We Are Moving to Jinja!

Some time back we shared with you that we thought our time might be coming to a close in Ft. Portal and maybe even in Uganda.  We have been praying, seeking and waiting patiently for the Lord to lead and guide us in the way we should go.  For the past year and a half, we have remained in country on visitor visas’, leaving the country every 90 days to renew them.  This is costly and not the right long term solution to stay and serve the Lord here.  Although this was not part of our original plan, this is the situation we have found ourselves in for various reasons.  In order to continue to stay and serve the Lord in Uganda we need to obtain a work permit, either by starting our own Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or by being part of an existing NGO.  Until now we have not found another Christian NGO that we have felt led to join or had a passion to start our own. 

Just when we thought that we might be heading home the Lord opened a door for us to continue to serve Him here in Uganda as part of an existing Christian NGO ministry named “Called Christians”.  We have known Pastor Jesse Rich and his wife Beverly since we arrived in Uganda over 7 years ago.  They have been serving the Lord in Jinja for a lot longer.  You can learn about them by going to Calvary Chapel Albuquerque website at www.calvaryabq.org/missionaries  (choose the name RICH) and about their ministry at www.ccjinjajesse.blogspot.com.  We are excited about the move and look forward to a new season of ministry. 

Please pray for our move to go smoothly, for our transition as we come along side our brothers and sisters in Christ in Jinja, and for favor as we begin the process for our work permits. 

In His Grip,

George and Luan

Women's Outreach in Bwera

“All things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” – Romans 8:28-29 (theme of Bwera Outreach)

About four months ago, George and I visited the town of Bwera located about two and a half hour drive southwest of Ft. Portal, in a effort to renew our visas’ through the DR Congo border.  We unexpectedly had to stay overnight which opened a door for us to fellowship with the pastor and his family of Calvary Chapel Bwera (CC Bwera).  Pastor Joachim is a national who attended the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Kampala some years back.  He has since returned to his hometown of Bwera and planted a church.  After sharing with him my ministry with the women in Ft. Portal, Pastor Joachim invited me to return to encourage and teach the women from the Word of God and to share with them some practical skills that would empower an enable them to provide an opportunity to generate some income for their families.

Luan teaching the women how to use a receipt.

After much prayer and preparation, final arrangements were made for Emma and I to travel to Bwera to lead a women’s outreach at the end of June.  The first two days of our stay in Bwera we were busy preparing for the outreach.  As we moved around town, Pastor Joachim invited women from other churches and from around the town to attend the outreach.  Praise the Lord, more than one hundred and seventy women attended the two-day outreach.  Some attended even though their own pastor’s instructed them not to attend out of fear and selfish motives. The small church building where we gathered was packed with women, often overflowing out the doors. The leaders and students’ from the Bwera Technical Institute (BTI), located next to the church, also attended and blessed us with their generosity and catering skills. They allowed us to use their large cooking pot to bake our cakes in and helped to serve us lunch each day.

The women mixing the ingredients
together for a carrot cake. 

Each day we introduced the ladies to the basic ingredients and the standards of measures used in baking a cake.  We also instructed the ladies on how to read and follow a receipt.  On the first day of the outreach we applied what we learned by following a receipt to make a couple of banana avocado cakes.  The following day we made several carrot cakes. Each day after lunch, Emma taught the ladies how to make butter and royal frosting. We also took several sets of cake decorating tips with us.  Emma demonstrated how to use food coloring to mix various colors of frosting and how to use the cake decorating tips.  The ladies seemed to enjoy themselves as they tried their hands at mixing different colored frosting and using the various decorating tips to make different designs.  After enjoying the fruit of our labors by tasting the cakes that we made, we ended each day with a Bible study and a time of prayer, praise and worship.

Pastor Joachim watching his wife Joyce try her hand at using
the decorating cake tips with pink frosting.

Multiple cakes baking inside large, covered iron pot.

Lunch consisting of cooked bananas and beans is served by
the BTI students for about one hundred women each day.

One of the ladies sharing how
she was encouraged through
our Bible study together.

The ladies also had an opportunity to share their thoughts with us about our time together.  Many of them expressed their thankfulness and appreciation that we opened the training to everyone and that it was free of charge. Some of them shared their enthusiasm to use what they have learned to get started baking cakes right away.  Still others shared that they were encouraged by the Bible study in which we looked at the life of Joseph as an example for us to “know that God makes all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes.”

I am excited to share with you that since our visit, a group of about twenty ladies who attended the training have formed a women’s fellowship at the church and are meeting together regularly to bake cakes for selling and for a time of prayer. Please pray that the women will use what they have learned to earn extra income to provide for and bless their own families and others.  Also pray that the Lord would do a mighty work in the hearts of the women who are attending the women’s fellowship.

