Through the eyes of a child

Prior to our team leaving for Marare, an 8 year old girl from our Northgate community brought a simple servant message to Uganda. I was touched. When we presented it to the the FH Staff in Mbale on our arrival, they were even more touched.

This girl chose, on her own, to designate any birthday monies to further the education of the children in Marare. In total, she collected $125! A humble, servant-heart attitude that we can all learn from! She saw the need, and humbly moved.

It was an honor for me to be able to present this to Moses. He promises a careful selection of school supplies for the children that need it most.

Rick Warren teaches us through God's word: 'God shaped us for servant hood; yet often we focus on self-centerdness.' What a challenge this 8 year old girl is to measure our own willingess to serve.

Take some time to reflect on the words of Matthew 20:25-28 -- "Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

God so Loved the World

The last few days the team worked hard implementing an Awana soccer camp in Marare. We condensed a 5 day program into 3 days. Allan led the Bible lessons, Sarah Vilay the soccer drills, and Luke the soccer games.

The soccer part (or should I say ‘football’) was appealing, as that is the game they love. They play it with passion and skill and enthusiasm. We really couldn’t teach them much new, but everyone simply enjoyed the interaction and connecting together.

The Bible lessons focused on key elements of biblical truths: heaven * sin * Christ * trust * grow. Allan was effective in teaching and connecting with the children, and even the teachers said “they love the Bible lessons”. Him and Pastor Bob worked together, learning to communicate via an interpreter using narration and drama. Pastor Bob was transformed into John the Baptist, and Marare was “turned into” the Garden of Eden. It’s hard to imagine, considering the amazing beauty of Marare, how beautiful Eden must have been.
We closed the 3 days with a word stick to help the children remember the key points of the lessons. This created some interesting challenges: how to move the children through effectively and efficiently, how to ensure all the children receive just one stick, and how to monitor it overall. We came up with 5 stations set up along the outside church walls. Each station had one color of the word stick. The children would come out of the Bible lesson in groups of 6, would have their hand marked with by a sharpie to remind us they received a stick, and then they were to smoothly move through the stations. That was easier said than done.

The first group managed the first two colors well, and then they turned the corner on the church building to find me, trying to manage three color stations as no one else was available at that time to help. In no time I had 20 or more children asking for a color, with many of the children now coloring their arms and especially their finger nails. A number of times Jesus words, “Let the little children come to me” echoed through my mind. The excitement among the children was high. It was a huge sense of relief when I saw one of the Marare parents approach to help me out.

Even so, the children were excited with their project and the Bible truths reinforced to them this week.

My favorite was a little girl who was sitting on the side with her stick NOT colored. I was told she “wouldn’t be able to participate”, but thought I would try with her anyway. I helped her color the first 3 colors, and could see the smile forming on her face. She colored the last two sections on her own, and the big smile on her face said it all.

The second was a boy of about 13 who had cerebral palsy. He was standing back from the group of children but focusing on the activities for quite some time. He didn’t make any effort to approach us for one of the word sticks. After watching him for a bit, I ask him if he was interested in coloring a stick. His response was a BIG smile, and "yes, I would like". We talked about each theme, and he colored his stick was a lot of precision, thanking me so much.

We had many children come to us and say "thank you so much". Even today many were holding them, treasuring them. We pray that God's message of love will also be treasured in their hearts.

Impact Moments

Everyday, as part of our own team’s assessment and debrief of the day, we’ve discussed our own personal impact moment from the day. Most days it’s very difficult to identify just ONE impact moments, but there’s usually something that stands out with each of us.

The list is long and endless: from tender moments with the children, touching stories on home visits, emotions of seeing community members accept Jesus as their savior, to more practical things. As team leader and being here for the second time, it’s very refreshing to hear our teams’ perspectives on so many things.

