Dear Friends,

Just a quick update to let you know that the virus has arrived in Uganda. They are under similar restrictions as we are in that the children have been sent home from school, businesses have closed, and they are not allowed to gather in groups of more than 10. 

Our team there is scrambling to help our children and families. I just heard from Teopista (a valued member of our team) that Pastor Herbert is even busier than usual, as he is being sought out by many in the media to address how the Ugandan church is ready to handle the challenges.

Our hearts are heavy for what we are experiencing in our own country, and now for what our family in Uganda is experiencing as well. 

These are our biggest concerns:

1. The health care system there is far behind our system here. As we struggle to stay ahead of the disease, the challenges there will be even greater.
2. Hygiene is a constant challenge considering the living conditions for most all of our children.
3. The church/school is a gathering place for so many. They are there day and night for Bible studies and prayer and to encourage one another. The police are now patrolling to make sure there are no gatherings, so the lack of spiritual encouragement and community is jarring for many.
4. Now that our children have been sent home from school, the need for food is great. Teopista just told me that Teacher Ian has taken many children into his home, as has Teacher Diana, Pastor Herbert, and many other believers, and they are trying to figure out how to feed them all.

This is Teacher Ian and his family, and children he was caring for before all of this in his two room house. (And our Kris, who sponsors one of the children)

What can we do?

1. Pray. Pray more diligently than ever before for each other, for our own country and for our family in Uganda. Pray specifically for your child and that their needs will be met and they will stay healthy and safe. Pray that they will see God working in their midst, feel his presence, and be more committed than ever to serving Him.
2. We are going to send an emergency rice and beans donation the end of this week to help our team there feed our children and their families during this incredibly challenging time. If you’d like to help us with this you can donate at Victory127.com/give and choose “Rice and Beans Fund.”

Also, I know many of you are struggling yourselves during this time. We are praying for you. If you need us to cover your sponsorship payments this month or next, just let me know. We will all pull together to support and encourage one another. 

One thing that I have been learning is to take my eyes off of our circumstances, and to focus on our God and who he is. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, always present, full of grace and mercy and compassion and love, and we can trust him. God is so faithful. What a great opportunity to share with others where our hope and our peace comes from!

Let us commit to immerse ourselves in God’s Word, more than the news of the day. So many verses encourage my heart during this time of uncertainty. Here are just a few:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”
John 16:33

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on you, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:3-4

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
Isaiah 41:10,13

Our friend Teopista ended her email to me today with this:

We will overcome.

Amen and Amen!
Much Love,
Jan

Dear Friends,

It’s been a very difficult week for all of us, and I thought you could use some good news: Yesterday, our very first V127 baby was born! (Would she be considered our grand baby??) Annet and Edward are the proud new parents of Eliana Ariella Lubega. Eliana’s name means “God has answered”.

Annet was our very first V127 child. Her father died when she was young and she was raised by her grandmother. When she came to us, she was praying that God would 1) make a way for her to complete secondary school; and 2) send her a sewing machine. He answered both of those prayers! She worked hard and completed her diploma in Fashion and Design from the YMCA vocational school, and then married Pastor Edward almost 3 years ago. They minister alongside Pastor Herbert at Victory Covenant Church, and they are such a sweet couple.

To watch this young girl go from the depths of poverty and hopelessness to becoming a confident young woman, pastor’s wife and now mother to a beautiful baby girl has been simply amazing. Praise God!

A quick word of encouragement to you in these turbulent times. Be the voice of calm in a world filled with anxiety. Our God is in control and we can trust him completely. 

Psalm 91 is one of my favorite chapters and I’m hoping it will encourage your heart today. 

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

‭‭Much Love,
Jan

Dear Friends,

I wanted to update you on the purpose and function of our higher education fund. When we first started this ministry, we quickly realized that we want to provide our children with every possible opportunity to succeed. We were not going to abandon them when they completed secondary school, so we committed to helping any of our students who qualified to attend vocational school or college.

This is a challenging venture, for we are not asking our sponsors to commit more than the $420 a year that they pay in sponsorship fees. The cost of most vocational schools is around $1000 per year, and the cost of a college education is approximately $2500 a year. We created our Higher Ed fund to fill the gap between the sponsorship funds and the costs to attend institutions of higher learning.

The statistics tell us that only 6% of Ugandan children go on to any type of higher education. With a Ugandan unemployment rate that hovers around 70%, we want to give our children every possible chance to acquire or create jobs & break the cycles of poverty that are so prevalent in each of their families.

