Yes we finally made it back to Canada! We’re so happy to be back and get a chance to see all of you, our dear friends and family. We were glad to see that there was some warm weather here in Abbotsford to welcome us back. Not only was there warm weather but a warm welcome from Bill and Sandi McGladdery who have let us take over the main floor of their home here in Abbotsford. Their house will be our home base while we are here in Canada.


We want to thank all of you who prayed for Jane to be able to get a passport. We had been trying for two years to get Jane’s Ugandan passport renewed without any success. It was SO frustrating to see how the Ugandan officials do not have the heart to facilitate their own citizens in their travels. We eventually decided to try to go to Rwanda to get Jane a passport there as she is of Rwandan decent. What a different story! We were helped immediately when we went into the Rwandan embassy in Kampala. They helped us attain all the documents we needed for a Rwandan passport – including a letter of recommendation from the Ambassador himself! We enjoyed our stay in beautiful and clean Kigali and got Jane’s passport within eight days of filing. Unfortunately we were not able to get a passport for Tugume our nephew (hopefully next furlough we will be able to bring him back with us). It was such a joyful moment when Jane got her passport. We could hardly believe it. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so we did a bit of both. Thanks everyone for your fervent and persistent prayers. Please continue to pray as one of the main reasons for having our furlough at this time is for Jane to secure her Canadian citizenship before her Permanent Resident card expires in September.
We are really excited about some new training material that we have been introduced to recently and that we will now be using. FGW stands for Farming God’s Way. Farming God’s Way was developed in Zimbabwe and is basically Kingdom agriculture; focusing on Godly stewardship of our land, energy and resources. Chris attended a FGW seminar at New Hope Uganda and then promptly put in an FGW “well-watered” garden at our home, using FGW methods such as a heavy mulch layer, no tillage, and properly spaced planting stations. FGW takes peasant farmers towards zero tillage and continuous mulch cover – this leads to much higher yields and virtually no soil and nutrient loss. Farming God’s Way does not need high economic input and therefore is a very sustainable method. There’s a lot more to say but you can check out their site at www.farming-gods-way.org .

We have also continued to forge our partnership with Arise Africa International (AAI) over the last few months. We recently surveyed the future training farm site with an eMi (Engineering Ministries International www.emiworld.org) team. Also, John Sauder, an eMi missionary serving with AAI is helping to put together a project proposal complete with engineering drawings and site plans for us. Thanks also to Lindsay (eMi intern) who is working on the architectural drawings right now. It is exciting to see these plans come together. We plan on opening the training farm in September 2010 to our first students. The farm will be called “Providence Farm Uganda” and has the potential to host a variety of training courses that Equip currently offers only in North America in addition to the planned agriculture training centre.
We are coming to a town near you! We begin our speaking tour of Western Canada in September and will be traveling through BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan until the end of October. We would love to give a presentation about our work and vision to you, your home Bible study group or your church. Chris is willing to preach, share a Power Point presentation or even share about the FGW principles. Please use any of the contacts below to book your spot. We are happy to get together with those around BC before the fall as we will be spending time around Abbotsford with our church family at South Abbotsford Church.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon and sharing with you about what we’ve been doing and where God is leading us.
God Bless,
Chris and Jane, Andrew Kenny, Albert, Isaiah and Ezra

.

Yes we finally made it back to Canada! We’re so happy to be back and get a chance to see all of you, our dear friends and family. We were glad to see that there was some warm weather here in Abbotsford to welcome us back. Not only was there warm weather but a warm welcome from Bill and Sandi McGladdery who have let us take over the main floor of their home here in Abbotsford. Their house will be our home base while we are here in Canada.


