Lives Restored

With over 300 churches and 200 pastors, UBC has seen tens of thousands of lives transformed through the power of Christ. In their own words, believers share their testimonies of His faithfulness.

Pastor Maisha Joseph
I was born in Masisi village in October 1969. Before accepting Christ at age 22, I was deeply involved in sin – drinking without control and visiting prostitutes. I joined the rebellion group and became a soldier.

A pastor came to visit our camp. He preached the word of God from Matthew 28:19-20 and told me about the goodness of God. Five days later, I left the rebellion group and went to the village where the pastor had a church. I testified there of what God did for me – He spared my life! Just two days after I left the rebellion, 67 of my former colleagues were killed in an attack by the government army.

I totally believed in God and started doing the work of the Lord in the church. Two years later, I was married. I studied and became an evangelist. I have since planted nine churches, one of which I pastor. I thank God for everything He does in my life!

 

 

Janne Muzuka
I was born in 1972 in Nyabibwe village. My mother died when I was two, and my father took another wife. By age 14, I began a terrible life of prostitution in a drinking establishment. I was used by the owner to make money for her, but was too poor to support myself. If I continued to work for her, I was able to have food and a place to sleep.

When I was 17, Pastor Habarurema came to my village and preached in an open-air meeting. His words touched me deeply. When he asked who was ready to repent of their sins, I was the first one. In front of everyone, I repented, but I was too well known by everyone in the village. They didn’t believe that I would follow Christ. The pastor arranged for me to move to Goma where I started my new life in his home. I am now 26 and married with four children. I am the president of the women’s group in our church. God has truly restored my life!

From Despair To Strength

Many of you know that our primary ministry is providing education and a chance to learn about the Gospel for improverished children. Beyond the children, GSSK brings God’s word to adults in home settings with small groups of believers. Here, we share with you the impact that GSSK has had in our community.

Parvati
In Indian culture, girls are viewed as a burden. Parvati comes from a very poor family. Her aged parents arranged for her marriage at the age of 17. According to tradition, Parvati went to live with her husband’s extended family. There, she was tortured physically and mentally, beaten, and starved. One day, she was pushed into a barrel drum and left to die. On hearing this, her brother rushed to rescue her and brought her back to her father’s home.

She came to our school in total despair, asking for any job. We took her as a helper in our nursery section. She loved the job among these young children aged two to three years old. This helped her recover from the trauma she experienced. We helped her further her studies, even as she was working in our school. Parvati has since earned a Bachelor of Arts, then a Diploma in Education, and is now pursuing Montessori training which will be completed in 18 months. During the seven years since she came to us, her whole life has changed. Parvati, once very desperate and broken, now rejoices in her new life in the Lord.

 

Kajal
We noticed that one of our students, Kajal, became worried and depressed. As we asked her the reason, she confided that her father is an alcoholic, comes home fully drunk, beating up her mother and creating scenes. We counseled her and prayed with her during our morning prayer sessions at school. We all began praying for her father and, eventually, we began counseling him as well. In the beginning, he was very angry. Ultimately, he became more responsive. Praise the Lord – he got out of the clutches of alcohol! Now he goes around his community telling people about the peace and joy he found in Christ.

We thank you for your prayers and support that make reaching people like these possible.

A Home For Kirill

Andrey and Oksana are from a small village near Khabarovsk. Their small church family and the entire community know them as a very happy and loving family with three beautiful daughters. When Andrey and Oksana began to pray about taking in an orphan, their fellow church members and neighbors were dumbfounded. At first, no one supported them or understood why they would want the problems that could bring.

Andrey and Oksana were undeterred! They felt a deep burden to share their love and happiness with an orphan. Very soon, their hearts and testimony impacted their church, neighbors, and Andrey’s coworkers. Their faith was strong!

While they were praying, God was working. Kirill, a 9-year-old orphan boy, asked Jesus into his life. His prayer after he accepted Jesus was for God to bless his birth mother, whom he has never met, and for God to give him a family.

Kirill has attended our summer camp several times and was well known by another one of our foster families. Through these connections, he is now with his new family where he is well cared for and loved! His new family believes that Kirill will grow up to be a man of strong faith who will make a difference in their church and in their village.

Please continue to pray for HFL Homes in Russia. With your prayers and support, we seek to equip more Christian couples like Andrey and Oksana who will open their lives and homes to orphans.

When Light Occupies The Land

Our vision at POM South Sudan is to let light occupy the land. Church planting, disciple making, and leadership development are at the heart of our ministry. The light will only occupy the land when as many as those who hear and believe the good news let the light occupy their hearts.

We praise God for the impact that our teams are making in different tribes, and we can confidently testify about those who have believed; and now, the light is residing in their hearts. We would like to share with you what God is doing among the Diding’a tribe. Among the ministry leaders reaching different locations for Diding’a, four men are in the frontlines rallying the troops for spreading the light – Jacob, Joseph, Atanazio, and Simon. Their passion for the lost is always being renewed.

