Wow, a whirlwind trip. 4 marriage workshops, 4 leadership conferences, one-on-ones with each staff member, graduation for 70 of our students, visiting 4 teaching locations and 1 vocational site, preaching at 3 different churches, drove around 1200 miles, 8 flights, stayed in 6 different places.
Started day 2 with our graduation in Kindubuli
Got to preach three sermons : "Why pray", "You are the Ark", and "Righteousness"
4 Leadership conferences : Kijura, Kyenjojo, Ntungamo, and Burundi
4 marriage workshops where we get to host the group to a nice buffet meal in a nice place. Most of these pastors and their wives don't get to eat at nice paces and be spoiled by the wait staff...so fun to be able to do this.
My work place for the day as I do One-on-ones with all the staff followed by breaking bread, then a staff meeting. That's always a nice time
Visited with the Vocational training on Carpentry and building trades.
Loving my trip to Burundi. Having a coke with my host family. Such great people.
Just hanging out with friends and breaking bread is always one to the highlights and joy of every trip.
Hanging out with our Boy Jesse, and Pastor John (Our national Director)
Leadership Workshop for 14 Local Pastors along with breaking bread at the buffet
.
I was asked to preach at our computer teachers Church (Power of God ministries) in the village.
Hanging out at our Ft Portal school with staff and some hard working students
Preaching an evening service of a good friend
Kasese conference " Iron sharpens Iron" with a great group of local Pastors and a few of our staff from the area
My grandson Ryder saved his money and asked if I could bless a Ugandan family with the gift of a bicycle.
Was blessed to have a graveside prayer and testimony with the sons of our good friends that both passed away since we were in Uganda last.
Sweet young kids from the school of a good friend that I got to visit and encourage.
Starting off on the wrong foot...my vehicle was booted downtown Kampala
Kasese Teachers speaking to the class
My Loyal Hard working staff
Iron sharpens Iron Conference with a fun group local pastors
Giving a bike to a needy Pastor, and we gave chickens to some single moms who needed some encouragement
another graduation under our belts. Such a blessed day of Celebration..
Preaching at a good friends Church
Through some great donors we were able to bless 2 village pastors with bicycles to help their families
2 day Marriage workshop with pastors and their wives was a blessed time.
We supplied a room for the night at this amazing place to the couples.
breaking bread from the buffet offered to our group during the workshop
Kim speaking at the graduation
Some of the graduates praising God
Teaching our staff about leadership
With our staff at an even in Kasese
Our Gran-daughter Layla saved up her money and we bought a care package for this needy family. A single mom just getting by. This Box was full of essential food stuff : Rice, maize flour, tea, salt, sugar, bread etc...
What a great trip, we ministered to needy families,
gave a bike donated from a donor to e needy pastor,
Did a marriage workshop with a great group of Pastors
and their wives, got to hang out with our boy and
break bread with good friends.
a great Pastor with the need of transportation was helped by a nice donor of HHIM
A needy single mom was blessed with a care package that our grand daughter saved up to buy for someone in Uganda.
A group of Pastors and their wives from a marriage workshop
lunch with our good friend Carol Adams
Jesse (our Ugandan son) and Kimberly for a 1st selfy
January 2014 was a whirl wind tour. Kimberly and I were in constant motion as we did 2 marriage conferences, preached at 2 church services, graduated 35 students from our school, numerous meetings, and spending time with our staff.
Left to right: Pastor John Baguma (our Director) Pastor Jerrod, and the big Mzungu (me).
These pictures were taken at our good friend Pastor Jerrod's church in Kasese. This was a New Years service. In Uganda its traditional for Christians to go to church on new years day to celebrate the coming new year and give thanks for the previous year. I was blessed to teach "the rock sermon". Its using a small stone to be a memorial, or to remind us of what God has done for us, what he's doing through us, or what he has promised to still do in us.
We really got to know our staff better after spending time in meetings, shopping for office supplies and in prayer. Our new teacher Ruth is young but talented and really good with the students.
cooling the system African style.
At the end of the service people bring fruit and vegetables, and they auction them off to contribute to the offering. Here she was auctioning off some banana's.
