Support Uganda Missions!

Hey everyone! We are in full swing raising funds for our return trip to Uganda which is just a short 6 months away. Right now we are buckling down trying to raise the portion of our funds which is the largest and most daunting: the plane tickets. Right now the cheapest we can find are about $1,700 per person. Which means for Jonathan and I a total of $2,400 needs to be raised in just the next few weeks. There is no possible way for us to do this ourselves. But thankfully we serve a God who is greater than that. He works in wonderful ways to provide for us. We do our part by doing as much as we can to raise the funds, which is where things like this blogpost comes in: we need your help too. There is a convenient button on the left side of his page that takes you to a PayPal page where you can enter in the amount of your choosing and help out. 100% of that money goes straight to the trip costs. Other ways you can help out is by buying one of the things we are selling for the trip. My Mom, who is going on the trip, is selling homemade scarves, I'm selling my artwork at Wake Forest Coffee Company, and we are all selling "Pray for Uganda" support bracelets (also at WFCC). Anything you can do will help out tremendously! We all thank you for your continued support!

Support Uganda Mission Trip 2014

 Hello friends and family!
I hope all of your holiday seasons were fantastic and that the start of your new year has begun well. The Stout family has begun the process of raising funding for this summer's mission trip to Uganda. We are returning to the same area we were at last summer to continue the teaching and work that we began. We are excited to be able to have this opportunity and look forward to building the relationships we have with our brothers and sisters in Busia.
This summer our desire is to be able to do three things:
1. Hold a Bible conference to teach the church members and teachers about the person and attributes of God.
2. To continue evangelism within the community and continue the relationships begun there.
3. To assist and fund the continuation of the building of Buteba Baptist Church's building.
Jonathan and I have approximately $4,000 to raise total. We need a good portion of this at the beginning of the process in order to pay for the plane tickets. I have created a Paypal link to donate to the trip to try to make the process easier for our friends and family. You are welcome to enter in whatever amount you desire to donate. Please just click the button at the side of the page and help us out in our ministry.
Thank you all for your continued support in both finances and in prayer.
Much love,
The Stouts 

Back to Africa!

We are going back to Africa! 

As soon as we returned from Uganda this past summer we began preparations for the next trip. We considered many options and looked at going many different routes. But it was decided we would do basically the same thing we did last year, except bigger and better planned. At this point in the preparations we have taken applications and volunteers and we have between 25-30 individuals praying and thinking about going. We hope that with a higher number of people and a broad range of talents we will be able to continue working in Busia and bless the church and community even more than this past summer. Our goal is to be able to spend a few days doing "hut to hut" evangelism in the village, a few days of teaching doctrines and a book of the Bible in men's and women's groups, at the same time have teams to minister to the kids in the school, and also work on a construction project for the church. 

Here are a few ways you can pray:

1. For the team to be solidified within the next month or so.

2. For the fund raising process for the whole team. 

3. For the planning and preparing process.

4. For the hearts of the people we will encounter.

5. For Buteba Baptist Church and her daughter churches as they minister right now to their members and community.

 

Our Weary Travels Home

Monday we went to the market to do some souvenir shopping. You can't go to a foreign country and not o to the market for souvenirs! So we did! We ran in and out of outdoor shanties where the merchants had set up shop. We got to exercise our bartering skills. Timmy was particularly good at this. Jonathan kept saying his thoughts out loud to me. Paul was just watching, cause he had no clue! We ended up with a lot of nice African things. Some for ourselves, some for others. Mom and I both bought African dresses: 

Dad, Jonathan, and Timmy got African shirts:

Paul got a T-shirt with the map of Uganda on it, sadly I don't have a photo of that. Once we finished our shopping we had lunch, bought some Ugandan and Kenyan coffee, then started off for Entebbe. Jonathan flew out that night because he had to be home sooner for work. We went to the hotel and saw he off (on the hotel transit), then we relaxed the rest of the evening. The next day we spent at the hotel or on the Lake. 

