The Cyphers in Uganda

Sunday 14 October 2018

SEPTEMBER 2018

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

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WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

On September 29th, we took some time getting to know our neighbors. We invited nearby churches to come and visit the discipleship center and hear about our vision. We were blessed to have 13 church leaders from 8 different churches in our community come to spend time together. Not only were we able to share with them but they also shared with us. One thing we learned was that many of the churches in our area do overnight prayer the last Friday of every month. This would explain why a few churches that we contacted weren’t able to come for our conference on the last Saturday morning of September. However, we were able to get information for the pastors and those churches so we can contact them and share with them individually.

The leaders were glad to hear about our vision for the discipleship center and excited to be a part of the discipleship in the coming year. Another important part of the meeting was to make clear to them our plan to have a discipleship center, not plant a church. Many times when we’ve met with community leaders they assume we’re starting a church. We wanted to be sure that the nearby churches understood we want to support them not compete with them. Overall, it was an exciting day to see church leaders gathered together in the place were we look forward to so much more discipleship taking place in the near future.

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OUR FALL/ WINTER SCHEDULE

It's true. We have already left Uganda, traveled across the world and made it safely back to Pennsylvania. We will be here for a short time before traveling up to Winnipeg next week. Our main purpose for this trip is to raise funds for our classroom & staff housing buildings which we hope to start in the new year. We also look forward to sharing the vision and to partner with those who are interested in getting involved!

Our Schedule:
October 10 - 15: Butler, PA
October 16 -17: traveling
October 18 - November 7: Winnipeg, MB
November 8 - 9: traveling
November 10 - December 30: Butler, PA

In Winnipeg, we have a Coffee & Dessert Night fundraiser planned for October 26th. The event is free, so invite your friends! Make sure you RSVP on our Facebook event page or contact Bethel Community Church @ 1-204-783-6824 to reserve your ticket.

In Butler, we will be speaking at various small groups once we return from Winnipeg and will have a table set up at Cypher's Tree Farm from November 23 - December 23. We will have a variety of handmade items and ornaments available, as well as an opportunity to find out more about Cultivate Discipleship's Ministry in Northern Uganda.

Don't forget to add us on Instagram!
If you would like to keep up with our updates as they happen,
click the link Cultivate Discipleship!

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To Donate

USA:
1. Monthly
Fill out one of the forms linked below and mail to Harvest Alliance (address below).
Bank Automatic Giving Form
Credit Card Automatic Giving Form

2. Mail:
Mail a check (Memo line: The Cyphers) to:

ATTN: Harvest Alliance International
3620 Ocean Ranch Blvd.
Oceanside, CA 92056

3. Online:
Click the link : Harvest Alliance International
Donate button is located on the right hand side of the page.
Donation will be through PayPal.

CANADA:

1. Monthly

Click the link below and fill out the form (beside Other, write The Cyphers) Automatic Withdraw Form

2. Mail/ In Person

Mail a cheque (Memo line: The Cyphers) or give through the offering:

Bethel Community Church

430 Lakewood Blvd.

Winnipeg, MB R2J 4B6

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We'd LOVE to hear from you! Send us a message!

cyphersinuganda@gmail.com

Wednesday 5 September 2018

AUGUST 2018

AUGUST NEWSLETTER

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OUR AMAZING RACE

While our insane travel schedule across North America was a wonderful time to connect with family and friends (some of which we haven’t had the chance to see in years), we were relieved to get back to Uganda. About half way through our trip, Silas began saying he wanted to go back to ‘Ganda and play with his friends. His understanding and longing for "home" was definitely made known this busy trip, yet he continued to travel like a champ!

In 7 weeks we managed to attend 3 family weddings in Nashville, Edmonton & Chicago, visit 2 Christmas tree farms in Florida (regarding trees we grow here), vacation with family in North Carolina, connect with fellow missionaries at our missions conference in Los Angeles, go camping in Banff and make family memories on the road, in the air and on a boat. Needless to say, we conquered our Amazing Race with 3-year old and still smile when we talk about it.

We, unfortunately weren’t able to make it to Winnipeg, but plan to this fall/winter. It was such a blessing to be able to pack so many things into a trip and to visit with family and friends. After our next trip to North America, we are not planning on returning for at least a year. As Cultivate Discipleship begins to develop and work on the land increases, we need to be here. We are so blessed by your prayers and finances that move us forward in creating a place for discipleship and growth. It's incredible to see things happening first hand and we love sharing it with all of you!

