Blog Posts – Heart For Uganda

Upcoming Trainings

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:13:59 GMT

Upcoming Farming God's Way Trainings in Uganda:

Click on training for more details:

January 2025 Vegetable Training

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:10:40 GMT

Join us for a 4-day vegetable training at The Hangout in Jinja!

Register at: https://forms.gle/7sHqGwUFcHxZNvBF8

October 2025 Newsletter

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 13:54:13 GMT

September 2025 Newsletter

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 13:52:26 GMT

May 2025 Newsletter

Thu, 22 May 2025 16:50:14 GMT

April 2025 Newsletter

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 07:47:40 GMT

West Africa MIssion

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 06:43:59 GMT

Kingdom Work in West Africa

With your generous support, we traveled to Senegal in April for the West Africa Farming God’s Way In-Field Mentoring program, where we witnessed God’s transformative power in incredible ways.

In-Field Mentoring focuses on coaching Farming God’s Way trainers as they lead community training sessions, to help them on their journey to become accredited trainers. Currently, West Africa has only one accredited trainer, compared to 17 in Uganda alone. The region desperately needs more trainers to address both physical hunger and spiritual needs through food production and the Gospel.

Twelve trainers seeking accreditation—from Senegal, Gambia, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, and Benin—participated, and we’re optimistic that several will achieve accreditation next year. Additionally, about 80 attendees, including people from surrounding villages, missionaries, Peace Corps volunteers, and others interested in Farming God’s Way, joined the training. The mentees did an excellent job delivering their sessions.

During the training, six individuals committed their lives to Christ! Two Peace Corps volunteers from Hawaii and California approached local missionaries with questions about Jesus. They shared the Gospel with them and provided them with Bibles. We also had a powerful testimony from a Muslim woman from a restricted country in Northwest Africa, which we’ve shared in another post that can be found here .

Without your support, these nine individuals might not have encountered the Gospel. Thank you for making this impact possible!

Healings and Salvations

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 13:26:25 GMT

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!

March 2025 Newsletter

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 08:30:05 GMT

February 2025 Newsletter

klint.ostermann@gmail.com (Klint Ostermann) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 06:51:36 GMT

Join our Team in Uganda

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 07:14:14 GMT

We are looking for people to join our team in Uganda!

Job Title: Missionary Project Manager - Sustainable Agriculture Program (Uganda)
Location: Uganda (various regions)
Position Type: Full-time, 2-year contract
Sending Organization: Global Outreach International
Reports To: Farming God’s Way Uganda Regional Leader & Partner Church Leadership

Position Overview:
Global Outreach International, in partnership with a large Ugandan church, seeks a dynamic, faith-driven leader to manage the implementation and expansion of Farming God’s Way, a sustainable agriculture resource empowering vulnerable women and children across Uganda. This role combines project management, spiritual mentorship, and community development to create lasting, biblically rooted change. The ideal candidate will oversee training initiatives, build local partnerships, and ensure the program’s sustainability while raising their own financial support for salary and expenses.

Key Responsibilities:

Project Management & Leadership

Lead the planning, execution, and monitoring of the Farming God’s Way resource in alignment with the church’s vision.
Train and equip local facilitators to teach sustainable farming techniques, integrating biblical principles with practical agriculture.
Develop timelines, budgets, and reporting systems to ensure accountability and impact.

Team Building & Collaboration

Foster unity among Ugandan staff, church staff, volunteers, and international partners.
Mentor local leaders and trainers to ensure long-term program ownership and scalability.

Fundraising & Stewardship

Raise 100% of personal salary, travel, and project expenses through Global Outreach International’s support-raising framework.
Manage program funds with integrity, ensuring alignment with donor expectations and project goals.

Community & Spiritual Engagement

Build relationships with vulnerable women, children, and community leaders to address spiritual and physical needs holistically.
Lead devotionals, workshops, and outreach activities that connect faith with sustainable livelihoods.
Boldly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Monitoring & Evaluation

Track program outcomes (e.g., crop yields, income generation, spiritual growth) and adjust strategies as needed.
Submit regular reports to team leader, Global Outreach, and church partners.

Qualifications:

Required:
Proven experience in leadership, project management, and cross-cultural communication.
Helpful:
Agricultural training and experience
Cross-cultural ministry experience

Restrictions

Must be 18 years or older and fit the needed job description
Willingness to raise support for position
Proven experience in leadership, project management, and cross-cultural communication.
Must onboard as a Global Outreach International Missionary

Preparation

Initial Zoom Call with GO Short-Term Teams Coordinator
Follow-Up Interview with Farming God's Way Leadership

Visit https://globaloutreach.servicereef.com/events/global-outreach-international/go-farm-in-uganda-farming-gods-way to apply!

Mentoring Trainers

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 07:22:29 GMT

We recently completed our annual train-the-trainer program!

We held our 4th In-Field Mentoring for Farming God's Way earlier this month. We hosted trainers from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Senegal, South Africa and Mozambique! At these trainings several different things are accomplished:

•⁠ ⁠trainers are able to gain credits and move further down the path toward becoming a FGW accredited trainer

•⁠ ⁠trainers hone their skills and learn new things about FGW

•⁠ ⁠an opportunity to network and learn from seasoned FGW trainers from all over the world

•⁠ ⁠members from the community are taught FGW and some are able to have their gardens laid out by the trainers. They will then be followed up on and discipled

•⁠ ⁠during this time the Gospel is presented to the community members at the trainings. SIXTEEN people gave their life to Christ this year!!!!

•⁠ ⁠trainers that have completed the accreditation process are given a ceremony and certificate. Six new trainers were accredited!

Praise God for another amazing week of training, sharing, fellowshipping and learning! Thank you to our incredible donors that make weeks like this possible!

Jinja Vegetable Training October 2025

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:33:23 GMT

Jinja Vegetable Training 14-17 October 2025

Jinja Vegetable Training

14-17 October

The Hangout Jinja

Register at: https://forms.gle/oJXt3dE4JiHXLeQz6

Jinja Vegetable Training July 2025

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:30:23 GMT

Jinja Vegetable Training 22-25 July 2025

Jinja Vegetable Training

22-25 July

The Hangout Jinja

Register at: https://forms.gle/hkhRE5ohaBfBuCNG6

Uganda National Training 2025

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:22:10 GMT

Uganda National Training 12-15 August

Uganda National Training

12-15 August

Watoto Church Bweyogerere

Register at: https://forms.gle/2TqM8CAg6TaWfA6e7

Mbarara Regional Training 2025

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:14:26 GMT

Mbarara Regional Training 26-29 August

Mbarara Regional Training

26-29 August

Watoto Church Mbarara

Register at: https://forms.gle/cdZAvsXwVvLkS9QD9

Year in Review 2024

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 07:30:38 GMT

Farming God's Way vs Conventional Farming

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:15:54 GMT

The differences are very evident!

We have been running a Farming God's Way model farm in Kampala since August of 2023 on a piece of land owned by a very large church in Uganda. They wanted proof to see if Farming God's Way really did work, so they commissioned a scientific study to see the differences between Farming God's Way and traditional farming practices in Uganda. The results showed that Farming God's Way was far superior to traditional farming practices. Here are some excerpts from the report:

"FGW emerges as a clear leader in sustainability, addressing environmental, social, and economic dimensions of agriculture. Through practices such as composting, cover cropping, and mulching, FGW promotes soil health, water conservation, and biodiversity preservation, mitigating the negative environmental impacts associated with conventional farming. Furthermore, its holistic approach fosters community engagement, social equity, and resilience to climate change, ensuring the long-term viability of agricultural systems in the face of evolving challenges."

"FGW demonstrates promising agronomic performance through its adoption of sustainable agricultural practices such as minimal tillage, natural pest control, and soil conservation techniques. These practices contribute to improved soil health, crop diversity, and resilience to environmental stressors, resulting in enhanced yields and quality of produce over the long term. In contrast, conventional farming methods may initially yield higher outputs but often at the expense of soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and increased susceptibility to pests and diseases."

"In summary, the comparison between Farming God's Way and conventional farming underscores the multifaceted benefits of adopting sustainable agricultural practices. While conventional farming may offer short-term gains in terms of yield and profitability, it comes at the expense of environmental degradation, social inequity, and long-term economic instability. On the other hand, FGW represents a holistic and regenerative approach to farming that prioritizes the well-being of ecosystems, communities, and future generations. Moving forward, decision makers, policymakers, agricultural practitioners, and stakeholders must recognize the inherent value of sustainable farming systems like FGW and work towards their widespread adoption to ensure a resilient, equitable, and thriving agricultural future."

They also showed a financial loss of 372,528 Ugandan Shillings or about $100 when growing corn on a hectare with traditional farming practices. In comparison, with Farming God's Way, the report showed a financial gain of 13,886,600 Ugandan Shillings or a profit of $3,703. Farmers are losing money using traditional farming practices to grow corn, whereas the income potential is so much greater using Farming God's Way!

To see the entire report, you can click here .

West Africa Training

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:06:08 GMT

Farming God's Way training in Senegal

We have been running an annual In Field Mentoring program in Uganda for many years and have have been running a mentoring program on a monthly basis in two different parts of Uganda. Because of this, we have been able to increase the number of Ugandan accredited Farming God's Way trainers from 2 to 10 in the last couple of years.

Because of this experience, Tom, an American missionary from Indiana and Grant, the creator of the Farming God’s Way materials, have requested me to travel to Senegal to help run a 5 day Farming God’s Way in-depth training to over 50 students from all over Western Africa including: Senegal, Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Democratic Republic of Congo. The goal of this trip is to help develop a mentoring development track to strategically implement Farming God’s Way throughout West Africa.

During this trip, we will be running a five day training to the 50+ students, mentoring trainers that are already on the accreditation track, running strategic planning sessions for how to develop the mentoring development program and helping to equip Tom on how to best manage and continue this program. We will also use this opportunity to plan how we can add an In Field Mentoring program in West Africa next year to help trainers go through the accreditation program. These In Field Mentoring programs are currently only offered in Uganda, South Africa and Zambia, so it is of strategic importance to give trainers in West Africa opportunities to become accredited without the challenges and expenses of international travel.

We plan to use this trip as a model for how we can expand into other areas of the world with Farming God's Way by investing in equipping and mentoring trainers. I'm excited to have the opportunity to be part of the extension of Farming God's Way throughout Western Africa!

We are Officially Global Outreach Missionaries!

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 16:49:30 GMT

Exciting News!

We are so excited to now be under the covering of a mission sending agency called Global Outreach International.

What does this mean for the work we do in Uganda? Absolutely nothing changes. However, the administrative burden of operating our own 501c3 organization will go away. This will allow us to focus on training farmers in Farming God’s Way, sharing the Gospel, and discipleship.

There are many benefits to becoming a Global Outreach missionary, including being part of a missionary network, receiving prayer support, improved financial accountability, and having access to multiple tools for effectiveness. Additionally, we will have access to group healthcare and life insurance. However, the most significant benefit is having a team dedicated to ensuring that we can continue to do God's work in Uganda.

We have been blessed to have amazing donors who have partnered with us to make our work in Uganda possible through their financial and prayer support. People like Tabitha, a widow from Bukaleba village, who struggled to provide enough food for herself and her family come to mind. Thanks to generous individuals who partnered with our ministry, she learned about Farming God's Way. As a result, she is now able to not only grow enough food for her family, but also has surplus to sell. Our partners have changed her life for the better and her dignity has been restored!

You are invited to be a part of the restoration story in Uganda by partnering with us. Our biggest need is monthly financial support. Will you pray about joining our support team? To become a partner with us, please follow this link: https://www.globaloutreach.org/giving/missionary-details/klint-and-vicki-ostermann

You can also visit our Link Tree here: https://linktr.ee/heartforuganda

Global Outreach International

Mon, 29 May 2023 10:05:06 GMT

Global Outreach International

We are very excited to share that we have been accepted as candidates to become Global Outreach International Missionaries. The next step in this process is for us to attend Missionary Onboarding Training in Tupelo, Mississippi June 4-10.

Global Outreach is a 501(c)3 mission sending organization and 100% of what donors give to our ministry goes directly to us. This move will reduce our administrative load while giving us greater financial accountability and improved missionary care.

After completing the training in Tupelo, we will spend the rest of June in the US doing fundraising. Global Outreach recommends one-on-one meetings for fundraising, and this is where we need your help! Can you assist us in networking and connecting with people we can meet with to share about our ministry in Uganda? We would appreciate the opportunity to have breakfast, coffee, lunch, or dinner meetings with potential donors. To book a time, please go here: https://koalendar.com/e/uganda-mission

Please reach out with any potential contacts. Thank you!

You can learn more about Global Outreach here: https://www.globaloutreach.org/about/faq

In Field Mentoring 2023

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 08:33:19 GMT

We Had a Wonderful Week at In Field Mentoring 2023!

What a week we had in Uganda last week! We hosted our annual In Field Mentoring training program and hosted 52 Farming God’s Way trainers from the US, Canada, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Senegal and the DRC. These trainers are working in the above countries, plus running trainings in Liberia, Cuba, India, Central Africa Republic, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Namibia, Mexico, Haiti and Dominican Republic to name a few.

We had three main objectives for this training:

Train Farming God’s Way in three different communities in Uganda and minister to them.
Mentor Farming God’s Way trainers and help them move toward accreditation.

3. Model In Field Mentoring to others so they can replicate it in their countries.

At the end of the week, we had accomplished all three of our objectives! The first was training Farming God’s Way in three different communities and ministering to them. We trained in Bujagali (an area known for witchcraft), Kyando (an area known for ancestral worship) and Mbirabira (an area with an Islam influence). We averaged 30 farmers in each of these locations and by the end of the week, we had 14 farmers giving their lives to Christ! We ended the week with serving these farmers by assisting them in getting their fields laid out and began preparing for planting. We also prayed with and over these farmers. We also put plans in place to minister to the new believers by organizing bible studies with audio bible in the local language.

The second objective was also a success with the accrediting of five additional Farming God’s Way accredited trainers. We had mentors helping to mentor these trainers from the US, Canada, Uganda, South Africa and Kenya. Four of the new accredited trainers are Ugandans and one is from the US (working in Nicaragua, Liberia and Cuba). This is such a blessing, because previously, there were only two active Farming God’s Way trainers in Uganda (me and an Ugandan). Now we have five Ugandan accredited trainers in Uganda! We also worked with quite a few other mentees that are on the path to accreditation to move them closer to the goal. We are so excited for the impact for the Kingdom of God these new accredited trainers are going to have as they continue to extend Farming God’s Way and help to mentor other trainers!

The third objective was to model In Field Mentoring with the goal of replication. Currently there are only three annual In Field Mentoring events worldwide (Uganda, South Africa and Zambia). We are working to get a few more started (Kenya, West Africa and Central America) and had representatives from these three areas learning how to run an In Field Mentoring event from us.

It was a beautiful week of training, mentoring, serving, evangelism, prayer and fellowship! Lives were changed, souls were won and God received the glory!

2021 Ministry Recap

klint.ostermann@gmail.com (Klint Ostermann) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 07:57:00 GMT

What a Year 2021 Has Been!

I just wanted to reach out and thank you for your continued prayers and support for the 7.5 years we have served in Uganda. Thank you!

It has been an interesting year to say the least! We started off the year on a high with our lockdown lifted and our programs back up and running. Right about the time things were running at full steam, the legs got kicked out from under us. Around May, a second wave of COVID that they were calling the “Indian” variant (I think it was the Delta variant that ravaged the US as well). Our hospitals were being overwhelmed and everyone you talked to had friends or family that were either hospitalized or had passed away. The President first did a partial lockdown and shut down cross-district travel. This was a real challenge for us because we live in Buikwe District, our training center and businesses are in Jinja District and our farm is in Mayuge District. This meant that we couldn’t be present at any of our ministry sites for this lockdown. This lasted about two months, then the President declared a total lockdown. We were stuck at home for another two months. He did allow for “cargo” trucks to travel, so I was able to use my Toyota Hilux truck to go to Jinja to get groceries once per week.

This lockdown was MUCH tougher on us than the lockdowns in 2020. In 2020, we lived in town, so we could walk to the grocery store, to work or to friend’s houses to play board games or hangout. We now live outside of town in a village. It is a beautiful, peaceful place to live, but we were totally isolated. It was good for not catching COVID, but tough for our mental health.

Things are now partially opened back up. We still have a curfew that runs from 7pm-5:30am, still can only have 3 people in a vehicle and max 100 people in church. We still struggle with the social connections because restaurants close around 5:30 or 6 to allow their staff to get home before curfew, but at least we can travel outside our home and our ministry can operate.

We have been able to conduct our farm training from September onward but were only able to start our business and job training programs beginning on November 1st. We are now operating Farming God’s Way training at 4 different sites. We have the training at our farm that is continual, and we are doing outreach with farmers that have implemented Farming God’s Way on their own farms. We are still operating a 2-acre training site at a place called Busoga Forestry where we are training about 18 women in Farming God’s Way traditional crops (corn and beans) as well as vegetable gardening. Each of the ladies has been allocated two “experiential” gardens where they are growing traditional crops in one and vegetables in another. We run trainings here every Wednesday where we teach a new step or new vegetable each week. This has been a very successful site.! We have also been given a 2-acre site at a children’s hospital and are teaching the women with children in the malnutrition ward how to grow healthy vegetables utilizing Farming God’s Way to hopefully prevent malnutrition in the future. We run trainings here every Tuesday and Thursday. We have also put in a vegetable training garden at our house to train our staff and our neighbors. We are training them Farming God’s Way every Monday and Friday.

Our main job training facilitator, Hero, had a baby in October and is on maternity leave for the rest of the year, so we have been focusing on running our barista and service and hospitality training programs until she is able to come back. Our training classes have been completely full (we can only have a max of 7 students in our barista classes) since we started back up on the 1st and we have a waiting list for future classes.

We are also adding a basic coding course to our program. It is a smartphone-based puzzle game where the students must logically solve a problem. Logical thinking skills is seriously lacking with the current education system (Uganda’s schools have been shut down for two years now and is the only country in the world still closed). We are not trying to create computer programmers, but just helping them to learn critical thinking skills. We have just started, but it has been so fun watching the students work through solving the problems!

All that has kept me pretty busy! It has been a welcome change from the complete down time we had during 4 months of total lockdown, but we are ready for a break. We were meant to be headed back to Texas this month for our once every two-year furlough, but we have put that on hold until the summer when we take Paytyn back for university. We are planning to go to Kenya as a family in January right before our busy season takes off in February. The senior Farming God’s Way trainer in Uganda has moved back to Canada, so now most of the organizing and running of all the regional and national training events are my responsibility. We have a regional training in Jinja February 10-12, an In-field mentoring week where we mentor young/new Farming God’s Way trainers Feb 14-19 and a regional training in Northern Uganda (Gulu) from Feb 24-26. Planting season starts in March, so I should just be busy enough to not have time to think about Paytyn moving 8,000 miles away from us!

Thanks again for your continued support of our ministry in Uganda. We appreciate you guys!!

Lockdown Blues, Desperation and Blessings

klint.ostermann@gmail.com (Klint Ostermann) — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 09:15:07 GMT

Latest Lowdown

Howdy! As I write this, we are halfway through a six-week total lockdown due to the Indian Variant of COVID running rampant in the country. This is an extension of a previous partial lockdown that prevented us from crossing district boundaries. We live on the other side of the Nile River from Jinja City and are in a different district. This means I can’t go into work, our ministry is not running, I can’t go into town, our church is not operating in person, our small group is not meeting, my men’s Bible study is not meeting, our girls are not in school and we can’t see our friends.

This lockdown has been tougher on me than the previous lockdowns. We lived in town during the previous ones, so I could still walk to work or to friends’ houses. We have now moved outside of town and cannot go to Jinja regularly since it is in a different district. I’m a “doer”, so I like to stay as busy as possible. There is really only so much work that I can actually do remotely since most of my ministry is about discipling and mentoring people. I’m running out of productive things to do and being bored is not good for someone of my personality type. Yes, I know one thing I could have done is a better job of keeping up with these blog posts. To be honest, this is one of my least favorite things in the entire world to do! It’s like the peas on my plate when I was a kid and I HAD to eat them, but I waited until everything else was eaten, the table was cleared of all but my plate and there was no other option but to swallow them like a pill…

In addition to being a “doer”, I’m also a social person. I had tons of social interactions before lockdown including church, going to the farm, meetings with staff, trainings, small group, Bible studies, men’s fellowship group, playing board games with friends and having cookouts with friends. Now, we can’t do any of those things. We did have a friend come over last week in a tourist vehicle (tourism is still allowed for some reason) and we played hours upon hours of board games! It was good for my soul, but it was over too soon!

It’s been hard on Vicki and the girls too! They are WAY more social than I am and they have almost NOTHING to do during this time. Maybe I should get them to write blog posts for me! They need to learn to eat their peas, too (joking)!

This lockdown is terrible, and we still have a LONG way to go! The cases are dropping, but I anticipate an extension of this lockdown with possibly fewer restrictions. However, we are healthy and have food to eat. I was able to trade my old Toyota Prado for a Hilux Truck and am able to drive into town (with one passenger) once a week to get supplies. We also live on a beautiful place on the Nile River. We have a LOT to be thankful for.

This isn’t the case for many Ugandans that are truly suffering. Not the superficially suffering I spoke about experiencing of boredom and feeling isolated, but REAL suffering. The kind of suffering where you don’t know where your next meal is going to come from. The kind of suffering that you can’t get medical treatment if you do come down with COVID. Life or death kind of suffering.

I feel guilty about feeling the way I did when I think about people that haven’t been able to run their businesses or go to work for many weeks and don’t know how they are going to feed their families. Many people here live hand to mouth and I can’t imagine the desperation that must be taking place! To add insult to injury, we have been in a drought for the last month or so with only one real rain during that time period. This means that the crops they were relying on to feed their families are not going to produce enough. We have heard of one man that ended his life when he heard about this latest lockdown because he couldn’t bear to watch his children starve to death because he couldn’t provide for them!

The desperation is also on the medical side of things. The Ugandan government received billions of dollars (they received an additional billion dollars at the start of this lockdown), but there are allegations that they used the money to build shopping malls and gas stations instead of upgrading the medical infrastructure. There are not enough hospital beds, ICU beds or even enough oxygen to treat the COVID patients. We are hearing stories of $1000/day charges for treatment in a country where the average income is less than $1/day. This is out of reach for almost all but the very wealthy. We are hearing of hospitals turning off oxygen when the money runs out and holding the bodies as collateral for payment.

The desperation is also with the heavy handedness of the police and military forces that are enforcing the lockdown, curfew and SOPs (standard operating procedures for preventing the spread of COVID). There are reports of the police and military extorting bribes, beating people and even killing people during this time. This was a post from the Uganda Police Force’s website today, “In the course of last week, a total of 2,180 persons were arrested countrywide for flouting the lockdown and curfew provisions, 1,280 were cautioned, 215 released on police bond, 73 cases pending, 612 persons were taken to court; a total of 1,130 motor vehicles were impounded, out of which 691 were issued with EPS tickets, 366 motorists were cautioned, 73 vehicles are parked/unclaimed, a total of 3,348 motorcycles were impounded, out of which 2,609 were issued with EPS tickets, 480 riders were cautioned and 259 motorcycles still parked/unclaimed.”

When I think about what many Ugandan families are having to deal with, it puts my “suffering” into perspective and causes me to thank God for the blessings He has given me. I’m still getting a salary. We have food in our fridge (we have a fridge). We are healthy and have insurance in case things get bad (even emergency evacuation to a country with better medical care). We are blessed!

My request is for prayers for those that are not as blessed as we are. Prayers that the COVID caseload will continue to decrease. Prayers that the lockdown will not be extended. Prayers for rain for crops. Prayers that Jehovah Jireh will provide for those with nothing. Prayers that I can lead my team well to minister to those who need jobs or help with their businesses when this lockdown ends. Thank you so much for standing in the gap for us as always!

Farm Training Takes on New Importance

klint.ostermann@gmail.com (Klint Ostermann) — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:29:12 GMT

Our farm training program has taken on new importance due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because so many people in Uganda have lost their jobs or businesses due to restrictions that have been put in place in Uganda. Uganda took a very aggressive approach to try to stem the spread of the virus and implemented total lockdowns for many months. While they did a great job keeping the pandemic from becoming a huge issue, the economic toll on Ugandans has been devastating.

Because of this, many people have turned back to farming as a way to feed and provide for their families. We have been busy training farmers and trainers in several areas for the last couple of months in anticipation of the rainy season.

We ran a train the trainer session in Jinja in early February where we mentored some of the younger Farming God's Way trainers in Uganda. It was such an encouraging time with these trainers we call "Young Lions" because we feel great about the future of Farming God's Way in Uganda!

We have also been training farmers at our farm in Kyando, Mayuge. We have never had such great turnouts at our trainings. We typically give our farmers a small garden on our farm that we call "experiential gardens". These are gardens that they can practice what they have learned throughout the growing season and allowing us an opportunity to train and mentor them. They then practice it at their own farms the next season. We have had so many students that we had to double up farmers on our experiential gardens.

We have also been training at two different sites in Buwelele Village in Mayuge District. A forestry company has been to trainings on our farm and witnessed how effective Farming God's Way is and has given us two two-acre gardens at two different sites . They have had issues with farmers encroaching on their plantations when their traditional farming practices have used up their current farm land. They have recognized that if farmers surrounding their plantations can use more sustainable farming practices, there will be less need for them to encroach on their plantations.

The rainy season will soon begin, and the bulk of our trainings will be complete, but our work is not finished. We are conducting weekly trainings on our farm and at the two other sites with the farmers that we are mentoring. We are training specifically on vegetable farming because growing corn is not economically viable.

We are excited that we can be of help to farmers during trying times with the Farming God's Way resource. We are also thankful for our supporters that make this work possible! Thank you!!

Back in the Saddle

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 05:51:00 GMT

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!

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End of 2019 Update

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 16:14:00 GMT

We are wrapping up a very busy 2019! The theme of 2019 has been “creating sustainability”. In the 5 ½ years we have been in Uganda; we’ve seen so many organizations come and go with no lasting change after they leave. We desire for the impact of our organization to continue well beyond our time there.

When we began working in Uganda, we spent most of our time training Ugandans in farming, job skills and business. We’ve realized this is not only unsustainable, but also not as effective as it would be with Ugandans conducting the training. Ugandans are well equipped to teach other Ugandans. They understand the language and culture and understand the learning styles of Ugandans, so they are so much more effective. Because of this, we have focused on training trainers.

We have also been working to develop our own curriculum that is Uganda-specific. We had been using a curriculum from South Africa called Work 4 A Living. It was great curriculum, but it had its limitations. Uganda and South Africa are similar in some ways, but very different in other ways. Another limitation was the program was video-based, and in English. This meant that we were only able to conduct classes in English. We are now able to train in the local language with our new curriculum!

We have been working to help generate sustainable income in Uganda without outside support. The farm is moving toward sustainability through things like growing vegetables, planting fruit trees and raising cows and goats. We have also been generating income from our coffee van to help fund our ministry. Generating our own income is important to making our whole program sustainable.

We are so very blessed to be doing this ministry in Uganda! Because of you, we are able to help people come out of poverty, share the Gospel and disciple believers. Because of you, over 1000 people have been trained in Farming God’s Way, over 300 people have been trained in our work training program (most are employed), we have helped startup and mentor the business owner of over 30 businesses, over 50 people have made a faith commitment and we have discipled hundreds! You are making a difference!

Jobs are also being created. Jobs are extremely important in a country with enormously high unemployment. When someone has a job, not only are they able to take care of their immediate family, they are also able to take care of their extended family. An example of this is Hamza. Hamza has a young son who was being raised by his grandmother because Hamza had no income, though she was also struggling. Hamza took our work training program and our barista class, and we hired him as a barista. Now that he has an income, he has been able to not only take care of his son, but also help his mom get back on her feet. He later took our business course and started a side business of a barber shop where he also sold clothes and drinks. He has hired a barber and is now a job creator himself! He’s a Muslim, but he faithfully attends our weekly Bible studies. Please be in prayer for Hamza that God would lead him to following Christ.

We have created 5 jobs on the farm, 3 ministry jobs, 4 jobs at the coffee shop and over 40 jobs at the food park! This does not include the jobs that we have helped people find through our work training program or the jobs created by the businesses we have helped start!

Our ministry has been so fulfilling to us, but as I mentioned at the start, it is so much more than just farming, jobs and business, it is primarily about mentoring and discipling. I’m going to take a quote from Beth Edfeldt’s Instagram post from when she visited Uganda. Beth Edfeldt interviewed our General Manager, Elijah, and he said, “Working here, working with Klint… it’s a big deal. It’s like a family. We don’t only work here, we do share, we do learn to love each other…” He smiled and shook his head as he laughed in disbelief “someone came from America to teach me family.”

You are the one to thank for all of this! We are very thankful to have wonderful partners who make this ministry possible! We still need more partners to help us to train and mentor unemployed youth in Uganda! Our most urgent needs are one-time gifts to get our accounts back in the black, monthly support to keep them in the black and prayer support because we are fighting a spiritual battle. We can’t do this without you! Thank you!

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Home!

Tue, 03 Dec 2019 21:09:00 GMT

After being away in Uganda for two years, we are back in Texas for 6 weeks! This is time we use to spend time with family that we haven’t seen in so long and to connect with our supporters and to find new support for our ministry.

We would love to see you if you are around Wichita Falls to share what we have been up to in Uganda. We’d love to have breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a coffee with you while we are home. If you have a group that we can speak to, we would love the opportunity. Please contact me to schedule. You can send me an email at klint.ostermann@gmail.com , send me a WhatsApp at +256 759047710 or call me on my temporary US line at 940-447-3907.

If you would like to support our ministry, you can use PayPal , send a check to Heart for Uganda, PO Box 9688, Wichita Falls TX 76308 or setup a recurring contribution by visiting our donation page . Thank you!

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What are we Doing?

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 08:40:00 GMT

I recently had a discussion with some people who were confused about all the various things we are doing. I get it! It can seem very confusing when you see that we are doing some farming things, teaching some job classes, helping businesses, doing Bible studies, selling coffee, etc. I understand the confusion, so I wanted to write this blog post to try to clarify the ministry you have enabled us to undertake in Uganda.

Our primary ministry in Uganda is to share the Gospel and then disciple believers. We’ve found that people really don’t care what you know until they know that you care. We show we care by helping them to improve their lives in some way. Our primary means for helping improve their lives is by helping them to earn money in some way so they can provide for their family and their future.

Simply stated, we help them make money by helping them get a job, start a business or improve their farming practices. We help them find a job by taking them through a two week job readiness class at our center called the Jinja Work Training Center .

We start out each day of training by taking them through the Alpha Course . The Alpha Film Series is designed to take people on a journey of faith. Each session covers a key element of the gospel in a way that is easy-to-follow and leaves space for people to explore their questions about life, faith, and God. The curriculum we use for our course is also based on biblical principles. The whole program is built to lead up to sharing the Gospel at the end of the course. Those accepting Christ are invited to Discovery Bible Study groups so that we can disciple them and help them grow in their faith.

After the job readiness course, we help our graduates to find a job or get additional training to get marketable job skills. We are currently teaching service and hospitality, barista and business courses. These courses give us more opportunities to share the Gospel, disciple and mentor. We have also started up a coffee van to give our baristas an opportunity to gain practical experience.

The graduates of the business course who start businesses are assisted by the Jinja Business Development Center . The aim of this center is to assist small businesses by providing training, mentoring and resources to help them be successful. Again, this gives us more opportunities to share the Gospel, disciple and mentor.