I know, we were suffering! Maybe not. We didn't really have much of anything to do, except catch up from being offline for a week. We went to the airport early and just hung out looking at overpriced shops. Finally our plane took off at midnight. The flight was relatively uneventful. I got two seats to myself which meant I could lay across both of them and sleep. The second flight, mom sat beside me and we watched movies together. We arrived in DC at 3pm on Wednesday and my mother-in-law and niece were there to drive us home. Which was fun! I got to sit in the back seat and hang out with my little niece, Ava! 

We made it back to Skippers, where Mom and Dad live and slept the night away. Sadly every day since I haven't been able to sleep in. I've woke up between 5-6 AM every morning till this morning, I woke up at 7 instead. Jet lag. Anyway, there are worse things. We already miss Uganda, especially our new friends in Busia. We are already working on plans for returning next year. Our hope is to build a team who can do two things: one, teach another Bible conference; two, put a roof on the church. They have been building this new church building since 2002, one brink at a time. They take up offering every week in two baskets, one for the regular offering, the other for the building project. We hope that next year we can "top off" their work by giving them a roof. 

Pray about, and think about whether or not you can help in one way or another, next year. Either by supporting, or by coming. I will hopefully be able to post specific ways to help soon. 

Blessings in Christ. 

Weekend in Busia

We spent our last weekend in Busia with the church rather than traveling back to Kampala with Pastor Michael. On Saturday we basically hung out with the Compassion Internaltional sponsor kids. We worshipped with them that morning in the church where they packed close to 300 children in that tiny room. Then we taught them Bible stories during their morning lessons.

In the afternoon we played games with them, the boys played footbal (soccer), basketball, and volleyball with them.

 Then we watched as the kids were given their new school uniforms for the year. That was such a treat! All the kids lined up and waited patiently for probably one of two new outfits they would be given all year long, the other being at Christmas.

A lot of the kids were wearing TOMS shoes. They are an organization where you are able to buy a pair of shoes for yourself and by doing that you pay for not only your shoes but also the production, shipping, and distribution of a pair of shoes to a child who lives in a impoverished area of the world.

This was also the day of Timmy's nose bleed. He had been suffering all week of a head cold due to the dry area and dust. So after days of congestion his nose had just about had it. Right after he had been spontaneously asked to do the morning devotions (five minutes before it started), his nose began to bleed. He stepped outside and everyone thought that the nose bleed was due to the Holy Spirit. We explained that was not the case, he had just had a cold all week they then thought he had malaria and needed to be quarantined. We then had to convince them he did not have malaria and we were taking preventive medication for that, it was just a head cold. Finally they believed us and someone went to get him tissues. 

Mom also had a funny experience that day. Shortly after we got there she saw a small group of kids near the school buildings and decided it would be nice to go hand out crosses. Little did she know, kids jump out of bushes (or wherever they hide) when there is the prospect of treats. She was rushed as soon as they realized what was going on. After a few minutes Sylver and Irene came to her rescue and lined them all up hoping that would eliminate possible mugging. Sadly she did not have enough crosses for all the kids who showed up. Maybe next time. 

Sunday was the church service. All nine churches meet at Buteba and Dad preached. They then had a gift appreciation "ceremony." The women of the churches gave mom and me beautiful cloths and handmade purses. The men presented Dad, Jonathan, Paul, and Timmy with plaques made from seeds and beans. Then they gave us gifts of produce. This included corn, avocados, eggs, and most interestingly: three chickens. Then they handed mom one of the chickens, this was the result: 

Give a city girl a chicken... Oh, it was funny. Unfortunately we couldn't keep any of the produce so we gave it to our driver, Michael. After the service we drove back to Kampala. Our intention was to do some sightseeing on the way, we were going to go on a tour of the source of the Nile in Jinja. Unfortunately we had a flat tire which took two hours to repair. But we were able to stop by the Baptist Seminary of Uganda which is in Jinja. We met one of the teacher/administrators there, Vernon Sivage. He invited us in, took us for a tour, then feed us and gave us water before we had to continue on. We arrived in Kampala late that night and went straight to bed, for we were exhausted! 

Friday: Follow up or Evangelism?