We want to thank all of you who prayed for Jane to be able to get a passport. We had been trying for two years to get Jane’s Ugandan passport renewed without any success. It was SO frustrating to see how the Ugandan officials do not have the heart to facilitate their own citizens in their travels. We eventually decided to try to go to Rwanda to get Jane a passport there as she is of Rwandan decent. What a different story! We were helped immediately when we went into the Rwandan embassy in Kampala. They helped us attain all the documents we needed for a Rwandan passport – including a letter of recommendation from the Ambassador himself! We enjoyed our stay in beautiful and clean Kigali and got Jane’s passport within eight days of filing. Unfortunately we were not able to get a passport for Tugume our nephew (hopefully next furlough we will be able to bring him back with us). It was such a joyful moment when Jane got her passport. We could hardly believe it. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so we did a bit of both. Thanks everyone for your fervent and persistent prayers. Please continue to pray as one of the main reasons for having our furlough at this time is for Jane to secure her Canadian citizenship before her Permanent Resident card expires in September.



We are really excited about some new training material that we have been introduced to recently and that we will now be using. FGW stands for Farming God’s Way. Farming God’s Way was developed in Zimbabwe and is basically Kingdom agriculture; focusing on Godly stewardship of our land, energy and resources. Chris attended a FGW seminar at New Hope Uganda and then promptly put in an FGW “well-watered” garden at our home, using FGW methods such as a heavy mulch layer, no tillage, and properly spaced planting stations. FGW takes peasant farmers towards zero tillage and continuous mulch cover – this leads to much higher yields and virtually no soil and nutrient loss. Farming God’s Way does not need high economic input and therefore is a very sustainable method. There’s a lot more to say but you can check out their site at www.farming-gods-way.org .

We have also continued to forge our partnership with Arise Africa International (AAI) over the last few months. We recently surveyed the future training farm site with an eMi (Engineering Ministries International www.emiworld.org) team. Also, John Sauder, an eMi missionary serving with AAI is helping to put together a project proposal complete with engineering drawings and site plans for us. Thanks also to Lindsay (eMi intern) who is working on the architectural drawings right now. It is exciting to see these plans come together. We plan on opening the training farm in September 2010 to our first students. The farm will be called “Providence Farm Uganda” and has the potential to host a variety of training courses that Equip currently offers only in North America in addition to the planned agriculture training centre.
We are coming to a town near you! We begin our speaking tour of Western Canada in September and will be traveling through BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan until the end of October. We would love to give a presentation about our work and vision to you, your home Bible study group or your church. Chris is willing to preach, share a Power Point presentation or even share about the FGW principles. Please use any of the contacts below to book your spot. We are happy to get together with those around BC before the fall as we will be spending time around Abbotsford with our church family at South Abbotsford Church.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon and sharing with you about what we’ve been doing and where God is leading us.
God Bless,
Chris and Jane, Andrew Kenny, Albert, Isaiah and Ezra

.

The Sperling Jerry Can

…carrying Living Water in practical ways…

Dear Friends and Family, January 21, 2009

“Kulik’omwaka!” This is the greeting that we tell each other here in Uganda after the New Year. Literally, it means “Congratulations for surviving the last year!” We have survived and we thank God that, in Christ, we are more than survivors and we are even more than conquerors. We are trusting that this next year will be a significant year for us in our ministry with Equip where we will see more Ugandans come to know Christ and understand how to follow Him. With so much spiritual opposition to God’s kingdom here, sometimes we just want to survive, but God wants us to be over-comers. Thanks, everyone for your part in building God’s kingdom here in Uganda.

A Dream Come True! For many years, I’m sure many have read and heard about our vision to have a Demonstration and Training Farm at which to offer more advanced agricultural training to rural Ugandans - especially to pastors and church workers who need to support themselves in some way. We are so excited to announce that this dream is slowly becoming a reality. Over the last year we have been developing a relationship with Arise Africa www.ariseafricaintl.org (a long-standing national NGO) with whom we will be partnering to offer both training at a proposed 20 acre training farm but also mobile community work that will aim at improving rural agriculture through the Arise church network. The farm will be at the Arise Africa Base at Bukaleba (0º27’00”N, 33º23’30”E) which is 2500 acres of land. The land is situated right on a large bay on Lake Victoria about a 35km drive around a bay from our home (0°28'9.92"N, 33°15'35.05"E). The land is spectacular, with great views out over the lake and west, back towards Jinja. The Farm will be located on 20 acres of the inland portion of the land with good road access and an onsite spring for a clean water source.

