Thank-you Team Abbotsford!!

Team Abbotsford!

Freda with the Kids

Painting with the Kids

The Drama Team

Team handing out Easter Cards to the Children

Team Looking at the School Construction

Mzungu Tribe Presenting at Cultural Celebration

Drumming at the Cultural Celebration

Aggie and The Bride

The Team at the Wedding Reception

Blessing the wedding couple

Clearing the Land... getting ready to plant

We miss you Kathy!


I want to start this blog by thanking Aggie and the team from Abbotsford for coming out and blessing the UJV for 2 weeks. It was like Christmas when they arrived bringing so many things to bless the UJV. The team of 8 were joined by our newest volunteer Maria from Boston and they were very effective in ministering to the kids. They did a one week camp with the children including painting, choir, bible teaching and soccer. It was so beautiful to have a team come over and love on these kids and pour into them. I know they have planted seeds in these kids that God is going to use and grow in powerful ways. The team also really blessed the mamas by having times of fellowship with them and blessing them with gifts from Canada. I think the greatest things was all the time the team invested into everyone here. I know that each one that came took a piece of UJV home with them. The Jones boys were also really happy to spend time with the team as they knew them all from Sunday school back in Canada. I thank God that He sends us such amazing people to help with the work here at the UJV. The team was very blessed to be able to experience some unique events, getting a taste of the African culture. They were invited to an African wedding, it was certainly a day of celebration, fun and feasting. They also were blessed to be able to participate in something called Cultural Sunday at Streams of Life church. This is where every tribe comes in their traditional tribal costumes and presents song and dance from their tribe. We were asked to come as the Mzungu (white person) Tribe. We were well represented at 17 of us took the stage and sang a prayer for God to come and heal their land.

We have been amazingly blessed to be able to send several of our staff and volunteers to a place called Mto Moyoni recently. www.mto-moyoni.org This is a retreat center on the Nile where many of us have received deep ministry in our hearts. This has all been made possible through jewelry sales back home. Our mamas, and staff and volunteers have gone and taken time to hear God’s voice and really allow the Lord to transform us. It is so exciting to see how much God is changing hearts so we can better do what He has called us to do. We desire the children to be fully healed and walking in their destinies, and we know in order for that to happen we need our staff healed up so they can pour into the children.

God has begun to pour out at Streams of Life church in a powerful way. Last Wednesday we came to meet for our regular Wednesday night service and God began to stir a greater hunger in the people to seek His face. So Pastor Gerald announced that we were come back again the next night to seek God’s face. This has turned into coming every night since just to be in the presence of the Lord and seek His face. The older children have been joining the meetings and I can see a hunger in them for more of the Lord. We are not sure where these meetings are going, but we continue to seek His face and long to see the King of Glory come in.

We took our first group of kids out to the land to begin to clear the land and get it ready to plant. The van was loaded up with as many kids as we could fit in to go and start work on the land. They were able to clear about 1 acre of the land and plan to plant maize (corn) later this week. The reports from the kids about the land were all good reports. They were so full of excitement to go and see what I am calling the Promise Land. They can’t wait to be able to move out to the land and be able live there.

School is in full swing even in cramped quarters. The school construction continues to move forward and we are believing that after the May school break the kids will be in the new building in June. Maria has just begun working with our head teacher getting ready to open in the new building and train up the new administration. A big thanks goes out to Kathy Reich who was here working on the school and has once again returned to Canada.

In two weeks time we are taking the older children to a Father’s Heart weekend with the people that run Mto Moyoni. We would really appreciate your prayers for all the children going, that they would be open to receive the love of the Father.