Remember the Poor

Christ’s call is to feed the hungry, not the full; to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers and artistic musical performances,  but to raise living churches of souls among the destitute, to capture men from the devil’s clutches and snatch them from the very jaws of hell, to enlist and train them for Jesus, and make them into an Almighty Army of God.

But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion, where neither Church nor State, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, clothes, silver croziers or gold watch-chain crosses, church steeples or richly embroidered altar-cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches… ~C.T. Studd

C.T. Studd was a wealthy English athlete who emphasized a life of faith and who gave away his entire inheritance, a good portion of it to George Muller’s orphan-care ministry! He started his mission work in China, and a wife and two kids later he moved to India to continue reaching the unreached. Finally, nearing retirement, he settled in Africa.  His church did not support his decision. They said he was risking too much, and told him to wait (for someone else/younger to go?). This is a portion of the letter he wrote the church:

Too long we have been waiting on one another to begin. The time for waiting has passed. The hour of God has struck. War is declared. In God’s holy name let us arise and build. The God of heaven will fight for us.  We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of  Christ, and the gates and minions of Hell shall not prevail against us.  Should men such as us fear?

Before the whole world, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God. We will venture our all for Him. We will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only in our God than live trusting in man, and when we come to our position we realize the battle is already won and the end of the glorious campaign is in sight because we will have the real holiness of God. Not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts, we will have a masculine holiness. One of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.

~C.T. Studd

David Platt shared these quotes from C.T. Studd’s biography, a biography that’s suddenly at the top of our to-read list!   To have your socks knocked off and watch the whole message by David Platt, click on the image below.  Select the 9/27/09 “Faith Risks” video.

Below is a letter just received by Nkumba Ministries from the local council leaders in Katakwi, a district in Teso.

Below is a letter just received by Nkumba Ministries from the local council leaders in Katakwi, a district in Teso.

The best-spent 157 seconds of your day.

shared by John Mugabi

Gold Mine #2!!

Today has yet been a day of good news!

We are getting 80 acres instead of 45!!!  To us this is so great, and we are so happy to expand our ministry. The new land is fertile and has matooke trees and fruit trees. Yes there is a distance of 7kms from the first 40 acres, but I and the kids will walk it and work it. I have today gone through a short cut right from Goldmine 1 to Goldmine 2.  The farm is now 120 ACRES!!!

This is a miracle. Today in Uganda land is so expensive, be it in the village or town. We are going to produce food for many, many children, and I hope that a children’s home will be built here.

I am personally so happy, and I can’t express my happiness and gratitude.  I can say that you are heros!!!  Very many children are going to stop eating from garbage dumpsters.  They are going to see a future ahead of them.  They will come for food, but also meet Jesus.  So please pray for us that we shall serve God through providing food to the helpless kids of Uganda.

I am so happy, we are so happy, everyone at Nkumba is so happy.
Thank you so much.
Brother John

shared by Cara Murray

I love it here.

As I write, I am watching my dear friend Juliet cook by candlelight – only in Uganda. The power is out again, but it isn’t stopping us.  We’re listening to great music, cooking and having a wonderful time.  I love it here.

From the minute I arrived, it was so clear that this is exactly where I want to be. After 3 flights, 6 airplane meals and a full 24 hours of traveling, I was greeted at the airport by Gift, Roger, Brian and Sarah – the children I love so much. I am convinced I experienced a bit of heaven right then and there.

In the few days I have been here I have taught the kids how to play Baci ball with rocks (this was fun for about 10 minutes until rocks were flying everywhere), been told by a friend that I have gained weight since June (that was awesome–by the way ladies, this is a compliment in Uganda!), taught the children how to blow kisses, and on any given day held over 20 children in my arms – and loved every minute.

Read the rest of Cara’s post at her blog…

Let’s make this number ZERO.  We’re drilling wells for clean water.  Want to help?

Shared by Cara Murray

If you ask Pastor John what the kids at Nkumba Ministries have to drink, he will tell you that they drink porridge.  Porridge is their 10 am snack since most of the students do not get breakfast.  But porridge, though served in a cup, is not a liquid drink and certainly not a substitute for water.  Boiling water for more than 1200 children is an impossible task (given the facilities), and the truth of the matter is that the kids and staff at Nkumba Ministries typically go the entire day without drinking any water.

When we learned that the kids and staff at Nkumba go all day without water, we began talking about this need with Nkumba leadership.

