May/June 2021
Warm greetings to all our friends and co-workers in the Lord. Thank you for standing with us. Without your prayers and support, we would have found it challenging to minister as we do. Your support blesses our families, and it has helped us serve others. May God bless you and your families.
We have seen God at work in the life of Steven, who is twenty-one years old. He is the son of Elias, a resident of Nyaburondo cell. The family earns an income through selling hard labor to others in their fields. They live in a semi-permanent house. Steven was in the Kingdom Steppers at our church, and as he grew up, he started a business of buying and selling coffee beans. But he got in trouble when he purchased stolen coffee from an influential person in the civic leadership of the area; he was arrested for some days. He waited in jail to be taken to court because his parents had nothing to pledge as a surety for him with the police. The family informed us of the situation and asked us to stand with them in prayer. The affected man forgave Steven, the charges were dropped, and they did not go to court. We give God the glory!
Praise the Lord. This month our church celebrated two parents who dedicated their children to God. Namala prayed for the children and their families.
We praise the Lord for the family of Kelleth, as he fulfilled the legal requirement for marriage with his wife, Annah. They were married in the local district offices, and we celebrate their wedding at the church with prayers and blessings.
Johannah is twenty-seven and married to Gelevazio. They have two children together, Jonah and Penelope. They are residents of Rushasha and survive through selling hard labor in other people’s fields. We met this family through home visits and shared the word of God. We encouraged them to attend the home fellowship in Rushasah so that Johannah could fellowship with us whenever she can. She is facing a challenge; her husband joined a group of drunkards and came home drunk and violent, to the point of beating them up and chasing them out of the house. On many occasions, they sleep outside or sometimes with the neighbors. We encouraged Johannah with the Word of God, and she recommitted her life to Christ. Johannah started attending the Rushasah home fellowship, learning the Bible, and praying for her husband. Now she testifies that her husband is willing to allow them to go to church which is a change from earlier. We are praying for Gelevazio to come to know and accept Christ in his life. We pray that he will live a responsible life and take care of his family.
We have appointed different people with leadership qualities to head various offices in the church. We set up a time for leadership classes, and they meet at the end of every Sunday service. We also allow them to lead church programs, fellowships, and church choirs. Olivia and Jenifer are the leaders of the church choir.
Annet is forty years old and a resident of Kasoroza, Katoma village. We met her during our home visits, and we shared the Word of God. Annet accepted Jesus Christ into her life. She was an alcoholic and lost her marriage to it. We prayed for Annet to remain committed to the Lord and for the restoration of her marriage. Jenifer is twenty-eight and married with two children. She lives in Kitojo cell. We met her and shared the Word of God, and Jenifer promised to come to our church. Jenifer enjoys listening to our radio program. She was happy we visited her. She recognized that we are not like other religions that only visit those who are well-off financially. We pray that God will soften her heart and for Jenifer to decide to have faith in Jesus Christ.
March 2021
God is working in the life of Irene, thirty-eight, and lives in Rushasha. She has five children, but three are staying in her house. Her life was challenging since she was the second wife of Benson, who is forty-five. Irene was married at the age of sixteen. Her husband’s business is to make alcohol, and that is his primary source of income. Because of this fact, Benson ended up being a drunkard and gave less care to his family. Irene was introduced to the brewing business when she married her husband. But at the age of thirty-five, she gave her life to Christ and stopped brewing alcohol with her husband, which caused conflict between them. Irene prayed and persevered that God would be able to change her husband. She requested the church to start a fellowship in her house, and she is leading this group. Now two of her children have come to the Lord, joined the church, and are active members. Her husband no longer refuses to allow Irene to attend the church, and sometimes he attends the fellowship. Benson has not yet accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, but we believe that the Lord will one day cause him to make this decision.
- Pray for Benson, Irene’s husband, to come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Margret is forty years old and a single mom with one daughter, Evelyn, who is fourteen. They are staying in Kasoroza in a two-room rented house. Margret sells hard labor to make a living. She also cultivates rented pieces of land where she grows crops to feed herself and her daughter. Margret was once married, but through some misunderstandings, they separated, so she returned to her father’s house. Slowly Margret started drinking alcohol and then became a severe drunkard. Her brothers were upset and would not tolerate her addiction which caused friction in the family. Margret was quarrelsome and sometimes would spend the night in the bars. One day we met her through home visits and shared the Word of God. We followed up with her and continued to invite her to the fellowships. Eventually, she joined the home fellowship in Kasoroza. Through the continual sharing of God’s Word and prayer, Margret gave her life to the Lord and was baptized.
Margret testifies that Pastor Onesimus’ Bible teaching has helped her start saving and managing the rent on her house. She plans to open a grocery store to earn an income and pay the school fees for her daughter. Margret has joined the ushering team, and Evelyn has been attending church every Sunday with her.
The men’s group has started doing home visits, and they visited four members this month. They are doing great work in following up with their fellow members who have not been attending the services since the lockdown started. This ministry is named “Find the Lost Sheep.” The desire is to draw back the members who have not attended service in a while. With the men’s encouragement, two members have returned, including Deus and Moses. When they meet, the men discuss the matters that affect their lives and discuss how to develop acceptable Christian home standards for their families. They also serve the Lord at church and evangelize to the lost.
Jovan is twenty-five years old and a single father with one child. He was previously an Anglican from Nyaburondo. Jovan lives in a semi-permanent home and survives through selling hard labor. We met him during our home visits when he had lost hope and was drunk. His parents complained Jovan would go to work and return home without a single coin. He was failing to handle his responsibilities. Through our continual sharing of the Word of God and follow-ups, including invitations to the fellowship, Jovan believed and accepted Jesus Christ as His Savior. Now his parents are happy that he no longer drinks alcohol and is caring for his child.
Elias is married to Lilian, and they have five children. Scovia is twenty-three, Steven is twenty-one, and Susan is eighteen. Bruce is fifteen, and Shallon is thirteen. They live in a semi-permanent house in Nyaburondo. Elias was working in Kampala to earn a living, and when he returned, he joined the fellowship, and we shared the Word of God. He promised the join the church and has been listening to the radio program. We are praying that the Lord will touch his heart, and eventually, Elias will accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
- Pray for Elias and his family to come to faith.
January/February 2021
God is working in the life of Robert. He lives in Kagorogoro cell with his wife Patience and three children. Robert was born into a family that worships spirits and demons. He had built a house for his family. The spirits and demons tormented him so much that they left their house and moved to a rental in the same neighborhood. When we visited, they shared their situation. We prayed with them and prayed over their home. Two weeks later, they moved back into their house again and now are living there without any problems. We thank God for Robert’s family and their home, free from oppression by spirits and demons.
We have over twenty-five teenagers and decided to engage them in ministry. They come to church every Thursday and Saturday to learn the Word of God and practice singing and dancing for the Sunday service.
The church intercessors meet every Tuesday evening for prayers. The married men and women meet once a month to learn to pray for families.
Jennifer, also known as Nalongo, is the mother of a family in our fellowship. Her husband passed away over ten years ago, leaving her with six kids. The family lives in a semi-permanent house in Kyeizoba village. They survive by selling labor. Jennifer is an usher in our church and attends the Kyeizoba fellowship. She testifies that God is changing the lives of her children. Her son was once a thief, but he is no longer stealing after coming to Jesus and learning how to pray. Her prayer request is that all of her children will know Christ and give their lives to Him.
We thank God for the Poverty Solutions program and its impact on the community. Many believers are now able to support their families because of the projects.
We thank God for finishing the construction on the school. Once the schools are officially open, we believe we shall have many children. We are excited for the opportunity to bring these kids to know Jesus Christ.
- Pray for church land, specifically for the church to have a place to call its own.
We are training others to participate in the ministry through meetings and classes. We give opportunities for believers to lead the fellowship and church services. We meet every Wednesday for prayers and coaching.
God has changed the life of Eunice. She was one of the most notorious drunkards living in the Kasoraza trading center. She owned a bar and would fight with the men in her bar; she was also a prostitute. During our home visits, we shared the gospel with Eunice. She decided to give her life to Christ, and now she wants to get baptized. She no longer drinks alcohol and has released her hold on the men she had swayed from their families. Now Eunice appears healthy and peaceful. People wonder what happened to her because they see such a drastic change in her life.
The church is continuing to reach the community through home visits, fellowships, and radio programs. This month we visited twenty-homes and spoke with twenty-five males and forty females with the gospel of Christ.
September/ October 2020
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we live, move, and have our being. We thank God for keeping you safe during these times of covid-19. Your love, prayers, and support have helped us to continue serving the people in the community.
When covid-19 first appeared, our country declared a lockdown, closing even the places of worship. After a long time of isolation and challenging life due to the lockdown, some people became spiritually weak and backslid. We could not reach them to comfort and encourage them for a time, but thankful we can now go to their homes. We bring prayer and encourage them that life needs to continue. We slowly started home fellowships with small groups, and now the government is allowing worship services with up to seventy adults.
Our home fellowships were essential in encouraging believers to be firm in their faith. Through these groups, three people have given their lives to Christ in Kagorogoro fellowship. We give God the glory. Also, a man known as Robert, a drunkard in the Katobo Trading Center, heard the gospel and accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.
We schedule a day for intersession where the building is open for people to pray for personal life challenges, needs, ministries, and the church. Each Tuesday, the church is open for a maximum of seventy people, following the covid-19 guidelines. Ministers are available to help the members when they face challenges and need counseling and prayers.
Each Saturday, we meet with the teenagers for Bible study and the character-building series. Our primary goal is to help them deal with the challenges they face while not attending school due to the covid-19 school lockdown. We also encourage teenagers to get involved in ministry.
- Pray for the believers to be firm in their faith during these challenging times.
- Pray for the teenagers to spend their time wisely and to make the right decisions honoring God.
Through the partnership of White Fields ministries, we have been able to give out washable and reusable face masks to the church members so they can attend church services and follow the government protocols. We have a complete handwashing facility with liquid soap at the church entrance and a thermometer available. For these reasons, the church congregation has expressed confidence in our church to operate during these pandemic times safely.
People are hearing the truth of the Word of God and gradually responding by committing their lives to Christ. Some people are challenged by the lockdown and struggling with their faith. However, many others are hearing the Word and giving their lives to Christ. We have had a total of nineteen people commit their lives to Christ during this period, and we thank God for His saving grace through Christ, our Lord. Thank you to our White Fields partners for laboring with us for the Lord.
- Pray for the new believers to grow in their faith and not be swayed by the cares of the world.
August 2020
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus from God’s Embassy Katobo. We are grateful for the support you render us both in prayers and in finances. We bless the Almighty God for White Fields; you motivate us by your love for us, and we feel encouraged to keep on the work of ministry to the community because of your partnership and guidance. We pray for God’s blessing upon you and your families.
We see evidence of God working in the community by the change around Kotobo, even during this lockdown. When we first planted a church in Katobo, it was a place with bars where people drank alcohol from morning until late. But through prayers, witnessing through home visits, and the sharing of God’s Word, many people in the community, are turning to the Lord. Their salvation is transforming their lives and changing their behaviors. Most of the bars are closing for lack of business. The bar owners are slowly evolving their establishments to restaurants and tea rooms. Some of the owners started to come to the church before the lockdown. Others have promised to join the church when the lockdown is lifted. We pray that as they keep coming and learning the Word of God, they will come to the point of accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Some examples of this transformation include Talent and Daphine, who have changed their bar business to food joints.
We praise God for protecting us from the coronavirus. We have had no cases in our community yet. We are grateful for White Fields’ support for the families struggling for food due to the intense lockdown that restricted people from moving or working. One hundred families in all the churches benefitted from this blessing.
We praise God for His continual provision through White Fields that allows us to continue the Graceland classroom construction and pay the teachers during this time of lockdown. The teachers are grateful to the Lord that they teach at a school that cares for them. Other teachers at the other schools have no pay during this time. We are thankful for White Fields donors that support us to continue serving the community.
One of our upcoming deacons is Ezra. He is an usher in our church and makes sure the church is always clean and ready for service time. Ezra is leading a fellowship in the Kyeizoba community. He works as a trainer for the metal welding program.
God has changed the life of Namara, who is fifty years old. He joined our church after she left her family in the neighboring district of Bushenyi. She was married and had seven children but ran away from her husband due to his mistreatment and abuse. Namara had nothing when she came here and no relatives or friends in the community. She joined the church and, after hearing the gospel, gave her life to Christ. Namara is now free from bitterness and helping her children grow and mature, even though she is no longer together with her husband. One of her sons, Gilbert, is seventeen and has joined Namara. He is learning welding with Ezra.
- Pray for Namara and Gilbert.
- Pray for Ezra to be an excellent role model to those he is teaching and training, both in welding and in God’s Word.
May/June 2020
We are grateful to God for guiding us. We have been praying and searching for a space in town to have a fellowship. God connected us with a former minister of our government who owns a piece of land and is allowing us to use it for free right now. He is willing to sell this property to us. Right now we are preparing to put up a shelter to use for the fellowship.
- Pray for God to give us the funds and for the process to go smoothly.
I continue to minister through the radio stations and I am grateful for those coming to the Lord through the radio program.
One of the families in our fellowship is Kate’s. She is forty; her husband does not live at home but works in the Kiruhura district. Kate has three children. Hillary is twenty-five, Prudence is twenty, Generous is nineteen. They are all old enough to care for themselves and no longer live at home. Kate lives in a temporary house in the Kabura cell Nyakagyeme sub-country. She survives through subsistence farming, and her husband works the land cultivating in the Kiruhura district. Kate is talented in singing and leads the praise and worship for the Kabura fellowship. She told us that she had delayed joining us because she had heard gossip and rumors about God’s Embassy from the religious leaders of the Anglican and Catholic churches. They intend to discourage their members from joining us. But when she came to the fellowship, she discovered their statements were not true and found that we are a church that cares about people and shows this by visiting and ministering to them in their homes.
- Pray for this family to hunger for the truth and to seek Jesus Christ in their lives.
- Pray for our challenge of meeting together due to the coronavirus. We are following the government regulations suspending all gatherings, and so are not able to have fellowship and church services.
Pray for Joab; he is thirty-three and one of the deacons. He is a leader of the Keitumuura fellowship in Kyatoko, a good teacher, and enjoys serving the Lord. His testimony is as follows. He became an orphan at the age of eight, which caused him to struggle in life and to having difficulty paying for his school fees. He was unable to support himself in school beyond senior six. During this time of struggle, he adopted some bad behaviors, including betting and gambling, which he continued for quite some time. It was not until we met him, shared the gospel, and prayed with him two years ago, that he finally stopped this addiction. Joab is so thankful to the Lord, who helped him stop this behavior. He has a job at the construction site at Graceland Elementary School and is one of the managers. His prayer is for God’s provision as he builds his own home, and that will guide him to find a suitable and godly wife.
God is changing lives in our community. Apofia is twenty-five and married to Lauben, who is forty. The husband, Lauben, used to be attacked by demons and become unconscious. Apofia is his third wife; the other two left Lauben due to this situation. Apofia says her friends gave her advice and told her to bewitch him, but she declined as she was already attending the fellowship and had learned that sorcery and witchcraft are sins. Instead, she shared the situation with the fellowship, and they prayed for Lauben to be delivered. Praise God for answering prayers! The couple is now happy. Apofia has changed as well; she no longer goes to consult with witchdoctors.
- Pray for Lauben to give his life to Jesus Christ.
- Pray for them to find work and be able to build a house more stable than the one they have now.
Gorette is fifty years old and part of the Catholic church. We visited her and invited her to come for a fellowship. Since then, she has been attending regularly and loves listening to the Word of God. The Catholic priests tried to discourage her, but instead, she started hosting the fellowship and invited her neighbors to come and listen to God’s Word. Gorette told the Catholic priests that she sees no harm in fellowshipping with us because we are sharing the Bible.
- Pray for Gorette to fully understand salvation and to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior.
January/February 202
We have seen God at work in saving people. This past month we had several events before and during Pastor Steve’s visit, and at each of the meetings, nine, ten, and eleven people professed faith in Jesus Christ. We give glory to God for bringing these thirty people to Himself.
Christine is forty and married to Matia, who is forty-five and a soldier. Matia has not yet come to the Lord, but the rest of the family are Christians. Christine and Matia have four children. They were born Catholic, but now have come to the knowledge of Christ and are attending church for fellowship. They are active in ministry. Agatha, eighteen, is in Kingdom Steppers and is a Bible reader for her group. The testimony of this family has spread through the community like wildfire because formerly, they were known as drunkards, and their children were not in school. When the family accepted Christ and came to the church, through prayer, counseling, and hearing God’s Word, their behavior changed, and they are no longer called drunks. The children are now in school. As a family, their prayer request is for their father, Matia, to come to faith. They also request prayer for the strength to work and support the children in school.
We praise God for the completion of the mechanical building; we had been working in the welding workshop with limited space. Now we have a bigger and better workspace that will be central and improve our services to the communities around us. The building will host the offices for the poverty solutions manager and provide spaces for the welding and woodwork shops.
We thank God for allowing us to start another church in Kagashe. The fellowship in this place has existed for a year and six months. The believers in this group had been traveling for a long distance to attend the Sunday service in Katobo. We are grateful that God has grown the fellowship into a church plant.
- Pray for the new church plant in Kagashe.
- Pray for a permanent place for Katobo church and hostel for the Bible college.
Ambrose is twenty-two, our construction manager, an usher in the church, and involved in the youth ministry. He is grateful to the Lord for allowing him to serve with God’s Embassy as a construction manager. Through the salary he receives from this job, he has been able to support himself and save as well.
God is changing the lives of the people in our community. Praise God. One example is Morin, who is thirty-two and has two children, Dellan, seven, and Adela, six. She was married to Benon, but when Morin professed faith in God, Benon left her. Morin used to operate a bar and was unable to afford school fees for her children. But when she came to the Lord and learned the Word of God, she left the bar business and got another job as a school cook at Graceland Elementary School. Now she is saving money, and her children are in school.
The church reaches the community through home visits, crusades, and film shows. Last month we visited thirty homes, reaching eighty-seven women and twenty-six men. We had overnight prayers, and four people came to Christ. We organized a crusade in Kagashe by inviting the people through home visits during the day and held the event in the evening. Pastor Steve was our leading preacher, and at this event, he announced the starting of a church in this community.