The challenges are not only financial in nature. We have also learned that the children in P7 face enormous pressure to do well on their end of year national exams. These are commonly referred to as the “Primary Leaving Exams” and the scores on that test will determine:

1. IF the child is eligible to attend secondary school, and
2. Which secondary school will accept them.

If the child does not do well on that exam, then their only option is vocational school.

Our Higher Education Fund also enables us to pay the extra boarding costs for some of our secondary children. It has become an important way to fill in the gap between sponsorship and any additional costs of education for our children.

Visit the Higher Ed page on our website to see those who have graduated and those who are currently attending a vocational school or college.

Currently, we have 5 children in vocational school, (Dorine, Angel, Mathias, Davis, and Hillary), one in Medical School (Shumayiya), and 3 that we hope are headed to college this fall (James, Judith, Julius).

Judith and Mathias are siblings, and they, with their brother Jonathan and mother Faith, have struggled to survive since their father died several years ago.

Faith is a sweet believer with a huge heart. She has done everything possible to keep her family together, but it has been a real struggle. She even took her sister, who was very ill, and her two children into her small two-room house when they needed a place to live. This family is precious to us (as all of our families are) & to see Judith and Mathias continue their education is so exciting. They are funny and smart and talented and we are excited about this next chapter of their lives. Thank you to all of you who have given to our Higher Education Fund; you are enabling these children to have opportunities they never dreamed of a few short years ago.

God is doing a great work in the lives of these kids! He is so faithful to provide exactly what we need when we need it. Keep trusting Him, my friends, in everything you face, for He is also doing a great work in you!

We are currently diving deep into the issue of trust in our Ladies Bible study, and it’s been so encouraging and convicting to look at areas in our lives where we are or are not trusting God. Where we are trusting, we will find peace, joy, and gratitude, and where we are not trusting we will face anxiety, doubt, and fear. 

Our memory verse for this week is Psalm 143:8:
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”

We continue to pray that God will show us the way, each and every day, to best fight for the forgotten children of Uganda. Don’t forget to pray for your child today, and pray for Angel, Dorine, Mathias, Davis, Hillary, Shumayiya, James, Judith, and Julius in their higher education pursuits. 

Much Love,

Jan

Victory Primary School

We are so excited that God provided the funds we needed to complete Phase 2 of our Victory Primary School construction project! Our team has been working feverishly to get our four new classrooms ready for the 2020 school year that began Feb 3rd. We didn’t quite make that deadline, but we are hoping those classrooms will be in use by next week! We are definitely in need of them, for we have now added P7 to our classes!

New Children

We received 4 new children in December and had 5 children whose sponsors couldn’t continue their support. Praise God, all nine children are now fully sponsored!

If you are a new sponsor, welcome to the family! Make sure to write and introduce yourself to your child…they are anxious to hear from you!

The above photo is Gideon, one of our new children. He is the sixth of Nalongo’s seven children. They were abandoned by their father and their mother suffers from epilepsy & struggles to provide for them. You can learn more about their family in this video, “Nalongo’s Story.”

Victory House

When we were in Uganda, we realized that our Victory House (which houses our teachers) still needed bathrooms in four of the units, more pavers to cut down on the mud, and some other odds and ends. We were able to send the funds to complete those projects last month, so that construction has been proceeding concurrently with the Victory Primary School construction. The Victory House projects are nearing completion, and all of the units are now occupied by our teachers. Hallelujah! (Another benefit of our construction projects is that we are creating jobs, and putting a lot of people to work!)

Victory House Second Floor

Our next construction project will be the second floor of Victory House. We are always asking ourselves “What is the most urgent need right now?” The answer to that is a boarding section for our kids who have nowhere to live, and additional housing for our teachers. I mentioned before that Teacher Diana has 8 children living with her in her small two room unit. Our teachers are incredible in the way they love on our children and sacrifice on their behalf. We now have more teachers than housing units, so this next floor is going to be a huge blessing!

Here is the floor plan for Phase 2 of Victory House:

As you can see, it will provide 4 additional housing units for our teachers, a boarding section for both boys or girls, and a living room where they can gather.

This floor plan was drawn by our very own Julie, who has overcome a life of abandonment and abuse & to walk in faith & even earn a degree in civil engineering. She is a remarkable young woman who is a walking testimony to God’s love and faithfulness. We are so proud of her!

Our friends at The Lake of the Woods church are kicking off our fundraising campaign for the second floor of Victory House by issuing a matching donation challenge! They will match any donations up to $1250 to get the second floor construction started of this exciting new project. To partner with us choose “Construction Fund” on our donation page. Thank you so much!

