Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Merry Christmas everyone.

It is the end of the year, which means celebrations and feasting and time with the family.

We are doing well! Agnes is getting a lot of rest because she is getting ready to give birth any day/week now (we have been told to expect anything after the 5th of Jan, but the official due date is the 17th)

She gets very tired and uncomfortable, and can be in a lot of pain, so please pray for her.

We also went for our visa interview a few weeks back, which went very well. The Australian man who interviewed us said at the end of it all that we had passed the 'genuine relationship' test, and he couldn't see any issue with Aggie getting a partner visa to Australia.
We thank God for a safe journey to Kampala and a good interview (even though Aggie felt very nervous and thought she did badly ... she actually did fine though)

We also had our annual YSU Christmas dinner here, where we invite many friends of YSU to come and share a meal and a celebration and we look back on the year.

It is always a positive experience looking at all the people who we have touched over the year! Many of the people who come started in our programs and now they are looking after themselves. Even though they have finished, they still come and join us, but instead of participants in our classes, they now come as friends!

We looked back on many of the things that had been achieved over the year. This included.

* A group of tailoring girls who have graduated, and many young women now taking care of themselves through work and small business initiatives.
* A passionate group of young guys who always come for bible studies.
* A talented group of youth who practice and perform hip hop dancing.
* Running two Empower Trauma rehabilitation programs to bring healing to young peoples lives.
* A new Boda Boda donated to us, to help us with out work.
* A new chicken farming structure at the YSU block with 600 chickens now being reared.
* The development of the block of land, including the building of a fence, store room, toilets, chicken houses, solar power, water tanks, two new guards and our new guard dog Spurgeon.
* A weekly fellowship every Wednesday with many people coming to worship.
* Two new babies on the way to join the team early 2016.

Of course there has been hardships this year as well, tensions with people, sicknesses and even deaths of people we love.
But through it all God has been good and continues to work.

Our Christmas day celebration was a nice time with the family as well. Agnes, her sisters, her brother and myself all went to church in the morning and then ate a massive meal of chicken and rice!
We were all very full afterwards and all ended up falling asleep.
We also shared presents with everyone. Agnes' sisters were very excited to get a present (as the were not expecting it)
A simple Christmas gift here can mean so much to someone who has never had the experience of Christmas presents before.

The day before Christmas our youth also ran an outreach. A couple of the young guys had it on their heart to help someone in need. They had found a woman through a friend at a local church, who lived in a nearby village but was doing it tough.
She lived in a very small mud house up on a hill in a remote part of a village.
One thing that she really needed was a toilet. She had no where to go, and so her and her children had to make do with small bushes around the place.
Our young guys really felt like they wanted to build a drop toilet for this woman.
So YSU contributed the money for the materials, and the youth donated their own labor. A few days were spent digging at 15 ft hole, and then a big group of us came to build this woman a drop toilet.
Afterwards the young people all prayed for the woman and her family. A few of the youth had spent a few days there, sharing about the love of Christ to this woman and her neighbors.
And many people around the village were so impressed to see young people giving up their time to go and labor in the sun, for free.
It was a great testimony.
These are the sort of things I love getting behind. Youth initiated outreaches, where local Ugandan youth are the ones helping to build and reach out to others in their own community.

Please pray for us as we expect our new baby soon! We appreciate all of your love and support.
Another thing we request, is if there is anyone who is interested in sponsoring a young woman for the next tailoring class that we hope to get started in February to get in contact with HopeBuilders. It would be great to get people who would commit to sponsoring one of these girls for one year.
It is a $50 a month donation for the course of a year. This pays for teaches wages and all materials and resources to run the class. The young women learn a bunch of valuable skills during this time, including tailoring, business skills, English and Maths.
The young women also get mentored and discipled, and go through various programs including trauma rehabilitation and healing.
At the end of it all they have a bunch of new skills, a tailoring machine and a new outlook on life!
If you are interested please feel free to contact HopeBuilders on info@hopebuilders.org.au
or to my personal email on ooeeluke@hotmail.com

Thank you and God bless you.

