Posted 11:05 pm Saturday, January 02, 2010
Tyler Family Joins Christmas Services In Remote Village
EDITORS NOTE: Dr. Mark Barret, his wife Monica and two daughters, Bailey and Libby joined Christmas services in a remote Ugandan village, where the family has been assisting a school and orphanage through their nonprofit organization Parental Care Ministries. The dispatch in the Dec. 26 edition did not place the family in Uganda. A third dispatch from the Barret family in Uganda is scheduled to run Jan. 9.
Greetings from the Barret family. Parental Care Ministries is a Tyler-based nonprofit ministry serving orphans and supporting pastors in rural Uganda, and is the vision of (Ugandan) Pastor Emmanuel Nnyanzi. He, along with his wife Sarah, give “parental care” to many people in the form of a school and orphanage as well as providing support to dozens of Ugandan pastors and their churches.
This is our fourth trip in the past 20 months to help encourage and accelerate the work they are doing. The focus just before Christmas was a crusade at a village called Kanoni.
This area is simply a dirt road with a string of small mud homes with a small trading center. There is no clean water source and no electricity. It is a humble place.
Pastor Reuben’s church is located here and is a very nice handmade brick structure.
His home — which houses a dozen people — is tiny and close to falling down. Reuben’s church grew about 12 years ago as word of mouth spread that people were getting healed here. The people started coming from all over even when Pastor Reuben wasn’t around. Pastor Reuben and his family felt led to move right next to the church to help the people as they sought God’s presence and healing touch.
As Pastor Reuben and the team were setting up for the crusade in the heart of the village, a drunkard started throwing stones at them. They pressed on to do the work of the Lord.
A platform stage was built to address the hundreds of people who would show up over the next four nights. Teams of different worship groups joyfully came into to lead worship and share testimonies of how Jesus had forgiven them and set them on a new path of peace and hope.
Our family enjoyed sharing songs on the guitar and the Good News each night. It was a whole new realm for us, but it was so enjoyable to step up to bless others and encourage them to seek and know Jesus.
We shared our hearts, and the Lord used the little we gave out to draw these precious people to his side. It’s humbling. We have heard reports that about 50 people got saved and more are coming to the church. What a blessing! The Barret family rejoices to have witnessed God’s goodness this Christmas in many ways.
This area is simply a dirt road with a string of small mud homes with a small trading center. There is no clean water source and no electricity. It is a humble place.
Pastor Reuben’s church is located here and is a very nice handmade brick structure.
His home — which houses a dozen people — is tiny and close to falling down. Reuben’s church grew about 12 years ago as word of mouth spread that people were getting healed here. The people started coming from all over even when Pastor Reuben wasn’t around. Pastor Reuben and his family felt led to move right next to the church to help the people as they sought God’s presence and healing touch.
As Pastor Reuben and the team were setting up for the crusade in the heart of the village, a drunkard started throwing stones at them. They pressed on to do the work of the Lord.
A platform stage was built to address the hundreds of people who would show up over the next four nights. Teams of different worship groups joyfully came into to lead worship and share testimonies of how Jesus had forgiven them and set them on a new path of peace and hope.
Our family enjoyed sharing songs on the guitar and the Good News each night. It was a whole new realm for us, but it was so enjoyable to step up to bless others and encourage them to seek and know Jesus.
We shared our hearts, and the Lord used the little we gave out to draw these precious people to his side. It’s humbling. We have heard reports that about 50 people got saved and more are coming to the church. What a blessing! The Barret family rejoices to have witnessed God’s goodness this Christmas in many ways.
