Gill and Carlos Olaaka - Uganda |
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June 2010 Prayer Update
Dear friends,
Thank you for your continued prayers. We have recently really begun to realize that we could spend all day every day committing things to Christ and not even begin to cover all the things that need to be prayed for! Each day we need to turn to God anew with commitment and hope, asking for His strength, power and guidance in our own lives. We know that all the families with whom we work, the children, the communities in Uganda where we are based, have many needs, physical, emotional and social, but most of all spiritual. We are so aware that if God is not at work, true change or transformation of a life cannot happen. Please stand with us in praying for all the beneficiaries in our projects to truly know God as their Lord and Saviour, and to know His will in their lives.
Thanks for praying,
Gill and Carlos
Please pray for:
• 2 of our original Bambejja ‘princesses’, Shamim and Rose, have become grown up, responsible young women who have such a heart for giving back to both the project and to God, as they see how their lives have changed. Please pray for Rose as she volunteers with us in various roles at Bambejja, mainly following up with girls in their homes and helping when they are sick, and for Shamim as she applies to go to university. They are amazing examples of how God can make a huge difference in someone’s life!
• We would ask for prayer for all some students in the North in Gulu who will be given small grants to help them start businesses. This is a new scheme and we hope it will help those who can’t find employment to sustain themselves.
• We started a new adult literacy class in Mbale, and 30 students, all from the community, have been coming 2 days a week. Please pray that this class would continue to be a success and that the students would gratefully benefit from it.
Thanksgiving:
• We have seen God’s healing hand at work in the last month – not only is Lydia now back at work doing some things and caring for the children (though not going anywhere near fire as yet!), the girl I asked for prayer last time has improved and has responded well to treatment. This wee girl is actually living with HIV but did not know this, though she is around 12 and has been asking lots of questions about why she gets ill so much. Amazingly this month her mother was able to tell her what was actually wrong and why she was so sick so often. She responded very well, and has even decided that she wants to be a nurse in future to help other children like her! We thank God for her precious life and would ask for continued prayer for her.
• We had a wonderful Birthday Bash for the Bambejja girls on 7th May, and they were truly delighted with the games, fun, presents, cake and lovely food. We will hold one in Beersheba in mid June.
• We are thankful that we managed to recruit 20 girls for the Skills Training Project and they have settled in well. We hope they will benefit from their time at the project – over 80% of previous graduates are now in employment so we pray for similar success with this group.
• We had a wonderful prayer day on 21st May when all the Oasis staff got together in their various locations to set aside time to pray. It was so refreshing to put time aside to be in God’s presence as a staff family. We are also looking forward to a weekend of ’24-7’ prayer from 4-7th June, when we will have a prayer room open and also do a community ‘clean up’ (our focus is on the environment and caring for God’s world). We thank God for this opportunity to spend more time in prayer.