As we researched the signs of dehydration we noticed a startling resemblance between the signs of dehydration and signs of malaria.  As you can see from the chart below they have incredible similarities.

I  (Cara) went to Uganda this past June to visit Pastor John and Nkumba Ministries and on my first day in Uganda, a staff member and I took 3 kids to the clinic to be treated for malaria.  Because malaria is so frequently contracted and because of the additional expense of performing blood tests, people are not tested for it.  Malaria is the assumed malady–not just at Nkumba, but throughout the country.

Even after taking the malaria medication for 3 days, the kids still weren’t feeling better.  I can’t help but wonder if those kids actually had malaria or if they were just in desperate need of water.

Before I left to move to Nkumba (earlier this month), I shared the need with my friends and family, and enough money was donated to drill the first well!  The water will be clean and safe to drink straight from the well and will provide water to over 1500 students and staff daily.

The reason I say the “first” well, is because we are hoping this will be one of many drilled throughout Africa.  As you may recall from the famine-relief trip to Teso, the Nkumba leadership saw the desperate need for clean water.  Each well costs between $6,000 and $8,500, depending on depth.

Additionally, we’ve learned there is a significant need at Pastor John’s home.  This is the home where, at any given time, 10 to 20 orphans live, along with his wife Esther and four children.  Because they do not have a water tank, and because the city water is unreliable and can be off for days at a time, they run out of water–drinking and otherwise.  Not a good situation! To provide the water tank and necessary piping will cost $3,000.

Christmas is just around the corner and as you start thinking about what to buy for your family and friends, I ask that you consider giving CLEAN WATER as a gift to somebody this year.  I would imagine that most people would love to be told that in lieu of a gift, a donation had been made in their name to help provide fresh drinking water for children in Uganda.

One billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one in six of us. A child dies every 15 seconds because of the lack of clean water. Clean water supply can help prevent deadly diseases like diarrhea, cholera and typhoid.*  I can’t think of a better gift!

*CharityWater.org and Water.cc

As John said, it’s multiplication time!  There are now 8 new baby goats at the gold mine (farmland).   It seems quite fitting that Moses Babu’s goat was the first to deliver.

In rural Ethiopia, parents are forced to kill some of their children due to tribal superstitions.  Drawn from Water is rescuing and providing a home for these children.  Read More…

shared by Mark Lubega

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1

Hi Friends!

Greetings to you all and hope all is well.

My heart is filled with warmth and uttermost joy whenever I think about what God has used you to do in my life.   An eternity wouldn’t be enough for me to express my appreciation.

Just like someone wrote, “I would maintain that THANKS are the highest form of thought and that GRATITUDE is happiness doubled by wonder.”

This saying can’t be truer than I have already experienced with what you have and are still doing in my life.  The gratitude that is flowing in my heart often breaks into happiness and wonder; wondering whether I ever deserved what you have done for me.

Mark, standing on his land in Uganda

The love that you have shown me, so undeserving is unbelievable. Just like rain can straighten a flower stem, so can an act of love change a life forever.

My life has been changed, and at the same time challenged by what you have done. It is one thing having friends and another having friends who are caring.

I thank God because you have been both to me; challenging me by your level of spirituality, generosity and humility. There is no doubt you are people after Gods heart.

Mark standing next to his partially completed home!

I am happy that one day my children will have a place they will call home. God has been so good to me, and through his blessings this is how far we’ve reached.

I thank God for the kind of trust in our friendship; trust that allows us to share the best and worst in our lives with laughter. I really thank you from the depth of my heart.

May God richly bless you all.

Mark of Uganda

(Mark has already selected the names for his children.  Josiah and Katrina.  We’re hoping his wife, whom he hasn’t met yet, will be in agreement!)

Here’s more of the good news that came in this week!  The house is awaiting roofing ($6,500), and this past week an unexpected gift of $2,000 was received for the roofing. Once the roof is on the house, the bricks will be much more protected from the rain, which can actually dissolve the bricks, destroying the home.

shared by Mark Lubega

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1

Hi Friends!

Greetings to you all and hope all is well.

My heart is filled with warmth and uttermost joy whenever I think about what God has used you to do in my life.   An eternity wouldn’t be enough for me to express my appreciation.

Just like someone wrote, “I would maintain that THANKS are the highest form of thought and that GRATITUDE is happiness doubled by wonder.”