Another major way that people in Uganda earn money is through farming. The problem is that the farming practices they employ are largely ineffective. This has led to many major issues including soil erosion, famine, deforestation, starvation and poverty. We teach a program called Farming God’s Way that provides 7-10 times more yield than traditional farming practices. This program is based on biblical principles and is designed to share the Gospel and disciple believers. We work with many farmers in Mayuge District and conduct farm visits throughout the season. This gives us an opportunity to mentor them by helping improve their farming practices, but also gives us an opportunity to share biblical principles and do discipleship.

I hope this post helps to give some clarity to any confusion that may have occurred. We are very blessed to be doing this ministry in Uganda. Because of you, we are able to help people come out of poverty, share the Gospel and disciple believers. We are very thankful to have wonderful partners who make this ministry possible!

We still need more partners to help us to train and mentor unemployed youth in Uganda! You can help by supporting us financially by going here . You can pray for our ministry by learning about our prayer requests here . You can follow our ministry by going here . We can’t do this without you! Thank you!

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Meet Timothy, Our New Farming God’s Way Trainer!

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 06:59:00 GMT

Timothy has joined our team on the farm as a Farming God’s Way trainer and has been making a huge impact! He has a passion for farming and for teaching. He is finalizing his training at the Bible Training Center for Pastors to hone his teaching, evangelism and discipleship skills. Farming God’s Way was a great fit for him because it combines farming with evangelism and discipleship. Farming God’s Way is a perfect fit for Timothy and Timothy is a perfect fit for our ministry!

He has already been running trainings with people in the village as well as restarting the training program at Bishop Hannington Primary School. He is also been working to develop a relationship another primary school near our farm that has expressed interest in training their students farming practices using Farming God’s Way. Timothy has also developed four experiential gardens for our students to put into practice the things they have learned.

We are really trying to improve our Farming God’s Way outreach efforts in the village and with the primary schools near the farm. The enemy has been attacking our efforts because he knows the impact that this program can have by sharing the Gospel and discipling believers. God has been faithful to answer our prayers by bringing Timothy to our ministry. Please be in prayer for Timothy as he ministers to farmers in Kyando!

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Updated Curriculum

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 07:20:00 GMT

I could not be more proud of Hero and Andrew! They have worked extremely hard on developing a new curriculum for our work training center!

We had been using a curriculum from South Africa called Work 4 A Living that has been a great blessing for so many people in Jinja that have completed our program. However, the weakness we experienced with the program was that the program was not specific to Uganda. Uganda and South Africa are very different in many ways.

Hero had previously worked for an organization teaching an entrepreneur, leadership and life skills program in schools. These are the same things we were teaching in Work 4 A Living, so she worked with Andrew on developing a program that is Uganda specific. We have rebranded the program and it is now called the Jinja Work Training Center .

They piloted the new curriculum last month and have been modifying it based on what they learned in the pilot. They are beginning their next class on the 7th of October. Please be in prayer for Hero, Andrew and the students so that their lives will be changed and they will develop a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Well done Hero and Andrew!

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Meet Andrew!

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:16:00 GMT

Hello my name is Mulondo Andrew. I am 26 years old and am working with the Jinja Business Development Center and also facilitating the service and hospitality program under Work 4 A Living. Before joining Heart for Uganda, I worked in service and I was terrible! With time, through business school, training and experience, I gained confidence and service became a gift. I later became a coffee barista but had more interest in service excellence, so I juggled the two. I learned about Work 4 A Living and I was overwhelmed with how it was changing lives, so I went through the service and hospitality and Work 4 A Living classes

I am so inspired with the programs that Heart for Uganda is running because they changed my life. During the course we were required to start businesses, but not all were students were business elites. This meant lots of business problems like financial management, human resource, accounting, marketing etc. We have reach out to other business owners and they too have the same issues.

Fact is, Ugandan businesses need more help, in terms of business mentoring. Yes, we love business. We work so had to have start-ups but having them sustained is big a challenge. That’s why the Jinja Business Development center is a final piece in seeing the unending business challenges get solutions.

We at the JinjaBDC have setup a number of business workshop topics, fit to help startups and small businesses work their way to having sustainable businesses.

As a result of successfully completing the Jinja Business Development mentoring workshops, mentees should be able to articulate a worldview of businesses operated on ethical principles, and explain their calling to business as entrepreneurs. They will describe the character and competence of an ethical business person and articulate a personal plan to continually learn and grow in both business and knowing God. They will design a business with a unique value proposition whose parts work together to achieve their business goals. They will have the ability to win more customers based on their value proposition and to satisfy customers before, during and after the sale.

At the end, our mentees will be able to demonstrate competence, ethical business behavior as they start and grow in businesses. Now this is greatest gift to the Ugandan struggling economy. An opportunity to help Ugandan have more income generating options to help with their day to day livelihoods. Not to forget, all thanks goes back to our friends and families that are making the Jinja BDC possible by supporting Heart for Uganda! Thank you and God bless you!

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Five Year Anniversary in Uganda!

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 12:39:00 GMT

I can’t believe we are celebrating our 5-year anniversary in Uganda today! Facebook memories keeps showing me pictures of our journey here from Texas, and it doesn’t even seem real that we have been here for 5 full years now! It seems like just last month that we were saying our goodbyes to our friends and family as we boarded the plane to Uganda.

I’ve tried all day to figure out how to write this blog post because I’m trying to figure out how I feel about being in Uganda for 5 years now. Vicki coined “excitasad” as the emotion she felt as we prepared to leave Texas. She was excited for the new journey, but sad to leave her life back home. I can’t even figure how what word describes my feelings about the last 5 years and our future. The only word I can think of is conflicted.

I’m conflicted because I miss my friends and family back home like crazy. We committed to staying in contact when we left, but so many things have caused us to drift apart from our friends and family. The time difference is really difficult because as we are winding our day down, getting dinner ready and getting the kids ready for bed, people’s days are just starting back home. When we wake up, it is too late back home to call. Our best shots are often on Sunday nights after people get home from church, but that is difficult as well. Our friends and family are also busy with their lives, softball practices, vbs, camps, etc and it can get hard to relate to what is going on back home when our lives are so different.

I miss watching our nieces and nephews grow up. I’m sad that we don’t have much of a relationship with them like I did with my aunts and uncles. I’m sad that my girls don’t get to spend as much time with our parents as I was able to spend with my grandparents.

I miss my job at the bank and the amazing people that I worked with. I miss having central air and heat. I miss having cars that run (Vicki’s tie rod broke today to continue the saga of broken vehicles we are experiencing). I miss Target and United Market Street. There are SO many things that I miss!

However, even though I miss all these things and they often make me sad, we love life here! I am having so much fun in the ministry that God has put me in here. We are seeing more fruit that I would have ever even thought of 5 years ago. I’m having more fun and fulfillment now than I ever have in my life!

I love the relationships that we have made here with people from all over the world. Relationships are deeper here because you become not only friends, but also family to your friends when family is 8000 miles away. I love the friends that we do life with in our small group. I love the friends we play volleyball with. I love meeting up with friends for 2 for 1 burger night on the banks of the Nile.

I love that my girls are growing up without all the distractions that I see others their age facing. I love the education that they are getting. I love the fact that they have such a bigger worldview than I did.

Though we love life here, it is not always easy. We were drug through the pit of hell and were not even sure if our marriage would survive. We went through the biggest challenges we have ever faced. Though that season was horrible, I’m grateful for it. I’m grateful that God took us through the refiner’s fire and I am a better person for it (and more effective in ministry). I’m grateful that our marriage is stronger than it ever has been. You see, we really needed to go through this sifting to get some junk out and we would probably have never gone through it if we were back home.

We have lost some really good friends that were like family that are living in other places now. Friendships are like a revolving door here and that is hard. It’s hard to open you heart to someone only to have them ripped away from you a short time later. My tendency is to guard my heart and not build relationships with people that I know are soon leaving. Fortunately, I have a wife that freely gives her heart away and we didn’t miss out on some really great times and sweet fellowship.

I’m conflicted! I miss home hard, but I love here strongly! The thing that gives me peace is that I know we are where God has us right now and that is a feeling with no conflict!

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Vehicle Issues

Fri, 24 May 2019 12:58:00 GMT

We have had huge problems with my vehicle of recent. I’ve had this Toyota Prado for over 4 years and it was almost 20 years old when I got it. Vehicles are really expensive here as they are taxed nearly 100% when they are imported, and they are expensive to ship into Uganda. We are spending quite a bit on repairs for it because a vehicle this old that has driven the horrible roads this long just doesn’t hold up very well.

First, we had the timing belt break! This is a huge problem with diesel engines. It destroyed the whole top half of the engine and was almost $1,000 to get repaired. I was stranded on the side of the road when it broke! Vicki’s vehicle had a broken radiator at the time, so we were completely out of vehicles, so I had no choice but to get a mechanic to fix it!

Last month, I broke a spring driving out to the farm, so we had to get both back springs replaced. I also need to replace my ball joints, brakes and tires. I have needed tires for quite a long time. I had limped along for some time and even bought two used tires when my tires were beyond repair. I had two used tires that were in poor condition, then I hit a piece of metal on the farm road that destroyed another tire. The 4th tire is in pretty bad shape as well. It was no longer safe to drive the vehicle. All of these repairs are around another $1,000.

Vicki had to get a new radiator put in her truck last month as well. She doesn’t have as many issues with her vehicle as I do, but most of her driving is in town. I use my truck to go to the farm and make trips to the capital city, Kampala, so mine gets more wear and tear on it.

Today, the oil pump went out on my truck causing the oil to not pump to the engine breaking the crank shaft. I’m not sure how much this one is going to cost, but they had to load it on a tow truck to take it to the garage.

The problem is that we have horrible roads in Uganda. The roads in town are almost worse than the roads to the farm as they are full of potholes. We are also driving vehicles that are around 25 years old on these roads. Our costs of maintaining these vehicles is quite high! We will eventually need to replace one of them. Uganda passed a law late last year that outlaws importing of vehicles that are more than 15 years old. This means that importing vehicles is more expensive now.

We would appreciate any help you could offer on these repair costs or contributing toward a replacement vehicle. Thank you!

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Business Development Center

Thu, 16 May 2019 08:16:00 GMT

As we begin our sixth year in Uganda, we have found a need that is not being met. Our ministry in Uganda is to guide people to meet their own needs by helping them to earn their own money. Through this process, we are able to disciple, mentor and most importantly, share the Gospel with them. The ability for people to earn their own money is important for a couple of reasons. If people aren’t able to meet their primary physical needs (food, water, shelter), it is hard for them to even think about anything else.

Secondly, it is cultural for individuals to take care of problems that others in their family have if they have money. When a Ugandan has a job, they are able to help their extended family go to school, buy food or get medical care. Helping someone in this culture to earn an income is much more than just putting money in their pocket, but it is actually helping their extended family to improve their condition!

We are currently helping Ugandans earn money in two areas, farming and employment. We help farmers to succeed in their farming operations through Farming God’s Way. We are helping the unemployed youth gain employment through Work 4 A Living. The missing part of this equation is helping businesses earn sustained profit. We have businesses that start up during Work 4 A Living, but they are just left on their own after the course is over.

Business is a big deal in Uganda and it has been deemed the most entrepreneurial country in the world! With an entrepreneurship rate of 28 per cent, Uganda ranks in first place with almost double the entrepreneurship rate of Thailand, who comes in second place with 16 per cent. Many of these new entrepreneurs need mentoring so they can have the best opportunity to succeed.

With this in mind, we desire to create a business development center as part of our Work 4 A Living program. We have hired a young man named Andrew to manage the center. He has been teaching our service and hospitality program for some time and has completed the Work 4 A Living and service and hospitality program. We have also partnered with another ministry in Jinja called Ekisinga (means “best of all”) that is offering a 5-month business training program that runs a couple of evenings a week. We feel that partnering with other organizations is the most effective way of getting things done!

Our vision is to offer periodic workshops to the people in our mentorship program. We aim to bring in various experts to teach specific topics, such as social media, finance, bookkeeping, business management, HR, leadership, marketing, social media, legal, coaching, sales, communication, etc. We would also like to pair our mentees with mentors that can commit to a one hour/month Skype call to walk through business issues with them. We would like to have mentors from business leaders in Uganda as well as abroad. These workshops will also be made available to other partner organizations.

Another thing we would like to bring into this program are micro loans. This would not be something that we advertise to our mentees, but something that we can offer for business owners as we see needs arise. The loans would go to people that we are currently mentoring, and repayment would not be a hindrance to their business. It would help them take their business to the next level. These loans would be interest free and the repayments would go back into the loan fund available for other mentees. We will develop a board that will make decisions on loan applications.

We will avail our business development center space to our mentees, so they can use the space for meetings and mentorship sessions. We will also have laptops with internet available to them, so they can use bookkeeping systems, communicate with their mentors, conduct research and manage their social media accounts.

This is where you can help! We are in need of support to get this program up and running. We need both startup and on-going support for this program. For our startup, we are in need of $1,000 for a computer for Andrew, a desk, a cell phone, and printer. For on-going expenses, we need $150/month for rental expenses, electricity and internet. We also need $200/month for our facilitator’s salary. In all, we need about $1,400 for starting up this center and $350 per month to fund the program. Anything raised above these amounts will go into our micro loan fund.

We also need laptops in good working condition for our mentees to use at the business development center. We need business leaders to conduct our workshops and to serve as mentors by committing to a one-hour skype meeting with our mentees.

We appreciate your time in reading this letter and we look forward to you partnering with us to give these young businessmen and women the best start to their future! Thank you so much for believing in what we do!

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Amazing Response!

Tue, 01 May 2018 16:28:00 GMT

I just wanted to share how good our God is! Last week, we shared a shortage of donations to cover our increased costs of educating our kids now that they are getting in higher grade levels. We were very worried because the situation had gotten to the point that we were having to consider moving back before our mission was complete. This was very difficult to share because I really thought I would be able to raise more support to cover the difference in expenses when we were home on furlough. It didn’t happen in December and January. I thought maybe more donors would sign up in February and March. It didn’t happen.

This was heartbreaking to me because our ministry is seeing amazing fruit! We have worked so hard over the past four years building our ministry and we are really seeing the fruit of it right now. We had to invest quite a bit of time and money getting our demonstration farm up and running, but are now seeing people adopting Farming God’s Way, coming to know Christ and getting discipled. We have an amazing partnership with the school next door and each grade level has their own demonstration gardens where they are practicing Farming God’s Way!

I was reminded of the impact of our ministry on Thursday when I was on the farm. One of our farm workers, Freddy, asked me to come to his home to pray for him. He recently got married, is expecting a baby and has built a new house. He has grown in awesome ways! He has started up a business and is a leader in his church. He shared with me that he would not be where he is now without the donors that make our work in Uganda possible.

Our Work for a Living center is firing on all cylinders as well! It took a significant investment in time and money getting the center up and running and getting Jennifer trained up to facilitate the program. She is now doing an amazing job and people are finding jobs, starting businesses and coming to a saving relationship with Christ. The best result we have seen from this program is that her twice weekly bible study continues to grow! People have been sharing with her that the Word has changed their life!

Everything regarding our ministry on this side is going great, but to be honest, I began to have a faith crisis. I began to doubt that God would provide the money we needed to educate our children. The problem was that I took my eyes off God and tried to solve the problem myself. The thing is that I forgot what God had already done for us.

God has always provided what we have needed to do our ministry in Uganda. When we needed our house to sell to be able to make the move, He made sure it sold. When I needed to keep my job until right before our move, He made sure I was able to keep my job. When we needed start-up money to move, He provided it. When we needed monthly donors to cover our living and program expenses, He provided them. When we needed money to buy a demonstration farm, He provided the money. God has provided what we have needed EVERY time.

After sharing the need we had, God once again came through. People gave sacrificially. People prayed. People sent encouragement. Our board voted to increase our income through June, and I’m confident the money will be there by June for them to increase our income for longer!

The mistake I made was taking my eyes off Him and tried doing things under my own power. Once I surrendered to Him, He took care of the problem and provided for us. Hebrews 12:10-13 comes to mind, “For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”

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Difficult Decisions

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:17:00 GMT

I want to begin this post by thanking everyone that has prayerfully and financially supported our family and ministry over the past 4 years. Heart for Uganda has grown and evolved over the years as God has led us and we are enjoying serving Him so very much! The Farming God’s Way and Work 4 A Living programs are truly changing lives in Uganda! People are getting jobs to provide for their families, people are able to grow enough crops to feed their families with enough left over to sell, people are coming to a saving relationship with Christ and people are being discipled.

With this said, we have come to a point in our family where the educational requirements of our girls has changed. We have decided against boarding school in Kenya for our girls, so that leaves us with online homeschool as the only option that we have found that works well for our family and provides our girls with a proper education. Here is a post I wrote about this decision last July: /school-dilemma/ . The problem is, this isn’t cheap. Online homeschool is a lot more expensive than the co-op program we previously had available to us. The current cost of this online school is $350 more per month than our salary. We have had to go into debt to cover this deficit. Olivia’s current teacher is leaving so she may need to join Paytyn and Morgan in the online homeschool in September.

We need a minimum of $600/month more in funding to be able to meet our family’s expenses. We had expected to gain a few more monthly donors during our furlough in December and January, however we only gained one. We cannot sustain our ministry going into debt each month to cover our monthly living expenses. We have some very difficult decisions to make for our family regarding our ability to continue working in Uganda. We would love to be able to finish the work God put on our hearts and leave it when it is able to stand on its own with Ugandans continuing the work. Unfortunately, our ministry is not currently able to stand on its own and leaving now would be wasting four years of effort.

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Jennifer the Photographer

Wed, 27 Dec 2017 16:10:00 GMT

I meet a lot of really interesting people while serving with Sole Hope…Like A LOT! It’s one of my favorite things about serving with them. I even met a lady that was born in the same tiny small town hospital as me, can you even believe that?! So, a couple of months ago I met Kate. She was attending a clinic that I was serving at. Kate has one of those personalities that just attracts you to her. We started learning a little bit about one another, the usual “Where are you from, what do you do here?” things. Hers was so different than anything I had ever heard before. Kate shared with me that she founded an organization called Picture Change. The heart of Picture Change is to empower individuals to discover innate creativity, develop self-confidence and picture change in their lives and in their community through photography. She also shared that she has been to Montenegro, Nicaragua and Uganda to share her vision. You can learn more about what Kate does at www.picture-change.org.

She then asked me if I knew anyone that would like to learn photography and join her class. I instantly thought of Jennifer! Jennifer attended our Work 4 A Living class a few months ago and impressed Klint so much that he hired her to teach the Work 4 A Living classes and she is rocking it! I thought of Jennifer because she shows such initiative in everything she does. I just knew she’d be great at this and I was right!

Jennifer attended the Picture Change course and picked up photography very quickly. Many times when I would run into Kate around town, she would tell me how great Jennifer was doing and about the fun photo shoots they had gone on together! I was so proud of Jennifer, but not surprised at all that she was excelling at this challenge.

After the students completed their course, Kate threw the most amazing gallery show that you have ever seen! Each student had their work displayed so artfully on pallets where gallery goers could walk around and choose photos to purchase. The R&B King of Uganda, Maro, performed and took the photo gallery from show to dance party! It…was…awesome!

Jennifer did so well in this course and fell in love with photography so hard; we just had to find a way for her to have her very own camera. Klint reached out to a donor and they generously provided at Canon T6 for her to continue her photography skills with! Praise God for such selfless people! Jennifer now has plans to begin her own photography business doing family portraits. We are so very proud of her and so thankful for you, Kate!

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Coming Home for a Visit!

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 08:33:00 GMT

We are heading back to Texas soon!!! It’s time for us to come back home for a visit to spend time with family and friends, update everyone on what we’ve been doing in our ministry and fundraise. We will be home December 1 ^st through January 31 ^st . We would love to come speak at your church, small group or civic group or even meet for lunch or coffee. We are hoping to get our calendar booked as soon as possible as time goes by so fast once we’re home! Please email Klint at klint.ostermann@gmail.com to make your booking.

We are really looking forward to being back home for the holidays and getting to spend some time with so many that we miss so much while we are in Uganda! Two years was a long time to be away! We love and appreciate you all so much! We can’t wait to see you!

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Meet Hank

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 10:02:00 GMT

Meet our new male goat, Hank Thunderman!

We have a goat project on our farm for several purposed: to generate income to make the farm sustainable, to provide manure to feed our crops, and to teach goat herd management practices. The goats we have on the farm were donated by our friends at Give a Goat. The breeding male we had had already bred the goats, and his offspring were getting old enough to breed so we needed a new male.

Hank is a 100% Boer goat that we will use in a cross-breeding program to get better quality genetics in our herd. This is important because the crossbred goats get bigger faster, but maintain the disease resistant features of the local goat herds.

By the way, all of our male goats are named after TV dads. The previous male was Tony Soprano, and this one is named after the dad on a show our girls like called The Thundermans.

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Successful Student Business

Thu, 05 Oct 2017 09:36:00 GMT

One group of students in our Work 4 A Living program has set a new record for money earned during the course. This group thought outside the box and came up with an idea that is new to Jinja. In our course, we teach them basic business principles such as book keeping, marketing, etc and most importantly, to just start. Many people don’t start businesses because they believe that they need huge amounts of capital to begin. We teach them to start with what God has put in their hand. We put students in groups and give them 20,000 Ugandan Shillings ($5.50) to start a business that they run for the rest of the program. We have classes until 1pm and then they run their business for the rest of the day. They end up running their business for 8 half days or 4 full-days.

This group bought fruit and put together very nice looking fruit trays. They sold these during the day and then sold chips (french fries) in the evening.

They were able to turn 20,000 shillings ($5.50) into 189,500 shillings ($53) of profit in the equivalent of 4 full-days. That is almost 10 times their starting capital! If they ran this business for a full month, they could have earned 1,000,000 ($300). That is four times the the average income in Uganda of 250,000! Well done guys!

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New Training Program

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 10:48:00 GMT

Tourism is big industry in Jinja, so there are many job opportunities in the service industry. In our Work 4 A Living program, we seek to equip and empower unemployed youth to get jobs and start businesses. Since the service industry has so many available jobs, we have begun running a new service and hospitality training program through Work 4 A Living called SERV with Excellence. This program is by invitation only as candidates need to have completed Work 4 A Living with a 3E (Excellent) or 4E (Exceptional) certificate and exhibited a servant heart in the program.

We take up to 10 students through a two week training program where we begin with character, servanthood, and service excellence and then move to hard skills such as taking orders, carrying trays, clearing tables, etc.

Washing feet as part of the servanthood portion of the training.

We had seven students achieve certificates in our first class and four have already found jobs in the service industry.

We sent two of our graduates for an interview for one open position at a very popular restaurant in Jinja and the owner couldn’t decide between the two. She wanted to test them out for two days each so she could make a decision on who to hire. After their two day trial, she still couldn’t decide between them and hired them BOTH!

We are very excited to be able to offer this new program in Jinja and put well trained, Spirit-filled, discipled people who know how to work to a standard of excellence into the workplace!

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Schooling Dilemma

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 07:27:00 GMT

We are facing a dilemma when it comes to the girl’s school. Paytyn will be going into the 9th grade (I can’t believe it either!). The school she is going to will continue for one more year, but will not continue after that. Most of her classmates are going to boarding school at Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya. This is about a 10-12 hour drive away with a border crossing. We would only get to see her for a short bit every 6 weeks. We just aren’t prepared to send her away at this age!

We could send her to the same school she is going to for one more year, but then would be forced to do something different for grade 10. We really want her to do all of her high school education at the same place so she doesn’t have to start over with anything else. This means we really need to find a new option for Paytyn. This also means that we need to find a new option for Morgan as well, because if she continued at Kilombera, we would have three kids in three different schools since Kilombera doesn’t have Olivia’s grade level.

The options we settled on with pros and cons are:

Sending Paytyn to Rift Valley Academy and Morgan would continue at Kilombera for another year. Pros are that she would get a world class education and get to be with her friends. Cons are that it is 12 hours away, in another country, we would not get to see her very often, and it is expensive ($2,500 more per year/student) since it is a boarding school.

Sending them to Horizon International School. Pros are that is is a good education option and is local. Cons are that it is a very expensive option ($3,300 more per year/student) and it is run by Turkish investors so it is not a Christian school.

Sending them to an international school in Kampala. Pros are that it is a really good educational option and is in the same country as us. Cons are that it is the most expensive option and we would have to board them.

Doing on online, teacher-led homeschool at NorthStar Academy in Mississippi. Pros are that it is an excellent schooling option and rated the #1 online homeschool option in the US, kids attend this school from all over the world, it is a Christian school, we get to keep the girls home, we get to be heavily involved in their education, and it is the cheapest of the options ($2,000 more per year/student).

We have decided to go with the online, teacher-led homeschool option. This means we will need about $4,000 more per year to educate our kids or about $350/month. Paytyn is moving up to high school and Morgan is moving to middle school, so costs of education would go up regardless. We feel that them getting an education at a place that will allow them to move directly into university when they graduate will give them the best option for the future. We don’t want our calling to the mission field to cause our children to sacrifice their education. They haven’t had to sacrifice their education thus far since they received an excellent education at Kilombera, and we don’t want that to stop.

This does mean we need to raise additional support to cover the increase in education costs. We need about $350 per month in additional support. That is 7 new or increased supports at $50/month, 14 at $25/month or 35 at $10/month. If you have never supported our ministry, would you please pray about supporting us? If you are currently supporting us, would you consider increasing your support? You can support us in multiple ways including drafting from your checking account, mailing a check to our US mailbox, or even Paypal. Learn more here: www.heartforuganda.com/donate/

I’ve included some information about NorthStar Academy below in case you are interested.

NorthStar Academy (NSA) is an online, private, Christian school that currently offers students in grades 4-12 a complete academic and diploma-granting program. NorthStar Academy is founded on the belief that online education should be facilitated by godly teachers who are dedicated to providing an excellent education through sound curriculum in partnership with students, families, and schools worldwide. Academic and spiritual readiness is achieved through faith-based, student-centered courses led by credentialed teachers who challenge students through engaging, standards-based content.

Mission Statement:
Our commitment to Christ leads to our personal investment in you. Our commitment to you inspires and motivates NorthStar Academy’s spiritual emphasis, academic excellence, and personal experience.

https://www.northstar-academy.org/

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Seeing Fruit from Work 4 A Living

Tue, 06 Jun 2017 07:33:00 GMT

We have been running our Work 4 A Living Center for about a year now and we are really beginning to see the fruit from this program! The best thing that has happened is training up a Ugandan facilitator. Jennifer Mugisha was one of my students that came through the program. Her brother was in my first class and was able to get a job as a dental assistant at a dental clinic in Jinja the day he graduated from the program. Jennifer saw the changes that Work 4 A Living had on her brother and wanted to be part of the program even though she was finishing university. She was an excellent student and it soon became clear that she would be an excellent facilitator for the program. She was trained at the beginning of the year and is currently running her third Work 4 A Living two-week course.

We now have our own training center located inside the Source Cafe, which is a very popular cafe on Main Street in Jinja. We have been borrowing space to run our trainings, so it is so nice to have our own location. This makes it easier for students to find us. We also have office space so Jennifer and I have a place to work and meet with students.

We have received some really good feedback from employers who have employed our students. We have had 13 students get jobs already this year. This may not seem like a huge number, but given the high level of unemployment in Uganda, this is amazing news! Many of these students have been unemployed for years and are now receiving an income! Without an income, people are forced to beg, borrow, or steal, so we rejoice for every job our students find.

We have also had 4 new businesses started this year as a result of our training program. We rejoice even more for this news because when businesses are started, the student becomes a job creator instead of a job seeker!

And the best news of all…we have had 11 of our students make commitments to Christ during our classes! Praise God! This is what Work 4 A Living is all about!

We have begun a new discipleship program called Encounter that the students that make commitments to Christ will be slotted into beginning next week. We are so excited for this new program!

Speaking of new programs, on July 3rd, we will begin a service and hospitality training program called SERV. Service and hospitality are big business in a tourist area like Jinja so we are very excited to be able to train in service excellence. This will be a full-day, two-week class where we will cover service excellence, character, and waitering/waitressing.

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Farm Field Day

Thu, 11 May 2017 08:21:00 GMT

We have a field day on the farm each season when the crops are at their prime. This is an open house where we are intentional about inviting people out to the farm to give tours and short training sessions on Farming God’s Way. Our field day this season was on Saturday and we had a great turn out! We even had representatives from the Busoga Kingdom, including the Minister of Agriculture visit us during this field day.

The main purpose of the field day was to inspire people to come to future Farming God’s Way trainings, and then to implement on their farms and at their homes. Put simply, Farming God’s Way is a discipleship program that helps poor subsistence farmers lift themselves from the daily struggle for survival. Pray with me that much fruit will come of the day, and that as a result many will learn how to grow food for their families, and produce for sale – God’s way!

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Yields in the Drought

Sat, 28 Jan 2017 14:14:00 GMT

Uganda has been experiencing a prolonged drought that has devastated the country. According to the Uganda National Meteorological Authority, this is the worst drought in the country’s history with more than half of the population facing food shortages.

In Busoga Kingdom, where our farm is located, there are millions going hungry and the agriculture sector has been devastated. Many farmers grow maize (corn), and due to the drought over the previous two seasons, most have had little to no yield.

Many of these farmers are subsistence farmers who eat what they grow and survive off of their farms. These farmers have two seasons per year to grow their maize that takes 4-5 months to mature. The first season in 2016 provided little to no harvest due to the drought and the second season was even worse. This means that the farmers last received a maize harvest in January of 2016 from the second season in 2015. Providing that God allows the drought to end in the first season of 2017, they will get their next harvest in July/August. This means they will have gone 17-18 months between getting a maize harvest. This is what is causing people to die during this drought.

The traditional farming practices do not fare well in drought conditions due to plowing and burning off of crop residual and mulch. During good years, these farming practices produce average yields of 250 kilograms (552 pounds) per acre per season or 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) per acre per year. The average family needs between 1,000 to 1,250 kilograms per year to survive. During drought years, traditional farming practices provide little to no yield.

Mature maize near our farm implementing traditional farming practices.

Farming God’s Way provides excellent drought tolerance due to the fact that two of the technologies that we teach are no plowing and 100% mulch coverage. This allows farmers to keep more of the rainfall they receive and retain it for longer.

This season we were able to get 1,100 kilograms of maize per acre even though we went many weeks between rains and the rains we did receive were very small. This is very low compared to the first season of 2016 where we averaged 1,941 kilograms per acre and 2,500 kilograms per acre in 2015. However, this is very high compared to the average yield of conventional farming practices during good rainfall seasons of 250 kilograms per acre and certainly way better than the yield of zero kilograms most farmers received the previous two seasons.

Even during the worst drought in the history of Uganda we were able to get 3,041 kilograms per acre per year compared to the average during good seasons using traditional farming practices of 500 kilograms per acre per year. This is also more than the requirements of a typical family of 6 of 1,00 to 1,250 kilograms. This means that even during the worst drought in Uganda, farmers would have enough food to feed their family and enough left over to sell to be able to send their children to school, pay for medical treatment, and provide their family with better shelter and clothing.

Harvesting maize on our farm with joy, even in a drought!

Farming God’s Way is great during normal rainfall years, but is life-changing and life-saving during drought conditions! One farmer near our farm was trained by our farm manager, Alex, and was able to get 150 kilograms on a small plot of land. He said it was more than he had ever received on that land, even during a drought!

