Preparing for a trip

This picture is Lauren, our ministry liaison-education, who is preparing to move to Uganda for eighteen months!

Well, two weeks from tomorrow our team heads back to Uganda.  I am really looking forward to it and have very dear friends I am looking forward to seeing again!  On this trip we also have an orthopedic surgeon and two nurses going. They will be doing a 3 day clinic in Kalangaalo, the remote village we are working with.  The challenge is packing two 50 pound suitcases with personal items AND the many things I want and need to take to Uganda for the dear people there.  I can really pack a suitcase....the problem is, the weight limit.  The weight adds up quickly.  I have about 3000 feminine pads vacuum packed that I am taking to the ladies and girls in Kalangaalo who REALLY need them. Right now they use only rags....my mind just cannot imagine that!  I hope that this particular project will be ongoing, and that we will be able to continue to collect the pads and take some on each trip to keep a supply at hand for them.
I will also be taking some games and toys to be used for speech therapy for Lawrence, The Little Boy At The Gate.  My friend Emily Delmar is a speech therapist, and has collected some items she has donated for us to use for Lawrence. What a blessing!  I am so excited about what God is doing for Lawrence. 
We were also given a generous gift of $1,000.00 that will allow us to build the 40 desks in Kalangaalo.  Those will be built in June when our construction team goes with us. 

I continue to work on raising the $10,000.00 needed for the well in Kalangaalo.  I spoke to a local Kiwanis Club this past week and they were a wonderful group of people who are very supportive of what we are doing.  I have completed the necessary paperwork with them for the well.....even a little will help!  They are also interested in food distribution and I am hoping we can coordinate an effort for this summer to distribute food to two villages, Kalangaalo and Karamoja. I will be speaking to a local Rotary Club next week as well, and my friend Jay Trumbull, who owns a water business here is going with me....we are actually hoping to find a way to get well drilling equipment he is donating, to Uganda to lower the cost of digging the well, and Jay will also send some of his crew to help and teach.
My friend Veronica, who is the director of the Comforter Center, a wonderful pregnancy care center in Kampala, has offered to take me to the Rahab House, a home where they care for young women who have been rescued from prostitution.  What an honor that will be to meet the girls, and those who have reached out to them!
I hope also to visit the Comforter Center and see the volunteers Veronica is always speaking so wonderfully of, and to get a photograph of the ultrasound machine we were able to help her obtain through the 152 Campaign last year. 
On this trip, we will be taking Lauren, our Ministry Liaison-Education for Mercy Uganda. She will be moving there and has committed to staying for eighteen months to help the ministry.  She will also teach ballet so we are planning a ballet camp while we are there so we will know the ages and number of students she will have in order to work on things such as ballet slippers and other needs for a ballet class.  This will be a fun and exciting program!
As you can tell, we have alot going on this upcoming trip.....and that is not all we will do. There is so much more we hope to do while there! Please pray for us that God will be honored and glorified in our efforts, and that we will have many opportunities to share Christ with those with whom we come in contact!
I look forward to updating you in the near future.


This is a picture of a well similar to the one that will be
dug at Kalangaalo. This one is at Bethel House, the orphanage
where some of the children live for whom we are seeking sponsors.