Graingers Mission

Cataloguing Books

After hauling 5 suitcases (approximately 150kgs) of Christian books & resources half way around the world for the Lungala Bible Ministry proposed Resource Centre, we spent an afternoon cataloguing a large proportion on a mobile APP.

It was very easy with the books that had the barcodes on, some of the older resources we had to add manually. Great team effort. Now there's a list of the resources which is exportable on to an XL spreadsheet for future use in the centre.

Boda Boda Ride

We definitely couldn't let Charlotte & Esme come to Uganda without taking the local means of transport .... a Boda Boda ride

Most people in Uganda use this form of transport in and around both cities & villages, its quick, cheap but can be extremely dangerous. Fortunately we weren't exposed to any danger on our 15 minute ride from Mpigi to Lungala. Actually it was a very good way to see lots of the off the track scenes of houses, children playing and men lounging around!

Women's Ministry opportunity

Wednesday we spent the afternoon with some of the Women at Lungala Church for encouragement. Charlotte and Esme shared their testimonies with them.

We asked some of the ladies attending to share with us their testimonies, so that we could hear what village life in rural Uganda as a christian women was like.

Sherilyn also shared a short devotion on Psalm 121.

Bible distribution in Schools - Mpigi District

Without a doubt, a big highlight of the Short Term mission team, Charlotte & Esme was the day spent at schools distributing Gideon Bibles.

We went through local rural villages to get to the schools, we met a Pastor that took us to each school. We visited the Pastors home and he shared with us this following story....

2 months ago he had had a call from a local man in the village saying that the local mosque would love to bless them with a gift for his Church. The Pastor was very excited when a van arrived and delivered new Speakers for the church sound system. On the Sunday morning before Church he received a phonecall from the local police saying "DO NOT use the new speakers in your Church" The Police had been tipped off and when they arrived at the Church and opened the back fo the Speakers, they found BOMBS inside, which would have exploded the minute the speakers were turned on!!

We visited 4 schools, Charlotte & Esme had prepared the day before with an interactive song of bible verse John 14v6 ... Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" the kids really enjoyed being involved.

It was interesting to see and hear how young some children were not allowed bibles, the principal separated the children and said no bibles for some children , we were rather shocked but later he explained to us that the children could get beaten at home if they took a bible home, the bible would be burned and in some instances parents would remove their children from the school, which affected school roles and finances.

Charlotte got lots of attention from this local teacher, her was intrigued by her and he wouldn't stop talking & following her around LOL!

It was a fun day, ending with a yummy Chapati lunch (our new favourite ) from the local Chapati stand in Mpigi!

Mission - Short Term team arrive

It was great to welcome Charlotte & Esme from NZ to Uganda for their first ever Mission experience.

Arriving safely, with the additional 2 suitcases full of Christian Books & resources, after almost 40 hours! Their flight routes were changed last minute, just like our flights 3 weeks beforehand had been, due to the Iran War and it added a couple of extra stopovers in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Ethiopia before touching down in Entebbe, Uganda.

Once they were through customs, we headed straight for one of our favourite cafes to get what reassembled a fairly "Western style & tasting" lunch. Very welcome after all that plane food!!

Lungala Community Bible Church - Womens Group

Sherilyn got to share at the Women's afternoon Bible Study her personal testimony, sharing Gods faithfulness in her life and the journey God had taken us on in Missions in Uganda since 2008 and our Mission to Palermo Sicily 2019-2021.

It was particularly interesting to talk with these women and hear their testimonies of Gods amazing work in the lives. One women shared a personal conversation how her life had changed dramatically since she had become a Christian, yet many people were still judging her & her decisions because they saw the daily consequences of those decisions she had made in the past. She was very sad and desperate for friends and acceptance.

Pastors Training

The first week we were in Lungala we were both asked to attend and teach at the local monthly Pastors Conference.

Turn out was disappointing, only 5 of the 30 Pastors invited turned up, but everyone enjoyed & were encouraged by the Sessions taught.
Deane taught "A Walk through Galatians" over the 2 days.

Sherilyn taught on the Importance of keeping Church Records and "Keeping a Personal Journal".

It is always enjoyable to have conversations afterwards with local Pastors to hear of their lives, churches and struggles.

