MAY 2024 UPDATE

I have kept a full schedule since the start of this year with lots of in-country travelling while staying in close contact with the office in Gulu and Kampala. My travels have taken me both to Gulu and Kasese to be part of the trainings for our Church Community Mobilisation (CCM) especially as we envision leaders in these locations, it's getting exciting and engaging especially as we get deeper in awakening the church for integral mission. The 5 Foundational Bible study workshops have started for both Gulu and Kasese cohorts and these are running on the same speed and they will run to third quarter of this year. These trainings are among others considered to enable the church to understand its identity in Jesus Christ and understanding the big picture about God's creation which then creates a drive that gets the church to engage in holistic ministry within its members and its immediate community. Please pray for the different travels for me and all JLH staff as they are also trainee facilitators and that the church participants will find this as beneficial.

Thank you so much for your prayers. JLH, with the support that comes from BMS has recruited a CCM Coordinator who will also take the national programs docket. That way he gets the opportunity to integrate the current JLH programs and interventions with the CCM processes. Pr. Vincent Atwijukire (see photo), a trained nurse by background later becoming pastor for a local church in Kampala joins JLH as CCM coordinator with lots of hands-on experience in CCM. His coming reduces my schedule of travel significantly but also weighs off the CCM oversight role I have hitherto played waiting for his coming. Please pray for Pr. Vincent as he takes over this role that he will use his skills, abilities and wide CCM experience to help JLH impact the communities by empowering people to sustainably transform their situations using God given resources. Pr. Vincent and myself do have quite some work to integrate the current interventions with CCM, please pray for us.

You will also know BMS' commitment to see Justice reign in every sphere of life. One way we have seen this in the recent past has been with the Child Rights awareness interventions through the Child Policy Trainings in schools. The trainings continue to equip the school children and staff with skills on identification of abuse cases, handling, reporting procedures and other case management. JLH is registering positive statistics of increased awareness about child protection issues, enabling each participant to recognize risky situations and take appropriate action. We are however realising the need to address some cultural practices that perpetuate Gender Based Violence (GBV), as these continue to be a major influencer of GBV specifically child marriages and consequent teenage pregnancies. In this quarter with the support from BMS Gender Justice, JLH has moved into Gender mainstreaming starting with training of Cultural and faith-based leaders in Kasese so that they can come on board as we continue to uphold the biblical requirements of equality across our program interventions. JLH has therefore recruited a JLH Gender Trainer (Jackline Akong-photo Inset) who will be based in Kasese but with lots of collaborations with our Child Protection work in Gulu. Please Pray for Jackie as she takes on the role that she will walk by faith not by sight as she executes her role as Gender Trainer.

You will have heard a common saying “…a journey of a thousand miles begins with one stride…”, used to mean that most difficult ventures have a starting point. This is about William Tusiime, the young man at our church who plays the keyboard. In my last prayer letter I shared that he had enrolled for a certificate in theology. The good news is that he will be graduating at the end of this month with a Certificate in Theology. He has progressed very fast with a lot of dedication and commitment as this is something he really likes. Thank you so much for praying with us for this first level, he will be getting back to study for a Diploma almost immediately as soon as he has graduated. We trust God will find placement for this training, please pray for William as he continues to pursue his passion.

Dorothy and I are enjoying the company of both Favour and Bright, who are currently at home for holiday until the end of this month. Dorothy runs two sessions a week with young people of age range 10-16 years in community where we live and engages them especially during holidays like around this time. The sessions run for about 2 hours each day and its mainly about teaching life skills and developing a Christian character, they are always well attended and the impact is massive especially seen through abilities to share Christ when they return to their respective schools, favour and Bright are part of these sessions and they enjoy them a great lot, please pray for Dorothy that God will grant her wisdom to work with the young people whose numbers continue to grow. Please pray for Favour and Bright who will be going back to school at the end of this month.

Thank you for praying for the door-to-door evangelism in April which saw 56 people come to know Christ as personal saviour in Kayunga. We worked alongside Evangelists from staff of Uganda Christian Lawyers Fraternity where Dorothy works and all the new converts were handed over to Pr. Matovu of Victory Church to follow up and disciple. Please pray for these new converts that will be able to grow in knowing Christ and become great servant of the highest God.

Praises and thanksgiving to God for a grant that was received from the BMS Eco fund to help with putting doors and windows of 3 churches in Kasese that had its solar units uninstalled because of fear of vandalism due to lack of windows and doors, the fabrication is currently underway and as soon as the bad rains have subsided up in the mountains, the doors and windows will be fixed, please pray for a successful installation overall. Please pray for good weather so that this can be completed.

Blessings

Benon