Happy New Year!
I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas with your families. Our team in Uganda has been hard at work throughout the month of December celebrating, ministering, and blessing as many people as possible because of the generosity of all of you. Thank you for being a part of our family!
Below are some exciting details from our V127 Community Christmas Celebration, as well as some photos of our kids!
Children’s Discipleship Fridays
The Children’s Discipleship Fridays initiative was a big success! 183 children who had never been to the church before came for small group teaching on the true meaning of Christmas. There they learned about Jesus, had a chance to ask questions and interact with our team members, and then enjoyed a healthy lunch together. I have no doubt that the impact of those sessions will be felt for years to come.
Children’s Celebration Sunday
The Children’s Celebration Sunday was essentially a worship Christmas party where the kids performed songs, dances, skits, and more and then enjoyed a big lunch together. The teachers were also recognized for their many contributions over the course of this very difficult school year. We are so grateful for them! There were two services and over 1,000 children were ministered to as part of this celebration!
Enjoy this video of one of the children’s performances, also featuring 2 year old Ariela in the light blue dress (one of our V127 grandbabies) dancing along to the music!
Christmas Shower
Several years ago, Pastor Herbert asked his church members to bring any of their friends who would not have food for Christmas dinner to the church on Christmas Eve. This has become a beloved annual tradition and has since been named the “Christmas Shower”. This year, over 600 families were blessed with 5 lbs of beef, 5 lbs of rice, 3 lbs of sugar, and 2 liters of soda. What a joyous night it was! Our team purchased 4 cows for the gifts of meat, and then had to buy an additional 240 lbs of beef! Wow. Most importantly, 10 people gave their lives to the Lord that night! Hallelujah!
Christmas Gifts of Food
Our V127 families, teachers, and team members were given a Christmas gift of 5 lbs of beef, 25 lb of rice, 6 lb of sugar, 6 lb of flour, 2 liters of soda, a large bunch of matoke (small green bananas), and a live chicken! You can only imagine what a blessing this was to these families who struggle just to feed their children. Such a sweet and practical gift!
This year our team also reached out specifically to the elderly with gifts of food, and once again blessed the hard working police officers in the community. 47 police officers came to the church and were given gifts of beef, rice, matoke, & soda. The senior officers were also given a live chicken. They all heard the gospel message and were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generosity.
Christmas Gifts for V127 Children
Each of our V127 children were blessed with personalized, much-needed gifts & a Christmas letter from you! Thank you so much! I am hoping to have a new photo and letter for each of you very soon.
Also, in the midst of the many Christmas festivities, our long time V127 administrator in Uganda, Noeline, was married in a beautiful ceremony to her handsome Joel. We are so happy for them! Joel does a lot of photography and media work for us and for Victory Covenant Church, and they are both huge assets to the ministry.
And finally, we just got word that Annet, our very first V127 child, just gave birth to her second baby girl! Annet is married to Pastor Edward (assistant pastor of Victory Covenant Church), and they are already parents to little Ariela. Their new baby, Evangeline, becomes our third V127 grandbaby! Praise God!
I know these last few weeks have been difficult for many of you, and in the midst of the celebration, many are hurting. I’m so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father that knows our needs, that weeps with us and rejoices with us, that sends food for the hungry and hope for the hopeless, that brings new love and new life, and promises that at the end of it all, we can look forward to an eternity with Him.
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” Lam 3:21-23
Thank you for your support of V127 over the course of this last year. We look forward to the amazing things God has in store for 2022!
Much Love,
Jan
P.S. I was just told we have a new group of children coming soon!