Once fully running, the Training Farm will not only host agriculture courses but also hydro missions classes, medical missions classes and community outreach programs. The training farm will also co-ordinate with other work going on at the Arise Africa Training Centre to provide pastors and lay people a fully rounded community missions education.

We wanted to share this with you before we come back in spring so that you are all aware of these changes when we come to visit you. We have begun, slowly, our shift between our current work with YWAM and Bushfire to our next phase with Arise. It is a blessing as all of the Directors of these organizations are friends and companions in mission work here in Uganda. We also are excited about Arise because it continues to broaden our work with the Ugandan rural church. Rise has 198 churches in 21 districts here in Uganda.

Equip Uganda. As we start our work with Arise we are also starting to formally start Equip, Uganda work. Until this point, Equip missionaries have all come under other NGOs; we are currently praying about going through the lengthy and a bit complicated process of registering Equip as an NGO here in Uganda. This will help us give immigration status to our Equip workers/missionaries as well as to conduct some of our own work, in addition to having access to potential funding through large donors such as USAID. We are excited as we anticipate another Equip missionary couple, the Boones, joining us here in Uganda full time in the spring. We look forward to growth here in Uganda with our Equip work, especially as the Training Farm gets up and running.

Please Pray. We ask for your prayers for wisdom and knowledge as we forge our partnership with Arise Africa International. Currently, we have an agreement in principle to work together; we will now be working on detailed documents so w can work together as partners. Chris has a lot of work to do in writing up agreements, policies and proposals let alone course work and syllabus development for the Training Farm. Please pray that this will all go well and smoothly and that we will sense God’s guiding hand as we believe it to be His will to start up the Training Farm.

Our Itinerary: We will be happy to share in your church, life group or home during our furlough which will run from May to October. We will also be setting up some formal info meetings/fundraisers in most of the areas where we normally visit and raise support. These meetings will be excellent times to see formal presentations about the Training Farm and the funding needed to establish this new Equip work. Please contact us via e-mail to set up dates for sharing with your group.

Some Needs. We have a few needs that need to be met for our time back in Canada. We will have a vehicle available to us but we will need some housing from May to mid-August in the Langley/Abbotsford area. We are happy to house-sit or squeeze ourselves into a basement sweet. Also, we need finances for our airfares back and forth from Uganda. As well, we continue to need additional monthly supporters. We welcome any help that God leads you to give. Thanks, already, as we have so many wonderful and faithful supporters.

Hope to see you soon,

God Bless,

The Sperlings – Chris and Jane, Andrew, Tugume, Kenny, Albert, Isaiah and Ezra

Financial contributions can be sent to:

Equip Canada PO Box 683

Duncan B.C.

V9L 3Y1

In the US donations can be sent to:

Equip, Inc.

PO Box 1126, Marion, N.C.

USA, 28752-1126

Cheques should be made out to Equip with a separate note;”for Sperling support”.

Donate online at www.sperlingsinafrica.com

above --our family with Esther. Albert, Joanna (helper),Isaiah, Tugume, Andrew, Kenny,Esther with her son Enoch, and jane

Jane and Esther watching Bujagali Falls near Jinja

It's been a while since we've put something up.

We're doing well despite quite a bit of difficulty with Jane's family. Her sister lost her husband quickly in May before I went to Canada and then recently lost her oldest daughter (it seems to cerebral malaria). Now Jane's Dad is in the Hospital with severe anemia, it seems he is bleeding from the lower intestines but they have not found the source of his bleeding. They keep putting blood in him but it disappears. He looked very thin yesterday when we visited him at the Hospital. We pray that they will see the problem quickly and he will get treatment and get on the route to recovery. It is not nice seeing him so thin -- he is already normally quite thin.

We had Jane's sister Esther here for a few days recently (this is the one who lost her husband and daughter recently) She had a nice time with us (less work and more relaxing than her everyday life in the village). We took her to Bujagali Falls and into Mabira Forest (both tourist stops) to see a bit of Uganda - She really enjoyed that!

Please pray for her that she will recover from all her grief and be able to lead her family in God's ways. She is not literate so she relys on her son to read the Bible to them as a family yet he is not that good of a reader.