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ON THE LAND

Projects at the land have kept us very busy this past month. We love sharing the progress being made and pray your hearts are as encouraged as we are! Since the end of July, these are projects that have already been completed!

Farming God’s Way Demonstration Garden- In this garden we have FGW garden side by side with local farming methods. We pray the results will show the value of FGW over traditional methods.

Borehole drilled- We have a well on site! Unfortunately, they hit bedrock while drilling so it didn’t go as deep as we were hoping. It will serve as a water source for now and in the future we’ll need to find another solution to supply enough water for all our needs.

Greenhouse- We’ve constructed a greenhouse that will serve as a nursery for young vegetable plants and our Christmas tree seedlings.

Preparing the compound- We’ve been clearing brush, removing stumps and preparing the compound and prayer garden to plant fruit tree’s, grass and other landscaping. Its slow when your only power tool is a weed eater but bit by bit we’re seeing it all take shape.

Perimeter fence- This fence will help in the future as we continue in the process of obtaining our land title and gives us privacy so we can have a quiet peaceful place for discipleship.
Christmas tree experiment- This week we planted over 1,200 Christmas trees in an experiment to find the best conditions to grow our seedlings.

All these projects are practical preparations for having a functioning discipleship center. What’s even more exciting is the discipleship that takes place in the midst of all these projects. While we were planting Christmas tree seeds, we were discussing David and Bathsheba and how we try to hide sin with more sin. During lunch two weeks ago we began talking about grace and forgiveness. We discussed that grace is sufficient to cover all our sins past, present and future. One of my prayers for some time has been that our discipleship will not be limited to a classroom but will extend to every part of daily life. We are excited to already see discipleship happening without a classroom.

Add us on Instagram!
If you would like to keep up with our updates as they happen,
click the link Cultivate Discipleship to see our previous posts!

Top Left: Planting the 6 FGW Demonstration Gardens.
Top Right: Greenhouse to regulate the amount of water plants recieve.
Bottom Left: Christmas Trees planted October last year. They are growing!
Bottom Right: The Christmas Tree seeds planted this week

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TO DONATE

USA:

1. Monthly
Fill out one of the forms linked below and mail to Harvest Alliance (address below).
Bank Automatic Giving Form
Credit Card Automatic Giving Form

2. Mail:
Mail a check (Memo line: The Cyphers) to:

ATTN: Harvest Alliance International
3620 Ocean Ranch Blvd.
Oceanside, CA 92056

3. Online:
Click the link : Harvest Alliance International
Donate button is located on the right hand side of the page.
Donation will be through PayPal.

CANADA:

1. Monthly
Click the link below and fill out the form (beside Other, write The Cyphers) Automatic Withdraw Form

2. Mail/ In Person
Mail a cheque (Memo line: The Cyphers) or give through the offering:

Bethel Community Church
430 Lakewood Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB R2J 4B6

Thursday 14 June 2018

MAY 2018

MAY NEWSLETTER

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THE HAPPENINGS

Two and a half months ago God led us to the right place to establish Cultivate Disicpleship’s center. In the 75 days since we’ve purchase of the land the transformation from 16 acres of bush has been incredible! Our first building which will eventually serve as housing for students is completed, except for some plastering and painting still needing to be finished inside. For now this building will serve as housing, an office and storage while projects continue on the land.

We have ¾ of an acre planted with beans and corn and another small vegetable garden planted, all using Farming God’s Way program. This method requires much more work than local methods but should produce 5-10 times the yield. I have to say, it was much harder to begin than I expected but Lord willing it will be well worth the extra work.

We’ve completed the first of three steps towards obtaining a deed for the land. Most land in Uganda does not come with a deed so it must be approved through a local, district, and national board. We’ve completed the process with the local board which is the most intensive but the district and national process will take longer. Usually the entire process can take around one year, but praise God we’ve had no dispute with our neighbors about the correct boundaries. This is a huge praise when considering that boundaries are often marked by trees, some of which are no longer around.

The process of gathering paperwork to apply for NGO (Non-Government Organization) status is almost completed. This is no small task. We’ve collected eight different recommendation letters from different government offices, written a very detailed constitution, work plan and budget, and gathered a dozen other documents needed. By the end of this month we’ll submit the paperwork and should hear in one to two months if we’ve been approved.

These are some of the major things that have happened in this short time along with what seems like a hundred other small things. We’ve had some tiring days but we're so thankful that each one of these steps puts us one step closer to having a place where believers can come, be discipled and be a blessing to the church in Northern Uganda.