We believe God is drawing Madrid closer to salvation in Him. She is an Anglican churchwarden but loves our church and listens to the radio program. Whenever we make home visits in the community, she gives us directions and tells us which families need prayers and the families we should concentrate on to share the Word of God. We are thankful to the Lord for the support of White Fields so that we can continue to reach out to our community and for the salaries of the ministry staff.
December 2019
More than 30 years serving the Lord
We praise the Lord for enabling us to organize the Rukungiri Gospel Elder’s Recognition Day. It was an event to appreciate the elders who have been in the ministry of the gospel for thirty years or more in Rukungiri. We invited all the pastors in Rukungiri, one-hundred and twenty pastors attended the ceremony. We spent the full day listening to their testimonies and the hardships they encountered to preach the gospel, especially during Idi Amin’s regime in the nineteen seventies. The elders spoke words of encouragement to those of us who are still young in the ministry, reminding us to use our energy and to have the courage to continue to fulfill the work of the great commission. It was a day of feasting and celebrating their labor in the Lord. The elders were blessed to have their efforts recognized, especially as they had not expected it. It was a memorable moment for the pastors and reenergized us to continue faithfully serving the Lord, no matter the challenges.
We organized the crossover day and night prayer event to welcome in the new year at Rukungiri district stadium. Our intense efforts to invite people to come were effective as more than five-thousand people attended. It was a memorable experience to hear thousands of people calling on the name of the Lord while entering the new year. Forty-five people gave their lives to the Lord. We give God the glory for being with us and blessing the entire experience from the start of organizing the event to its completion.
2019-2020 Crossover Prayer!
- Pray for the new believers to grow in their faith and understanding of God’s Word.
Praise the Lord for the persistent efforts and courage of the elders who continue to serve God despite the hardships they encountered.
Maria is a single mother, her firstborn, Niwenyesiga, is now twenty-two. Ampire and Niwamanya are thirteen and twelve, in primary seven and six. The youngest, named Akankwatsa, is in kindergarten. Maria sells her labor to support her family. She thanks God for the support of the church in building her home. The church members gave their time and effort to complete her house. Now Maria and her family are well-sheltered. Maria’s prayers are to continue sending her children to school and provide them with adequate food and clothing.
Maria with her family!
Jackline is one of our church members whose life was transformed by the gospel. She was desperate and hopeless after the death of her husband. At one point, she tried to commit suicide because she did not know what to do or how to help her five children in school. We learned of her situation and visited her to encourage her through the gospel. Jackline joined the church and gave her life to the Lord. Through counseling and guidance, Jackline gained hope to stand and fight for her future and the future of her children. Now she is making bricks and is planning to build a stronger home for her family. Jackline sells her labor to earn the income to support her children in school and provide for their wellbeing. She is no longer living a life of hopelessness. Now, she has hope of a better future in the Lord. We thank God for her changed life.
Jackline continues to make bricks to build a strong home for her family.
- Pray for Jackline to have hope for the future and grow in her faith.
- Pray for Jackline and Maria as they work hard to care for their children.
We continued home visits in the Katobo community and stopped at forty-six homes. We reached out to sixty-three men and seventy-eight females. This month we did a baptism of twenty-one people, the largest age group was the children of twelve years and over. Baptism is an outward public sign of the complete and total commitment of their lives to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We reached out to the community of Nyakishenyi Sub County; it is a village deep in one of the remote places in Rukungiri. The people there are below the poverty level, and many have only old and worn-out clothes. The Lord convicted us to encourage our church members and friends of the church to give their clothing to share with the people in Nyakishenyi. We brought four thousand, five hundred and sixty articles of clothing to give to the Christian brothers and sisters, old and young, who live in these poor conditions. We shared the Word of God and prayed with them. We thank God for enabling us to make such a contribution to the lives of these people that causes them to celebrate in the Lord.
Praise the Lord for the baptism. Praise the Lord for the willingness and ability to bless those who are needier than ourselves. Pray for our testimony in all areas of Rukungiri and for more people to come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Fabis is a bar attendant in the Katobo trading center. We shared with her about the gospel, and she received us well and promised to join us soon. Fabis says she has been listening to the Word of God on the radio program and at church. Each time, the words reach her heart. We believe that God is drawing Fabis to Himself. Our prayer is for her salvation.
Pray for Fabis to come to understand her need for a Savior and to surrender her life to Christ. Pray for the ability to purchase land to build a church as we are currently renting. We thank God for White Fields partners that enable us to reach our people with the gospel, for construction projects, and for financial and prayer support.
November 2019
We are committed to effective and accurate teaching of the Word of God, especially to those who are teaching others, including the pastors, home fellowship leaders, and Sunday school teachers. Tuesday is our day to focus on Bible classes, and we usually have between twenty-five to thirty students. This month, our focus was on leadership and how we can best demonstrate spiritual leadership in our respective callings as servants of God.
During the Sunday morning Bible study classes, the men have been studying manhood, and the women have been studying the book of Ruth. We challenge the women to live a life that shows Christ to others, just as Ruth saw God through Naomi’s life and chose to claim Naomi’s God as her own God. The aim of the classes is to equip the men and women with knowledge and understanding of how they can best serve their communities and families by exercising their full potential as Christians.
Recently, we have visitors from the USA including Pastor Steve, Pastor Todd, Ray, and Buddy. These visitors were a blessing to us. Pastor Todd taught Bible classes about the topics of Theology Proper, Dynamics of Teamwork, and Servant Leadership. Each member received two books to read. We thank God for using Pastor Todd to equip ministers for the Lord’s work by preaching the gospel and serving in the church, and by teaching from the book of James.
Praise the Lord for the excellent teaching our members are receiving.
- Pray for participants to apply these principles, so their actions and attitudes display their love of God.
Moses is forty-five and married to Jackline, who is thirty-four. They have three children, two girls, and one boy. Joan is thirteen, Anita is ten and Joab is six and is at the top of his class. Moses is a regular attendee of the men’s class. He joined the church after our constant visits and invitations to fellowship with us. One day, the pastor gave an altar call, and Moses surrendered his life to the Lord. When he made this decision, his wife also started attending the church and gave her life to God. This family who once was Catholics are no born-again believers. Now the children are a part of the children’s Sunday school. Moses and Jackline earn their income by selling labor. Their prayer request is that they may make enough money to send their children to a better school so they can have a better future.
Cosma is one of the rising young men in our church with excellent leadership potential, twenty-two, and still single. Cosma is a born-again Christian and has been in the church from childhood. He was a Young Ambassador and then joined the choir. Now he is a part of the construction team and leads their morning fellowship. Cosma loves the Lord and is a regular attendee of the Bible class. He has a passion for music, dance, and drama, and is a gifted actor. He studied up to senior three, and his main prayer request is to be able to continue his education.
- Pray for Moses and Jackline to find work and care for their children.
- Pray for Cosma to pursue further education.
Edson left home due to the overwhelming amount of debts he had accumulated from his alcoholism. He abandoned his wife and three children. His family started suffering. While Edson was away in hiding, his wife joined the church and gave her life to the Lord. She requested our prayers and believed that God would bring her husband home and transform his life. We praise God that He answered her prayers. Edson returned home and started attending church with his wife. Edson eventually gave his life to the Lord, now is sober and a committed home fellowship member. He has worked hard and paid off all his debts. His family is happy, praising the Lord for the change in Edson’s life. Edson is a builder by profession.
We thank God, who enables us to continue the work of evangelism through home visits and crusades. Our visitors were able to visit fifteen homes and share the Word of God. Time was spent praying with the people and giving them gifts, they received a water bucket, ten kilograms of maize flour, five kilograms of beans, and a bar of soap. This past month, we visited eighty-six homes and shared the gospel. We had a crusade in Rushasha for two days and a single day crusade in Kigaaga. Twenty-seven people gave their lives to the Lord.
Praise God for the transformation of the gospel in the lives of the new believers.
- Pray for Edson and his family.
Suedi is a young Muslim boy who is staying in the Katobo trading center. He is an alcoholic and smokes weed. When we reached out to him, we shared the Word of God and explain God’s plan for him from the Scriptures. Suedi’s response was positive, but he states his main challenge is giving up alcohol and smoking because he is already addicted to it. We encouraged him to come to church and pray with us as we believe the Lord will deliver him from these addictions. Suedi has started to attend the church. Our prayer is that he will give his life to God.
- Pray for Suedi to surrender his life to the Lord and to be set free from his addictions.
October 2019
Isaac is a young man in the church. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior after his father, Sam, became a believer. Isaac saw the transformation of his father’s life. Sam was a drunkard who didn’t care about his family. Still, after Sam became a believer, his behavior changed, and he started attending God’s Embassy. Isaac saw this change and was inspired to begin attending church. Now Isaac is a consistent attendee of the Sunday morning Bible classes and main services. He has grown in knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and is a born-again Christian. We thank the Lord for how He works through our members and uses them to be a testimony of His grace to their families and the entire community.
Pray for Isaac as he continues to walk with the Lord.
Gilbert is twenty-four, and Shakira is twenty. They are married and have a baby girl, Ayebare, who is three months old. Gilbert is a carpenter, and his wife sells her labor in the community to earn an income. They live in a single-roomed house that they rent. Shakira was abandoned by her mother when she was four months old and was brought up by a kind-hearted woman, Lydia, who cared for her as her own child. Shakira became a born-again believer after we visited her home and shared the gospel with her. Now Shakira is a committed member of our church and a part of the women’s ministry. Her husband has been attending the fellowships and men’s group but is not yet a Christian. Shakira is praying for her husband to give his life to the Lord.
Pray for Shakira and her baby to be healthy, and as they continue to walk with the Lord they will see the blessing of her husband accept Christ as his Lord and Savior.
- Pray for Gilbert to surrender his life to God.
- Pray for the family to be able to purchase a piece of land where they can build a house.
We praise the Lord for providing our pastor with a car through the White Fields Ministry. It has been a blessing for our pastor and useful for the whole ministry. We are grateful for the radio ministry, which has been impactful for the gospel spreading to distant places through the support of our donor.
This month we evangelized in the village of Kasheshe. We did home visits in the morning and invited the people to the evening crusade. Over a hundred people came, and ten people gave their lives to Christ. We had prayers that same night and taught the gospel, discussing false prophets and wrong doctrine specific to the issues in this village. Many of the community realized that they had been deceived by a man claiming to sell water that blesses them. During this overnight event, forty-seven people gave their lives to the Lord. Many of them were previously involved with the false preacher. We thank God for the work He did through us and pray that we may continue to fight for the truth of the gospel.
The fellowship in Kasheshe is being led by Ruth. She is thirty and single. Ruth gave her life to the Lord when she was twelve years old and started serving the Lord at that time. She is a gifted singer and passionate about ministering. She is grateful that God has used her to bring many people to know Him. Her prayer is for God to continue to use her and to keep her faith secure.
- Pray for these new believers to join the church and grow in their faith.
- Pray for Ruth to be blessed with wisdom as she leads the fellowship in Kasheshe.
- Pray for more chairs for the church so we can seat the full number of attendees.
Ezra is Catholic. Recently his wife was suffering from boils on her leg, so Ezra brought her to the church for prayer. Ezra desires to join us, but since most of his relatives are Catholic, he is concerned that they would harass him. We believe that Ezra is close to surrendering his life to the Lord, and we are praying that his fears would be overcome.
- Pray for Ezra to come to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
This month we visited fifty-six homes in our community and shared the gospel. During these visits, we met a man named Pius and his wife, Njerina, at their home. We share the gospel with them. They told us that they are Catholics but had heard about our impact on the community and plan to visit our church.
- Pray for Pius and Njerina to visit the church and to someday come to know Jesus Christ.
September 2019
God is working through our home fellowships, which are growing and making an impact in their communities for Christ. We have seen that the religious leaders of different denominations seem disturbed and confused. They see many of their former followers who left their group are now openly declaring that they are a part of God’s embassy fellowships. The people who left attribute this decision to the truth we teach and care we give our congregation, and how these are indications of the true gospel. Recently, an Anglican priest visited one of our fellow members, Bonny, who was formerly a committed member of his congregation. He asked her why she had abandoned them. Bonny was frankly honest and told him that it was due to the better way God’s Embassy teaches God’s Word and how her life had been changed for the better since she joined the church. Her relationship with God and her knowledge of Him had improved. The Anglican priest left disappointed. When he returned to the village, he declared the establishment of an Anglican church fellowship in this village. He hopes to win back some of his former members who had started to attend our group instead. It has been reported that the Anglican church also started doing home visits to its former members to discourage them from being a part of our fellowships. However, these same people are coming to us and sharing what is going on. We thank the Lord for the great work He is doing through our home fellowships.
- Pray for the church congregation to stand firm in their faith against the pressures of the Anglican priests and other religious leaders.
Matabazi is married to Pamera, and they have five children. Their oldest, Martin, is studying at the university. The family is part of the Kagorogoro home fellowship. Matabazi comes from a family lineage of spirit worshipers. Before he became a born-again Christian, evil spirits would attack him during the night and cause him to lose sleep. He tried to consult with the witch doctors, but the situation only became worse. He testifies that his life was delivered from demon oppression, and now he has peace. He thanks the Lord for saving him, his main prayer request is that his wife may know Christ and be saved.
- Pray for Matabazi’s family and for Pamera to come to know the Lord.
As a church, we thank God for making us a blessing to the community of Katobo and its surround areas. Katobo is a trade center, and so it was famous as a place for alcohol and prostitution. Still, we thank God that now Katobo is known as a center for worshipping God. Recently, a large established bar in the village closed its doors due to the decline in customers. It had been a central location for these terrible vices, and many young boys and men would flood into the building to indulge themselves in wickedness and immorality. We thank God that this influence is no longer present in our community.
- Our prayer is for more chairs as our church is growing so fast that we are unable to seat everyone.
- Pray also for us to purchase land to build the church.
One of our potential leaders who is growing in his faith is Manex. He is passionate about the Word of God ever since he joined our church and is faithful to attend the Sunday morning foundational Bible classes. He is one of our keyboard players for the choir. We believe the Lord is doing incredible work in preparing Manex for ministry. He is a professional builder and recently joined our construction team. We pray for him to stay focused on the Lord and continue to grow. Manex loves music, and his main prayer request is to become a music producer someday.
- Pray for Manex to grow in his knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
The grace of God has transformed Ronald into a born-again believer and active member in the Kagashe home fellowship. He is also a member of our construction team. Before he was saved, Ronald was a drunkard and hopeless man who committed himself to nothing constructive. Now the Word of God is molding Ronald’s character to the extent that the entire village is talking about it. We praise God.
Bonny Manex Ronald
This month we established a new home fellowship in Kasheshe village. In this village, there is a false teacher who sells water, claiming that it is a source of blessing, so those who buy it can sprinkle the water on everything they want to be blessed. We went to this community and shared the gospel, teaching the Word of God through home visitations. We proclaimed the truth in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This fellowship is being led by Ruth, and our prayer is for Ruth to stand firm and defend the Word of God in Kasheshe.
- Pray for the home fellowship in Kasheshe to stand firm in the truth of God’s Word and to defeat the lies of the enemy.
This month we visited ninety-seven homes. Seven people gave their lives to the Lord. We praise Jesus for these souls saved from eternal damnation.
Pray for the new believers to grow in their knowledge and understanding of God’s Word.
- Pray for their relationships with God to grow and become stronger through the good and the problematic aspects of life.
July/August 2019
This last month we saw God at work in a powerful way. We were blessed with the visit of Pastor Steve and his wife, who did home visits with us and crusades that led many to come to Christ. We held three crusades in the areas of Muramba, Rushasha, and Kyatoko with Pastor Steve preaching. Six people gave their lives to Christ in Kyatoka, ten in Muramba, and eight in Rushasha. We thank the Lord for saving people and growing the church.
Pastor Steve taught classes for three days. The ministers of the God’s Embassy churches attended these classes and learned more about the atonement and the knowledge of God. They had the opportunity to ask questions, and all of these questions were answered.
- Pray for the ministers of the churches to grow deeper in their understanding of God’s Word and to be encouraged in ministering to their fellow believers and evangelizing the lost.
Ruth is married to Philip. Their eldest, Junior, is fifteen and attended school up to primary seven, he was unable to continue his education since they could not afford it. Brea is thirteen and in senior two. Linate is eight and in primary two. Simon does not attend school. Ruth has been the force of influence behind our newly established fellowship in Kebisoni were we are hoping to develop a church plant in the future. She is a committed member of the church and is part of the Kagorogoro fellowship. Her husband left the family to go work in Kampala and has been gone for five years without a visit. He stopped sending support and school fees for the children and so Ruth is caring for the children alone. She sells labor in the community to earn some income. Her main prayer request is for her husband to return home and care for his family.
- Pray for Ruth to have the courage to continue pressing forward; pray for her husband to return home and to come to salvation.
- Pray for the children to study hard and continue school.
Richard, Hosanna, and Jonathon were in a road accident while fetching water in our newly bought tricycle. They were getting the water to mix with sand for the construction of the Bible college classrooms and office. The sustained minor injuries and were taken to the hospital. We thank the Lord that despite their pain, no one was seriously injured. The tricycle was damaged and taken to the garage for repair.
- Pray for these men to recover fully from their injuries.
We encourage all of our church members to be a part of a home fellowship. We believe that this enables them to identify with fellow Christians in the community and encourage each other in Christ. We use these groups as training for the members to exercise their leadership skills and share the Word of God. We have seventeen home fellowships, each with an individual leader who organizes all the activities. Every Tuesday, we have classes for the fellowship leaders where we learn the Word of God and share the challenges and joys of each group. We work together to find solutions. These groups are the beginning training grounds for future leaders in the church.
Moses is one of our rising potential leaders in the church. He is committed to studying God’s Word and has been consistent in attending the Sunday morning Bible class. He is working with God’s Embassy construction department. He was appointed this past month to lead the fellowship of Kabura. He is also the chief Sunday service programmer in the church at Katobo. We believe and pray that he continues growing in Christ to be a better leader.
- Pray for the fellowship leaders to have wisdom in their guidance and compassion for their people.
- Pray for those teaching to study God’s Word to encourage others and to grow in their own relationship with God.
- Pray for Moses to continue learning and growing in Christlike character.