Schoolies visit and visa interview.

Just a quick update here!

School holidays have just arrived which means 'Busy Busy Busy!'
We have holiday programs, dancing groups, fellowships, Christmas time, chickens, young people popping in all the time, not to mention hopebuilders teams!

It has been good though, it means time goes fast and January and the baby will be here before we know it!

We had the Schoolies Revolution team come and visit us the other day which was great! I shared about some of the vision for YSU, and the team came and prayed for us on the block of land. They also prayed for Agnes and I in the coming weeks with the birth of our baby, which we appreciated from them.

Then the team were treated to lots of dancing performances from our young men and women.
Our tailoring girls shared about what they do, as well as offered some of their products for sale.
Then we had our boys dancing group perform a dance for the Schoolies.

My good friend Solomon also shared a message about following Christ at all costs, and how in the end we never really make a sacrifice because of what Christ has offered us in Eternal life.

Solomon also shared some of his personal testimony which I wrote about here:
http://lukev-uganda.blogspot.ug/2015/07/how-much-would-you-give-up.html

Afterwards all of the schoolies got up and tried some of their own dance moves, much to the amusement and excitement of the Ugandan youth.

The Ugandan youth also got to pray for the schoolies and bless them as well.
Usually we have always done it the other way around ... where the teams come and give a message and pray for the Ugandans and come to bless them!
But I have had a bit of change of thought on how things can be done, mainly because of a great book I have read called 'When helping hurts'.
Instead of having the foreigners always come and do everything to bless the locals, this book suggested flipping that on it's head.
So even though the Ugandan youth had no performance, no prayers or no message given to them to bless them, I believe they felt more empowered by being the ones who had something to offer to the 'Muzungus'.

When I had explained to the Ugandan youth I'd like to do it this way, they were so excited .... it made them feel very valuable!

Agnes and I will also be travelling to Kampala on Monday afternoon so we can go for an interview early Tuesday morning.
The interview is in regards to Agnes' partner visa to Australia. We have no idea what the interview will include, but we appreciate your prayers ... especially because right now it is a difficult time for Agnes to travel with her very large stomach, and her feeling rather sick the last few weeks (although the large stomach is the best proof we can provide of a "ongoing relationship")

We pray it goes smoothly and that this will help in granting Agnes access to be able to live in Australia when ever we please.

We thank everyone again for their love and support.

You can check out our young guys dancing for the Schoolies here:

https://vimeo.com/147750348

Quick update for November

Sorry for the delay in blogs.
I know I used to write a blog every two weeks. But it feels like I have only been managing one once a month.
So my apologies, it can take quite an effort sometimes to think of something exciting and insightful to say.

We are a little bit quiet at the moment, but we are anticipating the busy season of the Christmas holidays.
Not only will we have lots of youth looking for things to do, but two new babies will be joining our household, as well as all our new chickens that have just come in.

We have started our next lot of broiler chickens this month. Two days ago we picked up 600 little chickies.
The first week (especially first 4 days) are very important, as the chickens are so sensitive. They need constant warmth, and so a charcoal pot needs to be kept burning, as well as topping up their food and water.
They also need to be checked every hour, because at such a young age it is easy for them to be crushed when they huddle together.
But this means you have to check them all the time, not just during the day, but also at night.

Farouk and I are taking shifts sleeping down at the property in our tents. Farouk has done the last two nights, and the next two nights will be my turn.
I actually look forward to sleeping under the stars and having my own camp fire. Of course it is very safe because we have a night guard who also is at the property protecting the place.

Our youth are also excited for the schoolies to come! We have a dancing group which is looking forward to performing for the schoolies revolution team, as well as sharing their own messages for them.

They also look forward to doing their own outreach these school holidays, which has been initiated by the group themselves.