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CARS, PLANES, BOATS, TRAINS OH MY!

We’ve said our “goodbyes” to Uganda, packed up, prepared for our journey and said “hello” once again to North America. We arrived in Pittsburgh, PA on June 4 and have been trying to get a handle on our jet lag ever since. Our purpose for this 7-week trip is to attend a conference put on by our sending organization Harvest Alliance. However, we will also have the opportunity to attend three family weddings, take part in a family vacation and visit with friends and family along the way. Our time in Florida will be spent on the beach enjoying some family time and checking out Christmas tree farms in order to learn about the types of trees we are growing in Uganda. We will fly a total of 25,592 miles (a little more than one full lap around the world). We will drive a total of 2,993+ miles (approximately the miles it would take to drive from Pittsburgh to Anchorage). We will also travel 350 miles by boat and be sleeping in a 20 different places in 7 weeks. Adventure is out there!

Summer Schedule:

June 1-2: Leave Gulu and travel to Kampala

June 3-4: Leave Uganda and travel to Butler, PA

June 4-7: Butler, PA

June 7-11: Travel to Nashville, TN for a family wedding

June 11-15: Travel to Florida to visit Christmas Tree Farms

June 15-16: Travel to Top Sail, NC/ visit a friend on the way

June 17-23: Top Sail, NC for family vacation

June 24-29: Travel to Los Angeles, CA for a Missions Conference

June 30 - July 13: Travel to Edmonton, AB for a family wedding

July 12-15: Travel to Chicago, IL for a family wedding

July 15-19: Travel to Butler, PA

July 19-21: Travel to Uganda, Africa

Follow us as embark on our own version of the Amazing Race: Toddler Edition through pictures we post this summer as we travel. We, however will not get a million dollars if we are the first to finish but we are blessed with the opportunity to do and see so much in a short amount of time!

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SILAS & HIS BIRTHDAY PAW-TY!

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PRAYER POINTS

For Pastor Thomas and Pastor Alex as they oversee the project while we are out of country.
Traveling mercies & good health as we travel across the USA and up to Alberta, Canada.

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TO DONATE

USA:

CANADA:

Wednesday 16 May 2018

APRIL 2018

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BUILDING PROGRESS

The best word to describe the past month is busy! Which is an amazing blessing and very exciting. We’ve been waiting for God to bring us the right land for the discipleship center and now that it's here, there has been so much accomplished. The only work left on the dorms is some electrical, plastering and painting. It's been really interesting to see the process of building here and we were blessed with a great group of workers who completed the building in only a month!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and giving to make our first building possible. Next, we’ll be putting in a well to help supply our land with water for living and in the future for irrigation. If you’d like to give towards building the well we’d love your support. To give, follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.

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FARMING GOD'S WAY

Our farming is also underway. We weren’t able to begin as soon as we were hoping, but we have about ¼ of an acre planted in corn and another ¼ of an acre being planted in beans this week and next. We’re using the Farming God’s Way method which has been proven to produce 3 to 10 times better results than traditional methods. We’re praying that this method will produce great results that will peak our neighbor’s interest and be an opportunity to share the gospel with them. We have found that beginning this method is very labor intensive. It requires mulch over the whole field which means we go into the bush with a weed wacker and try to collect and haul enough grass back to the garden to keep the weeds down and moisture in. Next season it will be much easier since we’ll have a good base down already.

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AROUND THE HOUSE

With only a few weeks left in Uganda, we have quite a few things on our to-do list both in ministry and around the house. We are also preparing to have a little birthday party for Silas before we leave Gulu, which will be Paw Patrol themed, obviously. Being that there is no Walmart or Dollar Tree around, we have to get a little creative… which I don't mind. Preparations to leave begin a few weeks before because we also have to close up our house. In order to do that it means a fair bit of work cleaning, covering, emptying and attempting to catch the mouse that has recently revealed himself to us. We are also trying to finalize our travel plans since once we land in North America, we will take off running. We look forward to seeing some of you in the next few months during our visit!

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PRAYER POINTS

For travel plans to come together before leaving Uganda.
Our solar panel on the land was recently stolen, most likely by one of the workers. Pray God gives us wisdom in how to handle this complicated situation.
For financial partners to join us as we continue moving forward.

