Pictures from Africa

We have been back for over one month now. It’s hard to believe, and it’s hard to summarize a month in Africa. We were met with so much need and helped as we could. It was good to be free from the many trappings of everyday American life. It was a great month!

If you’ve ever been on a mission trip, whether for a week or a month, you know God does as much work in you as He does through you. Being a full-time missionary does not change this fact. It is a wonderful, life-changing experience to be involved in missions. I highly encourage you to go on a mission trip – it would be a great goal for the New Year!

Thank you SO much for your prayers and financial support. God used you to bless people in Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. Please continue to pray for us and HHFM as we do our work here in America and prepare to return to Africa in February!

I sent out fairly regular updates throughout our time in Africa, but I wasn’t able to get many pictures out. So, here is a short overview in pictures!

We fed children at an orphan school in Goma, Congo. The local Christians who run the school do so voluntarily, and with little resources. They meet under a structure made of sticks with a partial tin roof. They cannot even afford to feed the children once a month.

Then we went to a women’s meeting. Christian women in the area felt it was important to have a women’s ministry once a month. They sing, teach the Bible, and try to meet needs. When we arrived, there were about 300 women, some who had been waiting 5 hours for us to arrive! Many of these women are widows, victims of rape and war, and living with HIV/AIDS.

We also visited two Pygmy villages where there are new church plants. We gave out bags of corn, but the need was so great, we ran out of corn in the second village.

We then headed to our mission base in Busia, Uganda. While there, we had a mission team come. They built trusses so a roof could be put on the church. Here is the final product! The inside still needs to be finished, but the church should be able to have weekly services in this new building by Christmas!


 
The mission team did sports camps at some of the bush churches as well as evening church services. Many of the bush churches meet under trees or partial structures of sticks and tarps. But, they always welcomed us with singing and dancing, and were always so generous. Often they gave us gifts of chickens or goats, as a thank you for coming to their village.

I spent most of my time working with our school children in Busia. We have a school with 800 students from 4 years old to 9th grade. All of the students are orphaned, or come from a very poor family with only one parent, or maybe there is HIV/AIDS in the home. We offer a free Christian education to these children and accept any child, even the Muslim children. They all hear God’s Word, they all see His love at work. We provide a meal with protein every day for every child. We do this through our child sponsorship program.

So, my time was spent getting to know the children and the teachers, giving out gifts from sponsors, and visiting some homes of our children.

Mike spent his time preaching, teaching, and doing Pastor training at bush churches in the Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. This is a huge need as nearly all of pastors have no formal training and some do not have Bibles.

Mike was also able to work with Dr. Brenda to give medical care to children in the Lake Victoria Area.