May June 2014

May June 2014 Welcome supporters and prayer warriors - The school year has finished as we slide into our “summer holiday” - strange term considering it is always over 25 temp here - it comes from the British school system! Sharron and I are trying to “come down” off a hectic timetable and let our bodies recover. I have organised a bit of academic work for the mornings and the afternoons are taken up with biking, swimming, football, online games, art, music, drums and reading - plenty to keep 4 high energy children happy! Pauline attends a local preschool to help with the children 2 hours a day for 3 days - she is good with little ones. Sharon is taking all the school kitchen and cleaning staff (8) on safari on the 6th to bless them for their hard work and long hours. They could never afford a safari so all them have never seen a national park or the big five animals. We have hired a mini bus and driver and Sharon has also organised a boat cruise into hippo and croc country up the nile to Murchison falls. The girls are very humble faithful ladies who love Jesus and also live in poor houses with very little - so they are over the moon about their trip!! God has blessed us with access to a house for a few days break from Kampala on a nearby island on Lake Victoria compliments of a generous friend at school - we are also looking forward to a family safari at Lake Mburo (hopefully with Shama) - again we are honoured to have access to the lodge owners quarters in the park - we go walking among the animals and avoid lonely buffalo - it is surreal!! Josiah and I have been planning a hike up Mt Elgon but the park entry fees for all the family are too high (50 USus a day for anybody!). Anyhow, hovering over all of these plans are problems with our old land cruiser’s electronic system - it is right now being diagnosed by Toyota - I have already replaced the ECU computer system 6 months ago but we are still having issues. We had a remarkable time last Sunday at the burns ward - even though we were tired somehow God came through and filled the ward with his presence. Sharon ministered to a frightful situation - a once beautiful lady with a young child and also expecting opened her house door to a madman with a bucket of acid - he threw it directly into her face blinding her and destroying her facial features and upper body skin - she has a lovely husband and they have not caught the offender!! - such a high level of suffering. Before our coming she had not lifted her head or moved out of sheer grief and pain but during worship she sat up and opened herself to Jesus for healing - what a sight and may God honour her with deep healing in and out!! A guy was attaching a tv antennae and it connected with 240 volts which completely burned his upper torso and face - he was crying out for Jesus as we spoke with him. I am heading back there tomorrow with an mp3 player for a young 11 year old boy who has a mental disability. He has regular fit type behaviour and was shaking while I was there - last week he fell head first into a large boiling pot of porridge which burned all his face and head skin and upper body. While we were worshipping I watched him calm and the fits go as his face lit up and they could feed him. God told me he needed the music of worship so I have filled the mp3 with all of Hillsong’s albums and Chris Tomlin. Even more ridiculous were the two twins - 1 year old - who both crawled into a boiling pot of water - where was mum? This is so common here - little children playing in the cooking area unsupervised! oh Jesus have mercy on these burned people and children and forgive me for complaining about anything!! Please intercede continually for the outpouring of healing power and his presence in our ministry - we are mere vehicles or carriers of his love - it is jesus power that is needed to transform the inner and outer. I am learning this as we bring our children together around the word of God and let it examine all of us - Josiah my son has been leading some powerful times in devotions during homeschooling and I have been getting the children to memorise Psalms - we did Psalm 1 and now we are working on Psalm 34. There is something eerie, powerful, joyful and settling about coming around the word as a family and getting it into our souls. Peace pours down over us and enables us all to see more clearly. Sharon and I have been toiling with teen issues, many of them deep seated problems from way back in the village. These issues can be met with strong love and boundaries/expectations but in the end the inner person is only changed by constant and regular referral to Jesus and his word and good music. Music is such a cool way of finding Jesus and family harmony. We now have an old drum kit in our guard house so most of us are learning using youtube tutorials. Josiah and I are jamming away on guitars. We also have a mixture of African drums which fill in the spaces. Josiah and Ken have joined Percussion Discussion a major drum group who perform at the National Theatre. Josiah is currently away in the Congo - a huge trip across three countries - Uganda, Rwanda and Congo - with friends from the drumming group. It is such a dangerous trip we pray constantly for his protection! Josiah is returning to NZ on 30th August and boy shall we mis him. I am trying to get my daughter Shama over to take over from him in the homeschooling. We enter our last year next month being 4 years since we arrived. We never thought we would be here more than 2 or 3 years! We have come to realise that to integrate adopted children into a new family takes plenty of time let alone the social, legal issues and paper work. My next biggish challenge is to convince NZ Internal affairs that the adoptions comply with International Adoption law and also NZ Adoption Act Section 17 - more paper work. Please pray that I can get approvals for NZ Citizenship before we come back and then the kids can get NZ passports. This will require getting the right NZ people connected to our applications who can work with us. We are aiming at returning about September next year - Oh dear I am not sure how we will cope with a colder climate - plenty of woolies and beanies!! Many thanks for your financial support for our projects and other orphans - our John (orphan from Kyazanga) who we have supported right through college has now finished his first year at university doing civil engineering and on practicum now - this is a huge step of faith for us financially as there are no uni loans in Uganda until last month the government announced a new scheme - whether we see it is another story! We also continue to supply the burns ward food, mp3s, bandages and at times bedding. Bless you all Steve

