Greetings from Texas! Carol and I, as well as the Reaching Africa’s Unreached (RAU) team, appreciate your loving support and prayers. Our ministry endeavors are completely dependent upon God’s grace and loving, mission-minded local churches and friends like you. Thank you!
Our last newsletter was in late June and much has happened since then to bring you up to speed. We had doubts about being able to leave RAU on our scheduled departure date of July 2nd because of the lockdown in Uganda at that time. We had previously moved our departure date twice for various reasons. By God’s grace, things providentially fell into place and we landed in Texas on July 3rd. It had been 18 months since our last visit to America, therefore we planned for a longer stay in the States than our previous trips. We wanted and have been able to spend extended time with children and their spouses, and our eight grandchildren. The youngest grandchild was born while we were in Uganda. We also have had family time with my Dad, siblings/family, cousins, Uncle, and Carol’s brother. As many of you know, while we were under lockdown in Uganda, my mom went to be with Jesus whom she loved, so we missed hugging her neck but we know we will see her in glory. This family time has been very precious for Carol and me.
During our stay we have also been doing lots of traveling and have been in seven different States. We have had the opportunity to be in 10 local churches, sharing in Adult Sunday Schools and proclaiming God’s Word in worship services. My text has been John 15: 15-17. I titled the message: “Chosen and Appointed with Purpose”. My prayer and hope has been to encourage God’s people that our Lord is always on his Plan A. He is preparing and using us to walk out our calling and purpose in this life, to “bear fruit”. The video and audio of the sermon is here. We also have had many opportunities to show the video which Carol put together that covers the ministry opportunities we had in 2020 and 2021. The video is entitled “Sovereign Over Us”: 2020-2021 Ministry Video.
God has graciously allowed us also to share with many families and individuals as well as with like-minded mission leaders/staff at ABWE, Reaching and Teaching International, CNET, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. We have had so many good meals we will be arriving back to RAU a bit heavier. We have stayed in many homes and have been graciously and lovingly hosted. Dear friends, Ken and Linda Wolfe, from our home church of Lifegate Church in Seguin Texas, have been so kind to allow us to stay with them in their guest home as a base. Friends, and also members of Lifegate Church, Gerard and Mary Lopez, have loaned us one of their vehicles during our stay. Carol and I have been overwhelmed by our friends’ love and that of the many others who have graciously cared for us. As we no longer have a home in the USA, this loving care is all the more precious to us.
During our 2020-2021 Uganda COVID lockdowns we did not slow down…we just changed gears. By God’s grace, his people’s gifts and our hard working RAU team, improvements were made on our 20-acre demo farm in partnership with Missionary Agricultural Resource Services, inside renovations took place which now allows four long term missions families to live on campus, local stones were put on all the walkways and driving areas all the way to front gate. A slab next to our containers is ready for a third container coming with 20,841 ESV TruTone Global Study Bibles which are currently on their way to RAU. The slab is big enough for a fourth container, Lord willing, in 2022, full of resources for church leaders in Uganda, South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. Our motto at RAU, when building, is to make it last until Jesus comes and because we are created in the image of God, at the end of each day’s work we, too, should see and say that “it is good” (Genesis 1).
Six hundred thousand dual language tracts (Four Aringa/English; One Madi/English; One Arabic/English: 100,000 of each one) have been printed in partnership with Literature Ministries International. Some are on their way in a Christian Book container along with 5,300 various books for RAU’s curriculum for church leadership modules. The rest of the tracts will come in a future Christian Book container to Uganda. Our Aringa brother, Charles Onduga, translated the four Aringa tracts. Charles also has translated into Aringa the Message of Hope in partnership with Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship. Charles is currently working on my Christian-Muslim Dialog booklets. Our Darfurian co-worker, Joshua Abraham, and a team from the Republic of Sudan will be doing the same into Arabic. Just recently, 100’s of Arabic books, ESV Study Bibles, and Arabic Study Bibles are on their way to church leaders in the Republic of Sudan. Our Texas friend, Delmar Hagar, with Study to Be Approved is getting ready some Kindle Fire devices loaded with 9 Mark Arabic materials and the Jesus Film in Arabic to be taken back with us. These also will go to pastors in the Republic of Sudan. As the social and political climate opens up there, we want to take advantage of this openness to get resources there which have been long lacking.
