Maybe it is time to update our blog!!

STC AFRICA!

The New Land

School Construction

Farewell to Will, Ann, Abby and Lilly

The Boys Singing Goodbye to The Neale Family

The Teachers

There is so much going on at the UJV since the New Year has started! This is our excuse for not updating the blog. But we are realizing how important it is to keep people informed as to what is going on at the UJV. We appreciate your support and prayers so much! We apologize for the delay in blogging! Amy Toyota has agreed to take on doing updates on the blog at this time. So let’s catch up shall we!

Henry and Erica Schmidt from the Supernatural Training Center (STC) in Canada came to Kampala for 1 month early in the year to do the first STC Africa. In four short weeks we experienced the Holy Spirit in many different ways and many hearts and lives were changed. We really believe that God is restoring Africa and going to bring a new sound out of Africa that is going to touch the world.

It was so great to have Luke and Suzanne Jones and the boys come back from Canada. Kathy Reich and Marike Cooke, two volunteers at the UJV have also come back from a Christmas break. The local team really missed everyone who was away.

Will and Ann Neale and their two girls have been at the UJV volunteering for over a year and God called them back to the UK. It was a sad goodbye from the kids and team, they will be missed very much. We are so grateful for all they did here at the UJV. Before they left 2 of their friends Mark and Eleanor Croker came out to visit and help out for 3 weeks. We were so blessed, Mark brought some much needed computer skills and got all the UJV computers, networks, and stuff I don’t understand, straightened out. HUGE blessing!

2008 is a year of build build build for the UJV. We have acquired 35 arches of land to begin construction on to make the Uganda Jesus Village truly a village. Luke is working on plans for the development on the land and is eager to get out and start building. We have a vision of having traditional looking African style homes for the kids and mamas as well have having a church, school, medical clinic and shops. There are two hills on the land that have a beautiful view Lake Victoria and the surrounding fields. We are so excited for the kids to have a place to run and play.

Another dream we have for the land is to plant and grow food for the UJV and eventually be able to sell the produce. We believe in empowering the people here and really want to see the UJV come into a place where we will not be totally dependant of outside donations. We believe it is God’s heart for the UJV to become self sustained as a village. We are looking at many different areas to be able to develop self sustaining businesses with the Mamas and staff at the UJV. Then donations can be used for developing things other projects like the medical clinic, building more homes, and rescuing more kids.

We are excited to have our first new volunteer of 2008 come out. Maria Deardorff is from Boston and will be joining us for 6 months at the UJV starting in the middle of March. We also can’t wait for the team of 8 from Abbotsford to come and work with the kids and mamas for two weeks in the middle of March. Aggie Flam and her team from Global Harvest have watched God’s hand move to provide for them to come! I know God is going to bless the UJV and the team during their time here.

We began building a new school just before Christmas, it is still under construction and if funds continue to come in we hope to have it finished and up and running by the end of April. Eventually the goal is to open the school up to the community children. This will aid is making the school self sustaining as well as a great way to reach the community with God’s love and bring a good educational level to these children.

We are believing God for all the needs here at the UJV. We are in the process of finding a local accountant to add to the team. We really want to come along side the African people to empower them. In doing so we need people to come to help train up the locals in many areas, such as office and computer skills, school administration, health, environmental care, self sustaining businesses, just to name a few.

Please continue to pray for us and tell your friends to check out our blog! We will do our best to keep it updated with the happenings around the UJV. There is so much to tell you! Thanks for all your love, prayers and support. We really do need it!

Back in Africa

We have safely safely arrived with our family in Kampala, Uganda after a 5 week visit to Canada. We had an amazing time connecting with friends and family.

Last night was the first normal night of sleep for us as the jet lag has been gross! I have finally unpacked all 17 suitcases and so there are piles everywhere. They had a gathering yesterday at 4 pm and it was really sweet as they all sang and danced for us. There was a change amongst the kids, Concy lead worship, Christopher said the opening prayer and Sunday was the MC. Will and Ann are getting ready to leave in a month. Pr. Robert overloaded the UJV truck and it broke so we are all down to 1 vehicle, it's so funny! I have yet to laugh, but I will have to fulfill my new years resolution of walking once a day. We had Henry and Erica over for dinner last night. that as a nice visit although the boys were a bit cranky. It was their first day back to school and Aaron really misses Blake. David's friend Jonathan did David's school work when he was gone- such a sweet boy! Of course Josh doesn't want to go to school!
Well, we have great memories of the greatest Christmas ever and you were a big part of that. Thank you for your encouragement and support. Although Aaron has already starting to ask to go back to Canada. Luke is off to the land and will spend the day there praying and planning with God.Well we pray you will get more joy, comfort, healing, and the great adventures God has for you this year will continue.

Much Love,
Suzanne

Christmas at the UJV

What an amazing Christmas day. Full of singing, dancing, gifts and of course feasting! Every child woke up this morning to find a gift in their bed, a new stuffed animal. They also all received a new outfit for Christmas. After a breakfast of omelets they got all dressed up in their new clothes and headed off to church. In Africa they really know how to celebrate! Singing, dancing and shouting all for the King of the Universe who came down to be with us! Happy Birthday Jesus! After church there were so many smiling kids as they ate the Christmas feast. The mama’s worked so hard preparing chicken, matoke, irish potatoes, and rice. The children’s bellies were very happy and satisfied. We took pictures of all the kids in their new clothes. Some of the boys even learned how to tie the new ties they received. After our feast it was time for more singing and dancing! Another surprise for the kids, 14 flags in many colors were sewn for them to wave to the Lord. It was great to see how excited they were to praise with the flags, the Mama's really loved them too! At our local church Streams of Life there was an afternoon concert and the UJV was invited to perform. They sang two songs and even got the flags out to add to the celebration. The day finished off with a poi demonstration (fire spinning), a movie and Christmas baking for all to enjoy. Wow, what a wonderful day. Praise God for Christmas in Africa! Thanks to everyone who helped make this day so great for the kids! - love Amy

Home for the holidays

We are home for the holidays. We left Africa last Wednesday and have arrived Thursday night in Abbotsford, BC, Canada.

The boys are enjoying seeing their Grandparents and we are enjoying seeing everyone again.

Feel free to keep in contact with us while we are in Canada. Amy Toyota, bless her, will be the lady in charge of the volunteers and our contact person in Uganda. Pastor Robert is overseeing the project.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas season with family and friends and look forward to what God is going to do in the New Year.

We love all of you and thank you for your prayers!

We are doing a new thing

Hi everyone!

We thought it would be neat to set up a blog so that people could e-mail Luke and Suzanne and you would receive up to date information from them on a regular basis that is more on a personal note. If you would like to leave any messages for the Jones family or your child that you are sponsoring, feel free to do that and we will try to keep this current!