Emily is one of the ladies in Katobo village who used to hate God’s Embassy church. She never thought for a moment that she would enter the church. But unexpectedly, Emily started attending our services and demonstrates a more positive attitude towards the church. Though she is an Anglican by religion, we believe that the Lord is drawing her to salvation. Our prayer is that she may eventually surrender her life to Christ.
- Pray for Emily to fully understand her need for a Savior and to surrender her life to God.
This past month, we planted fruit trees to benefit the community. Pastor Steve and Coral selected the best varieties. Coral and Jubilee Fazio were a part of the planting team who supplied fruit trees to thirty homes in the church, each person received four seedlings. The members who received the trees were excited to grow them as they will become sources of food and income for their families.
- Pray for the growth of the fruit trees and for an abundant harvest.
- Pray for the people to learn how to best care for the trees and be diligent in their work
Irene is married to Kyarimba, and they have eight children. The family lives in a wooden house. Irene is an usher in the church, and the whole family is part of the Kagorogoro home fellowship. Irene sells labor in the community to earn an income, and Kyarimba is a nightguard at a private house. The family’s prayer request is that they may grow in the Lord and someday own a piece of land and build a house large enough for their entire family.
- Pray for the family of Kyarimba and Irene to grow in their relationship with God.
- Pray for their dream of owning land and adequate home to be fulfilled.
We thank the Lord for the completion of the construction of two buildings, the Uganda School of Bible and The Healing Grace Medical Center. This past month, the Uganda School of Bible began to operate. Professor James Fazio and Professor Jeremiah Mutie lectured in our beginning classes for five days. We had twenty-four students who attended, and it was exciting for them to be a part of the first class. At the end of the week, they sat for their exams, and the results were excellent.
Praise the Lord for the completion of the Uganda School of Bible and The Healing Grace Medical Center.
We held a Bible Conference for five days. We had teachings through the book of First Corinthians, and the students asked many questions during the sessions. The main speakers were Pastor Steve, James, and Jeremiah. Praise the Lord for the teaching from God’s Word.
Eight people gave their lives to Christ at the overnight crusade in Kebisoni. We had a worship night at the end of our conference, and during the prayers, Pastor Steve proclaimed the gospel and twenty-three people gave their lives to Christ. The next day we had a baptism, and forty-six members were baptized.
- Pray for the new believers to grow in their faith.
- Pray for their connection to the local churches to be formed and strengthened by their decision.
- Pray for their life transformation through the gospel to be visible to everyone in their community.
Ronald is one of the young men we are seeing as a future leader in ministry. He has a passion to serve young children and is committed to studying and reading the Word of God. Ronald is in the Kyamurari home fellowship and is an assistant trainer of the Young Ambassadors. He thanks the Lord for changing his life. Ronald prays that he will become a better minister with time as he continues serving in ministry and through the Bible school.
John is a man in the community whose life has been changed. He came from a family that worshiped ancestral spirits. The spirits tormented him and his children; one of his brothers had become mad. During one of our home visits, we met John and shared the Word of God with him. He started attending our home fellowship in Kagarogoro. He then started coming to church and gave his life to the Lord. We thank the Lord for saving him and that he is a new creation in Jesus Christ.
- Pray for Ronald and John to grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s Word.
Sarongo is a man in the community who is being drawn in Christ. He has been attending our church services and allowing his family to come to church. His wife is a believer. Still, when she first believed, Sarongo would refuse to allow her to attend the church but would insist that she accompany him to consult with witchdoctors. After several times of being treated by these witchdoctors, Sarongo realized that his life was not getting better. Instead, things were getting worse, so he started to attend church himself and allows his wife to participate freely for services and prayers. We believe the Lord is drawing Sarongo to faith, and we are praying for his salvation.
- Pray for Sarongo to completely understand his need for a Savior and to surrender his life to the Lord.
May/ June 2019
We are witnessing the Lord at work, bringing people to Him who were previously lost in worldly pleasures, slaves to alcoholism and prostitution, but now through God’s grace, we see their commitment to attend the church services and determined to grow in Christ.
Leadership Conference for the whole region, including Rukungiri District, Rukungiri Municipality, and Kanungu District pastors and their people.
Deuce was a notorious alcoholic in the community at Kabura. He was addicted to alcohol and had tried to overcome this habit several times but failed. He decided to join one of the local churches near his home but still would end up drinking again and again due to the negative influence of his friends. When we started the home fellowship in Kabura, we were joined by Deuce’s second born son, Darius, who was sixteen. God’s Embassy Katobo was organizing inter-fellowship gospel music dance and drama competitions. Darius was among the participants, and his team received a prize in the drama festival. The team used this money to purchase a pig and cared for her as a group until she gave birth to piglets. Everyone in the drama group took a piglet home to raise to benefit their family.
When Darius took his piglet home, his father, Deuce, realized there was something unusual happening in the fellowship and decided to join it. He recommitted himself to fight his alcoholism and gave his life to Christ. Today he is dedicated to attending the home fellowship and has become a committed member of God’s Embassy and testifies that he has been sober for six months. His family and friends are amazed at what the Lord is doing in his life. Deuce is healthy and happy. His main prayer request is for his wife to be saved and freed from alcoholism. We thank God who is bringing about the transformation of families through our home fellowships. Praise the Lord!
- Pray for Deuce to resist the temptation of alcohol.
- Pray for his wife to be drawn to faith in Christ and to overcome the addiction of alcoholism.
- Pray for their family to grow in the knowledge and grace of God’s Word. Give thanks for the witness of Darius to his family.
This month we constructed a house for one for the woman in our church. Mary had been renting a small single-roomed home and was struggling to pay the rent. As a church, we organized a team and spent an entire day building her a three-bedroom house. Mary has three daughters. We thank the Lord for enabling us to give a helping hand to our fellow believer who is now happy and owns a home
Praise the Lord for the believers working together to build a house and demonstrating the tangible evidence of God’s love for His children to their community.
Praise the Lord that Mary and her daughters have been blessed with a home.
Roger is married to Bonny; they are members of the church and the Rwagaana home fellowship. This family used to be members in the Anglican church, but when Bonny was saved, the Lord convicted her to join God’s Embassy. They have three boys, Shaba, Witness, and Alvin, the two oldest are in the primary grades. Roger is a boda-boda cyclist in Rukungiri, and through this business earns an income that sustains his family. Bonny is grateful to the Lord for the church and the pastors who put effort into teaching God’s Word and allowing members to ask questions concerning their faith when they are confused. Roger’s prayer request is to earn enough money to keep his children in school and care for his family.
- Pray Roger’s job as a boda-boda driver, for safety and protection, for the ability to earn an income to provide for his family.
We hosted a five-day leadership conference for the whole region, including Rukungiri District, Rukungiri Municipality, and Kanungu District pastors and their people. We had two-hundred and fifty pastors plus nine-hundred and twenty-seven laypeople. The pastors were taught how to handle leadership in their churches and how to handle challenges that come with being a pastor. A speaker from Kampala blessed us with the Word of God. We were able to introduce them to a sampling of the Bible college classes starting here in August. All the people were fed and given housing for five days. Multiple churches contributed food, which lowered the feeding costs.
We thank the Lord for a successful conference!
- Pray for those who attended the conference to grow in their faith and reliance on God.
- Pray for guidance as the pastor apply the leadership principles in their churches.
- Pray for God’s Kingdom to spread throughout Uganda.
Irene is a promising minister in our church. When she first joined the church, she volunteered in the ushering ministry. She has demonstrated a high level of commitment despite traveling on foot a considerable distance from her village to attend the church and organize the building for the service. Her prayer request is to save for the capital to start up a small business to earn an income. Irene gives praise to the Lord for saving her.
Irene is a hard-worker, and her love for the Word of God is unusual. She never misses the early morning classes every Sunday.
Merab is an Anglican who attended our conference. When we visited her during our home visits, she was glad to see us and expressed that she enjoyed the opportunity to listen to the teaching of God’s Word during the conference. She was interested in attending a home fellowship, and we directed her to the nearest home group, the Nyaburonndo home fellowship. We are praying that Merab will fully surrender her life to Christ.
- Pray for Merab to completely understand salvation and to declare Jesus Chris the Lord and Savior of her life.
Richard talking with Merab during home visits.
This month we visited thirty-six homes and shared the gospel with twenty-nine males and fifty-two females. During our visits, we invited people to attend our church services. The most common excuse we heard was people not wanting to abandon their fathers’ religions and abandon the churches of the Anglican and Catholics. We are thankful that overall people are more receptive to us and the gospel message despite this excuse and concern about the community perceptions of their decision.
- Pray for the Medical Center and Bible College. The community is grateful to the Lord for the care of the church to the people.
We thank God for the support from White Fields that keeps us going and able to serve the community.
- Pray for land to build the church.
April 2019
We see God at work in our ministry by the reconciliations that are being made. Certain men in our community that fought to close our church and ban us from being in Rukungiri are now coming back, admitting their mistakes, and affirming that God is with us. They see the things God’s Embassy ministry is accomplishing in the community, including the construction of the medical clinic, the establishment of a school, and the construction of the Bible school. Praise the Lord!
Mr. Bernard addressed the congregation at the church and praised God’s Embassy Church as a good church to attend as displayed by the actions of the church in the community and in the places where we have a church plant. He quoted the words of Jesus Christ saying, we shall see them by the fruits they shall bear. Most of the members in the community and surrounding areas declare that God’s Embassy is displaying the fruits of a true church. We are thankful to the Lord, who has graciously enabled us to provide testimony to the community by the support of White Fields.
As the children are on holiday, we had the chance to start a Bible class for the youngest children from three years to seven years. They meet every Thursday and Saturday at the church for three hours to memorize Bible verses to present in the Sunday services. They have also been learning songs and will sing these in church soon. This group has been named the Baby Choir.
- Pray for the children to learn their verses and songs diligently.
- Pray for the words to enter their hearts and create the desire for a personal relationship with God.
Praise the Lord for the powerful witness of God’s love by the church to the community.
Tugume and Ahumuza are a young couple with one boy, Bernard, who is four years old. They are a part of the Kigina home fellowship. Tugume is part of the construction team of God’s Embassy and is working on the Bible school building. He is in the men’s ministry and recently joined the ushering team. He was saved during a home fellowship serve in Kigina and since then has been an active participant in the church. He thanks the Lord, who saved him and is eager to learn the Word of God. He recently declared that when the Bible school classes begin, he will be among the first to enroll. He is grateful for the opportunity to work on the construction team as this job allows him to finance his family’s needs and send his son to school. His prayer request is that his wife will begin to attend church in addition to her current attendance at the home fellowship.
- Pray for Ahumuza to start participating in the service at the church.
Praise the Lord for the construction job that enables Tugume to earn a living and support his family.
There are twenty-three me who are on the construction team, every day before work begins, they meet at seven for a time of fellowship with praise and worship songs and the sharing of God’s Word. Each member shares what the Lord has put on his heart from the Scriptures. Each day, a different person shares from God’s Word. Each member is expected to prepare a message, so when their turn comes, they can encourage everyone. When we first started this, it seemed hard and was disturbing to many because they found it hard to speak in public. But as we continued, everyone at the construction site gained the confidence to share the Word of God. One of the members, Twinomuhangi, shared that when we first started, he had not been reading the Bible, but when we began doing it rotationally, he started reading the Bible so that he would have something to share. He states he had never led worship and thought it was not even possible for him to do, so to his surprise was great when he was able to do it. We thank God that through this time of fellowship together, the men are growing in the Word and attaining the courage to share the Word of God with others.
- Pray for the men on the construction team to dive deeper into God’s Word and to have wisdom as they share with each other.
Praise the Lord for the growth in faith and pray for their safety at work.
March 2019
We have been studying the book of Nehemiah during our Sunday morning Bible classes. We merged the men and women’s classes when we started this new study, and we have reached chapter five. People have been asking questions including, how do I deal with the opposition I face while doing what I have been called to do. Nehemiah’s example gives answers including praying, encouraging his team and himself to persist, taking responsibility to guard and protect the work, and using time wisely. We are thankful that the church members are learning leadership lessons from the book of Nehemiah.
Joana is a born-again believer and an active member of the Rushasha home fellowship. She usually leads the praise and worship at the fellowship and encourages many village members to attend the service. Her husband is not a Christian, but he is open to her attending church. They have two children, Banabus is two-years-old, and Stuart is three months. Joana and her husband survive by selling labor to the community. Her prayer request is for her husband to become born-again Christian and attend church with her.
- Pray for Joana’s husband to be open to hearing the gospel and to be saved.
- Pray for Joana’s testimony in her family.
Elizabeth is a potential rising leader in the church. She teaches at Graceland Academy and attends the Katobo fellowship, Elizabeth teaches during Sunday school. She is married to Alex, and they have a baby girl that is four months old. Alex is also a minister in God’s Embassy Katobo. Elizabeth’s main prayer request is for the Lord to bless her marriage, to give her grace to serve Him, and to be a good mother to her daughter.
Elizabeth Jenipher and her Husband
Jenipher used to be an Anglican, but when we started a home fellowship in Rushasha, she started attending and learning the Word of God. She was always fighting with her husband, and her husband stopped her and the children from going to the Anglican church as he claimed it was a waste of time. However, when she started attending our home fellowship her life changed and she learned that submitting to her husband was beneficial. Jenipher started putting into practice what she was learning from God’s Word and eventually, her husband’s behavior started changing at home. When Jenipher started attending God’s Embassy church service, she thought that her husband would stop her, but to her surprise, he allowed her to go to church with the children. He told her that she had changed and is a better wife at home. Jenipher’s husband’s name is James, and he promised to start attending the church service.
- Pray for Alex and Elizabeth as they minister to the people in the church.
- Pray for their marriage to be strengthened through the grace of God and for their daughter to grow in the knowledge of God’s love.
- Pray for Jenipher’s attitude and actions to reflect a heart changed by the grace of God.
- Pray for her husband to be drawn to salvation through her changed behavior.
- Pray for James to start attending the church service and to come to an understanding of the grace of God.
A lady whose name is Victoria is being drawn to faith in Christ. She is Catholic. She started attending the Rushasha fellowship and now is attending the Sunday services at church.
- Pray for Victoria and her daughter Doreen, to come to an understanding of faith in God.
This month we visited thirty-two homes and shared the gospel with forty-two men and seventy-eight females. Three people gave their lives to Christ. We are encouraged that even the people who are working in their gardens, welcome us and listen when we share the gospel with them.
- Pray for the outreach program to draw people to faith in God.
- Pray for the church to have land to call their home.
- Pray for the radio program to be effective.
Praise the Lord for the support of White Fields to enable us to reach the communities around us. We thank God for the Medical Clinic and the Bible School being built to support and reach the people with the gospel.
February 2019
Thank you for your continual support and prayers for the work of God in spreading the gospel in our community. We have many stories to tell of the Lord touching people’s lives and giving them deeper hunger for His Word.
Murita travels over fifteen kilometers (almost ten miles) from his home to attend God’s Embassy in Katobo. He has been consistent in coming each week to the Sunday morning Bible classes and the main service. He asked us to start a home fellowship in his house so the Word of God can be preached and shared with his family members and neighbors who are unable to walk such a long distance. The Holy Spirit is causing people to hunger and thirst for his Word.
Kiconco is married to Gilbert. Kiconco is a born-again Christian who was saved when we started the home fellowship in Rushasha village six months ago. She is committed to learning from God’s Word and participating in the church programs. Her mother started coming to the home fellowship through her invitation, and Kiconco is persistent in encouraging and inviting her neighbors to hear God’s Word. Her husband is not yet a born-again believer, but Kiconco prays and believes that one day God will save him. They have two children, a boy who is in kindergarten, and a girl. Kiconco practices small scale crop cultivation and sometimes sells her labor to earn an income. She is a skilled hairdresser, and her prayer is to save enough capital so she can open a hairdressing salon for ladies. She praises God for saving her and keeping her family safe.
- Pray for Kiconco’s family to be healthy, safe and for their daily needs to be met.
- Pray for Gilbert her husband to understand salvation.
- Pray for Kiconco’s desire to open a hairdressing salon.
When members are consistent in attending the Bible classes and desire to host a home fellowship, we grant their request with the guidance and leadership of the church. We have two members, Julius and Daniel, who will be establishing a home fellowship at their house. As more people desire to host a group in their homes, we trust that God will help us with training these leaders to join the work of spreading the gospel.
Sarah is a member of the Kiizoba home fellowship. She is hardworking and persistent in gathering the members who meet each Wednesday. As an active choir member, Sarah loves to lead praise songs. She is a small-scale crop grower and married to Moses. Sarah is grateful to the Lord for enabling her to bring her husband to faith and for his salvation. They have four children, and the family attends church together. This motivates Sarah to serve the Lord even more. Her prayer request is for her family to continue serving God and growing in their faith.
- Pray for the establishment of new home fellowships, especially in areas surrounding the church as the gospel spreads further through the faithful evangelism of believers.
- Pray for the training of new leaders as they study God’s Word.
- Pray for wisdom for the teachers as they instruct these leaders.
Malian was a Catholic and an alcoholic. This created problems in her marriage and caused her to always fight with her husband. There was no peace in her home, and her children were not receiving a good education or enough parental care. At the home fellowship in Rushasha, she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. By the grace of God and through His power, Malian is free from the temptation and bondage of alcohol. There is peace in her family, and she is striving to be a good mother to her children. Her husband is a Catholic, and she prays that he also might become a born-again believer.
Pray for Malian’s family, for her desire to be a good mother and especially her husband to be saved.
Joseph has been showing an increased interest in the Word of God. He is a Catholic but recently started allowing his wife, a born-again believer, to attend the church and fellowships. Joseph told us, ever since his wife started going to church, his family has been different. He hopes that one day he will be a member of God’s Embassy Church. Our prayer is for Joseph to give his life to the Lord.
- Pray for Joseph to have all his doubts removed and to come to an understanding of salvation in Jesus Christ.
January 2019
Last month, after Pastor Onesimus finished preaching, he invited people who felt led by God to serve, to come forward. Thirty-five members answered the request to minister, and now we are giving them basic instructions and assimilating them into the different church departments.
