Here are the
Notes for Isaac Peter Oyako’s ALIGN-CONFERENCE-2017
Yearly Archives: 2017
This Church Needs Bibles & a New Roof
A young man who came to faith some time ago through our ministry went into an area and started a church. We have just recently discovered him, and found that his little congregation very much desires some Bibles, and they need a new thatched roof. Any gifts you could send to help them out would be much appreciated.
A Great Car Challenge
October 2017, by Pastor Isaac Peter Oyako
Dear our beloved friends and prayer partners,
My wife and I would like to bring you special greetings in Jesus name!
We are the founders of Revival Time Ministry as of March 19th 1993. I supervise the work of Revival Time Ministry, I am an itinerant Bible Teacher, Biblical counselor and a mentor.
We live in Jinja town near Lake Victoria, the third largest lake in the Word. From Lake Victoria, the Mighty River Nile starts its long journey to Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. Our home and office is 12 Kms from Jinja town on a steep hill. The nearest shopping center is Bugembe, 4 kms downhill on the way to Jinja town. The place God gave is to build our home is an expensive place for high class people. Homes are with wall fences and strong gates, except ourselves. Everyone in our community has his or her own car.
For the last 10 months, we have been suffering a transportation challenge: We walk down hill to take a motorcycle taxi popularly known as Boda Boda. They are recklessly ridden and prone to accidents. Public taxi is equally just bad news. It has been a tough time for us when it comes to going to ministry such as preaching and supervising projects, funerals, weddings, visitation, shopping, picking up children from schools etc.
To avoid the risks posed by Boda-Boda cyclists, and the inconvenience of commuter taxis, I have resorted to renting cars from licensed tour companies. This is extremely expensive. For a small car I pay USD $30 per day minus fuel (gas).
This was not always the case: I had two cars in the past, a Coarsa and Suzuki Escudo. I could use them interchangeably depending on the Terrain. However, I had a very bad roll over on 15 August 2015, cheating death narrowly. I was hit from behind by a Toyota Prado, driven by a high ranking drunken government official from the ruling party. My car was written off, not road-worthy, and I sold it as scrap.
The remaining Suzuki Escudo 1988 model, was over-worked, as my programs are sometimes hectic, and caught fire last year. The engine was gutted, but I managed to escape unhurt.
Our greatest prayer need is for a vehicle.
As the year comes to an end, accidents will more than double on the roads here.
Revival Time Ministry sponsors girl children and many of them spend holidays with us because they have nowhere else safe enough to call home. We expect about 12 of them to stay with us this coming holiday season. This implies shopping for groceries regularly. Most of them are picked up from schools.
I cannot afford – unless God performs a a miracle – a certain new vehicle, which normally sells to the tune of USD $7,000 and more. However, my friend Bishop John, a Kenyan bought such a car from Uganda two years ago, because vehicles are cheaper here than his country, Kenya. But what he thought was a good deal became a big expense due to taxes on foreign-registered cars in Kenya. Bishop John cannot transfer the registration to Kenya due their policy regarding vehicles of a particular year of manufacture. He is stuck; it is too expensive for him! So he decided the car should come back to Uganda. He bought it two years ago for USD $7,000. For my sake, he wants only a refund of USD 4,000. (A Toyota Harrier, “used,” from Japan, costs USD $8,000 and more).
The car is still good and 4WD; ideal for my situation. I have agreed to take it. However, the challenge is the cost now. I have been promised USD $2,000. The balance of USD $2,000 is my urgent prayer request. Please, pray with us, to raise the remaining USD $2,000 as soon as possible and get that car.
We are open for any amount contributed towards the balance. “One by one makes a bundle”, goes the saying.
Thank you again for your concern. Above is the picture of car we are trying to purchase from Bishop John in Kenya.
Pastor Isaac Oyako
Exec. Supervisor of Revival Time Ministry/
Itinerant Bible Teacher and Counselor
Tel. _+256 (0) 772 475 720
A Transportation Challenge – and the Apparent Answer
To all RTM Partners and friends,
Dear Partner and a friend,
Special greetings in Jesus name!
We are writing this letter to you as our cherished partner and friend. We have an urgent administrative need of USD $3,850. After my last newsletter, one of our friends, Trosgnistans Mission of Sweden pledged to meet 30% of this if can find the other 70%. The actual need now is USD $2,600.