Hello Friends,

Here are some pics from around Jinja town where we live. Jinja is at the headwaters (source) of the Nile. It's a bit of an older town that's pretty easy to figure out and get around (except for some for the one-way streets). It's a typical bustling town where you can find almost anything you need. Wares and food is sold on the street and streets can be blocked while Lories unload their goods while parked on the road.

Above , matooke (cooking banana is sold outside of Jinja main Market while other vendors sell thir goods out of sacks on the street

Matooke is offloaded from a Lorie

A wheelbarrow with someones belongings -- a typcal and cheap metghod of getting things moved around town.

A muslim lady sews at her machine while another sells fresh bread

Equip Letter April 08

Dear Friends and Family, March 24, 2008

The heavy rains are upon us and we are into the first growing season of the year. This also means that Chris will be busy with all of the garden work associated with the onset of the rains. We had a very rainy Easter weekend as it rained most of Saturday night and almost all of Easter Sunday. We must have had around 6” or more of rain!
Fortunately there is a few months in between the last rainy season of the year and the first one of the next year. This has given us time to settle in our home and host a number of visitors during the dry season (Jan-Feb).

The boys (L-R) Andrew with Isaiah, Kenny, Albert and Tugume

The boys on a boat ride on Kazinga Channel –QE Park. (L-R Andrew with Isaiah, Kenny, Albert, Tugume)We had a great visit with my parents (Ken and Dawn Sperling) and my cousin Kerri’s parents (Gilbert and Anne Sperling). We had our first real holiday since arriving a year ago. Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Anne stayed with us the first half of January while my parents stayed with my sister and brother-in-law (April and Masiu Fine) until Gilbert and Anne left and then my parents stayed with us about a week. It was great to see my parents again and great for the kids to maintain a relationship with their grandparents

Mom and Dad
Uncle Gilbert and Auntie Anne

We had a great time visiting, seeing local sites like Bujagali Falls, Mabira Forest as well as all of us going on a game drive in Western Uganda at Queen Elizabeth Park. It was a very long drive but also very beautiful with lush tea plantations and views of the lower elevations of the Rwerenzori Mountains. We had a great view at the Safari Lodge and a great day tracking game as we saw lions, elephants, and hyenas all up very close as well as Uganda Kobs, water bucks and countless hippos, crocks, and kingfishers.

We also had a visit from long-time friends, John and Hannah Neudorf from Aldergrove, B.C.. They had come to meet their “son” Paul Nyabenda and his family. They had sponsored Paul for many years at New Hope Uganda and had actually sent a guitar along with me for him back on my first trip to Uganda in 1995. They were thrilled to have time with Paul and Susan and their children and to finally be with their son in person! We are also looking forward to hosting our friends Charity and Adrienne Pilkey as we host Charity’s introduction at our home in April.
Above (top) Chris explaining how to use the improved seed in the seminar, (mid) explaining how we to plant the seed, (bottom) giving out the seed with Fred
We have already conducted our OKM (Orphans Know More) seed give-out which will have included close to 80 families as well as some schools. We conducted the give-out a little different this year as we called many of the families to a central location and gave them the seed after conducting a mini seminar on how to use them. We will now be following up the give-out with visits to every home that we gave seed out to. I really enjoy this work as it takes us to the heart of Ugnadan Agriculture – the village (or peasant) farmer. It is here where we are welcomed through the seed give-out to have input and give encouragement to these hard-working people (many of whom are struggling in one way or another with HIV/AIDS). This has been a dream come true! I am very happy to have such close contact with these farmers; it gives us a chance to share our hope in Christ and to give appropriate advice in their farming.

I have also been very busy setting up a commercial farm for Bushfire. This has been challenging with limited resources and equipment. We are going to start planting maize and ground-nuts this week. We are hoping that the tractor we have hired will not break down (as has already happened on numerous occasions) so that we can plant on time.

Chris speaking during the OKM seed give-outOur family is doing quite well aside from what seems to have been a mild case of measles which affected three of the boys. We have all been malaria free for some time now which we praise God for. The boys are doing well in home school for the most part. We will miss Kerri when she goes in early June. She has fit in very well and has been a very organized teacher.

