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| Life is tough, but I am determined to graduate from poverty |
Warm greetings from Kigali Rwanda in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
I trust all is well with you and your family under His overflowing grace.
The following is our Ministry Updates for the month of June 2012. I pray that you will be encouraged by what God is doing in our lives in Rwanda.
1. There was the quarterly board meeting in June.
2. UOB submitted a $450K proposal for funding to International Finance Corporation. If granted, this funding would be used for developing and expanding the agent network to accelerate our mobile banking outreach to the rural areas in Rwanda. Please pray with us in our seeking God's face on this proposal.
3. UOB leadership held the quarterly off-site prudential meeting with the Rwanda National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) in June. The meeting outcome was very encouraging to us. We were told that UOB is one of the best run banks. We praise God for His grace upon us.
4. UOB received many visitors in June, including HOPE's insight trip, HOPE's spiritual integration team, Saddleback Church's PEACE team, a representative from Gates Foundation, Chairman of World Relief Board etc. It is our prayer that their visits produced transformational inspiration and encouragements. Also, may their visits open the doors to different opportunities.
5. UOB continued its growths in all areas with excellent asset quality. Its loan portfolio reached Rwf9.3 Bn, another amazing milestone achievement with a 5.7% increase from May or a 22.3% growth from YE 2011. Deposits have also exceeded the Rwf 6 Bn milestone. PAR>30 continued declining to 1.1%. To God be all the glory and honor with many thanks for the dedicated staff who worked tirelessly!
6. UOB continued developing mobile and agent banking solutions. We have now named the platform "UOB eCash." Slowly but surely we are getting many loose ends tied down to get ready for the commercial launch scheduled for September. Please stand with us in prayer.
7. UOB has signed agreements with Triple Jump Advisory Services on two projects: SME and mBanking. Triple Jump provides technical assistance on these two areas through consultants who are experts in the related fields on a cost-sharing basis. We are grateful for this support to our God who is behind all goodness.
8. In June, UOB experienced another system glitch that produced a mismatch in balance. We are now able to spot it and take actions immediately, but it takes a while to clean it up. Whenever an incident like this happens, our IT staff has to make avoidable extra work to fix it. Please pray for a quick resolution.
9. We started construction to convert Ngoma Credit Office to a branch in June. Also, Home Office renovation has been completed on the third floor to create bigger space for staff. We have secured a new space in Huye and agreed to take over an adjacent space to convert the Huye Credit Office to branch also. We have secured a new Credit Office space in Rukomo, Nyagatare and plan to secure 6-8 additional offices in 2012 to continue expanding our outreach to rural areas.
10. I visited Agahozo Shalom Youth Village where 130 staff is serving 500 young people who are most desolate and hopeless orphans from all 30 districts in Rwanda. The facility was impressive with 32 5-bedroom homes for their housing, school building, several resource centers, library and green houses. But what impressed me more was the philosophy and principles established as the foundation for running the village. They are wholeness, holistic and sustainable development, development of the fullest potential of each person, to name a few. We intend to develop a collaboration opportunity with Agahozo. Agahozo means "A place with tears dried" in Kinyarwanda, I heard. Indeed, I could sense it in reality.
11. UOB conducted an evaluation meeting with CARE International on our "Linkage Loan" program. The outcome was very positive and we agreed to expand the program to the entire Eastern Province and possibly to Southern Province.
12. Joyce, our younger daughter, went to Senegal, Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in June. She will receive a 3-month training before she is assigned to a village. Kristin and I were nervous initially but we were encouraged to hear yesterday that she is adjusting well to the new environment. Praise the Lord!
13. Jeffrey continued ministering at Agape Korean Church, St Etienne Cathedral and Shalom Bible Study through the studying and sharing of the God's Word. Kristin and Jeffrey participated in the Korean Missionary Fellowship prayer meeting. It is always encouraging to pray and fellowship together with Kingdom workers.
14. Please pray that:
- All UOB staff will continue to put trust in the Lord in all they do and to honor Him for all He does.
- God may bless and make His face shine upon the mobile and agent banking project, and also on the IFC funding proposal
- All leadership at UOB may go on their knees first in all they plan to do.
- Joyce may draw nearer to the Lord while she is living and serving in Senegal.
- Amanda and James may deepen their faith in the Lord in everything they plan and do.
- Our parents (Kristin's mom and Jeffrey's parents) may live their last years of life on earth in hope for the eternal time together with the Lord.
- Kristin and Jeffrey may experience God's grace more and strengthen their relationship with God more intimately in all ministries they partake.
Thank God for you, your prayer and your partnership with us.
Every spiritual blessing IN CHRIST,
Jeffrey and Kristin Lee from Kigali, RWANDA
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