For me, being immersed in one of the school rooms most afternoons sewing with the women, I am continuously struck by the sense of community these women have. Day 1 of sewing involved me meeting with the women and Molex, and explaining the two sewing machines purchased and the project we wanted to work with them on: a reusable menstrual pad system. Immediately, with both groups of women brought in, there was such gratitude to Northgate for ‘remembering our conversation under the trees last year’ when we discussed those very issues: a desire to learn how to sew, and a need for hygienic resources during their monthly bleeds.

The second thing that struck me was their uncertainty: they REALLY wanted our help as they had never CUT with scissors before, never mind the sewing process.

On Day 1 that’s where we started: learning out to cut. You can’t imagine the joy on their faces when they ‘got it’. That’s when the “magic” (in my eyes, as we don’t work this way) started to happen. They literally took over our teaching. These beautiful women did not want to just learn it for themselves; they wanted their friends to master the skill as well.

The same can be said for the sewing lessons. We had a group of about 15 women, and just 2 sewing machines. Imagine the impatience. But, there was none. I specifically asked if any of the village women had any sewing experience. Thankfully, one did. A lady named Betty. As the days go on, we are depending on her quiet and patient teaching to help the women.


These are treadle machines, operated with manual labor (pumping a foot pedal): something I never used as we are an electricity run world in Canada today. But, Marian grew up on one. I couldn’t quite get it, and we didn’t have the time for me to learn. She worked with Betty, and once Betty was competent (which took only minutes) both Marian and Betty worked at helping the others learn.

We saw the same thing happen. Betty and Marian were both patient teachers, and some students would take a good 45 minutes just to figure out the foot pedal. But, once they got it, the whole room would break out in cheers and immediately they would want to show their friends how.

An amazing process.

Every day we come to the school room, and Molex tells us ‘the women have told their friends and showed them what they have made, there are now more women that want to learn’. Just yesterday, we had a 14 year old girl come in and ask if she could learn how. Three times we have run out of supplies...the amount of women coming has completed surpassed all expectations.

We are no longer teaching…we are facilitating at this point. The women are teaching the women.

One day 1 we wondered, will they get this? One of the workers from FH, David, worked along side us and the women over the past 5 days, and he said “in one week they will be professionals”. We now have at least 4 village women that can confidently teach the others.

The Marare school motto is “never give up”. This is also the community’s motto. We’ve seen it time and time again. Today, I learned that David was right, and confidently told Moses that our job teaching the women to sew is done.

So, when I get home, I’m organizing a group of 20 women who have never sewn.

Joy Unthinkable

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Goodness. Kindness. Faithfulness. Self-Control.

These were the words that greeted me by one child yesterday. She remembered our lessons from last year. I was touched and emotional. She made of point of seeking me out, touching my arm, and then reciting those words. Impact!

This was just one of so many impactful moments for the team yesterday. To put it bluntly our emotions were fried. We spent the entire day connecting with individuals from the village and learning from them: Sara T, Marian and myself with the women, teaching them to sew; Pastor Bob, Allan, Luke, and Sarah V doing home visits throughout the village. Every person had a story, and their stories were filled with many sorrowful events. These were stories that left us with questions: How do they go on? How do they still have faith?

One story was of the visit to Shakira’s home. This is a sponsor girl of one of our Northgate members. Shakira lives with her grandmother. Her parents are deceased, as are all of Shakira’s siblings. It is just Shakira and her grandmother. A lot to bear! But yet, they are filled with hope and joy. Shakira’s grandmother praises God for bringing our team to Marare, and for Shakira’s hopeful future. Shakira’s grandmother, despite all of her regular daily duties that include cleaning, working the fields, meal planning, and other physical jobs, is found digging the trenches for the new school addition because of the hope it offers Shakira and the other children.

In our sewing lessons, the women of the village were very nervous about learning to cut fabric. They had never used scissors, and Sara T orchestrated ‘cutting lessons’ while Marian and I had a group of women at the two sewing machines we purchased.
Despite having never used scissors or sewing machines, they women were determined to get it. The encouraging part for us was seeing them work together as a community: once one would catch on, they would help and encourage others. Every one worked together. There was no sense of frustration, only joy!