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TO DONATE

USA:

CANADA:

_______________________________________

E-mail us at:

cyphersinuganda@gmail.com

Thursday 26 April 2018

Cultivate Discipleship Update

A SPECIAL REQUEST

We’ve had an exciting month so far here in Uganda. We’d been looking to buy land for a discipleship center for few months, and now that we found the land everything has been happening fast. Now we’d like to ask for your help to keep us moving forward.

Many of you have supported us financially in the past and we can’t begin to express our thankfulness for you making it possible to be serving here. With the support you’ve given in the past we’ve bought the land, almost completed our first building (a dorm), and started farming. This is an amazing start and now we need your help to complete the first stage of the discipleship center.

Building #1: Dorms
(Four 10 x 12 ft rooms with a small porch in front)

Building #2: Open-air classroom

(20 X 26 ft classroom)

Along with the dorm, we need to build a classroom building in order to bring pastors and church leaders in for discipleship. This will be a simple open air pavilion that will be the primary point for instructing and interacting with leaders. This building will be the heart of the ministry where leaders will be together studying God’s Word, sharing with one another and praying for God to work in our lives and ministries.

In addition to the classroom building we need to dig a well to supply water to the center. Currently, our water supply is limited to a hand-pumped well almost a mile down a small dirt road and a rainwater collection tank. Our desire is to have a well and solar powered water system installed that will supply the buildings with water. In addition, this water system will be used in the future for irrigation to crops that will help support the ministry’s continued expenses and growth.

Each of these projects will cost an estimated $6,000 (American)/$8,000 (Canadian) for a total cost of $12,000 (American)/$16,000 (Canadian). Please pray and consider how you can join with Cultivate Discipleship as we desire to see lives, churches and communities transformed through discipleship throughout Uganda and beyond. Thank you for your ongoing partnership in this ministry through your giving and prayers.

Blessings,
The Cyphers

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To Donate

USA:

CANADA:

1. Monthly
Click the link below and fill out the form (beside Other, write The Cyphers).Automatic Withdraw Form

2. Mail/ In Person
Mail a cheque (Memo line: The Cyphers) or give through the offering:

Bethel Community Church
430 Lakewood Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB R2J 4B6

_______________________________________

E-mail us at:

cyphersinuganda@gmail.com

Thursday 5 April 2018

March 2018

MARCH 2018

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LAND: WE FOUND IT!

My hope and prayer when we shared last month about looking for land, was that in this month’s update we’d be able to show you the land that God had led us to buy. Last week I was becoming discouraged because we had found three great spots, but one by one they fell through. One is currently in court because they’re fighting over who owns the land, one spot raised the price on us and another has kept us waiting for over three weeks with no progress.
Then about a week ago, we heard about a new spot. Pastor Thomas and Pastor Alex went to check it out and wanted to take me there right away to see the land because it seemed like just the right spot. They were right. As of Easter Sunday, we have land! We now have the place where we can begin building the discipleship center! It's 16 acres of about ½ old farm land and ½ bush. It’s roughly a 20 minute drive from Gulu so we’re close enough to town go back and forth easily but far enough away to be in a quiet area to limit disruptions when we begin training. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us during the search.
God is Good!

We will be posting a blog soon (http://cyphersinuganda.blogspot.com) about God working in the process of buying land. How he led us to a place that is ripe for ministry and connected us to the District Overseer for Agriculture who is excited to see how Farming God's Way works.

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CULTIVATE DISCIPLESHIP IS REGISTERED

The month of March was really a breakthrough month for us. A few weeks ago, after filing the necessary documents we were approved to officially operate as an organization here in Uganda. The next step is continuing with the process of registering as a NGO (Non-Government Organization) with the help of MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship). We are planning to take a brief trip down to Kampala in the next week or so, in order to also start the process for our work visas and submit other paperwork needed for our NGO status.

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THE NEXT STEPS

Now that we have land, it's time to get to work. This month we’ll put a fence up around the perimeter of the land, dig a pit latrine (very important) and begin building our first building. We will also begin to prepare and plant the land using the Farming God’s Way program. It's going to be a busy and exciting month as we begin seeing the plans God has given us take physical form.

We’ll keep you up to date with our progress on our blog and with plenty of pictures on Facebook. We’re also setting up our website and it should be ready to launch in the next few weeks. Technology really is a huge blessing that we can live on the other side of the world and still stay connected to our friends and family back home.
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PRAYER POINTS

A safe and productive trip to Kampala in the next week or so.
For the clearing, planning and preparing that is taking place on the land. For progress to be made in the two months we have until our trip back to North America.
For connections with the community of Koc-Goma, which we will now be a part of.
Financial partners as we begin to build the discipleship center.

