Well, after a well earned short break at Murchison Falls, Team 6 has ended it's time in Uganda (as team 6 that is as 2 members are now in team 7!). Andrew is back in Australia and the other 6 members are having a few days in Thailand, (why not since you're going through there anyway!)
Some of you may have heard about the terrorist bombings in Kampala last weekend. As it happened we had to drive past both sites on the weekend, which was pretty humbling. We were reminded as a team not to take our safety for granted and stopped to thank God for His protection for all of our time there!
Leaving the kids was hard, as we have all grown attached to them. But we were also excited to tell them about team 7 arriving soon. We prayed for team 7 and for their journey and welcome. They will surely be inundated with attention as we were.
Our last team meeting during our safari days was great! There was so much to be thankful for, so many surprises, so many stories to tell and so much had happened in our hearts. We realized that whilst we came to 'give' something to Uganda and it's people, we were actually leaving with more, much more than we received! We've laughed with the kids and the mothers, cried with them, laughed with each other, worshiped together, prayed with and for each other, celebrated a baptism, had some awesome 'God' moments both as a team and as individuals (one of our team members said to me .." As you spoke I felt an incredible sense of God that I've never before) and saw God answer our prayers! (Peter next door is still running around laughing and smiling!) Oh and we built a house! Well almost!
We look forward to hearing how team 7 fares and to sharing their stories.

Blessings... Team 6 ....not "in Uganda" anymore..... but all planning to be back!!

Today is our last day on site working on the site. It seems to have gone so fast. Yesterday we got to the top of window height on the 3rd house which was our goal, and the slab for the 4th house was completed! We're actually pretty impressed with ourselves considering we don't have a builder amongst us! The task of getting something like this done together is such a great team building activity, and seeing God work amongst us and through us is precious. Apart from building, we've been busy with a few other things too. We went down to the Nile river at sunset to baptize Teagan. That was amazing! Teagan has felt for a while that God was calling her to make a firm decision to live for Him, and that he was asking her to be baptized. It was a great team event. We worshipped on the banks for half an hour, then got into the water to baptize Teagan, finishing off with prayers, scriptures and words for her. We also went to a local hospital to pray for and encourage the sick and wounded. Pretty confronting! We went to the local primary school that our children go to, to do the morning devotions. Boy can those kids worship and pray! Last night we went to the high school to meet with the young people there and to have supper with them. We finished off the evening with them in their prayer and worship time. These young people feel so priviliged to go to school. They get up at 4.30 am to have a cup of tea and have personal devotions, they study from 5.30 till 7.30 when class starts. School goes ti,, 4.30pm, then they have supper at 6.30, prayers at 7.00 till 7.30 then study till 10pm. And they love it!!! Humbling.

But, it wasn't all work. We went white water rafting on the Nile for a day on Thursday too. that was huge fun, and we all made it back whole!

Tomorrow we're off to a local church to preach and worship with them, then it's pack our bags for the trip to Murchison Falls early Monday morning. Supper and devotions with our children tomorrow evening will be our final time with them..... It'll be sad for us all. We have had such a great connection with the children and the mothers......

Well, for now that's the Team 6 update.... Check out just a few photos to get a small impression.

Blessings from Team 6 in Uganda!

moments with the june team

Andrew pays a visit to the primary school where our kids go.

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the wall up! 2-3 levels left. this will be completed very soon!


mellisa busy in the african scorching sun!!!


jasmin building the village of hope!


Ayden at the mixer!

some moments with the june team

its evident that the June team has exhibited lots of energy and great enthusiasm while on mission! with every brick added daily on the new house,something new changes about the village! a sign that the village is growing day by day! they've endured the African sun to make this happen,the house looks fabulous! with 2 levels left every thing should be fine by Saturday! the team is working tirelessly to make this happen! the sacrifice these guys have given can only be rewarded in heaven! with a good balance of spiritual and the physical activity,there has been a good balance,many lives in the community will not remain the same!!



here the team was praying over the village,during the devotions every morning,we believe prayer is central in everything we do here!! keep those prayers going up and changing things here!!

The progress so far!!!

The view from the hill....

