Stensaas Family

Aug—Oct 09

Robberies — These past few months have been very trying in the area of break-ins and robberies. Our church was broken into in August and the thieves stole most of the church’s things; piano keyboard, office chairs and other misc. items. In September, again thieves broke into the church and stole two fans. Then the first of October, thieves decided to leave our church alone, but went to our house while we were at church on Sunday. When we returned from the morning services we found that they had cut the bars on two of our doors and one of our windows to gain entry. They stole my laptop, which had much ministry information on it, but praise the Lord they didn’t “clean house.” We were gone for several hours that morning so they had plenty of time to take anything they wanted, but only took the laptop. Thievery increases greatly the last few months of the year due to Christmas. Please be in prayer for our safety during these months.

New Baptistery — In our last prayer letter we mentioned trying to get a baptistery at the church instead of going down to the river. The Lord answered our prayer through a special gift from Community Baptist Church in Andalusia, IL and in September we were able to have our first baptism at our church. What a blessing to see twenty people follow the Lord in believers’ baptism to “break in” our new baptistery. Fourteen were from our two preaching points in the village and six from our town church. One of those baptized was our second daughter, Addy. Two weeks later we were able to baptize two more people.

Iganga — The missionary family, the Winklers, who have been working with us here in Mbale for the past several years have moved about an hour away to a town called Iganga. They plan to start a new church to reach people in that area for Christ. Pray for this family as they begin this new work.

2010 Furlough — Here is a tentative itinerary for our upcoming furlough:

March—Ohio/Indiana

April—Missouri

May—OH/IN

June—TN/GA

December—Ohio/Indiana

July—Tennessee/Georgia

August—Ohio/Indiana

September– Ohio/Indiana

October—New England

November—Ohio/Indiana

If we are in your area and you would like us to come and report to your church on a specific day please contact us as soon as possible.

Contact information (e-mail is the best way to contact if possible):

E-mail: ajstensaas@bimi.org

Phone: 011-256-702-882263

Feb—Mar 09

A Great Start to a Great Year — In February we were able to see 12 Christians follow the Lord in believers baptism. Many of these are already being discipled. Four of those are from our preaching point in the village of Bumbobi.

Also in February we had a couples activity for our church. Along with our normal couples we had a visiting couple that came to the activity. Through this activity the lady was able to hear the Gospel and she accepted Christ as her Saviour. Pray for her husband that he also will accept Christ.

Two years ago a young man named Andrew Padde was saved as we were out soul-winning. As a martial artist he was known for his brutal fighting, but the Lord saved him and changed his life. In March this same young man started a Sunday School class for teenage boys. His first Sunday he had 13 teenagers. Several are those that he himself has led to Christ and discipled. Praise the Lord one of the visiting young men accepted Christ as his Saviour on the first day of the class.

An Hours Ride — In March, while in my office at the church a man rode up on his bicycle. He is from a village called Kachumbala an hours bike ride to the north of Mbale. This man, named Okia Charles, explained to me that he was the bishop of two churches in the village but wanted more teaching from the Bible. As I began talking to the man I realized that this man who called himself a pastor and had been “serving the Lord” for several years was not even saved. As I opened the Bible and showed him what God’s Word says about salvation he realized that he was not saved. He made the decision that day to accept Jesus Christ as his Saviour. The following Sunday he and 2 others rode their bikes one hour to come to the church. During the invitation one of those men who came with Charles came forward and said he wanted to be saved. A man in our church was able to take Moses and show him how to be saved and he too accepted Christ as his Saviour.

Charles has such a desire to learn the Truth of God’s Word that he is now making that hour-long ride twice every week for church and discipleship. Please pray for the safety of this man, who is 46, as he rides every week, and for the work that God could do with him in his village.

2010 Furlough—We want to let all of our supporting churches know that we will be taking our furlough in April of 2010. If you would like us to come and report to your church on a specific day or during a certain time please contact us as soon as possible as we will begin setting up meetings with those who contact us first and then calling others. Our contact information:

E-mail: ajstensaas@bimi.org

Phone: 011-256-702-882263

Dec 08—Jan 09

Answered Prayer — Thank you for praying for our Revival Conference in November. The Lord used Bro. Bernard in a special way to speak to our church. Thank you also for praying for my family’s health. At the time of our last prayer letter some serious sicknesses were going around in our family, but we are all doing well now. Praise the Lord for answered prayers!

Village of Bumbobi—About three years ago a man named Geoffrey visited our church from the village of Bumbobi. This village is about 8 miles from our town. This man accepted Christ and for three years now has been faithfully riding his bicycle from his village to our church every Sunday. This is a 1 1/2 hour bicycle trip one way! In the

photo is the kind of bicycle he rides. Because of his faithfulness and testimony, another man, Paul, began coming from Bumbobi with Geoffrey. Paul and his wife got saved and now they have been coming to church with Geoffrey. Our deacon, Bro. John, began riding his bicycle out to Bumbobi every week to disciple Geoffrey and Paul. Through these discipleship meetings another couple accepted Christ. Bro. John then planned a special soul-winning day for our church to go out to Bumbobi. On Dec 31, a group from our church went out and three more souls were saved in this village. Geoffrey has been praying patiently that the Lord would start a church in Bumbobi and we believe that God is answering his prayer. This group of believers in Bumbobi now want someone to come and preach every Sunday. Praise the Lord they have a real hunger for the truth of God’s Word after being deceived by religion for so many years. Several of the men in our Bible institute have shown a desire to work in this village. Please pray for Bro. John as he leads this preaching point so that one day it may become a church. Also be praying for the men who will be riding out weekly to preach in Bumbobi.