Judith had long desired to serve in the ministry but for a long time could not because her husband who is a Catholic, refused to allow her even to attend God’s Embassy. Her husband is not as strict with her about participating, and she is praying for him to become a Christian and to be less of a hindrance on her desire to serve. She registered to be a translator. We thank God for the considerable number of people who are developing a spirit of service and willingness to be active in furthering God’s work in their community.
Ninsiima was the first person in her family to be saved and join God’s Embassy church. Through prayers and perseverance, she convinced her husband to start going to church with her. In one of the services at the church, Agrey gave his life to Christ. Agrey testifies that it was his wife’s transformed life that convinced him to attend the church and Sunday school classes. Ninsiima and Agrey are married and have three children between seven and three years old. David is the youngest. Daniel and Arinda study at Graceland Academy and serve as Young Ambassadors. The parents have a business that sells roasted goat in the Katobo trading center that currently earns enough income to fulfill their daily needs and send their children to school. The family requests prayer for business growth so that as their children advance in their education, they will be able to continue to pay the tuition.
- Pray for the family of Agrey and Nisiima to grow in their faith, for their children to grow up to love Christ, and for their business to flourish.
We praise the Lord for the daily radio program on Radio Boona FM running for a half hour each afternoon. We have been able to reach many more people with the message of salvation and have heard many testimonies of people whose lives have been transformed after they accepted Jesus Christ through listening to the radio program. Recently, a gentleman by the name of Rwabugoga, a professional primary teacher, testified in the church that he desired to attend the service after listening to the radio program series about Wisdom from Proverbs 30:24-28. When Rwabugoga came to the church, he gave his life to Christ and requested we begin a home fellowship in his house so he could invite all his neighbors to hear the Word of God.
We visited thirty-six homes and shared the gospel with over a hundred men and women. During our visits, we received warm welcomes with much excitement over the messages they heard on the radio. We met a Catholic lady named Jane from Rushasha, and she told us she never misses a day listening to the radio message and promised to visit us for a Sunday service.
- Pray for Jane to understand the gospel and grow in her knowledge of God’s Word.
- Pray for her to visit the church.
- Pray for more sponsors for our radio program so we will be able to continue broadcasting and run the program on other radio stations in the Western Uganda region and reach more people with the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Proscovia is a committed member of God’s Embassy Katobo. She serves as a Sunday school teacher and has a big heart for children. She faithfully attends the Sunday morning women’s class and main service. She is not yet married and teaches kindergarten at Graceland Academy. She thanks God for her job and is grateful to serve in ministry as she earns an income.
- Pray for the children Proscovia teaches to grow in the knowledge of God’s Word.
Annet was an Anglican and hated the church. She never even thought she would ever enter a church, but slowly she started coming to church due to the influence of her husband who had made business contacts from the church for the transportation of construction materials. When Annet finally started coming to church, she became an active listener and consistent attendees in the Sunday women’s class. This changed her perspective and view on life. She gave her life to the Lord and is a born-again Christian.
Praise God for transforming Annet and bringing her to an understanding of grace.
Eva is an Anglican and loves attending God’s Embassy. She has been facing challenges in her family, her mother-in-law practices witchcraft and is a notorious witch doctor. They are not on good terms, and her mother-in-law has threatened Eva and her children because they are coming to the church. This has caused Eva to often come to us for prayers of safety for her and her children. She frequently attends our overnight prayers. When we asked her about giving her life to Christ, Eva expressed that she is very willing but still would like some time to think about it so that she makes a decision she is sure about.
- Pray for Eva to have all her doubts removed and come to faith in God. Pray for safety for Eva and her children.
Praise God for the construction of the medical facility and pray for the future impact it will have on the community.
December 2018
We appreciate your financial support, unceasing prayers, counseling and guidance that have contributed to the smooth running of the ministry work of God. This past month God’s Embassy church was busy with every ministry preparing for the big crusade taking place in Rukungiri main stadium. People came from different corners of Rukungiri to spend the night in the presence of the Lord and welcome in the new year by seeking His grace. We were shocked by the size of the crowd that attended and can only credit it to the grace of God. We estimated that six-thousand people attended and over sixty-three gave their life to the Lord. We give praise and glory to Jesus!
- Pray for those who attended the crusade to put God first in their life through the next year.
Flora is married to Robert. The Lord has blessed them with three children ranging from two years old to eleven years old. Flora is actively involved in the Rushasha home fellowship and loves leading praise and worship sessions. Robert is a casual laborer who does any manual work that is available and is not yet a born-again believer. His wife is praying for his salvation and is so grateful that he is not an alcoholic. Flora sells her labor by working in people’s gardens to earn income to sustain her family and keep her children in school. The families biggest challenge is the long distance they walk every Sunday to attend the church, traveling from Rushasha to Katobo. Flora is thankful to the Lord for her growth in knowledge of the Word of God and growing stronger in her faith.
- Pray for the family of Flora, specifically for the salvation of Robert.
Olivia is a rising committed member in the fellowship with promising leadership potential. Even as a single mother with a two-year-old son, Olivia is consistent in her attendance of Bible class and Kasaroza home fellowship. She steps in to serve when the fellowship leader is absent. Her love for the Word and desire to participate in ministry is encouraging. She is grateful for the teaching at God’s Embassy that has helped her grow in her spiritual life. Her main prayer request is for a favorable job near the church, that allows her to continue in ministry and attend services.
- Pray for Olivia to find a job that will be a blessing to her work at the church and provide for her family.
Brian was entirely transformed by the gospel. He used to own a bar in Kasoraza trading center and was an alcoholic. When we started a fellowship in Kasoroza, we reached out to him and shared the gospel. He was saved and is attending the fellowship plus the Sunday services in Katobo with his wife and children. He slowly stopped selling alcohol, and he no longer has any remaining in his shop. He desires to start a business selling food.
- Pray for the family of Brian and for his desire to switch to selling food rather than alcohol.
- Pray for his family to grow in their faith and be a witness to the community around them.
Doreen is being drawn to the Lord. We first met her during evangelism in the Kasoraza trading center. We shared the Word of God, and she explained that she was an Anglican but has been attending the fellowship in Kasaroza and listening to the Bible for the past month. We are praying and believing that she will totally surrender her life to Christ soon.
- Pray for Doreen to thoroughly understand the gospel and come to salvation.
- Pray for church land in Katobo.
Give thanks for the medical center, it is a wonderful testimony to how God answers prayer. The community has no hospital and is excited that the medical center will be a source of help and treatment.
November 2018
Greetings from Katobo. We are grateful for your support for the work of God. We have seen God working in the lives of our church families, especially in stabilizing families and settling conflicts between married couples. We are seeing massive changes in the men and women’s attitudes and understanding of the Biblical view of family and their respective responsibilities. We hear testimonies during the morning Bible classes, and I want to share with you about Nasari. She is a young lady in the church who separated from her husband due to misunderstanding and disagreements with her mother-in-law. Due to this conflict, Nasari spent over three years alone with her child and had resolved to get married to another man. She believed there was no way she could ever be reunited with her husband. Through teaching, counseling, and prayer, she regained hope and started to fight to reunite her family. She was able to resolve the differences with her mother-in-law and has returned to her husband. They are happy as a family and Nasari is praying for her husband to give his life to Christ.
- Pray for the differences to continue to be resolved and for Nasari’s husband to be saved.
Jenifer is married to Alex, and they have three children, Musinguz, Niwagaba, and Nabasa. Jenifer is a choir member. Before she came to God’s Embassy, she was a part of another church. The pastor was morally perverted and had sexually abused a young girl in the church resulting in the girl’s pregnancy. However, the church tolerated this behavior, and he was allowed to stay as the pastor. Jenifer decided to leave that church and is grateful to the Lord that she found God’s Embassy. She is happy to be in a genuine church founded on following the truth in the Word of God. Alex, Jenifer’s husband, works in Kampala and this is distressing to Jennifer. She desires her husband to find a job in Rukungiri that keeps him with his family.
- Pray with Jenifer for Alex to find a job in Rukungiri.
Abaho is a loyal young man in our church and a member of the Nyaburondo fellowship. He is a member of the praise and worship team and has shown significant commitment in our Sunday morning classes. He currently works with the God’s Embassy construction company. He studied up to Senior Two but was unable to continue past this point due to his parent’s financial situation. When he stopped school, he began searching for a job. He was only seventeen. He traveled to Kampala and worked as a casual laborer on various construction sites. When he came back home, it was suggested that he apply to work at the church. Due to his ministry in our Young Ambassador’s choir, his character was known, and he received the job. He is grateful to the Lord for his job and is praying to be able to save enough money to return to school.
- Pray for Abaho to persist in saving his money so he can complete his education.
We visited eighty-nine families and shared the Word of God with one-hundred and twenty-nine men and two-hundred-and-one women. Most of the women we share the gospel with find it hard to attend the fellowship because they fear their husbands’ reaction. Angela was so excited to see us that she invited us to pray for her baby girl. We invited her to come to the fellowship in her community or to attend the church, she was willing, but her husband would not allow it. We are praying for her husband’s heart to soften, so she is allowed to attend the fellowship and learn about the Word of God.
- Pray for Angela’s husband to allow her to attend the fellowship and for her entire family to come to faith in God.
Julius’ life was transformed by the gospel. He was a drunkard and spend most of his time in the bars. He came to our Katobo worship night and heard the Pastor Steve preach the gospel, calling people to give their lives to Christ. Julius responded to the message and is a born-again believer. He is now living his life with purpose and is a part of the construction company. He is grateful to the Lord for saving him from the addiction of alcohol.
- Pray for Julius not to be tempted by former habits but to stay firmly grounded on the truths in God’s Word. Pray for his knowledge and faith to grow.
Fred is an Anglican who attended the fellowship in Nyaburondo once and promised to attend the Sunday school class to learn more about the Word of God. When we visit his home, he graciously invites the team inside, so they can share God’s Word and pray with him. Our prayer is for Fred to surrender his life to Christ and become a committed born-again Christian.
- Pray for Fred to be saved.
- Pray for church land of Katobo Church.
- Pray for the Grace Healing Medical Center and give thanks for the progress.
We were busy in December preparing for the Crossover Overnight celebration to usher in the New Year in the presence of God. We met in the Rukingiri Stadium and partnered with the surrounding churches in the entire district of Rukungiri. We are grateful for the churches who worked with us and the money raised among the ministries, each person contributed as they were able to cover the expenses involved. We believe the Lord brought many to Himself and we hope to share their stories in future prayer reports.
- Pray for the individuals who heard the gospel to be drawn to faith in Jesus Christ.
October 2018
Greetings from Katobo. We are grateful for your support for the work of God. We have seen God working in the lives of our church families, especially in stabilizing families and settling conflicts between married couples. We are seeing massive changes in the men and women’s attitudes and understanding of the Biblical view of family and their respective responsibilities. We hear testimonies during the morning Bible classes, and I want to share with you about Nasari. She is a young lady in the church who separated from her husband due to misunderstanding and disagreements with her mother-in-law. Due to this conflict, Nasari spent over three years alone with her child and had resolved to get married to another man. She believed there was no way she could ever reunited with her husband. Through teaching, counseling, and prayer, she regained hope and started to fight to join her family. She was able to resolve the differences with her mother-in-law and has returned to her husband. They are happy as a family and Nasari is praying for her husband to give his life to Christ.
- Pray for the differences to continue to resolved and for Nasari’s husband to be saved.
Jenifer is married to Alex, and they have three children, Jenifer is a choir member at our church. Before she came to God’s Embassy, she was a part of another church. The pastor was morally perverted and had sexually abused a young girl in the church resulting in the girl’s pregnancy. However, the church tolerated this behavior, and he was allowed to stay as the pastor. Jenifer decided to leave that church and is grateful to the Lord that she found God’s Embassy. She is happy to be in a genuine church founded on following the truth in the Word of God. Alex, Jenifer’s husband, works in Kampala and this is distressing to Jennifer. She desires her husband to find a job in Rukungiri that keeps him with his family.
- Pray with Jenifer for Alex to find a job in Rukungiri.
Abaho is a loyal young man in our church and a member of the Nyaburondo fellowship. He is a member of the praise and worship team and has shown significant commitment in our Sunday morning classes. He currently works with the God’s Embassy construction company. He studied in school up to Senior Two but was unable to continue due to his parent’s financial situation. When he stopped school, he began searching for a job. He was only seventeen. He traveled to Kampala and worked as a casual laborer on various construction sites. When he came back home, it was suggested that he apply to work at the church. Due to his ministry in our Young Ambassador’s choir, his character was known, and he received the job. He is grateful to the Lord for his job and is praying to be able to save enough money to return to school.
- Pray for Abaho to persist in saving his money so he can complete his education.
We visited eighty-nine families and shared the Word of God with one-hundred and twenty-nine men and two-hundred-and-one women. Most of the women we share the gospel with find it hard to attend the fellowship because they fear their husbands’ reaction. Angela was so excited to see us that she invited us to pray for her baby girl. We invited her to come to the fellowship in her community or to attend the church, she was willing, but her husband would not allow it. We are praying for her husband’s heart to soften, so she is allowed to attend the fellowship and learn about the Word of God.
- Pray for Angela’s husband to allow her to attend the fellowship and for her entire family to come to faith in God.
The gospel transformed Julius’ life. He was a drunkard and spend most of his time in the bars. He came to our Katobo worship night and heard Pastor Steve preach the gospel, calling people to give their lives to Christ. Julius responded to the message and is a born-again believer. He is now living his life with purpose and is a part of the construction company. He is grateful to the Lord for saving him from the addiction of alcohol.
- Pray for Julius not to be tempted by former habits but to stay firmly grounded on the truths in God’s Word. Pray for his knowledge and faith to grow.
Fred is an Anglican who attended the fellowship in Nyaburondo once and promised to participate in the Sunday school class to learn more about the Word of God. When we visit his home, he graciously invites the team inside, so they can share God’s Word and pray with him. Our prayer is for Fred to surrender his life to Christ and become a committed born-again Christian.
- Pray for Fred to be saved.
- Pray for church land of Katobo Church.
- Pray for the Grace Healing Medical Center and give thanks for the progress.
We were busy in December preparing for the Crossover Overnight celebration to usher in the New Year in the presence of God. We met in the Rukingiri Stadium and partnered with the surrounding churches in the entire district of Rukungiri. We are grateful for the churches who worked with us and the money raised among the ministries; each person contributed as they were able to cover the expenses involved. We believe the Lord brought many to Himself and we hope to share their stories in future prayer reports.
- Pray for the individuals who heard the gospel, pray that they will be drawn to faith in Jesus Christ.
September 2018
Greetings from the saints in Katobo. We pray that the Lord will watch over you and your families with His loving kindness. This month we saw God at work through the provision of the airtime fee that allowed our radio program to resume. We have been lifting this burden to the Lord in prayer for some time and believe that God will provide a way for us to reach the people in Rukungiri and the rest of Western Uganda. The pastor brought up the need for the airtime fee during one of our meetings. The members made contributions according to what they could afford, and we were able to raise some money as a seed of faith for the radio program. We contracted with the radio station and are on the air. We thank the Lord that we can have thirty minutes of presenting the Word of God on the radio every day in the afternoon. We are receiving testimonies from people who are blessed in distant places where we are not able to reach during our home visits or door-to-door evangelism.
Praise the Lord for the ability to have a radio program to share the Word of God.
- Pray for the people who listen to be convicted and come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Lovious is a teacher at Grace Land Academy and the director of studies. She is the assistant Sunday school teacher for the children’s classes and attends the Kiteeme home fellowship led by Frable. Lovious is growing strong in the Lord and is an encouragement and example to others in the community to work hard and trust God. She is thankful to God for her job that provides for her family’s needs, especially since her husband is unemployed. Her husband is a carpenter by trade but is not able to find a job yet. He was driving a motorcycle for a transport business, but his boss sold the bike, and that job ended. Lovious’ prayer request is for her husband to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and be saved, and for him to find a job.
Give thanks for the testimony and witness of Lovious to the adults and children in the community.
- Pray for the salvation of her husband and for him to find employment.
Moses is a future leader. He is a teacher by profession who has demonstrated a consistent spirit of prayer and love for the Word of God. Moses has never missed any of the Sunday school classes for the men and always arrives on time. He ministers in the church as an usher and heads the home fellowship of Nyaburondo. We thank the Lord for his life, especially for his significant contribution towards the continuation of the work of God. His prayer is to put his marriage right through the payment of the bride price.
{editor’s note} Ugandan Federal Government Law requires men to pay a dowry price to the father of a woman in order to receive a legal marriage certificate and to have a wedding ceremony. This law creates pressure on poor people and causes them to frequently forgo legal marriage and just live together. The relationship with the woman’s family is often tense and broken because the father did not receive his dowry. When those individuals become believers and join the church, the practice is to restore the appropriate relationship with the father and to negotiate a payment for the bride and become legally (in the eyes of the government) married. The local pastors are very engaged in teaching the new believers and future leaders of the church the appropriate practice for true biblical marriage. The restoration of the family in these relationships is a powerful testimony of the gospel. Many outsiders look at the restored relationships and the strong commitment the couple establish in their marriage relationship and it is drawing many to come to find counsel at the church for how to experience this peace in their family.
- Pray for Moses to be able to pay the bride price and officialize his marriage.
We reached forty-five homes and shared the Word of God with seventy-five women and fifty males. Most of these families who we visited are from a Catholic or Anglican background. They were happy to receive us and listened to what we shared. They asked to hear more about the gospel and the Word of God. We believe the Lord is opening some of these families to listen to the truth.
- Pray for those who listened to be willing to hear the gospel again and willing to attend the church.
- Pray for them to take the step of faith beyond merely observing and make a choice to declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Ruhimbura is a fantastic example of a life transformed by the gospel. Before he was a born-again Christian, he was an Anglican, and his life was characterized by constant demon possession attacks during which he states that his family ancestral spirits were tormenting him so he would serve them. He was a heavy alcoholic and spent much of his time in bars. Through our door-to-door evangelism ministry, we talked with Ruhimbura and shared the gospel. He felt obligated to join us for fellowship. During one of the services, he gave his life to Christ Jesus. He no longer is an alcoholic nor experiences demon possession. He serves as an usher and is an active member of the Kigina home fellowship. He works with God’s Embassy construction company.
Give thanks for the transformation of Ruhimbura through the grace and mercy of the gospel. Give thanks for his powerful testimony to the community.
