A wonderful donation

We have been wanting to get a hangar here in Uganda for CROSSWIND wings of mercy. We own a Cessna 206 and have been patiently waiting for the ministry to "take off". We had engine trouble in Djibouti when we were flying the plane to Uganda.
A Christian friend and mechanic met me in Djibouti and we took the plane apart. The plane was shipped to Uganda and the engine was shipped to the states. (At least that was what we thought.)
We were told that the engine had been lost. In the process we discovered that the shipping company had cheated us. The engine core was in bad condition. Another engine core was purchased and MMS completely rebuilt the new engine.
To save us some money on shipping I decided to wait to ship the engine until Andrew and Aimee jo sent their container. We shared a 40foot seacontainer. All of the Martin's belonging were packed into the container at Charles Colwell's house.
We were able to buy a zero turn mower, finishing mower and a Honda mower for the work here. We have a tractor and maintain and manage the Fort Portal airstrip. We also shipped the church tent, 400 metal chairs, fire hoses and some gear as well as other supplies for the ministry.
(We sure could use the plane right now with all of the flooding that has been going on around the country. The only way to safely reach some of the towns in the north is by plane.)
One of my regrets when packing the container was that we did not go ahead and buy an airplane hangar. There was concern over the space in the container.

Well the Lord is faithful. I saw a hangar for sale on ebay. The owner mentioned that if it doesn't sell he would consider giving it to a nonprofit in Mexico. I wrote him and told him about the work we are doing here.
After a dozen emails and a phone call he donated the hangar to us!!!!!!
He is a Christian and said that one of his dreams was to be a missionary pilot.
Wow




This hangar is so much better than what we had been looking at! it 65 feet wide by 32 feet. Two plane can fit inside with the doors closed!
Praise the Lord!!!!
We are so excited about this generous and wonderful gift.
Here are some ways we could use help...
1. We are working to find a team of Christian volunteers who can go to Palm Springs California and take the hangar apart.
If you are in southern california or you would be interested in helping with this project please let me know.

2.We are arranging shipping at this time. If you have 40 foot truck or trailer and would like to help save the ministry some shipping expenses let me know.
We need to ship the hangar to Texas. It will be shipped to Africa in a 40ft container.

3. We are also looking for a place to store the 40ft container in Texas until our furlough next year. If you have a place in Texas and would be willing for us to keep a container there, let us know.

4. If you would like to donate towards the shipping of the hanger. Let us know.

5. We could even use some help putting the hangar together here in uganda. It could be a simple mission trip.

6. We are going to bringing a team from MMS to repair and put the plane together. We have to pay for at least one plane ticket plus food and lodging.

7. I am also interested in further flight training so I can become a safer pilot. In the US I could work on my instrument ticket for about $4000
Comerical license is about $4000
Certifided flight instructor would be about the same price depending on the flight school used and the amount of flight time needed for proficiency. It is my desire to further my flight training.

8. In the future we would like to own a small training plane and encourage other pilots who have an interest in mission aviation. Our new hangar can hold two planes!

9. The plane needs a gps upgrade

Thank the Lord with us for this wonderful gift!

Kinley's big day

Kinley told me that she really wants to give her life to Jesus and be baptized. She has been talking about this to me and Cheryl for while. Kinley and I had several Bible studies. I'm so proud of her!


There has been so much rain in Uganda lately that the Mpanga River was deeper than normal. We decided to have the baptism down by the market.
There were people who began to tease us and make fun. They would not quit so I had to preach in a very loud voice.
I began with the words of Jesus "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
The hecklers quieted down a little as I was forced to shout the message.


(Kinley walks into the cold Mpanga River)










"Because of your confession that you believe Jesus is the Son of God I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."


Kinley is buried in baptism.


"Kinley I love you and I am so proud of you!"
"I love you too, Dad! Thank you."









"God forgave my sins in Jesus name...I've been born again in Jesus name.." (we all sang)








(Kinley is talking to her Nana and Papa on the phone.)

As we were leaving I told Kinley that I was sorry that we did the baptism near the market because so many people yelled and teased us. She said, "no, I am glad we did it there. Those people need Jesus and I am glad that they were able to see it!"
Wow!
What a great attitude.

I felt protective of her from the drunk people,the Muslims, and boda boda drivers who were teasing us but she was thinking of them. That is nothing but the spirit of God!
We were just down stream from the big mosque and the old Hindu temple. Kinley's baptism was a true testimony of faith in Jesus Christ!
In the last few days since Kinley was baptized I have been told of three people who want Bible studies and are interested in getting baptized as well.
Please pray for Kinley as she begins her walk with the Lord.
Also pray for the people who heard her say that she believes that Jesus is the son of God and watched her be immersed.
May the Spirit of God convict their hearts and they choose to follow Jesus as Kinley has done.

Drummer Boys

Drums
I love drums
Since I was young I have always enjoyed the driving pulse of a well played rhythm. Whether it was chopsticks, pencils or the car steering wheel the world was my drum set.
What some teachers may have thought was a nervous twitch paid off. I went to a church of Christ university with a full ride scholarship to play drums.
I was told that I was to play drums and recruit girls to come to the University. Maybe I should be paying them! I got to play drums in a country band, travel all over the US and meet wonderful people. Not bad!
It was frustrating as I was instructed that I could not mention Jesus while I was holding my drumsticks! Many times we would lead devotionals for Christian youth. That always seemed strange... we could sing all these country songs about cheating and whatever but I couldn't mention Jesus while holding my drumsticks!
One woman that I'll call the "church lady" even told me that I play the instrument of Satan.

I was in several groups and seriously considered a career playing contemporary Christian music but the Lord has other plans for me. He sent me to Africa!!!
Now I have three boys who love to play drums.
Here we are trying to knock the paint off the walls.

Owen and Peter are Baptized.

Rocky ground

As I taught the story of Jesus and the women caught in adultery I knelt down and began to write on the ground.


Have you ever wondered what Jesus wrote on the ground? Did he write a scripture? Did he write from memory chapters of the the Torah? Did he write the words to his favorite song? Did he write the sins that that had been committed by the people with the stones? We really don't know what he wrote but we do know that he took his time and by the time he was finished the oldest to the youngest went away and when he looked up there was no one left to accuse the woman.
I imagine that all around the words of Jesus the ground was littered with stones. Almost like a picture frame. Stones everywhere.

Christian Fire Brigade.

We are begining an evangelist push for the Fort Portal church Christ. We have the pieces of land that we are preparing. The tent is on its way with four hundred metal folding chairs.
We plan to open the church in Kagote in February 2007.
This last year I began doing research for my masters thesis. One portion of my thesis deals with "what are the expectations that people in Fort Portal have about church?". We learned so much from the focus groups and the two hundred plus interviews. From all that we learned we decided that we should reach out to the community in a way that meets a real need. We also wanted to reach out in a way that no one else doing. There is strong desire here that churches be involved in "projects". We decided to look for a project that would not directly benefit us (Many projects become actually a source of income for the church.)
Well out of all that we came up with a dream. We want to start a Christian Fire Department! In this blog I am not going to outline all that went into this decision. It is a real need there was an primary (elementary) muslim boarding school that caught on fire. Many children died in the fire.
There have been a number of fires.
We were given our first fire truck from a volunteer fire department outside of Tyler. There was media coverage when they gave the truck.
We are so excited. All of the district leaders here in Fort Portal cannot wait for the truck to get here.
We are trying to raise the funds needed to ship the fire truck here.