Best Christmas Ever!

Don Neufeld and his family just returned from Uganda.  His sister Jean and husband Rick along with their daughter Samantha (10 ½ years old) all spent 3 weeks over the Christmas Holiday on the ground with Next Generation Ministries.  Don shared some of his experiences with us today that we would like to post for all of our Team Uganda followers.

Don says:

This was the BEST Christmas ever.  We went to Jinja Main Hospital with Lyzette with plans to participate in her ministry to the women in the maternity ward, focusing on those in crisis of losing a baby.  We took along the “baby tote” which had blankets, sheets and other items mothers would need for their newborns.  Two ladies had lost their babies and we prayed with them. One man was led to Christ.  Every day was like that, full of God’s surprises.  These people are dear to my heart.

On Christmas Eve we went to a restaurant and enjoyed a lot of singing.  Then Peter, our driver, called Paul.  His little 4-year old daughter, Precious was having convulsions.  The van was at the compound with us so we headed to their home.  There was a heavy rain storm and heavy traffic due to the Holiday, but we finally got to them and took them to the hospital.  The convulsions were from malaria.  They stabilized her at the hospital and gave her an IV.  This was very scarey.  The next day she was alert and eating well.

The first thing we did when we got there was go buy a soccer ball and went over to Serah’s Caring Place for Samantha to meet the kids.  In four days time, the ball was worn out.  They were out of school and played with it constantly.

There were times without power and water, but we adapted as usual.  It’s the way it is in Uganda.

A highlight was meeting Edgar and his bride to be, Annette and her twin sister, Janet.  The girls showed up with a small bag about the size of a laptop bag that contained all their worldly belongings.  We took them shopping to purchase a dress for each of them.  They were so happy.  Edgar is a dairy cattle farmer in Western Uganda and has been close to Paul and Pam for many years.  He’s an amazing guy.

We found out from Robert Sityo there is electricity coming very close to the Fountain of Hope School.  My dad, Ike Neufeld, sent $1,000 for seed money to get the school on-line.  Robert checked into the cost and found out it would take about $7,000 to bring electricity to the school and another $3,000 to get them tied in.  I contributed another $1,000 so we just need to raise $8,000 more!  If you’re interested in contributing to this project, please let me know.

While we were delivering a gift from Debbie Whiteneck to Shakira (the girl she sponsors) at Fountain of Hope School, a man walked up and told Paul he was tired of his Muslim ways and wanted to change.  Paul led him to Christ.  Just an example of God’s surprises.

Robert Sityo’s cancer is back.  He’s not sure he wants to take Chemo treatments again.  This is a real prayer concern.

Dereck Mombera escorted us to Kenya to visit Dominion Farms.  We had a flat tire on the way and go to experience a tire change the Ugandan way.  It definitely is different than the Ewald Brothers way!  It was impressive how they engineered and built dams for the irrigation at the farm.  Workers were walking along the rice fields shaking cans of rocks to scare off birds.  We saw the tilapia farms and processing plant along with the rice processing plant.  We got to see the farm equipment that had been shipped over, some from Fairview and Enid.

We visited Abdu’s farm and got to see the round feeder he had Patrick build for him.  It was patterned off of one Leon Neufeld had here in Oklahoma and Abdu said it eliminates waste of feed.  American ways in Uganda!  Abdu is always learning and applying modern farm technologies to his operation.

While in Uganda we got to worship at Pastor Jimmie’s church and Pastor David’s church.  Pastor David and Sarah had us over to their home and we got to enjoy singing and dancing by their children…18 of them!   We had the privilege of meeting Katie Davis, who wrote the book “Kisses from Katie”.  We took a tour of the Nile River and it poured down rain on us.  We got terribly cold and then the sun came out.  We got to see the fishing villages along the Nile.  We also spent time with some of The Island Boys and got to see how they have progressed as young Christian men and business men.  Some of our Power House kids from Fairview sent Christmas Ornaments with me.  We used them to decorate at Paul and Pam’s house and they were very much appreciated.

Our friend, Patrick (the welder), is having health problems.  He had fluid on his left lung and having difficulty breathing and has not been able to work.  This is a great concern and I suspect he has breathed in a lot of bad fumes through all his years of welding.  He and his wife Grace have a baby girl named Pamela (named after Pam Hunter) and a little boy named Don Paul that we call Junior.  You guessed it.  Named after myself and Paul Hunter.

My friends in Uganda call me Uncle Don.  It’s a real honor that they feel this way about me.  Helen (Pastor Jimmie’s wife) tells me I’m like a father to her.  Its very humbling.

Back to my first comment…it was the best Christmas ever!