All of the day yesterday caused me to reflect on Pastor Sieg’s message last Sunday. How appropriate it was for us, yet we didn’t realize it fully until the end of the day. We must be unworthy, and make God worthy. One question he posed was ‘how do you know when someone is unworthy? They don’t complain.' And, in Marare, they do NOT complain. They are filled with joy unthinkable.

Day two - what a real day consists of here

Yesterday was our first full day. It was pretty intense actually. Thinking back to it this morning…I can recall everything that happened but not in full sequential order.

During breakfast, Shirley and Marian were in for a surprise because Sara and I openly admitted that we saw a “cockroach” in our room and then they found one in the dining hall in the middle of the pathway to our table. Turns out this bug is actually the Ugandan cricket—Nyanyangize. Marc Evans (our lead hotel attendant) brought us a dead one to show us the different parts of it and how it functions. This little guy makes noises about an hour before sunset. He’s like an evening rooster!

We also witnessed a morning cow crossing. It was pretty funny because if a cow goes off the trail of the others the walker will take out a huge whip and go to town on it’s behind. It is a frightening sound to be honest. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a real Indiana Jones whip until yesterday morning.

Waiting for Moses and the passenger van made us anxious because he was later than expected. But before he arrived we managed to show some awesome photos Sara took of the couple days together, find geckos and just catch up and rest as a team. Which is super nice because you’ll see how jammed packed our day was!

The morning devotional leader was Paul (who we also ran into on the side of the road this morning—I must say he stopped to answer his phone while he was in traffic! We should all learn from him and follow this example, especially me—“Miss. Texter”).

Matthew 5:14-16—through God’s calling, we are shining lights to the village of Marare. They are in the darkness and we need to shed the light to the children who are the future of the village. Show them that they ARE rich in resources and in labour. We truly need to lead by example as people are scrutinizing and watching our every move. “We are all here on God’s calendar,” Paul recited, which is true when we look at everything we’ve experienced and how we have truly jelled as a team.

Paul led an interesting exercise of closing our eyes and asking what we saw. The first attempt was unsuccessful but the second attempt was astounding.

Everyone in our team saw goodness and light and cheerful things. Bob saw children. I saw a memory of yesterday—Luke and Sara playing with the kids. Shirley saw all of God’s creation and it’s beauty while Marian saw the scenery and it’s breathtaking depths of colour and everything else with it. However delightful our visions were one FH staff member (Winnie) saw darkness and a place she never wants to go back to. It was heartbreaking to hear how traumatic her past experience was.

Paul quickly referenced Matthew 6:22, letting us know that God has chosen us as his shining lights to this village, both our team and FH staff, and that we will be the ones showing the light to the people in the dark.

We ended the devotional with the song “Through the world.” I have to reiterate that acapella and harmonies as a group here make me so jealous. I wish I could sing like them all! So beautifully in sync and breathtaking!

Again the waiting was a bit long yesterday, we didn’t realize until this morning that it was rest for what was in store. Luke and I picked up a soccer ball and played soccer with Sara. Unfortunately, Sara sliced open her toe. It was pretty bad. And when I say pretty bad I mean pretty bad. We have a bag of bandages to prove it and she has a flap of skin to show you if you’re interested! Thankfully that didn’t stop her serving heart when they were running the sewing program.

When we arrived at the village, we again were greeted with flocks of children running towards the bus. It was still as epic as yesterday’s greeting! Again we were welcomed by children singing songs for us and I finally learned a bunch of them! I might have to perform them for Northgate when we get back. My goal is to teach Pastor Bob the actual words—he came up with a temporary “da-da-da” solution to join in with the kids when we don’t know the lyrics. I was hoping to cross the “performing” boundary and become one of them in song and dance. We’ll see if I achieve that. I already have my second favourite song learnt—not memorized but learnt!

