Information for donations

Checks can be made payable to: Rock Creek Church, 

Mailing address: 726 Front St,  Ste A, Louisville, CO 80027-1871

Phone: (303) 494-2927
Email: rccadmin@rockcreekchurch.org

Leaving myself behind

As the time is drawing near, I am remembering to seek God more to ask Him to guide me in this journey.  Many ideas have popped up as to what we can do once we arrive, but it is my desire that I should be supporting God's plans rather than asking Him to support mine.

Letter from Joyce - a sweet girl from Zziba to Pastor Gary

Fundraising letters are hair raising :)

I tried to send out a mass e-mail and it bounced back and then I tried to past a picture of Uganda on it and it wouldn't stick! Argh!!!
Lets see  - will it work to copy past into this blog? Hmmmm, not bad.

Dear Friends and Family,

 Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.  And thanks to all for your support of our family over the years. By your prayers and gifts, we have been successful in setting Mike & Whitney on their own adventures.  Mike in the Peace Corps and Whitney a Pediatric Nurse!

v  On January 3^rd, we plan to join a group headed for Uganda to spend time with the orphans and to do some of the early work on a Medical Clinic in Zziba.

v  In the village of Zziba, Uganda, we support 34 orphans living at the orphanage as well as many children in the community that Zziba church supports.

v  OBM’s goal is to provide resources like education & skill training giving these individuals the tools they need to become self-sustaining and radically increase their options for the future. http://www.olivebranchministries.net/. 

v  Can you please support our mission either by a gift of money or prayer or both.
Even a small gift will make a huge difference.
The cost for each person is approximately $2700. This includes the airfare, hotel and food. We are also hosting a fundraiser on November 12^th to raise $10,000 to benefit the Medical Clinic project directly.

Please mail your tax deductible checks to:
Cecie & Stan Stafford
1855 Icarus Drive, Unit D
Lafayette, CO  80026
Payable to: Olive Branch Ministries or Rock Creek Church.

Check out the is a heartwarming letter sent from one of the orphans to Pastor Gary on the next page.

Please continue to monitor our progress by checking out my blog http://trippingtouganda.blogspot.com/.
Please do not hesitate to e-mail or call if you have any questions.

Thank you so much, Cecie & Stan Stafford

Almighty God has made known to us the path of life;

He fills us with joy in His presence,

with eternal pleasures at His right hand”

(Psalm 16:11)

Counting Down to Take Off.

The plane tickets are purchased and seats assigned... we are busy in fundraising efforts for the medical clinic and our personal mission.

Yesterday we discovered a news flash.
Uganda president: US troops not sent in to fight - CBS News
The Uganda president said that US troops not sent in to fight but to investigate.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/16/ap/africa/main20121041.shtml

This is typical of the East African area.  The village of Zziba that we will be visiting will be safe and we are not alarmed at this time.  This said, please continue to pray for us and the team as we prepare to go to Africa.  And more importantly, pray for the children and Orphanage to be safe.

You think you have it bad?

Through all of our preparations to go to Africa in January we have also been watch our son, Mike prepare for his new adventure, 27 month in the Peace Corp in Vanuatu.  He has been an inspiration to us in his diligence to make sure he has the necessary items but no too much so that he can stay under the weight limit of 80 pounds total for his two years of living on an island.
Today he got on his plane and took off on the first leg of his journey.  He got off safely around 1:30 PM and is in the air right now.  His plane lands around 3 PM PT and he meets the Peace Corps tonight for registration.  Then tomorrow all day staging meeting wrapping up with the flight to Vanuatu by way of New Zealand.  about 24 hours of traveling all in all.  He is excited but a bit apprehensive of the possible home sickness.  We will miss him terribly but we know he is on a journey for God!  We have had a great summer with him and he is ready to be on his own now.  Drop him a line if you think of it or read a bit of his blog http://cogitoergocogito.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/hello-world/

So here we were in puddles of tears, already missing our baby boy of 23 years - he's no baby but we are  :) then to put it all in perspective, as we are walking back to the car we think of all of the many men and women leaving to go fight in a war and we felt very fortunate.

