with us every Sunday. It's so exciting to have these kids here every Sunday, and some of them have been coming since this church began. Now some of the kids can pray and recite scriptures. Nakanjako can now pray a biblical prayer for the rest of the kids before their Sunday school starts. There's such an exuberant change we can see in these kids. We really give glory to God, and the Sunday school teachers who are taking this initiative to make sure that the kids come to know Jesus.

The Kids have now got another Sunday school teacher. Robinah has not been in our church for long, but she has a passion for kids. She helps when Nakaye is not around. The Lord is relieving us from some ministry responsibilities by raising other leaders. Sunday is one of our busiest days and so tiresome. When these ladies fill the gaps in our ministry, we praise the Lord.

We had one of the ladies give a testimony thanking God for her kids who are in the Sunday school. She had been practicing divination and calling on spirits of the dead before she came to Jesus; and her kids had seen it happening. Actually, she shared that she took time to apologize to them. She now feels so good when she sees them developing to know God. Isn’t that such a wonderful change of life; from your kids seeing you serving Satan; to now serving our Lord Jesus Christ? The only true satisfaction in life is found in God, and He is more glorified when we are more satisfied in Him. This family has now come to know that only God matters in their lives. 

Other Ministries

You may remember that we had planned to have a pastors' conference in May, and also an evangelism mission on the Island of Buyiga. We have not yet given up on this, and we still trust the Lord to make a way. However, evangelism is continuing around this community. As a ministry, we had a meeting to plan the way forward. We are likely to have the Buyiga Island evangelism next month; although the pastors' conference - not sure! 

More piglets

Recently, one of our pigs gave birth for the first time to six piglets - late in the night when we were in deep sleep. Unfortunately we lost two of the piglets.

Next month we will share about some ladies who have profited from being given piglets from our farm. 

Please consider praying for;

a)      Ministry Land

b)      Financial provision for the pastors’ conference.

c)       Ministry financial provision. 

d)      Sunday school shelter.

e)       Discipleship trainings at church and high school.