The team is doing well, the kids are great, and projects going as planned. This place is in need of rain, badly. The well is producing just enough for our needs and we thank God for that. The kids start school next week and we are enjoying having them with us.
here are some photos of the kids, projects, and…..
Four of us, Jon, Emily, Rick, and myself are in route to the Stream of Hope Home in Byasi, Uganda. This is Jon’s 3rd trip and first for his daughter Emily as well as for Rick. The team will be together for two weeks then all return except I will stay an additional two weeks. Between us we have nearly 700 pounds of stuff to bless the kids with and complete our projects. We will arrive there Saturday afternoon.
We are bringing over 1000′ of heavy wire, 4 electrical boxes, security lights for outside, lights for inside of the new girls dorm, a fan for the kitchen, a folding aluminum ladder, plumbing valves for water collection, tools, books and toys for the kids, a laptop and 20 solar powered audio Bibles for the Teso ministry, and a keyboard for the church at SOH. We have a lot planned and look forward to being with the kids and staff.
Pastor Paul’s prayer request is for rain. It has not done so in months, even though it is the time for rain. The well there I see not functioning because of the drought.
Emily, Jon, Rick, Bob, and 700 pounds of luggage
It has been an emotional week at Stream of Hope Home. Diana leaving us has been the hardest. She was just 15 and a sister to these kids. We had a beautiful celebration for her with the community and God was praised. She was buried at her Grandfathers home about 1/2 km from the orphanage. The celebration involved about 400 people, guest speakers, butchered cow and tons of food. Interesting is that the custom is for people to stay with the family so the night before and after saw over 100 people sleeping all over the grounds with a big bonfire. We will miss her but the kids and I look forward to seeing Diana again.
Diana, 15
Our sister Ngobi Diana was cured of her long term Sickle Cell illness and is with Jesus. she has been in pain and in and out of the hospital for years. She would have passed years ago without Pastor Paul and the loving care she got at Stream of Hope. Never the less this is hard for us. I am so grateful for God’s perfect timing to allow me to spend a few days with Diana and then with the rest of the kids during this time. I met Diana 3 1/2 years ago and her illness, grace, and warmth bonded our hearts to these kids. The community and family showed up 400 strong to Diana’s celebration. It helped the kids. Please pray for all of them.
this is the last photo I have with Diana…2nd from left. I will always remember her with a smile.
Tomorrow, 26 May, Casey and I will begin Trip 17 which will ultimately include 12 people and transpire over 2 months. We have a diverse team including teachers, college students, an eye Doctor, and us regulars. The youngest is 16, several are first timers to mission trips, and some will incorporate the results of their work in their Graduate thesis.
We will be working at the Stream of Hope Home in Uganda, the Lord’s Servants Home and Academy in Kenya , and visiting a Pastors Training College working in the border region with the Teso people.
One of our projects will be installing a water tank that will allow treated drinking water to be available to the community around the SOH home. This was funded by fund raising efforts from Ms. Spencer’s awesome 4th grade class at Patriots Elementary School who have been studying about water crisis’ in the world.
We will also be installing additional solar panels at SOH, building a playground at the LSA School, several smaller projects, meetings to chart the future for the orphanages and school, lots of child educational programs, social efforts with the kids involving art therapy discipline, lots of community support activities following up on previous trips, and equipping church planters in the Teso region with audio Bibles in their language and solar powered video equipment to show the Jesus Film, courtesy of Campus Crusade for Christ.
We thank you in advance for your prayers for God’s guidance, wisdom, and provisional safety and for our families that are back home.
Look for my frequent (hopefully) blog updates.
Mission Servants Ministry 
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