Farming God’s Way provides great yields and is certainly beneficial to farmers, but the best benefits of Farming God’s Way are the Biblical keys which are integral to the program. This allows us to share the Gospel and disciple these farmers. Farming God’s Way is saving farmers, both physically and eternally!

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The Village

Wed, 10 Aug 2016 12:16:00 GMT

We have been operating a demonstration farming project on 22 acres in Mayuge District that is used to equip Ugandans with job and business skills using biblically-based curriculum that incorporates discipleship. We are now beginning to offer the same type of training in the urban environment as an extension of the farm project. We are calling this project “The Village”. It will be a work training center to equip and empower unemployed youth so that they can find gainful employment. The goal of the project is to put well-trained, Spirit-filled, discipled people into the workplace.

This project will include a Work 4 A Living training center that will provide workforce training to address issues many employers find with employees including: poverty mindset, entitlement, dependency, lack of excellence, lack of moral values, and lack of self-governance. Students learn to be efficient, ethical, and professional. Graduates of the program leave equipped to be respectful, have effective communication, have good time management, understand the employer’s perspective, have biblical values and business ethics, and take ownership of their work and career.

The Village Project will include a professional, non-profit job placement agency geared towards placing the best graduates from the Work 4 A Living center in the workforce.

Students can pursue additional training specific to the employment they are seeking including: business management, computers, cashier, merchandising, and office administration. There are also schools of excellence that the best students can be invited to attend. The schools of excellence include: a service and hospitality school called SERV, an artisan baking program called Grain Baking Academy, and a barista program called Red Band Barista Academy.

The Village Project seeks to open a center in Jinja, Uganda that will house businesses such as a coffee shop, bakery, farmer’s market, farm-to-table restaurant, guest house, laundry, print shop, and tour and travel company. These businesses will the pinnacle of excellence in every way and will allow students to get practical training in the highest standards.

The businesses will also be linked to non-profit organizations serving in the Jinja area so the profits of the businesses will be reinvested in the community. A board will be put together to determine the organizations that will benefit from the profits of The Village Project to ensure the money is having the most impact on the community.

A complex of buildings has been identified that can house The Village Project on a corner lot near the heart of Jinja town. The project will be completed in phases over several years. The first phase will be purchasing the building complex and opening the Work 4 A Living center and job center. The total cost of the first phase will be $350,000.

Check out our video and our website at www.thevillageuganda.com. This is a huge project and we will need lots of help to get this off the ground so please be in prayer about how you can help. Thank you!

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Work 4 A Living Center

Tue, 31 May 2016 20:40:00 GMT

I was blessed to be able to travel to South Africa to become accredited to facilitate a program called Work 4 A Living. This program empowers and equips unemployed youth with the skills necessary to find and keep a job. This program addresses things such as the poverty mindset (I am poor, I will always be poor and nothing is going to change), entitlement (I’m owed something and someone needs to fix my problems), dependency, lack of excellence, lack of moral values, and lack of self-governance.

This program teaches the job seeker how to be efficient, effective and professional. It teaches about respect, effective communication, time management, understanding the employer’s perspective, values and business ethics, and taking ownership of their work and career.

However, the most important aspect of this program is that biblical principles are taught along the way. The Word challenges their previous way of thinking. We watched a group of 11 students go through this program and saw students that were hard, cynical, and frustrated with no hope become completely transformed on the last day! It was amazing to see 10 out of 11 became new believers through this program and I had the honor of baptizing three of them!

This program is amazing and I’m so excited to bring it to Jinja!

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School Partnership

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 13:41:00 GMT

We are very blessed in that we have two primary schools very near our farm in Mayuge. This means there are always tons of children in and around our farm (especially during mango season!). I’ve been looking for ways that I can partner with one or both of these schools so that we can teach the children Farming God’s Way as well as share the Gospel with them. They each have gardens where they try to grow some food for the school, but have not had a huge amount of success. Here are some pics of the children planting their garden very late in the season because they were waiting on free seeds from the government and the results of their efforts.

We’ve had teachers from both schools at the farm and have given them tours. One of the teachers came back on Friday and brought the headmaster and another teacher. I gave them a tour of the farm and they were so excited about Farming God’s Way that they are dedicating a portion of their garden to a demonstration farm for their children to learn Farming God’s Way next season. They are coming to the farm in a week and a half to bring all of their students for a tour!

St. Joseph Primary School Head Master, English Teacher, and Science Teacher

St. Joseph Primary School

We are very excited to begin this partnership with St. Joseph Primary School and pray that God will use this partnership in a mighty way!

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Project Status

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 15:25:00 GMT

I wanted to take an opportunity to share the status of some of the projects that our wonderful donors have made possible.

We have completed the fence around our whole farm! This is a huge step because it has helped resolve our cow grazing and neighbor encroachment issues. We used a combination of concrete and wood posts with 3 strands of barbed wire. We then planted fast growing trees that will act as a living fence to take the place of the wooden posts that will be eventually eaten by termites.

While we were back in the States, our pit latrine was completed. This isn’t a glamorous item, but a necessary one for the people working on our farm as well as our future students.

We have completed our borehole, which is providing water to our farm. We hit water on the first try and are getting a good stream, even in the dry season. It was truly a blessing! We will be adding a solar pump to take the water from the borehole to a storage tank at the top of the farm to provide water for all parts of the farm.

We have begun our big building project which includes Alex’s house, a storage room, a dormitory and an office. The foundation has been built and the slab has been poured. They are waiting on the concrete to set and will begin the walls very soon!

We have built a house for our goat project as well as a fenced-in yard for dogs that will provide security for our goats!

These projects will go a long way toward building a sustainable farm as well as a vocational training center! This wouldn’t be possible without such amazing donors! Thank you!

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Maize Yields

Wed, 02 Mar 2016 17:52:00 GMT

Today we sold our maize from our first season on our farm, so I wanted to take an opportunity to report our yields for our first season on the farm.

We planted 1/3 ^rd of an acre of maize and 1/6 ^th of an acre of beans during our first season on land that was extremely abused by years of poor farming practices. In fact, when we prepared our fields many of the people laughed at us when we told them we were planting maize on that land. They said, “maize doesn’t grow on this land”. We planted anyway because we believe that by following the good biblical, management, and technological practices that comprise Farming God’s Way, God has the power to restore forsaken land.

We spoke to the district development officer before the season to learn the record yields for Mayuge District, the district our farm is located. He told us 6 bags of maize per acre is the record yield for the district, but there was some confusion on whether they were 50kg bags or 100kg bags. This means that the record yield for the district was between 300-600kg per acre.

An average family of six needs approximately 1,250kg of maize to survive, so they would need 2-4 acres of maize to survive with this kind of yield! Most family farms in Uganda are not that big, which means that farmers are not able to even grow the maize they need for their families.

In our first season, with poor soil, on land that we were told couldn’t grow maize, we were able to grow an average of 1,862kg of maize on our large scale gardens. This is between 3-6 times the RECORD yield for Mayuge District! We could have easily beat this, but we struggled with maize borer beetles that were brought into our farm in some maize stalks we gathered from a neighbor’s farm for mulch. The beetles caused quite a bit of damage in the areas we used that neighbor’s stalks.

This means that if a farmer had a half an acre of maize, they could produce 1,000kg each season for a total of 2,000kg per year. If he needs 1,250kg to feed his family, he will have 750kg left to sell to provide other things for his family.

We had some smaller demonstration gardens that we averaged 3,172kg per acre with one garden producing 3,501kg per acre!

I’m looking forward to the coming season because our soil is being renewed, we have learned our lesson on using maize stalks from our neighbors, and we used better quality manure as input this time. We should be planting in the coming days!

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Reflections

Sun, 28 Feb 2016 15:03:00 GMT

We have been back in Uganda for about a month and I wanted to take the opportunity to write about our time back in the States during our furlough. Our time back was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time!

We LOVED getting to see family (and meet some new ones) and reconnect with friends. I read a book called Re-entry, which is about going back home after being on the mission field and it talked about how friends and family move on without you, and to be prepared for it. While our friends and family have indeed moved on with life without us, we seemed to jump right back where we left off with everyone!

We had a ton of opportunities to share our experiences in Uganda and our vision for Heart for Uganda with many churches, groups, and individuals. We had opportunities to speak at: Faith Baptist Church (multiple times), First Presbyterian Church of Wichita Falls men’s group, First United Methodist Church Throckmorton, First Baptist Church Henrietta, First United Methodist Church Wichita Falls Sunday school group, Calvary Baptist Church Vernon, Optimist Club of Wichita Falls, Completing the Task, and Rotary Club of Wichita Falls.

We were able to raise funds to complete some projects on our farm that will allow us to grow our discipleship and vocational training programs. This was very exciting for us because we had set a goal before we left Uganda and by God’s grace, we were able to exceed this goal!!!

Going on furlough brought about such mixed emotions. We loved getting to see our family and friends, but it brought to light all the things that we had missed and will be missing going forward. We’ve missed births, holiday gatherings, deaths, marriages etc. While we loved being back home, a part of us desired to be back in Uganda with our friends and people we work with, because that is where God has called us to call home for this season in our lives. It’s like we have two homes yet it is impossible to be in both at the same time, though our heart desires that.

Being back home and stepping away from our work here allowed for some time of reflection on our work in Uganda. I’ve realized that I’m going to have to say “no” to some really good things in order to say “yes” to some great things that God has in store for us. When we first arrived in Uganda, I took on any project that anyone asked me to help with since I didn’t have anything really up and running with our ministry yet. However, now that our ministry is really taking off, I’ve realized (with the help of wise counsel from my wife and our pastor), that I have to really focus my efforts. I had spread myself out too thin and didn’t really concentrate my efforts on one area. God has blessed our ministry of vocational training and discipleship and I needed to focus my efforts on those areas. We have some exciting developments that we will be adding to our ministry in the near future, but we won’t be able to implement these without saying no to other things.

Back in Uganda, we have hit the ground running with a week of vocational training at Global Theological Seminary, a trip to Western Uganda for a wedding, and countless hours working on the farm to get ready for planting in the coming days when the rains begin.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support of our ministry! We really can’t do it without you!

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Grateful!

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 03:10:00 GMT

We are now just a couple of days away from leaving the States and heading back to Uganda. We were blessed to be able to spend two months in the States and as I reflect on our time here, I am truly grateful!

I’m grateful for all our friends and family that we were able to reconnect with (though a bit sad there were so many we didn’t get to see).

I’m grateful that my kids’ friends welcomed them back with open arms.

I’m grateful for all the churches and civic organizations that gave up their pulpit or podium to allow us to share our story.

I’m grateful for our awesome staff back home that kept everything running while we were away.

I’m grateful for the friend that helped to get our maize harvested.

I’m grateful for friends that took care of our finances back in Uganda.

I’m grateful for a friend that fixed my vehicle in Uganda while we were away.

I’m grateful for an awesome Board of Directors for Heart for Uganda.

I’m grateful for our new volunteer bookkeeper.

I’m grateful for friends that invited us over or took us out to a meal.

I’m grateful for family and friends that gave us a place to stay while here.

I’m grateful that we were able to raise the money to build a house for our farm manager.

I’m grateful for my father-in-law for getting our 4-Runner up and running with tags, insurance, a new battery, and a full tank of gas.

I’m thankful for friends that sent Vicki and me to a bed and breakfast to get refreshed.

I’m grateful for an awesome church family and Sunday School group.

I’m grateful for the friend that allowed us to borrow his truck while here.

I’m grateful for the friend that organized our airport pickup.

I’m grateful for parents that picked us up from the airport and will wake up very early on Saturday morning to take us there.

I’m grateful for friends that slipped us money to help with expenses while we were here.

I’m grateful for the Directors that donated to buy a camera for our organization.

I’m grateful that we were able to spend the holidays with our extended family this year.

I’m grateful for the free eye exams.

I’m grateful for my sister that did Vicki’s hair for her.

I’m grateful for the new monthly donors to Heart for Uganda.

I’m quite sure that I left off many blessings that we have received while we have been back, and I’m grateful for everyone that came alongside us. Thank you all for walking with us in this journey!

Thank you!

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No-Till Farming

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 17:02:00 GMT

Yesterday, I spoke at First United Methodist Church in Throckmorton, Texas and met a man that shared he has been doing no-till farming since 2008. When he started no-till farming, he jumped in with both feet and moved all of his acres to no-till farming. He said that the “old timers” would laugh at him and say that he was so lazy that he didn’t even bother plowing his farm.

The benefits of no-till farming include: labor savings, fuel savings, erosion reduction, moisture retention, increased water infiltration and improved soil microbiology while achieving the same or increased yields over conventional tillage systems. No-till farming has been growing in adoption every year and reached almost 100 million acres in the US in 2012 which is nearly 35% of all cropland acreage. In addition to this, 76 million acres (27%) are cultivated using “conservation tillage” methods. This means that 62% of all tillage acreage in the US saw some type of conservation tillage practices and this number is growing each year.

This hit home with me because the benefits of using Farming God’s Way have shown proven increases in yield of around 7-10 times over traditional farming practices. One of the major technologies of Farming God’s Way is no-till farming; however, we receive the same response from others when we are preparing our fields using Farming God’s Way. People would walk by and laugh at us and comment that “we were not serious farmers” because we were not plowing our land. They would say that what we were doing would never work just like the “old timers” would say about the farmer in Throckmorton.

It is very difficult to get people to change the “way they’ve always done it”, but that doesn’t mean we should continue to train people on these farming practices. Real change is hard and being a pioneer is difficult, but it is worth it.

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Business Competition

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 18:36:00 GMT

Today I began working with a group of youth from an organization called One More Child to train and mentor them through a business competition. One More Child is the organization that I work with to mentor their general manager and teach a discipleship class to their house managers. One More Child works with about 280 children from the Masese slums around Jinja to provide education, housing, food, and mentorship. These youth that I am working with are aged 13-17 and are in grade Primary 7.

The Ugandan education system is made up of 7 years of primary school and then some students go on to secondary school contingent on them passing the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). These youth took the PLE on Monday and Tuesday and are now waiting on the results which will come sometime in January. If they pass, they go on to secondary school. If they fail, they could be finished with their education and therefore finished with One More Child and out on their own at the young age of 13-17.

The directors of One More Child asked me to organize a business training program for these youth as they await the results of their exams. They wanted to make sure these students are equipped to earn an income in case they do not pass their exam and are out on their own. We conducted this training last November, but this year we decided to turn it into a business competition.

I will give them a crash course on business management, they will develop a business plan, One More Child will give them a small loan to start, and then they will operate their business for a month. The top three youth with the most profit will earn prizes from One More Child, but all of them will get to keep the money that they earn during the competition.

The youth are very excited about this competition and I can’t wait to see what kinds of businesses they come up with! Please join me in prayer for this process and that they will score high enough on their PLE to go to secondary school.

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South Africa

Wed, 14 Oct 2015 14:45:00 GMT

I was very blessed to have an opportunity to travel to South Africa to attend a week long Farming God’s Way training event called Infield Mentoring. There were several purposes of this week including: sharpening our training skills, reaching out to three different communities teaching Farming God’s Way, assisting farmers in these communities with setting up their Farming God’s Way gardens, assessing prospective Farming God’s Way accredited trainers (infield mentoring), and to network with other Farming God’s Way family members. There were people from all over the world at this training.

We were in a town in South Africa called Keiskammahoek, which was once an important commercial center for timber and agriculture industries. From what we saw while we were there, the agriculture has declined greatly since it was a commercial center. In fact we saw many fields with beautiful terraces completely abandoned. They had totally given up on farming because the farming practices they were using were not yielding much and it was no longer profitable for them to farm.

Abandoned farmland

This is where Farming God’s Way comes in! Using the Farming God’s Way practices, not only can the land be redeemed and restored, but the people can also be redeemed and restored. In fact, two women in the group we trained accepted Christ after I shared the Gospel during two of the sessions I taught! Farming God’s Way is an excellent way to reach people for Christ. I wrote a blog post about how that is carried out, you can read it here .

These two ladies are now sisters in Christ!

Our team lead a group of 56 community members and spent 3 days teaching them Farming God’s Way. We implemented a small demonstration garden, put together a compost heap, built ten 40 meter planting strings, and helped lay out some farmer’s fields using Farming God’s Way. It was a great week! I learned so much from my mentors in the Farming God’s Way family.

Our team

Me teaching the step by step Farming God’s Way procedures through a translator

Putting in a small demonstration garden

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Blessed!

Fri, 04 Sep 2015 14:12:00 GMT

I’ve been averaging one blog post per month, and though I just posted one two days ago, I felt led to write one today. I was driving to our land today and just spending time with God reflecting on what He has done for us and how blessed I am. I felt compelled to write a post about how God has blessed me, my family and our ministry since we began this journey over one year ago. This may get a bit long and I’m sure I’m going to miss a ton of people that have blessed us along the way, so I apologize in advance for both of those items.

Here are some ways that God has blessed me/us in this journey (in no particular order):

First up is my beautiful bride, Vicki. She is an absolute blessing to me, to our kids and to people around her. She has been perfectly willing to give up on the dreams we had for our life and move to the other side of the world to be obedient to God and to serve His people. God has been so good to me to give her to me as a wife!

Meegan Weaver Photography http://meeganweaver.com

Next are my awesome kids, Paytyn, Morgan and Olivia. They are a blessing from God as well and were willing to give up friends, family, good candy, McDonalds, basketball, volleyball, softball, band, comfort, etc. I’m blessed that Paytyn and Morgan have professed Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They have adjusted so well here and I couldn’t ask for a better girls!

Meegan Weaver Photography http://meeganweaver.com

God blessed us during our transition to Uganda by allowing us to sell our home, replace the roof, sell our vehicles, sell most of our possessions and raise the money we needed for startup funds and monthly support.

Our home church, Faith Baptist Church-Wichita Falls, has been a huge blessing as well! The church as a whole supports us prayerfully and financially and the members of Faith Baptist make up a large percentage of our total monthly support. Whenever we have a need, they have stepped up to meet it. They have sent a team here to check on us and bless us (more on that in a bit). Honestly, we wouldn’t be here serving without Faith Baptist Church! With their help, we were able to raise our startup funds and be fully funded in 5 months! They are allowing me to preach and our family to speak at two other events while we are on furlough and are planning on sending 3 teams next year. Pastor Craig meets with me every other week on a video call to check on me, encourage me, and pray for me. Jeff White has been a great encourager, in fact we had a video call last night that put the wind back in my sails.

Our Sunday school class from Faith Baptist Church has been a huge blessing to us as well. They make up a large percentage of our monthly support on their own. Two of the members are on our board, they have sent us care packages, and sent us a TON of stuff with some of the visitors that have come! Some of the people in the class were instrumental in discipling me, and without them, we wouldn’t be here today.

Vicki’s parents allowed us to move in with them for 6 months after we sold our house and has allowed us to keep our car, our container and some of our old furniture at their house. Vicki’s mom is soon coming on her 3rd (yes 3rd!) trip to visit us in 14 months! They blessed us by taking us on a safari on their last visit.

My parents came to visit us as well, which is a huge feat given my dad has bad knee problems and being on a plane for that long is very hard on him. He sold his ’52 Dodge pickup to help pay for their trip to see us.

We had a team from Faith Baptist Church (Beth Edfeldt, Ben Edfeldt, and Pastor Craig Lile) come for a visit to see our ministry first-hand and to just love on us and bless us. Beth has been a huge blessing to Vicki by weekly checking in on her, asking how she can pray for her and just being a great friend. It was very good for Vicki to have Beth come and love on her for a week or so. Beth also took some great photos for us! Ben was a blessing to me by asking me all the hard questions and helping me to improve on some areas of life and ministry. Ben continues to check in on me to pray for me and ask those hard questions. Pastor Craig was a blessing to us and our kids by loving on us, praying with us and giving sound advice and exhortation. They also brought us so many goodies from the church and our Sunday school that we could have opened up a convenience store!!!

We also had Chris and Meegan Weaver come to visit and they were a huge blessing to us! They came and helped us work on the land, see our ministry, take photographs and love on us. They counseled us and helped us walk through some marital and extended family issues which was a huge blessing. Meegan took some updated family photos for us, which was very cool because she is AWESOME! She also donated some to us last year before we left for Uganda. They also blessed us with a mini-vacation after they saw how stressed and tired we were. This vacation helped our family to reconnect, refocus and reenergize. It came at exactly the right time!

Caleb and Jamie Deerinwater stopped by for a few days while they were in Uganda on a trip to check on some sponsorship kids that they work with. They were a huge blessing to us as well and took some great photos for us to use on some of our marketing. They have blessed us with a very generous donation to purchase something on our needs list! Thank you!!!

Justin Wren, a friend I met at Farming God’s Way training, also came to visit us and blessed us with his friendship.

Our Board of Directors have been a blessing as well. They include: Patrick Martin, Brad Davidson, Michael Gilmore, Scott Brooks, David Cook, Caleb Perkins, Kyle Mobley, Adam Beam, Denver Barnett, Chad Crowley, Ken Hogan, Stewart Cobb, and Adam Whitmire. They are all helpful, supportive and have blessed our ministry but I wanted to highlight a few. Patrick Martin serves as our Board President, but he also checks our post office box, makes deposits, mails things for us, handles our banking issues, motivates the board, listens to me rant and is an awesome blessing! Brad Davidson is our Board Secretary but he allowed me to drive one of his trucks for 6 months before we left after I sold my truck. He also allows me to vent and rant from time to time. Scott Brooks has donated a ton of printing and did a ton more at reduced prices for us, which is a tremendous blessing for a new organization without a marketing budget! He brings years of ministry management experience to the table as well! David Cook has designed our Heart for Uganda logo as well as a brochure. Chad Crowley has designed a logo for our Vocare Ministries organization (the name of the NGO in Uganda), and has been consulting us regarding social media and is helping us with our website. I could go on and on about all of these Board members, but just know that they are a tremendous blessing to us!

Dr. Kevin and Sharon Thomas have blessed us by allowing us to stay at their home during our upcoming furlough in addition to being huge supporters of our ministry.

Our monthly supporters are also a huge blessing to us. There are so many that I won’t name them all individually, but please know that we are so very thankful for their contributions to our ministry. We couldn’t do it without their help! We know that many families sacrifice greatly to ensure that we can minister to Ugandans and we know the responsibility that we have to use the funds in the best way possible. We don’t take this responsibility lightly!

We also have a couple of churches in addition to Faith Baptist Church that support us. First United Methodist Church in Throckmorton and First Baptist Church in Henrietta also support our efforts. We also have an organization called Completing the Task that supports our ministry. We are very blessed to have these as part of our team!

Our prayer partners! We know that there are tons of people that pray for us. We know that because we can feel them! We know that we are being lifted up because we face a huge battle here and couldn’t do it without the countless people back home praying for us. I was reminded of the fact that there are so many people lifting us up last night when I talked with Jeff White.

People who supported our purchase of the land are a huge blessing to us. We started the fundraising for the land in December thinking that it would take us a while to raise the funds, but we had the full purchase price raised in 1 month. This was mostly due to a very generous donor that donated a huge majority of the funds necessary to purchase the land. This land has already been bearing fruit by giving us an opportunity to witness to many people that are not being reached and to disciple some young men.

People who supported the purchase of a second vehicle for us are a huge blessing to us as well. I learned today that an 18 year old neighbor of our land was killed in a motorcycle accident where he was ran off the road by a truck. Riding a motorcycle to our land was my only alternative before we purchased the second vehicle. Several days of the week our van was being used by Vicki for carpool duties.

We have been blessed with some great Ugandan staff that support our mission and enable us to complete our work. I’m blown away by the faithfulness of these guys! For example, I’ve been busy this week going to the capital city to get paperwork completed for the registration of our NGO (Ugandan nonprofit), so I haven’t been able to check on our farm manager until today. I checked on him and was floored by the amount of work he was able to complete!

Our pastor here in Uganda, Pastor Terry and his wife Debbie, have been a great blessing to us a well! They have welcomed us, had us over for dinner several times, invited us to parties, showed me the ropes, given us advice, prayed for us, mentored us and countless other things. They are the real deal!

Our new friends in Uganda have also been a huge blessing to us. There are some really great people here and we have enjoyed getting to know them!

Chris Sperling, Grant Dryden, Joshua Kakande and Bill Stough have blessed me by training me and mentoring me in the Farming God’s Way practices. These guys are selfless in emptying themselves and I have learned so much from them!

Bosco Mukiibi is the general manager of an organization here in Jinja and has been a huge blessing to me in learning how to navigate culture and working with Ugandans. I’ve saved myself countless headaches by consulting with him first.

I have been blessed by a generous donor to be able to attend a Farming God’s Way In-field Mentoring session to begin my Farming God’s Way accreditation journey in South Africa later this month.

We are thankful for all the people that have taken time to send care packages, letters, notes, calls, etc. They bless us more than you know!!!

I really could go on and on and on, but I’m already over 2,100 words, so I’ll have to stop there! If I missed recognizing someone or left someone out, please forgive me as it was not intentional. I’m sure I’ll think of 50 more people that I didn’t thank as soon as I publish this.

I will be forever grateful to all of these people mentioned above and am so happy to have them as part of the Heart for Uganda team. We couldn’t accomplish our mission here without a support team back home, so I want to thank you again!

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Reaching People for Christ through Farming God’s Way

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 11:36:00 GMT

I’ve been asked how our land and Farming God’s Way can be used to reach people for Christ. I thought I would write a blog post to describe how we intend to use the land along with Farming God’s Way to reach people for Christ and to disciple them.

We intend to use our land as a “light on a hill” by implementing Farming God’s Way practices to high standards and then using that opportunity to share Christ. We have been implementing demonstration gardens that show the differences between Farming God’s Way and traditional farming practices. We have also been implementing large scale gardens to prove that these practices can be carried out on larger pieces of land.

While we have been putting in our demonstration gardens, we received lots of attention by everyone in the village and people passing by. Very few boda bodas or cars pass by without stopping to ask why we are farming in the way we are (or to try to figure out what a mzungu or white person is doing on a farm in Uganda). We have had countless opportunities to share what Farming God’s Way is and why we are using it.

People are very skeptical about what we are doing because it is something they have never seen and is very different from the way they are used to farming. I can explain all the benefits and reasons why we do what we do, but the proof is really in the pudding. They won’t believe until they actually see it. I learned this working with a Uganda man as I began to teach him about Farming God’s Way. I even showed him 7 1/2 hours of the Farming God’s Way DVD and he didn’t believe until he saw the results of the maize we grew on our first demonstration garden.

Once we have a successful crop and people can see what we are doing, we will have a better opportunity to share Farming God’s Way and ultimately Christ with them. Right now, I’m just the crazy Mzungu working in the garden doing strange things. The differences in results are staggering and people will be really interested in learning once they see the results. I spoke with the Community Development Officer in Mayuge District where our land is and he said the record yield in the district for maize is six 50kg bags per acre. Amazima Ministries received forty 50kg bags on an acre last season. That’s a pretty big increase that is sure to get noticed!

Farming God’s Way includes three spheres – Biblical, Technology and Management. If we just taught the technology and management spheres, we would be missing the root of the problem of poverty. One trainer in Uganda says that if we teach farmers to get better yields, but don’t share the gospel with them, we are just making the road to hell smoother for them.

The Biblical sphere includes the following keys:

When we teach about acknowledging God and God alone, we teach that there is only one true God and we come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, who dies on a cross for us to have the free gift of eternal life. We are no longer slaves to this world’s system and traditions, but we have been adopted into His family and we have the privilege of knowing God as our Father.

Consider your ways teaches that we are the temple of the living God. We teach that we need to consider the way that we have been living and repent so that God can lead us to holiness. When we do this, we give God His rightful place in our lives.

Understanding God’s all sufficiency helps us to break the dependency syndrome that has been created by many years of handouts. We teach to rely on God and God alone because He is all sufficient. God gave man everything he needed to live a full and prosperous life, we just need to teach people that what they already have is enough and they don’t need to rely on handouts from outsiders.

What you sow is what you reap teaches about stewardship and faithfulness with what we have been entrusted with. We teach to sow bountifully, knowledgeably, faithfully and with joy. If we sow God’s all sufficiency, as unto the Lord, we will reap in joy. This joy comes from a contentment and deep satisfaction in the things of God and following through with this relationship into all areas of our lives.

Bringing your tithes and offerings to God teaches that giving to the Lord brings Him honor and acknowledges Him in a way we can’t understand. Giving to the Lord forces us to consider a cause outside of ourselves and begins the journey into selflessness where we put His kingdom before our own selfish end.

Staking your claim is where we teach the importance of prayer and spiritual warfare. We should be taking God into all areas of our lives, including our farms.

So, as you can see, Farming God’s Way is more than just a way to get better yields, but a way to share the gospel and disciple farmers along the way. We are very excited about some great conversations we have already had on our farm and look forward to even more as our maize begins to grow! We should be planting in the next week or so.

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Introducing Alex Video

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 16:36:00 GMT

Check out this video about our farm manager, Alex. He is a testimony of how discipleship works. He was a product of our evangelism and discipleship efforts and now he is a blessing to Heart for Uganda!

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Landowner Struggles in Uganda

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:21:00 GMT

We have been blessed by some gracious donors that enabled us to purchase 22 acres of land in a neighboring district called Mayuge. Mayuge District has the second highest percentage of Muslims in all of Uganda, so it is a great place to be a light on a hill for Christ in the heart of Islamic territory. I really feel that God has called us specifically to this location to have an impact in that area for the Kingdom and I’ve had others tell me the exact same thing when they visited the land.

As I’ve had to learn quite quickly, being a landowner in Uganda is much different than back in the states! The first issue we have run into is related to culture. In the book, African Friends and Money Matters, the author notes that in African culture, if something is not being actively used, it is considered “available”. We have purchased 22 acres and we are doing everything by hand. This means we are only using a portion of the land, currently deeming the rest of the land “available”. This means that everyone with a cow or goat within a 2 mile radius is bringing their animals to graze our land. This may not seem like a big deal, but we are doing a farming practice called Farming God’s Way that utilizes mulch (God’s blanket in FGW vernacular). We were growing grasses as God’s blanket on the rest of the land, however the neighbors don’t understand that we are actually using the grasses we are growing and have no problem letting their cows and goats eat up the grass. On top of that, the cows and goats get loose and eat up the mulch coverage we have on our crops, destroying hours and hours of work in a single evening! Their hooves are also destroying our planting stations! It’s very disheartening to have put in so much work to have it destroyed by animals!

We’ve tried to explain to these cattle and goat herders that we are using the grass, but it is falling on deaf ears because they don’t understand the value of mulch. We really need to ensure that we have good demonstration crops this season because we are the talk of the county! We are doing something radically different than they have ever seen. If our crops fail because cows and goats destroy our mulch and crops, we will have a really difficult time winning over the villagers to try our method of farming or even listening to us share the Gospel.

Some of the cows eating up our mulch

I know what you are thinking…just build a fence around it and call it good. It’s not as simple as you might think to “just” build a fence. We can’t use wood posts here because termites will absolutely destroy the posts in a matter of weeks rendering your fence useless. We can’t use T-posts or other metal posts because people steal these posts to sell as scrap metal. That means we have to use concrete posts that are set in concrete, which is very expensive. On top of that, even if we had enough money to build a fence now, we can’t because we do not have anyone staying on the land full time. When no one is there, people will steal the chain link or barbed wire to also sell as scrap metal.

Our farm manager, Alex, currently lives about 2 miles away in a neighboring trading center and rides a bike to the farm on work days. That means that during the early mornings, evenings and weekends there is no one overseeing the land and that is when the neighbors take advantage of us. Having him away also means that it is difficult for him to get to the land on some days during the rainy season.

