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