“It is a great great great day

It is a great great great day

We hope that everyone here feels at home and loves this place

Feels at home and loves this place

My name is __________________ah-ah-ah

I really want to be a _______________ (pilot, bishop, teacher, farmer, lawyer), ah-ah-ah

I really want to be a _____________________, ah-ah-ah

Feel at home and love this place

Feel at home and love this place”

One thing Shirley noted in this song was how the girls coming up all had ambitions. It was encouraging to see the girls in this community step it up. I think it’s a reoccurring theme here. The women RUN this village. Most families have parents that are deceased or their fathers walked out on them. Grandparents, aunts and uncles have truly stepped it up.

After yesterday’s welcoming ceremony, Shirley leaves to get the sewing class materials organized. Allan, Bob, Luke and Sara end up with mounds of children. Trains form and circles form (thanks for teaching the kids how to make a circle Brian! We will have to show you the video!). I unfortunately wasn’t part of this commotion but it was pretty cool to see it from afar.

During our morning tea (I only found out this morning it is morning tea…we all thought it was “pre-lunch”), Moses gave us some history about the women in the village and other initiatives FH has done and experienced in Marare.

Once FH came to the village and showed them the resources at their feet, they were immediately receptive and started making bricks, building and planning more expansion. Moses told us that once a building was up, the FH staff put price figures on each brick and other supplies used to make this progress a tangible figure. No one here realized that labour and supplies was a resource that has value. Once this hit home, the people leanred that wealth isn’t just a form of currency.

After morning tea (it’s really passed noon at this point), we split the group up. Marian, Sara and Shirley organize the women to start sewing classes in the school and Allan, Bob, Luke and I wait to start the home visits. Moses and Molex had to organize some things before we started home visits so the boys and I needed to find something to do.

Somehow a dozen children turns into a hundred and Bob and I have to move this congregation somewhere else. Thankfully for Bob’s quick thinking, we move the kids to the meeting tree. I am extremely thankful for Andrew (a youth leader) who bails us out of performing. Performing for the kids is fun but imagine singing “this little light of mine” over a dozen times with the kids. Your voice eventually requires rest and so does your body.

As the kids perform we realize we want to join in and learn some of their songs so Andrew teaches Allan, Bob and I a couple of songs to sing with the kids. Spontanious singing and dancing will usually calm a crowd down or get the kids to sit and listen.

Soon after this Moses gathers us to take us on sponsor child visits. We first visit the home right beside the school. The first child we visit is Shakira (Brianne Straughan’s sponsor child). She was so shy, like most of the kids. No one really gets thrown in the spot light so getting put on the spot is hard for kids to talk and tell us about their lives. I need to say this though, her smile reminded me of Brianne. As soon as Shakira smiled it lit up the room. Brianne’s smile can make anyone smile. It is most definitely contagious and so was Shakira’s. Shakira’s prayer request was that Brianne comes and visits her one day! I told her I’d do my best to convince Bri to come to Marare. Interesting as Brianne was interested in joining this year’s team. So, Bri, if you are reading this…Shakira and I think you should visit Marare.

I didn’t realize Allan could be serious until we saw Kenneth. Kenneth is the Traub’s sponsor child and he was the cutest little guy ever. He immediately related to Luke by telling us he is sandwiched in this family between girls—two older sisters and two younger sisters. Luke has an older sister and a younger sister. Allan was quiet for most of this visit but I think he was absorbing how Luke interacted with Kenneth. Throughout the afternoon it was evident Luke now has a little brother.

After this visit we meet Kathy and Larry’s sponsor child. By far the most talkative one—he tells us that he knows their name and love them. It was the sweetest visit. I really am excited to share my video of him with Kathy and Larry!

Inbetween these visits we did see the well. It was amazing to see kids playing in it and drinking from it. There was a communal sense of pride when we were there. The kids following us quickly ran to the water and drank. Luke was bugging Kenneth and me, pretending to push us in. It was funny because I did it back to Luke and the girls busted out laughing.

Bob’s child Rachel was super-cute. She was the oldest of three kids and the shyest of them all. Bob felt bad for overwhelming her but I think all kids felt that way. Bob felt bad for doing that to her but it wasn’t Bob’s doing. All the kids get to shine when we visit them. It was just overwhelming for us all. Audrey, I took footage and pictures on Bob’s camera to make sure you guys have a physical copy of this visit rather than waiting for us to get something to you.