Special Thanks—We want to thank Eaton Baptist Temple in Eaton, OH and Fellowship Baptist Church in Mansfield, OH for sending special offerings to our church so that we are able to build eight more benches. Also, many thanks to all of you who sent Christmas gifts for our family.

New Leadership—Gradually we are trying to turn the ministries in our church over to the leadership of the Ugandan men in our church. Several are taking new leadership responsibilities this year. Bro. Kennedy is leading the soul-winning efforts, Bro. John in discipleship and Bro. Ronald in the deaf ministry. A new ministry that we are beginning this year is to the youth. The young man I led to the Lord two years ago, Andrew, will be starting this ministry to the youth. It is such an encouragement to see this young man have such a desire to serve the Lord. Please pray that God would use him to strengthen the youth in our church and to reach many other young people for Christ.

Aug—Oct 08

4th Anniversary — In August we celebrated the church’s 4th anniversary. We were able to look back over the past 4 years and see how God has blessed our church with souls being saved, baptized, and added to the church. On Anniversary Sunday we had close to 130 people including many first time visitors who were able to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel.

Building Completed—Praise the Lord, after a year and a half the church building is completed! Thank you to those of you who have helped financially and prayerfully to see this building completed. With this new building we have room to add about 20 more benches. With $100 we are able to make four comfortable benches. As of right now we are able to make four benches every 5-6 months. Please pray with us that we will be able to get benches made quickly, as the Lord is blessing and every Sunday each bench is filled!

Police Sunday—In September we had Police Sunday. We invited many of the police officers and several high ranking officials to come so that we could honor them and the work that they do. Praise the Lord, the Commanding Officer of Mbale came, as well as seven other police officers. Four people have already been saved as a result of this special day!

Bible Institute—We are in our final semester for this year in our Bible Institute. We praise the Lord that the number of students increased to 17 this semester. Several of the young men feel that God has called them to preach. Lord willing, we will have our first graduates next year. Please pray for these men and women as Satan is attacking and many are going through some very serious trials in their lives.

Prayer Requests —November 16-19 we will have our Revival Conference with Ugandan pastor, Musukwa Bernard, from Kampala. Pray that God will work in our church people and also save the lost who attend.

Continue to pray for the health of my family. We have been experiencing some sickness, which is never enjoyable. Knowing it is a 4 hour drive to the closest good hospital can be a worrisome! We are thankful though that the Lord has given us healthy recoveries each time anyone has been sick.

May—July 08

Holiday Bible Club — In May we held our first Vacation Bible School in our church. We called it Holiday Bible Club as the children are on “holiday” during the month of May. Each day we had about 50-60 children attend. We used this as a time to train many of our church members in working with children and now those same workers are teaching every Sunday in the children’s Sunday School and children’s church.

Missions Conference—One week following the Holiday Bible Club, we had our annual missions conference. This year our church by faith has promised to give 1,003,600 Uganda shillings ($590). The church has voted to add a new Ugandan missionary to their missionary family, making that a total of 4 national missionaries that this young church is supporting!

Preachers Fellowship—Many of the Independent Baptist preachers of Uganda have not yet begun supporting national missionaries in Uganda. We invited these pastors to our church the same week as our missions conference so they could learn first-hand how to have their own missions conferences. During the days of the conference they enjoyed the teaching on missions and went home encouraged to begin supporting their own missionaries.

College Help—We were privileged in the month of May to have three young men from West Coast Baptist College with us for two weeks. These students were a great help to the ministries of our church. They were able to participate in the children’s Bible club as well as the missions conference and preacher’s fellowship. If you are a college student (or not) and would like to come and have a part in our ministry here in Mbale, e-mail me at ajstensaas@bimi.org.

Life in Africa—Our children are doing well and enjoying the many interesting aspects of life on the mission field. A few weeks ago, we had to kill a monitor lizard that was trying to enter our home. The picture on the right is of Meagan bravely holding the baby lizard.

Rwanda—In June we were able to take a survey trip to our neighboring countries, Rwanda, with our Assistant African Director Eric Bohman. Rwanda is a very small country just south of Uganda, but wide open for the Gospel right now. Sadly there is only one Independent Baptist Church in this country of 10 million. We came back to Uganda burdened over the multitudes of people in this country with little hope of ever knowing Jesus Christ. We are praying that the Lord will send laborers to this needy field. We are also open if the Lord leads our family to this country. Would you pray and ask the Lord if He would have you help to reach these millions of people for Christ?