Revival Time Ministry has a Transportation Challenge (Lack of vehicle). My last two cars crashed. One was in a nasty road accident in August 2015. The engine of the other vehicle was gutted by fire and it is now ‘totaled’, meaning the efforts to repair the engine cost us a lot, but failed utterly.
It has been our earnest prayer to have a vehicle soon for ministry and administrative purposes. RTM carries out a number of projects which need monitoring.
My friend and close ministry partner in Kenya, Rev. John Absai, the presiding Bishop of MFA church is selling a good vehicle, a Toyota Harrier, with Ugandan registration. He is not selling the car because of mechanical problems but because heavy taxes are upon him as a result of driving a car in Kenya with Ugandan registration. He bought this car in Uganda about 18 months ago, at USD $5,000. He did not know he would not be able to change it to Kenyan registration due to the Kenyan Policy regarding age of the vehicle. Taxes have continued to bite him hard and he now wants the car back in Uganda soon as possible. I know the car and I have used it several times whenever I am in Kenya. I requested an honest assessment from a qualified mechanic and the report is positive.
Rev. John wants an equivalent of USD 3,850 from me before he transfers the ownership to RTM. Already Trosgnistans of Sweden pledged 30% if I can find the 70%. Therefore, I am kindly requesting contributions from all our partners and friends to raise 70% (USD $2,600). Any contribution (Pledge) shall be appreciated. The tax is due for Rev. John in July and he is desperate that the car comes to me before that.
I greatly appreciate your concern and Love. The cash may not be ready immediately, but a pledge will help us kick start the process of transfer. Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you.
Exciting Plans and Needs for 2018
Dear beloved friends and prayer partners,
Warm and special greetings in Jesus name from Jinja, Uganda.
It is indeed our delight to update you on what transpired during the past six months and the apparent future direction the Lord seems to be guiding us into. By doing this, in a way, we are being accountable to you all our prayer partners.
We had less ministry in the word this year compared to last year: Apart from the Bible school in Bujumbura in late January this time, womens conference in Thika, Kenya, and Sunday services where I am engaged, usually with various churches. Our efforts had been centered on saving lives of the most vulnerable people from a raging famine. With support from various donors, we were able to support about 1,000 households from places such as Anyara, Otukei, Wera , Abarilela, Otuboi etc. Our relief efforts were triggered by deep compassion over the vulnerable people.
We want to thank God for the provision, and thank you for the prayer support. I would like to thank, in a special way, those who were able to send gifts to save life. Our relief effort has not stopped.
Yes, I’ve returned and recovery is in progress, but the famine will not be over until September. The Harvest will be about 40% as a result of the diseases that attacked the crops at their tender age, most especially maize. Let us all pray that the second growing season, August to December, will be fine.
In March, Rev. John Absai from Kenya went to Bujumbura and taught in the Bible school on my behalf. It is wonderful to share ministry. in May, no one was able to go to Bujumbura. In July, I will be travelling to Bujumbura to teach in the Bible school. After that we will be left with three course units to complete; a course that will lead to a certificate in Bible and Theology.
In my opinion, it might be good to complete the Bujumbura Bible School before the end of this year, If this is to be possible, we have to step up the effort and have the courses running monthly, rather than bimonthly, as it had been so far.
New Short Courses Next Year
The Lord has been speaking to us more clearly about next year 2018. We are developing some specific groups of courses, as you can see from this Information page on: The New Short Courses.
You are invited to become involved as a facilitator/teacher, or a sponsor of one or more students.
This does not mean that we will not be involved in other countries as before. It does imply that more effort will be employed developing specific leadership groups in our training base in Soroti. We also would like to involve facilitators from different cultures across the globe.
We still desire your prayers support on the following specifically URGENT areas:
1). Please pray for the Lord to help us to upgrade our training facility in Soroti in preparation for 2018. Millions of Ugandan shillings is needed to put modern sanitary facilities, temporal classrooms, kitchen, repair beds and other items that were destroyed during the LRA incursion in Teso sub region.
2. Pray for me to have a car, this is our greatest need at the moment. I am often involved in funerals, social events like marriages, picking children from schools, ministry trips etc. Without a car life has been harder and more expensive: (Renting a car is very expensive in Uganda. I pay a Tour Company an equivalent of USD 30 daily to drive myself, and that is not counting fuel).
