Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
John 4:14
Dear Friends and Family,
Summer is coming to an end but ministry is not slowing down. A couple months ago we wrote about a village called Bukuya. We shared how the people of this remote village are mostly animist or Muslim and are very wary of outsiders
We felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water…God answered our prayers through many of you
At that time we felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water for them. On Brian’s family farm there is a natural spring. We let the need be known that we wanted to tap into that spring to bring clean water to this village. God answered our prayers through many of you and we were able to tap into the spring and provide not one but two wells.
This past month we went to the village to present the wells to the people there. We first went to the well which is on the main road. We shared a time of worship and prayer for them. It was a sweet time and the men who we hired to build the well actually came and participated in celebration. Afterward we invited those who were there to join us at the second well which was a bit deeper inside the bush. We were quite surprised with the turn out. We had a great time of worship again there.
He shared from John chapter 4 about Jesus being the living water…even the Muslims present stayed for the whole message.
There were a lot of kids at this site so Evelyn, our worship leader, sang some motion songs. Since the majority of the people are not Christian they did not know the songs but they did try to join in and it was quite a lot of fun for everyone. At the well a message was shared by a friend visiting from my home church. He shared from John chapter 4 about Jesus being the living water. The well was going to provide the people with clean water but they would have to keep coming back to it. Jesus can give us living water. Even the Muslims present stayed for the whole message, we pray that the Lord word work that word into their hearts.
…he gave us a goat as a thank you on behalf of the whole village.
Brian then prayed to dedicate the well and for the people to understand what had been shared. The chief of that area then shared. He said that he was 45 years old and has never lived any where else and that this was the first time in his life there had ever been clean water in his village and was so thankful. He also said that we were welcome to come and feel at home there. Then he gave us a goat as a thank you on behalf of the whole village. We had brought sodas for the people and Brian’s mom had prepared some food and we left the people enjoying their new wells and having full bellies. Brian’s mom told us that after we left many more people showed up. We definitely will be planning a follow up trip in the future.
Arise Christian Fellowship held its very first vacation Bible School
This past month Arise Christian Fellowship held its very first vacation Bible School. Nikki Diana, a friend from my home church, joined forces with our children’s ministry to come up with the theme, The Great Treasure Hunt, based on Psalms 119:162. We were also joined by Jenise Gleason, who is a missionary elsewhere in Uganda who has a huge heart for children.
In Uganda, there is a 2 week semester break between August and September. School vacations are a great time to reach kids because many children in Uganda go to boarding school but on vacations they are at home. Our desire was to minister to the children in our own church as well as reach out to the children in the community around us. The first day of the VBS was spent fully at the church learning about God’s Word, memorizing the memory verse, playing games and doing crafts. The second day of the VBS kept with the treasure theme but focused more on the children (us) being God’s treasure.
The children made a craft where they had to paint a picture of themselves and put it in a frame they made. They had a Bible quiz and played a couple of games but after lunch they headed out into the community. As we headed into the community we were joined by the students from the Vision of Destiny school that meets on the floor below our church.
Everyone walked down to a field just above the slums…to reach out to the children there
Everyone walked down to a field just above the slums, where a lot of our children live, to reach out to the children there. It is important for children to have the opportunity to share their faith with others and recognize their faith is personal not just for the Sunday school teachers. Once at the field they began by playing simple games like Frisbee and tag, inviting the community kids to join in. In the end of course it turned into a soccer match which is just about everyone in Uganda’s preferred sport. Frank, our children’s ministry director shared with the children before the day came to an end.
We pray that many of the children as well of the families will desire to know more about God’s treasure and recognize the treasure they are to Him.
Thank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.
In Him,
Brian, Jill,
Luke, Laylee,
and Liana
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Praise the Lord for all the ministry opportunities we have had this summer and all the volunteers who have come through to help.
- Praise the Lord for providing the well in Bukuya Village. Pray for the people that they would come to know the true Living Water and for more opportunities to share with them.
- Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so that we can get Liana a passport and visas to come home for furlough.
- Pray for health for all the Kanyikes. A nasty cough and infection has been going trough the house.
- Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.
- Pray for all the ministries and leaders.
- Pray that the Kanyikes can begin to raise the airfare that their family will need to go on furlough this fall.
- Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.