Alex was unable to live with his wife and four children when he was serving as a security guard because he lived in a barracks setup where there was no where for his family to live. Alex is from the far northwest part of Uganda and it is a days journey to reach his home. When he was a security guard, we went a year and a half without seeing his family! His wife and kids moved to the trading center when he took the job as farm manager for us. However, she did not speak any of the languages spoken in Mayuge. This caused her to be ridiculed by others in the trading center and ended up moving back to the village. She desires to be with Alex, but she couldn’t handle the shame she faced not being able to communicate. Alex has indicated that she will move their family back if they have a place to live outside of the trading center.

Another issue we have run into is that we don’t have a place on our land for storing our farming tools, seeds, etc. We are currently storing them in a neighbor’s house, but as our farm grows and we start farming more and more, we need to have a location to store our tools that is on the land and secure.

Another issue we face is that we want to eventually raise pigs, chickens and goats on our property and teach the farmers the best practices for raising these animals as part of our vocational training program. We can’t do this until we have a fence because 3 month old piglets sell for about 250,000 Ugandan shillings, which is an average Ugandan’s monthly salary! I’ve heard story after story of people getting their animals stolen without proper security. Also, a friend of mine shared that he is also in a Muslim area and had an issue with Muslims poisoning his pigs.

The final issue (that I’ve found thus far) is that from my experience with the last demonstration gardens I had, without a fence, the neighbors will also help themselves to our crops before we can harvest them. I don’t have an issue with sharing the harvest with neighbors, but I would like to know the yields that we produce so we can show how much better Farming God’s Way is than traditional farming practices.

All that being said, we have land and we are working on cultivating the land, but our ability to ensure we have good results and offer a well rounded training program including animal rearing are hampered by the fact that we don’t have a fence to properly safeguard our assets. We can’t have a fence because we don’t have someone on the property most of the time and we have no where to securely store our tools and equipment.

We would like to begin to alleviate this issue by building a house for Alex on the property along with a storage room to secure our tools and equipment. This won’t solve all of our problems, but will help to reduce most of the issues we are facing. Alex can keep the cows and goats off the property, their family can be together again, and we can store our assets securely. The cost of the house for Alex and the storage room is approximately $7,000. If you would like to come alongside us to help solve these problems and be a blessing to Alex, you can donate to our Needs List. To do this, simply go to www.heartforuganda.com/needs-list . Thank you for your prayerful consideration!

Our farm manager, Alex

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So Thankful!

Tue, 04 Aug 2015 04:42:00 GMT

Have you ever been given something and you really wanted to show your gratitude, but you just couldn’t find the appropriate words? Well, this is exactly how I’m feeling.

Our family has been so incredibly blessed by several friends and family members coming to visit us over the past three months. Our home was full of visitors the entire three months with the exception of a couple of weeks. Please don’t misunderstand me…I wouldn’t trade a single second of our guests being with us, but by the three months end we were exhausted! Our last guests, two dear friends of ours from back home, were given some money by their friends at their church. The instructions given by the generous friends were…you’ll know what to do with it. So, our friends gave us the money to go on a much needed family vacation. Can I just tell you what an overwhelming feeling that is to be given something you need so badly at JUST the right time?! Thank you friends at Loving Baptist Church for your unbelievable generosity that was an answer to our prayers!

I’d like to share with you what we did on our little family getaway!

Our first two nights were spent at a quiet little place called Banana Village. It was full of curious little monkeys, beautiful grounds and a relaxing pool! On our first full day we visited the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, also known as the Entebbe Zoo. I have to admit I had very low expectations for this place, but I was pleasantly surprised! We had such a great time there and the exhibits were amazing!

We were able to really rest and relax as a family. It enabled us to recharge and get ready to focus on the next steps of our ministry. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, dear friends at Loving Baptist Church!!! Thank you to Chris & Meegan Weaver for knowing what to do with the money given to you. It truly was an answer to prayer and such a blessing to our family!

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Reflections One Year In

Sat, 25 Jul 2015 11:31:00 GMT

We have been in Uganda over one year now, though it seems like forever and yesterday all at the same time. We’ve actually been here for over 13 months and I’m just now getting around to writing this blog post about our experiences here for our first year. We have had highs and we have had lows. This has been the hardest thing that we have ever done as a family. I would like to say that it has been rewarding, but it doesn’t always feel that way. All I know is that we have been obedient to God’s call on our lives and we are told again and again in the Bible that we will face persecution, so we shouldn’t be surprised.

God has really blessed our ministry and here are some things that He has used us to do:

At the same time, we have faced significant trials including:

I really made a big mistake by becoming so busy, so quickly and unfortunately had reached burnout. I was so busy with ministry and was burning my candle at both ends and really just hit a wall. I was neglecting my quiet time, reading time, my kids and my marriage. I was frustrated because I really didn’t have anyone to talk to about it on this side and I didn’t feel that anyone back home would really understand. Thankfully, some great friends came to visit and helped us work though this. I’ve learned that I need to be intentional about making some time for myself and Vicki and the girls. The sad thing is that I had wise council from people early on that I needed to do this, but I’m really a slow learner and often have to learn things the hard way. Vicki will be writing a blog post about a little get away that they blessed us with that refreshed and reenergized us!

We are now refreshed and focused on what God has for us next. We are so grateful to the people that have supported our efforts both prayerfully and financially. I can’t say this enough, but we can’t do it without that support. Thank you so much! If you are interested in coming alongside the work we are doing in Uganda, you can become a monthly or one time donor at www.heartforuganda.com/donate .

We will be continuing efforts to disciple and teach vocational training to young men in Uganda. Thanks to some great donors, we have been blessed to have been able to purchase 22 acres of land in a district that has the second highest percentage of Muslims in Uganda. We feel that God has intentionally placed us in this area so that we can be salt and light. We will be teaching the youth in this community job skills so that they can provide for their family’s needs without outside support and break the dependency syndrome. We feel that if we can throughly equip these young men through job skills training and discipleship, there will be fewer orphans, widows, hunger, HIV, etc. We have hired a bi-vocational pastor to teach small engine repair to these young men and assist with discipling them. We will also be teaching them farming practices using Farming God’s Way . If you would like to come alongside us on this project, we have many needs on this land including: building a fence around the land to keep out cows, goats, chickens, thieves, etc, building a small home to house our farm manager to keep him from having to ride a bicycle 5 miles to work each day and to provide security on the land, building a small storage room on the land to store our tools instead of keeping them at a neighbor’s house, building latrines, building a well, etc. If you would like to help with these needs, you can donate to our “Needs List” by clicking here .

We will also be teaching Farming God’s Way, business and small engine repair to between 55-70 seminary students from all over East Africa at Global Theological Seminary. We have taught one term and the second starts up on August 3rd. We feel blessed to have this opportunity to equip these pastors to equip their congregations.

God is good!

Meegan Weaver Photography http://meeganweaver.com

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Uganda Experience Part 1-Guest Post by Kimberlyn Pace

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 15:14:00 GMT

I have been living with the Ostermanns for two weeks now and I am convinced of this- the Ostermann family is one of the most lovely and hospitable families I have ever met! They took me in and have taken care of me so well. Wow, I am thankful for them.

I am a student at Texas A&M University and I was presented with the incredible opportunity to do my required internship with Heart for Uganda. Being a Soil and Crop Science major, Farming God’s Way is actually the coolest thing I have ever heard of! Especially considering I want to do something very similar to what they do as my career. So, you can imagine how excited I was to be able to come here.

I would like to take a minute (well, maybe several minutes) to give y’all some insight into what is currently going on. Heart for Uganda has purchased land around 45 minutes away from Jinja. Being the end of the rainy season, there isn’t much you can grow, so we are taking this time to prepare the land for planting before the next rainy season, which will come around August/September. This means clearing the fields of vegetation and in turn using those plants as God’s Blanket (mulch covering). The goal is to have the fields 100% covered, which is definitely easier said than done! Especially because all work here is done completely by hand, so it naturally takes longer.

Klint has also drawn out a plan for the land and where he wants everything, so we laid out stakes and began to measure out the different fields. He has space for a Well Watered Garden and several small scale demonstration plots, as well as space for a larger scale model of what an entire field would look like if it was planned using Farming God’s Way as a guideline. In the future, he is also planning on putting pigs and chickens out there, as well as several buildings. The goal is to bring students out there to attend classes and workshops, that way they can not only learn how to do the techniques, but also see the end results and what they are working towards.

And, luckily, Heart for Uganda’s land is right up along a fairly busy road, with many people walking by throughout the day. They will have no choice but to see the HUGE difference between traditional agriculture and Farming God’s Way! Hopefully soon they will come to a place where they are ready to change their practices- because with Uganda’s rapidly increasing population and rapidly decreasing number of farmers, the need is very present.

If you could, be in prayer for the farmers here. Some see the crops produced through Farming God’s Way and opt to change their practices, but many do not. They have a lot of trust in the practices they have always done, even when they are yielding hardly anything, making it hard for them to just abandon those practices in favor of something new and different from the status quo. Also, pray that the Gospel would be proclaimed through this program and through this land! Because every technique and practice in Farming God’s Way is backed up with scripture, the Truth is written all over it and anyone who inquires about the farming will be answered with God’s wisdom.

In conclusion, the Ostermanns are helping meet a tremendous need here in a really great way, and I am so thankful to be able to have a small part in that for the next five weeks. I also want to thank y’all for your support, because I can see the good that it is doing here and y’all are making

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Closing Thoughts–Guest Post by Ben Edfeldt

Wed, 27 May 2015 16:23:00 GMT

A few closing thoughts:

Those are my immediate thoughts as we’re just a few days away from being there. I’m sure that as I process it, there will be more.

That being said, I could not be more proud to be friends with Klint and Vicki Ostermann. I’m so thankful to be a partner with them as they serve in Uganda. If you want to follow them, partner with them, or lead a team there to serve, the best way is to go to their website ( www.heartforuganda.com ). You can donate there, you can click on the Facebook link at the top of the page that will lead you to the FB page that you can follow (the same with Twitter). Klint writes a regular newsletter and regularly updates their Facebook page. It’s a fledgling ministry that is starting to make some impact in Jinja – a ministry focused on bringing glory to the Lord there and here.

By the way – I am reading a great book that really complimented our experience. It’s The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken. Ripken had been a missionary in Africa and I believe is currently serving somewhere in Asia. So far, the book has served as an autobiography of sorts. It’s easy to read, but deals with difficult subjects and Ripken litters the book with great thought provoking ideas about serving, persecution, and missions.

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Need for Vehicle

Sun, 24 May 2015 17:35:00 GMT

It has become very evident in the past couple of months that we need a second vehicle. We currently have a van that Vicki and I are sharing; however, we are involved in different ministries and commitments that take us in separate directions. As an example, Vicki has carpool duties on Mondays and Fridays at 8:30 am and 12 pm, so I am limited on being able to work out where our land is located on those days. This is because the drive to the land is 45 minutes each direction, so it is not worth the fuel cost to just go for a half day. On Wednesdays, I have 3 different discipleship classes I teach, so I can’t go to the land on Wednesdays. On Thursdays, Vicki uses the van all day for Sole Hope village work, so I’m not able to go to the land on Thursdays. That leaves Tuesdays as the only day the van is able to be used to go to the land. Essentially, our ability to serve is cut in half with sharing a single vehicle.

I’m also destroying our van by driving it out to the land. A good bit of the drive to the land is via dirt roads that have been destroyed by sugar cane trucks. There is also a swamp that we have to drive through that is pretty muddy in the rainy season. The van is not really the best vehicle to be driving back and forth to the land. We have attempted to get by with a motorcycle; however, the motorcycle is not practical for hauling supplies for working on the land and is very dangerous to operate in Uganda.

We are looking at purchasing a 1996-1998 Toyota Prado which will give us seating for 7 and space for hauling tools and supplies. These vehicles cost between $12,000-14,000. Vehicles hold their value very well in Uganda because they are all imported in from Japan and the demand for them is very high. Here is an example of a 1997 Toyota Prado with 140,000 miles. This is a diesel, 4 wheel drive vehicle. The asking price is $14,000.

We sincerely appreciate those that have supported our ministry thus far. Heart for Uganda wouldn’t be where it is now without you! We thank you in advance for helping meet these needs so we can then bless those here in Uganda! May God bless your generosity towards others!

If you would like to donate to any of these items, please send a check designated to “Needs List” to:

Heart for Uganda
PO Box 9688
Wichita Falls TX 76308

or donate via credit or debit card at the link below:

Thank you so much for your support of our ministry!

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Global Theological Seminary Partnership

Mon, 27 Apr 2015 17:22:00 GMT

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with a seminary in Jinja, Uganda called Global Theological Seminary (GTS). As you may recall, our mission is to empower individuals and organizations in Uganda to meet their needs in culturally relevant and sustainable ways. The primary means by which we accomplish this is through discipleship, vocational training, business training, and leadership training. GTS desired to add vocational training and business training to their curriculum by adding a week to each of their quarterly four week training sessions. During this week we will equip their 55-70 students with small engine repair training, farming training, and business training. Each student is in seminary for 3 years, so they will get 12 weeks of training by the time they graduate.

As you may recall, our goal is to create a vocational training program that will begin in February of 2015 called Vocare Ministries. Vocare will be a year long training program where students are first discipled, then equipped with two vocations, and finally trained on how to run a business. The initial vocations will be small engine repair and farming so that we can piggy back on the training we are doing with GTS.

I’m very excited to be able to train these students at GTS because most of them are pastors from all over East Africa. As icing on the cake, GTS will be allowing us to use their dormitories, latrines, showers, kitchen, and classrooms for our Vocare students! This means that we can begin our training right away without the need to build our own buildings on the land we are purchasing. Eventually, we will want our own facilities, but this meets our needs at the moment.

It is so awesome to watch God work out all of these details and partnerships. God is good, all the time!

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Strong Men, Fortified Cities, and Giants!

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 17:18:00 GMT

It’s easy to judge the Israelites in the Old Testament isn’t it? I mean, wouldn’t you trust God if you saw all the plagues He performed in Egypt? I live next to the Nile River and if I saw him turn it into blood, I think I would believe! How about three days of darkness over Egypt, but light over the Israelites? Wouldn’t you trust in His provision? How could they not trust God when they saw Him part the Red Sea and then walked across dry ground, only to watch the massive army chasing you get destroyed by the waters? Shouldn’t the Israelites have trusted God then? What about getting led by pillars of clouds and fire, or manna in the desert, or quail all over the ground, or water from a stone, or defeating Amalek? The Israelites even heard with their own ears God speaking to Moses! How on earth could the Israelites not trust that if God had brought them through everything so far, He would continue to provide for them? I think that if I were there, I would have trusted God completely! At least that’s what I thought before God opened my eyes to my own hypocrisy! Let me explain how that happened…

I do some discipleship with a man named Bosco, a general manager for an organization called One More Child that ministers and supports over 250 children from the slums around Jinja. We’ve been studying various men of the Bible and learning leadership lessons from each one. This past week, we studied Joshua. Joshua was one of the 12 spies that Moses sent into Canaan, the Promised Land, to learn about the quality of the land and its inhabitants. We see in Numbers 13 and 14, that ten of the spies tell Moses that while the land is flowing with milk and honey, there are strong men, fortified cities, and even giants in the land! They even said they felt as small as grasshoppers compared to some of the inhabitants of Canaan. They wanted to go back to Egypt!

Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies that recognized that God had been faithful to deliver them this far and would continue to provide for them. Joshua said, “The Lord is with us, do not fear them.” The Israelites even tried to stone him for apostasy before the Lord stepped in.

I was telling Bosco that one lesson we can learn from Joshua and this story of the 12 spies is that we can often forget what God has brought us through and lose heart when we face our own strong men, fortified cities, and giants. I told him that we shouldn’t be like the Israelites and lose heart. It was at that moment that I felt God rebuking me for doing the same thing the Israelites did!

You see, I have my own strong men, fortified cities, and giants that I’m currently facing. We are in the process of purchasing land, which is a huge struggle in Uganda. We are working on getting our ministry registered as a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), which is another huge hurdle. We are also in the process of setting up our vocational training program. In order to do this, we need to raise additional funds to have all the people, tools, and resources in place before the first of the year when our vocational school will begin. I lost hope and felt just like the other 10 spies and even thought it might be better to go back home like the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt.

I had forgotten how God has provided for me thus far. I forgot how He raised the funds we needed to be able to live in Uganda in less than six months. I forgot how He provided a new roof for our house so we could sell it before we left for Uganda. I forgot how He helped us create a 501c3 corporation to support our mission before we left. I forgot how He brought along a whole support team to provide and pray for us while in Uganda. I forgot how He raised the funds we needed to purchase land in Uganda in one and a half months! I forgot how He provided the land He wanted us to purchase. I forgot how He has opened up so many doors for us to move our ministry along. This is no different than the Israelites forgetting about plagues, the Red Sea, manna, and hearing God.

I lost heart when I faced trials and forgot God’s provision. I was responding to these obstacles exactly opposite of Joshua. I was doing exactly opposite of what I was telling Bosco to do. I was being a hypocrite! God spoke to me and reminded me to trust in Him. Trust that He is still on the throne and will continue to provide for the calling He placed on our lives. I trust you God!

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You asked, I answered!

Wed, 25 Mar 2015 09:10:00 GMT

It’s been awhile since my last blog post mainly due to me not thinking I have much to say. Thankfully Klint had a great idea of simply asking what you’d like to hear so I’ll do my best to answer those that mentioned things they’d like to hear about. The questions asked were basically about what my day to day life is like now.

This could get pretty boring, so I applaud anyone who makes it all the way through! On Monday-Friday mornings I do carpool for Paytyn and Morgan’s school and on Mondays and Fridays I do carpool for Olivia’s school. As you can imagine my Monday and Friday mornings are a bit busy with a carload of cuties!

One crazy morning on the way to school!

On Tuesday mornings I attend a Bible study with some great ladies! It’s definitely a highlight of my week! On mornings that I don’t have commitments, I volunteer at Amani Baby Cottage in the babies’ room. It’s no surprise that I love my time there! This baby cottage is run with love and care and it shows through the sweet kiddos that live there!

Sweet baby Brianna!

This is the happiest baby boy I’ve ever seen!

On Thursdays I volunteer with Sole Hope at their village jigger removal clinics. They’re so gracious to allow me to tag along every week! I am enjoying my time with them so very much, it’s so heartbreaking but fulfilling at the same time! Sole Hope is an amazing organization born out of a deep desire to do something about these terrible parasites that can be so debilitating to people of all ages. You can learn more about what jiggers are and the amazing story of Sole Hope at www.solehope.org. I encourage you to host a shoe cutting party, it’s a great way to do something for someone on the other side of the world and have fun while doing it!

I’m taking foot notes, documenting where each jigger is removed from each patient’s foot, at a jigger removal clinic.

This is a severe case of jiggers. Infestations like this is why Sole Hope exists!

Olivia’s sweet kindergarten class was studying the letter P, so they made a penguin cake!

Being able to be with them since their schedules are different is really great! The girls are also in extracurricular activities throughout the week. Olivia has swim lessons on Mondays, Paytyn and Morgan are in a gymnastics/movement class on Tuesday afternoons, Paytyn is taking flute lessons on Wednesday afternoons and Olivia is taking ballet on Thursdays.

Paytyn and Morgan stretching with their gymnastics class

Olivia the ballerina!

That is a glimpse into what my weekly schedule looks like. Next, I’ll answer one of the questions that were added to the Heart for Uganda post that Klint put out.

Question: What are the biggest changes you have had to adapt to in the daily things…laundry, cooking…things moms do.

Answer: Laundry is a bit different because electricity is expensive. We hang our clothes out on a line, and then put them in the dryer once they’re dry for about 20 minutes. I know, this sounds weird. The reason we do this is because of these nasty little things called mango flies. They lay their eggs on your clothes while they’re drying, then when you put them on the little dudes burrow into your skin and cause a big worm to grow. Putting your clothes in the dryer kills the eggs, so I will gladly do this step! So far, no one in the family has endured a mango fly under their skin!

Cooking is different in some ways and the same in other ways. Some common ingredients that we are used to in the States just aren’t available here or they’re really expensive. The main one is CHEESE! Cheese in Uganda is disgusting; it smells like sweaty feet and doesn’t taste much better! I have found one brand from Europe, I think, but because it’s imported it is expensive. Sour cream is available from time to time, but you can’t count on it. I hear you can make your own, but I haven’t bothered to learn just yet! Meat is not the same quality as in the States and it is much more expensive! I can alter most recipes to fit what I can get here, but sometimes it’s a bit frustrating. We are able to eat familiar foods that we are accustomed to eating back home, but I have to say that traditional Ugandan food is fantastic! We eat beans, rice and sukuma wiki (think collard greens) fairly regularly. We also have become big fans of rolex. This is basically an omelet with shredded cabbage and carrot rolled up in a chapatti (very close to a tortilla). The name comes from rolled eggs…therefore you get rolex! Shopping for groceries just isn’t the same either! Going to the grocery store, especially Market Street, was my favorite chore back home. The fun has been taken out of it when you have to go to several stores and the market just to get everything on your list. The supermarkets have things like toilet paper, soap, canned foods, napkins, foil etc.… The market has vegetables, fish, clothes, hardware etc.… Our market has recently been moved from outdoors to a brand new indoor facility. No more sloshing through mud during rainy season!!!

The new market!

Traditional beans, rice and sukuma wiki! Yum!!!

As far as things moms do…I addressed what I do throughout my week and it consists of a lot of ‘mom things’. I’ve also been able to attend a few school field trips that the girls have been on. Olivia went on a field trip to see horses! Those of you that know me well know how much that thrilled me!!!

Cowgirl Olivia!

This was the SWEETEST horse!

Paytyn & Morgan with their class touring the Kakira Sugar Factory

Stay tuned for more Q & A soon. If there’s something you’ve been wanting to know….just ask!

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Bible Training Centre for Pastors

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 05:50:00 GMT

Our church in Uganda, Acacia Community Church, has began offering a program called Bible Training Centre for Pastors/Leaders (BTCP/L). The purpose of BTCP/L is to extend non-formal theological training to the world’s untrained pastors and church leaders. BTCP/L training uses a biblical, systematic, portable and comprehensive approach to providing the foundational equivalent of a good Bible college or seminary education. The training consists of 520 hours of interactive classroom lecture and discussion under the supervision of a qualified teacher, taking about 2 years to complete.

I’m currently attending BTCP/L on Tuesday and Thursday nights because I’ve never had any formal Bible training. I feel it is necessary to be equipped to serve others and equip others better. You must be discipled to make disciples.

The program includes 10 courses consisting of:

1 – Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation
2 – Old Testament Survey
3 – New Testament Survey
4 – Preaching Biblical Messages and Pastoral Ministry
5 – Bible Doctrine Survey
6 – Personal Spiritual Life
7 – Church Ministry/Administration/Education
8 – Teaching Principles and Methods
9 – Church History Survey
10 – Missions/Evangelism/Discipleship

I’m very excited about this course and becoming equipped to serve better! I’m very thankful to Acacia Community Church, Pastor Terry Nester, and East African Outreach for making this program possible!

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Discipleship Classes

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 15:38:00 GMT

Last week marked the beginning of three classes that Klint and his pastor in Uganda, Pastor Terry Nester, are teaching. These are discipleship classes using a curriculum called Biblical Foundations.

The first class is at Acacia Community Church on Sunday evenings. It is attended by 13-14 Ugandans that are looking to gain a strong Biblical foundation. Acacia Community Church is located at the former site of a Chinese restaurant called, Ling Ling’s, and the church recently converted the restaurant’s bar into a teaching room. How awesome is it that God’s Word is now being taught in a former bar!

The second class we are teaching is at an organization that ministers to about 250 children from the slums around Jinja. These children live in about 15 different houses while they are getting educated, and each house has a “house manager”. We are teaching this curriculum to these 15 house managers so that they will be equipped to properly minister to the children that live in their house.

The last class I teach is at a village church in a village called Mutai. This class is perhaps my most challenging class because very few of the students speak English so the class is taught through an interpreter. I’ve done evangelism through an interpreter many times, but this is the first time I’ve taught a class with an interpreter. This class is going to take quite a bit longer than the other two because I’m only able to get half (at best) of the material covered since time is taken to interpret the message in Luganda.

The goal of this course is to build a strong Biblical foundation by showing the students what the Word of God says. There is very little commentary, but very much asking the student to identify what God’s Word says about a particular thing. Chapters covered include: Sin & Salvation, Lordship & Obedience, Repentance & Baptism, The Holy Spirit & Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Hunger & God’s Word, Discipleship & Leadership, Spiritual Family & Church Discipline, Prayer & Worship, Faith & Hope, Prosperity & Generosity, Evangelism & World Missions, and Resurrection & Judgements.

Please be in prayer that the lives of these students will be transformed by the Holy Spirit during this course, that they will take what they have learned and go out and teach others.

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Enemy Attacks

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 15:43:00 GMT

1 Peter 5:8b, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

A couple of weeks ago, I took part in a week-long Farming God’s Way outreach in three very rural villages. We not only taught them Farming God’s Way principles, helped them setup a demonstration garden, and helped many farmers setup their own fields using Farming God’s Way, but we also prayed with them, shared the Gospel, and ministered to them.

It became very evident that the adversary did not like us doing this in these villages. From the very beginning, we came under attack. The very first day we went out to the village, our van showed up an hour late making us late to the village we were serving. The van also had a short on the battery and we had to push start it several times. Some of the training participants had left by the time we arrived. We promised to arrive promptly on time the next day.

The second day, out van showed up a half hour late again because of a flat tire, and then the driver tried to cheat us on fuel expenses at the fuel station. Shortly after the fuel station, the driver was talking on his cell phone and ran a motorcycle off the road. The motorcycle driver recovered and sped ahead of us and stopped quickly in front of us, so our driver hit him. This then evolved into a fight between the van driver and the motorcycle driver in the middle of the road! Even though we promised to arrive on time, we were again 45 minutes late.

The next day, we secured a different van and driver, but this driver was a half hour late again, so we arrived late on the third day. This driver had a young man with him that ended up backing the van into a tree and shattering the rear window, so we had to get a third van and driver for the rest of the time.

The day we helped the farmers set up their garden, we circled around the garden to pray and there was a snake right at the feet of our head trainer. We killed it because we were not sure if it was venomous or not.

Other challenges we faced this week included: one of our people getting run off the road on his motorcycle by a taxi and having to go to the hospital, several of the trainers getting sick, the fuel station putting unleaded fuel in a diesel engine of one of our trainers, one of our trainers hitting his head, and the tarp we were training under constantly getting blown away.

The good news is that even though the adversary tried to disrupt our efforts, he didn’t win! You see, 1 Peter 5:8 says that he prowls around like a roaring lion. He is an impostor, trying to imitate a lion, but he is no match for the true Lion of Judah. We had countless people praying for our efforts this week. James 4:7 says, “resist the devil and he will flee from you”. Praise God for all the great things that occurred this week in these 3 different villages! Praise God that the impostor didn’t win!

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Farming God’s Way Outreach

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 12:54:00 GMT

Last week, I was blessed with the opportunity to take part in a Farming God’s Way Outreach. There were several purposes of this week including: sharpening our training skills, reaching out to three different communities teaching Farming God’s Way, assisting farmers in these communities with setting up their FGW gardens, assessing prospective FGW accredited trainers (infield mentoring), and to network with other FGW family members.

Farming God’s Way outreach team

We started the week off getting refreshed on our skills by Grant Dryden, who is the author of all the Farming God’s Way materials. It was a great learning experience to get trained by the source himself.

Grant Dryden teaching

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we worked in three different villages around Jinja. I was on the team that trained in a village called Tongolo. We had a great group of farmers that were eager to learn.

Soil erosion demonstration

On Thursday, we worked with the farmers to help them implement a demonstration plot so they could practically learn the Farming God’s Way techniques. We also ministered to the farmers and prayed for their needs. We even had a Muslim lady ask us to pray for her! One of the trainers even demonstrated our service to them by washing a woman’s feet.

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Introducing Vocare Ministries

Mon, 09 Feb 2015 13:30:00 GMT

I wanted to share some exciting news with you about our ministry in Uganda. As you may be aware, we have a 501c3 nonprofit corporation called Heart for Uganda that provides oversight for our ministry. The next step for us is to create an organization in Uganda called a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) so that we can operate as an organization on this side of the world. We attempted to register Heart for Uganda here, but there was a Hearts and Hands Uganda and the Ministry of Registration thought those names were too close together.

Because of this denial, we needed to come up with a new name for our organization in Uganda. I feel like this was really a blessing in disguise. Let me explain… Heart for Uganda works great back home because it is an organization that has a heart for Uganda. When creating our vocational school, I’m not sure Heart for Uganda tells anyone in Uganda what we are actually doing here.

I struggled with this problem for a while until a friend invited me to meet him for lunch and told me that I needed to call our organization Vocare. He didn’t know about our denial of the name Heart for Uganda. He didn’t know I was struggling for a different name, but felt led to share Vocare with me.

Timothy Keller wrote a book about vocations called “Every Good Endeavor”. In this book, he said, “one of the hopes for our unraveling society is the recovery of the idea that all human work is not merely a job but a calling. The Latin word vocare — to call — is at the root of our common word “vocation.” Today the word often means simply a job, but that was not the original sense. A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do it and you do it for them rather than for yourself. And so our work can be a calling only if it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond merely our own interests. Thinking of work mainly as a means of self-fulfillment and self-realization slowly crushes a person and undermines society itself.”

We decided to call our ministry Vocare Ministries LTD because we seek to help men find their calling and to seek a mission of service to something beyond fulfilling their own interests.

You can check out Vocare Ministries’ website at www.vocareministries.com.

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God Gives the Growth

Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:16:00 GMT

Mark 16:15, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

I’ve been going out with a team from our church, Acacia Community Church, and doing evangelism and discipleship in a village that our church is in called Kimaka. This area is a very impoverished community that consists of many immigrants from other parts of Uganda where there are no jobs. In this community we find many Muslims, people that have believed a false gospel, and drunks.

This area seems to be very open to hearing the Gospel because when we come around; everyone is very open to listening to us and sharing their beliefs. Some have accepted the Gospel and have become Christians, but I felt like for some time, there was no fruit from our efforts. I began to get discouraged because I feel a burden for these people accepting Christ, and it wasn’t happening. I think the reason this was occurring was that God was trying to teach me a lesson. You see I held myself accountable for the number of people that got saved, and that is not my role! Look at what 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 says:

“I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

I was holding myself accountable something that I cannot do. We are just the means, not the cause. I can only be faithful to the Great Commission and trust that God will give the growth.

Once I accepted that, my heart was at peace. The next time I went out for evangelism, I came across four men that worked for a security company that told me that they were part of a works-based religion. I shared the Gospel with them and talked about the saving work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. While I was sharing, more men joined to hear what I was saying. God gave the growth and eight men accepted Christ from that group. Praise God!

That would have been a great ending, but that is not the end of this story. While we were walking back, the Ugandan man that was with me, Sam, felt the Spirit leading him to share the Gospel with a women he saw. This woman said she was a “born again”, but upon further investigation, she was not a Christian at all. Sam shared the Gospel with her in Lugandan and she accepted Christ and asked us to come back again and share with her husband. Praise God!

After we left her, we went to speak with a Muslim family that we have been making a relationship with over the past couple of months. We have been sharing with the matriarch of the family because if she accepts Christ, then the rest of her family may follow her lead. The last time I shared the Gospel with her, she told me that she wants to believe, but she needed some time to think about what I told her. This time, she told me that she still wasn’t ready, but wanted us to keep up the relationship and keep coming to check on them and pray for them. After she said that, her grown son walked by and she told us to “tell him about Jesus”. After we shared with him, God gave the growth yet again and he accepted Christ! Praise God! I’m absolutely amazed that she wasn’t ready to change, but she wanted to make sure that her son was saved!

