A Little of This and That

I haven’t posted a blog update in a while. Sometimes (thankfully!) things go smoothly and we don’t have anything unusual happen. We keep pretty busy with living life as a general rule. It’s nice when the car works, church services go smoothly, and nothing unexpected happens. Here are a few of the things we’ve had happen in the last couple weeks. Not enough for a blog post on their own, but each significant in its way.

A Fence for Kabazana

A couple weeks ago the folks at Kabazana got in touch with James. The next door neighbor to the church had been grazing his cows on the church property. The church people had planted beans there and then put up a hedge (that wasn’t yet very big). He turned his cows loose in there anyway and the cows ate the beans. 

Through a course of events, the local chairman got involved. He told the church people they had to let the man graze his cows there. Turns out, the neighbor had bribed him with a cow. 

We started asking around to figure out what legal measures we needed to have in place so the chairman couldn’t do this. Meanwhile, they went to talk to the chairman’s boss. That man had heard good things about the church. And he hadn’t been bribed. He issued a certificate, like an occupancy permit for the property there. He said the church was allowed to fence in their property and keep the cows off.

The next week, we put up a fence. Well, the church people did. 🙂 It’s a simple structure, just poles and barbed wire. The plan is for the hedge to grow up along the barbed wire. It will provide a place for the church people to grow things and hold classes without having to dodge, well, cow mess.

A Well for Sangano

When we were in the US we raised money to put in wells at our churches. God provided enough for one well. After several very bad dry seasons, everyone could see the need for better access to water.

Our only struggle was finding a place who would dig the well for a reasonable price. We found a place in Kampala but they wanted $2500 just for the survey (they use ground penetrating radar to locate water and see how deep it is and how much water is available). That price seemed high to us, so we kept looking.

Not long ago, a “Water Solutions” place opened in our town! They dig wells and boreholes, among other things. We stopped in there to talk with them about our need at Sangano. They can do the survey for 1/4 of the price the other place gave us! Not only that, because they are in our town, they are close enough to do maintenance easily and inexpensively. We’re hoping to hear back about the survey early this next week!

Medicine for Everyone

It’s the end of the rainy season here. We’ve had a great rainy season and the crops look wonderful. But a good rainy season also means more mosquitos. They always get frantic when the rain stops and malaria cases shoot up.

God provided a gift this month that was enough, not only to put up the fence at Kabazana, but also to buy medicine for our church people. We know of quite a few cases of malaria and “flu” out there right now so we’ll be taking a supply to each of the churches on Sunday.

Last Sunday, Esperanza told me she’d hurt her back and needed something for the pain. She also needed food and charcoal. We feel that 1) God commands us to care for widows and 2) that care is supposed to come through the local church. So we gave money to the church leaders to get her the things she needed immediately. We’re taking the medicine for her back on Sunday. (Frankly, when I reach 105 years old like Esperanza, I hope back pain is my only complaint! This sweet lady walks to and from church every week.)

A Church for Isanja

The church at Isanja hasn’t weathered the rainy season well. While it hasn’t fallen down like the church at Ngarama did last year, it is slowly deteriorating. Large cracks have formed at one end of the church. You can see through to the outside. If they get a bad storm (which sometimes happens at the beginning and end of the rainy season) that end of the church will probably fall down.

We’re praying, along with the church people, that God provides for their church to be rebuilt. It’s quickly becoming urgent.