This saying can’t be truer than I have already experienced with what you have and are still doing in my life.  The gratitude that is flowing in my heart often breaks into happiness and wonder; wondering whether I ever deserved what you have done for me.

Mark, standing on his land in Uganda

The love that you have shown me, so undeserving is unbelievable. Just like rain can straighten a flower stem, so can an act of love change a life forever.

My life has been changed, and at the same time challenged by what you have done. It is one thing having friends and another having friends who are caring.

I thank God because you have been both to me; challenging me by your level of spirituality, generosity and humility. There is no doubt you are people after Gods heart.

Mark standing next to his partially completed home!

I am happy that one day my children will have a place they will call home. God has been so good to me, and through his blessings this is how far we’ve reached.

I thank God for the kind of trust in our friendship; trust that allows us to share the best and worst in our lives with laughter. I really thank you from the depth of my heart.

May God richly bless you all.

Mark of Uganda

(Mark has already selected the names for his children.  Josiah and Katrina.  We’re hoping his wife, whom he hasn’t met yet, will be in agreement!)

Here’s more of the good news that came in this week!  The house is awaiting roofing ($6,500), and this past week an unexpected gift of $2,000 was received for the roofing. Once the roof is on the house, the bricks will be much more protected from the rain, which can actually dissolve the bricks, destroying the home.

I am vacillating somewhere between speechless and writing a small novella. Unfortunately for you, it might turn out to be the latter :).

It’s only Tuesday, and this week has already held enough surprises that we can call it a week right now.  But, I love surprises, and if we keep going at this rate, we’ll have the farm done this week.  So on second thought, let’s not close the door on this week just yet!

Looking back to December of last year, realizing the need for sustainable food production, we were just beginning to talk about starting a farm.  John had written an e-mail suggesting we take a look at 20 acres.

Soon 20 acres were purchased, then 30, then 40.  This week, another 45 acres were added, so the farm now sits at 85 acres!!!!  This is such an astounding blessing.  And not only is it additional acreage where future food will be grown, but the new land already comes complete with “a big banana plantation, which will be a source of food for the children.  Bananas are expensive to buy here, and to be realistic, I do not remember when I last bought them for the children.” (John Mugabi)

Jotham, affectionately called Peanut by Cara, is the sweetest kid, always laughing and smiling

The SWAP-IT project was started June 15th of this year.  The goal is to substantially expand the farm so that 1200 children (and soon 2000) can receive a complete, nutritious AND delicious diet!  The global food crisis has sent food prices soaring in Uganda so that their diet consists mainly of beans, maize (posho or porridge), matooke and sometimes cabbage.  If you haven’t yet taken the rice & beans challenge for a week, let me encourage you to take this opportunity to do that for a week.  You can hear from those who did it earlier this year.  I personally found it to be both a thought-changing and lifestyle-changing experience.

I wonder what amazing things could happen if we all adjusted our grocery and eating-out budgets.  What if we swapped out some of our expensive food for less expensive?  Our meals out for meals in? How many children could we feed and feed well?  If we are not wanting to eat rice and beans for a week, are we loving our neighbor when we allow them to eat that for a year?

A friend of ours shared with us what she heard at church this past weekend.  An African orphan-turned-speaker/advocate shared his experience of growing up on the streets of northern Uganda,  fearful, lonely and hungry.  The service was then closed out by another leader who said (rightly), “If we have food everyday, we’re incredibly wealthy.”

Just food on the table, and we’re rich.

Which is more messed up–that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don’t think we’re rich? That on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves “broke” or “poor”? We are neither of those things.  We are rich. Filthy rich. Francis Chan ~ Crazy Love

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A swap-it update is long overdue!

Goal:       2,200,000 meals

Progress: 1,211,644 meals

On the swap-it list were another 20 acres of farm land, irrigation & water for the animals, a tractor, a small used car to get to the land, 1400 avocado, mango, fig and citrus trees, chickens & goats, a hen house and goat stables, and one BIG kitchen!

As of today? Farmland. Check. (God has supplied abundantly beyond what we could have asked or imagined less than a year ago!) Goat/Hen house. Check. Car. Check.  Water for the animals. Check.

Looking forward, a little less than 50% of the farming projects remain to be completed.  So, we press on!

Yes, there are more surprises, and we’ll share those in a couple of upcoming posts. Stay tuned!!