Thanks to our many supporters and those who contributed for Emma to be here, we were able to cover the cost for the outreach as well as provide lunch for all those who attended the outreach both days.  We also left them with a set of standard measuring cups, a set of cake decorating tips and a small financial contribution to help them purchase some of the needed items and ingredients to get started baking.  Please pray for provision and direction as I have been invited to return again to minister to the women in Bwera in the near future.

Blessings,

Luan

Cooking Without Fuel!

Pat filling a cooking basket
with local grasses.

Some time back I read an article in a newspaper about a woman who was making and selling cooking baskets in Kampala. The basic bamboo baskets resembling those traditionally used to store grain, but when lined with plastic and filled with local grasses and/or other such insulating materials, they supposedly not only cook food but also keep it hot for hours. Food is initially pre-cooked before it is placed in the cooking basket. After being placed in the basket the original heat continues to cook the food as it remains in the basket. Although some initial heat is needed, no more heat is needed to complete the cooking. I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but wasn’t sure how effective a basket could be at cooking food without fuel. I saved the article thinking that I might revisit the idea at another time.

Finished cooking baskets.

Recently, I was visiting with my friend Lillian, a single mom and a primary school teacher. She was sharing with me about the rising cost of using charcoal and the difficulty of gathering firewood in the swamp behind the place she is staying for cooking their daily meals. Our conversation brought to mind the article about the cooking baskets. Soon after my conversation with Lillian, I ran into my friend Pat who is another missionary reaching out to the women here in Ft. Portal. I was telling her about my idea to make one of the cooking baskets to see how it works. Pat shared with me that she knew how to make the baskets and in fact had used them during her time living in Bundibugyo. She and I agreed to get together and make a few of the baskets to give to Lillian to try out.

Emma sewing heavy plastic
liner into sample basket.

Lillian agreed to use the baskets to cook the local foods and document the results. We wanted to see for ourselves how well the baskets worked. Both of us were a little skeptical at first, but if the basket performed up to even a fraction of what was reported it would be well worth our time and efforts. After using the baskets for over a month, we were both surprised and very happy with the result. Lillian helped me to develop a menu with the pre-cook preparation time needed for the various local foods before placing them in the basket and the time it takes in the basket to finish cooking. We also made some minor changes to the basket to better improve it’s performance. Lillian continues to use the basket for cooking food as well as keeping left overs hot for her children as they return home from school each day for lunch.

Lillian showing how the
saucepan nests in the basket

This past month, Pat invited Lillian and I to share how to make the baskets and how to use them with the leaders of various women’s groups that she works with. We knew the women would be a bit skeptical and that a demonstration would be needed to convince the women of its performance and benefits. All of their doubts vanished when we opened our cooking basket. Lillian had prepared dry beans in a saucepan before we left in the morning. She boiled the dry beans over a fire for about 40 minutes before placing them in the basket. We opened up the basket after lunch and the saucepan with beans in it was still too hot to touch. The beans were steaming hot and perfectly cooked! Dry beans normally take at least 2- 3 hours to cook over a continuous fire. When using the basket only 30 to 45 minutes are needed over a fire. No more heat is needed as the beans continue to cook in the basket for 3 to 4 hours before they are ready to eat. Although it takes a little longer for the beans to be ready to eat when using the basket the saving are well worth it.

Curiosity of the women peaked as we teach them how
to make the baskets.

Lillian explains to the women how to use the cooking
basket to prepare each of the local foods.

The cooking baskets can be a tremendous benefit to the women and their families. A cooking basket is very simple to make and is made out of locally available and inexpensive materials. A basket can be made for less than 15,000 Uganda shillings, which is equivalent to about six dollars. The cost of making one can be significantly reduced if the ladies know how to weave their own baskets out of bamboo or papyrus that is available locally. The benefits are extraordinary. The cost of making the basket is quickly returned in the savings gained by the reduced amount time it takes to cook the foods over an open fire, resulting in much less firewood or charcoal used and significantly less time spent tending fires to cook the local foods, freeing up the women to get other things done instead of spending all their time cooking or reheating left over food. Children’s risk of being burned by fire is also minimized as the time of preparing food over the fire is significantly reduced.

Women tasting the finished beans cooked in the basket.

Please pray for more opportunities to share the cooking baskets with more women and for those women who have learned about the cooking baskets to apply what they have learned by making their own baskets and to freely train others how to make and use them.

In His Grip,

Luan