Eleven additional boreholes (water wells) were drilled, giving clean accessible water to eleven villages. With these eleven, it makes twenty two total boreholes which the partners of RAU have helped fund, giving water to villages that did not have access to clean water. We are hopeful for another as $2,000 of the $8000 needed for additional borehole has been given. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Clean accessible water in this case!
Before returning to RAU in the beginning of November, we will attend two events to which ABWE has invited us. We will be receiving training and certification in their Good Soil Evangelism and Discipleship curriculums October 11-13. Then, on October 22-23, we will attend their Demo Day. ABWE as well as Reaching and Teaching International are the mission agencies with whom we wish to maintain a long term relationship as they hold to the primacy of the local church in missions and discipleship of church leaders for the fastest growing church in the world…the Sub Saharan Africa. This is the heart and soul of Reaching Africa’s Unreached!
You may view a short, 3-minute video which Carol recently made about RAU here entitled- Reaching Africa’s Unreached in 3 Minutes An excellent call for workers in the fields that are ripe for harvest with few workers!
The Ford tractor we brought in the first container 8 years ago is on its last leg. It has been so helpful in clearing RAU’s 20 acres making it into the demo farm it is today. I am of the strong opinion (there are no parts in Uganda for it) that we need to get a new small, 4-wheel drive tractor in Uganda to replace it to help in our 20 acre demo farm. I estimate we will need at least $15,000 to get one with a bucket and corresponding implements. Please pray with us and consider helping if you can. Thank you.
Carol and I are grateful that Reaching Africa’s Unreached was renewed five more years in its Ugandan NGO status. Also that Carol and I have received three more years on our work visas. This has been our fourth renewal. Carol and I also received good news from our doctors’ and dentists’ appointments. A phrase we often hear at such appointments is “You are doing well for your age”. I can appreciate that at 66. We rejoice that throughout 2020 and 2021 we did not have malaria even once. Our Lord was so gracious to us in this! That was not the case for many others in our Moyo District, unfortunately.
Please also pray that we can once again resume our on-campus module training(s) in the RAU Hall of Tyrannus as well as on-campus agricultural training(s) for church leaders as well as for community members. Pray also that we can resume open air evangelism in markets, travel freely for discipleship in local churches and resume our Christian-Muslim dialogs with Sheikh’s and Imams.
With Gratefulness for you,
Jacob and Carol Lee
Tax deductible charitable donations may be made via PayPal or check. PayPal also has a way to make recurring monthly gifts. Recurring monthly gifts are very helpful to the ministry. To do so, please click on the PayPal link below. PayPal deducts a small amount from each gift as a processing fee. All gifts given through PayPal and by check are tax deductible as Reaching Africa’s Unreached has 501c3 tax exempt status as a charitable organization. If you wish to write a check you may write it out to R.A.U. and mail it to Lifegate/RAU Bibles, 395 Lifegate Ln., Seguin Texas 78155.
PayPal Link for donations: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WAR99DL4JFWXQ
Go to RAU’s Facebook page for up to date reports, pictures, musings, and exhortations: www.facebook.com/ReachingAfricasUnreached
RAU YouTube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRmHafoBSemE7jS8kEHCG6Q/videos
RAU’s Mission and Vision Statements/Statement of Faith: https://reachingafricasunreached.org/about/
The greatest evil is having the gospel and not doing everything within our power to get it to those who do not have it!
Sowing seeds of love and kindness should not be separated from preaching the gospel of sovereign grace but completely intertwined with it!
When at least 35% of the world; “the unoccupied fields”, have no access to the gospel, we (believers) must all do all we can to reach them. We who are saved owe the gospel to every lost person, most especially the 2.4 billion who will not hear unless someone breaks into their “unoccupied field” with no thought of their own life!
Sowing seeds of love and kindness should not be separated from preaching the gospel of sovereign grace but completely intertwined with it!
I am sure that none of us will say when in heaven that we prayed too much, we sacrificed too much, proclaimed the gospel too much, and were too passionate to get the gospel to those who have little to no access to this gospel of grace. Let us together press on to make it our ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named!
Our goal in our gospel witness is to take our eyes off the “risk” and place them on the cause for the risk. When God compels us like this he often will not tell us the risks…after all there are no risks for the all-knowing, all-powerful God. So let us be AMBITIOUS (Romans 15:20) to see that ALL are reached with the gospel of grace (Romans 1:16) in ALL places…there are no closed doors to the gospel, just some which are more difficult to go through!
Jacob Lee
Reaching Africa's Unreached 