3. I am repeating the prayer request for the Karamojong girl, Angelina Nakoyan who longs to do Clinical Medicine and return to help her people, the nomadic and hostile people of North Eastern Uganda. Nakoyan needs USD $750 per semester and the course takes a total of six semesters (3years).
We have broken this need into three sessions of USD $250 each so that it might be easier to find sponsors for a smaller portion than the total. If we can find a Foundation to assist, that would be well and good.
4. Ministry in Bujumbura has been a challenge: I need not less than USD $400 for transportation, accommodation, rent of training facility etc. Kindly pray that God provides this need as well.
Thank You very much
Rev. Isaac Peter Oyako
BAD NEWS FEBRUARY 2017 GREAT FAMINE IN NORTH- EASTERN UGANDA
February 2017
Dear Friends,
You may be shocked to hear that people have begun dying silently of starvation in most rural areas in North and Eastern Uganda. I think that the government is deliberately gagging the press to avoid embarrassment.
People who live in cities are well off, and give a false picture of Uganda as a growing economy. These are just less that 10% of the population, who are in privileged position and good businesses.
I was very surprised when I visited Anyara Sub County in Kaberamaido district last year November. I had just returned from Burundi, another impoverished community. However, the scale of food shortage in Anyara was far greater than I had experienced in my entire life. It was disturbing to see people living worse off lives than beasts.
People were and are still surviving on wild growing fruits, termites and really anything not worthy human consumption. Now in February, it has worsened and it is likely to continue to grow worse till probably June; that is if rains return in March as expected.
People are suffering, not because they are lazy, but the conditions were far beyond what they could have prevented. Two crop seasons failed consecutively due to abnormally heavy El Nino rains, then drought followed immediately.
I was moved to see this scale of suffering, most especially among the vulnerable members of the community. This comprises of senior citizen above 70, people with chronic illnesses, widows, and child-managed households. To put me even in greater sorrow, the Sub county chairperson challenged me to stop preaching to hungry people, instead first give them what to eat. He cited biblical examples where Paul and apostles were concerned about the needy especially during times of famine.
This was a bomb shell!The provocation and compassion was enough to send me before the Lord for days. God was moved and made a provision which I administered myself. Last week we gave food, constituting of 25 Kgs of ground maize flour, and 8 Kgs of beans worthy an equivalent of USD 5,400 to 250 vulnerable households in Anyara Sub County.
The press was quick to comment and give credit.(Newspaper story about the distribution). But I believe what we did was negligible compared to the need. Anyara Sub county has over 4,000 households and is still having four straight months of famine. What we have given is support to help the most critical cases for only 4 to 6 weeks.
We are available to continue to help if resources are available. Revival Time Ministry takes humanitarian intervention in the same way as preaching the word from the Bible. Our administrative costs are kept to less than 2% usually. The three of us (Rev. Isaac Peter Oyako, Peter Eirait, and Loy Akello) were involved in the food stores from morning to evening weighing and sealing the food packages without any allowances. We did everything ourselves except maintaining order which involved the police.
We are appealing for any help for the famine stricken people of Anyara still. We shall deliver it as it is, and give you the pictures. If you know of any organization which may require formal application, please let us know.
We have a long history of effective response to disaster: Revival Time Ministry was the first to take food to camps after LRA Kony had torched and killed people in Obalanga. We rode in Military vehicles which the camp was still smoldering. We have the capacity, compassion and skill to respond.
Pray with us for more donations for the people of Anyara. The need is two fold: Food Aid and seeds when rains return. People have eaten all their seeds. Treated seeds will be an urgent need just next month.
It might interest you to see the following attachments:
(i) What the Newspaper story about the distribution
(ii) Some of the distribution Pictures
Pastor Peter Oyako personally overseeing the registration for food.
A policeman helping with the distribution
A woman is taking away the food supply she has just received.
(iii) How the Local government appreciated us.
[You may open or download the text version of this Appeal.
Thank you very much
Rev. Isaac Peter Oyako
Exec. Supervisor/Founder of Revival Time Ministry
Itinerant Bible Teacher and Biblical Counselor
Tel. +256 772 475 720
Email Me