Dear Friends,
Our return to Uganda at the end of May was delayed for two weeks because my COVID PCR test came back with a false positive! (I wasn’t sick, which was confirmed by three home tests.) However, this delay allowed me to fly out to San Antonio, Texas to be with our son, David, and his family after the premature birth of their third child, Luke. What a joy it was to lay my hand on their tiny baby, born at just 1 pound, 7 ounces! Please pray for his continued growth.
When we did start our trip to Uganda, one of our flights was delayed, causing us to miss our connection in Europe. We had to be re-routed through two other airports, but finally arrived in Uganda on the morning of June 15th! Our luggage didn’t keep up with us through all five flights, but it arrived and was delivered to us the next day. PTL! The trip was hard on Sylvia because of her health condition, and it took her longer than usual to recover and get over jet lag.
We only had a few days to start getting set up in our apartment in Kampala before the arrival of Pastor Ron Williams and Bruce Collett who came to officially open two village church buildings funded by Palmetto Avenue Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida. Both church openings were attended by hundreds of people and were great testimonies to their communities! Pastor Ron and Bruce also spoke in a number of schools in the Mbarara area. Over 250 people made professions of faith in Christ during their visit! However, as they were preparing to leave, Bruce tested positive for COVID and had to delay his departure for one week! Later he wrote to say, “I was so disappointed that I could not leave, but by the end of the week I was so happy to be exactly where God wanted me and to learn His will for my life. Thank you for my best trip to Africa ever!”
That same week, Global Baptist Training Foundation professors, Bruce Snavely and Larry Bazer arrived to teach two homiletics classes for a group of 37 new church planters. I was not able to participate in the week of trainings because I came down with COVID! It has been a mild case for me this time, but I still have a lingering cough. We hoped and prayed that Sylvia wouldn’t get it, but she now has some cough as well. Please pray for her recovery and continued healing.
In August, I will be meeting with our national pastors to discuss how to move forward with the Bible Institute trainings while we work to meet the requirements to upgrade our program to a small-scale Bible College that will be recognized by Uganda’s Ministry of Education. Our return to Uganda has gotten off to a rough start, but we are thrilled to be back! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Yours in Uganda,
Russ & Sylvia Daniels
Email: rsdaniels.uganda@gmail.com
