Every year our church here in Uganda has a theme that they
focus on for the entire year. Last year the theme was “Steps of Faith” (from
the book of Joshua), a very fitting and appropriate theme for us as we took
several steps of faith from beginning married life together in Uganda, taking
on new responsibilities at work, fostering two boys, and having a baby. This
year the theme is “Restoration and Renewal.” We truly believe this will be a
year of both of those for us, though we don’t yet know what that will look
like. We pray that God would renew our understanding of His vision for us here
in Uganda within our family, our community, and in our workplaces.
OUR FAMILY
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| Joshua Magezi Lammers was dedicated at our church, Ggaba Community Church on 15 January 2017. It was a pleasure to have Matt’s parents there with us for the dedication. |
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| One of our older boys has a thriving garden. He has a passion for farming and desires to be a farmer when he grows up. Currently he is growing tomato, onions, red peppers, maize, popcorn, a pineapple, cucumbers, and many beautiful flowers including sunflowers from the northern region of Uganda. |
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Our other older boy has officially joined the worship team at DOORS and loves attending the weekly practice on Wednesday evenings, and helping to lead the weekly Worship Night on Saturdays with his guitar or drum. This is him performing at his school’s end of year program last December.
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MATT & EMI
Matt has been working on a particular project in the Congo
for the past 3 years. Last month he was able to lead a project team at EMI to
this project, UCBC. He is quite passionate about the project because of the
vision held by the leadership of UCBC, to educate Christian leaders in Congo
with the goal of changing Congo. You can check out this video for more https://congoinitiative.org/2016/video-eastern-congo-initiative-highlights-ucbc/
EMI is continuing to come along side UCBC and help them develop
their campus. Currently we have been working on the community centre, which is
the centerpiece of the campus. The building was not designed by EMI and was
partially constructed when we got involved. Due to issues with the design and
construction parts of the building had to be demolished. We are in the
rebuilding phase. Because of the scale of the building we have been designing
and reconstructing in phases. We traveled to site to begin the design of the
next phase.
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| UCBC Community Centre - reconstruction phase |
ASHLEY & DOORS
Yahaya’s Plot is the ministry arm that Ashley has been
responsible for since its addition to DOORS 2 years ago. (It is also where we
currently live). Part of the vision of the plot is to be a farm that provides
nutritious fruits and vegetables to the ministry arms of DOORS to directly meet
the health needs of the children and women served from the schools and homes,
to street outreach and the women’s ministries. Mango season is always a huge
hit as the 5 mango trees on the acre plot of land produce thousands of them which
get distributed over the course of a month and a half. The recent drought has
made farming other fruits and vegetables hard, however rainy season came very
early this year allowing us to plant greens (such as spinach and dodo) over
most of the farmable parts of the land. Every week, both DOORS schools, all of
the children’s homes, and even the artisans of aDOORned have been able to have
greens as a part of their diets.
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| Our very good and dear friend, neighbor on Yahaya’s Plot, and Yahaya’s Plot Farm Manager carrying Joshua in the local way—tied to the back. |
THANK YOU FOR WALKING WITH US ON OUR JOURNEY.
Praises:
-Joshua
continues to grow and be healthy. He can now intentionally grab things, smile,
laugh, and roll over.
-We have
been praying for a desire for learning over one of our older boys. In the last
month, he has shown a new love for reading and can typically be found
practicing his reading out loud to one of us in one of the children’s books
brought by Jja Jjas (grandparents)
-Wonderful
visit with Ashley’s mom and Matt’s parents over the holidays.
-Matt’s
project trip to the Congo.
Prayers:
-DOORS
Ministries is undergoing major leadership changes. Please pray for peace over
the ministry in the midst of changes, and direction for Ashley as she discerns
her role in all of these.
-We are
working on getting Joshua’s paperwork and citizenships worked out. This can be
a confusing and time consuming process. Please pray for us as we navigate this.
-For us
as we seek what vision God would have for us, for our family, and for our
workplaces in the year(s) to come. We desire to work towards the goals and
vision God gives us with purpose and dedication.
-For us
as we parent our older boys as well as a 3 month old baby and prioritize our
marriage through it all. We are thankful to have such strong community around
us that are willing to watch all of our boys to give us some time together.
-For our
older boys to continue to be united in our family, and feel the freedom in our
home to be who God has created them each to be.
-Our
community is quickly changing this year. Many of our friends are leaving or
have left Uganda. This is hard as our strong community has allowed us to thrive
here and made it feel like home, however this is also a wonderful opportunity
for us to expand our community and see the new things God is doing. Please pray
for us as we seek out and build new community.
