Today was our year end Christmas party. It was such, such a wonderful day. Thanks to some generous supporters we were able to provide each of our families with warm blankets, water purification tablets that last for a year, food, and backpacks filled with clothes, shoes, watches, toothbrushes, toothpaste and so much more.  Eight ladies received certificates for successfully completing the Business course.
At the end of the day some of the ladies shared with our family coordinator that getting food is nice but it’s gone in a day. Getting blankets and clean water are the best Christmas gift they could receive. They were so grateful to receive such beautiful gifts of love.  Thank you for all your love and support of the work we are doing here. It is so needed and such a blessing. Merry Christmas to you all!!!
We were told that blankets and clean water was such a blessing to our families. Typical Christmas gift is food, which gives them a Christmas meal. But this gift will last all year.
All the families with their children. We serve 60 currently.

​Our Business training graduates and the trainers.  Alyssa greeting the Business training team who came to give certificates.  She was so happy to see the team.

I first met Petra when she showed up at my door looking for work, almost nine months so. I gave her food in exchange for work. She’s come a few times looking for work.
Last week she showed up and told me the story of her special needs son. He was so hungry that he was crying all night and biting himself and pinching others. I had her work in the garden in exchange for food. She has come back every day this week and worked so hard.
By the third days she told me he is no longer biting himself. He’s satisfied with food.
After talking with our team we will enroll her in the program. We are excited to see what God is going to do in the new year. She is smart and has a good sense of business. She currently walks throughout the village daily looking for any kind of work
When we asked her goals for 2022 she would like to earn capital to start a business. She has three children, one with special needs. We will try to see if we can find a program for him.
Please pray that God will open doors for her and her son in the coming year. It would be so awesome to see him in an environment where he can thrive.

When we moved into our new home I told everyone that we will be finding many blessings as time goes on.
Yesterday we walked the back plantation that our landlord told me is now ours. OH MY LORD!!! The size of the garden and what we have there is beyond our expectation.
There’s food that some of our ladies sell. We can sell to them at a reduced price so they earn more. We have food for Alyssa and me, food for the staff and programs, some for our ladies to sell and we were able to sell some in the community today.
All the money earned will be put aside for seeds when it is time to plant again.
We are able to pay our ladies that want extra work to harvest and get it ready for planting season in February. Four are pictured working the in the garden for us.
It’s so exciting to see how God is providing. Our goal is to be able create projects to give ladies work and sustain the ministry.
Please pray that God will be give us wisdom as we seek to be good stewards of all he has given to us.

​Yesterday one of our mamas brought this beautiful rug to showed me that she has made. I continue to be amazed at this mama’s talents. I have not bought rugs because I haven’t found the quality I want. This is better than anything I’ve seen in Uganda. It’s all done by hand with knitting needles.
today we took her and our other manager in training into town for hands on training. We stopped at a couple shops to see if they would be interested in some of these rugs in their shops as well. They are both interested and will talk to their higher ups to see if our ministry can have a space in their shop.
One is also interested in stocking our washable sanitary pads.
They were so excited to see the potential of getting things into stores. Please pray God would open doors for our products and that income would come in. It can be difficult for steady income due to poverty but we are trusting God to change that for our families.

​I can’t believe how much we have been able to do in a day since moving to a larger place.
Six ladies came to help take care of the property. We had a great meeting with our two mamas who are in training to lead the group. Along with Tom, our Family Coordinator, we created the budget for the month and talked about management responsibilities. This will take the pressure off of me to make all the decisions. It’s so good.
We also were able to get all the sewing materials out and send a suitcase home full of material for three of our mamas to sew the washable sanitary pads and get them ready for school starting in January.
Please pray God will open doors to provide them in the schools and give us opportunity to teach and share the Gospel as we do it.
We shopped for blankets and water filters for our families. More bottles will delivered tomorrow. And we put up our Christmas tree. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

20 blankets purchased so far!

​First week back was filled with so much excitement. God miraculously provided a long-term rental that we could move into so now we will have room to do so much. You can read more stories o on the photos.
We are so grateful to YWAM for the nine months we stayed there. It was such a blessing.
I am so looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2022. With more space and a large vision we will spend much of this month giving our ladies as much work as we can while they still work their own business.
We will be setting up leadership within this group and brainstorming business ideas. We will begin training two of our ladies for management within their group and then begin training others for individual roles in business.
God revealed to me this week that each lady struggles alone in her business. They are tired and still can’t make enough to meet the basic needs of food, shelter and education for their children.
God did not design us to work alone. He is a God of relationship, and community is so important.
I am even more committed to helping them discover their God-given gifts and helping them develop those gifts to work together in business. Please pray for a way out of poverty for them.
We are already working on several projects that we hope to be launching soon. The skills they will be learning will help in their own business and also equip them to run a group business.
Please pray for wisdom, discernment and direction as we move forward. Also pray that God would bring an American intern to help administratively. I could really an extra hand if it’s in His Will.

​GREAT story here. The tall one is Evan. Before I left we ran into him at the watering hole. He was walking back with his water jug on a hand made ladder he made for carrying the heavy jug. I told him what a great idea it was, how he could market and sell them and gave him about $.65 to buy nails. The month I was gone he made and sold many of them and bought himself two hens. Remember hens are the first business toward success here? Pray they stay healthy and that God grants him favor in this new venture.

Alyssa's favorite family and friends

Alyssa's new choir friends at church.

Our new friend who came and shot videos for us, and the first guest in the house.