DLM Newsletter - June 2025

Ashley Crowe
Jul 9
9 min read

Glory to God for His continued blessings!

Please share Delight in the Lord Ministries

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

DLM Primary Boarding School Update

Our financial need is $510,000

to complete the following buildings:

2 Dormitories, 2 Classroom Wings, Student Latrines, and Headmaster's Home

Join DLM as a Monthly Building Partner!

Donate Here or Text GIVE to (833) 745-4592

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

The DLM Primary Boarding School chapel, Trinity Chapel, is sponsored by Trinity Baptist Church in Nevils. We thank God for our supporters who give through Trinity to sponsor this chapel. The construction of the chapel is progressing at a steady pace; the roofing phase was recently completed. The chapel is located near the center of the DLM property and will be used by students, teachers, and staff once the school is complete and operating. We will hold daily chapel services with the reading of Scripture and singing of hymns, and, of course, praying together as we start each new day.

DLM Coffee Plantation

We have a coffee plantation starting up!! Be on the lookout for DLM Coffee in about two to three years!!!! :) Just a few months back, we planted about 300 coffee trees on the property. Unfortunately, we lost nearly 50 plants due to too much sunshine and not enough rain, leaving us with about 250 baby coffee plants. The plan is to replant additional trees in the next rainy season. To help keep the soil moist, I placed grass clippings around each coffee plant!!! I was blessed by one of my day guards who helped collect and put the grass clippings in each hole for me to then spread around each plant. We recently hired a neighbor to weed around each plant; she was so thankful for the job. We thank God for this project!!

Burial Ceremony for my friend's father

On Friday, June 27, my friend and neighbor, Mama Dora, lost her father. Her home village, where her parents live, is about an hour away. The burial was held on Saturday, June 28th. Mama Dora’s husband was planning to travel in a taxi with their children and community members to attend the burial, but it would have cost a lot more money to travel with the children. My plans included a driver taking me to the burial, so I offered to take the children with me, taking the burden off of them.

Often, the burial ceremony takes place at the family's home. Tents are pitched for the guests. Food is prepared for everyone in attendance. The length of the ceremony can vary depending on the family's religion and preference. We arrived just in time for the very short ceremony. Once the speaking and prayers concluded, everyone moved to the burial site (in the backyard usually). The casket was placed in the prepared hole and covered with soil and cement to seal it. The children and I didn’t stay too long and reached home at 7:15 pm. We thanked God for safety as we traveled there and back and prayed for peace and comfort for Mama Dora and her family.

I was able to meet many of Mama Dora’s family members. Most of those villagers have never seen a white person, or at least not close up. My driver overheard some saying they just wanted to touch me. Some wanted photos. They don’t realize that I’m just like them, only less melanin.

The journey to and from the burial was one I will never forget! The kids aren’t used to riding in cars, and these dirt roads are very rough with holes everywhere. We were swaying back and forth nearly the whole time. Haha! On the journey to the burial, we had to stop four times for three sick kids to vomit. Thankfully, we had plastic bags in the car, and one child even managed to get out of the car in time. On the way back, well, that’s a completely different story. We ran out of plastic bags! All of us had just eaten rice for dinner! Well, guess what? Yep, you guessed it! One of the kids had another episode. With not much time for digestion, you can only imagine......rice was everywhere! Thankfully, Alisa, their close relative and my friend, was also with us and cleaned up the mess. If he had not been with us, those kids would have had to clean it up themselves. Hahaha! I’m not good with vomit, and I was holding a 2-year-old! I was not much help! It was an adventure with many memories! I love those kids!

Helping my neighbor, my friend

Mama Dora remained in her village for a week after the burial of her father, so I volunteered to help the children at their home after school during this time. Unfortunately, two children had to miss school due to the housework and tending to the cows.

Peeling matooke (plantains) is not an easy task, but I helped even though I'm slow and not so good. The locals are surprised that I even know how to peel it. Haha! I helped shell beans and then fried them using their firewood stove one evening. I also made sure their homework was complete each afternoon.

Mama Dora and even Tata Dora (Dora's father) were so thankful I was there to love and take care of the kids. He was even telling some neighbors how I came to their home and took care of them while their mother was away. Glory was given to God for the opportunity to serve Him by serving and loving my neighbors. I'm so blessed and thankful!

Helping another neighbor, another friend

I helped another neighbor and friend, Alisa, by slashing the weeds in his garden after he recently harvested his beans.

Alisa is an unbeliever but will say he is a Christian because he is a good person. I’ve shared the truth of Jesus with him before and explained that Jesus is our only way to heaven. I also explained to him that I serve the community by slashing because I love God, and I love people. He said he knows!

I pray God uses my service to receive glory. Like Mathew 5:16 says, “ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” While it’s true we can be a witness to the Lord by the way we act and live, people still need to hear the gospel message. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…”.

