Outreach – Page 2 – The Rugumba's Updates

It has been a while since I last updated this blog. A lot has been going on, busy with ministry as usual. We hosted our dear friends from Austin and Los Angeles. We did a medical outreach, and we were able to see 120 patients and give them free medical care. We were also able to take our kids to a park where they were able to swim, have fun and also visit a nearby Zoo. The kids loved it, my highlight was William, one of our special needs kids enjoyed playing in water and it was hard to get him out.

My boys are now on school break, and Vena is spending a lot of time home with them. We are focusing on teaching them house chores this break, and we have also talked about sending them for Music school. We are looking at different Christian schools around as we plan to switch them to a new school next school term.

This afternoon, my heart broke for Ritah (real name reserved for privacy,) a young lady 20 years old. She grew up as an orphan, as her parents sent her into the city to find work. She stayed with a male family friend in the city, who at first offered free housing. Later on, the guy took advantage of her and she conceived. He became very abusive and would beat her every night. One day the guy came, he took everything that was in the rented house and abandoned her there with the pregnancy and went to an unknown place.

I met her about one month ago at the Worship house when she came for prayer stranded. She had complications with her pregnancy and needed care.

I am so thankful for all your support towards Mercy Medical Center. We were able to take her in, and she was able to get the required medical care. With a lot of complications and by the grace of God, she gave birth to a baby girl via C-Section two days ago at the medical center.

The baby was first managed, but was later referred to our national referral hospital for more care. Yesterday evening, I received the sad news that the baby passed away.

My heart breaks for the mother. I ask that you would be in prayer for this young lady as she is still at Mercy Medical Center recovering. She does not know about the sad news yet because of her health condition. Her blood pressure is not stable, and according to tradition the baby was buried yesterday.

I am thankful for the staff at Mercy Medical Center who did their best. If she had been in a normal center the chances of the mother also losing her life would be high. I thank every one that gave towards the operating room when I celebrated my 31st birthday.

As I celebrate 33 years, I am challenging my self to run 33 kilometers. For $20,000 we can buy an X-ray machine and build an X-ray room at our hospital. This will be the only X-ray machine in our sub-county, Mende, with a population of 26,000. We are located along Hoima road, one of the major highways, and we receive so many accident cases. We have to drive them at least 5 kilometers away for an X-ray and bring them back which is painful for them. I am asking you to give a gift towards this cause. By the grace of God, we can put an end to this in our community.

There are two ways you can give:

1.) You can write a check to Children to Love, and in the memo write Mercy X-Ray.

Children to Love International

P.O. Box 9575

Bakersfield, CA 93389

2.) You can give online at this link: https://childrentolove.givingfuel.com/give-now

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Our kids are having school break. For those who have extended family, we send them to visit and build an attachment as we work towards reuniting them. Those who don’t, we send them to families of church members to visit. The village now has a few kids around.

Mercy Church celebrated one year last week. I can’t believe it’s already been one year and how fast we have grown. We now have a permanent sanctuary built in the community where people have lived in fear of witchcraft. The building is a sign of assurance that the church is here to stay.

What excites me the most is story after story of lives that God has transformed by the power of the gospel this year. Ashlaf, a young man from a Muslim family, is a testimony of the gospel changing lives. It all started when his sister joined the church, and later on, when the rest of her family started attending. They joined a life group and started praying for their family and salvation of their brother. Before Christmas, last year, he gave his life to Christ at Church and is now a committed follower of Christ. I had the honor of baptizing him, and he is now serving in our sound department. He had dropped out of school because his mother could not afford to pay for him, but this year, through prayer, God provided. His uncle committed to pay for his school fees, and he is now back in school. His dream is to become a mechanic.

We had a huge celebration for our one year, and we had over 1,000 people in attendance. We rented 700 more chairs on top of our 450 chairs, and the church was packed. We invited people in the neighborhood and our sister church, the Worship House. Pastor Wilson preached and several musicians and choirs gave special music.

We organized a medical outreach to people in the community. We were able to treat 100 people for free at our medical center in 6 hours.

Pray for us tomorrow as we will be having baptisms. We have also invited many non-believers to come to church.

Pray for safety for our kids as they are out for school break.

Happy Easter!!