Friday was our follow up day. Our goal was to go to the houses of those who had accepted Christ on Monday and Tuesday and pray for them and encourage them to join us on Sunday for worship at Buteba. There was a slight hitch in our plan though. That was the day the government decided to hand out mosquito nets in town. Therefore many had left their homes and gone to town to receive the nets in order to lessen the malaria risk in their family. We walked for quite some time and passed many empty houses before we came to some where family members had remained behind to work while others had gone to town. The old man who had prayed on Monday was not there but some of his children/grandchildren were home. We presented the gospel to them and four oldest were saved.we continued down a little ways and came to a house where we had presented before but the old Catholic lady had discouraged them from believing. This time it was not just her daughter who was home but also her son-in-law. He sat and listened with his wife and this time they both confessed. At the very next house a brother and his sister heard the gospel and they too believed. We stopped at one home of a family where four had confessed on Tuesday. Only one of them was home but their son and daughter had returned home from school and we were given the opportunity to share with them. Jonathan presented the gospel and after a few clarification questions both confessed Christ. After praying with and encouraging them we continued on and came to the house of a Catholic lady. She was willing to hear us but after 30 minutes of conversation she persisted that she could be saved by her prayers to Mary and that by that Jesus would accept her. We prayed for her and went on our way. 

Just before we reached that house the men in our group decided to take us on a detour, up a high rocky hill. It was beautiful! You could see far off into the distance and on one side was Uganda and on the other was Kenya. You could look down and see the fields marked out and the huts on the edge of the land. You could see the medical center and the church and school. It was beautiful! Jonathan wanted to build us a house up there, I said the first requirement was that he build me a ski lift! 

In total there were about 13 more salvations, from our group and from the others. Dad had an encouraging visit with a lady they had spoken to on Monday. She had confessed Christ that day and when the group returned on Friday she had reported that she had spoken to her husband who is catholic and he had allowed her to choose for himself though he would not change himself. She asked for prayer for her habit of drinking which she desired to stop for she knew in her heart that what she did was wrong. This was a great encouragement that the people who we were speaking to were taking their confession seriously. 

Thursday: More Training

Thursday was the continuation of Wednesday's teaching. Dad continued in Ephesians through the beginning of chapter 6. We had discovered the day before that polygamy was a very prominent problem in the district. Unlike in the States, the laws for marriage are not as detailed. Many of the marriages are sanction by the community and the government considers that sufficient. So during the section of Ephesians 5 which deals with the relationship between an man and his wife, Dad stressed the need for godly men to follow Scripture and love their wife as Christ loves the church. He taught this along with the topics of "How should a Church Member live?" and "What is the role of the pastors?" 

After lunch we again spilt into our groups and mom and I taught the ladies and Dad and Jonathan taught the men. The men finished out Ephesians by looking at the armor of God and examining how the church should conduct herself when under persecution. I went a different direction and looked at what it meant to be a biblical woman. We looked first at the story of Eve and saw the reason why woman was created and how it was later distorted by sin. Then we looked at the stories of Sarah and Hannah and compared them to one another. The women related to these women very well for just as the women were in polygamist relationships so were they. They asked how they could live alongside their cowives and what kind of a relationship they should have with them. Many of them wanted to know if God could still use a second wife for his glory. They wanted to know how they could deal with the other women and how they could be witnesses to both them and their husband. Mom and I did the best we could with the help of Mrs Irene and answered those questions as gracefully and biblically as we knew how. This is a situation we do not see often in America nor is it a problem we had ever encountered. Many of the second ( third, etc) wives did not want to leave the man and were afraid of being put away because there was no way they could provide for their children. I read to them the story of when Sarah put out Hagar and Ishmael and how God provided for them in the desert. I told them that while it is a frightening thing to live without provision, God is faithful to provide for his worshippers. One of the things we told the women is that while they many not be able to escape these relationships themselves they can teach their children (especially their sons) to follow the biblical principle and by doing that they will save their children from their lifestyle. 

These are pictures of our group on Wednesday but on Thursday we had almost 70 women listening.