So I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, and He reminded me that I had not recently shared the good news, the Gospel, with Alisa. To appreciate the good news, you have to understand the bad news. God tells us to be holy like Him, but we can’t, and that our sinful nature deserves punishment, which is eternity in hell. We would have no hope, but the good news is that God sent his son to live the holy life we couldn’t and take the punishment we deserve for our sins for all who believe in Him. He rose on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of God, coming back one day to judge the living and the dead. We must repent and believe this gospel, or good news.

I will add that it is difficult to share the Gospel here because of the language barrier, as I don’t know Luganda well enough, and Alisa doesn’t know English well enough. I will follow up with Alisa soon when I have an interpreter and can share the Good News with him again.

It’s easy to get in a routine and forget to share the gospel with those around us. I want to encourage you today, as God convicted me, to be intentional in sharing Him, not just in actions but in His words!!

Here are some before and after pictures of Alisa’s garden. The buildings and road in the last two pictures are part of the DLM property! Glory to God!!

Community service is certainly a great way to show God's love to others. Throughout the past month, I've shelled beans while visiting Mama Dora. You can see their kitchen in one of the pictures. This is where they do all of their cooking over firewood. The little girl is Angie, Dora's sister. She is carrying her "baby", which is a blanket rolled up to be the size of a baby and then wrapped in another blanket. They use anything and everything to make things to play with. They are so creative and content with small things.

New Community Outreach

I've just started a "pop-up nail salon" on Mama Dora's verandah. So far, I've only done pedicures for four women. The straw mat seen in the third picture is where I sit. I put water in a basin to wash and scrub their feet, apply lotion, and then clean and trim their nails before painting. They have loved it!! Of course, Angie had to have a manicure. Each time I share the Gospel with them Mama Dora translates for me. I'm so thankful for her!! I'll continue this outreach as it's a wonderful way to share the Truth and serve other ladies in the village.

Sharing the Gospel

With the help of Mama Dora and the kids, I shared the Gospel with Alisa again. He seemed to be taking it in and trying to understand, even though knowing the Truth doesn’t make us born again. It’s an act of God working in our hearts. So, we will continue to pray for the lost, including Alisa, that God will have mercy on them to change their hearts!

After School Tutoring

For the past few weeks, I’ve been acting as a teacher and helping Mama Dora's kids and their cousins with their homework when they return from school. They walk to school, so it takes them time after the school day is complete before they reach home. While in school, they copy everything from the board into these little paper books. No matter which school you visit, it is standard that the kids' papers start with Today is ___. My name is ___. My school is ___. I am in ___ class. Sometimes they will have I am ___ years old.

The President of Uganda

The President of Uganda came to the village just down the road from the village where I live. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see the President in person. The government school that DLM is involved with at times was invited to present a song. Of course, the singing was much earlier in the day before the President arrived for his speech, but it was nice to see them perform "for the President". This was a part of the President's campaign trail. Here in Uganda, in order to get people to vote for you, you need to give things for free, such as free food. Mama Dora said if you want people to like you here, you have to give free food. So that is what the President did. They gave free shirts, advertising the president, of course, free water bottles, and a free meal of rice with pieces of meat. I enjoyed the rice, but I gave my shirt to one of the kids who didn't receive a shirt but wanted one.

These biscuits (plain cookies) cost 15 cents each. They are actually pretty tasty!

Bible Study in Kabowa

I continue to host Bible Study in Kabowa each Sunday after attending my church service. We typically begin around 2:00 pm after the children have had lunch and end around 4:00 pm. Sundays are long days for me because of the time it takes to travel into Kampala. I usually leave home around 6:30 am and reach home around 6:30 pm.

Garden Ministry

The beans that were planted some months back have been harvested. I've shared the fresh beans with Mama Fab and a couple of our sponsor children in Kabowa. Here in the village, most people grow beans, so they don't have a need for the fresh beans. In Kabowa, they don't ever receive fresh beans from the garden, so they are so thankful when they do. The parents will tell me, "Thank you for digging!" :)

I thank God for Alisa, who takes care of our garden ministry. The beans have started to dry up, so Alisa, Mama Dora, and I pulled all the bean plants up. The beans will be spread out on a tarp to dry, and then Alisa will beat them with a stick to separate the beans from the shells. The beans will then be ready to be packaged and stored. I will share these with the sponsor kids in Kabowa, too.

Bible Study in the village

The following pictures are from the Bible study in the village that I host on Saturdays. The kids enjoy shading (coloring). I have them copy notes on the back of their shading papers, which they also like doing. When you don't have tape, you improvise... I had Band-Aids that day, so we used them to tape up the page for them to copy! :) We end each lesson by saying the Gospel. Slowly, slowly, they are learning. Some can share the whole message while others are still learning. The little ones, of course, don't even know what's going on because they fall asleep. haha!

May God use the truth of His Word to transform hearts. Glory to God!