We are so thankful for everything God did in and through Woven2Gether in 2024. All of the seeds planted, babies saved, mothers helped were due to your faithful prayers, giving and love for the mission God has called us to. We are now looking ahead to this next year and excited for what God has in store and I know it will increase my faith substantially.
I have felt God calling me to live within the monthly support amount that we are receiving each month from our donors. Todd is also believing that we need to make this transition so here we go! I am transitioning to being able to live within these means here in Uganda, which has been a huge faith challenge for me. Some days I am full of faith other days I am full of doubt, but God will not fail me. In order to live within my raised support means I have had to re-evaluate what I can do and what I cannot do. As I maintain Woven2Gether, I have also been busy trying to figure out how to raise money to supplement our monthly support so that we can cover our families expenses as well as the ministry expenses in Uganda. I am being so vulnerable right now by sharing our budget to encourage you to please pray for Caleb and I, that God will miraculously abundantly meet our needs in ways we cannot even imagine.
Our rent at the office was increased to over $700 per month I have spent the last two weeks, since I landed back in Uganda, closing our Pregnancy Help Center Office and Store. That was really emotional two weeks. I am hopeful though, that God will make a way for me to be able to help provide for the ministry and for Caleb and I and also make a way for us to be able to rent another office to get our Pregnancy Center back up and running.
We are not done with the Pregnancy Ministry, we just had to rethink how we are going to move forward and we are so excited for what’s next. We have found that begin reactive to the unplanned, unwanted pregnancy crisis in northern Uganda isn’t easy. Abortion is less than $1 and by the time we are reaching these girls they are already buying the abortion medication. We are thankful for every baby God has saved and we are believing for even more lives this next year. We will be going into schools and teaching all students about body development, fetal development and abortion procedures and risks. After these initial three sessions, we will move to discipling the student body one hour each week. We already have one school signed up and we go to confirm three more this next week! We believe building relationships with the staff and students and educating them on these important topics along with teaching them their value in God’s eyes, in Christ, we will have reached more lives for Christ and trust that there will be less unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. This will lower the pregnancy rate, abortion rates, and with all hope increase the kingdom of Heaven. We are also believing that as we build relationships with these students, that we will be one of their first communication points, if they should find themselves pregnant.
Some more good news is we have found a place to relocate our consignment store in town in a upcoming mall (Gulu mall not the same as an American mall). The landlord was amazing and discounted our rent by 1/6th for the first three months. It is a nice, bright, street front store.
I am hoping to have one side be a consignment store and the other half we will start a Christian Store. We will start the Christian Book / Clothing store with some t-shirts that I have designed and as we hopefully get sales we will increase to sweatshirts, sweatpants, christian books, mugs, bags, paintings and more. My heart is really to see both stores be successful in two different shops but things take time. I am really excited to one day have a full Christian Apparel and book store in town. A place where people can come purchase christian items and also come and read books, bibles or listen to podcasts. We will also do disciple ship classes out of the store. They have a saying here, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So for the time being we will try both shops and see what happens. They also have saying here, “bit by bit makes a bundle. So we are taking one bite and one bit at a time. Trusting God to make a way for one or both of the stores. We need a miracle!
The mall has a much higher standard of appeal. This means that we are having to purchase new shelving for all our items. We found some great trustworthy, quality work guys to do the work, which is really hard to find here. They quoted me 1400.00 dollars or 5.1 million shillings to put shelves along the the two walls long walls of the store, which you can see in the picture of the store. Here are some photos of the type of shelves we are looking to have made along with the cost of building them. We know it is a huge investment but believing it will be worth it in the end.
We will also be ordering 200 shirts to start our Christian clothing line inventory. The shirts are $2.25 each and the printing is another 2.50 each. Each shirt will cost in total $4.75. The total cost of the shirts is roughly $ 950.00.o0.
Here is where I need some help. I need to raise funds to meet our monthly living costs for Caleb and I in Uganda and also to pay rent for our store. Once I get the store open I am praying that it covers some of our other expenses not included in our basic living costs, like vehicle maintenance and repairs and required legal paperwork for our organization.
I will be coming back at the end of March or early April for the birth of our first grand baby! I will be back for about six to eight weeks. I am available during this time to share what is happening in Uganda with your family, friends, small group or church please let me know if you would be interested in having me share. I am more than willing to drive to meet you. We would love to connect with you and share all God is doing.
If you would like to pour into what God is doing through Woven2Gether there are several ways you can help. First, please pray for me as I try to find a way forward to increase funding. Secondly, you can send a one time gift to help get the store up and running by donating to the building of the shelves or purchase and printing of the shirts. You can also invite me to speak and share all God is doing in Woven2Gether. Finally you can become a monthly supporter.
If you would like to give a one time donation or become a monthly supporter, click the give link below this will take you to our donations page where you can choose your donation details.
You may also mail donations to John Hedlund, C/O Woven2Gether, N5603 Tower Hill Road, Spooner, WI 54801
Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support for our family and Woven2Gether. This is not possible without you. Please remember to lift me up in prayers as I walk through this period of transition. The walk of faith is a refining fire and I know that God has great plans for us!
Blessings,
Todd and Jen Herricks
Woven2Gether, Uganda
WOVEN2GETHER 
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