Another update from team 6 in Uganda...
Yesterday started very early for some of the team as they decided to climb the hill behind the base to watch the sun come up. Departure was at 5am to walk the hill. Unfortunately the morning was cloudy so no sunrise could be seen, but the view was amazing and the trip was still worth it. That was until they were sitting in church later that morning realizing what such an early start does to you when the church service goes for 3 hours! To add insult to injury, there were 2 sermons! One that Pastor Andrew from Australia was asked to give. Then to our surprise the Pastor decided that he would still do his too!!! TIA!! ( This is Africa). After a quick lunch, we loaded all the kids form the village into our bus and headed to a Motel/Resort to take them all for a swim. It was huge fun. The kids here don't go swimming at all so the times they do it is hugely funny and for them a great memory. We took some crates of soft drink along and a big birthday cake that we had made for Jasmin's birthday, that and a play in the playground just capped off all the fun. A rather tired and quiet bus was a surprise coming home. As a team we spent a quiet few hours having dinner at a small restaurant by the Nile.
Today the building began again in earnest. We are determined to get the 3rd house bricked up to the top of the windows, both outside and inside walls. So we decided to skip lunch break today and work through.(Keeps the momentum up). We got heaps done and should reach our goal by tomorrow all being well. This will give us time to do some of the other jobs that are waiting and of course time to take a day out to do white water rafting! Ahh, what motivates!!
As you can see on one of the photos, the slab for the 4th house is well on the way too.
Late this afternoon Jasmin, Melissa, Ivan and Andrew went to pray for a girl in the village behind us named Christine. She is 12 or 13 and the right side of her face, has begun to sag and lose feeling/control. She can close her eyes, but only one closes and she can't keep food in. She has been to a doctor (of sorts) who said she has high blood pressure and gave her some tablets (only as many as she had money... 2 days worth). We prayed for her, but all of us felt that we should help her to see a 'real' doctor and get some treatment as it could be the beginning of a tumor or a larger issue.
We will try to take her tomorrow. Mel is a nurse and will go along to ask lots of questions.
Other than that, all is well!! We appreciate your prayers and thoughts. Please pray with us and for us!!!!
The photos should explain them selves... Enjoy!
Blessings.............Team 6 in Uganda!

It's Saturday afternoon and we've got the 3rd house up to window height. We decided to take a few hours off to go to the Source of the Nile and have a look. The rest of the team is out on a boat trip while I update the blog. We have a great praise point. Peter (the boy I asked you to pray for) was on site yesterday afternoon playing with the other children!! How cool is that? God is good! It has been so long since he's been able to get up. Please keep praying for him. We're hoping for complete healing. Tomorrow, I (Andrew) and a few others will go into the village after church to pray for a young girl who is having her face contorted from right to left and the other way (randomly) each day. Not sure what's going on, but we're going to see what God says!

As I said before, we're up to window height and that's a great achievement! We're hopong to get the house up to the top of the windows. The slab for the 4th house is also well on the way under the capable supervision of Chris and Aydan. We're also planning to get a few things done on the Admin centre next week too! The team is doing well, apart from a few small sicknesses and tiredness. Please keep praying for us! I (Andrew) had a (somewhat) successful trip to Kampala (the capital) and I had a good, safe driver!

We appreciate your prayer and will keep you updated.

I've attached a few photos of the progress and a few team shots.....

Blessings

Team 6... In Uganda.

It's Thursday afternoon, and we worked a long morning so that we could come into town to celebrate Jasmin's birthday! We had a little rain this morning, but now the sun is out and it's hot and sunny again....sigh!!

So far the building is going well. We seem to be getting into the swing of brick laying and everyone is either laying bricks or cleaning up the mortar joints behind the laying team. You'd be impressed to know that one of the brick laying teams is all girls... and they're good! Missed calling?? Yesterday Jasmin, Melissa and Andrew went into the surrounding village to pray for a few sick people. We must have prayed at 6 different homes. Some people weren't necessarily sick (physically) but needed some encouragement. One family we prayed at was a family of Mum, Dad and 8 children. Both Mum and Dad have HIV and are beginning to suffer failures physically so we prayed for them and especially that the children (who are all HIV free!) would be well looked after, but we also prayed for healing. One elderly (80) lady we prayed for was so ill and suffering so much neither of us had the heart to pray for healing. She had a broken hip, a broken leg, was blind and her stomach wasn't working. I think we all prayed silently that God would take her home! She lives in a room not much larger than a toilet in Australia and she could not take care of herself. Lastly we prayed for a young boy (Peter) next door to our village, he is 9 years old. In fact he worked with our teams last January and wears a Bowens T'shirt with pride! He is very sick. He has sickle cell anemia and he is urinating blood. He has medication from the doctors but cannot afford to stay in a hospital. He has no energy and lies under a blanket outside, his outlook is not good. he needs a bone marrow transplant and heer you may as well hope to go to the moon! This broke our heart, and we prayed heaps for healing! Can you pray for Peter! He needs a miracle and you could be a part of it happening!

Apart from all these impressions, the team is doing well. It's exciting to be in Africa, making a difference and sharing Jesus with them. We are giving out, but also receiving so much!

Please continue to pray for our health, and our safety, we don't take these things for granted. Pray also for Andrew as he goes to Kampala (the capital) tomorrow so take care of a few things. Travel is not always smooth or safe here!

Blessings

Team 6 in Uganda!!