- Pray for Ruhimbura to grow in his knowledge of God and his faith.
John is a young man, twenty-two, who recently has shown interest in joining the fellowship, but his attendance is not yet consistent. He states he is searching for the truth. We believe the Lord has drawn him to the fellowship to fulfill this search. We first met him through the sports evangelism ministry, at a recent game between the church soccer team and the local village team at the Kasoraza playground. After the match, we spoke with him, shared the gospel, and invited him to visit the church. We have been following up with him since that event and are seeing an increased interest in the Lord and his love for the church. He mostly has been attending the evening youth service and recently started attending the morning service as well. Our prayer is for him to surrender his life to Jesus.
- Pray for John to continue his search for the truth and to be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ and live a life focused on the one true God.
- Pray for the church land; we are renting the church property from the government officials.
- Pray for our end of the year event on December 31st. We are having a prayer and evangelistic outreach in the district stadium. It can hold over five-thousand people. Pray for the details to fall together smoothly.
- Pray for the people God is drawing to Himself to come and hear the love of God for them and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation.
August 2018
Moses is a builder with God’s Embassy construction team and an usher in the church. He thanks the Lord from saving him from sin and the habit of alcoholism that was destroying his family. He is grateful to God for his job with the construction team that enables him to earn income to sustain his family and educates his children. Moses is married to Silvia with two children, Vian who is thirteen and Lucky who is five years old. Vian is in primary six and serves in the children’s choir of the Young Ambassadors. Silvia serves in the women’s choir. The family’s prayer request is for God to give them strength to work hard, to save, and to build themselves a house.
- Pray for the family of Moses as they save to build a home.
We thank the Lord for enabling us as a church to expand the church structure. During the time of planning and preparing for the worship night crusade, we agree that it would be better if we held the event within the church walls, especially during the rainy season since rain can cause disorganization. Members of the church pooled their funds together to buy the iron sheets and timber. God graciously granted speed to the project, and we finished the roofing before the time of the event.
We are seeing the number of church attendants increasing. Many people in the community whom we never expected to participate in any of our church services have started coming to church. A man by the name of Yoram was a close neighbor of the church but had never entered the church structure and was a persecutor of the church. During the worship night, he was with us all night. Our prayer is that he will continue to come, will listen to the Word of God and will ultimately give his life to Christ.
Give thanks for the completion of the roof structure.
- Pray for Yoram to continue attending and be saved.
We were blessed by the visit of Pastor Steve and Brendan as they shared with our men’s fellowship. The men were blessed to receive the answers from Pastor Steve and Brenda when they had a question-and-answer session. We had a wonderful time with the men, listening to each other’s testimonies and hearing about experiences in ministry. We believe God will bring more men to study the Word of God.
Give thanks for the teaching from Pastor Steve and Brendan.
- Pray for the men’s ministry as they continue to add more men and for the positive effect Godly men have on the entire community.
Ambrose is one of the leaders rising in our church; he has recently demonstrated an increased commitment to the work of ministry in the church. He is a faithful attendee of the men’s Sunday class and an active participant in the Bible study sessions. Ambrose is part of Kabobo home fellowship and the construction ministry. He also does translation during church services. Ambrose is married to Peace, and they have two children, Desire who is fourteen and Chosen who is ten months. Ambrose’s main prayer request is to increase his knowledge of the Bible so that he can be useful in the work of the ministry.
- Pray for Ambrose to continue to study the Word of God and for guidance and wisdom as he increases in knowledge.
Our recent overnight prayer session was a remarkable success; we had sixty-two people commit their lives to the Lord. We visited twenty-four homes through door-to-door evangelism and had been finding most of the people we visit are welcoming to us and interested in hearing the Word of God. We are seeing more of the surrounding community getting saved. Those who used to hate the idea of our mere existence as a church and had declared themselves enemies of the church are being drawn closer to the Lord and visiting the church services.
A woman named Sarah was previously an Anglican and was drawn by the Holy Spirit to attend one of our overnight prayers. This first visit to the church resulted in her surrendering her life to Christ, the following day she was baptized and declared herself a born-again believer and a member of God’s Embassy Katobo. Sarah is married to Moses; he is still part of the Anglican church. They have five children, two boys, and three girls. Derrick is the firstborn and is seventeen. Previously, Derrick had run away from home and joined the wrong company. Sarah requested our prayers for his return. He not only returned but was saved and is now part of the Kingdom Steppers and a part of the construction ministry. Derrick is grateful to the Lord for a job that helps him earn income to support his family. Clinton is the second-born and is sixteen; he is a student in primary five. Patricia is twelve and also in primary five. Shanna is nine and attends primary two. Patricia and Shanna are in the Young Ambassadors. Bridget is the youngest and is attending the Sunday children’s class. We see God changing the lives of this family, even though Moses has not yet joined the church.
- Pray for Moses to see the transformation in his family and accept the gift of salvation.
Give thanks for the transformation of the life of Derrick and his testimony to his family.
Benison is the chairperson of the local council of the village of Kigina. He has been attending our Sunday morning men’s class and showing the desire to know more of the Word of God and how it affects various aspects of life. We are praying for him to give his life to the Lord and accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
- Pray for Benison to come to an understanding of faith and accept the gift of salvation.
Give thanks for the construction of the medical center in our community; it has been a great need in our area.
- Pray for the church land and more seats.
- Pray for a radio program to share the gospel.
July 2018
We have seen the attendance at our Sunday school classes grow dramatically! Our men’s class attendance has doubled, and our women’s class has tripled since the first month. Several members have shared their testimony and they give glory to God for how their lives have been changed. Families are stabilizing, and a work ethic is being kindled among men and women.
Give thanks for the influence of the Word of God upon the men and women in the Sunday Bible classes.
- Pray for wisdom and discernment of the teachers as they study and lead the classes.
Asimwe shares that before he started attending the Sunday Bible classes, he had limited Bible knowledge to base his decisions on of how to manage his family and general life. He was able to share his challenges with fellow men that gave him good counsel, prayers and financial support. He had no money to finance his farming program this season and was unable to purchase seeds. When he shared this during one of the classes, the men joined together to gather money so he could plant beans this season.
Give thanks for the sacrifice of the men to help Asimwe plant his crops this season and live out the principles they are being taught in the Bible classes.
- Pray for a blessing upon the crops and an excellent yield.
The men’s fellowship came up with the idea of having a dinner for all the men in the community. They persuaded friends from many different religious backgrounds to attend and had a hundred and twenty men come to the event. We shared the Word of God with them and allowed them to ask questions. The men enjoyed the experience and since there was not enough time for all the questions, it was decided that we should plan a three-day seminar to ask more questions. Pastor Onesimus preached the Word of God and answered the questions. We thank the Lord because it was such a successful event and the men were motivated to do more to reach the community with the Word of God.
Give thanks for the success of the men’s dinner and for the willingness of the men to ask questions.
- Pray for the continued outreach of the men’s ministry and the witness of individual men to their friends and their community.
The men mobilized themselves to raise funds and build a house for one of our members. Samuel is married to Musimenta and they have five children. Their house had fallen due to the heavy rains and their children were suffering. We thank God for the members of the church who joined together with Samuel and his family to rebuild their house.
Give thanks for the men who contributed to building a house for Samuel and his family.
Kenneth is married to Doreen and they have three children, two girls in elementary and one boy who is a year old. Kenneth was saved during a crusade of God’s Embassy Katobo church to his village. He works with God’s Embassy in the construction department and is thankful to God for the ability to earn money to support his family and pay for his children’s education. His wife sells labor in the community to supplement her husband’s income and support her family. Kenneth is also on the church soccer team. His prayer request is for the Lord to continue growing his faith and to protect his family.
- Pray with Kenneth for his faith to grow, for a deeper understanding of the gospel, and for his family.
Nickodemus is young, early-twenties, leader of great potential. He attends the Kigina home fellowship and is the leader of Kingdom Steppers. He is a talented dancer and is passionate about dancing for the Lord. He has been encouraging the youth in Kingdom Steppers to attend practice and perform for the church services. He is an active member in the Sunday youth group at God’s Embassy Katoba. Nickodemus was only six years old when his mother separated from his father. He stayed with his father who was an alcoholic and careless. His father died when he was ten years old and so he stayed with his grandmother. Even though his academic performance was excellent, by the time he reached senior three class, his grandparents could not continue supporting his education due to finances, so he had to stop school. Today he is working with God’s Embassy in the construction department and his dream is to save enough money to continue his education.
- Pray for the future of Nickodemus and for God to bless his dream of continuing his education.
Denis is a brother who had backslidden but one day decided to attend one of the church services. During this service, the Lord spoke to him and he listened. The following Sunday he decided to attend the Sunday morning classes and his life has changed. He had become an alcoholic and lost interest in the things of God. But now he expresses his love for God’s Word and desires to serve Him. He proclaims the goodness and mercy of God to all people. He wants to live for Christ and serve Him with all his heart.
- Pray for Denis to not be tempted by his former habits and to continue living passionately for Christ.
Christine is Catholic and was Anglican before she married a Catholic man. We met her during our home visits and shared the Word of God with her. She listened eagerly and desired to hear more. We invited her to church and she has been attending the services and home fellowship. She has not yet given her life to Christ. We pray for her to come to an understanding of the grace of God and to finally surrender her life completely to the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Pray with us for the salvation of Christine.
We had a music competition and five of the twelve home fellowships participated. Every fellowship was required to present three pieces, a drama, a traditional dance, and an original composition gospel song. The theme scripture was Matthew 9:37-38, Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Every fellowship had great presentations and Katoba won the contest. Second place was Nyaburondo, followed by Kiteme. After the presentations, the pastor preached and encouraged everyone to desire to use their talents to give praise and glory to God. It was a great competition filled with much joy and laughter fellowshipping and worshiping God together.
Give thanks to the joy of serving and worshiping God through musical talents.
- Pray for the ability to purchase land for the church in Katobo where we are currently renting.
July 2018
We bring greetings to our friends and partners who have stood with us through prayers and financial support. We are grateful for all you are doing to support the work of God. With God’s help, we organized a worship night crusade last month. We saw great unity and passion among the ministers as they worked hard to see success in this event. A large group of people attended, over two thousand and five hundred, from different corners of Rukungiri who gathered at Kasoroza playground. Due to the large numbers, we ran out of seats. There were people of different religious backgrounds including Catholics, Anglicans, and Seventh Day Adventists come and spent the night worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Onesimus shared the Word of God and invited people to give up their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Fifty people professed salvation. We record their information and will follow up with them. A man called Jim was an alcoholic. That night, he did not go to the bar because he said to himself, I will attend the worship night and at least listen to the word of God. During the time of sharing the word, the Lord touched Jim’s heart and he felt the Lord convicting him to get saved.
Give thanks for the success of this event and a large number of people who professed salvation.
- Pray for our follow-up with these new believers and connecting them to their local church.
- Pray for these new believers to fully understand salvation and to continue to grow in their new faith.
- Pray for Jim to fully understand salvation, to grow in his new faith, and to become a witness to his community through the transformation of his life.
Lillian is a born-again believer who is married to a non-believer Elias. He works in Kampala city. She is a day-laborer. The Lord blessed them with four children, two boys and two girls. Steven is their first-born son and studied up to senior one; he was unable to continue school due to the family’s poor financial position. (In Uganda there are seven years of primary school, primary one to seven and six years of secondary school, senior one to senior six). Steven is now seventeen and a born-again believer. He ministers with the Kingdom Steppers in Katoba. He earns his income through working in a construction department run by Gelvas. He is supportive of his family. Suzan is thirteen and she is a senior one in school. Shalon is nine and in primary four. Amanya the last born is two years old. Suzan and Shalon are in Young Ambassadors and Lillian ministers in the church choir.
Give thanks with Lillian for the Lord supporting her family through tough times, through the ministering of God’s embassy, who visited her family, prayed, and encouraged them.
Give thanks with Lillian for her son Steven who is so supportive to his family.
- Pray for Steven to continue to learn despite no longer being in school and to have a strong work ethic at his job.
- Pray for Elias to be curious about the gospel and to one day become a believer.
- Pray with Lillian that her husband, Elias, will get a job around Rukungiri so he can be with his family.
- Pray with Lillian that she will have physical strength and increase her work to keep her children in school
- Pray for the children in school to be able to continue their education and to study hard.
Our biggest challenge is persecution from the religious communities. With the massive response of people to most of our programs, we are facing fierce religious attacks. Some of the ministers have been confronted by religious leaders and accused of taking their people and making their churches empty. Recently, an Anglican Reverend stopped Davis along the road and accused him in public of taking sheep away from his church. We have also heard of Catholic priests who have resorted to doing home visits to their previous members, now born-again believers, and calling them back to the Catholic church and speaking ill of God’s embassy church. Our prayer is that God will continue to strengthen us and give us more boldness to preach the gospel without fear.
- Pray for the church to continue preaching the gospel with accuracy and to have boldness and discernment in their witness to the religious community.
- Pray for the new born-again believers to be able to defend their faith and to stand firm against the false religious leaders who are trying to intimidate them.
Musiimenta is in her twenties, attends the Kabura home fellowship, and is an assistant leader. She recently has demonstrated a zeal for ministry, serving in the church choir and in the Kirabasika drama group. She lives with her mother, and step-father who is a police office. She is grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to exercise her talent and contribute to God’s work. She stopped school at senior five because her mother could no longer afford to send her. Her desire is to be used by God to reach her community with the gospel.
- Pray for Mussimenta to grow in the Lord and to have boldness to share her faith.
Our evangelism outreach ministry visited one hundred and twenty-five homes last month. We shared with over one-hundred and fifty females and two-hundred males. They were all gracious to welcome us into their homes, but none accepted Christ.
- Pray for these families to be curious about the gospel and either start going to the church, an outreach event, or be willing to receive another home visit in the future.
- Pray for our evangelism team to continue home visits with boldness, to be discerning and wise in their presentation of the gospel, and to share compassionately with the listeners.
Agaba and Proscovia are a couple that had previously separated. Proscovia left Abaga, claiming that he was no longer taking care of her and she suspected him of having an affair. Their constant fights and disagreements forced Proscovia to return to her parent’s home. Abaga nor Proscovia had given their life to Christ at that time. Through home visits with Agaba, we shared the word of God and encouraged him to change, including discontinuing his use of alcohol. We also prayed with him for the return of his wife. A few weeks later, Proscovia returned. We visited again and shared the gospel with Proscovia. She gave her life to the Lord and has joined the church. Agaba has not yet surrendered to Christ but has promised to stop drinking and to join the Sunday morning men’s class.
- Pray with us for Agaba to come to an understanding of the gospel and to completely surrender his life to Christ.
Give thanks that Proscovia is a believer now and pray for her witness to her husband.
Innocent is an Anglican that we visited and invited to church. He responded and started attending the Sunday morning men’s class. His wife is a committed member of the church. We are praying for Innocent to give his life to Christ.
Give thanks for the witness of Innocent’s wife and her service to the church.
- Pray for her to stay strong in her faith and to persevere in praying for her husband’s salvation.
We have nine home fellowships in the surrounding villages. Each leader has been trained to lead and teach the Bible. The fellowships have been a great tool to bring many people to Christ. We believe that God is enabling us to saturate the people in Rukungiri so that we can extend the word of God to new people in these communities.
Through the establishment of more home fellowships, we are sharing the word of God to more non-believers. Most of the community members are testifying of the impact the community fellowships. How lives are being transformed, and souls are saved through Jesus Christ. For example, Darius and his wife were separated and through counseling and continual sharing of God’s word he saw it necessary as a Christian to reunite with his wife and build their family together with their three children. Today they are staying together and growing in their faith as a family.
Spring 2018
There has been a manifestation of God working through the new evangelism method of preaching the Gospel through Bible storytelling. The church members have experienced warm welcome into the homes in the surrounding communities of Katobo. The people have shown great interest in listening to these stories, and many community members have been encouraged to come and attend our fellowships and church services with us.
We recently introduced Sunday School Bible classes that start at 8:00 am and go until 10:00 am. We also have a morning prayer that begins at 6:30 am. The Church provides breakfast at 7:30 am, precisely 08:00 am Sunday school classes begin. We divide members into four groups, men, women, youth, and children, each group with its leader/teacher. The classes are beneficial and an eye opener to the needs of the community. The lessons are interactive with question and answers. We have been able to complete the book of Titus, and now we are going through the book of 1st Timothy. We have ministry departments and created responsibility positions to multiply opportunities for leadership training. We are focused on involving church members to help us identify, develop, and promote a leading spirit among members. We also believe that by investing our time in our church members we can instill a sense of belonging, ownership, and love for the ministry.
A member of our congregation Ebyarimu Merab is having challenges with her husband. Her husband never allowed her to come to church because he was not a Christian and hated Christians, add to this, he didn’t like it when his wife became a Christian. Merab brought her prayer request to the pastors, and we prayed for her and counseled her. After some time her husband fell sick, and the church went to visit him and prayed with him, God healed him, and he repented for refusing to allow his wife to attend church. The church he despised went to help him in his time of need, and he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Merab and her husband have five children and they are now all coming to church as a family.
(2) This week we saw God change the life of Annet! Annet was known in our community because she owned two bars and was in the process of establishing a third. When she gave her life to Jesus Christ, she decided to abandon her business. It was a tough decision for her because she had invested most of her money and time in establishing these bars where men and women would gather to drink alcohol and prostitution was also happening. However, when we met her through evangelism in the Kasoroza trading center, she was convicted by the Holy Spirit, and she gave her life to Christ. For the last four weeks, she has been attending church and is a living testimony in the community that Jesus is still in the business of saving souls. She joined the Kasoroza community fellowship and has never missed attending fellowship. Her main prayer request is that the Lord may provide for her needs so that she establishes another business from which she can earn money to take care of her five children. All her children go to school, and she is the sole provider for their school fees. Her life is transformed, and she now sees herself as a child of God!
One of the exciting opportunities we had this month was to help a widow named Jennifer who is an usher in our church. Jenifer’s husband died six years ago while she was pregnant. Recently we heard that her home was destroyed by the heavy rains that came through our area washing away several major roads as well. The men and women of the church mobilize themselves gathering money and building materials like nails, sheet metal, and tree poles. Some of the church members moved her place to a new foundation and built a bigger and better house for her and her children. She now has a home that can accommodate all of her children. This act of kindness by the church is a testimony in the community that the church loves and cares for people. Some community members in that location started attending our church to check it out. Pray with us that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin and bring them to salvation.
