Posted 11:31 am Saturday, December 26, 2009
Parental Care Ministries: Barrets Live From Uganda
EDITORS NOTE: Dr. Mark Barret, a Tyler pediatrician and his wife Monica started Parental Care Ministries -- a registered 501 (C) nonprofit ministry -- to support churches serving orphans in Uganda. The inspiration for the ministry came from 8-year-old Libby Barret, who was featured in the Religion section of the Tyler Morning Telegraph in May, 2009. The Barrets spent Christmas in Kanoni, Uganda, serving the spiritual and physical needs of orphan children. This is the first of two dispatches from Uganda.
By Dr. MARK BARRET
Special To The Tyler Morning Telegraph
Special To The Tyler Morning Telegraph
My family and I are blessed this Christmas to be celebrating with our Ugandan brothers and sisters.
In March of 2008 after our first family trip to southwest Uganda, we saw huge needs at a tiny school of 120 orphan and needy children and group of 28 pastors.
Two months later our nonprofit Parental Care Ministries USA was formed to help accelerate the work being led by our Headmaster and lead pastor in Uganda, Pastor Emmanuel Nnyanzi.
Pastor Emmy and his wife Sarah, who we call "Supermom," now help oversee 200-plus orphans and needy children.
Together we are providing a Christian education to children who literally have just the shirts on their backs. Our school is a humble place in regards to our standard in America, but we have been amazed at the joy and gratefulness occurring here on a daily basis. Our five classrooms are mere planks with iron sheets as a roof. We have two small dorms built of handmade bricks where our children sleep -- many with two children to a bed.
Last November we were so moved by the children having to drink the brown river water next to the school that a campaign was undertaken to provide "new living water." We hit water with our first well on Feb. 15.
What the Lord has revealed to me in this process is He doesn't call the equipped. He is bringing others alongside Monica and my daughters Bailey and Libby to accomplish this purpose. It is His work.
FOOT WASHING
After more than 50 hours of travel we arrived on Sunday. Much of the first three days has been spent on a crusade and conference in a town called Kanoni.
It's not a place on any map; rather one you have to pass narrowed pot-holed roads through numerous banana fields to get there. It's a beautiful place, though, filled with villagers who live on what they can grow and eat.
We held the conference at Pastor Reuben's church where these people -- as peasant farmers -- have constructed an amazing House of the Lord. This Christmas the Lord told me to come and do as he showed us in John 13. As I knelt before my beloved friends, Pastor Emmy and Pastor Reuben, it was such an honor for me to wash their feet in front of their people yesterday.
Together, these two men have taught me not only how to give everything you have to the Lord, but also how to humbly serve others each and every day.
It was a huge privilege for me to give back to them for their dedicated service to our Savior.
As a Tyler pediatrician, I lead a busy life. Yet, somehow, some way, the Lord seems to be providing the leadership, support, the love and prayers from others to accomplish this great work with our school and pastors.
Already at this crusade at Kanoni, 51 lives have been committed to Christ.
It's the best Christmas we have ever shared together as a family. Our joy is serving God's precious Ugandan people.
Note: Visit the Web at www.parentalcareministries.org for more information about the Barret's current trip to Uganda. Look for Dr. Barret's next dispatch in the Jan. 2 edition of the Tyler Morning Telegraph, which will feature the opening of the second school site of Parental Care Ministries at Rwemikoma.
Updated Monday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 11:31 a.m. CST
Updated Monday, Jan. 4, 2009 at 11:31 a.m. CST
