The Program Expands In Uganda...

Dear brethren,

We do thank you for your support to us here in Uganda. A lot is being done through  your support toward us. Ten ladies from Uganda and Kenya have finished their first two weeks of the quarter at the Uganda School of Evangelism. They have really appreciated the plan of training ladies to work in kingdom of God. This quarter they were taught “The Role of a Woman in Kingdom of God,” and “The church I.” These were taught by sister Margaret Wechesa. She used material from the World Video Bible School by Cindy Colley. Brother Samson Omutele taught “God's Woman” and Francis Wechesa taught “Principles of Public Speaking I.”

Some of these sisters left their children with their husbands which is not very much normal in African setting. In Africa it is the work of a woman to take care of children. We very much thank  the brothers who agreed to remain home with children so that their wives could come and learn the word of God. This has shown us that this program of training sisters has been long due. These sisters transported themselves to school. We just helped them with transport to take them back to their homes.

The School did not have budget for this program. We just tried this from some small fund which had remained on our normal fund. We also feed them with fish from our personal fish ponds for supper almost daily.

We had a problem with how to keep these fish as we do not have a deep freezer. This forced Margaret to deep fry all these fish in oil so as to keep them from rotting. It would help us very much to keep them in deep freezer if we would have one. We need whole Bibles in English and Kiswahili languages to give to these sisters when they come. Most of them do not have their own Bibles. Those who had Bibles had just borrowed from their husbands or friends. We also need some funds to print songs books in Kiswahili and Lusamia and also a Lusamia New Testament Bible. These ladies have also requested to be taught some skills like tailoring, knitting, hair dressing, baking and food processing courses so that they can do some things that can give them some income as they teach the word of God to the ladies in their congregations. God willing these sisters will be coming again the last week of July and first week of August 2013. We are likely to have more as some did not come because it was planting season. Pray for this program so that more sisters are also taught the word of God. We will be going to the Barber Church of Christ in Kenya to teach in the Bible seminar the 8th - 10th. I will come back on 9th to prepare to go to Kigumba for the Uganda Christian College graduation, northwest of Uganda which will be on 11th. The first part of the second quarter will begin on the 13th. We will be having a lot of traveling, please keep us in your prayers.

Yours
Francis, Margaret, Paul, Susan, Ema and Edith Wechesa

To see the report with pictures, please click here.

Reports From Students Of USOE Show Growth...

Dear brethren,

Thanks be to our heavenly Father who is always blessing us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. The short course is ending this week and brothers Donnie and Jimmy will be leaving on the 18th of April 2010. This being our end of the year holidays, all our students will be allowed to visit their families. We have six students from Congo who are on my neck that they want to see their families. Each one of them needs $200 for their bus fare to go and come back. The total is $1,200. We promised all our students from Congo and Kenya  transport to and fro once a year.

We have 6 students from Kenya who will need $150. The total money we need to help us transport these students home and come back will be $1,350 dollars. 

Land Issue
On the land issue I have all the necessary forms for the transfer of land ownership. The local chairman has endorsed his stamp and signature. I am waiting for the District and later take it to the lawyer to sign as a witness of the transaction. The funds you sent to help in this work, I received it and it is very much helping me to move around. May our good God bless you for your contribution in this. Very soon the land title will be in our school names. 

Ladies Coming To School
So far we have received ten sisters willing to come to study God's word. As I said we are going to keep them here for two weeks. We need your prayers for this program's success.

Reports from two students are below.

Francis Wechesa

NAMUNGODI CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH REPORT

EMMANUEL MAWA

The Namungodi congregation currently has a membership of 21 people including adults and children.

• The adults 15
• Children  6
• Male adults  8
• Female adults 7

Baptisms
At the beginning of the year the Lord added four souls to this Church, largely due to our evangelization and invitation of nonChristians to come and worship with us.

Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution keeps fluctuating weekly and, therefore, monthly. On average per week, it is 5000/= meaning that monthly it is 20000/=.

Dropouts and Restorations
Unfortunately, we have had three dropouts of whom we had restored last year and have dropped out again. There has been some effort to reach them, but so far to no avail. Keep praying for them to come back to the Lord.

No restorations therefore.

Challenges
Just like any congregation in the world, Namungodi Church of Christ has a lot of challenges.

1. We lack a proper place of worship, like land and a Church building. With regard to the land we are currently using, the owner of the land, brother Asa, does not tell us the truth about the land. He says he gave the land to the Church; another time he wants money for the land without giving a specific amount.

We had a plan for roofing the small structure on the land which would be adequate as a Church building, but now, without knowing ownership of the land, there is no way we can start looking for funds to aid in the purchase of the iron sheets.

