Back in the Saddle

Klint Ostermann • January 22, 2020

We arrived safely back in Uganda after a great trip to the States! We so loved getting to see many of our family and friends while we were back, but we really missed Uganda. This is our home now, but Texas will never not be our home. When we leave Uganda to go back to Texas, we say “we are going home”. When we leave Texas to go back to Uganda, we say “we are going back home”. It is weird having two homes and having your heart in two places.

We arrived in Jinja on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend unpacking, catching up with friends and going to our church, Jinja Town Church. Monday morning, I (Klint) went back to work and spent the day meeting with the managers of our various projects the entire day. On Tuesday, I went to the farm and remembered how out of shape I got from not working and eating all the amazing food while we were back in Texas! We are preparing our gardens for planting once the rainy season begins in 4 or 5 weeks from now. It was so good to get back into our normal routines and to catch up with everyone! We missed our Ugandan and expat friends so much while we were away, but we already miss our family and friends we left behind in Texas!

Our managers did such a great job running our ministry while we were away. We are lucky to have technology that allows us to keep in communication with them while we are out. However, they really didn’t need that much from me. This is great news because our eventual goal is to be able to turn the ministry over to our Ugandan staff to run on their own with us providing advice and mentoring. We desire a ministry for Ugandans to be run by Ugandans, and we are making good progress toward that end!

Paytyn and Olivia started back at school on Monday. Morgan was able to get into the missionary kids school at Good Shepherd’s Fold (GSF) and starts there today! This was SUCH good news as the online school was a real struggle for her learning style. We realized that she needed to be in a classroom setting with a teacher and are blessed that she was able to get into a slot that became available! This is especially good news for Vicki as she was tied down to helping Morgan with school the entire day. This is a huge answer to prayers!

We are still dealing with sickness in our family. While we were home, Morgan, Olivia and I had the flu. Vicki had some kind of coughing virus. Morgan had malaria early in our trip. She was just diagnosed with strep that she must’ve picked up in the airport. Paytyn showed signs of strep this morning, so she is on medication as well. We are so ready to have all of our family healthy! We could use prayers for that!

My major goal for this year is to continue to work toward our ministry being run by Ugandan staff, by empowering our managers to run the ministry on a day to day basis. My role will evolve to providing mentoring to the managers and to develop reporting systems. This will be a huge step toward our ministry being sustainable without our involvement down the road. Please be in prayer that we will make progress towards this goal!

The post Back in the Saddle appeared first on Heart For Uganda.

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April 2025 Newsletter

By Klint Ostermann • April 21, 2025

West Africa MIssion

By Klint Ostermann • April 21, 2025

Kingdom Work in West Africa

Healings and Salvations

By Klint Ostermann • April 16, 2025

Last week, during our West Africa In-Field Mentoring in Senegal, we witnessed God’s transformative power in remarkable ways. I’m excited to share this story with you. In-Field Mentoring involves coaching mentees as they deliver sessions for community training. As mentors, we guide them beforehand, evaluate their presentations, determine if they earn credit for the session, and provide constructive feedback for improvement. Occasionally, a mentee struggles, requiring us to step in to ensure the audience receives accurate information. This happened on the second day during a session titled “Consider Your Ways, for You Are the Temple of God.” This powerful session often leads to repentance and salvation, but the mentee struggled to convey its message. I stepped in to lead the session, and as I spoke, I felt the Holy Spirit moving in the room. In Senegal, where 97% of the population is Muslim, sharing the Gospel openly can be met with resistance, and attendees have left trainings after such presentations. Yet, I felt led to share the Gospel boldly. Praise God, six men raised their hands to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior! We guided them through a prayer of repentance and connected them with a local pastor for discipleship. During the break, a Muslim woman from a closed Northwest African country approached me. She had traveled to Senegal specifically for this training and shared that the Gospel message I presented needed to reach her homeland, where such teachings are unheard. She revealed that for years, she had suffered from a debilitating nerve condition in her leg, impairing her ability to walk. She had been praying for healing for years, yet she found no relief—until the first day of our training, when God miraculously healed her! Overwhelmed, she felt something stir in her heart during the Gospel presentation but didn’t fully understand what was happening in her. She even said she wanted to become a Farming God’s Way trainer. Her country is deeply hostile to Christianity. Apostasy can carry a death sentence, though no known cases of this has occurred in recent years. Converts face severe risks, including family rejection, loss of livelihood, or exile. Extremist groups further endanger those who leave Islam. We provided her with a Bible and connected her with missionaries working in her country. Through Farming God’s Way, someone from a closed nation, who might never have heard the Gospel, encountered God’s love. Additionally, two Peace Corps workers from Hawaii and California attended the training. Afterward, they approached our team with questions about Jesus. Missionaries shared the Gospel with them and gave them Bibles. God is moving mightily through Farming God’s Way, drawing people to Him in unexpected and beautiful ways. Thank you for supporting this work that is transforming lives!