I noticed Luke trying to teach Kenneth how to play paper rock scissors on this visit. Luke was shinning as a big brother. Kenneth was unable to grasp the concept of choosing for yourself in this game. But Luke found out that the village people don’t like hand gesture games.

We also met an old man that recently recovered from a severe illness—unable to eat or drink for a month. I realized quickly that he is the village miracle. He was so grateful for our visit and immediately started calling us family. For a brief second it felt superficial but it quickly grew into something that wasn’t. We sang hymns in his home and met his beautiful wife who stuck by him during his time of need and his cows and goats. He was a proud and open believer of Christ. It was amazing how wonderful his testimony was.

Well the rest of the evening was miniscule compared to the actual visit. I’ll have to leave it up to Shirley, Sara and Marian to update you folks on the sewing classes in detail. I’ll just give you the jist:

A loud sense of community was present in the classes. The women helped each other and picked up on the treadle machines quickly. Surprisingly, it was cutting with scissors that was the struggle. You almost didn’t need an interpreter. Universal hand languages and tangible end results helped this class go smoothly. I think this pilot project will be a success and hopefully it will migrate to other communities within Uganda.

Well, it’s off to morning tea as soon as the rest of the team comes back to the office. I can already smell the sweet burning of coals as the water is boiling.

The first encounter... in brief...

Today started off with a simple breakfast for us - boiled eggs, pineapples, cereal, toast and sausages. Although, I didn't really believe Allan when he told me there were sausages - Shirley just confirmed they were good and not greasy, I'll have to try them tomorrow!

After breakfast, Moses pulled up in the passenger van for the day. We were all shocked because last year he didn't drive at all. Then we quickly realized he WAS in the passenger seat and we are still thinking as North Americans. Silly North Americans, driving on the wrong side of the road.

On the trip to the FH Mbale, you definitely got out of the North American mind set. We think Edmonton has bad roads...think again. I'd try and snag a picture of a pot-hole here but my camera might fall out of my hands when we drive through one and my head bonks the sealing.

Upon arrival of the FH Mbale office, we were greeted with familiar faces. Uncle Livingston led morning praise with two hymns - "What a friend we have in Jesus" and "Trust and Obey!" I must admit, acapella as a group was pretty impressive. I think we might have this down packed by the time our trip is over.

Every day at 8:30am staff lead a devotional and we had the privilege of Moses leading this morning. Genesis 12:1 - 2. "Keep eyes of faith" as Abram left his father's home to a land he did not know. Simply obey is the key as God will use you as a blessing to the land you will travel to.

Moses reminded us that we did not come to Marare in vain and that God has a purpose for us. As we think of you, we realize that God called us here and is taking care of you, our loved ones, back home. And for that thought alone, we give praise and thanks to our Father God.

Meeting the staff was a bit overwhelming for me. There are so many names to remember but as soon as we get into the village, name recall isn't tough because of familiar faces. Uncle Steven and Uncle Livingston serve as translators and team spellers, giving us the proper spelling of our new names. They are truly a wonderful pair and the laughter from them is definitely contagious.

On the brief ride to the village, Moses and Steven teach us a couple of handy phrases, although, none of us really remember them now. "Mulembe" is the most important one. It serves as an initial greeting that is followed by your name. Keep in mind, we all now have Ugandan names.

When the passenger van arrives to the village, we are greeted by a roaring thunder of children cheering, laughing and shouting "Yes!"It was absolutely breathtaking and emotional for some of us. I do have video footage of this greeting but am unable to load it, so we'll have to show you all during our sharing evening or if I can find a solid internet connection.

If you ever want to see about 500 children sit "still" (some got into fist fights and little scraps but the playground rules indicate not to interrupt), visit Marare. Seriously, a two-hour program with 500 kids singing us songs and dancing for us was pretty spectacular. We were greeted by a smaller choir of kids and an adult literacy program group. Talk about amazing. The whole community wanted to welcome us. Boy oh boy, did we ever feel welcomed.