1. Evangelism is another problem. The Christians say that at the moment they do not know what to say or how to present the message. Others say it is not their obligation among others. As the preacher I am trying to teach them how to go about it and, hopefully, in the near future they will learn the basics and do the work of the Lord. 
2. The giving on the Lord’s day is not sufficient to do all, or most, of the church activities, like benevolence among others. 
3. The distance from the meeting place is also a challenge. This reason was given by one of the dropouts because they do not have enough money to come for worship or bible class on Sunday and Friday respectively.

Future Plans

1. To solve the problem of worship house, the plan is to build a worship house of about 15 X 30.
2. Continue praying with members on personal evangelism. 
3. To set up a “bread basket” where members contribute food or money twice a year according to the harvest seasons. We have also set up a group where members contribute 4000 monthly as a savings to be used by individual Christians in times of need. A Christian can put in more than the standard 4000, so far so good. 

NAHAYAKA  CHURCH OF CHRIST

CHURCH REPORT

Wandera Peter and John  Ndiang’u

This is Nahayaka church Christ report since I started worshiping from there. We were two preachers there, but eventually he left me alone there having been sent to another congregation.

As we were two preachers there we found four people, and as my fellow preacher left me there we were altogether 7 people. The number grew from 7 to 8 people excluding children, when children are there we are 11. Therefore, the number of men were 3 people, the number of women was 4, and the number of children was 4.

Number of Dropouts and Restorations: 
Since I started worshiping from there, in June  2012, there has been 7 dropouts and no restorations.

Monthly Contribution
The monthly contribution varies from month to month depending on the weekly contribution which is an average of 6,000/=. Therefore the monthly contribution is used up by Mzee Nalyali.

Baptisms per year:
Right from 2012 up-to-date there has been no baptism carried out since that period.

Challenges:
Just like any other congregation in the world, the church of Christ in Nahayaka faces various challenges that include the following:

1. There is lack of Church building: The church is congregating at Mzee Nalyali’s house which is hindering other people to come in to continue with the service, thus hinders church growth.
2. There is lack of enough evangelist: This problem is hindering church growth because of one preacher who is not able to carry out all the church activities, yet the few members available after leaving on the Lord’s day go until the coming week and, therefore, is leading the church to fall down.
3. Distance covered: This problem is hindering church growth because during holidays it is becoming difficult to travel from home to go there to carry out evangelism and hence leading to church to fall down.
4. The giving on the Lord’s day is insufficient: This problem is hindering church because the amount contributed cannot work for all church activities, and beside that, whatever is contributed ends up being used by Mzee Nalyali to complete his problem.

Future Plans
The future plan made to solve the above out coming is that, first of all, there is need to put up a church building outside Mzee Nalyali’s family because this will encourage other people to come especially those who fear to come in Mzee’s house.

A Ladies' Class Will Benefit Upcoming Lectureship...

Dear brethren,

We thank you all very much for what you are doing. Your support is of great importance for the work here in Uganda. The church is growing and the Lord is being glorified. At the Uganda School of Evangelism students and the whole staff are doing fine and appreciate very much for what you are doing in supporting this work. The short course teachers, brother Donnie and Jimmy, arrived on the 6th of April. On Sunday they went to the Emmanuel Mawa to Namungodi congregations where they worshiped in the beautiful garden of brother Arthur. On Monday  they both started class. They combined both Kiswahili and English Classes in the hall. Paul Odaka helped with translation to Kiswahili class. 

Those in English class who hear Kiswahili were getting it twice. The short course ends on the 17th of April and brother Donnie and Jimmy will be departing on the 18th of April. 

Ladies’ Class
After a long cry from ladies of congregations, who usually come for our lectureships, for classes on Bible education, on the 22nd of April we will be starting that program and it will end on the 3rd May. Our plan is that these ladies will come after the short course every quarter four times in a year.

Bulukuyi congregation has finished putting together their grass thatched building and they are planning to put mud on Saturday, the 13th of April. Our student, brother Robert Owoko, is the one preaching there every Sunday. 

The Lord is blessing His work here in Uganda. May your effort too be blessed. 

Yours
Francis, Margaret, Paul, Susan and Edith and Ema

Uganda Lectureship Reaches Several...

Dear  brethren,

We thank you very much for the support you are giving to us here in Uganda. Your generous  support is doing a lot here in Uganda.

Uganda School of Evangelism Lectureship
Christians from different parts of Busia and Namayingo Districts, plus other parts of East Africa, started arriving on the 13th of December, 2012. Twenty-nine Christians came from Kenya, some traveling over 600 klm from their home to school. A total of 149 people attended last year’s lectureship. People would have come more than the number that attended. Most congregations claimed that they did not get the word on time and for that reason just a few managed to get transport to come. This year we are going to start informing the brethren early enough so that they can start saving their transport. As I had reported earlier we were privileged to have brother Denny Petrillo, the President of Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver, as one of our speakers during last year’s lectureship. He very much boosted our lectureship. This years lectureship will begin on the 18th up 20th of December 2013. People will start arriving on the 17th in the evening and leave on 20th after lunch. This year we are going to study the book of Romans. We are inviting whoever might have time to come to inform us so that we may assign him a lesson to teach.