Jennifer works any job she can find in the community, and her prayer request is that she may earn enough money to pay for her kids to return to school. She thanks the Lord for God’s Embassy church whose members became a family by showing love and care that she never expected to receive.
Nicolaus one of the members has proven himself to be an excellent leader. He is committed to the work of ministry, bible studies, and missions. He is a very active member in his home fellowship of Kasoroza where he sometimes leads in sharing the word of God and leading prayer nights. Nicolaus is married to Scovia, and the Lord has blessed them with two children, Blessed and Marvelous. He is a porter on a farm, and His prayer request is that the Lord will protect him and his family and keep them growing in the Bible.
(3) In the evening we have a service that is attended by the teenagers in our community. We sing praise music, have dramas, poem reading, and we introduced a Bible Quiz. We give out gifts to the best participants and performers in the Bible quiz competitions. When we started this service we had 15 members, but those numbers have increased, and we now have 40 young people who participate. Most of the teens around the community are attracted to this service, and recently five of them gave their lives to Christ!
My wife Betty teaches the Sunday morning discipleship classes. The women are grateful for these classes and thank the Lord for the work He is doing in their lives as they grow in the Word. Three women who were planning to divorce their husbands after attending the classes have canceled those plans. They testify that the teachings in those classes have impacted their lives and character and helped them to have a more Godly mindset.
Two members of our church Henry and Rachel both surrendered their lives to Christ. Rachel started coming to church by herself and after hearing the Gospel professed faith in Jesus. After a while, her husband started coming as well. Three months later Henry surrendered his life to Christ. They have three children, two of whom are part of the Young Ambassador’s choir. Rachel serves as an usher and has also received a pig as part of the piggery project while Henry drives a boda-boda taxi. Their main prayer request is that the Lord may continue to bless them so that they can continue to support their children’s school fees.
Sam is a faithful member of our church and all around great guy. He is easy going and has a kindred spirit for pursuing the Lord. Some time ago he had a hard financial time and failed to pay his children’s school fees. When a brick machine was donated to the church from White Fields, Sam was hired as a mason on the brick making team. With the income, he earned he was able to send his kids back to school and managed to pay off some of the debts he had in the community. These debts at one point made him flee from his family. Things have turned around for him, and he is happy because his family’s future seems promising.
Torrential rain has led to massive flooding in our area. Because of the rain, some church members are having problems with their homes. The damage to the mud huts from the rain is substantial. For example, Anna’s house is falling apart, and her children and property are at risk. Anna is a widow and mother of five children. She serves as an usher in God’s Embassy Katobo. As a church, we have been using her house for fellowship, but we are concerned for her life and the children’s safety. Please pray with us that we will be able to help her with this situation.
Elizabeth is one of our church members and a teacher at Graceland Academy and Sunday school. Elizabeth has demonstrated an exceptional commitment and love for the Children’s ministry. She is also a persistent fellowship attendant in Kigina. Elizabeth loves the Word of God and attends prayer meetings regularly. She is married to Bonde, and together they have two girls. She is grateful to the Lord for God’s Embassy Ministries that availed her a chance to grow in God’s word. Her main prayer request is that her husband will surrender his life to Christ.
Alex is one of the people in our community that has experienced God’s grace and transformation in his life. Alex was a violent and unfriendly man, and when his wife Mellon gave her life to Christ, he became worse. He would come home drunk and mistreat her and his children. His wife continued to attend church and the morning Bible study. She learned to be patient, submit to him, and pray continuously for him. The men in our church reached out to him and shared the word of God. We continued to pray for him, and eventually, he came to church. Alex committed his life to Christ and stopped being violent towards his family. He’s now involved at the church, and the family is experiencing peace at home.
Doreen is being drawn to the Lord. We first met her during our home visitation ministry. We shared the Word of God with her, and she told us that she was an Anglican. We prayed with her, and she promised that she would visit us. She has been coming to our church and listening to the Word of God for the last three weeks. We are praying and believing that soon she will give her life to Christ.
Summer 2018
(4) Emily did not like our church when we first started. She disliked us so much that when her younger sister joined the church, she withheld her financial support. She also took back property that was part of a community advocated eviction of one of the churches in Katobo. Emily shared with us that she hated the church of God and admitted she did not have a good reason. She watched how her sister’s life was transformed, and how the church continued to pursue her despite Emily’s opposition to the church. Emily recently repented and decided to join us. We pray that she stays in fellowship and gets grounded in the word of God.
We have nine home fellowships in the surrounding villages. Each leader has been trained to lead and teach the Bible. The fellowships have been a great tool to bring many people to Christ. We believe that God is enabling us to saturate the people in Rukungiri so that we can extend the word of God to new people in these communities.
Ritah is a 17-year-old young lady who is still in school and lives with her parents, two sisters, and two brothers. Ritah loves to sing and serves the Lord by being part of our choir. Ritah attends prayer meetings and expresses how grateful she is for the Lord who saved her and has been taking care of her family through their poor financial state. Her main prayer request is that her parents will give their lives to Christ and that the Lord would continue to help with her studies at the University.
We saw the Lord change the life of Godfrey this month. Godfrey was an alcoholic that spent most of his money on prostitutes. He hated the idea of church or being near anything that had to do with God. But one day his wife Merab gave her life to Christ during a home visitation. She started attending church and praying for her husband. On Sundays, she would share with her husband what she was learning. Godfrey became curious and started visiting occasionally. He gradually started feeling convicted of how he was living. Godfrey eventually gave his life to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Since then his life has been transformed, and today he is thankful to the Lord who delivered him from the works of darkness that were leading him to death.
Fred is part of an Anglican church in Nyaburondo community. We met him on our way to do home visits. We shared the word of God, and he was very interest in learning more about the Bible. He invited us to his home, and we have been visiting him and sharing the gospel with him. We believe God will continue to work in his heart until he surrenders of his life to Christ as his Lord and Savior.
(5) Through the establishment of more home fellowships, we are sharing the word of God to more non-believers. Most of the community members are testifying of the impact the community fellowships. How lives are being transformed, and souls are saved through Jesus Christ. For example, Darius and his wife were separated and through counseling and continual sharing of God’s word he saw it necessary as a Christian to reunite with his wife and build their family together with their three children. Today they are staying together and growing in their faith as a family.
We are also seeing people give their lives to the Lord through home visits and home fellowships. Moreen was a Catholic, and after attending a home fellowship several times decided to give her life to Christ. This month we visited 30 homes and shared the word of God with 52 men and 79 women. We give God the glory for giving us the strength and grace to be workers with Him in winning souls and reaching out to the lost.
Annah is a widow with five children. Annah serves as an usher and reads the Bible during church service. She’s an active member in the women’s ministry as well and is one of the hosts at a home fellowship. She works doing manual labor and rents land where she grows crops to provide food for her children. One of her children Miracle is part of the Young Ambassadors ministry. Annah thanks the Lord for God’s Embassy Ministries where she gets to serve the Lord and the people. Her main prayer request is that God gives her the strength to work more so she can renovate her house and support her children in school.
Peterson is one of the potential leaders in God’s Embassy Katobo. He loves witnessing for Christ, his commitment to the Word is encouraging. Peterson has a great love for prayer and is a leader at one of the home fellowships that we recently established. He is married with one child. Peterson earns his income through riding a motorbike taxi (boda-boda). His main prayer request is that he may continue to walk in the Lord and that the Lord may keep providing for his family.
One of the people whose life has changed is Godfrey. He used to be a notorious alcoholic and had abandoned his family. His wife Merab separated from him. The children were no longer going to school but through home visitation, he had a chance by God’s grace to listen to the gospel, and he gave his life to the Lord Jesus. Today his life has been transformed, and he has reunited with the wife. All his children are now in school, and the Lord is continually transforming him. He is committed to learning the word of God, and his life has not remained the same. We thank the Lord who saved him and his family.
Doreen has been attending a home fellowship at the trading center that is being headed by Gelvase. She has been showing commitment to studying the word of God and has promised to join the church to learn more. She also allowed her children to join the church. Some are involved in the Young Ambassadors and other in the choir. We are praying and believing that she will eventually give her life to the Lord openly and join the Church.
November 2017
We bring you warm greetings from God’s Embassy Katobo. We are so grateful for what the Lord is doing in our church and our community at large. The month of November was a special month. Pastor Jim visit us from the US. His focus was teaching how to evangelism through Bible stories. We had over fifty leaders participate in the training. Every person that attended had a different experience, and they believe that it was God who sent Pastor Jim to equip us.
There has been a manifestation of God’s workings through the new evangelism method of preaching the Gospel through Bible stories telling. The church members have experienced warm welcome into the homes in the surrounding communities of Katobo. The people have shown great interest in listening to these stories, and many church members have been encouraged to come and attend our fellowships and church services with us.
We recently introduced Sunday school Bible classes that start at 8:00 am and go until 10:00 am. We also have a morning prayer that begins at 6:30 am. The Church provides breakfast at 7:30 am, precisely 08:00 am Sunday school classes begin. We divide members into four groups, men, women, youth, and children, each group with its leader/teacher. The classes are beneficial and an eye opener to the needs of the community. The lessons are interactive with question and answers. We have been able to complete the book of Titus, and now we are going through the book of 1st Timothy.
We have ministry departments and created responsibility positions to multiply opportunities for leadership training. We are focused on involving church members to help us identify, develop, and promote a leading spirit among members. We also believe that by investing our time in our church members we can instill a sense of belonging, ownership, and love for the ministry.
Twikirize Rose is a single mother of three children, Agaba Moses is 21, Arinda Denis is 20, and Apurire Doreen is 16. Moses completed senior four class of education; Denis completed senior sixth, and Doreen is in senior three.
Rose is in the ushering department, and her son Agaba Moses is part of the Kingdom Steppers. Her other two children are not active ministers. All her children are born again Christians. Her husband abandoned Rose in 2000, and since then she struggles on her own to raise her children and educate them. She gave her life to Jesus Christ in 2013.
Rose is also working as a cook at Graceland Academy; this is how she earns money to look after her family; she also raises pigs that were donated by White Fields. Rose has a garden that she tends to and grows different crops such as beans and plantains.
Her prayer request is that she may be able to clear her debts and to be able to earn enough to pay all her daughter’s school fees in time for next year. We thank the Lord for the increasing the church attendance during Sunday service. We are in need of more seats, but we are slowly buying more chairs. Ebyarimu Merab is having challenges with her husband. Her husband never allowed her to come to church because he was not a Christian and hated Christians, add to this, he didn’t like it when his wife became a Christian. Merab brought her prayer request to the pastors, and we prayed for her and counseled her. After some time her husband fell sick, and the church went to visit him and prayed with him, God healed him, and he repented for refusing to allow his wife to attend church. The church he despised went to help him in his time of need, and he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. Merab and her husband have five children and they are now all coming to church as a family.
Mr. Muhwezi Surah (aka Koroboza) is Muslim and has been a friend to the church members, he sometimes attends church services with us. At one point he wanted to send some of his children to join the church and start fellowshipping with us, but his family refused to allow him to make such a move because they are of the Islamic faith. He would be willing to participate in more church activities, but he still has Islamic ties among his friends and relatives. Our prayer is that he may be able to overcome all his fears and finally make a bold decision to follow Christ regardless of how his people will respond.
Prayer Requests:
- We believe God will provide us with land on which we can build our permanent church structure.
Pastor Onesimus
October 2017
We are excited to see new people emerging from the shadows of our village through the impact of the Word of the Lord and its influence in their lives. We are indebted to White Fields Ministry for the financial and spiritual support you have given us that has enabled us to reach the villages in our region. In October we saw God transforming the lives of people who were slaves to addictive habits but having encountered Jesus they are now set free. A man by the name of Kapesha Dorovico was a notorious drunkard who was well known in the Katobo community. The preaching of God’s word affected this man, and by God’s grace, he surrendered his life to Christ. This was unbelievable to most of the people in our community who knew him. When he came to church on Sunday, the whole congregation was rejoicing for his new life in Christ. Being disheveled from years of pursuing alcohol, members of the church worked together and gave him clothes, a pair of shoes, a simple watch, and a member offered to give him a daily liter of milk. The community observed Jesus at work, and it is clear that ever since then, Kapesha’s life has been different. He is now a committed member of the church and is sharing his testimony with friends and strangers.
We shared in previous reports how different ministries in our church are given responsibility once a month to lead the Sunday service. The youth ministry organized the service the last week of October. We saw young men and women exercise their gifts, talents, and skills which filled us with excitement and motivation. We observed leadership potentials in our young men and women but also saw a need to cultivate and develop these talents and skills.
We are encountering a problematic cultural challenge where women who have been convicted in their hearts to surrender their lives to Christ find it hard to confess a profession of faith in Jesus and be part of the church. In our culture, there is a belief that every woman must be in the faith of her husband. The majority of women have openly told our church ministers about this same struggle. For example, a woman named Irene can’t attend church because her husband is not a believer, and if she happens to come to church, she does it secretly. We are consistently praying for these women that they may find the grace and courage to overcome this challenge.
A woman in our fellowship Kyamugisha Tobias is married to her husband Christopher Kanyesigye, and they have three children, a boy, and two girls.
Tobias is a born-again Christian who fellowships at God’s Embassy Katobo. Before her husband started attending the church, he was against the idea of seeing her and their children go to church. This became the main reason why she was not participating fully in the church ministry with her children. However, when Pastor Ray and the team from the USA visited their family and gave them gifts and prayed for them, the husband was touched, and his heart was softened. After that visit, he began to allow his wife to attend church with the children. Tobias husband started attending Sunday services and joined the men’s class. We thank God for this change of heart.
Tobias and Christopher recently lost their jobs, and it’s been a challenge to pay their rent. As for now, they work anywhere in the community to earn enough money for their children’s school tuition.
Tobias prayer request is that finally, her husband may give his life to Christ and that the Lord may provide him a job to care for the family and pay school fees.
We praise the Lord for the increasing number of people hearing the word of God preached and attending Sunday school. We thank God as well for the growth of the choir which now has 32 members. Our prayer is that we may be able to set money aside to buy more seats in the church and purchase enough choir uniforms. We pray and believe that God will provide reliable musical instruments and sound equipment.
The church administration has designated special service weeks for different ministries in the church. The women’s week, the men’s week, and the youth week. The various groups help us identify the diverse talents, gifts, and callings for ministry. Once we can recognize God’s gifts, we can start developing the individuals. Mr. Betonda Sam has been attending church for a long time; however, we never knew he had the gift of public speaking until the men had an opportunity to lead the Sunday service. The church marveled at such a gift in him and ever since then, he has been on the list of those to be trained in teaching and discipleship as future leaders in the church.
Mukasa Philip is one of the deacons in the church who has proved to possess great leadership potential. His passion and love for the Word is an encouragement, and he has demonstrated a consistent commitment to the church. Mukasa has been helping and standing in the gap for youth ministry. He is good at reading and writing and in most cases has acted as our secretary during church leadership meetings, he is also responsible for organizing the Sunday evening youth service. He is a wonderful blessing to the church.
A servant in the Lord’s field, Pastor Onesimus
September 2017
This month was a month of great success, and we saw God do great things for His people. The saints received donated seeds that they will plant, and the new Graceland Academy classrooms were finished. The men’s ministry was a real blessing as they ministered in the fellowships and services. One of the ministries always takes the lead the last week of every month. They take responsibility for organizing, directing, preaching, and teaching in the services and church events. This gives the future leaders an opportunity for growth. We give God the praise for the work He did amongst the men this month.
As a church, we are committed to raising leaders; we have meetings every Monday morning and Friday afternoons for mentorship and discipleship. The leaders of each ministry and pastors of the new church plants attend each Monday. During the meetings, each leader has the opportunity to share the Word of God and are required to report on their weekly performances and progress regarding opportunities and challenges. We also discuss possible solutions to issues and conflicts with the church. We call the leadership training and mentoring “Embassy Leadership Academy.” We believe every member has some hidden potential to be used for the service of God. We endeavor to develop their potential, by nurturing and promoting the assurance that their work in the ministry is effective for the glory of God. One of the ways we develop each leader’s team is to give them a chance to do ministry the last week of the month. The entire ministry team serves in different areas of church programs and activities. The pastor does not preach or teach this final week but lets the leaders direct the ministry that week.
Through the training of the Embassy Leadership Academy, this month the men’s ministry lead the last week of the month. The men took responsibilities as they passionately and actively got involved in activities like preaching, teaching, worshiping, sharing, and leading home fellowships. They were able to exercise their leadership skills, and through that, we realized the leadership potentials in them. The courage, vigor, boldness, and determination demonstrated was amazing and they appreciated the church for allowing them the opportunity to exercise their gifts and callings. After service, one man gave his life to the Lord, and three committed themselves to attend home fellowships and be actively involved in church activities.
We have started a third service at the church for youth. The service is mainly focused on young people and students. They come to share the Word, play music, dance and perform drama scenes every Sunday evening. Alongside the Youth service, we are encouraging sports activities, and our soccer team trains every Tuesday and Saturday evenings.
As a ministry, we have realized that door to door evangelism is effective compared to other forms of evangelism outreach. If we bring a gift to the homes, we have found that it opens the hearts of people because they feel loved and touched that the pastor is visiting their home and giving them a gift. This month we visited 12 homes and ministered to a 90 people (47 Females, 43 Males). As we go from home to home, we preach the Gospel and pray for the sick. Many are encouraged, giving their lives to Christ, and joining the church.
We thank God for White Fields Ministry, which continues to be a blessing to our ministry and the surrounding communities. This month we were able to give seeds to church members and people living with disabilities. During the event, we had government officials witness what God is doing for His people through the church. They pledged to continue supporting the church. With the drought that affected our communities, many people had no food or seeds to plant when the rains came. With the support of White Fields, we were able to give seed to the saints and the needy around the community. Many thanked God for the ministry of God’s Embassy and for thinking about the poor and those in need. We distributed the seeds through our home fellowships; this act of kindness has given the community fellowship a boost in members.
Seed donations not only impacted the church members but also eased specific resistance towards the church from certain people in the community.
