Thursday, September 17, 2015

Perspective...Wednesday Sept 16th



So much is happening around me and everything is exciting and moving quickly in and about the designing of a new place to call home and a base for ministry to the community.  The view from the screens of laptops turning in every direction and from every angle challenges my simple mind and makes me want to grab a box of sidewalk chalk and crayons just to prove that I still have skills appropriate for my own generation.  

EMI is wonderful and flexible and listens and adjusts and readjusts and doesn't throw things at us when we change our minds yet again.

At the adjacent tables, others sit working on electrical engineering plans, water use and supply and how to best support the structures and some other really awesome stuff I won't go into because...well it is far beyond me.  

Every day we get to review the progress and they can show us this land development plan from every visual perspective.

Perspective...and then...yesterday...

We went back to Kakira, but the outskirts, far away from the more densely populated central area. We stopped off at one primary school...7 grade levels of students occupy their own classroom areas, sometimes separated by a wall, sometimes not.  Grade 5 and 6 sit with their backs to one another, in the same room, one group facing one 4 x 6 blackboard and listen, the other group facing the other blackboard.  Two teachers, two sets of lessons.  It made me wonder if these children weren't entirely distracted by each other, or if their ability to focus and be attentive was greater than most.

Some classrooms built of brick, the youngest primary students in rooms of mud/dung packed between sticks and they are grateful to have a roof of tin to keep the rain out.  



Janet took Josh and me and as usual, was our translator.  Chaos was controlled by our visiting every classroom, rather than waiting until lunch time to face 200+ students.  Preschool aged children are called "baby class". Kindergarten age are divided into "Middle" and "Top class".   We visited a bit with each room of darlings, briefly sharing our testimony, or a quick bible lesson.  Josh sang a song he knows in Swahili and the kids LOVED it.  They also laughed and wanted to touch the top of his bald Caucasian head. 

We left there and within a few minutes were back at the house of Jennifer, her baby Flores and 8 or so, siblings & nieces and nephews.  Children swarmed in as usual around the van and our fair skinned selves.  They stared, we tried to entertain them with candy while Janet tried to speak privately to Jennifer.  We soon discovered we needed to move inside in an attempt to get Jennifer to speak openly and freely.   In whispers, the two of them spoke in their local language, huddled close together, 8 month old, baby Flores sleeping soundly in her mother's 15 year old arms.  



We brought a bottle and the first delivery of formula and tried to explain the ratio of water to powder.  We spoke to both the grandmother who can see to measure and mother, who I really believe will be able to feel her way to measuring water somehow and mixing the two to feed her undersized child.  We talked about boiling the water and not saving any left over.  Janet cautioned them against eating the powder themselves, which only made sense when we heard that no one in the household had eaten yet today...jennifer and baby sleep on the wooden frame of a bench/sofa kind of thing.  Perspective...I'm not sure I will ever really find a comfortable way to see and hear such things.

Janet will go back in a week or two to check and see if the baby is growing and bring more formula.  To expect the tiniest in the family to get all of the formula and be helped is a high calling and unlikely.  God help them in their own desperation to make sure she gets enough.

We shared the gospel and talked about this momentary life compared to eternity; strength and courage in suffering and using this blip in time on Earth to share Christ and love others.
Its a universal call, but seems to demand much more courage and strength in this particular home.  

We stopped on the road way on the way back to do some investigation of another family.  A grandmother with 13 children.  Her son, the father died of AIDS, and the mother left when the youngest was 7 months old.  Each day the grandmother goes to look for work in someone's garden to get something to eat for the family.  Four children have been given to others to care for, I guess like fostering for now, and we are far too aware of the threat this presents to these "outside" kids . 

Grandma and the 9 others live and sleep in a 6x8 mud room.  Janet does not know her and she is nowhere near anybody she is connected to.  A man loaned the grandmother his phone and she called asking for help a week ago out of the blue...we still cannot figure out the connection.   

It was like cool water to a scorched spirit when we got to see the plans and progress on the drawing; at the same time, 100 homes would not protect and provide for the numbers.  


Being out...seeing again and sucking up the buckets of emotion that threaten to give me away brings perspective on what is happening this week with this design/engineering team.

God help us to do His will and provide for His children.  We certainly cannot do a thing more than he allows, directs and provides and we are grateful He loves better than we ever could on our own.





















Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Tuesday's happenings...guest blogger

Guest post from Debbie...