Hope Restored
We would like to share the story of a girl whose hopes were restored because of the good news that was preached by Atanazio and his team in Khartima. Susan Akongo, in her naivety, was lured into premarital sex in her late teens while in primary school. She got pregnant and was forced to drop out of school. Since there was no commitment from her child’s father that would have led to marriage, Susan felt that her life was wrecked beyond repair. With nothing else to count on, she felt as though she was a social outcast. For several years, she was hopeless, living in shame and with low self-esteem.

At the height of her despair, she had a chance to hear the news of Jesus Christ from Atanazio and his team of evangelists. When she believed and accepted Jesus as the Lord and Savior of her life, she was not the same again. The chains of shame fell off, the cloud of hopelessness was lifted away, and what remained was a new sense of purpose in life and hope, not only for a promising future, but also the hope of eternal life. Her life was given a new order!

Susan is now attending primary school to continue her studies (even at age 27!), and she is ready to continue to high school and beyond. She is one among the believers of the church in Khartima, and she is a new witness of Jesus in His Kingdom. She enjoys working with the children on Sunday mornings. She’s seen here on the right giving out a snack during the children’s fellowship. The love of Jesus is truly a love that frees people from all chains associated with sin and its consequences. We praise God for the great restoration.

Continuing The Fight

Rebeca Chebet from POM hosted the annual International Zero Tolerance Day rally against FGM (female genital mutilation) on February 6. Although this horrendous cultural practice is against the law, it is still a threat for Pokot girls. Almost 1,000 Pokot gathered to learn more about the physical and emotional impacts of FGM, hear how God has changed the women that have laid down their knives, and celebrate girls saying no to FGM.

During the rally, four women relenquished their knives! Because FGM is illegal, it was incredibly brave for them to do so publicly. The punishment could be a minimum of three years in prision, as well as fines of 100,000 to 200,000 shillings, equivalent to $1,000 to $2,000. Please pray that these women will remain steadfast in their decision to no longer be part of this heinous practice.

Service Leads To Salvation

We thank our Lord for this new year of 2020 and for the ended 2019. Our ministry has seen much fruit this year as more people have heard the Gospel. Here are just a few examples:

In Remera, members of the church wanted to help rebuild the home of an elderly woman. Her home had been destroyed, and she had no one to assist her with repairs. She was deeply involved with witchcraft, but the church members felt strongly about ministering to her. They approached her to ask about helping, and the pastor asked to pray with her. In that prayer, he asked the Holy Spirit to touch her. She has rejected witchcraft and is now serving Jesus! Here you see church members working on her home.

We recently held a one-day workshop for women to encourage them in their everyday life. One woman, Agnes, shared her testimony about how Jesus sustained her even when she was struggling the most. She spoke about her life before becoming a Christian. Her husband wasn’t a Christian either, and most of their days were spent fighting. He would send her out of the home during the night. There were many days when Agnes wasn’t able to eat because her husband spent all of their money on alcohol.

Members of the church visited her village. She heard them praying and wanted to know more. Soon after, Agnes accepted Christ! She became a singer in the church and began faithfully praying for her husband and family. She prayed for God to give her strength. God has answered her prayers, and her husband is now a believer!

Our children’s feeding program in Kigali feeds hundreds of children experiencing malnutrition. Their families are now attending church and hearing the good news of Jesus. We thank God for these opportunities to tell others about Him!

Small Loan = Large Growth

We thank God for our partnership with Harvesters. Over the years, we have enjoyed working together to build the Kingdom of God spiritually, socially, and economically.

Last year we embarked on empowering the women in our community through providing micro loans so that they can work to be bread winners. A micro loan can cover a number of projects.

Gertrude
Gertrude is a widow taking care of her three children, one of whom attends our primary school. She also runs a grocery retail store, which was left to her by her late husband. However, this business could not meet their basic needs. She came to our ministry for a micro loan. Since receiving the loan, Gertrude’s business has been picking up so well, and her capital is increasing! She is now in position to efficiently take care of her family.

We have also provided training to other women in the community, together with their husbands, on modern farming. We conducted a workshop in November, which attracted 102 participants. This training enables them to productively use the small plots of land they have to do multiple things.

 

 

Emmanuel
Before he gave his life to Jesus Christ, Emmanuel was practicing witchcraft. During his work as a witch doctor, he met a young lady with whom he had a child. Because of her strong Christian faith, his family refused to let her live with them, which forced him to move to Pallisa. While there, he was introduced to River of God Church and was led to Christ five years ago. Through our discipleship programs and practical ministry, Emmanuel has led many to Christ in open-air crusades, door-to-door outreach, and street preaching. Not only that, he has also developed skills in running our church sound system. Currently, Emmanuel runs our daily lunch hour meetings, which draw a huge crowd. He is among those that we are planning to send out this year to plant a new church.