I’m so humbled by the work that God has been doing in this village, and I’m grateful that he is using me as the means to His growth.

Pastor Andrew sharing the Gospel with workers at a distillery in Kimaka

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Me?

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 08:55:00 GMT

“ Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. ” James 5:17-18

Elijah did great things including: praying and God consistently answering prayers, raising the dead, calling fire from heaven, and may have even outran a chariot. The striking thing to me about the verse from James is, “ Elijah was a man just like us. ” I don’t know about you, but I’ve not had the same experiences that Elijah has had. I’ve prayed for years for rain back home where our lake reservoirs are below 20%, and there hasn’t been substantial rain that has fallen to raise the levels. I’ve prayed that people with cancer would be healed and they have died.

I’ve often wondered why He chose us to come serve in Uganda. I feel so under equipped for service here because there are lifelong pastors here, there are people with doctorates in theology here, there are professional missionaries here. That’s the thing though, God calls ordinary men to do His will.

I don’t know why He called an ordinary guy that worked in a bank to give up everything I knew to go serve in Uganda, but I do know that He did call me. I’m grateful that He did call me because it has stretched and grown me in more ways that I can describe. I’m glad that he uses ordinary men like Elijah. I’m humbled that he chose me with all of my faults and shortcomings.

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Thanksgiving in Uganda

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 11:42:00 GMT

This Thanksgiving contained a lot of ‘firsts’! It was our first Thanksgiving away from home and our first to host, which meant we baked a turkey and made dressing by ourselves for the very first time! It certainly wasn’t my favorite Thanksgiving, but we made the most of it!

Vanessa and I spent all day on Wednesday baking! She ROCKED a gorgeous apple pie and made fantastic fudge! I made two coconut cream pies complete with homemade sweetened shredded coconut from palm trees in my front yard! This process takes forever, but it’s so worth it! Plus, I feel a bit like a pioneer woman for figuring it out.

Vanessa spent the night with us on Wednesday night so we could get a head start on baking on Thanksgiving morning. She started our day off great with our mom’s famous cinnamon sugar monkey bread! It was just as delicious as mom’s!

We were all a bit nervous about hosting since we had never baked a turkey or made dressing before. The turkey wasn’t exactly a Butterball either! It was running around a yard one minute, then it was a carcass sitting in brine an hour or so later! Klint assumed the responsibility of the turkey and it turned out very well! I used his mom’s dressing recipe and I was very pleased with the results even though some of the ingredients in Uganda aren’t quite the same as back in the States! Vanessa made an AMAZING cranberry sauce and mom’s monkey bread. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t complete with this bread!

We invited a few friends over and had a great time celebrating thankfulness together. We even pulled up a few videos of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parades in the past so it felt a bit like home! One couple had a precious little girl that we couldn’t get enough of! After lunch, the girls and their friend Kiah played Minecraft for hours!

After everyone went home, Olivia dressed up as Mary complete with her little baby Jesus. We’re all SO thankful for the gift of Jesus!!! I’m also proud that she was ready to get the Christmas season started. It’s a bit difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when you’re still going swimming and wearing flip flops!

We ended our day by FaceTiming our families back home! That was certainly the highlight of our day!!! It brought so much joy to our hearts to see their beautiful faces and hear their voices. We just wish we could’ve been there in person. We miss our family soooo much!!! We’ve been blessed with amazing family and that’s something to be eternally grateful for!!!

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You Always Need Your Mama!

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:38:00 GMT

I cannot begin to explain to you how wonderful it was to have my mom spend three whole weeks with us! Four months was by far the longest I have ever gone without seeing my mama! No matter how old you get you will ALWAYS need your mama!

It didn’t take long for our fridge to look like Granna was here!

We started her visit with a surprise! Our girls knew that Granna was coming, they just didn’t know when. So after waiting for what seemed like forever, she arrived! I had the girls busy upstairs so that Granna could enter our compound without them knowing. Once everything was ready, Daddy called us downstairs and there she was!!! There were shrieks of excitement and tears of joy! You can watch it for yourself here:

We enjoyed showing Granna around our home here and our favorite spots in Jinja. Uganda isn’t something new to her as she has visited my sister several times over the past years. We also let her catch up on some much needed sleep and relaxation the first week she was here! I know she enjoyed spending lots of time with our girls! She even helped them with homework via candlelight when the power went out one afternoon! I took her to a baby cottage that I volunteer at one morning. Holding sweet babies is always fun! We also took mom to Kilombera Weavers, which is near the girls’ school. The weavers here make beautiful textiles by hand on wooden looms. Their work is amazing!!!

Homework with Granna with no power!

Game night…Twisted Farkle!

Then came Halloween! It was so fun having mom with us to come up with costumes, bake Halloween sugar cookies and make caramel apples! We came up with a cat, a Texas Ranger baseball player and Sleeping Beauty!

We managed to get in some adventure time as well! Uncle Chuck had given the girls money for their birthdays just before he passed away. We wanted to use the money on something adventurous that Uncle Chuck would’ve enjoyed. So we picked quad-biking (four wheeling) through villages and by the River Nile! We had SO much fun!!! I thought the fun had ended when Granna lost momentum on a slanted road and her quad-bike fell over on her! Luckily it was above her leg and didn’t touch her at all! We were so worried! We sure have a tough Granna!

Paytyn got a last minute flute concert in for her and then it was time to say goodbye. We enjoyed having her here so much that the girls tried barricading her in! Vanessa and I travelled with her to the airport that evening to see her off. It was sad to see her go, but we are already counting down the days until she returns with Grandad to celebrate the girls’ birthdays in the spring!!!!

Family is such a gift from God! We miss each and every one of our family members terribly. Being away from our loved ones is by far the toughest part of our saying yes to God. I’m so glad that love transcends the miles that are between us! Until next time….

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Unicorns and Rainbows

Sun, 16 Nov 2014 19:52:00 GMT

Can I be honest with you? So many times, it’s tempting to try to paint a picture that makes it look like things here are all rainbows and unicorns. The truth of the matter is that things are not like that at all. Frustration and cynicism have reared their ugly head, even though my greatest desire is to not let them creep into my mind.

The reason that they have worked their way in is because:

I honestly feel like I am often banging my head against the wall. I can somewhat feel for Isaiah’s ministry. During his commission, God predicted that Isaiah’s ministry would be fruitless; he would exhort people to turn from their sins, but not a single person would repent.

Some reasons for my feeling this way include:

It’s hard because of the need. It’s hard because of the troubles. It’s hard because if they would just do what I’m teaching them, they could have a better life. If they would just listen…

How am I any different though?

I had someone remind me that even though God lays out a pattern for our life, and if we would just follow that pattern, it would be better for us. We know this, and yet we still stray off the narrow path God laid out for us. We veer off into sinful patterns and then we have to pay the consequences for our decisions and hopefully find our way back to the path. Why do I get frustrated and cynical when the people I’m working with here do the exact same thing?

Didn’t Jesus face the same thing that has frustrated me? He fed thousands, healed hundreds, brought people back from the dead, and yet in the end only had a handful of people that actually followed Him. Was Jesus’s mission on earth a failure? Hardly!

The question I have to face is, was I called to results, or was I called to action. I think that is the difference. So many people expect results. How many people got saved? How many people are farming using the methods you are teaching? Etc. The thing that I have to remember is that I wasn’t called to numbers or results. I was called to simply obey, even if there are no results that I can see. We have no idea the impact that we can have on people’s lives. We can plant seeds in them that someone else can come along and water, and then God can give the increase.

1 Cor 3:6-9, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plans and he who waters are one, and each will receive the wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

One of my mentors here, Chris Sperling, wrote a great blog post about this exact thing. You can check it our here: http://sperlingsinafrica.blogspot.ca/

It may not be all unicorns and rainbows, but by remembering our call to the mission field, I’m hoping to close the door on frustrations and cynicism before they attempt to defeat our ministry. At the end of the day, these are just attacks by the enemy, so I need to recognize them for what they are. There are success stories. There are people that I shared the Good News with that got baptized, come to church, and are getting discipled. There are students that don’t cheat on exams. There are people that are excited about Farming God’s Way. There are young men that are working hard to create a successful business. God is giving the increase. God is good!

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Where are the Young Farmers?

Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:34:00 GMT

Below are two quotes that are from USAID and the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda regarding a huge problem that Uganda is facing and highlight the need for Heart for Uganda’s mission.

“Too many young people make the mistake that work ing the land is somehow demeaning; that it is better to sell land, buy a boda boda and spend their meagre earnings betting on premier league matches and on beer or waragi as they watch the match in the evening. There is more to life than that, my friends, and I think you all understand that… Quite simply, Uganda has the potential to be a breadbasket for the Horn of Africa: the climate is ideal, the soils are fertile, water is plentiful, and perhaps most importantly it has you — a youthful and energetic workforce. You need to engage, however, and not just sit on the sidelines dreaming of boda bodas. The average age of a Ugandan farmer today is 54 years old and now, more than ever, we urgently need to inject the energy of Uganda’s youth into the agriculture sector in order to realize the potential for expanded production, and for expanded profit.” – U.S. Ambassador Scott H. DeLisi

A study by USAID said, “To maximize both emerging market opportunities and its young people’s considerable energy, Uganda will need to address the institutional and cultural barriers that frustrate its young people’s ambitions and hamper the country’s growth. These barriers include: misalignment of education with labor market needs; lack of access to skills training and enterprise development support; lack of access to land and markets; and nepotism and corruption in the labor market.”

Why are the youth frustrated? They are frustrated because of years of improper farming methods have resulted in very poor yields for very hard work. The average age of farmers in Uganda is 54, yet the average lifespan is 58 years. This presents a huge problem for Uganda!

Heart for Uganda is helping to solve these problems by teaching a program called Farming God’s Way. This program has a track record of 7-10 times yield improvements over traditional farming methods. These types of yields makes the work that must be put forth in farming to be worth the effort. Will you consider coming alongside us as we are raising funds to purchase some land to be able to take this training to more Ugandans? If so, please go to www.heartforuganda.com/land .

The last two photos represent what Heart For Uganda has been doing. The first one is of a young man standing in a maize field that was planted using the traditional Ugandan farming methods. This field is directly across the road from Heart For Uganda’s Well Watered Garden. A Well Watered Garden is planted to demonstrate that you have learned the fundamentals of the Farming God’s Way program.

The second photo is of the same young man standing in Heart For Uganda’s Well Watered Garden! Both of these fields have received the same rain and sun. What a difference! The Farming God’s Way program really does work! Please consider coming along side us as we seek to bring this wonderful way of farming to the young men of Uganda!

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Land Video

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 13:32:00 GMT

Vicki and I made a video this week about the issues that Uganda is facing. We talk about the how many in the west try to solve the issue by sending aid to Africa. I talk about why aid doesn’t help, but instead creates a cycle of hopelessness and helplessness in addition to a dependency syndrome. I then talk about what has been working in Uganda and how discipleship and vocational training is the key to equipping and empowering Ugandan men. I also talk about a program called Farming God’s Way that has had great success in Uganda. Vicki talks about our experiences with a demonstration plot in a nearby village. I conclude with Heart for Uganda’s plan to purchase some land and how you can help.

The video is a bit long (~17 minutes), but please take the time to watch the video to learn more about Heart for Uganda and how you can help solve the issues that they face in culturally relevant and sustainable ways.

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Orphan Crisis

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 19:05:00 GMT

James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world”.

Uganda has an orphan crisis with over 2.5 million orphans according to a UNICEF study. An orphaned child is often alone in an adult world. The effects of a child becoming an orphan are terrible and include:

So why are there so many orphans? It is estimated that 1.2 million children are orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. That leaves 1.3 million children that are orphaned due to preventable diseases, food security, and poverty.

Wait, isn’t Heart for Uganda focused on men’s discipleship and vocational training and not meeting the needs of orphans? You are correct, we are not working directly with orphans, but if we can equip and empower men to provide for their families, we can reduce the number of orphans. If we can address the poverty and food security factors leading to orphans, we can help to lower the number of orphaned children in Uganda.

Many families in Uganda suffer from severe poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 239 million of the 925 million impoverished people in the world (www.worldhunger.org). Often, parents can hardly afford to survive themselves, let alone provide for their children. Sadly, parents will abandon their children leaving them to fend for themselves. There are many cases in which an older brother or sister is left to take care of many younger siblings. The children must end up picking through garbage dumps, and living on the streets. Many times these children will not survive. The lack of education and limited resources in Uganda harm the children of these impoverished families.

We feel that we can address this problem by providing job skills that are relevant and can easily translate into jobs or businesses. If men can provide an income for their family, there were be less orphans because with an income, these men can provide food, shelter, medical care, and education to their families.

The other factor leading to the orphan crisis that Heart for Uganda is working to reduce is food security. If a family can’t provide food for their children, they often send them away to other family members or to the capital city of Kampala or larger towns like Jinja. The United Nations has concluded that, “over 50% of Uganda’s children under five
still suffer from some form of malnutrition, directly and indirectly contributing to up to
60% of child mortality”. The sad thing is that Uganda should be a bread basket to the world, but there are very many starving Ugandans. Uganda has fertile ground, great amounts of sunlight, sufficient rainfall with two rainy seasons, and a large labor force. The main reason that Uganda is not a bread basket to the world is due to improper farming methods and management leading to soil erosion, soil nutrient depletion, and poor yields. Heart for Uganda hopes to help resolve this issue by teaching a program called Farming God’s Way that has proven 7 to 10 times yield increases in East Africa.

Maize planted using Farming God’s way at 7 weeks.

Maize planted using traditional methods at 7 weeks.

We are currently raising funds to purchase 15 acres of land to teach this program to men in Uganda. If you would like to learn about how you can help, click here .

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Rich or Poor

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 08:52:00 GMT

I saw the following story on a Facebook post today:

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”  “It was great, Dad”.

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yes”, said the son.  “So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered,  “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. “We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden and they have a creek that has no end.  “We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. “We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.  “We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

My definition of poor has changed considerably over the past few months. I previously looked around and saw people that didn’t have nice homes, central air and heat, iPhones, MacBooks, multiple vehicles, microwaves, or satellite television, and thought that they were poor. How sad for them that they couldn’t have all these nice things that I have. Imagine how much better their life could be if they could just afford a nicer, bigger house! How great would it be if they could have a vehicle so that they could get around easier! How great it would be for them if they could have 200 channels of satellite TV!

The thing is that the trade off for having all these material things is a necessity to work all the time to be able to pay for these things. Are we truly rich when we have all these things, but don’t have any time to enjoy them? Are we truly rich when we have no time for relationships with others?

When I look at the people here in Uganda now, I see a people that have rich, deep relationships. I see a people that takes the time to visit with each other. I see a people that don’t get in a hurry about things. I see a rich land that is fertile and will grow almost anything. I see abundant rainfall. I see moderate temperatures. I see fruit and vegetables hanging from most trees. I see a beautiful country with spectacular sights.

Are we really the “rich” ones or are we actually the poor ones?

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Driving in Uganda

Sat, 13 Sep 2014 19:44:00 GMT

Driving in Uganda has been described by some as “a series of near misses”. My friend, Caleb Deerinwater, likened driving in Uganda to a game of chicken with no rules. I’m starting to get used to driving here, but it is much different than driving back in the states. Driving back home can sometimes be a passive task that doesn’t take much thought. Driving here requires alertness at all times to dodge potholes, speed humps, bodas (motorcycles), bicycles, pedestrians, cows, goats, and chickens.

You must be ever vigilant while driving and always check your mirrors before you make any move in any direction because the bodas seem to appear out of thin air. You can look in your right mirror and then your left and by the time you can look again in your right mirror, there is a boda right beside you. This is one of the reasons that they say driving here is a series of near misses!

The first challenge we faced while driving in Uganda is the fact that you need to drive on the left side of the road. I was really concerned that this would be a difficult thing to learn; however, it has proven intuitive since the steering wheel is on the right hand side of the vehicle. The three biggest challenges I’ve faced with driving on the wrong (left) side of the road are: turning on the correct side in intersections, turning on the windshield wipers instead of turn signal since these are reversed, and attempting to enter the left side of the vehicle when intending to drive. I’ve been driving here almost three months and I made all three of these mistakes today!

Driving is especially dangerous at night because people will walk on the road wearing all black and other cars tend to drive with their bright lights on. The pedestrians wearing black are especially hard to see after getting blinded by oncoming traffic with their brights on! Boda drivers also often drive without their lights on making them hard to see until you are almost on top of them. I’ve asked why they don’t use the lights and was told that many believe that it will use more fuel if the lights are on. Imagine risking your life to get a few more MPG! Boda accidents are the leading cause of injuries on the roads. I’ve personally witnessed two boda accidents in the short time I’ve lived here.

Vicki drives the kids to school as a part of a car pool on many mornings and I asked her if she was comfortable with the drive yet. She said that she is becoming more used to the driving, but she doesn’t think she will ever become comfortable (nor should she). The drive is different every day because new challenges are presented each time.

We are very fortunate to live in Jinja as the traffic there is so much better than the congested traffic of the capital city, Kampala. At times, we have to travel into Kampala, but only when absolutely necessary. Here is a quick video of what it looks like to drive in Kampala.

Just because the traffic in Jinja is not as bad as Kampala, doesn’t mean it is not dangerous. Just yesterday, a friend of ours lost one of his good friends when his bicycle was hit by a car.

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Olivia, Rock Star

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:26:00 GMT

I have to admit that the adults in the family are doing our level best to be the best missionaries we can be, but Olivia is without a doubt the best missionary in our family.

In fact, she is a rock star with the Ugandan children wherever we go. Almost daily, she find a new “best, best, best, best, beeeesssssttttest friend” along the fence to our home. We ask her what her new friend’s name is and she seems to have forgot. She may not be great with remembering names (neither am I), but she is great with making relationships.

Olivia with her new friends, Faith and Joy, that live near the demonstration plot

She is so popular that kids are constantly at our fence asking for Olivia. When I drive up the road to our house, the kids call me Daddy Olivia! I would be willing to bet that no one in our neighborhood knows my name, but it seems everyone knows Olivia’s name. Vicki and I asked her one day why everyone likes her and she relied, “because I’m cute.” No humbleness about this child!

I’ve been working on our little demonstration plot in a neighboring village and while I’ve been working, Olivia has been making relationships. Now, when we pull up at the plot, the kids start screaming “Olivia”.

I have a lot to learn from Olivia in regards to mission work in Uganda. She is a relationship person and I’m a person that likes to get things done. I’m busy working and she is busy making relationships. This reminds me of the story in the Bible about Mary and Martha. I’m like Martha that is trying to accomplish great things for Jesus, and Olivia is like Mary that is choosing fellowship. Amazing what we can learn from a 5 year old!

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August Video Blog

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 10:35:00 GMT

Check out a video blog that Vicki and I recorded! This video talks about how Klint’s ministry is progressing, how the girls are adjusting after two months in Uganda, and prayer requests for our family and ministry.

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Farming God’s Way Annual Training

Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:40:00 GMT

I attended the Ugandan 6th Annual Farming God’s Way National Workshop near the capital city of Kampala at the end of July. Farming God’s Way is a program that consists of a suite of Biblical principles, management skills, and agriculture techniques and has a proven track record since 1984 when it was modeled on a large farm in Zimbabwe. Many farmers have experienced yield increases of 7 to 10 times that of traditional farming methods in Uganda. It also helps lower input costs by decreasing field preparation costs, decreasing the amount of seeds wasted, using land more efficiently, lowering fertilizer costs, and retaining rainwater more efficiently. Lower costs and more yield equals more money for the farmers.

When looking at developing a vocational training program here, farming is a great place to start because it is such an important part of the economy here. The great thing about this program is that it has a Biblical basis and has a discipleship aspect already built into the program. This will be a great way to get started in vocational training and discipleship, because the program is already established, ready go go, and has a proven track record in Uganda.

Farming God’s Way is not merely a technology, but an incredibly powerful tool delivering attainable solutions to both living and farming. It is a holistic view allowing for the Kingdom of God to be ushered in within the domain of agriculture. It consists of three spheres – Spiritual, Technology, and Management. Farming God’s Way represents a Kingdom agricultural tool to bring about a deliverance of the poor from the yoke of poverty in all aspects of life.

Going to a class about Farming God’s Way does not qualify one to teach the program. To be able to teach the program, you must actually put the principles into action and have your own demonstration plot called a “Well-Watered Garden”. Only through practical application does one learn the program and then become qualified to teach the program to others. A well-watered garden is a 6 meter by 6 meter plot that will demonstrate how Farming God’s Way works by growing maize and beans and shows on a small scale what should take place on a large scale in the field.

I had been in prayer about locating some land to build my well-watered garden because the plot needs to be in an area that people can see what you are doing and then see the results of the new methods. I don’t have ample space where we live and even if I did, it wouldn’t be very accessible to outsiders. God answered my prayers through a friend named Mark. He offered me the use of a plot of land that he had purchased with the intent of eventually building a home. It is absolutely perfect because it is not too far from my home, is right along a road in a nearby village, and has a farm directly across from it that is growing maize using traditional Ugandan farming methods.

One of the ways that Farming God’s Way is different from traditional farming methods is that it utilizes a no till method. In Uganda, the primary means of preparing land for planting is to plough the land using a hoe. The land where we live is a clay soil that when tilled and rained on gets hard as a brick under the sun. Farming God’s Way uses no till farming and 100% mulch coverage, so the soil remains soft underneath. The mulch and no tilling also prevents erosion, retains more rainfall, and allows for a deeper soaking from rain.

This is a foreign concept to many farmers in Uganda. As I began to clear out the weeds on my well-watered garden, I had people constantly watching me. I think it was a combination of a Mzungu (white person) working in the field and confusion as to why I was not digging (tilling) as they did. I even had one man stop by and ask, “don’t you know how to dig?” I’ve had quite a few opportunities to share with them that this is a different farming method than they are used to doing. This is usually met with skepticism, but I’m praying that the method will prove successful. If they see that I’m getting taller maize crops and more yield, they will want to know how I did that and it will be an opportunity to share not only this new method, but also the Gospel with them.

Hosea 4:6 “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.”

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Ladies Retreat

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:15:00 GMT

Morgan was having a hard time eating her giant pork chop since she currently is missing most of her top teeth!

First of all, when the sweet lady that taught us all three days opened her mouth for the first time….I felt right at home! She has that beautiful Southern drawl that you certainly don’t hear around here very often! Her name is Ms. Amy and she taught us how to study the Scriptures throughly, how to get the most out of reading through a passage. She took us through the book of Ruth, one of my favorite Bible stories! Such drama, romance and redemption!

Ms. Amy is the one in turqouise

I got to visit with some ladies that I already had the privilege of meeting and I also met many other ladies! They were from all over the world! Some were from South Africa, Colombia, Australia, Canada, all over the US and of course Uganda. What a beautiful group of women we were! The fellowship during these three days was certainly sweet! One of my favorite times was when we went around the room and introduced ourselves, told a bit about our ministry/husband’s ministry, how long we’ve been in Uganda and where we were from. It was so wonderful getting to hear all the different ways that these women minister to the people of Uganda. God is certainly at work here!

My friend, Anna, and another lady attending the retreat are musically inclined and brought it upon themselves to create a worship time for us before the second and third days. What a blessing they were!!! Anna plays the guitar and sings and the other lady led the worship time. It’s amazing how God brought together the right people to bless us all in such a beautiful way.

Part of the retreat was getting to craft. You know how we women like to craft! We made a wreath out of buttons (super cute) and scented sugar scrub. Girls, can I tell you how great this sugar scrub is?! The only kind of sugar you can get here in Uganda is like the Sugar In The Raw, the grains are really big. When used as a scrub, well you can imagine…..it’s heavenly! My feet were in SERIOUS need of some help! I’ve been using this scrub a lot lately! If you’d like to try it yourself here’s the recipe: Use 2 parts sugar, I recommend the course sugar like Sugar In The Raw to 1 part oil. We used olive oil, but coconut oil would be fabulous, too! They had some scented oils to add to it, just put whatever you like as strong as you like. Essential oils would be great in this scrub! The oil separates when not in use, just mix it up a bit before you use it. I made cinnamon vanilla, it smells delicious!

Some of the ladies making their cute little button wreaths

Sugar scrub making time! I wish you could’ve experienced the smells, it was amazing! A mixture of peppermint, cinnamon and vanilla.

On Friday the church putting on the retreat was so kind to pay for all of our kids to swim after the retreat was over. They had a blast as you can clearly see!

This was a wading pool that had a small slide into another wading pool….Olivia’s paradise!

Morgan and her friend Jeremiah, they love each other!!!

Whee, Paytyn! This guy sure got a workout by the end of this day! He could launch those kiddos!!!

We were told that this was the second year in a row that this church has put on this retreat, they mentioned that they have plans to make this a yearly occasion. I know my girls and myself hope that the Lord allows this to happen. We had a wonderful time meeting new friends, getting to know others we’ve already met and growing closer to Jesus during these three days.

Morgan and her new friend, Isabella

Paytyn and her friend Karis, they’ve been friends pretty much since we landed!

Morgan playing with some buddies in a sandbox

Olivia waving from the bottom of the slide…the sliding surface was made from tiles!

It was a very fun filled, Spirit filled three days of relaxation, fellowship and Bible study. I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to here in Uganda. Blessings to you all!!!

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Observations One Month In

Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:16:00 GMT

This is hard for me to believe, but we have been in Uganda for one month now. We have had such a good experience here thus far and have settled in quite nicely. I wanted to take a minute to share some observations that I have noticed over the month.

First, kids are resilient! I knew this going in and that gave me some comfort about uprooting them from their home, school, friends, and family. However, I have stood amazed at how resilient they really have been thus far. They have easily adjusted to life here and fit right in. They have told us how much they are enjoying it here! They have made friends with other missionary kids quite easily. We were here less than a week and they had already had friends over and had gone to a friends for a sleepover.

Television was very important to the girls back in the U.S. and we wondered how they would adjust because we don’t have tv here. We have some DVD movies we can watch, but they only watch a few movies a week in the evenings. They have enjoyed playing games, playing with legos, crafting, Paytyn is learning to play the flute, doing sidewalk chalk outside, enjoying the outdoors, working puzzles and simply being kids. It is much like the childhood I remember and the fact that their lives are not revolving around electronic entertainment is so refreshing to me. Vicki has been so good with them here and has them setup with chores like washing dishes. She spends the morning doing a Bible study with them and doing supplementary school work. The school they will be going to next month is about a half a year ahead in their curriculum, so she is trying to prepare them as much as possible before they start.

The next observation is that driving here is strangely easy! Uganda was an English colony, so they drive on the left side of the road. I really wondered how difficult that would be, but I think that it is natural because of the driver’s side being on the right side of the car. It is natural to be closest to the center of the road when you are the driver, so it just comes pretty easily. One thing about driving that doesn’t come natural is remembering that the blinker is on the right side of the steering wheel instead of the left. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned the windshield wipers on when I intended to use the blinker!

One thing about driving here is that aggressive driving is a must. A friend of mine, Caleb, calls driving here a massive game of chicken with no rules. We were told that everyone learns in driving school to drive in the middle of the road until you meet someone approaching you and then move to your side of the road. This is because the roads here are so bad. Some of the worst dirt roads in Archer County would be among the best roads here. They are COVERED in potholes and the thing you do most while driving is attempt to dodge the potholes. Basic driving rules like stopping at intersections or yielding are really not followed here. Basically, whoever is biggest goes first! It’s also important to remain vigilant when driving because the boda bodas (motorcycle taxis that are everywhere here) will attempt to pass you from either direction. It is imperative to look in all your mirrors all the time to know if bodas are around you so that you don’t take them out when turning.

Another observation that I have learned is that I can get half as much done here in twice the amount of time that I’m used to back home. This is because of a combination of a different pace of life, the importance of relationship building here, and somewhat frustrating processes. I was told about lowering my expectations of what I can get done in a day by several people before we got here, but have really begun to understand exactly how true this advice was. I’ve had to learn to respect the process and just go with the flow and be patient to let things just happen. If anyone knows me very well, they know that this is VERY difficult for me to do. I’m not a patient person and am a “doer” and not much of a “waiter”. God has really softened my heart in this matter in the last month, although I have a LONG way to go in this matter. I found this applicable quote, “Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.”

I’m also learning how to ask the “right” questions here. It seems like Ugandans will answer the questions you ask by either answering just the question you ask or telling you what you want to hear. I had a situation where I was looking for potting soil to start seeds for my vegetable garden. I started a compost pile, but it will be some time before it is ready for use. I literally spent several days asking people, going to various farm and garden stores, and trying in vain to find information on the internet on where to get compost or potting soil. I finally found some at a little nursery on the side of one of the roads here. I had asked the guy that helped me plant the seeds if the previous tenants here had planted a garden. He told me that they had and I asked how they did their seedlings and he told me that he got the soil from the same nursery that I got mine. This was despite the fact that I had asked several times where to get potting soil or compost. I had not asked the “right” question, so I learned that you have to be very specific in the way you form your questions .

Another observation is that I am loving the food here! We eat such fresh, clean food here that isn’t stuffed full of preservatives. We eat so many more fresh fruits and so much less sugar here. We have especially enjoyed the fresh pineapples, mangos, and bananas. The pineapples are AMAZING, you can even eat the core! We go to the market a few times a week to get fresh fruits and vegetables. We drink mostly water or fresh milk here, but the few soft drinks we do have are made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. I feel healthier and have already lost some weight since I’ve been here.

Another observation is that there is a strange mix of a feeling of having no alone time here mixed with a feeling of loneliness. There are people constantly around and in our home and people asking questions or needing money for one thing or another around the house that it seems difficult to just have any alone time. At the same time, I feel lonely here, which seems like the two wouldn’t go together. I think the reason I feel this way is because I had (have) some really, really good friends in the U.S. that I could share my feelings, get advice, or cut up with. I haven’t really found that here yet and that has left me feeling lonely even though there are people around me constantly.

The final observation is that I feel closer in my walk with God than ever before. I have been more consistent with my quiet time and Bible studies than I have ever been. I think this is because of a combination of two things. One is that I’m not as busy here as I was back home and have learned to slow down and enjoy His presence. The other is that I need Him more than ever. I’ve always needed Him, but there was a feeling of self reliance that I was guilty of having. The needs here are so great that you can really see God at work and really understand that apart from Him, I can do nothing. I’ve seen God answer prayers literally hours after making them.

The more I learn here, the more I realize how much I don’t know. I’m excited about what God has in store for us and has already pulled back the curtain on what our ministry will look like here. I will have more to share about this in future posts as things develop, but I’m very excited about the things that are already happening. We appreciate your prayers and support and ask you to keep the prayers coming because they are working!

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Village Banking

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 16:19:00 GMT

I’m very excited about this village banking program because it has proven to be effective in starting businesses, growing businesses, increasing income potential, increasing savings, and giving credit opportunities that were previously not available. Programs like this have the potential to solve the problem of high unemployment in Uganda.

Proverbs 21:20 NIV, “ The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.”

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Life In Uganda So Far

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 15:05:00 GMT

Klint has been doing an amazing job of getting things done around here! He has had a plumber over to the house to fix a few things, secured insurance for our van, obtained a post office box (which requires a passport photo, a referral, and you can’t get the key for a month!), he’s learning his way around town VERY well, he’s taken the van for some repairs, and made a couple of market trips (not at all like going to Market Street) etc…. Klint wrote a blog post about what he has been doing, so if you would like to read more about that read it here .