It's crazy to think that we are on the other side of the world and with the click of "Send" I can update you, which some of you had requested. I'm happy to do that, but at the same time, it's difficult to find the words. So much has been heard, seen, tasted, smelled, experienced, felt and prayed for.  We have been settled in Jinja  five days and are starting to feel a little bit at home. We've spent some wonderful time at the Chayah home where we met, played with, ate with, and worshipped with Janet and the kids. 
 
Sunday was an especially meaningful day as we were able to join them all at their church ( AKA the tin covered car port) for singing, dancing, playing our pretend trumpets to the Lord and hearing the Word of God. It never ceases to amaze us that no matter where we are on the globe, our God is the same. Did I mention that the kids run the majority of the service?
EMI has been hard at work surveying, drawing plans, checking out how things are done here and what the materials cost. They are a really great ministry. What a blessing to have them working on this project. 
 
We've spent quite a bit of time with them on the land and are able to visualize Chayah's new home, farm and church on the  rich red soil. Another huge blessing is that Amazima (Katie Davis') ministry owns the acreage just down the road and is about 6 months ahead of Chayah's project. They are a wealth of honest information!! HUGE answer to prayer. Jeff, Jodi, Evan and a few others met with their project manager for a couple of hours yesterday. They are literally paving the way for Chayah.  The EMI team is doing a great job and working hard.
 
Yesterday was a difficult day as i went along with Janet, Evan and Jodi to the children's original village, visiting a few of their parents and grandparents. Evan's Ugandan friend, Timothy did some interviewing and filming in order to better tell the story of these children. 
 
Most of them came from homes where there was abuse or inability to provide due to extreme poverty or death.   A picture says a thousand words.....maybe you'll be able to see the finished product after they edit. 
 
It would be easy to be distraught  after seeing what we saw in that village, but it gives me great hope to think that there are many Christian Children's homes here and they are doing much more than just saving children out of poverty and a difficult life.  They are bringing them into relationship with Jesus and giving these precious ones eternal hope and purpose. It's inspiring to witness the transformation.   
 
Thank you and God bless you with the knowledge of His presence through this day!

Saturday, September 12, 2015

They are HERE!

I remember Disneyland, much more as an adult taking my own children, than as a child. 

We'd park the car with great anticipation under the symbol of a Disney character, load up our three and walk/tram our way to the ticket turnstiles and then make our way to Main Street...and then I would have an overwhelming need to run...throw my hands to the side and my head back and just run.  I picture closing my eyes, but that ends poorly after about 3 steps. I didn't do that because it was back before grey hair, and my good sense insisted I remain close to the children as they attempted their running and jumping and wide-eyed grins.

But today...driving through the end of the forest area and seeing the road that turns left to Chayah's home...I had that rush again, like I wanted to run and throw my arms open wide.

My gratitude is hard to get a hold of it feels so unmanageable at times.  Why God would bring us here and set us free to experience this part of His kingdom is beyond me, but reentering this particular place causes that same "we are here, lets run and do and see".  It doesn't sound especially lofty spiritually, and yet I can picture God smiling at our excitement and anticipation and wonder if he doesn't stand with arms crossed, leaning slightly backward and chuckling as He watches our reaction, thankfully always staying within arms reach and basking in our joy.  

There will be stress to be sure...difficult circumstances and hard places...and other emotions, but today it was a Main Street moment for me.

AND
the team from Engineering Ministries International, Inc is here!  Somethings you wait forever for, some things God gives quickly and beyond what we ask or imagine.  Eleven smart, educated, kind, giving people from their early 20's to grandparents, men and women and oh my goodness the skill and gifts God has given them.  Their roles this week became clear to us early on...but their hearts give away the reasons they are here to serve us and Chayah's children and the Lord.  
They are from Canada, the UK, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota and Singapore.  We are thrilled to serve them as they serve us.  Our anticipation is great as we watch them looking every which way, and asking all the right questions, studying this place in an effort to understand first before their creative minds begin to piece together a Master Plan for us.  
Kristen and Instagram said it perfectly..."Our goal that the new plan would mimic village life, but in a safe, nurturing, family-like, Christ glorifying atmosphere".
And oh my word...the knowledge and skill...and brain cells !!! I will fight the urge this week to ask God why their minds are from Neiman-Marcus, when mine seems to have a "swap meet" sort of style...Instead I will ask Him why he would bless us so with this team whose hearts are wide open to Uganda.

And I have not taken a picture so far, but do not be surprised to see me leaning in really close in the photos to come.  Close enough for our hair to touch, just in case I can catch a little grey matter from any single one of them.  

It has been a meet and greet kind of day...and we look forward to watching it all unfold.  

