Oli O Tia - That is “How are you?” in Luganda. We trust you are jendi (fine) and enjoying your Christmas. All is well for us woodpeckers - I mean Woodsons here in Uganda. Though, sometimes I feel like a woodpecker - peckin away at the ole block. This last year found us doing a lot of coming and going. We did quite a bit of traveling including trips to the US, Singapore and Israel. In November of this year - the Singapore church that we minister under went to Israel and they blessed us (Lorraine and I) with a “Holy Land” Tour. That was a great time - the kids stayed behind with some missionary friends in Uganda. Josh is now 10, Breanna is 7 and Alyssa is 2. Alyssa really keeps us in shape - she is “nonstop” from sunup to sundown. Both Joah and Breanna are doing homeschool. Josh has finished the 5th grade, while Breanna is in 2nd grade. Josh will most likely begin going to Christian school in January for interaction, while continuing with his homeschool. For activity - Breanna likes singing and acting - while Josh is now playing drums in the House of Prayer. Alyssa likes running and running and running. I have started mountain biking on the roads here - the roads are like mountains, so I am really just bike riding. I have always stayed away from this due to the danger of the way the people drive here. But I have found some roads that have enough pot holes on them that people are forced to drive slow. Lorraine also likes to keep fit with her exercise in the living room - which much safer.
For ministry side of things - we opened up our “House of Prayer” in late September and have been going ever since. We have a room in church that we have dedicated for prayer and is open every day from 6:30 am to 9:00 Pm - with live prayer teams and musicians in the morning and evening. We have also opened up a new church plant (about 5 miles from our current location) that Lorraine is currently handling. We now have 10 churches in the city of Kampala - that I oversee. Our Teen Challenge Center is doing well with a full house of students. Though earlier this year we lost someone in the program to TB, he was a former staff member and one of the men who we started the program with over 12 years ago. Uganda is now the 3rd fastest growing nation in the world with the highest concentration of children under the age of 15 on the entire globe.
In closing, once again we thank all of you for your prayer and continued support - thank you for blessing us and standing with us. Merry Christmas and a blessed 2013. Much love and grace to you and your family!