We are attending two church services at the present time. I think we might do both for the foreseeable future because I don’t think I could choose between the two! They both offer such wonderful things! The church that we attend on Sunday mornings is called Acacia Community Church. They meet under a thatched open air structure which I really enjoy! They have a wonderful praise and worship team made up of Ugandans and the pastor is a very gifted Bible teacher from the States. It’s not very different from the way we normally do church, except the prayer requests are taken from the congregation before the sermon and they are NOTHING like the prayer requests we are accustomed to hearing! We’ve heard requests for protection of a young pastor that is preaching out on one of the many islands in Lake Victoria that has been beaten for spreading the gospel, for prayers for a young mother that is clinging to life after giving birth, and for prayers that the enemy will not be successful in hindering a ministry that is out on one of the islands. It is a different world, but we’re happy to be here with our eyes open looking to see what God has for us to do.

The other church we’ve attended is a home church that meets in different family’s homes at 3pm on Sundays, this makes it possible for us to attend both. We end up going to church all day, but none of us seem to mind! I love it because it seems like this is how the early Christian church must’ve done it. It felt so real and intimate to worship our Savior in this way. We were blessed to hear the testimony of a former LRA soldier that was captured by Joseph Kony’s army. We listened intently to his story with tears in our eyes. He endured unimaginable things, yet still accepted Jesus as his Savior. He was leaving the next morning to go back to Northern Uganda where he is from, so he sat in a chair in the middle of the living room and we all prayed over him. There were prayers for his safe travel back to the north, for the continued healing of his heart and mind and for ministry opportunities that he might have with men that have gone through the same fate. I know that God has BIG plans for this amazing young man. Please join us in praying for him.

I wanted to give an update on what we’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks as we settle into life in Uganda. It’s been a pretty easy transition and I thank God for that! I know that we will have hard days ahead of us because you can’t see what you see here and not struggle inwardly, the enemy is hard at work here and NOTHING happens as easily as you think it should! If you’ve made it this far, I thank you for hanging with me! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at vicki@heartforuganda.com, I’d be happy to answer them the best way I can!

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Settling In

Fri, 27 Jun 2014 10:14:00 GMT

We have now been in Uganda for a week and I wanted to report on what we have been doing during this week. As we have stated in the past, we will be spending the remainder of 2014 making relationships, learning culture, and gaining an understanding of what the needs are so that we can meet actual needs instead of the needs that we feel need to be met. This process is very important to complete before we start actual ministry work for our programs to be successful. Without this baseline the chances for success in ministry will be greatly diminished.

Here are some of the things we have done during the past week we have been here:

Getting our house setup

Getting used to time difference (we are 8 hours ahead of Texas)

Getting USD changed to Ugandan Shillings

Checking out Acacia Community Church

Getting misc setup:

Getting our van repaired (cv joint and service)

Exploring the central market and grocery stores (trying to determine what we can get here and what we can’t)

Getting fresh milk delivered to our home (most milk here is shelf stable milk that isn’t good to drink)

Getting kids used to a new way of life

Taking the kids to a swimming pool near our home

Reading African Friends and Money Matters book to gain an understanding of how money works here

Learning basic conversation skills in Lugandan

Meeting with a family to determine options for schooling for Olivia

Sending the girls off to school today since Fridays are basically the extracurricular days and they are allowing them to attend during the next three Fridays that they have left

Navigating the pharmacy to acquire drugs to combat Olivia’s cough, Morgan’s cold, and my digestive “issues”

Here are some observations that I’ve noticed thus far:

Money flies out of your hands here. Because of the exchange rate of 2500 shillings to $1 you end up with stacks of notes and they always seem to fly out of our hands because something is always requiring money here.

Everything here is a process! Things that are completed without much effort in the states can end up taking several days to accomplish. As an example, getting a PO box in the US would be as simple as showing up at the Post Office and paying money for a box and getting a key. Here, you need a passport photo in order to get a box rented. I think it is because identification is not common here and they use the photo to authenticate you and I’m told passport photos are used for quite a few things. I found a place to get passport photos taken, but they don’t have the equipment to get them printed. They have to take the camera to another place to get them printed and this takes some time as well. In addition to passport photos, you also need to have someone that already has a box to make a referral for you. Nothing is cut and dry!

The Ugandan people are a very friendly people. We have greatly enjoyed getting to know some of them.

There is a very close-knit expat community here in Jinja. When we arrived, there was a pot of beef stew on the stove, banana bread muffins on the counter, pumpkin bread on the table and a welcome poster signed by all the kids and teachers at the school the girls will be going to. We went to watch the World Cup USA vs Germany game last night and the place was full of expats cheering for the USA!

Please continue to pray for us as we continue this transition process.

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Becoming Real

Mon, 23 Jun 2014 08:34:00 GMT

It seems very odd to say, but these last few days have seemed strangely normal. We traveled halfway around the world, but we’ve done that before. We traveled from Entebbe to Jinja, but again we have done that before as well. We moved into our new house, but we spent some time in this house on our last trip visiting the Bogan’s, so that seemed familiar. We ate at the Keep, which is run by Americans so the food was much like you would get in the U.S. We at pizza at Surjio’s, so again it was much like you would get in the U.S. Vanessa has been helping us get settled in, so having her around made things seem normal.

Today at the church service at Acacia Community Church really made things sink into my mind that we are really here in a 3 ^rd world county as missionaries. The thing that made it seem real was that the worship seemed so genuine and the prayer requests were different than I’m used to hearing. The church was attended by a diverse group of Ugandans, short-term missionaries and long-term missionaries from all over the world. These people worshiped like I had never experienced in a church in the U.S. It was worship from the heart.

The prayer requests were what really caused me to stop and realize that I am truly in a different place. I’m used to prayer requests like: someone is sick and pray that they would be healed, someone passed away so pray that their family would be comforted, pray that someone would get a promotion, pray that someone would get a new job, etc. I didn’t hear many of those types of prayer requests at Acacia. Instead I heard a woman tell of a witch doctor that had converted to Christianity and was now a pastor on an island where he practiced witchcraft had been beaten almost to death, and was going back to the island to preach Jesus Christ. I heard of missionaries being attacked by spiritual warfare. I heard of a missionary from South Sudan that was heading back to the warzone to continue his mission. A missionary asked for prayer that a man would come to know Christ that had kidney damage and was most certainly going to die. Someone asked for prayer requests for a pastor that had been beaten and put into prison for conducting Bible schools in a remote village.

These prayer requests seemed like ones you would expect to hear from Paul or some of the apostles in the 1 ^st century as they went about their mission. It began to sink in that we are truly in the mission field in a third world country. We are exactly where God wants us to be at this moment! Things may seem somewhat normal and familiar, but we are in a completely different place, the center of God’s will.

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Job=Identity

Thu, 29 May 2014 20:49:00 GMT

Today is my last day as Vice President of Operations at American National Bank & Trust. I thought it was fitting to write a blog post about how a job is part of a man’s identity since I will be losing that identity. More often than not, a man’s job defines his worth to himself and to the world. Frequently a man’s job is his pride. Work gives meaning to men’s lives.

In the book “Man Enough”, author Frank Pittman says “Work keeps us busy. It gives us structure, it defines us as functioning, contributing, worthwhile citizens. It makes us part of the team, a community of fellow workers—even if we do our work in isolation. If we feel work bringing us closer to our fellow workers or to the human community, we can feel pride and joy in our work, feel mutual emulation with all other workers, and feel ourselves the equal to any man.”

The bank was more than just a place to go to work, it was so much more. It was a family. It was the place that I developed a relationship with a best friend that is like a brother to me. It is the place that I gained 25 pounds with all the birthday lunches, cook outs and just because food. It was the place that I was called Klint, Klinton, Klinto, KO, KO Cubed, Clarence, Mr. Klint, Klinty, and my personal favorite, Stupid. It was a place that encouraged me to give back to my community by joining the Optimist Club, serving on boards, and serving on boards. It was the place that I had fun and laughed until my stomach hurt. It was the place that I was given the opportunity to learn to cook under Chef Dwight. It was the place that gave me opportunities to succeed. The bank is a part of my DNA.

I would like to say I am not defined by what my title at work is, what line of business I’m in, or how successful I am, but of course these things shape me. To say they don’t is a bit dishonest. My career is coming to an end today and this past month has been hard on me. It has been hard on my self-esteem, my self-worth, my relationships with other, my joy, and just about every other aspect of my life. I know in my mind that if I rely on my job role or even relational roles to define me, I may ignore deeper truth of who I am in God. I must constantly remind myself of the fact that God has called me to something else, and being in His will is more important than the work that I was doing previously.

I am no longer Vice President of Operations at American National Bank & Trust, but I’m now a missionary in Uganda and my identity will be in Christ.

Galations 2:20, “ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

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The Seeds of Goodbye

Fri, 23 May 2014 01:06:00 GMT

Today, I went to a local farm and ranch store to purchase some seeds for some veggies that I plan to try to grow in Uganda. Things like squash, zucchini, okra, and black eyed peas that we can grow and remind us of home while we are away.

That may seem like a completely random thought, but it will come into play a little later in this post. This post is really about goodbyes. We have already started to say goodbyes to some people that we will not see again before we leave. I thought the excitement for our move would numb the pain of saying goodbye to people that we won’t see for at least 18 months, but it doesn’t. As excited as I am for our move, our new adventure, our mission, and our new life, letting go of our current life and friends has not been easy.

The reality of our forthcoming departure is starting to become real as the countdown gets smaller and smaller. I found myself sad last night as I wrapped up my last cook at the bank and had people say some really nice things about me and about how they were going to miss me.

The bad thing is that this is just the beginning of this process. Next week, I will say goodbye to my work family as I leave the job I’ve had for the last 8 years. Next week, our kids will have to say goodbye to their lifelong friends on the last day of school. We will start saying goodbye to friends and family in the coming weeks.

These are not short term goodbyes either. These are goodbyes for at least 18 months and perhaps some final goodbyes to people we will never see again this side of heaven. I grossly underestimated the difficulty of some of these goodbyes. I may lose my man card, but I’ve had to choke back tears on numerous occasions over the last few days.

I was reflecting on these goodbyes as I drove home from work today and it occurred to me that we are like the seeds that I just purchased. A seed may be perfectly happy being a seed because it doesn’t know what the future holds should it give up being a seed. A seed has to die to it’s former life of being a seed to become something better. It can’t be a squash if it remains a seed. It can’t become a beautiful flower if it remains a seed.

We, like the seed, have been content with the lives that we have enjoyed. We enjoy our co-workers, friends, and family, but we can’t be what God has in store for us if we remain a seed. If we are not forced to say the difficult goodbyes, we won’t be able to experience the blessings of being the hands and feet of Jesus in Uganda.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord , plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 20:11

These goodbyes are not going to be easy and will probably get more difficult as we get closer to our move. I pray that we will be comforted with the imagery of the seed leaving its life as a seed and becoming a beautiful flower.

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30 Prayer Requests

Sun, 18 May 2014 16:08:00 GMT

Here are 30 specific things you can pray for the next 30 days as we make our transition to Uganda next month:

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Prayer

Mon, 12 May 2014 16:17:00 GMT

Have you ever been prayed for? Like people laying hands on you and praying out loud kind of prayed for? If you have you certainly know it’s an amazing, humbling and exhilarating experience! We have had several experiences like this recently and we’re so very thankful for every one of them.

We get the example of laying hands on and praying from Jesus himself. He did it when he healed the sick and hurting and he also did it when those being prayed for just needed a blessing.

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. Matthew 19:13-15

It is also used, as it has been for us, to send out or appoint those that are doing God’s work. The following verse is from a story where the disciples were growing in number and the widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Complaints arose and the original twelve thought they shouldn’t have to give up preaching the word of God to worry about handing out food, the solution was to pick seven who were full of the Spirit and wisdom to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Once they were prayed for by the laying on of hands, the word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. Acts 6:6

Prayer works! It is so essential to our spiritual life and for the benefit of our sisters and brothers. We are about to go on the journey of our life and I know that it will be amazing, but I also know that it will not be easy. Some days will feel almost impossible to bear. We will rely on our prayers to our Heavenly Father for strength, wisdom and discernment. We will also rely on the prayers that will come from you, our wonderful friends and family! We covet your prayers for our family’s protection, our ministry’s success, for open doors and open hearts of those we will be reaching. We feel so incredibly blessed to have the support of so many praying for us, it’s truly an amazing feeling!

Through the experience of having been prayed for by the laying on of hands, we are allowed the privilege of hearing the prayers of those praying for us. I know for me that is really special! People will tell you that they are praying for you and that is always comforting, but it is really neat to actually hear out loud the words they are offering to Jesus for you! So, THANK YOU to everyone that has prayed for us in whatever form that may be! We sincerely appreciate it and ask that you continue to lift us up in prayer.

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Did Jesus Need Support?

Mon, 05 May 2014 15:49:00 GMT

As I was preparing a sermon that I delivered to Faith Baptist Church in Wichita Falls ( you can hear it here ), I looked up Bible verses to back up the case for raising support for missionaries. I read these verses in Luke 8:1-3

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means . (emphasis mine)

These verses caused me to question why Jesus, who fed over 5,000 one time and over 7,000 another with just a few loaves and fishes, would need anyone to provide for Him. The Lord Jesus had proven His power and sufficiency in the lives of each who followed Him. And yet He did not miraculously provide for the need of the group for their daily bread. Why didn’t Jesus miraculously provide food for His party?

I believe that the primary reason why Jesus did not miraculously provide for His followers, thus making the group dependent on the generosity of these faithful women followers is that it gave others the opportunity and privilege of having a part in His ministry.

Vicki and I are going to be the ones physically in Uganda doing the work, but everyone that supports us either prayerfully or financially are a very active and real part of the work we will do in Uganda. We simply could not do the work there without people supporting us back home.

As silly as it is to have to say, ministry costs money. Some choose to overlook this fact or ignore it, but even our Lord’s mission on earth cost money. Paul makes it clear that people that are out sharing the gospel should be supported in 1 Corinthians 9. Jesus and His followers had physical needs which people were privileged to participate in meeting.

The very Jesus which missionaries exist to proclaim lived off the benevolence of others. Shouldn’t the followers of Jesus also be able to follow their master in this? Would you pray about supporting Vicki and I on our mission through Heart for Uganda? If you would like to, you can go to www.heartforuganda.com/donate .

Philippians 4:17 “N ot that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.”

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What is Heart for Uganda Video

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:07:00 GMT

We worked with Clinton Hicks and Chicks Productions to develop a video that illustrates the issues that people in Uganda face, the mission of Heart for Uganda and the programs of Heart for Uganda. We truly hope that this video can call to attention the plight that some face in Uganda and pray that people will come alongside us as we work to help Ugandan individuals and organizations meet the needs in Uganda.

Heart For Uganda from Chicks Productions on Vimeo .

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Our Way

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:31:00 GMT

It’s human nature…..we try to work things out so they go ‘our way’. It’s usually way before their times have come and it’s not what God had for us. It’s difficult to accept the limitations that living one day at a time has on our lives. Klint and I have had plenty of practice with this. We so often want to hurry things along or get discouraged that this or that isn’t happening when we think it should. The wonderful thing that has come from all of this practice is that we get to see God work out His plan for our lives and our mission. We have by no means perfected this waiting on the Lord, but we have had lots of experiences where we look to Him for guidance, answers to questions or what we should do next and it works out in the most amazing ways! Ways that we could’ve never imagined!

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Psalm 37: 7

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

Our wonderful creator has our best interests at heart. He knows us best and wants good things for those that love Him. Let’s turn our focus to Him when we don’t know which way to turn, or when things are going great, or when things seem impossible. When you live your life close to the Lord, it isn’t complicated or cluttered. When my focus is on Him, things that I once worried about seem to lose their control over me. Keep in mind that He has overcome the world.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

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Wise Counsel

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 11:40:00 GMT

Early on in the process of planning to move my family to Uganda, I figured out that I did not have all the answers. I knew that to make a successful transition to the mission field and to succeed on the mission field, I needed wise counsel. Here is what the Bible says about seeking counsel:

Proverbs 11:14 “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

Proverbs 15:22 “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Proverbs 1:5 “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance”

Vicki and I have been so blessed to be able to get counsel from some really wise men and women in our life. We have met with people such as: Craig Lile (pastor), Roger Deerinwater (pastor), Danny Walker (former missionary in Brazil), Rod Johnson (missionary in Mexico), Jeff and Carson White (former missionaries in Malawi), Vanessa Crowley (missionary in Uganda), Aaron and Dana Bogan (former missionaries in Uganda), Jeremy and Tamara Boone (missionaries in Uganda), Mike Russo (pastor), Larry Mauldin (former missionary in Uganda), Jon Curry (pastor) and Ben Edfeldt (Baptist Student Mission Director). This list even close to exhaustive and doesn’t even begin to cover all the wisdom we have received from other friends, family, co-workers, board members, etc.

We have tried to maintain an open mind and be able to gather as much wisdom as we possibly can so that when we go to the mission field, we are as prepared as we possibly can be. The best information we received was not someone we sought out, but sought us out to bless us with information. Sandra Davis found our blog on Facebook and contacted us and asked to meet with us. Sandra and her husband, Karl, spent 17 years in Uganda. They were in the same town, Jinja, that we will be living and they raised their own support like we are currently in the process of doing.

We met with Karl and Sandra this weekend while we were in the metroplex and spent four hours gathering some very wise counsel from them. The four hours felt like 45 minutes as we attempted to soak up every piece of information they gave us. They told us the good, the bad and the ugly and felt so blessed that they bestowed the wisdom they had gained over the 17 years they were in Uganda on us.

God doesn’t call the equipped…He equips the called. This has been an awesome adventure to be on and we haven’t even left the US yet, but it is so cool to watch God work and prepare the way for us. He is equipping us through people like Karl and Sandra Davis. Thank you Jesus!

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KFDX News Story Link

Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:58:00 GMT

KFDX News Story Link

Heart For Uganda

I Hate Asking for Support!

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:44:00 GMT

Ok, maybe that is a bit too strong, but I really, really dislike greatly asking people for money. I’ve always felt like I was a self made man because I paid my way through college working two jobs at times and joining the Marine Corps Reserves to help out. Looking back, I recognize that it was not my own doing, but God’s provision that helped me to succeed. I even hate asking people for money on behalf of nonprofit organizations I’ve been a part of.

When we determined that our best course of action in Uganda would be to go as independent missionaries, that meant that we would have to raise our own support. This was necessary because we had a specific calling to a specific country, so we didn’t fit the mold of most sending agencies. With the freedom to follow our calling came the requirement to raise money and this means asking people for support.

Asking for support is the hardest part of our transition for me. Leaving a job I love, selling the house that we enjoyed, moving in with parents, leaving everything that was familiar and leaving friends and family pale in comparison to having to ask people for money. It hits at my pride as a provider for my family.

I believe that God has put me in this position for several reasons. First, I think that He really wants to break down the pride that I’ve had. He wants me to realize that everything that I have and that can be had comes from Him and not from my efforts. To bypass my pride and realize that I can’t do this myself and am reliant on God’s providence through other people has been a difficult process that I have yet to complete. It is getting easier, but it is still difficult.

I also believe that He wants to build a reliance on Him and him alone. Through this process of moving to the mission field, we’ve had to rely on God for the entire process. For example, He could have provided us a new roof at any time or let the sale of the house go through without requiring us to put a new roof on. He didn’t do that, but instead waited until we totally put our faith in Him that he took care of the roof. Another example is that we needed $15,000 by the end of January and another $15,000 by the end of February. We had exactly $15,000 at the end of January and exactly $15,000 by the end of February. We couldn’t have done that on our own, but have had to rely on God to provide for us.

I also believe that God wants me to ask for support because an advantage of raised support is that it grows the team of supporters for us in Uganda. If people are sending us money on a monthly basis, we are likely to remain in their prayers and the need for prayer support is huge while we are in the mission field. I discussed this in my Funding Our Mission FAQ blog post.

Fundraising…I still really, really dislike it greatly, but it is necessary and part of God’s growth strategy in my life.

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Microfinance-One Piece of the Puzzle

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 17:18:00 GMT

One thing that struck me during our trip to Uganda in November was the amount of entrepreneurialism in Uganda. I was impressed by the amount of people either growing something, selling something or providing some sort of service. It seemed like everywhere we went, there were small stalls that had some sort of business in them. I lost count of the number of businesses devoted exclusively to selling mobile telephone airtime minutes.

We have learned that microfinancing is one piece of the puzzle for assisting small/micro businesses in succeeding. The other pieces include: vocational development, business training, and discipleship. The aim of microfinancing is to fill the void that separates millions of microenterprises from access to basic financial services. Local banks cannot afford the costs associated with lending small amounts of money to microenterprises, nor can they offer loans to those that can provide little or no collateral.

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100!

Sun, 09 Mar 2014 17:00:00 GMT

We’ve reached 100 days until we leave for Uganda! For me this is a bittersweet time. I am so looking forward to beginning our time in Africa doing what the Lord leads us to, but on the other hand I only have 100 days left of life as I know it. I’ve been thinking the past couple of days that once we leave here it will be a bit like it was when we had our first baby. Those of you that are parents know that life can be segmented into two parts- life before kids and life after kids. I think it will be a bit like that- life before Uganda and life after. It won’t all be bad or sad because I know we’ll get to be a part of some AMAZING things!

As we have reached 100 days it also brings up feelings of anxiousness as well. We have currently raised 56% of what we need to live on and raise our family. We are going as independent missionaries which means we have to raise support from family, friends and churches. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’ll be fully funded at the time of departure, God has been providing in amazing ways for us. Please join me in prayer that these funds will come in. I love to think that those that are giving and will give to our mission are serving right along beside us even thought they aren’t physically there. We simply can’t do this without support from our wonderful friends and family! Also, please pray for us as a family as we get ready to make a big life change. We sincerely appreciate all the prayers and support everyone is giving us!

Thanks!

Vicki

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Heart for Uganda

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 20:35:00 GMT

On my last blog post, I discussed our progress on forming a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization called Heart for Uganda. I’m happy to report that we have completed all the steps necessary to file the for our 501(c)(3) status with the IRS and we can now operate as a tax exempt corporation. We are very excited about this development as it will provide the benefits I discussed in our last blog post and open up many doors to us.

The section 501(c) of the IRS code has a provision that provides a deduction, for federal income tax purposes, for some donors who make charitable contributions to the organization. Donations made to Heart for Uganda will be tracked and reporting provided to donors for tax preparation purposes.

We are in the process of moving our donors contributions from Ripe for Harvest to directly to Heart for Uganda. If you haven’t started contributing to Heart for Uganda and would like to support our mission, you can go to www.heartforuganda.com/donate.

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Nonprofit Organization

Thu, 27 Feb 2014 23:15:00 GMT

You may have heard about us starting a nonprofit organization called Heart for Uganda. The vision is to create sustainable programs that can continue on in Uganda long after Klint and Vicki are not around. We are interested in a long term investment in the people of Uganda and this requires some infrastructure. I wanted to take a bit to talk about why we have taken this step. Ok…it turned out to be a little more than a bit…

First a little background…. We are going as independent missionaries, which means that we do not have an organization that pays us a salary to conduct mission work for them. One of the main reasons that we are going this route is that God has called us to fulfill a particular mission at a specific location. The mission sending organization affiliated with our church focuses on evangelism and church planting where we are going to focus on building up individuals and organizations through vocational and organizational development programs. The sending organization also will send you to where they have the most need and we feel called to Uganda. Because we are going as independent missionaries, we are raising our own funds to support our mission in Uganda. This creates an issue in that we are not a 501c3 organization for tax deductible purposes. People donating to our mission would not get a tax deduction for their support if they wrote a check directly to us. To solve this issue, we have been teamed up with a sending organization called Ripe for Harvest. Ripe for Harvest is a 501c3 tax-exempt organization and they handle the donations to our mission whether they come via check draft, check or credit card and we are considered a W-2 employee of Ripe for Harvest.

One of the issues that have arisen with the arrangement with Ripe for Harvest is that there is a cost associated with the benefits that they provide. There are home office expenses that they need to cover including: rent, staff salaries, accountants, legal counsel, IRS reporting, postage, mailing supplies, operating supplies, travel for field visits, computer, etc. The administrative costs come out to 12%. With our budget, this works out to about $569/month that we have to raise just to cover this cost.

Another issue is that we have to raise funding for programs through this same sending agency, which means that we would need to raise an additional 12% over and above what we need for program expenses. Programming expenses are the costs to operate our various programs including hiring translators, transportation, materials, etc.

Another issue is that there are grant opportunities that we can apply for, but we cannot apply for them as individuals and we can’t apply for them as Ripe for Harvest. These are lost opportunities for raising funds to cover program expenses.

The biggest issue is that with us going through Ripe for Harvest, our mission in Uganda ends when we return home. Relationships are key in Uganda and building those takes quite a bit of time. We feel that a successful program will be built over a long haul and we don’t want to have it unravel when we are gone.

This brings us to our formation of our own nonprofit organization called Heart for Uganda. Heart for Uganda will allow us to raise funds with lower overhead, allow us to raise program expenses without the 12% overhead costs, allow us to apply for foundational grants and most importantly, allow us to create a sustainable program that will continue on without us.

We have formed a board of directors and they have been working very hard and have already done strategic planning, board training, developed bylaws, developed articles of incorporation, setup as a Texas nonprofit corporation, developed policies, setup bank accounts and have begun the paperwork to apply for 501c3 tax exempt status with the IRS. We are anticipating that the paperwork will be complete very soon and once we file with the IRS, we can begin the process of migrating our donors over to Heart for Uganda from Ripe for Harvest. We appreciate your continued prayers as we go down this road.

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Do Something

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 23:03:00 GMT

I know we can get so overwhelmed when we look around and see all the troubles in the world. It seems like the needs are so big and we can’t solve them on our own. I once had someone ask me why are we bothering in Africa because the problems are so great that we can’t possibly solve all of them. There is a song out now by Matthew West called Do something. Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8

My favorite line in the song is, “It’s not enough to do nothing. It’s time for us to do something.” If you would be willing to do something for our mission, here are a few things you can do to help make a difference in Uganda:

1.) Prayer: specifically our mission, that we can make an impact on the people of Uganda, that men in Uganda will step up to be leaders and advocates in their villages and take what they learn and teach others, and that we can break through the superficial Christianity and create disciples. (We have a group that has committed to setting an alarm on their phone for 2pm to pray for our mission, so feel free to join them.)

2.) Subscribe to our newsletter: We have a newsletter that goes out every month where we share updates for our mission, prayer requests, etc. Please add your email address by clicking here: www.heartforuganda.com/subscribe-to-newsletter/

3.) Share www.heartforuganda.com on your various social media outlets. The more people we can share our message with, the more people we have supporting our mission in Uganda prayerfully and financially.

4.) Like our Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/heart4uga

5.) Follow us on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/heart4uga

6.) Pray about financially supporting our mission. We are going as independent missionaries so we are raising monthly support to cover our living expenses while we are in Uganda. If you would like to support what we are doing in Uganda, please go to the following site and follow the instructions: www.heartforuganda.com/donate/

We often believe that “someone else will do something”, but the thing is, it takes all of us to make a difference in the world. Matthew West talks about this in one verse of his song:

I’m so tired of talking
About how we are God’s hands and feet
But it’s easier to say than to be
Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves
It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”
Well, I don’t know about you
But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire
I don’t want a flame, I want a fire
I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
“I’m gonna do something”

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5 Airline Tickets in Hand!

Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:55:00 GMT

We have purchased our tickets for our move to Uganda and now have the date we will make our departure. June 18th is the day we will be leaving the U.S. and heading to Uganda. We can hardly wait and have the countdown timers setup on our phones so we know how long we have before we leave! In case you are wondering, we have 136 days, 7 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds before our plane departs as I type this.

136 days seems like a LONG time, but we have so much left to do before we leave that I know this time will fly by. I remember last year when we were planning our trip in November. November seemed like such a long time away, but it came so quick. I know that will be the case for June 18th as well.

Some things we have left to do include: complete transition of Klint’s work duties to others, investigate making Heart for Uganda a nonprofit organization, raise the remaining 45% of our monthly budget, raise the final 13% of our startup costs, have several garage sales, pack and eat as much Mexican food as possible!

Our itinerary:

BRITISH AIRWAYS 18JUN DALLAS TX LONDON 635P 935A

BRITISH AIRWAYS 19JUN LONDON ENTEBBE 1230P 1050P

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Home is Where the Heart is

Sun, 26 Jan 2014 20:55:00 GMT

We closed on the house we have lived in for the past seven years. We had so many memories in that home and leaving it for the last time was difficult. We know in our head that we have to close the door on our past life to open the door to our new life in Uganda, but it is still hard to do in reality.

It has been said that home is where the heart is and we have come to realize the truth in that statement. 501 S Ash is just a house that was formerly our home, but we now have a home at 405 S Ash at Vicki’s parent’s house. Our family is here in this house so it is now home for the next five months.

The weird thing about this is that our heart is also in Uganda because we left part of it there when we visited in November. It will be hard to leave Archer City in June, but I know that we will be home at Plot #8 Kiira Lane in Jinja Uganda because that is where our heart will be.

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Goodbye Duke

Sun, 19 Jan 2014 16:36:00 GMT

Today is a sad day for the Ostermann family. Today we have to give up a part of our family. Duke has been with us for a little over 3 years and is greatly loved by everyone in the family. There were already tears this morning at the thought that today would be our last day to spend with him. Olivia is especially upset about losing Duke because the two of them have a special bond.

Duke is going to a great family in Windthorst that already has a Weimaraner. We know that he will be loved by his new family and will be well taken care of, but it doesn’t make it any easier to let him go. We really hoped to be able to bring him with us to Uganda, but after visiting in November, we determined that it would not be a good idea for several reasons. We need for him to go to a home with a yard because we have moved out of our house with a yard and there is no yard at Vicki’s parents home.

Today will be a sad day, but it is a necessary door for us to close so that we can open a new door in Uganda. Please keep our family in your prayers as our kids have had to deal with leaving behind their house, many of their possessions and now their beloved Duke.

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Excitisad

Tue, 07 Jan 2014 16:32:00 GMT

Excitisad…..no, this isn’t a typo. This is the best way I can describe the feeling that I continually have as I pack up our house and prepare to move to Uganda. I go through a drawer and find mementos from my childhood or high school days and I get sucked in and have to force myself to stay on track. Other days I find myself longing to finally be in our new home watching our sweet girls play in our Ugandan yard under a palm tree or be out in a village or in a classroom equipping Ugandan women with information that will change their lives.

I’m so excited to begin this new journey with my family. I know we will do amazing things and meet even more amazing people. Our girls will gain a perspective on life that they would never be able to if they didn’t spend time in a third world country. I look forward to using our home there as a free place for mission teams to come and stay. I can’t wait to take the girls around to all the fun places we visited and experience new things together, too! I want to share the Good News with the beautiful people there and see their lives changed in a positive way here on earth and in an eternal way in Heaven! The possibilities are endless and the daydreaming of our future life is really fun!

However, the sad part hits me from time to time. I can’t even imagine the heartbreak I’ll feel as I say ‘see you later’ to our family. I don’t want to use the word goodbye because it isn’t for forever. We are a close family that sees each other all the time instead of only on the holidays. We only lives three houses down from my mom and dad and only 8 miles away from Klint’s parents. Life will be incredibly different for all of us in a way that is not exciting at all. We have incredible friends that I do not want to say ‘see you later’ to either. Technology will help tremendously, but I know it’s not the same. Please continue to lift our family up in prayer, but not just us, our extended families as well. I know this will be hard on them…..really hard. Please pray for their hearts to be comforted and for the distance between us to not feel so far.