And we think of our daughter who's husband of only 6 months, is also deploying today for a place far far away in a war zone.  And the tears came right back.

Then we get a call, that our elderly aunt, who is already in hospice, has broken her hip and they don't expect her to live through it...maybe not even through the day :(  very sad. But she has the hope of Glory and knows her Savior well. She has lived a long full life and will be in heaven soon.

And then the final blow of the day, I received this email report of tragedy that occurred on Monday morning…

Hello Papa!

Just to let you know that we have had a tragedy this end! Winnie Kayaga, Kenneth Kibirango, mary Nakagiri, Dan Kalinda and Allen Nambi have lost their mother! She died this morning and cause of death is not acertained! She has been perfectly alright and after milking her cow, one of her step sons found her crying out in pain by the road side. In a few minutes she was dead. Suspected is either a heart attack or arthma attack or a freak accident of sorts! Well, I was meant  to visit the children at school which i did but sadly, she has been the one keen parent who visited along with me. Burial is tommorow monday and 4pm. Winnie fainted and was hospitalised on hearing the news. She was due for dressing on 13th over her recent swelling op.

Well Papa! Its a shame! Pliz let Dad know about this! God bless you Bye.

Rhona

This was a very shocking and sad email regarding a wonderful family whom we have served from the beginning of OBM. You might remember the story I sent out about them a year or two ago telling how the dad had been murdered by thieves attempting to rob their house, and now they have lost the mom. Winnie, the oldest, is a very loving young lady. You may also remember from the story that when the dad was killed, the mom disappeared for a while out of fear, and Winnie (at age 13) became the mom for the little ones who were left behind. Our plan is to send Winnie to vocational school after the first of the year. Kenneth and Allen (a girl - we would say Ellen) are two of our brighter students who hold very good prospects for making it to University in a few years. The loss of the mom will leave 2 small ones to be cared for and the older ones need to stay in school if possible. Please keep them all in prayer.

When situations like this occur, it reminds me of the strategic role that we play in the lives of these children and their families, and how thankful I am that Olive Branch has been there for them to bring resource and opportunity so they can have a future and a hope. Olive Branch will stand in the gap for this family - we just need wisdom and direction.

Thank you for standing with us and with them!  - Pastor Gary

And so the day has come full circle and we feel blessed to be planning a wonderful mission trip to be with these beloved African Children in Zziba.  As we prepare to go we will be praying harder than ever.

Where is Zziba?

This is a mission trip - prayer and gifts welcome.

Did I mention that this is a mission trip?  We are using our vacation time to serve the children in the small village of Zziba in Uganda where we support an orphanage and church.  About 20 orphans live at the orphanage as well as many children in the community that the church supports. In 2008, Stan went to Zziba and was able to install electricity in the compound.  Until then their only source of light was from Kerosene lamps.  Pastor Gary has been back to Zziba approximately 3-4 time every year since then.  On each visit he monitors the children’s progress in school and their health and well being.  OBM’s goal is to help provide resources like education, skill training, agriculture, small business and industry development, the result being to give these individuals the tools they need to become self-sustaining and radically increase their options for the future.  Here is their website, http://www.olivebranchministries.net/.

If you are interested in donating, please send your gift to Rock Creek Church
(Administrative Offices, 726 Front Street, Suite A  Louisville, CO 80027, Phone: (303) 494-2927),
make sure you put our name on the bottom of your check.
If you are interested in praying, PLEASE DO :)

Plane tickets and More Immunizations

We really are going - it is a reality now.  We bought the plane tickets and have dates and reservations!!
Our group will be departing Denver International Airport January 3rd.  We will fly through Detroit and then on to Amsterdam!  After a brief layover we will board the KLM airplane headed for Entebbe Uganda.

We are in the process of getting inoculated for Yellow Fever, Flu, Polio, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A& B and Meningitis. It is quite a big process.  First stop was the CDC and then the local doc.  Friday we are headed to an Infectious Disease doctor.  Then I think we should be all set.

Stan really got a bad reaction to his shots and had to take it easy for about a day and a half.

But we are still gung-ho and very excited.  Our next step is communicating with a support team...Pray for clear communication and generous hearts.