Monday 5 March 2018

Looking for Land

In our newsletter I (Tim) shared a little bit about the process of looking for land. Unfortunately, looking for land here is anything but quick. There’s no website, magazines or newspapers that give a list of land for sale. The best way to find land for sale is through people. Pastor Thomas and Pastor Alex have been the two people who’ve been looking for us. They’ve called up friends, spoken to pastors of other churches outside of town and tried connecting with family members. All together we’ve probably looked into two or three dozen different spots that we’ve been linked with, but most don’t pan out as well as we’re told.

For example, on Tuesday I went with Pastor Thomas to check out 20 acres that was 20 kilometers down a main highway and then 5 kilometers back a dirt road. That’s exactly the description of the land we were hoping to find: 20 acres, within a half hour drive from town, along a main road. So I went to pick up Pastor Thomas from his house so we could go see it. Turns out it was his neighbor who had told him about the land so she needed to come with us. We found her after about 15 minutes and were on our way. We drove 20 minutes and came to a small market where we were supposed to pick up a relative of Pastor Thomas’s neighbor who knew the owner of the land. After another ten minutes finding him and another guy (I'm not sure who he was) we were on our way. Two minutes further down the road we stopped to meet the actual person selling the land, and the two other guys with him.

The three of them jumped on a motorcycle to lead us to the land and all eight of us were on the way. We passed five kilometers on the dirt road which didn’t surprise me because the distances people estimate always tend to be on the low side. Then we passed ten kilometers. Finally after 12 kilometers we turned off the dirt road onto a small path. It was farther than I wanted it to be but I still figured it was worth the look since we were there. A couple hundred yards down that path we stopped at someone’s home. I thought we were at the land. Turns out the land was still a kilometer or two down this but we’d have to walk because the bridge was out just down the hill. I was told there was another route we could go but it would be another 10 kilometers going around. At this point Pastor Thomas simply told them we weren’t interested and that they had lied about the land when they told us it was only 5 kilometers from the main road and had road access. So, we turned around and went home.

Yesterday, we went to check out another spot which sounded promising that my neighbor’s former employee knew about. He had talked to his grandmother who had heard from her cousin about a neighbor who was selling land. That’s right the land belongs to my neighbor’s, former employee’s, grandmother’s, cousin’s neighbor. Its amazing how the connections work here. Turns out that the land was really nice, not far from the main road and even belonged to a pastor who was excited that we wanted the land for ministry. But after visiting for about 15-20 minutes he told us that half of the land had been sold by his older brother the day before and there were only 9 acres left.

Later that morning, we also went to do a rough survey of some land we had seen last week and was the top spot I was considering out of everywhere we’d seen. After fighting through the bush for about an hour and a little help from google maps, we realized what they told us was 20 acres was less than 13. It was too small.

All this to say its been quite the process looking for land and I don’t know if we’re any closer to finding the right spot then we were three weeks ago when we started making that our priority. But what I do know is we only need one right spot. And that right spot may be the next spot that we see. Or it may even be one we’ve already seen. The family from the 13 acres is going to talk to their neighbors to see if they can add some land too. After we went to see my neighbor’s, former employee’s, grandmother’s, cousin’s neighbor land, they told us they would also try to see if their neighbors could add sell some land. Then they told us about another spot a few kilometers down the road that seems promising if they give us the real price instead of the “mzungu” (foreigner) price. Also, yesterday Pastor Thomas saw a spot that was in a good location but the family isn’t sure how much land they want to sell.

I’ve decided the best way to keep my spirits up in all this fun, is to laugh in the different circumstances. Instead of feeling frustrated when we’re given bad information or end up wasting our time and energy, to be "joyfully flexible". I know all we need is one right spot. And I know that God already knows that one right spot for us. The land that we need is somewhere here waiting to be revealed to us in God’s perfect timing. So instead of getting angry and frustrated, I’ll get back on my knees asking God to lead us to the land.

Thank you to everyone who is praying with us. In Uganda, there’s a common phrase people say when they’re running late, which is “I’m coming.” Maybe the phrase isn’t unique to here but I think the definition is a little different. Here, ‘I’m coming’ can mean I’m on the way or I’m almost ready to come. Sometimes it means I’m finishing up something else then I'll be on the way. Other times I think it just means I’m still planning to come I just haven’t gotten around to physically moving in your direction yet. So, I know the land ‘is coming,’ but maybe in this instance, God’s timing is aligning more with Ugandan time than my time.