One example is Sarah who is a believer in our church, her husband is not a Christian and would not allow her to come to God’s Embassy. She would only attend when her husband was not around. When she received the seeds and took them home, her husband changed his mind and decided to allow her to participate in the church. She is now a member of the church and comes each week in addition to our home fellowship. We as the church are praying and believing that her husband will come to the knowledge of the truth and give his life to Christ.
Praise Reports:
- We are thankful for our partnership with White Field Ministry. God is using it to answer our prayers.
- Praise God for the donations of seed we received.
- We are excited for the completion of the Graceland Academy’s 1st classroom block.
Prayer Requests:
- Church land.
- Sound equipment for open-air community crusades.
- Solar Panels for the church, light to provide when hydropower is off.
We thank God for the ministry of White Fields, the donors, and staff, without your help, support, and prayers many of the activities and impact we have would not be possible. Thank you for giving to the Lord to expand the work of the ministry in remote places around the world!
Pastor Onesimus
August 2017
August was a good month for God’s Embassy Katobo. It was a time of growing deeper in the Word of God and closer in our relationships with one another. The church has been studying the wheel of the spiritual life, where Christ is at the center, and the spokes are the Word, Prayer, Witnessing and Fellowship. The study has increased the numbers in our fellowships and people are responding to the church programs and getting involved in ministry.
Our Sunday services are growing in attendance, and we have 150 adults each week. This increase in attendance alongside our outreach was an active witness to believers in our community fellowships. We have asked every member of the church to bring a friend every Sunday. The Lord is gracious to us for when these visitors come they find we are teaching the Word of God and hear the truth many give their lives to Christ. This month we have seen a total of 17 people give their lives to Christ in our Sunday services and 13 of them got baptized. We as a church are encouraged that God is touching His people and drawing them to Himself. For many of these people, choosing Christ means that their families will be hostile to them because most families are from strong religious backgrounds of the Catholic or Anglican church, but never the less, they make the decision to follow Christ, no matter the consequences. Let us keep them in our prayers.
As a church, we are committed to developing leaders because the workload is significant and a few people cannot shoulder the work alone. In our passion to disciple and develop leaders, we have weekly mentorship meetings on Mondays for the leaders who are responsible for individual ministries and Sunday mornings meetings for all ministers. As a leadership team, they have agreed to put into practice what they have learned, and we implemented a quarterly program where all ministers will have an opportunity to serve. The program schedule is divided by women, men, youth, and children. Everyone will have the chance to serve in their different capacities. This program is aimed at giving every member of the church an opportunity to discover his or her calling and gifts. The pastor leads the services, and on Monday we have a review of what worked and where we need improvement.
The women ministered the last week of the month. It was indeed a blessing to see them participate and walk in their gifting as they lead the congregation in songs, hymns, dances, prayers, and testimonies, ushering people into the presence of the Lord. It was encouraging as a pastor to see where we started the church and see where we are now. Many of these women who lead came to our church depressed, rejected, and lost without Christ, now I see them as ministers of the Gospel. It was a graceful service and a humbling moment to see how Jesus builds His Church. It was exciting to see different women take the lead in serving the saints.
Besides, the women’s week, they also did home visits to various families that have lost their loved ones, to those taking care of the sick for a long time, and others for other reasons. These visits encouraged the women to connect deeper with the church and to call the church their own because it cares for them. It is an honor to witness to the neighboring communities the love of Christ. Jesus taught, if you love one another, people will know that you are my disciples. Please continue to pray that the women will stay healthy spiritually and physically and that the Lord will continue to fuel them with His Holy Spirit. The coming month will be for men. We can pray that the Lord will use them to bless His people.
The choir has been practicing songs and practicing new ones that are going to be performed at our worship night, once every quarter. We have increased our practices among all the church choirs in preparation for this night of worship.
The children’s department is growing with many children coming back from school and holiday. The children are also growing in their knowledge of the Lord through their Bible classes, and the teachers are putting into practice what they learned from the CEF facilitator from Mbarara. The children are growing in their faith in the Lord. One of the children that moved us by his belief in the Lord is Silver; he is ten years old. He walks approximately 4 miles to church every Sunday, and on Saturday he comes to choir practice for children. He is serving in the young ambassadors dancing group for the children. Their leader encouraged them to wear shoes while coming to church if it’s possible (many in the community walk barefoot) when the boy reached home, he told this to the father who is not a Christian. The father explained to Silver that he did not have the money for shoes since he had spent it on school fees, so he could not buy him shoes. The boy said to his father, “I cannot miss the choir, I need to serve God, let’s pray that God will provide me shoes.” So, they prayed together, and Silver said,” I know God will provide me shoes to wear as I serve Him.” He believed that God would provide the shoes. On Sunday, Silver approached the pastor and asked the pastor to pray for him for God’s provision of shoes. He explained how he shared with his Dad and what his Dad said to him. After hearing his testimony, the pastor prayed for Silver and later connected him to the Touch of Grace ministry (a ministry of the church to the poor). Fortunately, some clothes and shoes were found that fit him. Silver ran home with his new clothes and shoes and showed them to his father. Silver says that when his father saw him, he said, “Your God has answered your prayers, praise the Lord!” Silver’s father told him he can always come to church since this must be a real church that serves a living God. We thank God for what He is doing in our midst, growing His church even among the children.
The church did a community outreach to the children in Kikarara. The church first did home visits around the property where we intend to build a church. We visited 26 homes who were among the poorest and neediest, on the final day of food distribution 39 families came to the property which we also gave food. We distributed 260 kilograms of posho and 130 kilograms of beans. The children came with their parents, and the families thanked God for the love we demonstrated to them through God’s Embassy Church. They told us they are looking forward to when we will start a church in their community.
We thank God continually for the support of White Fields, which without, our ministry would be limited. We are thankful to the Lord for His loving kindness demonstrated through White Fields.
Thank you for all the prayers on our behalf, when you pray we see the Spirit move!
Pastor Onesimus
July 2017
The month of July was an incredible month. God has been gracious to allow us to preach the Gospel in the communities of Kasoroza Trading Centre through an open air outreach. We also got an opportunity to reach out to the Kikarara community, where we distributed food to over 200 families and later with our missionary partners from the USA fed over 1000 people. It was an “Agape meal” sharing the love of Christ. We preached the Gospel, and nine people gave their lives to Christ. This month alone with the help of the visiting missionaries, we were able to conduct 46 home visits and three training classes. The first two Bible studies were geared for children, and one was about Bible doctrines by Pastor Jim. The second one was about how to use the CEF materials provided by Francis effectively. The third one was about how to evangelize through Bible storytelling. This class was for adults taught by Pastor Jim.
Within the church congregation through the teaching of the Word of God, we saw ten people give their lives to Christ. We are planning their baptisms soon.
We are grateful to the Lord for the partnership of White Fields that supported us to reach out to the communities around us, without this partnership we would not have been able to reach the communities the way we are now.
The children’s ministry is growing. Most of the children who come to school are now attending Church, and some have asked their parents to come and fellowship with us as well. Some have not come to believe in Christ yet, but at least they are coming and listening to the Word of God.
Through the help of White Fields, we have been able to train Sunday school teachers. We hosted Francis, a CEF trainer from Mbarara, on July 12th, 29 members of our church attended this class and learned the best ways to teach and evangelize children with the Word of God. He also taught us how to use visual charts during Sunday school classes. We have been using CEF materials to reach Children, and indeed they have been helpful, we are seeing little children grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.
We live in communities where many have not heard the Gospel, so most of our church programs involved reaching out to the community to share the Word of God. We do this through different activities like music, dance, drama, and sports activities. This month the youth organized one sports evangelism event and had a friendly competition with another team. We recruited eight young men onto our team who had not previously been church members. We are seeing more young men who love football (soccer) get interested in attending church and hearing the Word of God and His plans for their lives in Christ Jesus. We thank God because we were also able to receive more soccer balls for our football (soccer) team from the visiting USA team.
We were blessed to host a team from California, USA through the coordination of White Fields. It was a group of five, Pastor Ray, Elder Buddy, Pastor Jim, Blanca, and Emma. The Lord greatly used this team in encouraging the church congregation through home visits. The home visits were to homes where one of the family members comes to church. In most cases, the other family members are not Christians and persecute their own family members who are young believers in the faith. We used these home visits to encourage and ground the believers in faith but also to preach the Word of God to the rest of the family. We always do home visit for our church members, but this time around with the support of the visiting team, we carried along a loaf of Bread, corn meal, soap, and a bucket. This package was enthusiastically received in addition to the Gospel preaching. In Uganda, we are in a period of drought, and many homes lack food. This visit to many was an answer to prayer, the team from the USA came with food for the body, the soul, and spirit. They visited 30 homes, and many lives were touched, five received Jesus Christ of whom two were female, and three were male. Praise the Lord for Pastor Ray and the team for being the hands and feet of Christ.
On the team was Pastor Jim who trained the adults in preaching the Gospel through storytelling. This training was very instrumental in helping our leaders to be more effective in reaching the community. We were able to use some of the techniques we learned in the houses we visited and found the training we received made us more capable of sharing the Gospel. Pastor Jim also did training for children. The training was called “Super Doc” training and was in the sound doctrine put in children’s version. Many children loved it.
We hosted two community outreaches, one was in the trading center of Kasoroza, and the other one was in Kikarara. Pastor Jim preached in Kasoroza, and Pastor Ray preached in Kikara. In Kikarara (where the famine was incredibly devastating) we prepared food for everyone that was at the gathering, and it was such a glorious moment of feasting in the name of Jesus Christ. Many of the people in this community had no food to eat because of the drought that affected their crops for the last three years. It was a joy for the church to organize this event to cook for the people and feed them meat which many had not tasted for over three years. We fed over 1000 people and nine people gave their lives to Christ.
Through the support of White Fields, the church is strategically distributing pigs to church members to help them generate income. We are helping communities out of poverty through hard work and perseverance. This project is designed to help families increase their income to support their children in school and provide other basic needs of life. We were blessed to have our visiting team give out some of the pigs to help fight poverty in Jesus name. It was a great moment of joy as the church members received their pigs and they greatly appreciate the donors and supporters of White Fields for reaching out to bless their lives.
Praise Reports:
- We thank God for the support from White Fields that helped us reach our community without which we would not have had the impact we are having.
- We thank God for Pastor Ray and his team for blessing the community through home visits and the people who gave their lives to Christ.
Prayer Requests:
- We are praying to raise enough money to pay the rent for our church land which is approximately 500,000/= ($139.00) per year. Our lease agreement will be for five years, so we need to raise 2,500,000/= ($694.00).
Your brother in Christ, Pastor Onesimus
June 2017
We have seen God at work through the visit of the Pastor Steve and the Vision 25 team. The month started with the final days of the visit of Pastor Steve and Professor Larry’s team from the USA. Their visit and ministry encouraged the congregation, and we have had a steady increase of participation in all our church programs such as intercession, prayers, discipleship classes, and other meetings. The acts of kindness the Vision 25 team did through their visits like giving food to the needy homes was well received. It is a testimony in our community of how the missionaries at God’s Embassy Church were kind and Christ like. We thank God for their visit, and we pray God blesses them.
Equally important was the coordination work of Pastor Steve and Aaron who ensured all went according to plan. We have seen the church grow and in responding to this growth, the church has designed a weekly church plan to accommodate the changes and the numbers but also to develop the ministers in their areas of ministry.
Here is the detailed program of the week:
All the weekly church meetings are held in the evenings because approximately nine out of ten of our church members are casual laborers who work as day laborers in the morning and afternoon hours and are free from work in the evenings. There are different meetings for men, women, and Youth that are not reflected in the weekly program because they occur once a month.
Quarterly work plans:
As church leaders, we held a meeting to analyze the church activities and programs, how we performed and areas we need improvement. The meeting went well, and we resolved to create a quarterly work plan that would see every department in the church increase its involvement and participation. Each department was assigned a Sunday where the members would participate in the worship service once each quarter.
Attached is the quarterly program.
All these activities are gearing us up to put into practice the lessons we learned in discipleship classes.
- Other activities per departmentsChildren
The Children’s Ministry has entered the slow season, kids are going back to school, and the attendance in Sunday school has gone down. The remaining children are continuing their study of the Word, with plays, dramas, and ministering to the church through songs.Women
The women are studying how to become better as wives and mothers as their first ministry. They are learning how to become wise with their finances and purchasing necessary utensils for their families.Men
The men are getting involved in ministry and helping each other provide for their families through the men’s savings group. In the month of June, they began saving enough money to buy mattresses for their homes. This project might take two more months to be able to achieve this. The act of saving money is helping develop a culture of targeted and focused spending with priorities in mind. Men welcomed the opportunity to minister, and they are preparing for their day of service. We have scheduled the quarter out so that different groups of people in our congregation get an opportunity to minister. - Home Visits
God has enabled us to do 11 home visits with a total of 52 persons (29F, 23M). Most of the families visited earn their living through manual labor. They live on small pieces of land, or they are renting. When we shared with them additional ways to supplement their incomes, they welcomed the idea. They embraced the piggery project, and are desiring to participate when the opportunity comes.The families that showed interest in the piggery project are detailed below:Ezra and his wife Olivia are 38 and 36 years old respectively. They have three children who are 12, 11, and 5. Ezra is interested in participating in the project and is well placed to do so. He has a pen that can accommodate up to three full grown pigs. He is also a skilled welder having apprenticed for three years at a welding shop. He fled his previous home because of debt he had incurred, as a church, we are helping to negotiate his payment of his debts so that he can return to the welding profession.Jenifer is a 36-year-old widow from Kyeizoba. She has seven children (2 F, 5M), four of her children stay at home due to a lack of school fees. She is interested in the piggery project and has built a pig pen that can hold two pigs.Irene is a new believer in our church, but her husband is not. When she received Christ after hearing us on the radio, her husband persecuted her to the extent of forcing her out of their home. Several times she sought refuge at the church and we visited her home on different occasions to talk to the family. Through Irene’s study of the scriptures he allowed her to learn to submit to her husband in humility, the husband now allows her to come to church. They are both HIV positive and do manual labor in people’s gardens. She has five children, two girls and three boys whose ages range from 14 to 4 years old. She can look after another pig in addition to the one she already has because she is such a hard-working lady.Ann is a 40-year-old widow with five children. One boy and five girls. Ann does manual labor to take care of her kids. She is interested in the piggery project because she wishes to earn extra income to take care of her children.Jalia is a 20-year-old woman who is born again and has been part of our congregation since our church began. She dropped out of school more than eight years ago because her parents could not afford to pay her school fees. She is a hard worker and makes money working for people in their gardens and homes. She now takes care of the whole family because her parents have limited land so even growing food to feed the whole family is a challenge to her. She is interested and capable of doing piggery farming because she is a hard worker.Florence is a young woman who has one child who is two years old. Her husband married another woman and stopped taking care of her. Florence looks after the child and the home and gets money by doing manual labor. Both she and her husband are HIV positive, but the child is free from the virus. Florence gave her life to Christ, and her prayer request is that she may buy land and a house where she can stay and take care of her child. She would also like to build some capital to be able to start a business from which she can buy more food for her family. I introduced the piggery project to her, and she accepted the idea. She prays that her husband will one day be saved so that they can have peace and live together as husband and wife.Julius and Harriet are a couple with two children. Harriet is a believer, but her husband is not although he sometimes fellowships with us. They earn their living doing manual labor and rent a house but have a desire to one day own a home. Because of their limited finances, they will only be able to send their children to school for a short time. They have also agreed to do the piggery project. Harriet’s prayer request is that her husband may give his life to Christ.
Praises and prayer requests:
- We thank God for giving us through White Fields the ability to go to Kikarara and help the people there who are afflicted with death from severe famine. The congregation of God’s Embassy is sending more items such as food, clothes, shoes, and soap as the Lord enables different individuals to give. We have involved the two church plants of Katonya, Kigaaga along with all the community fellowships to gather the extra items to take to Kikarara.
- Pray that the Lord will guide us as we identify the poorest people of Kikarara who have been affected the most by the famine.
- Pray that the Lord will help us as a church to pay for the rent of $714 for the next year. Our ultimate desire is to purchase land for the Church and be able to build a permanent structure.
- Pray with us that the Lord will bring many to salvation through the team which is coming in July.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Onesimus
March 2017
The men’s ministry is growing, and we are meeting regularly to assess our effectiveness at answering the needs of the community. Our initial assessment showed that many families did not have enough essential household items to support themselves or guests. The men decided to raise sixty cents every Sunday to do this. We were able to raise these funds and bought forks, plates, cups and was well received by the neighborhood. We have made three rounds so far. The group started with eight men and grew to fifteen. We decided to increase the amount we give each Sunday ninety cents. Our goal is to buy each member a vacuum flask for chai tea or hot water.
I have heard the saying,“Preach the Gospel always if needed use words.” I did not come to fully understand that saying until our partnership with White Fields and the wonderful counsel of Pastor Steve Wheeler. When White Fields funded us to build a house for Christine at was an incredible act of kindness; the community was moved and challenged by the love the Church showered upon her, and that brought some people to Church. However, with the building of the water tank at Christine’s home, the community was overwhelmed that the Church would love them so much to provide them with access to fresh, clean water.
The people began fetching water as soon as it started to rain. March was sunny with less rain than normal, so there hasn’t been much water for them to collect the community is forever grateful to White Fields for providing them with clean water. They are thankful God has remembered them through God’s Embassy for reaching out to them. They had a water problem, now that water problem is solved. Praise the Lord.
Through the proposed piggery project, we were supported with funds to support a field officer to make home visits. Because of these home visits we have identified many challenges facing the communities we serve. Among the issues identified are:
- Some women believers have been living in polygamous marriages. After coming to the Lord, they are wondering what to do next, whether to end their marriage and leave their children behind with the additional wife.
- Most of the believers are living below the poverty line i.e. (cannot earn a dollar a day). Many of them are squatters and are living on land that someone else is renting, and some have limited land or no land at all.
- Health wise, we have limited clinics where people should go for treatment. We have several believers that are HIV positive and a significant number of orphans and window due to HIV/AIDS.
- Some communities are without access to safe and clean water.
Among the homes visited, we met the family of Mr. Godfrey thirty-seven and Mrs. Mellab thirty-six. They are residents of Bunyinya cell (a cell is the smallest unit that forms a community of villages). This couple is HIV positive, and the sickness was brought in by the husband. The wife is a Christian and has been coming to church for two years. The husband just started coming to church this month but is not yet a believer. They have five children (4 Male, 1 Female). The man is a carpenter, and the woman works in the gardens to support the children.
