“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
Luke 1:31-32
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Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year! It always brings to mind what happened when our Lord Jesus, was born in Bethlehem. God brought us salvation through His son, who died for us and was raised on the third day. We can have life because of God’s grace and through our faith in all of this. To me it is the most wonderful news in the world. It is the news that everyone needs to hear. Jesus is really the only reason for the season!
We are, however, to show love and kindness and share the love of Christ, and this good news, all the year through with all we meet. Those of you who sponsor a child or support the ministry through financial gifts and prayer are a part of this in Uganda. You help us to reach out to some of the poorest people in the world, people with no hope. The true story of Jesus Christ gives them the hope they need. I have seen the lives of so many of the children really change and they are coming out of their physical and spiritual poverty. They are spreading this good news to others they meet and helping them to find hope.
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Making Christmas Special
Thank you to all who have already sent $35 for Christmas for your sponsored child. Click here or text HUMChristmas to 41444 if you still wish to do so. In addition, click here to write your child a letter that we’ll put with their gift.
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I want to thank each and every one of you that have been a part of this ministry and sharing the good news, changing lives for eternity. I pray that this special partnership will continue on for many years. Every year we give gifts to all sponsored children, and others when we can. It means so much to them as gift exchanges are not a part of these impoverished families’ lives. Please consider making Christmas special for one or more of these children with a gift of $35 each.
I ask you to pray for these children and the people of Uganda as well. Pray that schools will open in January as anticipated and that the children and youth are able to catch up after nearly two years of inconsistent, and for some, nonexistent classes. Pray for renewed normalcy and stability in the family and guardian homes and a restoration of employment opportunities in this small village. Pray for two productive farming seasons. We continue to pray that people will turn to our Lord Jesus and allow Him to make the difference in their lives, to give them the hope they need, and to commit their lives to Him.
Many of the children had mattresses and bedding that had become very old and worn out. We focused this year to replace these as well as provided metal chests in which to store their clothes and other belongings out of the dirt as they do not have furniture. We also increased our food distribution to help these families while the children were out of school for such extended times. Thank you for your faithful support to these children. Please visit our website to see children and youth awaiting ongoing sponsors.
We are thankful to all who generously responded to our need to replace the roof of our Children’s Home. As of this writing, we are nearing full funding with about $4,000 of the $22,000 still needed. We anticipate moving to temporarily housing to begin the work in January. In additional, our Genesis Nursery and Primary School is still needing funds to finish the renovations of the last three classrooms. I ask that you remember us as you plan your year-end giving to help us with one of these needs, or with our ministry funds, which supports our basic operations and provides for wages of our national workers throughout the year.
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Year-end funding needs:
*Christmas $35 per child
* Begin a new sponsorship starting at $30/mo.
Please see our website to select a child to sponsor.
*Food baskets $35 each
*Approximately $4,000 remaining of the Children’s
Home roof.
*3 Classroom renovations $3,000 each
*Ministry Outreach Center $90,000
Even if you don’t normally itemize deductions on your annual tax return, there are temporary incentives in the 2021 tax laws encouraging you to invest in an organization such as Hines Ugandan Ministries this year. See more at this link:
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While looking back in amazement of all the Lord has faithfully accomplished here in Kamonkoli, I also look forward as we continue the vision that I felt the Lord gave to me so many years ago. We continue to work to, not only care for the many practical needs of the children, but to actually offer them a Biblical world view with hope in Jesus and the ability to successfully support for themselves and their families as they become young adults. We hope to expand our Genesis School to provide more children with a quality education and daily Biblical influence. This will also allow us to impact more children through sponsorship and make an even more meaningful difference in Kamonkoli and surrounding villages.
The national staff that God has faithfully brought to work in this ministry continue to grow and thrive as they reach their community for Him. They are such a blessing to me as God has put His vision for this ministry in their hearts as well. I am particularly excited about those who have grown up through our sponsorship program and now serve alongside us as social workers, teachers and more. We also have two wonderful young missionaries, Elizabeth and Laura, who have been with us for four years and are going strong. We continue to shine Jesus’ light on the community and teach His word to all who will listen.
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Our main property houses the four children’s homes, Genesis School, a dining and ministry hall, and Holmes Medical Clinic. Our sponsorship and community ministry facilities are still rented offsite and are becoming very tight! The last two years, as we met the needs of the impoverished children and families of this community through the unexpected conditions of lockdowns due to a worldwide pandemic, and local drought, have really brought home to me the need to bring this hub and heart of the ministry to the same campus. All of these programs will work together more effectively from one shared location and a Ministry Outreach Center could accomplish this goal.
Due to the generosity of some initial donors, we are nearing the halfway point to funding this much-needed Ministry Outreach Center. A center where families in crisis can seek practical and emergency help, inquire about having a child sponsored and receive spiritual counsel. A place where we can store, sort and distribute food and necessities to sponsored children and other impoverished families of the community (we continue to provide over 1,000 food baskets each month). A place where the children will receive food, school supplies and uniforms, counseling and discipleship, and write letters to their sponsors. Right now, we have some secondary school kids, that would normally be away at boarding school, coming to our offices to Zoom their classes.
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Offsite storage for food distribution that we are quickly outgrowing. |
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Trying on new outfits at Christmas. For many of the children these will be their one outfit for public activities for the year. |
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They continue to use their older outfits and good second-hand clothes we provide for play clothes. |
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It was a blessing to connect with many of you during my time back in the U.S. I am so happy to be back with the children in my home and am looking forward to making Christmas special for them. This, of course, includes baking cookies together like we do every year. I love you all and pray for God’s blessings over each and every one of you, now and forever, and that the Lord will return to you a hundred-fold all the ways you have blessed this ministry.
Katherine
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We accept
Zelle
If you would like to set up a recurring gift or make a larger electronic donation without
credit card or bank fees for you or HUM, you can donate directly from your
bank account through Zelle. Set this up at your bank’s website. Zelle your gift to us at giving@hineskids.org
Email us at the same address if
you need to cancel a current
recurring gift first.
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Hines Ugandan Ministries
303-847-9522
P.O. Box 620727, Littleton, CO 80162
P.O. Box 1402, Mbale, Uganda, East Africa
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