Message from Pastor Paul

Hope you are doing well, Edith says hello to you.

Please enjoy this:

FOUR THINGS GOD DOES NOT KNOW.

1.God does not know a sin He does not hate.

2.God does not know a sinner He does not love.

3.God does not know a sin He wouldn't forgive, If you ask.

4. God does not know a better time than now.

I wish you a nice day.

God bless.

Pastor Paul.

Letter from Pastor Paul

Hi

Thank you for your emails sorry for not writing, but i have been sick for 4 days,

Today i have sent Eddy to the University to take with him the identity card and the receipt for the money he paid. So i believe they are going to accept him. Why not!

Thanks for your prayers yesterday i sent Christopher to buy the oxen as i write now we have the oxen and the plow, Wow our God is Good.Thank you Kelsey for being a good key,God bless you soooooo much,

I have come to Bugiri for blood test,Your family in Mawanga sends greetings to you all.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Paul

Letter from Elijah

Hi beloved Sister

How blessed is every one who fears Lord,who walks in his ways.Praise be to God our lord .Infact thank u for what you have done 4 Rowan may our Lord Jesus Christ bless you.

Otherwise,i would also wish you success for the plans,Work you always do and let the Holy spirit be your Director and the secretary of your plans so that you achieve the best of all.

whenever we descuss with dad about you,we endup asking God to put ways that you contiune creating relationship with other people in order to stand with the programme of Rowan,Above all,though we miss you in body i always believe that in Spirit we are together and God wishes we shall meet.

I do appreciate u 4 the Team,really they did great work the week they were with us be blessed for having thet Heart.

i encourage you as i summarise to believe and trust in God so as to achieve the best in future and may you see prosperity all the days of your life

peace be upon you Kelsey. Elijah

BLOG Updates

The Mawanga Blog has officially been updated! This front page will contain posts with announcements and updates from Pastor Paul and others in Mawanga so we can keep in close contact with the people and ministries. The specific projects are listed to the right----->
Click on them and they will direct you to their own blog pages with updated information! Enjoy!
-Kelsey

Wed. JUL 23, 08 Kelsey reports from Dulles airport

Kelsey Young wrote:
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:32:21 -0600From: "Kelsey Young" Subject: Writing from DC
Jambo everyone! Mukama Yebizibwe- (Praise God) I am alive after our 17 hour flight from Ethiopia to DC! As I am waiting for my next flight home to Denver, I thought I would fill you in on a few of the adventures!(I wrote this for you all two days ago...enjoy)The KeyThe mist rises up from the rapids of the Nile. The birds sing to the tune of dawn. The fish surface onto the lapping water against the rocks. As I swing in this amazingly comfortable hammock overlooking the Nile, I am surrounded by untouched beauty and I'm reminded of God's intention for earth: Peace. Looking back on our week in the village of Mawanga, I can honestly say that I experienced unconditional love in its purest form. One of the team members asked me, "What gives you the most joy?" I said, "This. Bringing people together in unity under Jesus Christ gives me the most joy." Friends- you have to understand. This was no ordinary team! Two of the "older" :) women recently had strokes. One younger guy, who I didn't even know until this trip, used to be a major drug dealer and believe it or not...be ridiculously racists against blacks. One team member is 14 and she had never left the country. 19 of 20 team members were all were from my home church- which was the best blessing. I had never experienced such unity. Such love. Bringing my home church and my African family/church together was an overwhelming time for me! What did we do? Nothing. the Lord did it all and, well, we just helped. Come walk with me as we peek into a typical day...ready?The rooster seemed to still be on daylight savings time because this year he shouted his beak off around 5am instead of 6. If that didn't wake me up, Brian's singing would! I stepped outside and ran into Tom (team member) grabbing the water basins and cycling down to the water hole with Pastor Paul's kids. Dolly and Laura were already washing dishes with Mama and a young man from the village, Eddy, is out sweeping the dirt! :)Three women from the team would be ready to go visit a widower with 7 children and a new church meeting under a mango tree. Four men from the team would finish breakfast and head down to work on the new ROWAN office building (Rural Orphans and Widows AIDS network). Two nurses from the team would already be at the clinic working hard at building relationships with the Ugandan nurses and assisting a young boy who was bitten by a Black Mamba Snake. His heart had literally stopped!! If the clinic wasn't there with the anti-venom, the boy would have died. The young team members would be out in the front yard playing with the orphans, two of which have full blown AIDS. Laura was in her room preparing her lesson on the Creation story, and when Diane (older lady) wasn't falling out of the latrine in the middle of the night- she was painting Pastor Paul's house green! Dave was on top of the clinic hoisting up a 7 foot Solar panel! And TA-DA! On the third day, there was LIGHT!!!! ANYWHERE you looked, a team member was there building relationships with the people. Where was I??? Everywhere. You'd find me visiting with the teenage girls I have known for years- one in particular just had a baby last week because her teacher decided to take advantage of her...You'd find me walking with Pastor Paul discussing Big plans for ROWAN (a ministry Pastor Paul and I began together). You'd find me in Martha and Ida's small bedroom dancing and laughing about their "girl secrets." You'd find me gardening with the team and the widows, assisting bible studies with the widows and most of all: standing back in awe. I would stand in front of a fully functioning clinic with light- and praise God. i would look at a new office Building for the Orphans and Widows in the community- and praise God. I would see each team member hand-in-hand with the people- and praise God. I would walk down the path and hear, "Kelsey, Jambo!" from the corn fields- and praise God. I would be jumping and dancing at Jane's traditional African wedding in the Church- and praise God.Well if you are STILL reading this, this is the part of the story that blew me away. Earlier this year I was seeking after the Lord one night and asked Him, "WHAT is my role in this world? What is my purpose?" ..............I shut up and listened...........and immediately I heard the Lord speak..."You are a key." I had No clue what that meant. Not until this trip. As I was saying goodbye to Beatrice, a local pastor's wife that I have known for years, she said, "Kelsey. Thank you for loving us. You are the key. God used you to bring these visitors." Her words hit me like a brick. Next day at church, Pastor Paul gets up and tells the Entire congregation: "Today, in 2008, Kelsey has yet received another name. She is: Kelsey Young Namugombe Key. She is the key..." The team had NO clue why I broke down in tears. I blamed it on my cold. :) In reality, it was a moment where I received yet another glimpse of how God wants to use me in this life. Bringing people together brings me joy. And I can see that it brings the Lord joy to use me as a key to unite His people....and that is all I know thus far. But that is enough. :) From the nurses monthly salary, to oxen and plows for the widow's garden, to literacy programs, to university scholarships for orphans- the needs are overwhelming. I fly home with the memories of much laughter, smiles, joy- but also testimonies of daily hardships and challenges.For those of you who have walked with me in Mawanga for the last 6 years- the village greets you!! They know I am supported by you all and I felt your prayers and love this week. thank you.ROWAN will soon become it's own non-profit and we are working on finding medical partners in the states to sustain the clinic. There is much work to do- and plenty of room for more people to get involved. If you want to know more about my trip- or more about these ministries- email or call! I would LOVE to tell you more. :) I will post pictures on my blog this week and you can see for yourself how much fun we had :)I'm off to Denver. Can't wait to hear from you all, and for now, I'll be back in the states until my next adventure! love you all,KelsProverbs 16:9 "The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