The wife is in constant conflict because of the husband’s worship of spirits. She has been beaten, rejected, and verbally abused with threats of banishment if she does not worship the spirits of the husband. She is persecuted for bringing Christian beliefs and worship of Christ into their family. The family of the husband worships spirits (spirit worship involves animal sacrifices), and they are planning to pass them on to their son (husband Godfrey) to be the family priest once the parents die. Keep her in your prayers for God to strengthen her as she faces these challenges and let us see how God answers our prayers.
In our visit to Bunyiya cell, it is one of the cells about 2km from Church. Our prayer is that we will reach out in the love of Jesus to touch and present the Gospel. Among the challenges facing this cell is that they don’t have enough water sources. The whole community has one spring water source and to access it the people must pay $0.60 per month. We discovered this while visiting Godfrey and Mellab, they had sent their child to fetch water and returned without water, only to be told that she had been denied water because they had not paid the bill for the month. Pray with us, that we may be able to provide a water tank in this community so that people can access clean water.
The children’s ministry is still growing. We are praying to see how we can have the CEF trainers return for a refresher training with our instructors. We have new teachers who have joined our team and are seeking to ensure that we are trained to the same level.
For leadership training, we are targeting the first line of ministers who are heads of department and fellowship leaders. These meet every Friday from 5pm-7pm, our goal is to plan and prepare for our Wednesday fellowships. We also analyze last week’s performance to seek how we can improve our services. It is also a time that I mentor the leaders, upcoming pastors, and church planters. Our second line of leaders are those in the church choir, ushers, and different committee members within the church. We meet on Friday night and Sunday morning from 7-8am. Our passion is to train leaders with a spirit of excellence.
The radio program is proving to be successful, and we are seeing people come to church, the Lord uses the radio program to impact many lives. By far the radio program is our most effective way of reaching out to the community for mobilization and teaching the truth. We meet people in town who greatly appreciate the way we present the truth, and some have promised to attend our fellowship.
Mr. & Mrs. Provia and Edison invited us to visit them in the Rutete community. They are a family with ten children, four children passed away, but six are still alive (5 Female, 1 Male). Mellab is one of their children who is already married and comes to church. The rest of the four children are not married and live at home. The children are Kavio, Rakel, Miria and Norman. The family was formerly from the Anglican church but after listening to our radio program for over five years decided to come and join God’s Embassy, Katobo.
They sent their two daughters to fellowship with us at Katobo. However, the parents cannot come to Church every Sunday because they are weak and cannot walk a long distance by foot. There is no direct access road except for a footpath through the winding hills. The parents asked the church to open a fellowship in Rutete to have access to studying the Word of God. We visited the place and held a fellowship in their home where many of the neighbors listened and heard the Gospel as seen in the pictures below. We are considering starting a church in their home. The Rutete community is dependent on Agriculture most of them live under the poverty line with limited access to healthcare and education.
Pray for us as wait upon God to lead us in the right direction.
Praise Reports:
- Thank God for the donors of White Fields for providing for the roof at Katonya. Our prayer has been to see a roof on the Church structure to provide water to through the tank donated by White Fields.
- Provision of water to Christine community. Many are thanking God for remembering them. They are responding positively to the Gospel.
- Men’s ministry is meeting every Sunday raising money for the needs in our community.
- Opening of a community fellowship in Rutete community.
Your brother in the Lord, Pastor Onesimus
February 2017
Greetings, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we live and have our being, we pray all is well with you and your families. Here in Rukungiri Uganda, God has been gracious to us as a ministry. We see a steady growth in church attendance and fruition of the building and piggery project.
God is gracious, and He is favoring us in Rukungiri. The community is now allowing us to impact people’s lives together with less resistance. Considering the opposition that we have faced including open disapproval from religious leaders. The leaders would at wedding parties and burial gatherings (which gather the biggest number of people in this culture) tell the people not to come to church but remain in their parent’s religion and not accept the Gospel or join God’s Embassy. They said these things because they knew it would be the beginning of their future change of beliefs and religion. Beginning this year we see a change, they are no longer openly criticizing us but rather commending our way of service, our emphasis on the Word of God and our acts of kindness towards the helpless, disadvantaged, and poor people in the community have esteemed us in their eyes. We are very grateful to the Lord for the support of White Fields without which we would not be able to reach these communities. Equally, we thank all the donors of White Fields for your continuously support, because of your giving we can touch and impact many lives for Christ in our communities.
The adult congregation is back to verse by verse study of the book of Mathew. We stopped on chapter 9 and now have started with chapter 10. Our pause in the study was because we united our congregation in a time of prayer and preparations for the New Year 2017. As a Pastor, nothing is more encouraging than seeing people soaked in the Word and asking questions. I thank God for the opportunity to go to Bible school. We see steady growth in church attendance and appreciation of the Word of God taught in truth.
One of the Sundays after sharing from Mathew 10: 8 “Freely you have received, freely give.” I explained that we should not receive payment or accept payment for praying for people. One lady, Lydia stood up crying and told how she was cheated and paid for prayer while attending a different church that does not preach Jesus or the Gospel. She went for prayers, and the fee was $6 dollars (A weeks wage, she earns $1 a day). She went there eight times taking different children until she heard of us on the Radio and thought of visiting God’s Embassy. Since then she’s been coming to Church faithfully. One of the challenges in the community for both Catholics and Anglican members is that they are required to pay for the spiritual services they receive from their churches.
We also introduced an elders and ministers class on Sunday morning in what used to be the foundation course. In this class, we intend to equip the ministers so that they serve in the truth of the Word of God without making it for their selfish ends. We are using John MacArthur’s book, “The training of the Twelve.” This training is hands-on with questions and answers.
We have identified a youth leader and a team to minister to the youth. This committee is to begin planning youth conferences and seminars. Among the youth, the most vibrant group we have are the Kingdom Steppers, the group that ministers through music, dance, drama, and skits. This group is the most energetic, enthusiastic, and zealous members yet they have the lowest self-esteem. Most of them did not go to school, other have learned bad habits within our society. We have started programs to help them improve their self-esteem by teaching the Word of God but also giving them skills to earn an income. The Kingdom Steppers now have a piggery project to support and teach them how to work hard.
The children’s church is now half of its usual attendance we always have 60 out of 120 in school because many children study six days a week and only have Sunday to prepare for the next week of school thus they don’t come on Sunday. Some of our students come to school come to Sunday too. We are developing strategies to have the students join us, but the biggest class in school is the 3-5 years range. They cannot walk to the church by themselves, so we bus them to school during the week.
Our Women’s Ministry “Women of Valor,” had thirteen women who are members of the church at their first meeting. They shared about discovering who they are in Christ and their roles and responsibilities in their marriages (We taught them that they are companions, friends, and helpers to their husbands).
The Men’s Ministry is also reaching the men in the church through savings and family equipment. They saved money and bought for each member and his family a dozen table forks, a dozen clay cups, and half a dozen clay plates. These items provided a practical gift which these families could not afford to get for themselves.
As a church, we meet every week on Wednesday for home fellowship Bible study. On the last Wednesday of the month, we gather at the church for prayer, reading of the Word, and counseling. Our pastors listen and counsel the believers with the issues that are challenging them. We pray and fast leading up to our third Wednesday gathering and end with a party where members bring food from home, and we eat together as a family.
We schedule marriage counseling sessions for the 2nd and 3rd Thursdays of every month. Couples planning to get married and any other married couples that need counseling for their marriage are welcome.
The team from connect Africa came to Rukungiri to train us on building water tanks. God’s Embassy trained five people who are now ready to begin tank construction. The community is excited to be fetching clean water from a water tank instead of traveling several miles for water. We offer the water for free and use that opportunity to tell them about the gift of life that Jesus gives to all who believe. We thank God for the donors of White Fields for making this witnessing possible through their generous giving. As our people finished the water tank for Christine, we were hired by a local businessman to build a house for him. Our reputation is growing, and sustainable work is now available to the members of our church. Shown in the pictures below.
We have several people interested in the bricks we are making. In fact, a relative of Christine who lives in another village asked us to make bricks for a permanent house. This project is an answer to prayer, many people desire better structures. The interlocking bricks save time, protect the environment, and reduces the cost. This makes this project affordable and appealing to the low-income earners. The project is helping people improve their standard of living, from wooden structures to permanent structures as shown in the pictures below. The wood structure is what the family has been living in, and the house in the foundation is the one to be built.
The Piggery and Welfare Project looks to raise awareness in homes to fight diseases through hygiene and cleanliness. We seek to improve the standard of living by increasing income levels through animal and crop husbandry on small pieces of property. We hope to achieve these targets through home visits for mobilization, sensitization, and analysis of each family.
We visited ten homes beginning with those nearest to the Church. In the community of Kyeizoba we have a home fellowship. This group consists of ten families, out of these two families are widows with four children each. Three are living with non-Christian husbands, and two are single mothers whose husbands left. Two more are the second wives of their husbands.
All these families depend on subsistence farming and work for $1.50 a day to find incomes to support other family needs like schools, healthcare, and other needs. One of the ladies we visited was Namboze Gladese. She is a single mother with four children; her husband deserted her. After her husband had left, she had two more children with two different men. It was after these episodes that she came to know the Lord. She is forty-five years old, her oldest child is twenty-seven, and the youngest is twelve and in the 5th grade. She has fellowshipped with us since June of 2016. She is of poor health because she works in hard labor and is HIV positive. With her condition, she grows weaker day by day. Gladese is one of the many single mothers with HIV/AIDS who have been deserted by their husbands. Worse off, she is a representative of many windows who are living with HIV/AIDS who must work hard labor to survive without land and a place to call home.
Prayer Requests:
- Gladese is planning to start an eatery after harvesting her crops, she says needs prayers for God’s provision and raising capital.
- She hopes to buy a small plot of land in the future and build a house for her family so that they may have a place they can call home, especially her youngest children.
Church prayer items:
- Film van for evangelism
- Public Address system for outdoor preaching.
I cannot thank God enough for the support of White Field. More so for the support and counsel of our dear director who has helped us with new and innovative ideas for reaching out to the community for Christ.
In Christ’s Service, Onesimus Ngoboka
January 2017
Greetings, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we live and have our being. Our prayer is that all is well with you and your families. Here in Rukungiri, Uganda, God has been gracious to us as a ministry. Indeed the harvest is plentiful, and the Lord is helping us reach out and preach the Gospel in word and deeds through the support of White Fields.
We thank God for you, our prayer partners, donors, and supporters through White Fields, without your support we would not have accomplished as much as we have. Thank you for giving to the Lord for the work of the ministry.
In the footsteps of Jesus, we are reaching out to the community. Last year we received funds from White Fields to build a home for a homeless widow. It was a great witness to the community, and some people from that community wondered why the Church would build a house for the homeless? Our response was because God cares for His people, even the ones without a home. He commands His Church to love and care for them too. That is why we built the house.
This year in the same community we are building a water tank. This community does not have access to clean water, but now with the help of White Fields, we are constructing a water tank that will assist not only Christine (the once homeless woman) but help all the community to access clean water. This community is very grateful and excited about the water tank for indeed it is coming to solve a critical challenge in the community, the lack of clean water. This week the tank will be completed, and we will make arrangements to call the community leaders to receive their water tank officially. Praise the Lord!
The Church sent a team of three men to go to Connect Africa’s office in Kampala to receive training in making Biosand filters for two weeks. They completed their training and returned with certificates of completion and tools to use. The church is planning to start making these filters to create employment opportunities for the men in the Church and to give homes access to clean water. With these filters in homes, opportunities to witness to the people and show them the love of God will increase. Keep praying with us that this project will be a vessel to bring many to Christ.
We live a community that is very disadvantaged and economically challenged. Many of the people live below the poverty line (these earn less than a dollar a day). With the support of White Fields, we are planning to start this project where families will receive piglets to help improve their incomes. These pigs will later be sold together as a group. Selling the pigs as a group will assist in negotiating for a good price as opposed to selling them individually. Pray for this project to take off. We have already selected a leader from the church who will visit homes and train the members of this project how to be successful in it. The people are excited about this project and looking forward to getting involved.
At God’s Embassy as a way of reaching out to children we started an elementary Christian School. This year the enrollment has exceeded our expectations, we have two hundred and ten children enrolled in a Nursery section and Primary section up to grade three. Our goal is to train these children in the ways of the Lord along with their formal education. The Lord is bringing more children and giving us an opportunity to grow them in the truth of the Word of God.
The church congregation is doing great and getting more committed than ever before at church on Sunday and in home fellowships.
When the Lord led us to plant a Church in Rukungiri, many people that responded to the Gospel were cohabiting (living with a wife without an official wedding). After two years, we looked for church elders and discovered none would qualify according to Word the Lord, that led us to begin teaching about marriage. We began to offer free wedding dresses to cut on the cost of weddings to encourage Christians to put their marriages right by officially getting married. This year one of our members is getting married in May. The two are faithful church members (Gelvase in Youth Leadership) and Brighton (a leader on the Worship Team). When we see such responses, it is an indicator of spiritual growth as people seek to live in ways that please the Lord.
Culturally it is acceptable to cohabit with a wife because of the high bride price you must pay before getting married. It becomes cheaper to have a wife without an official wedding.
Prayer requests:
- Pray for us to continue our radio program, we need funds to pay for the airtime.
- Public address system for Evangelization in the communities.
Thank you all for all the efforts and support you raise to help us grow the ministry here in Uganda and beyond. May God bless you all.
Pastor Onesimus Ngoboka.
December 2016
Thank you for your support! God has been gracious! We have made some strides at God’s Embassy, especially in the area of reaching children. We have developed and written a curriculum for children for both Sunday school and Grace Land academy. Along side the curriculum, we have adopted a child-focused teaching, where children are involved in teaching other children through music, dance, and drama. For example, we have used skits to dramatize the David and Goliath story, with the teacher’s explanation. Our curriculum is based on the Bible stories and lessons for life application. It is chapter-by-chapter for children. The classes are more fun for them, and they enjoy being at church. If God allows for the teachers to get training from CEF, it would be a tremendous opportunity of equipping our teachers to effectively reach and teach these children.
- Please pray for the different ways in reaching children, that they continue to be effective.
- Please also pray that they teachers can receive training.
As a result of the approach, we have had to add on some classes to accommodate the growing number of children on Sunday. We are also going to use these classes for the elementary school. We will be adding on Primary one and two. We then will have five classes in total: Baby, Nursery one and two, and Primary one and two. We are stretching our faith to ensure that we reach out and invest in the coming generation by providing solid biblical teaching with academic excellence.
Our community fellowships are growing strong. Our emphasis is on studying the Word, and carrying your Bible when you come to church on Sundays and fellowship on Wednesdays. Now, when people see individuals carrying Bibles within the community, they are identified as believers going to God’s Embassy. We love the testimony! My prayer is to see everyone in church having a Bible and able to read it. We are encouraging those who do not know how to read and write to join our reading program for adults. It is called New ERA (English Reading Academy).
- Please pray for the New ERA program, in helping adults learn how to read and write.
Katonya is in high gear for the launch of the church plant. They have secured poles and dug a hole in preparation to build a pit latrine. They are growing in community support.
The water tank has been a blessing to the community! Recently, there was a burial in the community and they brought a truck to fetch water for the whole burial ceremony. Someone commented, “If this church had not come to our community and built this tank, where would we have gotten all this water? Thank God for this church!” When we hear such testimonies, we are encouraged, but so grateful to the Lord for White Field’s support and partnership, without which many lives would not have been reached, the way that we are enabled to reach out to them.
Pastor Onesimus
October 1, 2016
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ…that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” Colossians 4:3, 4
Pastor Onesimus is a dedicated servant of the Lord and desires for the gospel to be spread throughout all of Uganda and into Africa.
To read of his church-planting efforts and how God is opening a door for the word, read his latest report…Onesimus Ngoboka, serving in Rukungiri, Uganda.
The month of September was indeed a blessed one. We see the hand of God moving within the community. We are thankful for the VBS that was conducted because it has brought more children to the Lord. Our children’s church has definitely grown in number. The main challenges are seating and teachers, to ensure effective discipleship of these children. Keep us in your prayers in these regards.
Many of the children who come to the church are from needy families that struggle with the basic necessities of life. As a church, the members are giving what they are able so that the children are clothed. In this way we show them the love of God. True religion is to take care of orphans and widows (James 1:27). The church has responded generously and we have received an assortment of clothes.
The Sunday school children (those who are not new) asked if the money they have been collecting for the upcoming Christmas party would be used to help these needy families. They have chosen to sacrifice their fun December party to support and welcome these new children. This was touching and moving to see the love of God in these little ones. We agreed to use their money to buy soap to give to all the children in the Sunday school—both the old and new students. It was a blessing to see the smiles and the joy with which they returned home that day. Wow! —What started out as a simple step to follow Christ has opened a huge door to the families of these little ones who arrived home with a love package from the church. First, the church is providing clean water to the community, now the church is extending its loving arms to reach out to individual families. These things have put us in a better light in the community and have opened the door for evangelism. God is increasing our number day by day, just as He did in Acts 2:47.
God continues to show us His favor and grace through the radio program. It is growing stronger, and through this program, five community fellowships have been opened. They meet in homes in their communities during the week and then come to church on Sundays. Please keep these fellowships in prayer, that they will be established in the Word of the Lord. Many of these believers have backgrounds in spirit worship and witchcraft practices. Pray we will be effective in reaching these communities.
By God’s grace, the church worship team and children’s choir are growing. They have days of prayer and fasting, to pray for the ministry and spiritual growth of the body of believers.
We are thankful to the Lord for the partnerships He has brought forward, without which there would be no progress. We thank God for White Fields who continues to fund our activities and support our ministers with monthly support.
Please join us in praying in the following ways:
- We have rainy seasons which affect the sides of the church verandah—water is getting into the building. We need bricks, cement, and sand so that the building is protected.
- Pray for the community fellowships to be firmly established in the Word.
- Pray for godly leaders to lead them.
- Pray for seating for the children’s church and for the training of leaders. We have a plan to train with CEF, but we need to pay for this training.
Pastor Onesimus