George's Story

March, 2012

George and 10 members of the Texas team  

I met George when our team from Early, Texas came in March.  They brought 28 people and 10 of them were going to southwestern Uganda to work with George.  He spent the night with us and we heard how he came to be in ministry.

His story:

A pastor came to their village from the Congo and witnessed to his people there.  George and others became Christians.  That pastor left  but when he got back home he called a friend of his, a missionary in Rwanda, and asked if he could  go and teach those people.

Sometime later that missionary from Rwanda showed up.  He only spent two days with them but he taught them and he planted a vision.  He pulled George aside to a banana plantation and he told him that this land would one day belong to them.  He also told George that he would be their pastor.  (George didn’t even know what a pastor was.)  The missionary left and never returned.

George didn’t know what a pastor does, but he led the others to study the Bible and to do what it said.  They started calling themselves Baptist, not because the missionary had used that term, but because they had seen it written on the car that he drove.  They didn’t know what Baptists were or what they do but they began to call themselves by that name.

They kept studying the Bible and working hard to save money to buy the land because he had told them that they should.    Eventually they did just that.

(We didn't have enough time to go all through the years so I don’t know all the connections from the beginning to now.) I do know that George eventually went to Jinja to our Baptist seminary there and earned a certificate.  Later, he was able to go to the States and get a degree from Southeastern Seminary and is sometimes asked to come and teach in Jinja.

They now have churches in his area and they have started 6 or 7 schools.

What struck me about the story was how God worked in it all.  No muzungus (foreigners). No muzungu money.  No one telling them how it had to be done.  Just the Bible and the Holy Spirit leading them step by step.    Today, George is connected.  There are teams that go there from time to time to help out in the work, just as the Texas team did.

What this story tells me is that God is sovereign.  He has chosen to work in and through those who are willing to be used.  But He doesn’t need us.  He could do it without us if He chose.  I am just thankful that I get to be here and be a part of His plan.  

Week of Sewing Machines

Feb 21, 2012

 A few months ago, Tammy Rainwater and I braved downtown Kampala traffic to go and purchase 3 sewing machines.   Some churches in Arkansas had supplied us with the money and the task to help some needy women here become self sufficient.

The first machine was given to Lucy from one of Lynn’s Bible studies.  She has been joyfully making hand bags ever since.  

The other two were set aside for the time being.  The school we located in Entebbe was the perfect fit.  A tailoring class was offered to Moms of students.  When we visited they had at least two women to each machine.  But the class was coming to an end and summer (Christmas) vacation starting.  So we decided to wait until the next term.  

This week was the beginning of the new class.  We gave them the new machines and told them we wanted to bless them as God had blessed us.

First day of a new class.

Cabinets for the new machines

Putting the machines into the cabinets

Notice -  These are NEW  old-time treadle machines.  Work without electricity

They are reading the "wordless" directions.  Not as easy as it might seem.

Scene we saw as we left the school.

 Two days later I went back to the downtown store to buy three more machines.  This time one was for myself.  I was accompanied by two ladies, Catherine and Ephransi, who would be the recipients of the other two machines.

Machines were in stock but not in the store -- in the warehouse. So we waited patiently. 

Even with the men there, it was the women who unloaded the equipment

 The cabinets arrived -- unassembled -- so the technician accompanied us to their homes.  

Add caption

 There is little room to work inside the home so the technician laid out all the parts and started to work.  

Rain made him move to the narrow ledge.

 Almost immediately it began to rain.  The ladies moved some of the materials inside . . . 

 . . . while the technician continued working outside under a big tree. 

Technician with our driver Soloman

Soon the first one was completed.  I was very glad the technician had come with us.  He knew what he was doing -- we would have had to guess.  Both of these ladies will now have a way to be self-sustaining - rent, food, supplies.

I bought a machine for myself  - a new old-style treadle Singer.  Perfect for Uganda where electricity is never a “given”.    

I hope to start making clothes for little ones.  Lynn met a lady this week who had a 3-day old baby.  No clothes, and no way to buy any.  The person she was staying with had just died and there was no other place for her to go.  This is not an unusual case so I want to make some baby things to have ready for the next one.

My first project is to get some patterns from home.  Here everyone that sews, tailors.  They are taught to sew without patterns.  (I think this is much better but I can’t do it). Some friends are bringing me patterns in March.   I hope to soon be treadling away making some cute clothes.