Dear Supporters, Friends, and Family,
Since we have last written a lot has happened...
Raoul has completed many projects at Calvary Chapel Entebbe. He, with help, has completed a three room schoolhouse, transformed an empty sea container into a workshop and medical clinic, dug and finished a well on the church property. He has been blessed to teach a few of the Ignite classes and most recently taught the Ladies’ Bible Study on Melchizedek.
I am simply doing what homeschooling moms do. Get up, feed everyone, clean up breakfast, teach Math, Latin, German, Reading, Literature, History, Bible, Omnibus, Geography, Biology, Spelling, Handwriting, Algebra and Art are computer based, whew... lunch is in there somewhere. Cook dinner, clean up, wash kids that can’t wash themselves, brush teeth and so on.
Our big excitement was that our sea container from the States arrived in May. It was a labor like no other for Raoul. Many days he drove to Kampala to deal with import customs. The traffic to Kampala is already insane, and then to deal with red tape, it was exhausting for Raoul. BUT, I cannot tell you how blessed we are to have our things. Our clothes were pretty worn, but I was too cheap to buy things here when I knew I had boxes of clothes coming. We were able to donate five BIG boxes of clothing and five boxes of books to the church. (As we sort things out, more will go to the church.) Some books were for the pastor’s library and some for the Calvary Chapel Academy, which is grades Kindergarten to fifth grade. The container also brought many things for the church: a lawn mover, a tractor, a boat, Bibles, clothes, and solar panels. The panels will be a real help to the church because electricity is expensive and and intermittent. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to do your job and have the power go out, for any amount of time. The boat is also a key part of the island and farm ministry. Take a quick look at any map of Uganda and you will see that there is a lot of lakeshore and many, many islands. While there are lots of clinics in Entebbe, very few islands have permanent medical access. If you are sick, then you are just sick. Most people can’t afford to take the ferry to Entebbe for help. The farm is a continuing project. Pastor Deus has recently taken over management and had a few run in with the bees. They stung some chickens to death, but all the human workers ran faster than the bees could fly!
The next big excitement is that Raoul and I were robbed at gun point about two weeks ago, in our driveway no less! Truly, God kept us and our kids, who were in the house, safe. This is the short version. The thieves had been waiting for us outside of our gate. When we returned home about 9:30pm from grocery shopping, our guard opened the gate for the car, we pulled in and parked. The thieves bound our guard and covered his head. One of them shot the German Shepherd guard dog dead with a single shot. I had already opened my door, Raoul told me that that was a gun shot and to shut and lock the door, which I did. There was one gunman at each window. The older man demanded our money, which we gave him. He ordered Raoul out of the car, and wanted him to open the house, which Raoul refused to do. At some point the gunman hit Raoul in the jaw with the gun butt. I stayed in the locked car, one of the men threw a brick through my window. I wasn’t injured, just frightened. They told me to get out of the car, which I did. Raoul told me to go upstairs and get help. So I ran! The Ignite Interns were upstairs. I told them that we were being robbed, to call the police, call Pastor Craig, and to pray like crazy. At that point, God in His great mercy, had the robbers leave. The police never answered the phone. Pastor Craig came over right away and took Raoul to the police to report the robbery. The kids hadn’t seen anything, so thankfully, we don’t have to deal with any shock or stress. There were some tears about the German Shepherd, but nothing too bad. So now we are a professional guard 24/7, and an armed policeman at night. It was sad to have to bury the dog, and less than a week later we had to bury a kitten we had tried to recuse.
On a happier note, my mother-in-law visited for two weeks in May, and we had a great time. She brought lots of fun clothes and lots of German CHOCOLATE. My mother is visiting currently from the States and she has brought lots of BOOKS, which is a close second to chocolate at our house.
Prayer Requests:
We are currently looking for a new place to live.
Pastor Rob is coming in July, safe travel for him and William Paul.
Health for all of us. Being healthy here means you don’t have malaria, yellow fever, amoebas, worms, typhoid or rabies.
Blessings, Raoul, Ingrid, Eric, Francesca, Hannah, Nathan and Benji.