Above pictures were at the Church of one of our graduating students near Kyenjojo. We preached a sermon on "the valley of the dry bones" and and really encouraged the people to get back to walking closer to God.
Spending some time in Prayer before the marriage conference
Kimberly doing what she does best....encouraging the wives in their marriage...
Some of our students performing a drama
Student (Pastor Grace) helping with a drama
Member of Uganda's national Parliment handing our diplomas and shaking every graduates hand.
So many happy graduates, teachers, and Kimberly and I.
This graduation ceremony was so fun, entertaining and encouraging. We graduated 15 students from our English courses, and 17 from our computer literacy class. Its so amazing to see what God has chose to do through HHIM and how he grows this ministry at every turn.
We got to spend some quality time with our boy Jesse. Oh my we can't believe how he has grown (mentally, physically, and spiritually) since we first met him in 2004 as a little boy scared to death to be seeing his first white people...
Wow, this trip went so fast. We were a team of four and doing many events and programs. We started our first morning preaching and singing at a start-up Church in Kampala to encourage the body there.
We quickly headed across the country and the next morning were at a graduation of 8 of our students from our program who have learned English and have begun computer literacy classes.
We had two speakers from the local government. The District Education Secretary on the right in this photo and a Local Govt Councilor seen above giving the certificates
For us to see so many of our students gathered into such a small space was very humbling and gratifying. We all had a wonderful time encouraging, teaching and helping the students with computer literacy using the new laptops and projector we brought for the PRC. This panorama shot below gives you an idea of the small space we are using.
Then that they would choose to honor us with a plaque to thank us for our heart and our efforts was amazing. These students are understanding the importance of earning an education and we can see on their faces the confidence they are getting from the knowledge they have.
I opened the Youth Rally that we titled "Lets get ready" . We spoke for 4 or five hours to around 1000 young people about covenant relationship, dating, courting, abstinence, how to find the right mate, how to prepare for marriage and the baggage that comes into a relationship because of our past and family.
Below pictures are our guest singer "Samalie Matovu" (one of the most popular singers in Uganda), Pastor Doug Calhoun (Calvary Chapel Ft Portal), Kimberly McCleskey(co-founder of HHIM), Issac Wootton (Leader of School of Ministry), Pastor John Baguma (our director) and Godwin (a student at the School of ministry) who were all part of the rally
Below are some pictures of the 4 different Churches we visited over the weeks we were there teaching, singing and even did a baby dedication
What a great adventure this trip was. My first time in the DRC,
I got to give away a bunch of donated study bibles to some great
men of God, Counseling, teaching, preaching, fellow-shipping
with students, pastors, and great friends. What a great time.
There is never a shortage of beauty all around while traveling in Uganda
Its no wonder that Winston Churchill called Uganda "The Pearl of Africa"
Isn't this one of the most beautiful places that you could imagine?
Doesn't this look like a Pastor is in great need of a new Bible to teach and preach?
Thanks to our wonderful donors Rick & Lyla we were able to give this needy Pastor an awesome Study Bible for him to teach, and preach from.... PTL
Another great day of ministering at Church of the Cross Uganda
Here at the PRC (Pastors Resource Center) with our new teacher Scovia (also a University Lecturer) and Pastor John Baguma
Here I am with the class on our new teachers first day. I wasn't scratching my head in disbelief. I was actually in awe of how wonderful a teacher God brought to HHIM
Marriage counseling with a local Pastor and his wife...One of the challenges God put before me on this trip. I was able to speak into the lives of 5 different couples to try help help God save their marriages. So far so good.PTL
Here I am a little sceptical about the way we are crossing into the DRC
Man power at work. Five African guys pulled our vehicle across the Semliki river...wowwww
Here I am sitting and talking with King Albert in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Pastor John and I at the marriage conference at the Host Church in the Congo
The village drunk was even welcomed to the conference........... I feel like a GIANT looking at these pictures
A wonderful time at the marriage conference in Kitumba we had to use two translators at times to reach everyone
A really fun day preaching in Kijura we had fellowship and praised and worshiped for hours
WE MOVED : our PRC (Pastor resource center) our new location is awesome. We are right across the street from a University and get lots of walk in traffic to see what we are doing. Its fun to sit in there and experience the traffic.