Mon JUL 21, 08 a thank you from Eria Nyende

Hi mum it was great to be with the team.the team has done great work towards the people of mawanga i really appreciate for that. i was toled you struggled alot to c that the team could come.
i miss your name though i have the name in my memory otherwise God has a good plan for you.
Thank you 4 allowing Sonia and miriam to come i really enjoy'd there services they did, Time has come to begin miss'g tham and i have now begun my work of praying for them that the com'g year they be among the people who may wise to come though Sonia told mi that it takes alot of time and money. They left yesterday to jinja so i hope your to meet them within faw days
cu mum.

Sun, 20 Jul, '08 ITEM report

Hello Everyone, (See new ITEM pictures HERE )
Kiribu, Kenya (Welcome to Kenya). That is the greeting we are giving to five men (plus one Kenyan) who are arriving to spend two days training in ITEM doctrine, methodology, and philosophy of ministry. I mentioned in a recent report a possible theme of "10 down and 10 to go" or "The next 10." Let me explain for those of you who are not sure what I meant.
THE LAST TEN
I came to Africa the first time in January 1998 to teach one course at the Nairobi International School of Theology. God changed my life. I started coming twice a year to teach at the school and at the invitation of some of my students I was soon helping to plant churches in Congo and help with pastor training seminars in Uganda. On top of that I was doing evening and weekend teaching seminars here in Nairobi.
By 2003 we divided that task between church planting and training pastors. The church I was attending at the time assumed the responsibility of the churches and I began to concentrate on training pastors in basic Bible and theology. And it was in 2003 that this organization/ ministry was born: International Training and Equipping Ministries. The step from half-time to full-time with ITEM was made early in 2005.
For the past three years I have been moving between five countries regularly and two others a few times. But there is too much for just one guy to do and finding men from the US who are willing to raise support to help full or part time is not easy. Only one, Bob Allen, has raised some support in order to make one trip a year to the French speaking portion of Africa.
That generally covers the past ten years, that is "10 down." What about the next ten, and why even think of referring to them as "10 to go"? Let me explain.
THE NEXT TEN
I just turned 60 and it is my vision and goal to turn this ministry over to Africans by the time I am 70. That gives me ten years. For ten years we've been building the base. Now it is time to build the structure.
If it had been a 20 year plan in 1998, the "10 down and 10 to go" statement would make more sense. But who could have known (besides God) where we'd be in this ministry 10 years ago? It blows me away to consider where we started, where we've been, and where we seem to be going. When I stop and reflect, I shake my head and think "God has done exceedingly abundantly above all that I could have even dreamed about."
THE PRESENT HOUR
That brings me to the present hour. Instead of having three seminars on this trip, we decided that in place of one of them we would bring our coordinators from six countries to Nairobi to begin training them in ITEM's doctrine, philosophy of ministry, and methodology. We will also be spending time thinking about strategy. My concern is that we continue to develop ways to preserve the fruit our seminars are producing.
IMAGINE
Look down the road with me to the year 2018 when ITEM will have trained regional coordinators in east, west, south, and central Africa. We are not ruling out the north but as of now we have no strong contacts in northern Africa. See also national coordinators in 15 African countries doing ITEM seminars, and envision 4-5 regional directors based here in the States working with the African regional coordinators. And envision thousands of pastors a year going through ITEM's Bible and theology seminars.
So that is where we are going, Lord willing. Many things must fall into place. It isn't going to happen without prayer and diligence. But I am ready to press on in order that I "may finish the course" (2 Tim. 4:7) that the Lord has placed me on.
Thank you for partnering with us in the pursuit of this vision through your prayers and support. Let's keep moving forward with energy and faith.
By His grace,
Steve