We were warned beforehand about "stalker" children. I was the first to experience the cuddly little girl. I managed to pass her off to Allan, who then passed her off to Shirley. Of course the little one stayed with Shirley because Shirley is the most cuddly one of our team. But the children just want to be near you and hold your hand. I didn't have a problem with this at all. The teachers came and saved you if you were going to be engulfed by a group. So really, we had nothing to worry about.

So here comes the good part. Our new names. Reverend Charles gave us our new honourary names.

Allan was first. Known as the teacher of the group, his name is "Mulegeli."
Shirley was next. Her greeting was a recall from last year. Her chosen name was "Sarah" (mother of all children).
Luke, the 15 year old (known for this by the children) is named "Musale" = friend.
Then the curly hair-photographer was next. Sara is known as the helper of the group, "Muyeti."
I was next. Get this, literally translated my given name is Sara's English middle name, Joy. My new name is "Mwikhoyo."
Bob, our Man of God, was next. Easy peasy says Reverend Charles...shepherd "Nabwayi."
Marian was last but has a very simple gentle name of peace, "Logosi."

I must say, that an honour it is to be "baptized" into the community with new fresh names.

After the programing, we took a tour of the school area with the children swarmed around us like little paper clips to a magnetic holder. The children were quite overwhelming so the Reverend commanded we take a break and go into the school for a light lunch (which we found out wasn't our real lunch) of bananas and boiled eggs.

We all agree, as a team, we will no longer be able to eat pineapples, bananas and eggs in North America. I guess we will have to visit again to make sure we get spoiled with fresh eggs and fruits!

After this lunch we head back to the FH office. We finally get connected to the internet and are just getting ready for the days ahead. Our treadell machines are getting put together as I type and the rest of the team is wandering around or resting (make sure to ask Allan for the picture of Luke. It is priceless how knocked out the guy is from the day!).

Well, we are going to be heading into town as it is getting late the village mothers are preparing for dinner (we won't be around to interrupt the children's schedules).

Keep on praying for us as we continue this walk of faith. I hope we see with eyes of faith as this is a new experience for most of us.

True Passion

“Guide my steps by your word” Psalm 119:133

We are here! I write at 5:30 am, as my body’s internal clock is a little out of whack after over 40 hours of travelling, and stops in 3 different time zones.
Our travels have already been filled with blessings! At Calgary airport, we were all paged to the ticket counter – once there we found up we were upgraded to first class! That got us pumped and excited, but we were a little disappointed for Pastor Bob, who, it appeared, was left out of the upgrade. I talked to the attendant about possibly upgrading him too, his reply was “we’ll see what we can do”. We showed him Bob’s flight information, and he pulled the upgrade ticket from his desk – apparently Bob was paged along with us, but he hadn’t heard his page. And so, for the first time for all of us, we got to experience life on the other side of those blue curtains!

We’ve communicated with a number of different people on our journey, one of who was an 80 year Polish priest who now ministers in Uganda – Bob invited him to preach at Northgate one Sunday. We’ll see how many other pastors he recruits along the way for speaking engagements at Northgate. Who know, one day Northgate may be the new central hub, replacing the busy Heathrow airport. At Heathrow we were amazed at the “city” feel the airport gave. Such a hustle of activity everywhere, and 15 minute drives from some of the terminals to others.

We are all well, and accounted for. Yesterday was an exciting day – we arrived in Entebbe, Uganda at 7:45 am and were greeted by Miriam – FH Staff from Mbale district. Moses had returned only the day before from a CDP week long conference and was feeling the wear of that, so instead Miriam met us.
Miriam brought us to visit the FH office in Kampala where we met some of the key people responsible for organizing our trip: James and Christine. There we found out Christine was able to find 2 treadle sewing machines for us to bring to Marare!

