Bwana Asifiwe – Fall 2009
Our Dear and Precious Friends,
It is with such joy that we write you today. We want to say we thank the Lord for every one of you. You have been quite instrumental in our lives at very trying moments. You have prayed, written and encouraged us. You are so special in our lives and we thank the Lord who brought us together through the knowledge of His Word and the blood of His Son. You have made it possible for us to survive, to serve and to see God save only by his grace. There is no miracle that comes without an obstacle. We have seen so many of them which means we have gone through lots of challenges, but Christ through you has made it possible. However little you have given or devoted, has added so much value to our lives.
Ministry in Kenya & Tanzania – Though we were unable to run yet another Boot Camp in Kenya, we were able to serve the Lord in Tanzania. As well, we got some youth from Kenya, of which some have joined the Bible, Missionary & Work Training Center. We knew for sure that it would be quite costly to transport all the Boot Camp equipment to the new property at Hope Land in Embokoyi so we had the Boot Camp at the Pare Mountains and the Debrief was at Hope Land in Embokoyi. These teams returned with quite interesting testimonies. For the first time we sent a team to the mines of Mererani, home for Tanzania’s known tanzanite. This was quite an eye-opening team. I drove for almost 45 minutes on a 15 km pothole laden, dusty road to Mererani. Passing me were very posh expensive cars like Lexus, Range Rovers, and Land Cruisers with tinted windows that you could hardly tell how many or who was behind the wheels. They did not seem to care about the potholes or the dust. We finally reached Mererani and were greeted by all kinds of people. This is where I met a nice and loving Pastor. He seemed very protective of the team, but upon inquiring why, I was told some sad and very true stories about these very wealthy business men, dealing in the tanzanite business. I was told they have to seasonally sacrifice a child or sometimes an adult for the business to blossom. We were told how they believe that without the pouring of human blood upon this unique mountain, tanzanite would never be found.
Many children have dropped out of school and are moving up and down hoping that some day they will get rich in just one day. For the three weeks in Mererani the team was able to show the Jesus Film and other gospel films and indeed many accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The Albinos in Tanzania – One other sad story is about the lives of the Albinos. This is happening all over the country of Tanzania where Satan has blinded the eyes of so many ungodly people who are sacrificing Albinos. They believe that by sacrificing them and using their body parts in rituals, especially their skull,can bring great wealth. Some even believe this could be the cure for AIDS. Please pray for the nation of Tanzania. The government is trying so hard to protect them, but at the same time they do not want them to live an isolated life. One Masaai man came to me upon learning that Uganda is safe for Albinos; he asked me if I had any means of helping him protect his Albino gal from being hunted. He wanted me to take his 9-year-old gal to Uganda and educate her there, hoping that this would be a safe haven for her. At least 45 known Albinos have been killed since 2007 in murders linked to witchcraft. It is said that Albino body parts can fetch thousands of dollars in Tanzania.
Life, Work & Ministry in Uganda
So much has been happening in Uganda. Though the rains have not been steady enough to give us the usual seasons, God has blessed the work here. We, at the school, have had quite enough corn harvested from the gardens to feed from. However after the borders in Sudan opened, most farmers were hesitant to sell their crops in the local markets. They would rather sell to the businessmen who give them better prices, which has prompted our local markets to hike prices of their commodities, and has made the cost of living quite high.
For many years we have had Orphan Rescue Units, but of recent, the Lord was able to provide a school for them, which is Teen Missions Int’l Bunalwenyi Senior Secondary School. I spent quite some time together with Camille Hadlock helping out with the paperwork of relicensing it, since previously the facilitator hadn’t given the government right and accurate information concerning the school.
Apparently the school has improved a great deal with close to 600 students from the local community including TMI Orphan Rescue Units. The school has both former team members and leaders. Though centered in a Muslim community, the head teacher of the school is a former team member who accepted Christ at the Lord’s Boot Camp here in Uganda; we were to be on the same team.
The Bible, Missionary and Work Training Center – We have six semesters in two years at the Bible, Missionary & Work Training Center (BMW) and during this time I have been able to teach Analysis of the book of Acts, Personal Evangelism and Spiritual Life (learning how to develop and maintain your spiritual walk with the Lord). Our students come from all over Uganda with several from neighboring Kenya and Tanzania. Shortly before every summer holiday we commission and graduate them, and then they spread out to the different ministries where they feel God calling them. Most weekends the school gets involved in school ministries where they do outreach to the local communities.
The month of May brought joy.The 7th was both my birthday, Teen Missions birthday and the National Day of Prayer. Amani reached 2 years and on the 21st and 31st was the International Day of Prayer. We were among those that helped organize and mobilize the churches together for this occasion. It was so timely because this all happened when we were having the 39 days of prayer in the ministry of Teen Missions. For 39 days during the month of May, when Teen Missions began, there is 24 hours of prayer at every base in every country all around the world in the ministry of Teen Missions.
Since the birth of Amani we have not traveled to the States or led any North American teams. We have had two teams come over to Uganda and I have both been a missionary to them as well as their truck driver. These teams have accomplished so much. One of them helped build a portion of a staff house for Teen Missions while the other built a four-classroom block for TMI Bunalwenyi Hillside Secondary School.
Our family of five and one to come
We happened to both travel to Tanzania as a family this past Boot Camp. It was a wonderful privilege, quite a joy and a challenge as well. We traveled with both Roro and Amani along with my two nieces Karen and Vivian. Alex took time with the gals, and helped in rearranging literature along with Karen and Vivian. I did setup, taught classes and shopping to mention a few.
Though our Boot Camp was not full, the Lord provided just the right number of both leaders and team members who went back home so changed and were on fire to reach out for the Lord.
We returned to Jinja Uganda and I have, for most of the time, helped coordinate the BMW.
Alex is expecting and is due around December or the beginning of January. All our gals say they want a brother so they tell every visitor that comes by how Alex is going to have a baby boy. We have not yet done any scans to find out. We opted to home school Roro who just started Kindergarten, since we can’t afford the cost of fees and transportation to and from Jinja, where there’s a good nursery school. Jonell graduates next year and we have some debts to pay before her graduation, since we borrowed for her fees.
Please pray with us
Thank God for His loving kindness upon us and for giving us good health. Pray for continued good health, strength and wisdom in service with obedience.
• Pray with us that we shall all, as a family, have a dedication to study His Word with meditation and focus on Him unceasingly.
• Pray that God will give us direction on child raising, proper schooling and support for our children.
• Pray for our labor to the Lord in the ministry of Teen Missions to be faithful, diligent, excellent and to trust God’s provision for our needs.
• We are trusting God to provide us with a house of our own (Home) where we can be able to raise our gals and also have interaction with relatives and friends. Pray that God will provide.
• Pray for our marriage to remain a Bible based marriage and pleasing before God. We have moments, we have conflicts in ideas, wills and decisions. Pray that we continuously break before God and be unified in Him to give us wisdom in decision making.
• Pray for our partners in prayer and support
• Pray for our children: Jonell Gloria (21), Precious Roro (4), Amani Angel (2) to grow and be natured in the fear of God
We want to close here, but as well, ask of you to help keep us informed of what the Lord is doing in your life. And please keep up with your kindness in supporting us.
Our email addresses are [email protected] and [email protected]
We will be very glad to hear from you.
Every blessing to you all as we all remain in the palm of His hands.
Petah, Alex, Jonell Roro, Amani