141 Children!

We now have 141 children in our sponsorship program. We never know when we will receive a new group, so we love to have sponsors waiting for them. If you know someone who wants to change the life of a child in need, send them to Victory127.com/sponsor to fill out the form.

Here is a list of our children…how sweet to be able to pray for each of them by name.
 “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry”   –Psalm 34:15.

School Report Responses

If you haven’t already, please write to your children in response to their school reports. (Most of you should have them; I am just waiting on a few more) Some did great, some not so great, and some are really struggling. They all need our encouragement! Their challenges are constant & their needs are overwhelming, but a letter from you brings so much joy to their hearts! Email all letters to jan@victory127.com and put your child’s first and last name in the subject line. I will forward them to Uganda and they will print and deliver!

Below is an excerpt from a letter from our Ronen to his sponsor. Ronen just completed P3, which is equivalent to our 3rd grade.

“I send greetings to you for having helped me in the good times and bad. May God bless you greatly, and I am humbled to be able to share his blessings with you. I pray for the protection of angels around you, and the strength of the Holy Spirit in you. Thank you for the gifts you sent to me.

With love,
Atwiine Ronen”

Thank you for all you do to support your children and this ministry. Your impact is felt in the lives of these precious ones each and every day!

Dear Friends,

I trust you had a wonderful time with your friends and family celebrating the birth of our Savior! Our friends in Uganda have just completed an entire month of celebration, and it culminates tonight with an all night prayer service leading into the new year. Here are a few highlights from the season:

1. Dec 8th…Speech Day. This is a celebration of the end of the school year where our children demonstrate their academic and artistic achievements. Our amazing team fed 800 children, parents, and members of the community who attended this event! Wow!

2. Dec. 15th…Community Christmas Celebration. This special service was an outreach to the community with worship, activities, special performances, games and a big meal for all. What a feat for our team to feed over 1000 people who attended the celebration!

3. Dec 16th…Gifts for our V127 children. The next day our children returned to the church to receive individualized Christmas gifts from you, their sponsors. We provided the funding, and our team on the ground purchased the gifts. They received backpacks, shoes, dresses, toys, underwear, blankets, treats, etc. It was a sweet day of celebration for our children!

4. Dec 24th…Gifts of food for the community. On Christmas Eve, the members of the church were asked to bring their friends and neighbors who would not have food for Christmas dinner to the church. There, they were presented the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then gifts of 2 lbs of beef and 2 lbs of rice for each family. 435 families went home that day with the truth of God’s love for them and food to feed their families on Christmas Day!

5. Dec 24th…Outreach to the Police officers.  The policemen in Uganda are under appreciated and under paid, and for the last few years our team has reached out to show them the love of Christ through gifts of food. This year, 50 police officers received gifts of 4 lbs of beef, 4 lbs of rice & 6 sodas. And 30 senior officers received the gift of a live chicken!

6. Dec 28th…The final celebration of the season was an all day marriage seminar. The church was packed with couples committing themselves to Christ and to each other, as they celebrated the sanctity of the marriage covenant. Our hard working team also fed lunch to all of those in attendance.

This was all possible because of your love and prayers and generosity. Thank you for giving sacrificially and for supporting our Ugandan Christmas project. God continually amazes me with the way He multiplies our gifts. I think of the young boy with the five loaves and two fishes and how God fed the multitudes with just that small offering.  It certainly feels like He is doing the same for us!

Please continue to pray for God’s provision as we are hoping to complete the second floor of Victory Primary School before the new school year begins in just a few weeks. Right now we are only about $2500 away from our goal! Incredible!

Finally, we just received a new group of 4 children, and we have 3 other children who need new sponsors. Pray that God will prompt the hearts of the ones He wants to invest in these precious lives. God is so faithful.

This is one of our newest, little Miracle Mukisa.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Ephesians 1:17-19a

Dear Friends,

I just had to let you know of another milestone in our ministry. This past weekend, our William Erisa Kabanda graduated from vocational school with a certificate in Mechanics.
William is our first male to graduate from higher education and we are so proud of him!

William Erisa & his siblings Edith and Samuel were abandoned by their father when they were young, and then later abandoned by their mother as well. At the age of 16, William Erisa was on his own trying to care for his two younger siblings. He was incredibly grateful for his sponsor Becky and how she prayed for him, wrote to him, encouraged him, and enabled him to go to school. He has worked so hard and seeing this picture of him in his cap and gown is a great reminder of God’s love and faithfulness.

We are rejoicing today & thanking God for the opportunity to help these children achieve their goals and become self-sufficient adults. Wow. God is so good. We celebrate His ultimate gift of love in just 6 days!

Merry Christmas!
Much Love,
Jan