The rest of our day involved a lot of driving and witnessing reality in Uganda – a lot of poverty. As Allan put it, “It isn’t fair, and it isn’t right”. He was comparing, of course, normal life here to our regular lives. These images reinforced our place in Marare, and the blessing it is to be part of that journey.
We enjoyed a beautiful lunch in Jinja – known to most as home to the ‘source of the Nile’. Apparently our itinerary didn’t leave room for a visit to the Nile, so we had to convince our driving team that this was really important to us. We were granted exactly 16 minutes there, and it was a worthwhile 16 minutes. We all got to dip our foot in, without any of us slipping and falling in -- a neat and meaningful experience for the team.


Along the way Miriam received a phone call from Moses saying ‘the Marare people want to see the team TODAY. They do not want to wait until tomorrow morning’. We planned to go directly to the Marare village, to be there before sundown at 6 pm. However, a little while later we were told the rains were hitting Marare and it wouldn’t be possible. Even so, this was impactful for us, as we realized how excited Marare is to see us!

FH staff greeted us in Mbale at 5:15 pm – there we met a number of the team that works so hard and passionately to carry out God’s will in giving hope and new life to the villagers of many communities, including Marare. The welcome from them was warm, and for me it was an emotional reunion with people that really do walk their lives for God.

Once settled in our hotel rooms and after a bite to eat (that was delayed because of one of Mbale’s typical power outages), we all ‘hit the sack’ at 8:30 pm – just a little worn out from travelling, and wanting to be ready for what the morning brought in Marare!

God can move mountains!

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Our team met this morning for our LAST meeting...we leave Monday, August 1!!! Emotions of excitement and anxiety were evident. This is a 3-week journey unlike any other. We were struck with gratitude to our heavenly Father for where he's taken us on this journey so far: from the starting point of building a team, to realizing the HUGE financial obligation we had, and developing an appropriate itinerary: each of these were like MOUNTAINS to us; mountains we weren't sure we could climb, never mind move.

And we couldn't, NOT of ourselves. But, God could AND did. We just had to trust and allow God to use us. We realized that not only did God move the mountains, He made our big mountains EVEN BIGGER -- He helped us surpass all the goals we set for our team.
Because of that, we can't wait to see the mountain ahead of us in Marare and what God does with that.

Feel free to stop by the Northgate Baptist church parking lot (132 Ave and 95 Street) on Monday at 2:30 pm to see us off, and thank God with us for the journey ahead.

A most recent communication from Moses (FH Mbale) reads: The people of Marare are determined to cement their relationship with North Gate and are very much looking forward to this coming visit.

Update to Fundraising Goals. Thanks for your help!

Alright, well if you haven’t heard, our team met our goal for this year and the cash is still likely rolling in. Thank you so much to everyone that sponsored us by empties, donating items for the garage sale, coming to the garage sale, purchasing plants at the perennial sale and pretty much everything else we’ve done for fundraising…your support and encouragement is truly amazing.

As Shirley mentioned, it has definitely RAINED great successes on our team. I cannot believe we made our goal with pretty much three weeks to spare.

To update you guys, I am only $350 shy of my personal goal and the funds are still trickling in from all sorts of places I never expected. Truly, it was a lot of fun running laps with Nathan and Tim. I think the run to Africa was a tough one for most because of the down pour but everyone completed their goals. I ended up doubling my goal because Nathan (the natural sales mentality sold me) wanted to pace out 30 laps.

It’s a wonderful, calming and encouraging thought to see how everyone is so awesome. Any extra funds raised will be rolled over to next year’s project and team. (= I hope we can see off the next team with a grand first start!

Let It Rain!

A recurring theme in all our fundraising events this year, was "RAIN". Yes, we had to work our way around that for each event! It made things challenging, but also gave cause for reflection. God showed us with each event that He was in control, and he literally 'poured' blessing after blessing on each team member, and Northgate as a whole. We've not only reached our financial goal, but we've surpassed it (with 3 weeks to go). We've also received so many encouraging comments from many of you, AND from MANY in our community at large!

Malachi 3:10 comes to mind: 'Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."' We trusted, and He really did answer just like He said.

