TLT Testimonies from Amuria!

By Anthony:

Soon after we moved back to Uganda, we went around with Edward, our colleague from World Renew, to my three Timothy Leadership Training groups in Amuria, Katakwi, and Kaberamaido, in order to collect testimonies about how Timothy Leadership Training has continued to impact them and their churches since the graduation back in January 2016. I am humbled and amazed at what God has done through these leaders and the changes he has brought in their lives. Please continue to pray for them, especially as they start up new TLT groups in the near future. This post includes testimonies from the Amuria group.

Eselu George William is in charge of education of pastors in the pastorate (picture below). He has taught TLT in a church assembly and is now leading the TLT Amuria Area Coordination team to lead other graduates in starting more trainings in other places. George has also been working with World Renew to lead a TLT group with Church of Uganda in Nebbi. He learned a lot about planning and scheduling from TLT. From the ideas he got at TLT, he helped to start a nursery and primary school which now has 120 students. It is located near his home. He also learned from TLT how to have a healthier marriage. He tries to spend most nights at home and always calls his wife to tell her where he is.

Here is a video of the school that George started:

Ebiru William is an evangelist. Through TLT he learned how to read and understand English much better than before. After graduation, he went to the prisoners in jail and talked to them about stewardship. That began a good relationship with them. Now he goes to meet with them every Sunday and preaches the Gospel to them.  

Egwalu Andrew is a church leader in Amuria (picture below). TLT has taught Andrew to be a good steward of time, to know how to teach his children God's Word, and the importance of planting trees. He also learned in TLT to treat family members fairly, so now he has taught his boys that it is also good for them to help wash dishes, and not to leave all the work for the girls, even if the culture expects the girls to do all of it. 

After graduation, he started a TLT group within his church training church members. They have done the first four manuals. The members from his group also came to our meeting and shared their testimonies. They are very excited about TLT. In Andrew's group, one person learned how to be a good pastor not only on Sunday, but also during the week by caring for people and visiting people. Others said that they learned how to preach the Gospel effectively. They have seen the financial giving at their church improve through TLT, and they have also seen that the church members are becoming much better at caring for the sick. Through TLT action planning, they were also able to put up metal shutters on the windows of the church.

Oriokot Stephen is a pastor (picture below). TLT has helped him to plan well for the future, and to make sure to keep enough food at home to provide for his family. Because of TLT, he has also planted 25 trees. He wants to train all the youth of his church in TLT. Through the planning method he learned, he helped the youth to start a poultry project to give the youth productive work to do.

Ocen Peter is a pastor (picture below). Through TLT, he learned to care for God’s creation. He learned that men and women are created equally, and learned to treat his wife as well as he treats himself. He taught four of the TLT manuals to his church members. He had the youth of his church start projects for productive work like poultry, goats, and savings groups. Amazingly, he also started a primary and nursery school using the SMART method of action planning he learned in TLT. The school has 11 teachers, and 240 children already!

Praise the Lord for how he has worked through this program! Continue to pray for me and the other pastors who are working with me as we train new TLT groups.

Solar Cooking for Fun

By Sara:

I recently bought a solar oven from another missionary in Soroti and have been trying it out for fun.  I found that the way it is designed, it doesn't get all that hot, so I made my own reflector panels (see the second picture below), which helps it get hotter inside.  (Note that you can make hard "boiled" eggs in a solar oven, it just takes way longer than on a stove)

Every time I would decide to cook something in the solar oven, I would look outside and see not a cloud in the sky.  Unfortunately, by the time I'd put the oven out and get the food inside 15 minutes later, it would be cloudy.  So...I have decided that I need to be doing my experimentation more during the dry season, like from December - February, to be safe.

Sara's Other Kotido Activities

By Sara:

During our visit to Kotido, besides doing Bible studies, my group of women learned how to use the fireless cooker and how to make cakes and scones.  The fireless cooker was exciting.  Some women who arrived late on that day could hardly believe that we had used dry beans - they thought they must have been fresh in order to get ready so quickly! 

Many of them said they were going home to make their own fireless cooker; I look forward to hearing reports back next time about whether they did or not and their successes or failures with it.

They also had a lot of fun making cakes.  Compared to people in most other areas, I think that many of them might be able to turn cake baking into a business.  They are from pretty remote communities where people order cakes from Soroti (4+ hours away) or Kampala (10+ hours away), which is ridiculous and obviously very expensive.  If they are able to advertise well, they should be able to start making cakes for weddings in their own area at a much lower cost.

On the last day, the group decided to make a huge cake (they quadrupled the banana cake recipe) for practice and celebration. I just watched. They were very happy with how beautifully it turned out.

Using the Rocket Stove - Finally

By Sara:

After much trial and error and research, I managed to get my rocket stove to work.  My first success was with biscuits.

After that, however, I figured out that there was an even better way.  I changed the place where you put the firewood so that the wood goes down into the place where it burns instead of straight in.  This made for a much hotter fire with less smoke.  The water started boiling very quickly this time.

I hard boiled duck eggs and therefore also learned that it is REALLY hard to get the peel off of fresh, boiled duck eggs.  I actually ended up breaking them in half and scooping the boiled egg out with a spoon.  But now I know.  Use duck eggs for baking or as fried/scrambled eggs.