These are indeed unusual times in which we live. Many of our “norms” have been altered! How will we react? In all of this one thing should remain – our allegiance to the God who created us in His image! In this newsletter we want to share what is going on in our personal lives, the lives of our families in Kabale and we will hear from the life of one of our US staff.
Our Lives
This last Saturday night Donna’s dad (Don) passed from this life into the presence of His Lord and Savior. Watching Don’s life slip away was a sobering reminder of the reality of death – but also of the great hope we have in a resurrected Savior. It reminded us of the fact that so many we know both in the USA and in Uganda do not personally know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Their fate when they die will be very different from Don’s – they will go to a place of torment and pain! If we really understood in this life the reality of the two eternal destinations it would change how we live in the present. Don will be remembered by many as a great basketball coach, but the greatest thing he ever did was to give His life to Christ when he was 17 years old. His eternal destination was established at that time. Today Don is with Jesus in Paradise. Our prayer is that all who read this will know Jesus personally.
Uganda Update:
Note: we still are unable to have everyone come to the junction due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we are able to have small groups meet on different days. Here is what Amos shared about those small groups:
- Devotions
Devotions continue to take root here at the junction! We continue having small groups on Tuesday, Wed, Thurs, and Friday. The conversations have been deep and engaging across the board. The kids are getting more comfortable with opening up about what they are going through and have been through.
The good thing about the devotions we have been coming up with is that they are very engaging, less talking from us and a lot of questions that have really helped us in knowing what they actually know or think about the word of God.
Some topics that have been discussed: Struggles with the Flesh (Romans 7:18-25), Freed from the control of the Flesh (Ro. 8:5-8, 12-13, Gal. 5:13), Vision (Proverbs 29:18)
- Staff Changes
It was with regret that we said good bye to some of our Ugandan staff in August. Derick left to return to the other side of Uganda to do ministry with his wife in a village where they have been working. We had to let our existing cook go, but we have hired a new cook – a man named Enock Nuwamanya. Hopefully in an upcoming newsletter we can share more about this man and his family. We said goodbye to our Intern Brian as well. Please pray for our other staff as they fill in the holes left by the staff who have departed and pray for wisdom as we seek people that God has preordained to work with us!
- The Land
We are working through the legal system to get the title to the land we purchased 4 years ago! Please pray!
Exciting News!
So, we have some exciting news! Here it is in Jess’s own words….
I am so excited to announce my plans to move to Uganda in June of 2021! God has been working in this direction for my life since I was ten years old. At that time, I felt God calling me in a direction of ministry, specifically missions. As a fourth grader I, of course, had no real idea what that would look like for my future. When Greg and Donna Stone founded Two Roads in Uganda and I was able to experience what God was doing in Kabale, I knew that at least part of my life was going to be involved with what was happening there. Two years after I first went to Uganda, I had the opportunity to live there for six months as a part of Two Roads and create more permanent relationships with the kids and families that are served by our ministry. That trip was incredible for my life in many ways. It was a time of growth and a time of experiencing God as my rock and sole support when I felt like a man on an island. That trip, though, was also incredibly difficult in many ways. Due to a tragedy I had been through back home just weeks before I left, and a terrible situation that had developed in Kabale while I was there, I came back defeated. Though I could see how God had carried me through such hard times, I returned with no desire to ever go back to Uganda. But God was building something amazing, even when all I saw was pain and heartache. God pulled together an incredible team of Ugandans to run the ministry from Kabale. He also pulled us into a situation where we can truly focus on the things that are important to us in the ministry, especially discipleship. I took a short-term trip to Uganda the summer after I returned from my six-month stay. During that trip, I got to see the beauty of the changes God was bringing in Kabale, and it reignited my heart for the work going on in that place. When I returned, I started studying for my Associate’s Degree in business at NOC in Stillwater. At the end of my first semester I took yet another trip to Uganda. On this trip, some of the team members and I felt God calling us to Uganda into the future. Since then, we’ve been praying and asking God exactly what it looks like to be a part of this ministry long-term. We feel that God is calling me to move to Uganda on a more permanent basis in June 2021. This is what I have been hoping for since I was ten, and I am beyond excited to follow God to this place where He wants me to be.
I will be moving to Uganda and joining the staff there as a volunteer member. My main goal in moving to Uganda echoes the goal of our entire ministry, to help the people we work with become disciples of Christ Jesus. My roles with the ministry will be as a worship leader for any and all of our functions at Two Roads, and also as a business planner. As a business planner, I hope to come alongside our older kids and the parents of our students to create jobs and businesses that will help them become self-sufficient. Additionally, it is important to me to keep all of our supporters involved and informed with everything that is happening in the ministry. To that end, I hope to continue to make episodes of the Two Roads International Podcast, and to create more opportunities to relay information back home. These are just the general ideas of what I will be doing while I live in Uganda. I’m sure there is much more that I will do that I can’t even begin to imagine from here at home.
I want to thank you all for your continued prayers and support. Each and every one of you are an invaluable part of this ministry. Please continue to lift us up as we try to spread the glory of God’s kingdom in Kabale.
In His love,
Jess Ritchie
We are very excited about Jess’s obedience to this Call on his life!!
Blessings,
Greg & Donna