March Update

Dear Family & Friends,

Hope this update finds you all doing well! Our family is doing fine, Jonah is finishing up his last few classes of home school and Natalie is just starting her second semester at International Health Sciences University in Kampala, our capital city. I’m busy with the home church, the Bible Schools, and various conferences. I’m also teaching some classes at the Uganda Baptist Seminary which I enjoy so much. Debbie is staying busy with the children’s church ministry of our church and working hard to keep the family and the house taken care of. We just hosted a team from the Uganda Water Project for a couple of days and Debbie worked so hard using her gift of hospitality. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement to the family. There are some days we feel overwhelmed with the “work” here but I know it’s been your prayers that have strengthened us. Please, don’t forget us; continue to pray for God’s hand on our personal lives as well as the ministry here.

One of our pastors, David Ojambo of Bulega Baptist Church was married on February 6th. I was able to preach at the wedding and our family hosted the wedding reception for about 300 people! It was an exciting time for him and we rejoice that we have been a part of his life and ministry. As many of you know, we started a building project for Pastor David’s church in Bulega. I know he and the church family would really like to be using their new facility. Here’s a picture of the church building, as you can see it’s just built up to window level, please help us finish this building this year! We still need at least $3000 to get this church under roof so please consider helping with this building project! I feel really bad that we started this project in 2008 and have yet to complete it, pray with me that we’ll complete it in 2010!

From February 12-14th we hosted a “Sweetheart Weekend” for 8 missionary couples in our area. We had a nice candlelight dinner each night while we watched the entire Mark Gungor series, “Laughing Your Way to a Better Marriage.” It was a refreshing time for Debbie and I as well as the couples who participated. We praise God that we can encourage our fellow missionaries in this way! Thank you for praying for us to have opportunities to encourage and strengthen our “co-laborers” as we serve together here in East Africa. Our home church is also doing well. We are currently studying through the book of Matthew….I just started in the Beatitudes (in fact, I’ve memorized Matthew 5:1-12!) and I’m having the time of my life! It’s exciting to see the scriptures come to life and watch people respond to His Word! We have 8 people who are ready for baptism this month, so we praise God for His hand on our church! We are averaging around 75 adults and over 50 children each week!! It’s an exciting time to be preaching His word to the nations!

From February 22-26th I was able to go with Pastor Abel, the Vice President of the Baptist Union of Uganda to an area in Ibanda District in Western Uganda. We met with a group of around 50 pastors and church leaders from the area to discuss their need for a Bible School and also looked at ways to open up Baptist Churches. Within the whole district of Ibanda there is NO Baptist work! It’s exciting to be a part of this pioneering work with the Rukiga (Ru-chi-ga) people group. Please pray for wisdom in reaching this people group and also pray they will have a desire for Bible Truth. We praise God that already 25 pastors and church leaders have signed up for Bible School training! The big challenge we face now is finding qualified teachers to teach them…..Please pray for God to provide the resources needed to send in our team of teachers to establish Bible Truth in this area of Uganda. It’s will cost us over $250 a month to send our team there, as you give toward the Bible School Fund you help make these efforts possible!

Thank you for reading our newsletter this month and for your continued support to the Nester family. Continue to pray for His will to be done in our lives and for His purpose to be accomplished through each one of us. Send us an email sometime at nesters4uganda@yahoo.com. It’s always good to hear from you!

Your Missionary to East Africa,

Terry