Sixty-five Kids

Sixty -five kids between the ages of 2-15 showed up at Beyond Pamba Resource Centre this past Wednesday! We start the program at 2:30, but many of these kids showed up at 1:30 already.  They are so eager to read books and just look at the colorful pictures! 

We have been studying Moses's life and we are now on the Ten Commandments.  We went through the first two commandments on Wednesday and we will go through two more commandments each week.  Joy and I decided that we would take a break from Moses in December so we can focus on Jesus' Birth!  

Each week we have memory work and we have been putting it to song! Joy has a talent for putting the words to song and maybe soon I will try to record the kids singing some of their memory work! Even I get these songs stuck in my head and it is great to have God's Word stuck in your head!! 

On this particular Wednesday, we also had two pastors that worked most of the day in the pastor's study, two young people that came and watched a video on Spiritual Gifts and another gentlemen that came to study and then watched a video with Steve before the power went out and then the day was done! 

We are loving where God is leading us! We love the resource centre and the opportunities it is presenting! If anyone wants to come and do a training or lead the kids, you would be most welcome! 

We are also in need of more markers, crayons or colored pencils! We have a church collecting them for us, but we can always use more! The kids never get the chance to color in schools here! There are just too many kids to a class and they don't have the resources! If you would like to send any of these items, you can send them to: Steve Tiesenga, PO Box 887, Soroti, UG. The children of Pamba would be so thankful for this gift! 

A few pictures of my girl!!

Accident Update

It has been just a little over two weeks since we had our accident! We are adjusting to life with no vehicle. We have been taking more boda boda rides (motorcycle taxi) and we have been really dependent on our team members! We are so grateful that they have all been willing to drive us around and make life a little easier for us!
I am feeling healed physically and Steve just has an ache in his neck in the mornings, but it usually is better by afternoon! We are so thankful for God's protection and healing!
We did finally get our vehicle to our home this past Thursday! We are unable to drive it, but Steve had a police escort to take it back to Pamba. We now wait to figure out what we can to do with it! It is a daily reminder of God's protection over us! I hate looking at in the driveway, but I also know that I am thankful that it is at our home and we are done dealing with the process of getting it back!
For those of you who have not seen pictures of our van or accident, I have posted one. It was the only one I could find on the computer!

I want to try to express what I was feeling that day. I had so many emotions that it may be hard to describe.

• As we were turning over, I felt extreme peace! I knew that everyone was going to be OK!
• Grateful that the kids weren't with us!
• Thankful for all the people who came to help.
• Frustrated with all the people who came to stare at us!
• Thankful for the Tata (grandmother) that chased some of the kids away.
• Scared when Steve finally slowed down and then he started to feel the pain.
• Joyful that Amara had not a scratch on her!
• Mad that the police made it so difficult for Steve.
• Thankful for missionaries in Kapchorwa that let us keep our van at his home!
• Overwhelmed with the thought of living with out a van indefinitely.
• Overwhelmed with going home to the kids and explaining it to them.
• Freezing, after walking in the rain and mud to get to the vehicle to take us to town.
• Shock when we were actually waiting at the police station waiting for Steve and Tim to finish with the report! 

I really had so many emotions that day, but I really did go into a bit of shock! I cried a lot and I think I needed that.  I have had so many emotions lately and I don't see an end in sight! We have no idea when we will be visiting the states and I just feel really overwhelmed with so many things. As bad as the accident was, I think my crying was more for my fear of never being able to travel! It was irrational thinking, but it was my mind on overload! 

I want to thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to struggle with so many things. Also keep praising God with us, he has granted us such joy in ministry and I am so thankful! 

God is good!! All the time!!

Pamba Pastor's Orientation

Pastors enjoying the many resources!

Now you are entering the Mission Field

Singing

Steve sharing about the vision and mission of the Beyond Pamba Resource Centre

Sharing about Children's Ministry

All who attended

Pamba Pastors with Steve

Serving Lunch

Ashley serving Pastor Nelson

Pastors are often blessed with motorcycles.

Children's Story Hour

Some kids just come for a nice rest!

Singing "Thy Word"

Sometimes we have other visitors!

First Week at Beyond Pamba

The first week at Beyond Pamba Resource Centre was so great! We had people in everyday asking questions and enjoying the books. We have some people that can't read that came in and our office attendant sat and read to them. Joy is our office attendant and she has been such a huge blessing.  She speaks three languages and loves to read herself! She is a go-getter and  has many great ideas to implement. 

We also had a story hour on Wednesday for children.  We had about 15-20 kids and it went really good. We read the story of David and Goliath, sang songs, memory work, colored a page and also watched a video of David and Goliath. Joy and Ashley were huge helps and the boys even helped some. The kids were all very well behaved and seemed to enjoy their time. I can tell already that I will be bringing back from the states many crayons and markers! (or if anyone wants to send some, it would be welcomed). 

I would love to show more pictures, but my computer is acting funny again and I can't get them to come up, so watch for more pictures soon! Thank-you for praying for us this first week of opening! It was such a blessing!