We have also started a prayer and fellowship evening, every Wednesday at YSU. We really felt that we were lacking in communal prayer at YSU, and felt the need to commit to weekly prayer for each other, Uganda and the ministry.

We started with a few people on the first day and it has grown since. We have made it open to all people connected with us, and it has been interesting to see how many people are attracted to coming and simply singing together and praying for each other.

It is all a part of bigger journey of mine, to rediscover prayer, and how important it is.
It is so easy to run on your own steam, and want to serve the King without asking for the Kings strength.

Even in ministry work, it is very easy to fall into a pattern where you actually don't feel like you are living out in faith day to day.
Often we stress that we should serve harder, do more for the kingdom, sacrifice more, give more, and all of those things are true. But often the place to start is on bended knee, humbling yourself and asking for help. If you skip that process ... you will burn out.

I know I have been close to burn out here before, or at least have recognized I could be on the trajectory towards burn out.
And so constant prayer and leaning in towards God is the most vital thing. Not serving harder, and sacrificing harder .... those things will be a natural over flow of resting in God's strength. But first come seeking the presence and rest of God.

Our weekly fellowships.

Agnes is also doing well! Although she gets very uncomfortable at night, and struggles to sleep because of the large belly in her way.

We are also very thankful for the contributions people put towards for us to be able to purchase a Boda Boda. This Boda Boda has been very helpful, especially with our chicken project.

Farouk and I also completed two adventures in the last month! Since we know that the next few months won't really give us time off to do such things.

We went for a camp in the African bush, and we also walked from Kampala to Jinja in 2 days (100 km)
You can watch both little videos here:

https://vimeo.com/144285549

https://vimeo.com/145478847

Otherwise I want to thank everyone again for all the support and prayer that they give to Agnes and myself here in Uganda.

We love you all very much.

God bless.

Quick update!

Hello everyone!
I am sorry about the long time between blogs! Things have been a bit quiet here, since we have finished the tailoring class, and Agnes has been having lots of rest.

I thought I would give a quick update to let everyone know what has been happening.

Lots of our time has been put into this chicken project and right now we are selling all our chickens!
Due to some mistakes on our behalf (in regards to feeding amounts and feeding schedules), and some advice from others that hasn't been the greatest, we look like we will just break even with this first lot of chickens!
But it has all been a valuable experience! We have learnt a lot and can now adjust what needs to be done for the second lot of chickens!
We are confident with the experience we have gained and look forward to yielding better results with the next lot of 300 chickens that we will get in November.
Agnes brother has also come on board, and wants to volunteer with us to give us some good tips, as he has been involved in rearing chickens for a long time as well.

There has been a lot of work over the last 7 weeks, but everything we have learnt has been so valuable.
People have actually been surprised that we managed to keep so many of the chickens alive and healthy, many people lose so many chickens on their first try.
So although I was a little disappointing at the lack of profit we made from the first lot of chickens, we are looking at the positives. That is the nature of starting micro businesses!
You get experience and you learn and learn until you get something that works just right!

Andrew was recently here for two weeks as well! It was great to have him here! And I always enjoy his pastoral support.
His presence is always so helpful, to be encouraged, supported and guided. He often does so much here in Uganda, and can be a silent workhorse, getting lots and lots done! But Agnes and I really appreciate all his hard work to support the work that goes on Uganda.

One thing he did while here was buy YSU a boda boda. This boda boda is going to be so helpful in running the chicken project.
Running to the block of land, as well as picking up things like maize bran and chicken feeds, has often taken up a lot of transport money (because we have to hire boda boda drivers)
Now with our own boda boda we can save costs on transport, and do everything ourselves.
We want to thank everyone in Australia who supported us and contributed towards the boda boda.