Kidepo pics

March April

Hi there friends - we are just back from a refreshing safari in Kidepo National park which is located in the north eastern most part of Uganda near the Sudanese border. I decided to hire a driver in order to save our car from being wrecked on the most destroyed hazardous roads in Uganda and give me a break from the stress of driving 1400 km. We camped in tents with a park ranger right inside the panoramic park surrounded by wild life - mainly herds of elephant, antelope, giraffe, and buffalo. While on our safari drives we saw our first lions since being in Uganda - 3 cute cubs and two females cruising in the first rays of sunlight - a slightly eerie and awesome feeling watching those powerful cats looking for a good tree to sleep under after a night of feeding. Northern Uganda is a war torn under serviced region trying desperately to emerge from 20 years of war and devastation. Many of the people are Karamajon who are extremely poor and have not received much help to encourage redevelopment. Great news - we have finalised Pauline’s adoption - she is now our daughter (turned 13 yesterday) - sister to Shama 20 and 4 other high powered growing boys - Josiah 23, Nicholas 14, Dennis 10 and Moses 10!! Her adoption journey has been one interesting trip - securing correct documents, getting the correct names of parents and when they died, finding relatives, establishing her correct age, enduring attempts to bribe us, reorganising court dates because relatives forgot to bring documents and ID, obtaining Local Area chairman letters of consent, obtaining proper social welfare reports - it goes no and on - but here we are at the end of the long misty tunnel - sometimes I felt quite discouraged but Jesus voice always prompted me to keep going and get it right - one just had to keep digging. We are blessed to have a good thorough lawyer who did not allow me to take short cuts even when I was ready to kick the relatives to the moon!!!! The remaining distant relatives have very little interest in Pauline as a person with a future - they merely wanted to use her which became quite apparent in court - the judge saw this and gave them no favour! Homeschooling of Pauline is a challenge because she is behind in her literacy and numeracy. She missed out severely in the Ugandan system in her village. She has reached a reading and numeracy stage of year 3 - 4 - which is 2 years ahead of when she first came to us - so one must look at the progress and not too much at where she should be!!! Josiah and Ken run the homeschooling program which is filled with practical projects. They are doing a business study at present - interviewing local businesses to see how they are run and they are building a large vege garden on the hill above us - so far they have a big crop of NZ sweetcorn coming on and they are trying to get root crops going. Clearing the land is a major task because of layers of rubbish!! They have a swimming program twice a week and wow they are now powerful swimmers in all the strokes which is great for NZ. Pauline is a strong triathlete - biking is a daily part of the program so they are fitter than dad! Based on a ladder built by the Gordons they have built a huge ladder and gym type equipment (chin ups for dad) for exercising which we leave with the locals. Onwards to the final adoption application for the boys which will be in August. Praise God their Aunt is a kind and supportive person - she lives in very humble circumstances. She houses a number of orphans arising from HIV deaths in her family. What a powerful women - she ploughs the garden, grows, washes, cleans and provides enough for 6 children. The men in the local area spend most of their time drinking walagi (a dangerous beer) and having sex - a product of mass unemployment, discouragement, poor education, lack of agricultural incentives, zero diversification, little guidance and boredom. Not a brilliant mix for the future! Good news from the burns ward - the patients have new beds a welcome sight but the bathroom facilities are atrocious - always wet and smelly. The incidents of acid attacks are increasing and sadly women are the victims. Usually it is relationship or land issues sparking violent responses. The effects of acid violence is staggering and horrific - people are maimed for life, stripped of their ability to earn and function normally. We come to them in the name of jesus to encourage and give hope in a very dark place - a little protein, some music players, bandages - sustain for a short while but nothing compares to the peace that Jesus gives - “peace be to you” said the risen Jesus - he stands in the midst of suffering and extreme discouragement to offer the only hope worth living for!! Two weeks ago we had the most incredible time of worship and free praise and dance - patients were released from their depression and sadness to magnify the Lord. Josiah my son and I played guitar and did a little improvisation - God moved in souls to dance!! What a sight - bandaged head to toe lifting hands to praise Jesus - God our friend in the middle of horror! Kyazanga and the orphanage have received an abundant rainfall to bless their environment. John our sponsored university student has completed one year successfully and other sponsored students are doing well. Betty has completed her hairdressing vocational training which we sponsored and is looking for a job. Many thanks to our NZ sponsors. We are now entering our final term of teaching which finishes end of June. Time is flying as we contemplate our final year and return to NZ in August/Sept 2015. It seems a frightening jump - back into a totally different culture from Uganda. This the next chapter in our lives as God has planned - life is full of challenges and some dramatic changes so we will take this as it comes and keep close to Jesus.

LMburo Latest photos

July photos

Se below this album for an update on life in July 2012.

June Hospital, School events, new shop

June has been so exciting to see God at work in our hospital ministry and a shop set up for a neighbour. The children participated in a triathlon and swim events. Sharron runs a netball team. Here a few photos relating to June life. We want to thank those who organised and contributed at the mens night at City Church.

NZ Pics April 2012

Here is an assortment of photos from different times in our trip - what a trip we will never forget - thanks to our Lord for arranging the best time to see my Dad before he passed, time with mum and Sharron's parents, our families, great hosts, perfect weather and surf and most of all your loving support!!