Nandwa Church of Christ
I would like to remind you of the congregations which are there because of your support.  Nandwa congregation is growing in number since the school began. This year the Nandwa church of Christ hosted the youth meeting which was held from the 16th - 18th of January. This youth meeting is organized by congregations from Busia and Namayingo District. We are planning to invite more youths from other congregations of the Lord’s church in Uganda. These congregations have learned that if they work together raising funds to help their needs without thinking of the school as a source of their finance would lead them to maturity. Most students who graduate from Uganda School Evangelism used to think that whenever there was a need in the congregations they attend, that problem would be directed to the director of Uganda School of  Evangelism. I talked about this problem with the members of the faculty and we came to an agreement that these congregations should be informing sister congregations concerning whatever problem might arise and get some help from those congregations and individual members who would be willing to help where they can. This plan is working as these congregation are helping each other now whenever there is the death of a brother or when they need some help with building of their church building. These congregations can only afford to put up grass thatched buildings. The problem of these type of building is that they are very temporary. They need to change grass every year. Grass also these days is becoming scarce. It would be of great help if these congregations would get some help to buy timber and iron sheets. The congregations are willing to make bricks and burn them by themselves. Five people were baptized last and one this year at Nandwa Church of Christ. All this is being done by the effort of the students of Uganda School of Evangelism.

Congo churches:
All the congregations which have been getting some support from for their preachers are still willing to continue worshiping God until Jesus comes back. The only problem they are still facing is with places of worship. The funds will only help them with six months rent and that would be all. Land in Congo is ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 dollars for a plot of 50 x 100 feet, depending on where it is found. The congregations are Uvira, Baraka, Kikwena, Lweba, Fizi, and Mboko in South Kivu. In North Kivu, that is Beni town and Kihura. Thako had a plot but the owner of the plot repossessed it and offered them a another plot which is not in the center which the church did not accept and they are still waiting for the government to settle the matter.

Concerning the fence; last year we had a lot of rain and there was water in the area we wanted to fence. The materials are ready and as it starts to dry up we are going to finish the fence.

We are working on the pig house. As I had said, we decided to build this house here at the school so that the students could get evolved  and see what is being done. We need some iron sheets to finish the building. We just built one side of the house. The house will be double when completed.

The cow house is not yet complete. We still need the roof and the mesh wire around the uncovered area.

Yours
Francis, Margaret, Paul Wechesa

Impacting The Youth In Kenya and Uganda...

Dear brethren,

I hope that this email finds you all doing fine in the Lord. Here in Uganda we are doing well except for the pain I am in after the accident on the 11th day of January 2013. We began well, we weremall gathered together as a church to thank God for being with us and also prayed for the same protection during the 2013. 

On the 9th of January I left Busia going to Nyahururu in the Central part of Kenya, in the so called Kenya Highlands. This is where Thomson Falls is located. It is a very good tourist site. There is also a veterinary school, one of the best in East Africa. I had gone see their program and if they can train Paul. While there I also met with the brethren who are going to be hosting the church of the East Africa Gospel meeting this year and I helped them with some plans showing them what they should be doing right now to get ready for the big meeting. 

On the 11th of January 2013 I left very early in the morning and arrived in Busia on the Kenya side and took a bodaboda motorcycle to take me across into Uganda. We were riding well now on the Uganda side. On the Jinja road there was a taxi which, was parked aside the road, drove into the road making a u-turn and  ran into us. The same taxi took me to the hospital. The x-ray was made and no bone was found broken but veins and the muscles were very much affected. I am having a lot of pain on my right foot and right side ribs and also on the left knee and leg. The pain is now reducing compared to the first day of the accident. 

The churches of Christ in Busia and Namayingo District organized a youth seminar which was hosted by Nandwa this year from the 16th to the 18th of January 2013. Sixty-three youth from seven congregations attended. Each youth was supposed to contribute 2000 shillings and 20,000 shillings from each congregation to cater for meals. Fourteen youth contributed and three congregations contributed. I was assigned to teach about a youth entrepreneurship. They had to endure with me because I was teaching while seated with my right leg stretched on another chair. I taught on the 17th and brother Peter Angata from Buswale church of Christ taught on the 18th of January 2013. Each youth was awarded with a certificate of attendance. There were also some Bible lessons. A youth was first given a certificate and his or her congregation was given a live chicken to rear. There was also an award to the best behaved youth on both sides of female and male and each was also awarded with a certificate and his congregation was given a chicken. These chicken were to help the youth of that congregation to start an enterprise so that at the next seminar they will have some income to enable them to contribute for the seminar. The congregation which brought more youth, their youth were given a chicken also. It was a good time meeting these young boys and girls studying the word of God together. Buswale Church of Christ will be hosting next years youth seminar. May our Lord bless you all as you strife to serve Him. 

Yours
Francis, Margaret and Paul Wechesa