I continue to run my Friday night devo's with my group of boys, and I have encouraged them to start thinking of some of their own lead outreach ideas for the holidays!
We have come together studying the word for that last few months, but since (as James said) faith without deeds is dead, and the fact that you can be an expert in the bible but still not follow Jesus, we want to encourage each other to use our gifts and skills to reach others.
So these boys are coming up with ideas on how they can use their skills to reach others, whether it be hospital patients, street kids or the poor.
That fact that it will be their own initiatives, instead of me telling them what to do, is also encouraging. I will just give them advice and support where I can.

Right now we are still interviewing girls for the next tailoring class, which should be starting in February.
If anyone is interested in supporting girls through a one year tailoring course! Please feel free to contact hopebuilders on info@hopebuilders.org.au
This course has been very valuable in helping these girls. And the stories have been encouraging, seeing young girls getting work in the Jinja main market, or starting up their own businesses.

Otherwise we are doing well health wise! We just have two very tired pregnant women in our house who need a lot of rest (which is one of the reasons we will start the next tailoring course in Feb .. after delivery)

Again we thank you for all your support and prayers! Your support always means so much to us here in Uganda.

Safari, graduation and chickens

It has been a long time since I last wrote a blog, due to being very busy and not finding (or putting aside) the time to sit down and write one.
So I apologise for the delay, today has been the first time in a few weeks where I have not had anything on.

Recently my sister Carlee has come over to Uganda after traveling around Europe and America. Carlee is visiting Aggie and I, while also using her skills and knowledge in childhood development to teach some classes to a range of people. This is a real need, as most people here don’t have any kind of access to learning about the inner workings of the development of a child, and we have many single young mothers who are struggling and frustrated with their children that are interested in learning more about what makes a child tick.

It has been great to have Carlee over, Aggie and I have enjoyed the conversations and time spent with her, and she is settling in well (even being courageous enough to ride on public transport)

The first week that she arrived, we actually went on a safari. This was a bit of a birthday present from Carlee and my Mum for Agnes’ 30^th last April.

It was great to have a bit of a break and enjoy a safari up in the northern parts of Uganda. What a beautiful country it really is, and so different from the south.
The north is your typical African savannah and dry bush, and we enjoyed a safari drive and a tinny ride up the river Nile, seeing lions, elephants, hippos, crocs, giraffes and more.

It is really wild country up there, and living in a highly populated area in wairaka it was really interesting to see parts of Uganda that is just land and bush with not many houses or people living on the land at all.

The first night on Safari was pretty interesting and funny, as we were sleeping in a big tent near the river Nile, and hippos where walking around our tent at night.
I was kind of freaking out, and both Carlee and I were laughing in the morning because we both had a sleepless night. When we did manage to find sleep, we both ended up having dreams of hippos barging into our tent …. Only to wake up realizing it is a dream … only then to realize that we were still actually in a tent in the African bush with hippos walking around our tents haha.

Aggie didn’t hear anything, and as usual, slept through it all (which is probably a good thing)

It was a great experience (although a long drive) and some other highlights included trekking on foot through the bush to get up close and personal with a rhino (to which the guide told us that if it charges we should climb a tree .. and which a pregnant Agnes didn’t seem too thrilled about)

We also saw a chimpanzee on the side of the road while driving through a forest, which is actually pretty rare to come across.

Another highlight from the last month was having our graduation for our tailoring girls. They have now finished their one year course, and have been sent off with their machines (which they have payed off about half of) to start their own small businesses. 

The graduation was filled with dancing, speeches, words of encouragement and a big feast.
This was a special occasion for many of our girls, as they have never gone through anything like it, and they were all thrilled to receive their certificates.

Agnes and I were even given some chickens as gifts of appreciation!

We have already been encouraged by some of the opportunities the girls are pursuing. With a few girls going to work for clothing stores, some wanting to work in the main town market, or some starting up their own small businesses from their homes.

We were both sad and happy to say goodbye to our young girl Eseza, who has been living with us for a full year while doing her course.