We've added some great tools to help teach and equip Pastors. A printer/scanner/ copy machine. a binding machine to make books for our English teacher or for Pastors needing a bound book, a blackboard, some flash drives to allow moving files, pics, or documents to the Internet, a power strip for electricity to allow 4 or 5 Pastors to charge their cell phones (a constant challenge for the pastors who have no electricity in their Church or homes) at a time.
Here are some of the many Pastors who visit the center on a regular basis. They pop in and out to talk, read, charge phones,, or even use the space for meetings with people in town..
Through a great donor we were able to buy a nice 21 speed bike for Pastor John Baguma allowing him to move freely up and down the hills around Ft Portal to minister to his Church.
This was me (David) speaking during a 7 hour marriage conference at a place with the highest rate of witchcraft and black magic in all of Uganda. We had 15 Pastors and wives show up and had some great spirited debates on family planning, homosexuality and lots of things that are troubling the people there. God really moved in amazing ways...............
Here, I was singing "Emmanuel" at a Church with the same name.....
Preaching a sermon on "Righteousness"...I got a lot out of studying for this sermon. I hope a little leaked out to the congregation....They were very responsive and I preached for a little over an hour...........wewwwww..
This was another busy trip with much to do and moving quickly to get it all done. We visited 7 schools including one nursery school. We handed out 960 writing tablets to each school along with soccer balls, flashcards, globes, jump ropes, jacks, pencils, and pens. We visited a prison of 238 inmates where 39* of them made a decision to follow Christ. I spoke at the Makerere University to a group of around 3000 students about abstinence and the courting process. We did a two day marriage conference for pastors and their wives where we gave rings to all those who didn't have one. We also gave them literature about the love languages and gave everyone a pen, a day planner, a writing tablet, and other helpful literature to continue the work we helped begin. We helped with the ordination service of my good friend pastor John Baguma and the following Sunday helped with a dedication service for 12 young children and babies. We did many home visits, and I preached 3 Sundays as well as sharing some music with the churches we visited.
This was Katie, one of our team teaching Sunday School at Church of the Cross Uganda in Kidibuli.
Here I was with Pastor John, wife jackie, and the LC3 (local Council member) from the district.
This is team member Joan Ferguson teaching an adult Sunday school class at COTC Uganda.
Here we were at the PRC (Pastors Resource Center) looking over the many books we have shipped.
David dedicating one of the baby's at the dedcation service in Kidibuli.
David and pastor John at the equator.
Couple a pics from the prison where 39 lives where changed as they prayed to follow Christ........
I started this trip visiting my "Jesse's" (a boy we have supported since 2003) school. Its University Hills Primary School In Mukono. I spoke to every class and tried to encourage them to not be lazy in school like I was.
Here is Jesse with his Aunt Enid who is the
Head Mistress of the school and a drear friend
Here is one of the beautiful children in the first I.D.P.(internally displaced people) camps I visited. The people there are feeling so hopeless.
One of the boys I met was 14 (here in the pink shirt) and the head of his household due to the death of both of his parents. I asked what his dream would be in a perfect world that could be a miracle and he didn't even know how to respond. He has not been able to see dreams come true and had no idea what that even looks like.
Here is a 16 year old girl with a 3 week old baby. The baby was named problems because she was born in a time of trouble for the girl who had no living parents and felt hopeless. After praying and talking with the girl, she asked me to give the baby a Christian name. The baby's new name is "FAITH"...and we pray that she will live a life of hope and faith through her new name.
Here is another child mom. She is 17 and her baby is 15 months. She lives with her baby's grandmother and without an income, or a way to sustain herself. As I looked into her eyes I grew sad to see the lack of hope, and ability to dream of better times and the desire to make life better for her child. Most of these Child moms didn't show me their babies with pride, they were ashamed and sad.....I told them that all babies are a precious gift from God and loved equally in His eyes.