Lungala Community Bible Church

It was good to be back at Lungala Community Bible Church, Deane was asked to preach on Hebrews 12 vs 1-2. There were lots of new faces at the Church on the Sunday morning but we were surprised that there were no familiar faces from when we were at the Church in 2020.

Uganda Thunderstorm

Great reminder on our 1st day of the Ugandan Thunderstorm!!

Lungala Family & Farm, Mpigi

Great to take a trip out to the farm at Lungala with Alex & Simon.

Lovely to see Christine & Othaniel 😍

Entebbe, Uganda March 2026

Original flights cancelled due to war in the Middle East.

New flights taken 2 days later through Malaysia and Ethiopia. Arrived after 40hoirs travel and delays, but thank to be in Uganda again.

March 15th Uganda

Plans to go to Uganda March 2026

Uganda 2026 Mission

We are currently planning a Mission trip to Uganda, leaving 15th March 2026 ..... Details to follow!

Our overall India Experience

What an amazing opportunity to visit India with Bri & Ross.

We literally just tagged along, they did meticulous planning of all transport, restaurants, hotels, hire cars, sightseeing and if it hadn't been for that we doubt we would've ever bothered to come to India at all! It's definitely a chaotic place but also some extremely amazing buildings, scenery and sights!!

So we are so glad for the experience, much of India is very similar to Uganda, Africa but I especially have been surprised firstly by the city of New Delhi, it was way better than I ever expected.

Staying at the foothills of the Himalayas was an amazing time and a dream come true for Deane.

The scenery we've seen on the long road trips between cities has been interesting and diverse depending on the area travelling through.

India is such a huge country!

We have found 99% of the people very friendly, extremely helpful and humble.

Sometimes we would be walking along the street and they just join & walk alongside you asking you a myriad of questions about anything and everything. When you say New Zealand and cricket they are even more interested!

There are some very religious practices in India, they have shrines everywhere with little buddahs sitting in them and they renew food, water & insense sticks regularly.

Deane chatted with a couple of guys that started asking him questions, they were Hindi and said in their religion there were 86,000,000 gods to choose from 🫣

Deane said to them that thankfully he believed in the only One True God! That got them very interested and started asking even more questions, they were genuinely interested and Deane & Ross shared the Gospel of Jesus with them. They said they were interested to go buy a bible, so we prayed for them then & there 😊

Last Night in India

It was a very long and slow drive from Jaipur to New Delhi, we had to go to our first hotel to collect the suitcase we had left there and Ross had to collect some money he was owed by the hotel.

Then we drove to our hotel near the airport, Bri & Ross were flying out at 2am, we were staying 2 nights until our flight.

Ross and Deane were keen for their last meal in India to be Butter chicken. Ross did some research and we ended up at the Daryaganj Restaurant, owned by the grandson of the inventor of the butter chicken recipe. It was only a 10 minute walk from the hotel.

It was a fabulous way to end our month in India 🇮🇳 😊

Transport around India

We have used the train once and to save a 14 hour road trip we took 2 flights from Chandigarh to Udaipur.

Here in India it is not common to rent a car but to hire a car & driver and thid is the best option 👌

Pickup and dropoff is at a prearranged time & location and you are able to make toilet & food stops along the way.

Ross was so well organised and had planned the roadtrips perfectly in advance.

It has been great way to see loads of scenery along the way in the comfort of a 7 seater vehicle for a very reasonable price. Most of the time it has either been the same as public transport and even a couple of times it has been cheaper!!!

The drivers range in age & ability, the highways between major cities are very good, side roads are what you would expect in a 3rd world country!

The drivers have this annoying habit of tooting the horn everytime they want to pass another vehicle or if they feel nervous someone will pull out in front of them. It is such a terrible habit and after 5 hours with some of the drivers it becomes exhausting .... should've invested in some ear plugs!!! I bet there are many people in India that are partially deaf.

The other thing the drivers of cars and trucks do is hang all these streamers and stuff from their vehicles to ward off the evil spirits.

Diwali Festival

It was the Diwali festival while we were in Jaipur, a Hindu religious festival which we didn't get into but it was interesting to see the lights on houses & buildings in preparation