We are happy to announce that we are expecting another little Sperling in September. Jane has been very sick with the pregnancy (as she usually is) but has gradually improved over the last few weeks. Please pray that she will remain healthy and malaria free during this time.

Also continue to pray that we would get a passport for Jane. It has now been about one year since we have been seeking to renew her passport. We have had a continual run-around and wasted a lot of money coming into the city to meet various officials only to be referred to another person or another section. It seems this has been the same story for other Rwandese who have been born or who have grown up in Uganda. Please pray that she will get her passport soon as we could need to travel at any time.

Chris and Jane on Chris’ birthdayWe want to close by saying “Thanks!” to all of you who have been supporting us and give you a friendly reminder to renew your support if possible for 2008. These monthly donations are the backbone of our support, so we would love it if you would consider taking us on another year. We plan on being here until spring of 2009 when we have to go back as Jane and Andrew’s Permanent Resident cards expire in the summer of ‘09.

Also, we want to give particular thanks to those who contributed to our house – especially my parents (as it has been a bit of an early inheritance) and the Brandsmas. We have built the house in a way that we can rent it out to ex-pats when we are out of the country. It is also a sort of life insurance policy for Jane and the kids (it is in her name) should something ever happen to me. Of course, it also subtracts rent out of our “needs” list when fundraising. The house has already served us well with numerous visitors and having 5 boys the space has been much needed! Thanks again to all of you who helped!

God bless you all,
Chris and Jane, Andrew, Kenny, Albert, Isaiah and Tugume (and ‘lil bump).

Web donations and more info on our work: http://www.sperlingsinafrica.com/
Or keep up on what we are doing: www.sperlingsinafrica@blogspot.com
Or find Chris Sperling on: http://www.facebook.com/,
e-mail: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca

Financial contributions can be sent to:
Equip Canada PO Box 683
Duncan, B.C.
V9L 3Y1

In the US, donations can be sent to:
Equip, Inc.
PO Box 1126, Marion, N.C.
USA, 28752-1126

Chris's Birthday at Papa's

Chris cutting the cake
Thanks Jane for the Suprise!!!

(I like my new shirt -- great "farmer" style)

Mabira Forest Hike

January 08

Chris at the top -- awesome view!
Chris, Ntambala, and Melissa in the humid forest
Mabira Forest intertwined with sugar cane plantations

Sperling Jerry Can
(The first but unofficial installment of 2008 – our Equip letter will come in the spring)

Hello Friends and Family, January 10, 2008

We trust that you are all off to great start to 2008. We are also looking forward to a great new year in 2008.


We have moved into our new house in Wanyange Lake Village which is just 12km east of Jinja Town and a half hour walk from the Jinja YWAM base. We have a great view of Lake Victoria and some islands just off the shoreline. The lake brings us cool breezes throughout the day but also swarms of Lake Flies at night as well as a host of mosquitoes. We are battling with the insects; we are putting up screens on all of our window vents, the mains windows we just close up around 6.30 or 7.00pm. We also have a great view of the fishermen pot-lamping at night (apparently legal here); the lake lights up like a string of white Christmas lights at night when the waters are calm.

This last year we were able to connect with Habitat for Humanity Uganda through our friend Patrick Okrut and land a very big grant of 100 homes to be built under OKM. These homes will be paid for by the successful applicants in the form of a loan; this loan money will go back into Orphans Know More accounts to continue OKM work. We estimate the value of this project to be close to USD 300,000. Now we start the big job of finding all the needy people able to pay of these loans for new houses, and then managing the revolving fund that will be created once loan repayments start. We are excited that we will have the Ferdinando family from the US come to join us to help manage the OKM Housing Project.

.This last year included seed distribution and training people in ox-plowing techniques as well as having time with the various members of Bushfire and OKM (Orphans Know More). This year will include more of the same but it looks like there will be a Bushfire Farm and an OKM farm which I will be managing. These farms have slightly different goals and modes of operation but basically they are there to help the ministries and the families benefit from the income and food created by these farms. The Bushfire Farms will be on an 80 acre piece of land and the OKM farm is on about 8 acres. Please pray that all the necessary funding and organizational details will come into place for these to be successful enterprises.
Jane in traditional dressJane has started to feel better recently (although not too well the last few days). She has been Malaria-free for a few weeks now and we hope she can stay that way after over 10 bouts of malaria in the last half of 2007. Please pray that we will have good health in 2008 and also pray for our safety on Uganda’s crazy roads as we (especially Chris) travel SO much.