Please pray for good health all week for everyone and also that God would speak the loudest among us so that we will walk in His plan. 


 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Spotlight for hope...what about Jennifer?

Today marks a week from the day we leave again for Uganda.  It also marks two weeks since I landed from the last trip, and for crazy's sake, the quickest turnaround yet.  My mind wonders if I'm unpacking or repacking and yet the anticipation builds as the jet lag dissipates and I am at peace...

except what about Jennifer?
 
The story of the day I met her looked like this The girl who is blind... 
 
She looks, in some ways, years older than her own 15 but her thin frame and humble disposition also cloak her with an innocent youthfulness.   I will her to be 25 or 30, an age that matches her responsibilities and the fortitude it takes to walk the road she has been born into. 
 
 
though no birthday is ever celebrated...she is for certain, a young teen...
 
vulnerable and given to survival that must be renewed each day
 
This ministry, Chayah, was born of a divine spotlight.  I don't know how else to explain it.  2010 presented a room of 250 women, blurred in light of the Redeemer picking out one singe girl, Olivia, then 13 years old and then one woman, Janet, a leader of women and lover of Christ himself. 
 
AND then TWO years later...
 
2012 brought hundreds of kids and a bulging room of little ones to VBS and the spotlight expanded and grew to 19. 
 
Chayah, a Hebrew word:
 
"to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live for ever, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health"
 
There were so many, 700, 800 the number grew each day as our team of 10 struggled to expand our hearts, supplies and food to accommodate and bless.  But divine intervention and clarity expanded our target from one 13 year, old Olivia to 18 more, specifically chosen by the Spirit of God who some how did the impossible, choosing for us, the ones who would be the first.
 
AND then TWO years later...
 
2014 brought 7 acres of land to call our own and dreams began to expand...visions we had to navigate and vet according to the call of God and his plans and purpose for us.
 
2015 brings word about a young girl, blind and pregnant in a village area far from the populated area we had frequented.  Far from any place we would ever happen upon, a location found only by purpose and design, one that must be searched for. 
 
But...
G       O      D
 
who plans and pursues and directs and leads and shines his light like no other, lead us to visit...hours and potholes and hot sticky air, to the place...a tiny place...full of opportunity and hope and purpose.
 
The "why" of seeking out a nameless blind teenage mother has no earthly answer.  If we are seeking another child to minister to, to feed, to cloth to share the gospel with...there were thousands along the way that day, but none that silently called us to stop.  Without a face to search for, God's GPS pushed the van's limits for off-roading, even beyond the definition of RURAL.
 
And then...Jennifer...a underweight mother, dim in sight and a baby born out of desperate vulnerable circumstances walking a worn path from well to a customer delivering water in a jeri can atop her head...again and again each day.  Expending every calorie she has taken in and more from the day's provision, she cannot even see the failing health of her infant.  The malnutrition her baby wears in the tell-tale orange tint of her hair.  Neighbors report her inability to clean the child properly, her inability to cook because of the danger of open flame-wood burning cookers.  This day made obvious the illness that had set in on this daughter's tiny body.
 
Baby nestles next to mom each night, sharing a bed on the dirt floor and hoping tomorrow brings at least more of the same meager provision. 
 
A spotlight it seems, has been shined on this pair...but we wait 
 
We are asking for confirmation from our God that this is his "chosen" for Chayah.  We do not know for now...we dare not jump ahead of Him...our home has little room and surely no accommodation for blindness by US standards...perhaps God will allow us to rethink what is truly needed for a ministry to love, provide and protect and God help us, bring hope and purpose. 
    
 
 
Uganda has little imagination for the blind.  Little understanding of their value and of their potential.  But God...there are no limits in his vision and we pray to see through his eyes.
 
Jennifer's baby...needs nutrition, needs formula to supplement for the sake of development and health and strength.  For now, we know this is our calling...go back again, see again, ask God to show us more and deeper and possibilities.  He will open our hearts wider and we pray he will allow us peace  and clarity in our calling to these two. 
 
Please consider donating powdered formula for us to take on Sept 9th, when we head back.  You can purchase and drop it off or have Amazon deliver it to 1767 Harper Drive Ventura CA 93004. 
 
It is a life giving and possibly life saving gift.  I doubt anyone cares what the brand is.  For sake of continuity and ease on the babies tummy, perhaps you want to join in by choosing "Enfamil Gentile Ease" but certainly God can smooth out any variety that comes our way.  We thank you for partnering with us in this.
 
We bless His name for allowing us to be a part and we covet your prayers for clarity about this spotlight...this new one and her baby.