Greetings from Uganda! We pray all is well with ALL of you! Here's our update for the month - we have certainly not been idle! I'll try to hit the high points and not bore you with the details, but you know how hard that is for me! There are many praises here, and many things that we ask you to pray about. Blessings to you all! 1. PRAISE - We had a pastor's conference in November on "The Word of the Pastor" and it was EXCELLENT and had pastors from Entebbe and Fort Portal as well as our own guys, plus Pastor Mohan from Kampala came. 2. PRAISE - We had a pastor's WIVES conference in December on "A Beautiful Woman of God - The Pastor's Wife," and IT was also EXCELLENT! We had five languages represented, but among our staff, we actually had translators for everyone! 3. PRAYER - Just before the wives' conference, Pastor Apollo and wife Betty's two year old son Jesse had to be admitted in hospital and they did not know if he would live. He was given two units of blood and diagnosed with sickle cell anemia. Betty is devastated because she has lost so many children to this disease. She has delivered 11 living children and has 5 who are still living. We will help with the best care that we can, but there isn't a lot you can do except fluids and vitamins. 4. PRAISE AND PRAYER - Pastor Apollo has been harvesting the sugar cane that we started for him as an income generating project. He is doing GREAT, but the driver and the asst manager assigned to him are trying to steal 10 tons of the sugar cane from him. He is in talks with the manager. 5. PRAYER - We have had to close one of our churches and remove the pastor - Simba James from Osia (near Tororo). PRAISE - But we have another pastor there - Michael Sande - who is starting a church in Tororo Town itself, and he already has as many members in his church as James did after 6 years. Michael is a good and godly man, and we pray God uses him greatly! PRAYER - After we closed and locked the church in Osia, James broke the locks off and still held services there so we had to involve the local government. We will see what happens now. We will be selling that land and church in March. 6. PRAISE - Three weeks ago Jess ran in the MTN half-marathon in Kampala. He did really well, and finished in a little better time than last year - 2 hours and 15 minutes. For a man with Parkinsons, that is an accomplishment (and I, Beverly, am really proud of him). He was happy to have done so well, and has started running in the mornings again when it's not pouring down rain. 7.PRAISE - Speaking of rain - the prayers of the Saints are working in this area this rainy season! It is probably the best rainy season Uganda has had in 5 or 6 years and it seems that almost everywhere in Uganda crops are growing this year! Maybe we will have a season without quite so much hunger! 8.PRAISE - Jess and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on December 7th! Hurray! Two thirds of our married life has been spent in Uganda! 9. PRAYER AND PRAISE - Don and Danielle Pierce, the couple who works with us, have had a difficult two months. Danielle has been having what appears to be seizures, and this has never happened to her before. She went for treatment in Kampala, but there isn't an MRI machine or even a proper EEG machine in Kampala, so she was referred to Nairobi. They traveled there and after extensive testing, the neurologist says Danielle is not having seizures but has some sort of nerve problem/disorder. She is in the process of changing medicines, is growing stronger and not having so many seizure-like episodes. PLEASE keep her in prayer. 10. PRAYER - We had to fire a man who had worked for us for almost 5 years because of excessive drunkenness. It was a difficult thing to do because he has a wife and four children, one of whom is just a month old. But there were many problems because of his drinking, not the least of which is that he works for a church and a pastor, and that was damaging the reputation of the church badly. So we paid him 6 months salary and transported him and his family and possessions back to his home area of Kitgum in the North. Please pray that God changes him and that his family does not suffer. 11. PRAYER - We are in the process of getting ready for our Christmas Prisons Program that our kids will perform in 6 prisons in three days the week before Christmas. Then they also do the performance at our Christmas Day service as well. It's a lot of work, but it's an incredible blessing for the men and women that are ministered to in prison by this program. 12. PRAISE AND PRAYER - There was a court ruling that affected many of the men and women on Death Row - the Condemned Section of the prison. The ruling states that if you have not been executed within three years of finishing your final appeal, it is cruel and unusual punishment and your sentence is commuted to "Life." "Life" under the Commonwealth law is 20 years. So 110 men - mostly the members of our church in the prison - had their sentences commuted to life and were moved from the "Condemned" to the "Convicted" section of the prison and are now serving what is basically a 20 year sentence, starting from the date of their conviction. We are thrilled about some who will eventually be released, but also realize that there are some men in this group who should never, under any circumstances, be released from prison. Pray that God touches their hearts and they realize it is only through His grace that they will be free, and that they come to Him completely. 13. PRAISE AND PRAYER - Kelli has gone back to the States for two months. We are all missing her terribly, but hope she has the BEST furlough possible. 14. PRAISE AND PRAYER - Jess and I will be taking furlough from April through June. We haven't made a schedule yet, but will be doing that VERY soon. 15. PRAYER (for School of Ministry Students on holiday) - This is the final week for School of Ministry until after Christmas, and our guys will be going back to their villages for the holiday. Jess had to dismiss one student for immorality, and the man's pastor was adamant that he was being framed, but in truth, he was guilty, so he isn't here any longer. 16. PRAYER FOR STRENGTH (AND WISDOM) - Last Saturday, Jess had to conduct and wedding and a burial on the same day. The bride and groom got here 2 hours late, and then it was a 2 hour drive to the village after the wedding, so the burial also started late. At the same time, there were at least a dozen other things going on here at the compound, including the new "Street Kids" ministry, and it was quite a zoo. I usually would be around coordinating, but I had to take an elderly woman to Kampala for some things she needed there - she is a widow and her husband is the one who is buried here on our property. So it was a fairly "normal" day here - absolutely crazy! So after all that, please keep us daily in prayer! And we will never take your prayers for granted! They cover us with God's grace! Bless you and keep you always! With love in Christ, Bev and Jess