DLM Newsletter - August 2025

Ashley Crowe
Sep 7
6 min read

Updated: Sep 7

Glory to God for His continued blessings!

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with your family, friends, church, and business contacts.

DLM Primary Boarding School Update

Our financial goal is $440,000

to complete the following buildings:

2 Dormitories, 2 Classroom Wings, and 2 Student Latrines

Join DLM as a Monthly Building Partner!

Charityproud or PayPal Giving Fund

Kitchen/Cafeteria, Teacher Latrines, and Visitors' Building

COMPLETED

Administration Building

IN THE FINAL PHASE OF CONSTRUCTION

DLM Primary Boarding School Chapel

sponsored by Trinity Baptist Church

Administration Building

Part of the final phase of the Administration building is installing the exterior metal doors. The solid metal door you see in the picture is the entrance to the nurse's bay. The other door is the main entrance of the building. The extra grid-like metal door is called a burglar and is an extra layer of protection.

Water Tank and Stand

A water tower is being constructed to provide water for the Administration Building's plumbing system. The water tank must be elevated to provide enough pressure for the plumbing needs. If you look closely at the picture of my handprint, you'll see Shadow's pawprints, too!

The Last Week of Term 2

The week of August 11th was the last week of Term 2 at the local government school. This school is very near to my home and is one of the schools I do outreach with. Because it was exam week, many of the classes had a lot of free time. I went almost every day for a couple of hours, mostly to read with the nursery kids. One day, I also brought some books for the older students to read on their own, and they really enjoyed reading the books. Unlike elementary schools back home, most schools here do not have libraries with shelves full of books. When Delight in the Lord Christian Primary Boarding School is complete and operating, we will have a library and shelves of children's books for the children to enjoy and learn the importance of reading.

The faculty, staff, and children love visitors. You can see them greeting me at the van!

Visits to Mama Dora's house

Most late afternoons and evenings, I head out to Mama Dora's house. During the school holidays, the children are actually busier than usual -- they're doing more chores since there's no school. I've been helping out too, with food prep like peeling cassava or matoke (plantains). This always makes the passing neighbors laugh when they see a muzungu (white person) peeling traditional Ugandan foods.

I love my friend and her kids and am blessed to be able to do life with them, seeking to show God's love, grace, and truth to them.

The way they interact with babies here is honestly crazy to me--haha! It is totally normal for a 6-year-old boy or girl to carry a baby around unsupervised. The other day at Mama Dora's, this little boy was trying to play with the ball while holding a baby who was less than a year old! My heart stops often to witness some of the everyday life here. Over time, I've gotten used to it...and somehow, the kids grow up just fine! Haha!

The Harvest

Alisa has been harvesting the ground nuts and brought Mama Dora a couple of days to help him. She has learned a good bit of English being around me, much like Mama Fab has learned English fluently over the years of her involvement with DLM!! When Mama Dora is here, she translates for me so I can talk to Alisa! :) While they were both working in the field, I joined them to help pull up the ground nuts (peanuts) and remove them from the vines.

Certainly, the harvest is ripe, and the Lord commands that we share the Gospel. During this time of harvesting the peanut crop, the three of us had conversations about the Lord, Biblical truths, and misconceptions. The people here are very confused about forgiveness and consequences. Forgiveness here means a person is forgiven without any consequence. One of the biggest misconceptions Alisa had was that because God is good and is love, He gives everyone another chance after dying. Another misconception is that, in general, people are mostly good. I explained that it's true, God is love and is good, but He is also just and has to punish sin, which we all commit against Him. Many here also believe they are just born into whatever religion their parents are. If the father claims to be Muslim and the mother claims to be Catholic, the kids will say they are Muslim. Even if they don't believe the doctrines or foundational beliefs of that religion, they will claim to be a follower of that religion. I once had a child in Bible study who claimed to be Muslim yet believed Jesus is the Son of God. If you know anything about Islam, they do not believe Jesus is God's Son. Because of this belief, Alisa, like many, will say they are Christian when they do not even know the basic salvific truths of Christianity.

Another stumbling block is the misinterpretation and twisting of Scripture. Benny Hinn and other false teachers of the prosperity gospel are prominent here. Benny Hinn was actually in Kampala recently to preach. It broke my heart. I just prayed God would save people out of it, which He will, despite the false teaching they are hearing. We know Jesus didn't heal everyone. In John 5, we read about the healing in Bethesda. A multitude of invalids were there, but Jesus healed one man. The healing wasn't because of his faith, because he didn't even know who it was that told him to stand up and walk.

I just saw a billboard advertising a recent Healing and Deliverance crusade here in Uganda. This, of course, is heartbreaking because "pastors" are promising healing and deliverance from problems that Jesus never promised. In fact, James 1:2 states, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds...". So we know we will have trials that God doesn't just take away from us because "...the testing of our faith produces steadfastness"

Just a few weeks ago, Mama Dora and I were talking about the possibility of having church services in our community, and she asked if there would be disco-like dancing. I said absolutely not. She was saying most "Christians" wouldn't come if there was no disco. I explained that we should follow the example of the Scripture in how the early church operated, and that we would not change just to attract more people. John 10:25-28 states, "Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." I explained that even if only one person attended, we would praise God because that person would be hearing the Word of God preached rightly.

The pictures show Alisa and Mama Dora picking the ground nuts or g-nuts (peanuts). The video shows how they remove the nuts from the vine. They are so innovative.

Packing Beans

I'm packing the beans that Alisa harvested last month to give out to our Educational sponsor children in Kampala. I will also share some with community members, though most of them grow their own food, including beans. Each little plastic bag weighs 1 kg.

Gardening and the Beauty of this Land

Take a look at the before-and-after photos of the garden area within the 2-acre ministry home compound that I've been working on over the past couple of months -- lots of weeding, tilling, and leveling. It is very hard work, but so rewarding when the job is done!You

My tomato plants are coming along nicely, and I recently harvested the potatoes and shared them with Mama Dora. I even had a few green beans, but not too many this time since I planted them late.

The passion fruit plant is slowly growing along the wires we strung on metal posts. I also have a grapevine plant that is growing slowly and hasn't yet reached the wire. I've also been planting grass to make the compound a little greener.

And the last pics are just some beautiful shots of the DLM property. The views never get old!