Besanyia orphanage-CHERUB

This is the view Joy would have everyday from the orphanage. She worked there in 2007. It's up quite a hill that I am glad to say everytime I have gone there has been by riding in a car. Part of the exam room where the doctor puts on and takes off casts as well as other medical things he does.The doctor works basically on orthopedics with kids. He has made some great improvements in the lives of some kids with severe cerebral palsy.

Other kids hanging out and also waiting to see the doctor. We played while I was also sitting there waiting for someone. Had fun speaking a few Luganda words and playing pat-a-cake!

This cute little guy wasn't sure about me at first, I guess my being white was something he wasn't used to seeing. The picture below him was something he was snacking on :)

yep, those are some good tasting insects. I couldn't be sure what kind of bugs they were, but he enjoyed them!

More Spain pictures

Another beautiful building in Valladolid...my memory isn't often reliable, but I think it was going to be a castle or cathedral before the king decided to move the capital to Madrid. I certainly don't remember the century it was built. Alecia and Alvaro would know though, they were great giving information on what we got to see while there.

This is a side view of the OLD castle in Segovia.

Our super hosts in the Toledo region. Sorry, again with the memory not working, I don't remember the name of the city. Between jet lag catching up with me and getting a bit car sick on the ride to their home :(..... BUT, I do remember this is Teo and Lili. I so appreciate the way she took care of me when I needed to be taken care of. I missed going to the Romanian church and seeing Ken preach, I was getting much needed sleep. This great family lived in Medias, Romania when we were there in 2004 and actually remember us being at their church there! Small world. The view out their kitchen window. Loved it.
Monday, Alvaro took Ken and I around part of Madrid. We went to the current castle. Sorry to say they don't allow anyone to take pictures inside, but here are a few of the outside. We toured the old pharmacy (interesting), a very cool hall, dining area, a few bedrooms, sitting rooms and the armory that had many suits of armor for the men and their horses. Really interesting stuff from ancient days. In the picture below there are two flagpoles, one with the flag of Spain and the other used when the king is in residence. I had to laugh at the lightpoles, they even have gold crowns on them!

View of the cathedral across the courtyard.
Cute little police car.... two men actually fit inside.
Would you believe this is the main post office? Looks like another castle to me.

More statues. I told you before, they have statues everywhere! This park is huge, Alvaro and Alecia compared it to Central Park in New York. This is after Alecia caught up with us after class.

Alvaro wanted to show us a monument made to honor the victims in the bombing a few years ago, so this is a picture of him at the top! At the gate of the park....

Mercedes, Alvaro and Fernando. We had a great time meeting them! I can't say enough nice things about them. Super people! I look forward to visiting again sometime.

quick report

Here are a few pictures from our 4 short days in Spain with Alecia, (a friend from our home church who is currently studying in Spain) and with Alvaro, (a Spanish exchange student who spent the month of July with us in 2006 and 2007). I took about 150 pictures so there might be quite a few in this post about Spain :)

This is the first evening we were there. Alvaro and Fernando (Alvaro's father) were so great to pick us up at the airport and then show us around some of the area that night yet. We also got to meet up with Alecia!

Alvaro wanted to take us out for jamon serrano. He had told us about this kind of meat back at home and now wanted us to experience the famous jamon serrano. Really pretty good stuff. I found it to be everywhere along with calamari! In one of pics below you can see the pig's legs hanging from the ceiling in the restaurant. Scary place for a vegetarian.

The beautiful city of SEGOVIA.....

Inside the cathedral in Segovia (I think in Segovia). We went to a few of them, all very beautiful. The pictures I have from the outside don't do it justice.

I believe these are from the grounds at the Palacio Real in Segovia.

There are statues and sculptures all over the grounds and in many places throughout Spain. Here's one that made me laugh.

Looks like someone was in trouble!

The aqueduct. A piece of history that amazes me. A king had this built to carry water from the mountains. It also has a statue in it. Look carefully below!

This picture is part of the moat at the castle in Segovia! Never thought I would actually see a real moat around a castle.

Here is Mercedes, Alvaro's mother. Now I know why Alvaro is such a great person to be around, his parents are too! They had us to their home one day and fed us this great seafood Paella. After a short and needed siesta, (it might be a national law to take a siesta) they took us around Valladolid, their home town. Again, a very beautiful place.

Sadly, I don't remember where this is. I have many pictures that are similar to this. You can be walking down many of the streets and look up to see a view like this.

Someone asked me if there were any modern type buildings in Spain......












That's all for now. I'll try to get just a little more about Spain before moving onto the most important part of our trip.
Oh, one more picture for now. I want to thank Alecia for being such a professional in knowing how to get around Madrid and use the subway. It was very helpful not to get lost :) Thank-you!!

