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