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2014 is Here!

Wed, 01 Jan 2014 22:17:00 GMT

2014 is here, which means this is the year we will be selling our house, quitting my job and moving to Uganda. 2014 will be a huge year for us and should prove to be full of excitement and sadness at the same time. We have so much to be thankful for how the Lord has provided for us in 2013 and we wait with anticipation of the mighty works He will accomplish this year as we make our transition to Africa.

June will be here before we know it and we have a ton of work to do to prepare for our transition to Uganda. I remember last year when we talked to people about our initial trip, November seemed like some time in the future that seemed so far off. Well, November came before we knew it and I’m confident that June will be the same way. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” and that is what we are doing with the work we are doing in preparation for our move.

The first thing we need this year is to sell our home. It is currently in contract with a close date set for January 17th. We would love prayers about this because we have run into a snag with the buyers having difficulty getting the roof insured. Please pray that they are able to secure insurance and that the house can close on the 17th. We need the proceeds from the house by the end of January to send to the family in Uganda that is living in our future home to purchase the contents of the home and their van. They need the funds by then to purchase items for their new home in the U.S.

The next thing we have to work on is fundraising. We currently have 50% of our monthly needs and 50% of our startup funds raised. We have $2,300/month left to raise with 23 weeks left before we move. Please be in prayer for our fundraising efforts. If the Spirit moves you to be a part of our financial support team, please visit www.heart4uganda.com/donate to learn how to go about joining our team. We cannot do our mission work without help from people both prayerfully and financially.

Thank you for following our blog and journey to East Africa. If you would also like to receive a monthly email newsletter, please click the link at the top of the page.

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Homeless

Sat, 07 Dec 2013 17:06:00 GMT

We will soon be homeless as our house is now under contract! Praise the Lord! We won’t own a home after January 17th, but we will be living with Vicki’s parents. They have been so gracious allowing us to live with them for six months or so. It was very important for us to sell our home as soon as possible for several reasons. The first is that we have to sell our house before we can move to Uganda. We wouldn’t be able to afford our mortgage and upkeep on the house while we are living on raised support. Renting out the house would be difficult to manage from afar and we couldn’t afford any vacancies. The second is that we need to cash out the equity on the house to be able to send funds to the family living in our future Ugandan house for household items and a van. They are moving back to the U.S. in February, so they need the funds in January so they can purchase household items and a vehicle in the U.S. It was also important for us to sell the house as soon as possible so that we can save the funds that we would pay for mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, electricity, water, gas, cable, upkeep, etc for our startup costs in Uganda.

Once again we see the Lord’s providence on our situation. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Thank you to everyone that was praying for our house to sell!

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Pride Elimination

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 03:11:00 GMT

1 Peter 1:14-15 says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy””. Holiness means absolute purity of my walk before God. This included the words coming from my mouth and every thought in my mind. It is placing every detail in my life under the scrutiny of God Himself. I won’t achieve holiness on earth, but through the process of sanctification I can progress toward holiness. Sanctification is becoming increasingly separated from sin and separated unto Jesus Christ. This process begins at salvation and is not complete until we die and are glorified. It is realizing that I’m not where I need to be when it comes to holiness, but recognizing that I’m not where I used to be.

As part of this sanctification process the Holy Spirit has convicted me that pride was an issue in my life. I have been a very prideful person and portraying a good image was very important to me. It mattered to me what other people thought about me, so I wanted to make sure to have nice vehicles that I couldn’t afford and a big house that was out of my budget. I drove a really nice Toyota Tundra that I loved. I wanted people to think that I was successful because I drove a nice truck. Pride caused us to be in debt just for appearances sake.

I now drive a 1994 Toyota Tercel without tinted windows, power locks, power windows, heat or cruise control. This thing doesn’t even have a radio! I would have been mortified to be seen driving a car like this in the past, but now it seems like a perfect car for me. I don’t need a nice, expensive car just to get me back and forth to work until we make our move to Uganda. I no longer care if people think that I’m a loser because I drive a junker. I don’t have a car payment and am able to save up a bunch of money for our move instead of blowing it on truck payments.

Driving a Tercel doesn’t make me holy by any means, but steps toward eliminating pride are steps toward holiness and that is sanctification. Paul talks about this in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

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Funding our Mission FAQ

Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:57:00 GMT

We receive quite a few questions about the funding of our mission, so I thought it was worthy of a blog post to try to answer the most frequently asked questions. I hope this clears up any questions you may have, but if not, feel free to shoot me an email.

How will you earn a living while you are in Uganda?

We are reliant on raised funds to fund our mission. This comes from individuals and churches that wish to support what we are doing in Uganda. By contributing to our mission, you become part of our team and therefore a critical part of the work we do.

Aren’t there paid missionary positions, so you don’t have to fundraise?

Yes, there are many paid missionary positions, but we have been led to a specific mission in Uganda that doesn’t fit the mold of many sending organizations. The mission board of our denomination focuses on evangelism and church planting. Our mission is more related to discipleship and thus doesn’t fit their model. Many of these organizations will send you where they need you to go, and will move you when they need you elsewhere. We feel a strong call from God to serve in Uganda, so we feel that going as independent missionaries is a good fit for our family.

Is your church supporting your mission?

Faith Baptist Church is supporting approximately 16% of our monthly budget. We are very blessed that they are supportive of our mission in Uganda.

Is raising funds for missions Biblical?

A much better author than I wrote an excellent article about the Biblical case for supporting missionaries. Check it out here: http://missionsuntold.com/the-biblical-case-for-support-raising/ This author points out that not only is it Biblically acceptable, it’s the way God did it for the priests, the Levites, the apostles, and for himself in the form of man, Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul was a tentmaker, couldn’t you be bi-vocational?

Yes, that is something that interested me when I started down this road. Believe me, I would rather earn my own money rather than rely on others for support. I’ve met with quite a few missionaries for advice as we have journeyed down this road and basically there are advantages and disadvantages to each, but for us and the mission we are doing in Uganda, the advantages of raised support outweigh the advantages of tentmaking. For a complete listing of advantages and disadvantages I found, check out: http://missionsuntold.com/tent-maker-vs-full-time/ . One of the main reasons for us going on raised support is that time doesn’t work in Uganda like it does in the U.S. Things take much, much longer than they do here, so if we are tied up working 8-9 hours per day to make a living, we won’t have much time for ministry. Another of the main advantages of raised support is that it grows the team of supporters for us in Uganda. If people are sending us money on a monthly basis, we are likely to remain in their prayers and the need for prayer support is huge while we are in the mission field.

Are you comfortable asking for support?

NO! Fundraising for non-profits has always been something I have disliked, but asking for money for myself is even harder. It is getting easier because God has shown me that I’m not asking for people to give me money, I’m asking for people to give money to God to do His work in Uganda. I’m just a tool He is using to accomplish His mission and the people that support us are a part of that mission. I had viewed the transaction as a horizontal transaction between the person giving and us. He showed me that it was a vertical transaction between the people giving up to God and God blessing us with the funding to accomplish His mission.

It was also a pride issue with me that God has been working to remove. I had always been a self-made man and felt responsible for my own successes. I put myself through college by working two jobs and joining the Marine Corps reserves to help pay for school. I’ve worked hard to gain knowledge to get promoted at my job and be trusted with more responsibilities. To bypass my pride and realize that I can’t do this myself and am reliant on God’s providence through other people has been a difficult process that I have yet to complete. It is getting easier, but it is still a little difficult.

Are donations to your mission tax deductible?

Yes! The funds go to a Heart for Uganda which is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Donations made to our mission through Heart for Uganda are tax deductible.

How much money do you need to raise?

We need approximately $4,800/month. We are asking our supporters to support us monthly so that we have predictable cash flow. Automatic checking account drafts are preferred because once setup, our supporters don’t have to do anything to continue to support us. Credit card payments are the least desirable because 3% of the donation is withheld to pay credit card fees.

That is a lot of money, I thought it was cheap to live in Africa?

I thought so too, but it is not the case. First, housing is difficult to come by and when you do find it, it is expensive. There has been an influx of people moving into cities and towns in Uganda as well as a bunch of missionaries looking for housing. Housing is the largest part of the expense of my budget. Another thing that attributes to the high cost is the cost of fuel. Gas currently costs $6/gallon, so that makes auto fuel, cooking fuel and electricity over twice as much as it costs in the U.S. The high cost of fuel also makes many of the groceries and supplies we use cost twice as much as it does in the U.S. This caught me off guard, as I thought everything would be cheaper there.

We also have to budget for periodic furlough trips back to the U.S. to see family, recharge and refresh supporters. Roundtrip airfare costs about $10,000 for a family of 5, so these trips will only be able to be made every 18-24 months. We budget monthly for these trips so that we don’t have to come up with a huge stack of money all at once, so we have to budget between $450 and $550 monthly for these trips.

Another expensive line item is health insurance for our family. We will purchase a high-deductible international insurance plan that basically just covers emergencies and high cost items. These plans also cover emergency evacuation if there is some emergency medical event that requires attention at a hospital that is not in a developing country. These plans are expensive and range between $400 and $500/month for a family of 5.

How much are you asking for?

This is a question that I ask donors to ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit. We have donors supporting us from $10 up to $300 per month currently. Any and all support is greatly appreciated!

How do people go about supporting you?

You can support us through either ACH draft, check or debit/credit card payment. You can go to www.heartforuganda.com/donate for specific instructions on each of these methods.

I really do hope that this answers all the questions that you may have regarding the funding of our ministry, but if you should have questions, shoot me an email at: klint@heartforuganda.com.

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Recap of our Trip

Sat, 23 Nov 2013 23:54:00 GMT

Now that we have been home for a week, I wanted to take some time to reflect on our recent trip to Uganda and share some details with you. I haven’t posted this recap yet because I have such difficulty finding words that due it justice. Please bear with me as I overuse adjectives when describing our experiences.

First, the country of Uganda is absolutely gorgeous. Winston Churchill christened Uganda, “The Pearl of Africa”, and it is easy to see why when you are there. It is a very tropical place that is lush and green (almost as green as north Texas in November). Vicki and I think that Uganda looks like what we imagine the garden of eden to look like. The biodiversity there is amazing as there are so many varieties of plants and trees. There are also over 1,000 bird species in Uganda. Pictures don’t do it justice, but here are a few to show how beautiful it is here:

The people of Uganda are just as beautiful as the country. We found Ugandans to be extremely friendly and very hospitable. While we were there, we were blessed to be able to observe several training classes including a general health education class, a business class and a HIV education class. The people attending the classes seemed so eager to learn as much as they could. We especially enjoyed spending time with the kids as they seemed so full of life and loved their picture taken (so they could see themselves).

As we mentioned in a previous post, it did not take long at all for us to begin to feel at home in Uganda. I’m sure the reason for this is a peace that passes understanding that God has granted us, but it doesn’t hurt that the people and country are so beautiful. We felt extremely safe while we where there other than some near death experiences on the motorcycle taxis there called boda bodas. Here is a video of a boda boda ride so you can get a feel for what it’s like:

We were so blessed to have such a wonderful guide in Vanessa, who has been in Uganda for about 7 years. She setup meetings with missionary families, including the family that is living in our future home, so that we could ask them thousands of questions about various options for education, healthcare, and general items. She took us to eat at various restaurants so that we could get a general idea of what was available. She also took us to a couple of grocery stores and to the market so we could get a feel for what would be available to us. We were surprised at what we could buy at the stores and that made us feel better about our food options when we move there. She and Dana Bogan took us to a small school run by an American educator called Kilombera, to a clinic to meet a pediatrician and to a pharmacy to see what was available to us. She took us to Kampala to see what was available at the malls and larger grocery stores and to a dental clinic. It was really nice to have a guide that could give us a real feel for what life would be like when we make the move to Uganda.

While we were in Uganda, we received so many confirmations that God is leading us there. There is no doubt left in my mind that we are doing the right thing. I want to thank everyone again for all the prayers and financial support for this trip as well as our permanent move. We couldn’t do it without you!

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Thankful

Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:32:00 GMT

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone that made our trip to Uganda successful. We couldn’t do it without everyone’s help.

First, I am thankful to the Lord for His provision during this trip. There were countless times that He provided for us during this trip from little things like stopping the rain at just the right time when we needed to ride boda bodas to huge things like giving us confirmation of our move to Uganda. I’ll probably have a blog post in the coming days about all the ways that He provided for us during this trip.

Next, I’d like to thank Faith Baptist Church and everyone that helped support us financially to take this trip. We didn’t have the means to fund this trip and would not have been able to go if it were not for the generous donations that made this trip possible.

Next, I’d like to thank everyone that lifted us and our journey up in prayer. Each and every prayer you made was greatly appreciated and the effects of the prayers were evident along the way.

Next, I’d like to thank Carol Crowley for taking off of work to take care of our girls in the mornings. I’d also like to thank Jim Bob Crowley for watching the girls after school and making sure they made it to their extra curricular activities. I’d also like to thank Raymond and Doreen Ostermann for watching them over a weekend. It sure made the trip easier to know that our precious girls were safe and taken care of while we were on the other side of the world.

Next, I’d like to thank the people at work that helped cover my duties while we were gone. I didn’t have access to phone calls and internet was sketchy so email was not readily available. Knowing that I have awesome co-workers helping out was a huge comfort.

I’d also like to thank Vanessa Crowley for being a 5 star guide to Uganda. She was an absolute blessing to us and we are so thankful that she took time away from her busy schedule to work with us.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone that followed us on our journey by reading our blog posts, facebook posts or subscribed to our newsletter to keep updated on our mission.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Reflection

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 08:13:00 GMT

As I sit here in the London Heathrow Airport watching the sunrise, I am thinking back on what has transpired during the past two weeks. We enjoyed our time getting to know our new home so much! It’s an outrageously beautiful country with beautiful, kind people. At the same time, the poverty this country deals with cannot be ignored. It’s everywhere you look. By the end of our first full day, I no longer saw it in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. I saw opportunities to help. This takes a lot of time, you can’t just hit the ground and expect to start making a difference right away. You have to develop relationships and grow friendships over time, which reveal opportunities to make a difference.

I’m really looking forward to being in Uganda and seeing what God has for us. I know it will not always be enjoyable, it’s going to be difficult in so many ways. I was reminded in a devotional I read while we were in Uganda that I should learn to appreciate difficult days. That I should be stimulated by challenges that I encounter along my way. As I do this I gain confidence from the knowledge that together with God, we can do anything. This knowledge is made up of three parts: my relationship with God, promises in the Bible and past experiences of coping successfully during hard times.

As I look back on what has transpired in just the past two years, I can see God’s hand at work in our lives when we didn’t even know it. It’s so unbelievably comforting to know that He has us in the palm of His hand.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

As we are obeying His call on our lives, I know He will protect us and guide us to do the work He has for us. We don’t know exactly what that will look like, but I’m excited to see what it will be. His way are always better than our ways! Although our circumstances are going to be changing drastically, God remains the same throughout time and eternity. This is the basis for our certainty and confidence in whatever we do.

But You are the same, and Your years will never end. Psalm 102:27

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Leaving My Heart in Africa

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 05:45:00 GMT

I have such mixed feelings today as we prepare to begin our journey back to the U.S. Part of me misses my life back home, my kids, my friends, work, church, etc., but a part of me wants to just stay here. We have fallen in love with Uganda, not just because the country is beautiful and the people are friendly, but because we are confident that this is where we are meant to be.

I heard a friend of ours, Chris Weaver, say that he wanted to stay in Africa when he went on his mission trip a couple of years ago, but I really didn’t understand it. It only took a few days before we understood what he was talking about. Uganda felt like home almost instantly and we have received so many confirmations from God that this will be our home.

God has taught me so much about Him, myself and what it means to be a disciple while I’ve been here. He has also taught me so much about poverty that I never understood, but I will save that for a future blog post. Please keep us in your prayers as we make the journey back home and continue the process of moving our family to Uganda.

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Change of Pace

Sat, 09 Nov 2013 04:03:00 GMT

One thing that I’ve noticed about life in Uganda is that there is a different pace of life than what I’m used to at home. Back in the U.S., I’m used to going, going, going and doing, doing, doing. Here things move much slower and there is a whole lot of waiting. For instance, our plans got dramatically changed on Thursday. We had plans for the day, but started off with Vanessa meeting us for breakfast at Surjio’s. As soon as we sat down for breakfast, it started to pour. Back home, this would not have been a big deal, I would have just grabbed an umbrella and made a run for my truck so that I could continue on with my day. The problem here is that we are reliant on either walking or riding a boda boda (motorcycle taxi). Neither of these is an option. Even if we had wanted to brave riding the boda boda, they wouldn’t be running if it was raining. The only alternative we had was to just sit, drink coffee and visit.

This wasn’t just a short little rainfall, this was a downpour that lasted until noon, and many areas were flooded.

I was reminded of Psalm 46:10a “Be still, and know that I am God”. The problem that I had with my frantic life is that I didn’t know how to be still so that I could take the time to reflect and think. I had a hard time even taking time to slow down on vacation and stressed if I didn’t have every minute of the day planned out so we could maximize the time that we had off. I’ve had so much time to think through this move, my ministry and life in general in the week that we’ve been here. I told Vanessa that being here is good for my soul. She commented that we were designed to be human beings instead of human doings.

The main idea of just “being” is to take the time to develop relationships and let God work instead of just trying to do different things until something works. Without slowing down the pace and just “being”, I think we miss so many opportunities. For example, just yesterday, we waited in the Source Cafe for someone that Vanessa was meeting with and had a couple of things happen that we would have missed if we were moving. The first was a woman that stopped by named Sarah that sat down with Vicki and Vanessa and shared how Fount of Mercy’s work has impacted her and the women in her village. She is the leader of a local community based organization that supports and trains women who otherwise have very little education or skills. Through her leadership and partnership with Fount of Mercy, these women have been given the opportunity to contribute to their families and to society. They’ve been given a voice and the ability to provide for their families.

The second thing that happened while we waited was meeting a group of missionaries from Mississippi. As we visited and established relationship, Vanessa shared her vision for a maternity center and her plans to visit Haiti to look at a successful model of a maternity center. They shared how they knew a pastor in Mississippi that has helped to establish a maternity center in Haiti that has also been successful. He was able to pass on contact information to Vanessa so she could visit them while she was there. It’s amazing to watch how God orchestrates things when we take the time to let Him work.

I realize that the slow pace of life here and things taking 10 times longer than they should will wear on me at times when we live here, but it is refreshing at this stage.

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Home

Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:33:00 GMT

The last two nights, we have been blessed to get to break bread with the family that is living in the house we will call home next July, the Bogan’s. We are so fortunate to get to spend time with Dana, Aaron and their kids and have had ample opportunity to get many of our questions answered. They have been such a help to us and it is so nice to have that resource available to help guide us through this process. The house is absolutely stunning with plenty of room for our family and beautiful landscaping. This house is already starting to feel like home to us. This will be a very nice place to come home to after the chaos of Africa and offer some bit of stability and normalcy.

Vicki and I were able to hand out paperwork and spend some time loving on the people of the village. The kids loved Vicki as you can see by this picture:

Tomorrow, we are going to spend some time at a homeschooling resource center, visit a pharmacy, visit the market, and have a dinner party at Vanessa’s house. Thursday we will go to another village to observe Julius teaching a business class.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for this trip and our eventual move to Uganda. We have received so many confirmations from God that this is where we belong.

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Arrived

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 04:07:00 GMT

We safely arrived in Jinja, Uganda at 3:30am on Sunday morning. The ride from the Entebbe airport to Jinja was a 2.5 hour ride along some pretty terrible roads; however, the trip was full of some very new and interesting sights, sounds and smells. These were familiar to me from my time in Brazil, but were unique to Africa. Vanessa says there is a saying around these parts, “Same, same, but different”.

After spending only one day in Jinja, I already am starting to feel at home and feel a true peace about our pending move here. Vicki and I both agreed that we could live here. In fact as I sit here writing this blog, Vicki was putting on her makeup listening to the birds outside, enjoying the sunrise over Lake Victoria and feeling the cool morning breeze and said, “yes, I could get used to this”. I truly feel the peace that passes all understanding about this place and feel the Lord’s presence here. In fact, a verse keeps coming to mind. Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Today (Monday) we will meet up with Vanessa at her office to meet the Fount of Mercy staff, get our SIM cards cut down to fit our phones, add airtime so we have a Ugandan phone number, and then have dinner at our future home. We are very excited about getting to visit the house and meeting the Bogans, Prossie, Mbusa, Moses and Francis. Tomorrow we will go out to the village to assist Vanessa with a health class she will be giving.

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Blessed!

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 17:41:00 GMT

As we head off on this initial trip, I have been reflecting on how blessed Vicki and I have been as we prepare for this journey.

We are blessed to have received salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are blessed to have family watch our kids while we are gone in Uganda for two weeks. We are especially blessed that Carol and Jim Bob are making sure our kids get to school, get fed, get bathed, get to basketball practice, get to Awanas, get to church, get to Bible drill practice, etc…

We are blessed to have friends and family pray for our journey.

We are blessed to have awesome supporters that have contributed to the funding of our mission.

We are blessed to be members of a church that supports us on our mission and contributed to this trip.

We are blessed that I have great co-workers that will pick up the slack at the bank while I’m out.

We are blessed to have had help from Randy to prepare power of attorney documents in case they are needed while we are away.

We are blessed that Vanessa planned out our journey.

We are blessed that Marvin was able to find affordable plane tickets so that we could afford to go on the trip.

We are blessed that Marvin was able to get missionary travel arrangements so that we are able to bring 3 checked bags each to bring things for Vanessa, the Bogans, and things to leave there for our permanent move.

We are blessed that Patrick was able to round up supporters to fill Vanessa’s wish list and purchased all the items on Vanessa’s list for us to bring.

From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to extend a very big thank you to everyone that has helped us along the way. We couldn’t do it without you!

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Looking Forward

Mon, 28 Oct 2013 18:51:00 GMT

It’s almost time!!! We have spent what seems like FOREVER looking forward to this initial trip to Uganda. I can’t believe that in 4 short days we will be experiencing it for ourselves! I’ve been looking forward to lots of things as these days have been approaching.

-Traveling with my husband….just us! I can’t even wait!!!
-Finding out what education will look like for our girls or at least seeing the options
-Finding out what medical care will look like for our family. Hopefully putting some worries to rest.
-Enjoying the food, I hear it’s pretty awesome! I’ve GOT to find myself a Ugandan pineapple!
-Experiencing a worship service with my sister
-Watching my sister ‘in action’ as she does her thing
-Meeting my sister’s friends, especially Manuela!
-Getting to see the home we will be living in when we move
-Meeting the Bogans
-Getting a little taste of what life will be like. How it will be different or simillar to life here
-Having the experience of having been in Uganda and looking forward to going back again
-Seeing the sights, sounds and smells of this place I’ve heard so much about!
-Even though it won’t be that enjoyable, I am looking forward to seeing the needs of Uganda and getting to help do something about it.

I hope you share in my excitement and will ‘follow” us along as we being this journey! Please pray for us as we prepare to leave for two weeks. Pray for travel graces, that we will have a safe and productive trip and that all of our luggage gets to where it’s supposed to go. Also, please pray for us as parents. We’ve never been away from our girls for this long before. It’s not going to be easy being away from our girls for that long! Hopefully all of us will be busy enough that the time will pass quickly! We appreciate your prayers!

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Spiritual Battlefield

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:53:00 GMT

Over the past couple of months, I have felt the effects of a spiritual attack. As we get closer to our trip to Uganda on November 1st and our move there, the attacks have been coming in more and more frequently. As I gain a greater understanding that the real message of biblical Christianity is that God loves me so that I might make Him-His ways, His salvation, His glory and His greatness-known among all nations. Satan seeks to oppose God’s plans and deprive Him of the glory due His name.

The best scripture I’ve found that talks about spiritual warfare is in 2 Kings 6 where Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrian army. The servant said, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” And Elisha said, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them,” Elisha prayed to the Lord, and God opened the servant’s eyes so that he could see the hills “full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kg. 6:17).

Some of the methods of the attack I’ve been feeling include: sowing seeds of doubt, discouragement, busyness, attempting to divide Vicki and I, and desires for worldliness. John 10:10 states that, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. I should have expected these attacks and should have known that we wouldn’t be exempt from the attacks because even Jesus faced an attack on His mission from Satan. When Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights, the devil tried to tempt him in various ways to defeat Christ’s purpose. The devil knew who Jesus was. He wanted Christ’s mission to be hindered so he tried to put Him to untimely death, but the Lord handled the temptation perfectly and won that crucial battle.

The first tactic of sowing seeds of doubt is accomplished by telling me that maybe missions isn’t my real calling. That because my house hasn’t sold, maybe this isn’t God’s plan for me. That I’m not equipped to actually do this. The sacrifice is too big. We will never be able to raise enough funds to make the trip or support us for our time in Uganda. We shouldn’t take our kids to a dangerous environment.

The next tactic is discouragement. I’ve felt this every time we have showed our house to a prospective buyer and not been able to make a sale. I’ve also felt this when I have expectations of funding that don’t come to fruition.

The next tactic is busyness. I’ve been so busy with work, volunteer work, church, Bible studies, vacation, kid stuff, etc that I’ve really been neglecting my quiet time with God. My prayer life and Bible study time has suffered as a result of this busyness. When this happens, the seeds of doubt and discouragement seem to really begin to gain some traction.

Vicki and I have also noticed that Satan is attacking our marriage. Satan’s strategy is simple: He knows that by destroying your marriage, he can destroy your ministry. We have noticed the enemy using this tactic and we have been working on making sure we are able to recognize when he is attempting to use this tactic and work together to fight against it.

The final strategy he is using is to appeal to my desire for worldliness. This has popped up several times including when we sold our Yukon, when we sold our Tundra, when we look around at all the stuff we have, when we look at what we are going to be giving up. This tactic has probably had the least effect on me of all the tactics used, but I have noticed it creeping up from time to time.

Our pastor at Faith Baptist Church has been preaching through a sermon series on Ephesians. He has recently spent several weeks on Ephesians 6:10-18 regarding putting on the full armor of God. This series has been very timely for defending against these attacks. I know from 1 John 4:4 that He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. I feel that m ission-minded believers are the prime targets of the adversary and his war against the people of God is being intensified daily because he knows full well that his time is running out.

Please keep praying for our mission and our defense of these attacks.

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October Fundraising Status

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:43:00 GMT

I wanted to periodically report the status of our fundraising on this blog. As I’ve mentioned before, our greatest need is monthly support to fund our budget while we are in Uganda. We are asking our supporters to begin their monthly donations as soon as possible so that we can fund the approximately $30,000 startup costs that we will need to make the move to Uganda.

Here is where we stand on our fundraising:

Monthly support: $1,160/$4,733=25%

Startup costs: $14,275/$30,000=48%

We would like to thank everyone that has contributed to our efforts thus far. If you haven’t and would like to contribute, please click on the donate button at the top of the site.

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Dreaming…

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 18:22:00 GMT

This is my very first blog post ever, so please bear with me as I get used to expressing my thoughts and feelings into print or whatever this is. My sister has been involved with Uganda for around 6 years, so her stories and photos of Uganda are familiar to us. I’ve dreamt of a day where I would actually get to experience it for myself, experience the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of this beautiful place we’ve heard so much about. It never crossed my mind that we’d actually move our family there, but since that is the call God has placed on our lives, I spend a lot of time day dreaming about what life will be like. It’s usually about the fun things we’ll do, the amazing people we’ll meet, the positive impact we’ll have on their lives or the amazing experiences our girls will have. Recently it’s crossed my mind that life in Uganda will not always be roses and rainbows. It’s easy to think that it will, but we will be meeting and helping people that have had unimaginable things happen to them. Hard times are unavoidable just like they are here at home, these will just be different, very different from we’re used to. Please pray that God will strengthen us and equip us to handle the things we’ll see and do. I know it will not always be easy, but I know it will be worth it!

Psalm 46:1

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Will we be safe in Uganda?

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 17:14:00 GMT

This past week, I’ve been asked numerous times if I thought it was still safe to go to Uganda in light of the Nairobi mall shootings. A couple of things that have come to my mind as I’ve pondered this question this week include: we are not safe from this type of terrorism here in the U.S. and the safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.

The attack was carried out by Al-Shabab, an armed Somali Islamic extremist group. Al-Shabab had threatened retaliation against Kenya for sending its troops into Somalia against al-Shabab, and many of those killed in an attack that horrified the world were Kenyans. Asked if al-Shabab had intended to kill foreigners, the group said “our target was to attack the Kenyan govt on it’s soil and any part of the Kenyan territory is a legitimate target … and Kenya should be held responsible for the loss of life, whether foreigners or local”.

Uganda has also been involved in Somalia by sending 5,700 soldiers to Kenya to fight al-Shabab. In July 2010, a double suicide bombing in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, killed 76 people who were watching the football World Cup final on television. It is widely believed that the attack was in retaliation for Uganda’s involvement in Somalia.

The US is also assisting in the fight against the extremists. The Obama administration earlier this year expanded its secret war in Somalia, stepping up assistance for federal and regional Somali intelligence agencies that are allied against the country’s Islamist insurgency. What is to keep al-Shabab from retaliating against citizens in the U.S.? U.S. officials estimate that as many as 50 Americans have been recruited to al-Shabab in the past six years, with more than half traced back to Minnesota’s growing Somali community.

We have also had terroristic shooting attacks in the U.S. lately including shootings in supposedly secure locations including at the Washington Navy Yard and at Ft. Hood. Americans are not safe even on U.S. soil. My mother-in-law has a stock answer that she gives when people ask her if she is ok with Vanessa’s safety in Uganda. She tells them that if you asked her on September 10, 2001 if Vanessa would be safer the next morning in Jinja, Uganda or in the World Trade Center in New York and she would say New York without a shadow of a doubt.

So this begs the question, are we safe anywhere? I truly believe that the safest place we can be is in the center of God’s will. God has given each one of us a purpose and specific work to accomplish for him. As long as we’re doing our best to follow his plan for our life, we don’t need to worry about our safety. Nothing and no one on the earth can successfully interfere with God’s purposes. We can read where Jesus teaches the disciples this lesson in John 11:1-16. In this story the disciples attempt to keep Jesus from going back to Bethany to resurrect Lazarus due to the fact that the Jews were seeking to stone Jesus there. Jesus knew that God’s will for his life was to be crucified so he didn’t need to worry about the Jews because no harm would come to him until he carried out God’s plan for His life. I feel like God’s will for my life is to move my family to Uganda and do His work. I feel like I would be in more danger if I do not follow God’s will for my life. In verse 10 of this passage, Jesus says, “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” I choose to do what Jesus says in verse 9, “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world”

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September Fundraising Status

Sat, 28 Sep 2013 15:24:00 GMT

Here is where we stand on our fundraising:

Monthly support: $1,060/$4,733=22%

Startup costs: $12,695/$30,000=42%

We would like to thank everyone that has contributed to our efforts thus far. If you haven’t and would like to contribute, please click on the donate button at the top of the site.

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Jesus is Lord

Tue, 17 Sep 2013 01:16:00 GMT

I’ve always heard that I needed to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. For the longest time, I had no issues with the Savior part of that because I had a strong desire to be saved from the consequences of my sins. Making Jesus Lord was a different story because we live in a culture that treasures freedom and independence. We don’t want anyone to be Lord over us. What is really difficult is to say that Jesus is Lord of our lives and really mean it and live it. Not just say it as a Christian slogan.