When she came into the course, she was a very shy, dejected looking young woman who could not look you in the eye. She left being a young woman with a lot of confidence (and sometimes a bit of cheek)

One of our other tailoring girls escorted her back to her home village, and she reported that the whole village came out to welcome Eseza when she returned to them.
Apparently a crowd of people had come running to greet her and hold their own ceremony for her when she returned. Many of the villagers where running around with joy, exclaiming how no one from their village had ever graduated from a course.
Someone who left the village as a nobody there, has now returned as the only person from the village to graduate from a course.
The village also has no tailoring services nearby, so she already has been getting requests from all the villagers.

Stories like this make us very happy to hear, and we only pray that we have given them the strength and confidence to know that they are valued by God. That as a woman they are valuable and not someone to be walked over! We pray that this encouragement will help them have a bit of strength in not allowing people (particularly men) to walk all over them.

Have a look at the difference in Eseza after one year.

Before

After

It has been a great time to invest in these girls, not just in teaching them new skills, but also investing in them spiritually, trying to show them and tell them about the love of Christ.

We thank all of you who contributed and sponsored these young women in helping them get through this course.

We hope to start up another tailoring course in the next few months, as they are such a great way to reach the community.

Another big project we have started up, is our chicken project.

Farouk and I picked up 300 small chicks two weeks ago, and they have been a lot of work!
They eat so much, and you need to be checking on them and changing water every four to six hours. This includes at night time as well.
So this means Farouk has been leaving the property at midnight, while I usually do the morning shift at around six or seven.
We have also camped out down at the property as well when our night guard went away to his village (just to make sure they were ok .. as they are worth a lot of money)

This chicken project will hopefully bring in an income for YSU, and my goal is to get it running to a point where we can pay the salaries of our workers with the profit.
At the moment we just have 300 chicks which are being raised for meat (sorry to all you vegans and vegetarians) but we also plan to house egg laying chickens in the future as well.

We also want to use this chicken project as a way to train up some young men, give them employment and new skills in chicken farming.

Farouk has been great in running and managing this, as well as doing his research, as this is his area that he loves (agriculture and animal rearing)

Otherwise we are well. Agnes is starting to feel the pregnancy now, with her big tummy and sore back!

We have also just applied online for a partner visa for Agnes. It took me five and a half hours on the immigration website to complete! But finally we have the application in.
Now we just have to wait nine to twelve months to see if she is accepted!
Please pray for us, as it costs a lot of money and it would be terrible if she was not accepted.

Lastly, I continue working with a group of boys from the community. I feel like I have my own little fellowship group of boys who are at my house constantly.
I continue to be amazed at their faith and their stories. Most of them have suffered some form of persecution from coming to Christ, as most of them have come from different religious backgrounds.
Some have been completely cut off from their family. One young boy and his mother came to Christ, only to have his whole father’s side of the family, who are Muslims, cut them off. That means no support for shelter, education or even food. 

Total rejection for changing their faith

Yet still they are unwavering in their faith! Even on their free time these school holidays, they decided to spend the time visiting local hospitals to pray and encourage the sick.

I have felt the need to do what I can for these young guys when it comes to their education. Especially because some have been cut off from their families after coming to Christ, I believe that they now belong to the family of Christ, and we need to treat them as fellow brothers and sisters in the faith.

So arranging some small labour work here and there, or contributing a little bit of money is the best I can do to try and push them through school. Usually if they pay a 50k UGS (about $20 AUD) to the school, it can keep them there for about a month before they get chased away again and told to find the remaining money. So each month we try and work out something to try and ‘push them though’ for a few more weeks.

The good thing is all the boys are hard workers, and do whatever they can to top up the money. I appreciate their efforts to contribute to their schooling as much as they can (including hard labour) and not just relying on others to sponsor them.

It can be hard because I don’t really have the money to get them through school. But again, we do what we can do for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted.

I want to thank everyone again for all their support and prayers over the last few months. Agnes and I want to say that we love you all very much.