Last but not least a BIG THANKS to all of you who have so generously given financially and have spent time in prayer for us this last year. Your sacrifice and your generosity allow us to serve here as well-equipped missionaries.

We would appreciate if you would consider renewing your support for the upcoming year by sending in your yearly amount this month (in the form of a one-time gift or in monthly cheques – whatever suits you). This helps us to plan and to know what to do as far as fundraising. Thanks to all who rallied for the end-of-year giving. I (Chris) will not have to come back to Canada for fundraising thanks to your generosity. Thanks especially to our life group and Church at South Abbotsford Church (BC), to Cecil Lake Church (BC), and Lucky Lake Christian Fellowship (SK) as well as to our close friends and family who have really been faithful in your care for us.

WE will be having my parents here for a bout a month starting on Monday ()14th), so we are all really excited and hope to go for a game drive in Western Uganda with them. Kerri (my cousin who teaches our boys) is having her parents here for two weeks as well (they arrive with my parents).

Lots of Love
Chris and Jane,
Andrew, Kenny, Albert and Isaiah
Chris, on a recent hike in Mabira Forest (sugar cane and forest below).
Fred and a farm worker help pull seedling up for our OKM seed distribution in the fall.Equip Donations in Canada:

Equip Canada P.O. Box 683Duncan, BC V9L 3Y1

Cheques written to Equip Canada with a note attached separately (for Sperling Support)

Donate on the web at:
http://www.sperlingsinafrica.com/

-click the “donate now” button


Equip Donations in the USA:

Equip Inc.®P.O. Box 1126Marion, NC 28752 U.S.A.

Checks written out to Equip Inc. and a separate note attached “for Sperling Support”

Photo Update

Isaiah and Kenny on the backsteps of the "boys quarters"

Jane presents a gift on behalf of the groom-to-be *Alex our friend) at recent introduction ceremony that we attended

Below -- Our family

Recently we went to jugali Falls and then last Sunday to Mabira Forrest with the boys and Kerri. Augustine came with us to Bujagali. Some nice days out. A good break from the classroom (our house).

House Update

L-> R Our bedroom (first two windows,, next window --the study/classroom, front door, living room windows)

Insde the Living room looking thru the prison bars -- yes we need burglar proofing here in Uganda -- can't take the theives lightly. Almost every house has bars on the windows.

The windows before being installed

The house is just about finished -- thanks for all your prayers and gifts (MOM and DAD -especially) that have made this happen.

The plastering inside is just about done. The plumbing is about half done and the electrical just needs to be hooked up.

Now we gotta start working on the yard if we want to be there in a month.

Kalera's Grad etcThe most beautiful lady -- Jane

L-> R Aunt Sarah, Mama Dan, Kalera, Jane, Chris
Jane and Mama Dan were VERY TRIED - they had been working the lsst couple weeks on preparing Papa's home and organizing the party and then, to avoid a Kampala traffic jam -- which would have not allowed them to get to the grad ceremony on time -- they took a 20km boda boda ride (motorbike) with both on one bike.

The homestead at Papa's -- nicely cleared for the party.

Batamuliza, Kenny and Albert (Cousins)

Isaiah and Kerri

Our new driver -- Isaiah

Hello Friends,

We just wanted to show you a few pics and let you know we love you all!!

I have been busy teaching for the last week at the YWAM base in Jinja. I taught School of Community Development for four days. We made a yoke with the students and gave them a taste of ploughing yesterday as we took them for an outing to Bushfire. They seem to have enjoyed the teaching.

Our digital camera is broken so I will send pics of the training when my studenst send me some pics.

The rest of the pics are of us and recent events such as a trip to the pool and Jane's brother's grad party and ceremony.

Love ya all.
Chris for the gang