Phillipians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, or those who in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”

The term LORD is the term most used in the New Testament to identify Jesus — over 600 times it declares that Jesus is Lord. The term Savior refers to Jesus only about 25 times in the New Testament. In the Bible the word “KURIOS” is the Greek word translated to “Lord” and that word meant master, possessor, supreme authority, king or owner.

This means that if Jesus is Lord, that means he is our boss. When your boss tells you to do something, you do it. Francis Chan has a cool video where he talks about telling his daughter to go clean her room and she gives the response that we typically give when Jesus tells us to do something. You can check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/69175025 . The thing is, when God tells us to do something, he expects us to do what he says.

In a book by David Platt called Radical, Platt points out that it is easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily. This is what making Jesus Lord of our lives means.

Platt points out that Mathew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We take Jesus’ command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, and we say, “That means other people”. By the way, I’ve done that for years. My wife’s sister, Vanessa, has been a missionary for 13 years all over the world including 6 in Uganda with an organization she and a couple of others from seminary helped to create called Fount of Mercy. I always thought that to do what God says in Matthew 28 to Go and make disciples of all nations was “her deal” and God didn’t call me to that.

But I was more than happy to look at Jesus’ command in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”, and say, “Now that means me.” We take Acts 1:8 that the Spirit will lead us to the ends of the earth, and we say, “that means some people, that means people like Vanessa”, but we take Jesus’ promise in John 10:10 that we will have abundant life and we say, “that means me”. You see, in the process, we have unbiblically drawn a line of distinction, assigning the obligations of Christianity to a few while keeping the privileges of Christianity for all of us.

I began to understand that Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28 are not suggestions, but commands. I understood that the real message of biblical Christianity is “God loves me so that I might make Him-His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness-known among all nations.

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The First of the Lasts

Tue, 27 Aug 2013 01:15:00 GMT

It occurred to me this morning that we have begun the first of the “lasts”. This morning, we walked our oldest two daughters to their first day of school at Archer City ISD for the last time. This brought forth some emotion as the reality of our pending move to the mission field is starting to really hit home.

Olivia will have her last first day of pre-K tomorrow.

Last week we had the last meet the teacher night at Archer City ISD.

Next week will be the last opening day of dove season for a while.

These are only the beginning of the “lasts”, and will no doubt bring forth more emotion. Vicki and I both know that while our time in Archer City may be short, our lives on earth are short as well. While these times may be difficult and bring about sadness, we know that we have been called to the mission field.

Soon we will be done with the “lasts” and will get to begin the “firsts” in Uganda. We can’t wait to share those firsts with you when we get to experience them.

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Aid is a Stopgap

Fri, 16 Aug 2013 00:39:00 GMT

Recently Bono, U2 frontman, made news because of a change in position from promoting aid as a solution to the poverty situation in Africa to a position of preaching capitalism as a solution. I wrote about this very thing in a blog post called Uncharity and am basing my plans for vocational training on this belief. Aid feels good and it is relatively easy to pour support into a country to attempt to meet a need. The problem is aid creates a cycle of dependency. Investing time teaching entrepreneurial capitalism takes much longer and requires people on the ground, but this is a much more long term solution than aid.

Bono says, “Aid is just a stopgap, commerce [and] entrepreneurial capitalism take more people out of poverty than aid. We need Africa to become an economic powerhouse.”

Love him or hate him, Glen Beck made some comments about Bono’s change of heart on his show yesterday. Beck says, “Here’s what Bono is saying. [Aid is for] an emergency. You come in, and if there’s somebody that is hurting, if there’s somebody that needs help, and they can’t find a way to help themselves, then we as people — not American citizens – we as humans have a responsibility and a right to go in and help others.”

“Bono has given aid and begged governments for so long – aid, aid, aid, aid, aid. And then he comes back ten years later, and he’s like, ‘This situation is not any better.’ And so he puts his brain in gear.

“Instead, give them that temporary relief, so they can get themselves back into shape, a little bit stronger. Then you slowly remove the aid from them, and they do it themselves. And then you have the resources to go give the aid to another part of the world, or another community, or another family… I am a fan of Bono because of this. He gets it,” he added.

I have held the view that Bono has come to realize for some time now and believe that the solutions to poverty is a hand up and not a hand out. I’ve been a part of Habitat for Humanity and The Christian Men’s Job Corp because these organizations believe in giving a hand up to meet needs. The vocational training program that I’m planning incorporates this viewpoint. By investing time into men’s life, teaching them a skill, teaching them entrepreneurism, providing Bible study, discipling and providing micro loans is the key to solving poverty in Africa.

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August Fundraising Status

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 00:38:00 GMT

We have kicked off our fundraising efforts in earnest this month. As I’ve mentioned before, our greatest need is monthly support to fund our budget while we are in Uganda. We are asking our supporters to begin their monthly donations as soon as possible so that we can fund the $25,000-$30,000 startup costs that we will have to make the move to Uganda.

Here is where we stand on our fundraising:

Monthly support: $710/$4,733=15%

Startup costs: $4,420/$30,000=15%

We would like to thank everyone that has contributed to our efforts thus far. If you haven’t and would like to contribute, please click on the donate button at the top of the site.

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Honey, I Shrunk the Cars!

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 23:20:00 GMT

As part of our preparation to move to Uganda, we needed to get out from under the car payments that we currently have. We need to get into low cost vehicles that we can pay cash for so that we can easily sell them when we make the transition to Uganda. Today, I sold Vicki’s Yukon and purchased a 13 year old 4Runner with 181,000 miles that I got a great deal on. This will be a great vehicle to get us back and forth before our move and one that we can keep around so we have transportation when we come back to visit. We will miss the luxury and room of the Yukon, but this change is necessary to our moving plans.

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Archer County News

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 22:32:00 GMT

Aleisha Solorio wrote an outstanding article about our mission in the Archer County News that came out today. You can view the article by clicking here.

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Ripe For Harvest

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 22:18:00 GMT

Vicki and I are excited to announce that we have been approved as missionaries with Ripe For Harvest World Outreach. Ripe For Harvest is a missionary sending agency that will facilitate the contributions to our mission. Vicki and I will still have the flexibility to perform the work that we have outlined in previous posts, but they will offer support and a platform for managing our finances and contributions. Ripe For Harvest was founded in 1979 and is currently supporting over 200 missionaries serving in over 30 countries. Ripe For Harvest is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and have received a ruling by the IRS as tax-exempt. Ripe For Harvest is a member of the EFCA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). The EFCA is an accreditation agency dedicated to helping Christian ministries earn the public’s trust through adherence to Seven Standards of Financial Stewardship, which focus on board governance, financial transparency, integrity in fundraising and proper use of charity resources.

If you want to learn more about Ripe For Harvest, you can view their website here .

To learn more about the EFCA and their Seven Standards of Financial Stewardship, click here .

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Our Story

Sun, 14 Jul 2013 19:49:00 GMT

I would like to tell you the story of the journey my family is currently on as we prepare to move to Uganda, Africa to serve as full-time missionaries. You may have received this and not know who we are, so I wanted to take a minute to introduce ourselves, talk a bit about our call to the mission field, talk about what we will be doing in Uganda, how you can keep up with our endeavor and how you can help.

My name is Klint Ostermann and I have been married to Vicki for 15 years in October. We currently reside in Archer City with our three daughters, Paytyn (10), Morgan (8) and Olivia (4). I work at American National Bank as Vice President of Operations and Vicki is a stay at home mom. We have been members of Faith Baptist Church for about 2.5-3 years where we are very active in our Sunday school class. I lead a small group session with the 9 ^th and 10 ^th grade youth on Wednesday nights, and am active in a Wednesday morning men’s study at Chick-fil-A. I am also on the board for Habitat for Humanity where I currently serve as President, serve on the advisory board for the Salvation Army and am on the Thrift Store committee, serve on the board for Camp Fire USA, and serve on the board for the Optimist Club of Wichita Falls where I am the President Elect. I also volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters where I am privileged to get to be the big at Southern Hills Elementary to my little, Dallas. I have also served on the board for Child Advocates and taught at the Christian Men’s Job Corps. Vicki leads a Camp Fire group in Archer City where they have been the top selling candy sales group for the past 3 years. This year, her group sold 25% of all the candy sold by Camp Fire USA in Wichita Falls. She also serves as treasurer for the Archer City Elementary PTO and sits on the Archer City ISD campus improvement committee. She works with the 5 ^th and 6 ^th grade girls on Wednesday nights at First Baptist Church in Archer City. She had volunteered with the Junior League for 8 years where she served as Chair of various committees to put on Falls Fest and served as Co-director of the Miracle League. I don’t tell you all of this to brag on our achievements, but I wanted to let you know that serving God, the underprivileged, children, and the youth is not a new thing for us, but volunteering and emptying self has been part of the fabric of our family for many years.

We have been called to the mission field, specifically Uganda, where Vicki’s sister, Vanessa, has been serving for the past 5+ years. I have grown considerably in my walk with Christ in the last couple of years and have been involved in several Bible studies that helped me to understand that Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28 are not suggestions, but commands. I understood that the real message of biblical Christianity is “God loves me so that I might make Him-His ways, His salvation, His glory, and His greatness-known among all nations.” Once I surrendered to the mission field, I did not know where we would end up, but God began to lay Uganda on my heart. We will be moving to Jinja, Uganda in July of 2014.

Now that you know about our call to Uganda, the next logical thing to know is what we will be doing there. According to a 2012 UNICEF study, there are 2.5 million orphans living in Uganda right now. Exactly how many orphans is that? Cowboys Stadium holds about 80,000 people. To contain all of the orphans in Uganda, you would need over 31 of these stadiums. Of the 2.5 million orphans, 1.2 million of them are due to the AIDS crisis in Uganda. What is the cause of the other 1.3 million orphans? Many are orphaned due to civil conflict, epidemics, and natural calamities resulting in high adult mortality. Another cause of the orphan crisis in Uganda is high infant mortality. Uganda has an infant mortality rate of 64.2 deaths per 1000, which places it in 27th place in the world. The infant mortality rate is over 10 times the rate of the United States. Because of the high infant mortality rate, many Ugandan parents do not bond or even name their children until they are at least three months old. Without this bond, it is easy for these parents to abandon their babies.

What can be done about this orphan crisis? One aspect is health training to teach young women how to refrain from being infected with HIV. If the adult mortality rate is addressed, the rate of children orphaned will decrease. Another approach to help alleviate this crisis is to address the mother/child bonding. One method that has had positive effects to the orphan crisis in Haiti and one that Vanessa and Fount of Mercy is investigating is to work with expectant mothers to provide prenatal care, develop relationships and then work with the mothers postpartum to help them to bond with their babies. They will also provide health training so that the mothers can take care of the health needs of their babies and also send them through their vocational training program so that they can provide for their babies. Vicki will be assisting Vanessa with running this program for Fount of Mercy. James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

I feel called to take some of the things I learned at the Christian Men’s Job Corp and develop a vocation education program for the men in Uganda. So many people want to provide charity to help with the poverty, but despite our best intentions, charity rarely provides a long-term solution, often creating dependency and hopelessness instead. Money can’t solve the problem because poverty is not only a physical problem; it is also a spiritual and social problem. There are some organizations that have been successful by providing tools to empower individuals to put their skills and creativity to work. These tools are discipleship, Bible study, business training, and small loans to launch small businesses or strengthen existing businesses. Once these men are trained, they can become job creators, leaders and advocates in their communities and take what they learned and teach others. I will also be working with Fount of Mercy’s organizational development program to work with leaders of local community based organizations. We will be working with them to assist them with addressing needs in culturally relevant ways.

Matthew 25:37-46. “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We plan to go to Uganda in November to work with Fount of Mercy and Vanessa. Vicki will be helping Vanessa with a youth life skills training camp and I will be working with a local Ugandan employee of Fount of Mercy, Julius, to assist in the teaching of business skills to the women in their program. We will also be meeting with other missionary families from the States to help get some questions we have answered such as: what kind of budget will we need to have so we know what to fundraise to, what are the education options for our kids, what will healthcare look like for our kids, etc.

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Uganda Budget

Sat, 13 Jul 2013 14:12:00 GMT

We will be going as independent missionaries and it costs quite a bit to support a family of 5 halfway across the globe. I have been working with missionaries already in Uganda to get an idea of what kind of budget we will need to survive there and have come up with a budget of roughly $4,823 per month. Here is a summary of our budget:

With a budget like that, it will take many supporters to be a part of our team to make this mission successful. By giving, you get an opportunity to participate in our ministry in Uganda. Paul said in Philippians 4:17, “Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account”. If you need additional Biblical evidence for financial support of missions, check out 2 Corinthians 8-9. All donations will go through Heart for Uganda, a 501 (c)(3) organization, which means that donations will be tax exempt and they will provide financial accountability for the donations. If you want to know more about the trip, please give me a call at 940-867-4678 and I would love to share what the Holy Spirit has been doing in our lives.

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Strong and Courageous

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 03:06:00 GMT

For some time, I have been wrestling with how I was going to go about telling my bosses at work that I plan to move to the mission field in Uganda in about a year. You see, I have an awesome job at an awesome bank and work with awesome people. The people at the bank are like family to me and I’ve been given an excellent opportunity to manage several departments as Vice President of Operations. I also greatly respect my bosses and see them as almost a father figure. To the world, it seems so impractical to turn away from such a great opportunity and give it all up to serve God in a foreign country 8,000 miles away from home.

These reasons have made it tough to get up the nerve to let my work know about our mission plans, but my biggest fear was them terminating me as soon as I let them know my plans. I know that Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope”. I know in my heart that I should just trust God, but the enemy was whispering in my ear that God would not take care of this situation. The entire time I knew that I was called to the mission field and withheld that information from my employer, I felt like I was not being honest. I was holding a secret and was living in constant fear that they would find out and fire me. It was a huge burden and was weighing on me and causing quite a bit of stress.

It seems so silly (looking in the rearview mirror) that I would have the courage to accept the call to the foreign mission field and move my family to the other side of the world, but not have the courage to tell the bank about my plans. As the circle of people that knew about our plans widened, I started getting more and more worried that my bosses would find out and come talk to me about what they had heard. I wanted to be the one that went to them to initiate the conversation and not wait for them to do so. I also needed to kick off our fundraising efforts, and the word would spread quickly, so the time had arrived.

I determined that I would spend some time in prayer and Bible reading to gear up for the conversation. I spent my lunch hour the day before I planned to have the talk sitting at a picnic table praying and reading my Bible at a park. A couple of related verses really spoke to me during this time: Deuteronomy 31:6-8 where Moses told Joshua to be strong and courageous and Joshua 1:1-9 where God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous and reminds him that God would be with him wherever he goes. These verses gave me peace and courage about my upcoming conversation. When I got up to leave, I observed a wasp fly under the picnic table where I had been sitting. I looked under the table and found this directly under the table precisely where I was sitting:

I had been sitting there for almost an hour with my legs inches away from these wasps and yet they never bothered me. I feel like that was God’s way of telling me that though my bosses could sting (terminate) me, God would protect me.

With the confidence of these verses and the wasp experience, I went into the bank President’s office and told him that we were called to the mission field. This conversation could not have gone better and I was greatly encouraged by his acceptance of this news. I now feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders and like I’ve exhaled completely for the first time in months. I’m excited that I don’t have to hold in a secret or be careful who I tell about our future mission work. I’m so excited to begin the next stage of this journey, fundraising.

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Providence

Sat, 22 Jun 2013 02:40:00 GMT

Lately, I’ve spent some time thinking about the wonderful promise of God’s provision. The primary reason for this is because I have been very aware of all the things that God has been providing that is enabling me to answer the call to missions. Not only do I see the things He is currently providing, but I can look back and see everything that He has provided me that has prepared me for this undertaking. Phillipians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

For most of my life, I have not recognized God’s provision and felt pretty self-sufficient. I put myself through college working two jobs and even joined the US Marine Corps Reserves to help pay for college. I’ve worked hard all of my life to improve my lot in life and to provide for my family. I now know that everything has been provided by God.

Once we surrendered to missions, we realized how much we were going to have to rely on God to provide for us. With one income we don’t have leftover money at the end of the month. We had no idea how we were going to be able to afford the $5,000 that it was going to take to go to Uganda in November, but I trust in God’s provision. So far, He has provided 80% of the money 5 months before we even step onto a plane.

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Plane Tickets in Hand

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 21:03:00 GMT

We are excited that we have purchased the tickets for our trip to Jinja, Uganda. We will be traveling on British Airways departing DFW on November 1st and will arrive in Entebbe, Uganda the following day. We will depart Uganda on November 15th and will arrive back in Dallas on the 16th of November.

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November Trip to Jinja

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:21:00 GMT

Vicki and I are preparing for a trip to Jinja, Uganda in November to work with Fount of Mercy. Jinja is where Vicki’s sister, Vanessa, has lived for the past five or six years and Fount of Mercy is an organization that Vanessa helped develop. Fount of Mercy builds indigenous African organization’s capacity to provide educational and vocational opportunities for the orphans, vulnerable children and caregivers in their communities. Fount builds said capacity through technical support, resource mobilization and grant making in the following four program areas: educational development, vocational development, health education and organization development. To learn more about Fount of Mercy, you can visit their website at fountofmercy.org .

Goals of our trip:

* Assist Fount of Mercy’s Community Health Initiative Director, Vanessa Crowley, with the operation of a Youth Life Skills Training Camp
* Assist with Fount of Mercy’s Vocational Education program by teaching business and vocational skills to widows
* Share the Good News with the Ugandas we will encounter while assisting Fount of Mercy
* Gain a better understanding of the culture of Uganda
* Establish relationships with missionaries residing in Jinja

James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

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Brevity of Life

Wed, 29 May 2013 02:28:00 GMT

One of the things that led me to surrender to missions was a reflection on how short life is in relation to how long eternity is. It has been said that 50 years after you die, there will be no one left that will remember you. Can you remember the name of your great, great, great grandfather? How about even your great, great grandfather? The reality is that we are all going to die and no one is going to remember us. This is something that David reflected on as well in Psalm 39. James tries to remind us of the frailty and brevity of life in James 4:13-16. He says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.”

The brevity of life reminds me that life is fragile and our time on earth is short, so it is critical to maximize our time so that we will not regret the life we lived. When you die, there will be two dates on your tombstone, the date of your birth and the date of your death. Between these two dates is a dash and what you do with that dash is what is important. In the movie Gladiator, Maximus makes a profound statement, “What we do in life echoes in eternity”.

When I ponder what I should do with the dash, one option is to follow the popular path of the American Dream. Work hard and save up a bunch of money until I reach a predefined age of retirement, then live in a retirement community in Florida. The question then becomes, should we really follow the popular path? In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Choosing to follow Jesus is the narrow path and the ways of the world are the wide path.

I’ve decided that comfort and following the world’s definition of success is not what I want to do with the dashes. I intend to follow the narrow path and follow Jesus. Following Jesus includes obeying His command in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; an lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This sure seems like a tall order and a huge commitment but A.W. Tozer once said, “God is looking for people through whom he can do the impossible, what a pity we plan to do only the things we can do ourselves.”

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Uncharity

Mon, 13 May 2013 02:33:00 GMT

I feel called to take some of the things I learned while teaching at the Christian Men’s Job Corp and work to develop a vocation education program for the men in Uganda. So many people want to provide charity to help with the poverty, but despite our best intentions, charity rarely provides a long-term solution, often creating dependency and hopelessness instead. Often when we see people in need, our reaction is to try to meet that need, but in doing so we are inadvertently sending a message that says, “You are not capable of providing for yourself”. Money can’t solve the problem because poverty is not only a physical problem; it is also a spiritual and social problem. There are some organizations that have been successful by providing tools to empower individuals to put their skills and creativity to work. These tools are discipleship, Bible study, business training, and small loans to launch small businesses or strengthen existing businesses. Once these men are trained, they can become job creators, leaders and advocates in their communities and take what they learned and teach others.

Matthew 25:37-46. “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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Fellowship of the Unashamed

Wed, 08 May 2013 02:19:00 GMT

Vanessa shared this with me before she boarded her flight back to Uganda. It was something that her pastor in Jinja shared this past Sunday.

Dr. Robert Morehead tells the story a young man from Rwanda who was forced by his tribe in 1980 to renounce Christ or face death. He refused to renounce Christ, and he was murdered on the spot. The night before he had written the following commitment which was found in his room: Can you make this kind of commitment for the Gospel of Christ and become a member of the Fellowship of the Unashamed?

“I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, back up, let up, or shut up until I’ve preached up, prayed up, paid up, stored up, and stayed up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until He returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes.

And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colors will be clear for I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..” (Romans 1:16).

These “No Matter What the Cost” disciples of Jesus Christ are the ones who consider the cost of God’s call on their lives and then with perfect freedom and with a clear understanding that this road will be very difficult – overwhelming at times – they choose to answer by saying, ’Here am I Lord! Send me’ (Isaiah 6:8)

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Orphan Crisis in Uganda

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 23:31:00 GMT

According to a 2012 UNICEF study, there are 2.5 million orphans living in Uganda right now. Exactly how many orphans is that? Below is a picture of Cowboys Stadium.

Cowboys Stadium holds about 80,000 people. To contain all of the orphans in Uganda, you would need over 31 of these stadiums. Of the 2.5 million orphans, 1.2 of them are due to the AIDS crisis in Uganda. What is the cause of the other 1.3 orphans? Many are orphaned due to civil conflict, epidemics, and natural calamities resulting in high adult mortality. Another cause of the orphan crisis in Uganda is high infant mortality. Uganda has an infant mortality rate of 64.2 deaths per 1000 which places it in 27th place in the world. The infant mortality rate is over 10 times the rate of the United States. Because of the high infant mortality rate, many Ugandan parents do not bond or even name their children until they are at least three months old. Without this bond, it is easy for these parents to abandon their babies.

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Biblical Model for Funding Missionary Work

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:23:00 GMT

Found a great post on another missionary’s blog about fundraising for missionaries. This is something that I’ve been struggling with lately. Here is what Glen Davis’s blog post said:

How should missionaries be paid? Biblically, there can be only one answer to this question. As Paul says, the Lord has commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel ( 1 Cor 9.14 ). The teaching is very explicit. There are many examples of this principle being practiced in the Scriptures. Here are just a few:

In summary, there is an extremely strong Biblical case for missionaries raising financial support from the Body of Christ.

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God’s Heart for the Nations

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:14:00 GMT

Vicki and I are currently going through a Bible Study called, “God’s Heart of the Nations” that is focused on missions. There was a great commentary by the author that has really impacted me and I wanted to share it here.

“One of my favorite statements that I use to shake up people is, “Jesus is not your personal Savior.” We live in a culture where personal means mine. You don’t get a personal pan pizza to share it, or hire a personal trainer to share him, and you don’t want everyone using your personal computer. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that you must receive Jesus personally and that one of the benefits of salvation is that we can have a personal and intimate relationship with the living God. But, Jesus is not our personal possessive savior, he is “Savior of the world.””

Well said.

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Support

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 04:41:00 GMT

We have been telling friends and family about our plans over the last several days. Everyone we tell is so supportive of our trip. It is so encouraging to have so much love and support poured out on us! I’m asking everyone I talk with to keep us in their prayers. This is definitely a difficult decision to have made, but making it a reality is going to involve quite a few steps and processes. I also know that the enemy will attempt to trip us up any chance he can get.

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First of “The” Talks

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 04:40:00 GMT

We live three houses down from Vicki’s parents and spend quite a bit of time with them. They are always available to watch the kids when we need a sitter. In fact, we’ve only had an actual babysitter three times in the last 10 years. We are very blessed to have them around and so involved with our kids. Because we are so close to them and the girls are so attached to them we were anxious to break the news to them that we would be moving to Uganda.

Another thing that made us nervous is the fact that Vicki’s dad doesn’t handle change very well. He used to move furniture back whenever his mom would rearrange furniture when he was a kid. He is still complaining about First Baptist Church in Archer City taking out the organ and podium. He hated the time we lived in Oklahoma because he absolutely loves Texas.

We decided that our strategy would be just break the news to them that we would be going on a mission trip to Uganda in November and then break the news to them at a later time. I ended up going off script and told them that we would be scouting Uganda out for a permanent move. Her parents could not have been more supportive, though her dad was fairly quiet. It will take him a little while to process the fact that we will be moving his grandchildren 8,000 miles away. It is so nice to have godly parents that understand the eternal reality of our salvation!

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Call to Missions

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:39:00 GMT

My sister-in-law, Vanessa, is a missionary that has spent time in countries such as: Samoa, China, Nepal and Tunisia. She has most recently been involved in an organization called Fount of Mercy that operates in Uganda. She has been going to Uganda for the last 4 or 5 years doing mission work and has most recently been heading up a project called CHI. This stands for Community Health Initiative and their goal is to equip women in Uganda with the skills and knowledge to improve their health and quality of life through prevention, sensitization, education and skills training.I always admired Vanessa for her work and thanked God that he was using her for such good work. I also really liked when missionaries would come to church to speak about the work that they were doing in other parts of the world that I had never visited. I was glad that these people were called to spread the Good News, but I wasn’t called, so I was happy to put a little bit of money in the love offering and pray for them.

In November of 2010, I picked up a book called Radical by David Platt and led a Bible study with some men at an IHOP restaurant on Wednesday mornings. This book changed my life, because for the first time ever, I realized that God calls everyone to mission work, not just some people. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity.” At the end of the book, Platt lays out a plan for becoming a radical Christian. One of the steps of the plan is to spend time in another context. David says, “If we are going to accomplish the global purpose of God, it will not be primarily though giving our money, as important as that is. It will happen primarily through giving ourselves. This is what the gospel represents, and it’s what the gospel requires.” I listened to Platt’s advice and I went on a mission trip in June of 2011 to the Mescalero Apache’s of New Mexico. We spent time on this trip getting to know the Mescalero’s and served them through a family fun day at a campground near the reservation. This trip changed my life forever and it was during this trip, I realized that I did have a heart for missions and was indeed called to missions.

I had been been in prayer about where God was calling me to and I had hoped it would be to Brazil. I was fortunate enough to get to go on a peacock bass fishing trip on the Xingu river in Brazil. I absolutely loved the people and the country of Brazil. I even tried to learn some Portuguese to prepare myself to server in Brazil, but no doors ever seemed to open. I held out hope that an opportunity would present itself that I could grab to move my family to Brazil.

In May of 2012, I was given the opportunity to go to Catalyst Dallas with a group from Faith Baptist Church. This conference is primarily for church staff and leadership and I was neither, but I felt like the Spirit was leading me to the conference. I obeyed and went to the conference and while there, I was in prayer the whole time for the Lord to reveal His plans for my life. I never got my answer until the very last session of the day in which the speaker told us to “go home and be utilized by God where you are”. I took that to mean that I was to be a missionary at home and so I gave up on foreign missions.

The proper response to this would have been to go home and find ways to spread the Good News and make disciples; however, I did neither when I got home. I went home and got comfortable and did nothing to grow the Kingdom of God. I got so busy, that there was no time for that type of evangelism.

Things started to change in early 2013 when we started to study “God’s Heart for the Nations”. In this book, the author Jeff Lewis lays out God’s primary objective of making His name great to all the nations. During this study, The Holy Spirit began to soften my heart for foreign missions again and Uganda began to be laid on my heart as somewhere that I should go. I began to ask Vanessa lots of questions about Uganda. I began to see something about Uganda everywhere I turned. I began to think about Uganda. God revealed to me that I was to go to Uganda to serve as a missionary. One of the men in my Wednesday morning Bible studies even mentioned that I should go to serve in Uganda with Vanessa. I realized that my calling was to serve as a missionary in Uganda and help the men there to be men of faith and teach them entrepreneurial and business skills so that they can begin to build businesses to provide for their families and to help the economy in Uganda.

I began to struggle with how to tell Vicki that I felt called to move our family to Uganda. She spent her entire life in Archer City or Wichita Falls except for the short time we lived in Tulsa, and she loved living close to her family. We are comfortable. We live in the town she grew up in. Our kids go to school in the same school she went to and are taught by some of the same teachers that taught her. We live three houses down from her parents on the same street she grew up on. I know that comfort is a tactic of the devil, because if he can make us comfortable, we are not useful to God. I also know that growth requires stretching and often pain. I know that we were being called to get out of our comfort zone and grow and be used by God. I want to get to heaven and hear, “well done, good and faithful servant”, and not “well, I asked you do go and you told me “no””. I knew talking to Vicki about this would not be easy, but I knew I had to do it.

I began to talk to Vicki on a return trip to celebrate my niece’s 4th birthday while the girls were watching a movie and had headphones on. I explained the work that the Holy Spirit had been doing with me over the last couple of years. It was a shock to her, because I hadn’t shared much with her, because I was afraid of how she would react. She actually took it quite well and was willing to go where I led her. Her emotions went from being scared to death to excited and back to scared to death.

She was willing to follow, because the last time the Holy Spirit called me to move was to move to a different church. She struggled with the move, because we went to the same church she went to when she grew up. She didn’t understand why we had to drive past that church and drive 30 minutes to a different church. She saw that at the new church, I grew in my spiritual walk. I went from being afraid to pray in front of everyone to being comfortable praying in front of people, teaching Sunday school lessons, leading a Bible study, and going on a mission trip. She saw how much I changed that time the Holy Spirit called me to make a change and she was willing to follow this time.

Several days later, we invited Vanessa over for dinner to break the news to her that we felt like we were being called to serve in Uganda. While we talked, she broke into tears and told me that she already knew I was called because the Holy Spirit had been telling her for the last two years that I would be called. She thought she was going to have to convince me to go to Uganda to serve and was blown away by the fact that the Holy Spirit had already been working on me and I was ready to serve.

The next step is to seek guidance from some godly mentors and to plan a trip to Uganda to experience it for ourselves.

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Salvation Experience

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:34:00 GMT

I grew up believing that I was saved because I had gone through the right steps to ensure that I would go to heaven, was a relatively good person and confessed my sins on a regular basis. I went to church when I was young because I had to, although I skipped out rather frequently until I got caught doing so. Once I was on my own, I rarely went to church.

My wife, Vicki, was saved at an early age and had made Jesus both her Lord and Savior. Once we were married, she would get me to go to church, but I rarely wanted to go. I went to make her happy and went through the motions and hoped the service would end quickly. As far as I knew, I was saved and would spend some time in purgatory to pay for my sins before I was allowed to enter heaven when I died.

Things started to change for me when I started to question some things that were coming from my church’s leadership related to capital punishment and the war in Iraq. I started to read the Bible to determine what the Bible said about these things. The more I read, the more I realized that what I had learned as a kid about how to get to heaven didn’t match up with what I was reading in the Bible. What I read in the Bible was that everyone is a sinner and the penalty of sin is death. We all deserve to die, but God sent his only Son to die in our place. Though he was perfect and never sinned, he died for the sins that I have and will commit. I also learned that I can have that salvation by acknowledging that I am a sinner, believing that only Jesus can save me from the penalty of sin, and confessing that Jesus is the Lord of my life.

While I was learning this, Vicki was pregnant with our first born, Paytyn. I wanted to make sure that what I would be teaching Paytyn about Jesus was correct theology, so we started attending a different church that taught the same thing that I learned in the Bible. It wasn’t long after starting to attend church there that I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior in our car driving back to Wichita Falls from Archer City on Highway 79 near the Little Wichita River.

Though I was saved, I never went through the process of being baptized because my pride kept me from doing that since I had been baptized as a newborn in another faith. During a revival in 2008, I walked down the isle at FBC Archer City and asked to be baptized and was able to join the church.

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