This will be our last newsletter for a little while, as we are returning to Australia in a few weeks for an unknown period.  Our daughter is getting married at the beginning of September and we also need to refill our empty bank balances so we can continue on with our adventure here in Uganda as soon as possible.
 
We have thoroughly enjoyed our last 18 months here and we would like to take this opportunity to praise our God for what He has accomplished through us and to us over the this period.

On the spiritual side, we have seen people saved, as well as many, many filled with the Holy Spirit. Many have also received prophetic words, encouragement, counselling and some have even been gloriously healed. We have enjoyed the privilege of ministering in many, many churches, crusades and seminars in the various parts of this country and we praise our God for all the good relationships that have been formed and are enduring – both with Ugandan pastors and community leaders and various white and European church people and others westerners who are in business here. There are countless opportunities to serve the church of Uganda and East Africa if more resources and personnel would avail themselves. We keep praying that God would open the eyes of some people to ‘see’ this land of opportunity here, to also come and either contribute in short term missionary ventures or live here like we do. Jesus will never return until we take the gospel to all nations or ethnic groupings, and Africa also needs to hear the living word of God . For more information on some of these events see http://musumbamike.wordpress.com

On the projects side, some small businesses  have been commenced for pastors. These will continue and we look forward to starting some more as soon as we are able to do so. These projects are designed to help a church planting pastoral family start a small business and over time to assist them in developing and growing it so the family can provide a reasonable income for themselves. Some projects are – laundry, corner shop, goat breeding and crops.
We have been blessed to be a blessing and have also contributed to towards helping some churches get their own land and building.
The land God has blessed us with has now been paid for, and surveyed and ownership granted, and we are only awaiting the official Government title which will take another few months.  A few days ago we bought an extra acre alongside the existing 20 acres and on that we are planning to eventually build our house there. Already we have put some crops in including bananas, mulberry (for fruit and silk) and coffee. We have also planted a variety of fruit trees and also some trees for harvesting hardwood timber in years to come. The funds raised from this will be put towards church planting and mission activities. In addition we have allowed 3 pastoral families to use a portion of our land to grow food for themselves until we return.
The goat herd is steadily growing and we are slowly clearing some areas in preparation for fish ponds and bee keeping.

Shirley and I are also involved in a village school that was commenced this year. We have been very excited to see some support from Australia come in for uniforms, equipment, text books etc. Most of these children live in such abject poverty, that it is so hard to personally imagine unless you see it for yourself. Many of these youngsters have either no parents or just one and they often only eat less than once a day – and then that meal is not up to our nutritional standards. So, we have a great opportunity to not only spiritually transform this village and beyond but to transform it through school and other forms of education. It is our desire to help educate the local people in better land management and production etc, as well as seeing the village community transformed spiritually as well.

To everyone who has helped us in our adventure, again we say thank you, we can not do it with out your prayers and support.

God Bless you all

Mike and Shirley
Butera
Uganda

The church we visited was deep in the village, hidden between trees, made from mud bricks and a tin roof that was so low the blazing sun was literally cooking us below it. The humidity was not too bad but, we still felt like we were being cooked on a rotisserie.  The building was unfinished, the back wall was only partly completed and there were no windows yet installed, (but there was NO BREEZE ALSO), and because it was too small accommodate everyone, there were people standing in the hot blazing sun for nearly 4 hours at these windows and at the back past the incomplete section. There were over 300 people crammed (literally) into this church. During preaching, I had to be so very, very careful that I did not accidentally step back onto the little children sitting on the floor all around the pulpit.

BUT, this place is alive spiritually. The worship was of an amazing standard in comparison to many churches we have been to before in Uganda. The singing and praising lifted ones heart up before God. The hunger for God and the Holy Spirit was very evident. The presence of God was tangible. Most had a Bible and a notebook! Wow, that was an eye opener. No wonder God moves in power there.
The church is growing too fast for it to house all the latest converts and so they have planted 9 churches closeby within the last couple of years.
Apart from encouraging the church with an inspirational message, we ministered the prophetic and we praise God because many testified afterwards….”this is from God”, or, “God has spoken this to me before!”. That is God, and personally was very encouraging.
Also over 200 people of all ages, male and female were baptised in the Holy Spirit – Hallelujah, that was so exciting, to hear them worshipping and praising God passionately in new tongues, some with tears of joy freely flowing down their cheeks.
Following the morning service, we ministered to over 25 local pastors and leaders, encouraging them to continue in the ministry, in power and under leadership of the Holy Spirit, expecting and demonstrating miracles.
We cannot wait to return to this area and minister amongst them for a longer period.

This is our Uganda. This is our home. These are our people.

It was a lovely day, pleasant and mild with lots of warm sunshine and delightful people to mingle and talk with. The live jazz music was simply a treat to listen to and enjoy. As the judges were judging (sampling) the food, we the crowd, eagerly watched their every move and listened to their comments and responses and when they had judged each group we were able to also sample some of the cooking and some of the cooking was truly, truly delicious.

Amongst the crowd were some reporters from the various newspapers and magazines and the TV reporters doing their takes amongst the contestants. What caught our eye most was a newspaper reporter who was more interested in how many bottles of beer he could consume without being noticed rather than concentrating on the competition. We followed him after we spotted his hand shooting in between the crammed bodies around the tables and taking the beers off the tables, these beers were reserved for the judges and other officials. He got away with it too, no one else it seemed was aware of what was going on and we did not have the heart to say anything, after all he must have been very thirsty with all his taking of notes for his article. It is to be noted he talked to us and told us his occupation and reason for being there BEFORE the judging took place. However, during the course of the afternoon it did come to our observing eyes NO NOTES were taken but many bottles were hastily consumed.

Some may even use this example as evidence that men cannot multitask, if that is so, at least we men can say we persist at the task we”re at! He certainly was persistent at his task.

It will be make very interesting reading in ‘THE CITIZENS newspapers report next week, I cannot wait to read it.

This is our Uganda, these are our people, this is our home.

I cannot wait to return again to this most beautiful and delightful peice of Uganda.

I have also been teaching Dan, an employee of Marita how to drive on some of the days we have been there, on this trip and previous ones and he is doing very well. On impulse, I casually asked a couple of female teachers would they like to have a try……..of course they answered yes. (Actually, I do believe it is a safety issue for everyone – everyone should be able to have some basic driving skills in cases of emergencies – Buliisa is 320 kilometres from Kampala – or a good 6 hours drive on the difficult roads for experienced drivers). Anyway, the 2 teachers enjoyed their opportunity and I discovered a few more grey hairs much to my chagrin!!!
Another couple of highlights of these days were the enjoying (coff coff) the fragrant odours of the outside pit toilets when was obliged to visit and secondly, showering under the open sky, especially at night. Most nights the sky is clear with the odd occasional burst of lightning far off in the distance. The clear nights without any moon allowed us to look up and see the brilliance of the heavenlies and the shimmering reflection of the Milky Way in all its splendour and glory. The shower block has no roof, no permanent door, no running water, no sink, no bath and no shower. One gets a jerry can of water, tips it in a basin and goes from there. There is a curtain made from reeds but it continually has a mind of its own and decides to fall down at some most inappropriate times despite all the ingenious attempts to make it secure.

I really dont understand why more people dont want more adventures like these in conditions like these!!!

Have also had some great times trying to teach some of the local boys a thing or two about Aussie Rules, one young boy is actually quite good, he can kick, mark and hand pass with a great deal of accuracy but just cannot work out how to run and bounce the ball at the same time. The other boys have just plainly given up and resorted to using it as a soccer ball.

Painted a blackboard on a concrete wall today too.