Greetings from Gulu!
Ocuka is now getting back to normal after the rocky episodes of the New Year. All the children are back in school and the Lord has opened so many new doors.
Praise the Lord !!! We have now purchased a new generator!!! A great Big thanks for our sending church, First Baptist Wilmer, and Adaton Baptist church in MS and to Kathy at Palm Desert Community Presbyterian for raising the much needed funds. We bought a 16.5k CAT. Imagine, we can now use our coffee maker and iron at the same time, while the refrigerator is on!!! (Keith told me today that we might even be able to get ice in our freezer!!) What luxuries!!
We have been contacted by many people who are asking us to start Primary schools in other areas. That would be a long term plan, But God is able. Also I, Lisa, have started a Bible study for women in Guruguru.
But right now we want to introduce to you our new friend, Silas. About a month ago a woman came to our gate seeking help because her hut had burned down. She had a baby in her arms who was severely malnourished. As we began to inquire about the situation this is what we learned:
She and her husband have three children, all of whom are malnourished. The oldest one is almost 4 years. The next one is 2 years, and the baby’s age is hard to tell because he is so small. The mother does not know how old he is. She is not producing milk. Upon further investigation we found that the husband is mentally ill and this woman is very handicapped with a birth defect and also due to childhood polio. Wow we were stunned to find out that they live not very far from our compound. But the baby was our greatest concern because he had fever and was so weak. We tried to give them formula to feed the baby but the mother kept losing the bottles and could not remember how to mix it (she could not count). So I went to the probation director in town and explained the situation. It was decided that we would take the baby temporarily, for a short time, until a decision from the Govt. could be made on how to help this family. They are now investigating. For the last several months we have had with us one of the older girls who grew up in GSF (Good Shepherd’s Fold) orphanage. She is preparing to go to the university. Her name is Alyssa. She is now caring for Silas. He only had one name, Ojok, which means in Lwo, “bad spirit’. So, we named him Silas. We are not sure how all this will work out, but we knew that we could not risk little Silas’s life as his parents are not able to care for him. The other two girls are also at risk. Please pray for this family.
We will be coming back to the States for furlough, on April 14. We would love to visit with as many of you as possible and speak about all the opportunities for building the Kingdom of God
· Healing for our hearts from the crisis we recently experienced.
· Direction from the Lord regarding the family of Silas.
· Many churches and friends to partner with us in the rapidly expanding work of the Lord here in Northern Uganda .
· Funding for the next wings of the school (we have maxed out our capacity this year) and funding for the teachers houses to be built.
· The proposal that was sent to the Govt. regarding a pilot school using the new Christian curriculum!!
We can never thank you all enough for your generous support and donations, but remember that God is using your faithfulness to build His kingdom here among these vulnerable people. Praise HIM!!!!
In Jesus’ Name,
Keith and Lisa
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