We are down to two days before leaving. My initial impatience wore off a little and I've kept busy with getting things done. It's amazing how many things need to be taken care of before a trip like this. We are going first to Madrid Spain for 4 days before traveling to Uganda. A young woman from our church is currently studying in Madrid and we are looking forward to seeing her along with our 2 previous summer exchange students, Alvaro and Miguel.
Ken was hoping for some kind of ministry while in Spain, but we couldn't think of how that would work out. God took care of it for us. Alecia (from our church) sent us an email titled "opportunity". She asked if we would be interested to speak in a church she attends. I was shocked because we didn't tell her of the idea of any ministry while in Spain. It's odd how so many opportunities come our way that we dismiss or that we don't see as coming from God. I pray that we have our eyes opened to the many blessings and "opportunities" that He sends our way.
Our program in Uganda consists of the regular school visits, churches plus a side trip for Ken and a few others to the Masaka district for return ministry from two years ago. Please pray for safety in travel and as always, that our words are from Him and that they fall on "fertile ground".
On another note, the Internet is seriously slow in Uganda and I expect this blog will not be updated until our return, but one never knows.....
Blessings to all of you!

A new Bishop?

We received an email yesterday from Stephen Kaziimba, the Provost we have been working with since the first time we went to Uganda.

A few days ago he and another man were in an article in a newspaper in Uganda. The article stated that one of those two men would soon be the new Bishop of the largest Diocese in Uganda and it is not in Mukono. While this is a wonderful opportunity for Stephen, I do wonder (selfishly) what we would do without his guidance and wise counsel. This is when I remember that all this mission work for us in Uganda is not in our hands and not in Stephen's hands, but in His almighty hands.

So where am I trusting today? I am trusting that wherever He leads, He will provide....for us as well as for the Kaziimba family. They are a blessing to so many people. Would you pray for them today?

website

To help us reach more people, we will be starting up a website. We are working to get as much information on it as possible. If there is something you would like to see on the website, please let us know. When it is up and running, we'll give the address here and let you know it's ready.

In the mean time, we've heard from Patrick in the Lugazi area. Ken went with him to his home village in the Masaka area (Feb'06) with some people from the youth group. They spent 5 days there, having open crusades, visiting people in their homes, conducting church services on Sunday and also had a fire to destroy witchcraft items after a family turned to God.

One thing in his letter to Ken that struck us was when he talked about it being the first time visitors had ever gone to people's homes. It seems natural for us to go to those who can't make it out to the large gatherings. It was surprising to hear it was a first for people to be ministered to that way.

That's all for now, keep an eye out for the web address

A friend of mine who is interested in going on a mission trip to Uganda recently asked me what are the needs of the people there. Wow, after stopping to think on that, I really couldn't nail down just a few answers for her because of the great need of so many things. I would like to tell you about one in particular for now.
On our last trip in March of 2007, we met with the Bishop of the cathedral we work with. He inquired about getting medical equipment in the area. Ken has been looking into a few different packages that International Aid carry. There are people in the area who have the knowledge to put the items we have found out about to great use. They would not only use the equipment to help people medically, but they would also be ministering to them with sharing the Word of God.
The cost of this equipment is $8,214, (plus shipping). A large undertaking it seems, but I know it is possible.
If you feel you could help with this, (all donations are now tax-exempt) please contact us at:
vanderwk@gvsu.edu
Thanks for your consideration!

News we've been waiting for....

We are excited to announce that our 501c 3 has been approved. Liberty is now officially a charitable organization. It has been a long time since we started working on all the paperwork, getting the information compiled and approved. Sometimes it seemed like this day wasn't coming, but we had to keep remembering that it works out in His timing, not ours or even the IRS's.

In the last post, I talked about the Kaziimba boys singing at Unity Festival. It was great to see them here and hear them on stage. They will be leaving for home next week Tuesday, the 28th. Please pray for safety in their travels, it takes a long time to get there:)

Letters and emails keep coming from Uganda. Some are praises for prayers answered, some are inquiring when we will return for mission work and some include requests for help, both prayer requests and financial requests. One paticular request came for Ken to return to the area where he spent 5 days in 2006 on a short mission with a group from Lugazi. It was a fantastic time of people coming to Christ so of course he looks forward to returning to the area to do more.





Please be in prayer for us to know when to return and what areas to visit with the Gospel!


Thanks!

Hard to believe it is August already! We have been busy this summer with many activites, including having a guest from Spain during July. Alvaro stayed with us last summer with a student exchange program and this year he visited on his own. This week we had to say good-bye to him but we will also be saying hello to Provost Stephen Kaziimba and his sons. They have come to the States for a few weeks. They will be singing at this year's Unity Festival in Muskegon Michigan, August 9, 10 and 11. This family is very talented and we are excited to have them here to sing for many, many people. If you plan on being there, don't miss them on the Lakes stage!