We wound up our fundraising events for the 2011 Marare team with a 'perennial plant sale' this afternoon (graciously sponsored by Wallish Greenhouses), and yes, it rained AGAIN! However, we had so much fun interacting with fellow Northgaters, friends, family, AND many community members that the rain didn't impact us negatively. We were also blessed with another $980 to use towards Marare!


Praise the Lord...especially when it rains!

Running in the RAIN

We had our 2nd annual CGS Run/Walk to Africa yesterday. It POURED. Because of that we didn't have to deal with mosquitoes (it was too cold for them), and we had our own cooling down mechanism: the rain.



16 participants made it out for the morning, and braved the elements, all to help overcome poverty in Marare, Uganda. It was a SUCCESS.

Because of the efforts of these 16 participants, and the many of you that sponsored a participant, we raised over $3900!


These funds brought us over and above our goal of $30,000! Glory and honor to God!

HELP END POVERTY!

If you're new to this blog, and are wanting to follow one of our team members, or are just interested in the project as a whole, following is a link on related to the work we are doing in Marare, Uganda.

http://site.fhcanada.org/poverty-revolution

"REVOLUTIONS START SMALL BUT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. Will you join the one that ends poverty?" {FH Canada - Poverty Revolution}

On this same site, you can click on 'Communities' and find 'Northgate Baptist Church' under Mbale, Africa. JOIN our community, and earn badges to help Marare become self-sufficient.

Your efforts really DO make a difference! Over the last month, members from Northgate Baptist and the community at large have sponsored 10 more children from the Marare community! If you do not yet sponsor a child, think about it! A small investment on your part, for a large return on the child's!

The clock is ticking!

The months have flown by and, regrettably, we forgotten about our blog. But, we haven’t forgotten about Marare. God continues to bless the project, and we’ve been hard at work organizing, building, and planning TEAM #2 heading out August 1, 2011! We can’t wait to connect with the community again, and they can’t wait to have us!

Since our return at the end of October, we’ve been sharing our experiences with our congregation and the excitement level for Marare has built...so much so that we had our second team organized in February.

Our team of 7 consists of Sarah V, Pastor Bob, Allan, Luke, Marian, Sara T, and Shirley; a variety of ages, with the youngest only 15 years, and a variety of talents and abilities.


Of course, fundraising is one of the biggest parts of preparing for our trip. We’ve spent many hours planning, organizing and running events, and have been blessed with an overwhelming amount of support!

The past few months, our church members and the Glengarry community have donate their refundable empties, bringing in over $900 to date towards team funds!

Our main fundraiser was our GIGANTIC Garage Sale, and it was just that. We couldn’t believe the donations that poured in from church members and friends! On Saturday, June 4, we were blessed with a dry day (sandwiched between 2 very wet ones), but chilly, and spent our day in the Northgate church parking lot along with 20 from the community that rented tables! We considered the day successful in that we were able to connect with many from the neighbourhood, and also raise $3700 towards our Marare trip.

We had tons of help from many in our congregation, who all pitched in to make this day fun and successful.

Our most recent fundraiser was a BBQ at Famous Toys. A few of us spent 2 days, this time enjoying beautiful, sunny weather and warm temps, bbqing hotdogs and burgers and informing the public. Many interested folks came back to discuss the C2C partnership we have through FH Canada.

And, now, with much thanks to God who is working in the hearts and lives of those around us, we are more than 2/3 of the way to our budget!!!

We have a couple more fundraisers: The 2nd Annual CGS Walk/Run to Africa on the morning of July 9, 2011 at Queen E High School. To participate in this event or sponsor a participant, send us an email at mararec2c@live.ca.

Our last fundraiser is in conjunction with Northgate’s annual pancake breakfast on the morning of Saturday, July 16, and it’s a SPECIAL fundraiser for our SPECIAL pastor: Pastor Bob is our DUNK TANK victim! So, bring a few $ to have a chance at soaking him, and to help raise a few funds for a very special community!