NEWSLETTER

mission africa

February 2006 Prayer Letter

Friends: Greetings in the Man Jesus through whom we are forgiven of our many trespasses! February marks our second year in Africa and the one and a half year mark in our new home country of Uganda. Please continue to pray for peace and stability in Uganda as national elections are scheduled for February 23. We are glad to share with you this month about the December Christmas Outreaches and a January evangelistic excursion to Western Uganda to the Batwa (Pygmy) people.  

Spurgeon says of preaching which is essential for conversion and whose words we do well to heed as many about us today reject preaching, “If I was saved by a simple gospel, then I am bound to preach that same simple gospel till I die, so that others may be saved by it. When I cease to preach salvation by faith in Jesus, put me into a lunatic asylum, for you may be sure that my mind is gone.” By His grace we were enabled to preach to about 2,000 children in 5 different Christmas Outreaches. Pictured above is the largest Outreach in Kamwokya Slum where we served about 800 children. We were scheduled to serve 500 with the gospel, an evangelistic service, a dinner and with Christmas presents but as usually happens more children came and we managed to serve them the gospel and food. 500 of these children received a Christmas present consisting of a notebook, coloring pages, pens, pencils, candy and a gospel tract. We also distributed a 100kg bale of clothing and about 130 New Testaments. Many parents and onlookers gathered about the Friends of Christ Church building and heard God’s truth and about His care for the children. A treat of a soda was enjoyed by some but we were a bit hampered in serving the kids as they became unruly and pressed on us grabbing food  and clothing. Picture sharks in a feeding frenzy, though the chaos wasn’t total– fortunately it was partially restrained!! We learned a valuable lesson in this that we’ll need to acquire many more workers and plan a better way of sharing the food and items that we give in the future.

Pictured below is the Christmas Outreach in Zirobwe Village in Luwero District where we served over 250 children. They are holding their presents– and though these gifts might be meager by Western standards they were gratefully and happily received by the Ugandan children. For most of the kids this was the only Christmas present they received. In Zirobwe we enjoyed a meal and distributed New Testaments. Events like this are a rare and wonderful blessing for the people, kids and adults alike. We heard many times that everyone would long remember the wonderful time that we all enjoyed in the Outreaches. Adults in Zirobwe professed faith in Christ and many said that our expressions of love showed them the reality of the gospel and of Christ’s love and mercy. Our second Outreach was in Nakawa Slum where we planned to serve 250 kids but of course many more came. We met there in an auditorium and as in all the Outreaches enjoyed sports and activities outside. Football, dodge-ball and tug of war brought about laughter and lots of fun! Singing was a part of all our Outreaches. Here, too, Christians mentioned that this care for the kids was a powerful witness to all about the Savior’s love. In Nakawa the kids also mobbed us but we persevered (trying relentlessly to maintain order) in serving food, literature and clothing At one point the kids tore down most of the Christmas decorations!. Christian volunteers from local churches were perplexed and frazzled, as we were, as the kids reacted to the food and gift items in this unseemly way and mentioned to us that these slum kids are “stubborn” meaning that they are very undisciplined—enough said!!!. Everyone said at the end of the Outreaches that even though the kids were madly pilfering, the events were a wonderful blessing to everyone!!! Lessons learned for next time!!! Our last Outreach in Nsambya was the most pleasant and the children were very well behaved. We worked there with a Children’s Ministry that works with the kids extensively and these volunteers maintained very good order. A children’s choir blessed us all there. We thank the Lord that all heard Christ’s Good News preached and demonstrated. And, hey, it was fun, in a way, wrestling with hundreds of children! Jim got knocked down once!!  But the Lord is good!!!! Pray  that God will further bless His preaching to all, kids and adults alike!! Thanks so much to all of you who prayed and gave towards these efforts. We have joy remembering the precious opportunity He gave us during these truly wonderful times!! On Page Two is a picture of kids at the Nsambya Outreach enjoying their meal. Thank you for your generous gifts towards these Outreaches that enabled us to evangelize, serve and feed these 2,000 children.

In early January, Jim, Andrew Dreger and Christopher Byamugisha, a student of Jim’s at All Nations Bible College traveled to Western Uganda to the Congo/Rwanda/Uganda border to minister to the Pygmies there, the Batwa peoples. Christopher is from that area and led us to 3 groups of  Batwa. 

The Batwa are like Gypsies, an outcast people known by the locals to be drunkards, lazy, and beggars. We ministered to a group in the town (See picture below) and we learned today that 10-15 of these people are now regularly attending a Baptist church in Kisoro  Town. We had lots of freedom and assistance from the Holy Spirit in preaching and teaching! We traveled on scooters far into the mountains and 1 group that we served began a church that is holding regular services for about 25-30 people. God is good! A second group very near the Congo border is also meeting regularly now; they number about 32 at this time. We left Bibles for the groups in their languages. All in all the ministry venture was a wonderful blessing!! Christopher hopes to visit these new friends in about 2 weeks—please pray for their salvation and for their welfare. The Batwa are very, very poor. In fact the squalor in their living areas is the worse that we’ve seen in Africa. The Batwa formerly worshipped their idol-god Bingirwamana; he was a killer god that they feared and they sacrificed goats and cattle to appease him and stop his destructions. One group of Batwa, the Nyakarembe Group (which means peace) began building a local structure for their meetings. They are led by Emmanuel, a young man who can read the Bible. Christopher plans to minister to these people extensively when he graduates from Bible College in 1 year. The country is truly magnificent. High mountains, including Mt. Muabura which is truly Gorilla Mountain as Silver Backed Gorillas live there, are terraced by the farmers who grow many crops at the high altitude. We saw two large lakes near Kisoro Town where fish are taken.   

              Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

KAPPY’S KORNER —BUGS IN THE BEANS 

I stand at the kitchen sink again doing what I never had to do in The States—sorting beans. Even a bag of dried beans marked “well sorted” from a large local supermarket has small black insects crawling in it, burrowing and making homes with entrances and no exits. It’s just part of life here and I’ve grown to expect it. I smile as I remember a friend’s grandmother sharing with a group of women on a church retreat that the punishment she dreaded the most as a child was sorting beans. I can see how difficult it would be for an energetic little girl to sit endlessly looking for telltale black spots under all of those thin skins. A child may not be able to appreciate the value of this task, but I’m learning that standing at the sink scrutinizing each bean is far better than an unexpected crunch in the middle of a flavorful bite of chili. It’s life in a fallen world, as Jim says. So this is what we do until we get to Glory and see our King face to face. Now we glorify God and then enjoy Him forever. 

While we’re on the subject of insects, an opportunity presented itself on Christmas morning and I ate five fried grasshoppers. They were great. I kid you not! If it were not so, I would have stopped with just one (like the Mopani worm I ate in Botswana). You may ask, why would I eat grasshoppers and a caterpillar? I don’t really have an answer for that, but the Lord instructs us not to call unclean what He has declared clean. And, well,  John the Baptist made locusts a major part of his diet. The missionary life is certainly a life of adventure. Now, if you will excuse me, it’s time to start thinking about dinner. 

God bless you all and keep you in the palm of His almighty hand.  

Glad to preach His gospel,

 Jim and Kappy                                                                                                                    

E-mail Address:  jkrobin@actionintl.org
Website: www.actionuganda.net

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