Compassion in Action is for Jesus

Here in Kubamitwe, lots of compassion has been put into action! In August I returned from America where I was hanging out with Emma for a couple months. A few hours after I got back to Uganda, the Lakeside Bible Church and Believer’s Fellowship team arrived. The next week, the youth on the team and CIA Uganda (my brothers, Bekah and I) built two kitchens for two families. When we went to the second family’s house to start building, the lady was flat out drunk. She even asked us to take a picture of her and her pig… What? Anyway, it was quite an experience. It was particularly hard for me because I was shocked that instead of thanking us when we went to help her, she would greet us in a drunken stupor. Honestly, I got really angry with her. Then I had to remember why we build kitchens and serve our community. Is it so that we can help them? Is it so that they will know that we love them? Well, kind of. But those aren’t the main reasons. We do CIA projects because that’s what Jesus would do if He were in our place. He served regardless of whether or not the people came back and thanked him. He loved to the point of death. We love and serve our community because we want to be like Jesus. Jesus is our model, Lord and friend. Because we love him, we will keep loving and serving even if the people hate us. And maybe, through our love, they can come to love Jesus too.

Since then, just this last week we built a kitchen for our friends that live relatively close to us. They had to cook in a little hut without walls and basically no roof. The roof was made many years ago out of grass and at one point worked well, but over the years, has become primarily useless. I don’t think that we have ever built a kitchen for more thankful recipients.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Keep praying that God would draw people to himself through CIA’s love toward them, and that He would be glorified in it all.

The Old Kitchen Next to The New

Their Old  Kitchen

  

We're Back!

Hi everyone! Sorry that we haven’t written anything for a while. My brothers and I were on furlough with our mom and dad and just came back from the States in August.  While we were there, the children at Arcadia Bible Church donated enough money for the goat milk project for the baby whose mom has AIDS. Just this weekend, my brothers, Mrs. Deerberger, and I (with donations from Mrs. Augusta’s 5th Grade class) built a kitchen for a sweet old lady at our church, who is lame. We will post pictures soon!

In other news, our Bible study in Kibelenge (A Muslim village a few miles away from us) is going really well! The kids are super eager to learn and have memorized over ten verses of the Bible.  We are totally encouraged.  Within the next week we will be inviting a family from our village to our house to eat dinner with us, sponsored by another sweet donor. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. They are making a huge difference in our community. We will be sure to keep you updated!

-Elisa Hurley

Project Goat Milk!

What’s new with Compassion in Action?

Project Goat Milk!

Project Goat Milk?? What in the world is that?

Our sweet village friend, Sauda, (a single mom with Aids) has just had a precious baby boy. Because there is a risk of transferring HIV to the baby via the breast milk, we are supplying Sauda with goat milk.  However, the cost of buying goat milk and having it delivered is quite expensive and can even be unreliable at times. The other day, the milk that was supposed to be delivered was never sent and the baby was hungry throughout the night with nothing to drink but water.  Her last baby died of HIV at only 2 years of age and we don’t want this new little one to get infected.

Compassion in Action has funded one month’s supply of goat’s milk, but we are looking to raise money to buy Sauda a milking goat so she always has a supply of milk for her baby. We don’t have a store down the road to run and buy formula!

You can help save a baby’s life by donating to buy a goat for Sauda and her sweet baby boy. If you can help, comment on our blog and let us know you want to get involved in Project Goat Milk!

 Up and coming: This week Compassion in Action is having a family from the village over for dinner to love on them and build a relationship. Next week, we will be building a kitchen. The Hurley family will be on furlough this summer so this will be our last project for a few months.

A Thirst that can be Satisfied

“Muzungu! Muzungu! Muzungu!” These are the shouts I (Bekah) would hear every week as I was swarmed by a group of kids chasing my boda on the way into Bible study. For the past year, I have been teaching an evangelistic Bible study in a neighboring village. As I teach, the children always peer around trees staring at me and when I wave to say hello, they run away laughing, only to come back a few minutes later.

A few weeks ago as I was teaching, I looked around at all the kids’ faces. I thought about how it’s too far for them to walk to Kubamitwe for church, VBS, or any other events we have (it’s over an hour walk). Then it hit me. This was a project for Compassion in Action. A Kids’ Bible Club is exactly what this unreached village needs. I rushed home that night to tell the gang, and everyone was excited.

Last week, Elisa, Ethan, and I hopped on our bikes to make the trek to this village. We wanted to find a central location to hold our Bible study. As we rode in on the dusty, bumpy road a large group of Muslims, both kids and adults, were exiting the mosque. This village is 90% Muslim and as we looked around at the people leaving the mosque, we saw more than just a poverty stricken village, but a place in desperate need of Christ. There is no church or opportunity for these people to hear the gospel. One great way to reach a community—through the children.

As we were returning from our journey with the sun scorching down on us, Ethan begged us to stop for water. Reluctantly, we stopped at a local shop to look for something to drink.  To the right, I saw a man and woman reading the Koran and beckoned Elisa to look. “Let’s go talk to him”, she said and without hesitation Elisa (the fluent one in the group) was sharing the gospel. She asked him what the Koran teaches about how one gets to heaven and his response was that all one needed to do was tell God he was sorry. After sharing with him about man’s desperate situation and the need for someone to pay the penalty for our sin, the man refused to believe we needed an advocate on our behalf and refused to believe that Jesus Christ was more than just a good man. After 45 minutes, Elisa concluded the conversation saying she would be praying for him, as he would have to pay his own punishment for sin. His reply, “Okay, I’ll pay it.” As our physical thirst was satisfied, we were reminded that there is a much greater thirst that needs to be satisfied for this man and for this village. As Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

On Sunday, Emma, Elisa, Kabite, Evan, and I (Ethan was home with a fever) launched the Bible study. We weren’t sure who would show up since many told us they wouldn’t  come because: they were Muslim, they had work to do, or just didn’t want to come. But our God showed us His kindness. 47 kids showed up. We played games, handed out candy, and taught them a song to get them excited about our Bible club. At the end of the day, we told them that ultimately we are coming to do more than just have fun, to do more than just play games, to do more than just give them candy, but to teach them about the most important person, Jesus Christ.

Pray with us that these kids would come to know the love of Christ.  Pray with us for this lost, Muslim populated village. Please pray that the devout Muslims won’t stop our efforts or persecute the children coming. Pray that they would drink the water of eternal life and truly thirst no more.

Check out our updated photo gallery to see pictures!

Check out our updated photo gallery to see pictures!