The Miracle of Fred

Some of you may have heard that we have been praying for and helping take care of a boy named Fred. Fred is the younger brother of 3 girls that reside at FDLM. He recently came down with Malaria and Typhoid. If you know anything about HIV you know that many people have died even of the common cold. Not Fred - Passion fruit juice, a full tummy, as much prayer as my mother's heart can muster and Fred is running and laughing.

So yesterday, Sunday, he showed up from church. The walk from his house is about 3 miles. He walked alone to come see his sisters. We received him with open arms juice and samosa. He ate more than me. We went into church and joined worship and intercession. The Holy Spirit entered the room so heavily that I could not stand. I was on my face weeping and God said, "pray for Fred." I looked around and couldn't find him. God said, "pray for Fred." So i told one of the children go find Fred. Fred walked in and i scooped him up and held him on my lap on the dirty ground and wept heavily over him while God moved in power. I have never felt the power of God in this way. Fred let me hold him for at least 30 minutes while I, in my heart, asked God to heal his body. God was saying, "He will live" and i was with my little faith saying "for how ever long he lives Lord I will take care of him."

God said, "Fred will live." It was like my head wasn't understanding my spirit. I wept and wept. And all of a sudden I was filled with such joy. Like my spirit knew he was healed. My mind was still arguing but my spirit was in full agreement with His healing. Fred was off playing and laughing and I sat amazed by God. I honestly don't know what happened yesterday. All I know is that I see a healthy happy boy. This week I'm going to take him to a clinic and get him tested for HIV. Either way Fred is His son, perfectly loved and known by the living God. Pray for Fred. Pray for my small belief. If I believe or not He is a healer!

Fred looking into Papa Ben's eyes.

Fred and Tiff

Fred, Tiff and Javonta

Fred and Papa Ben

A Night to Remember

Uganda does not produce enough energy to distribute fully to all of the country all of the time. Because of this, Ugandans who are priviledged enough to have electricity have become used to the rolling blackouts that routinely impact each neighborhood. For our particular case, we had been blessed with consistant electricity for four days straight! Usually it comes and goes every other day. By the end of the fourth day both Rachelann and I were discussing our blessing when the blessing ran out. As the daylight hours drained away, bleeding away the light with it, our land was soon covered in a thick blanket of inky blackness.

We had decided to cook fish that evening and we were able to eat our whole pieces of fish under the limited power reserves of our low on power flashlights. As we sat around our pot of fish to eat, all of our flashlights execpt our tiny cell phone flashlight faded away. Our conversation was light as we tried to feel the bones of the fish with our fingers and see what we were eating.

Ugandans clean their fish but they don't take the scales, head or tail off. Rachelann was enjoying her fish head. Part of this enjoyment included plucking out the eyeball and putting it close to Javonta's food which immediately evoked a very disturbed cry from the boy. Rachelann laughed. Not seeing what she was doing I asked her to explain. She told me what she had done. As I laughed she also added that she was working at "picking the face off the fish".

We finished our meal and cleaned up just before the last light went out, plummeting us into more darkness. My American eyes are not quite used to adjusting to the darkness as the Ugandans are. I'm actually pretty amazed at their night vision.

Anyway, it was a fun night. I ended up remembering that I had a mini-maglight stashed in the closet. I finally found it after a short search. I am really thankful for the good meal that we were blessed to eat. It was sooo good. Light or no light. I am still aiming to be joyful in all situations. To enjoy the blessing even when I am experiencing things that I am not overly comfortable with or used to. It was a good time. However, I am definitely much more appreciative of electricity that I was at home!

Next on Survivor...

Living in a base with the scout master for a Ugandan boyscout troop has its advantages. For Javonta, this advantage has landed him an open armed reception by the scout master (Chris) and his troop. Very soon Javonta will become an elite member of the Ugandan boyscouts. This upcoming December, Javonta (and I) will be joining the rest of the troop on a four day outing that involves a lot of hiking and lot of building. Some of the things we will be building will be a kitchen, a pit latrine and a dining room. The catch: this must all be done in the dark after about a four hour sleep.

This commando style regime has generated a not so small reaction from Javonta. He has been daydreaming aloud about this upcoming experience. Of his own volition he has taken to strapping one of our large hiker's backpacks to his body and heading out to the field outside our base to run laps and condition his body.

Between now and December, Javonta will be learning many different skills to prepare himself for this four day adventure. I am so proud of him. It seems that he has begun to get more comfortable with the way things are here in Africa. In fact, Rachelann was talking with her mom the other day and was asked if Javonta was ready to come home yet. His response? "No, not yet, I still have some things to do."

Go God!

Daring to Dream

We have been here in Uganda now for 5 weeks and 2 days. God is stirring our hearts and revealing to us possibilities for rooting ourselves more deeply in the community. About two miles from our current residence is a place called Peniel. Here is a mixture of farmland and the raw resources for the creative construction of a new family based foster care program. FDLM owns a good chunk of this territory. Up until recently, this creative construction has been put on a definite hold due to the unavailability of water. Past endeavors to build here have been derailed because of this reality. However, God has recently lifted this construction embargo and has opened the gateway to release the creative potential of this area. A water well (a.k.a. borehole) has been freshly installed and has brought with it both fresh water and fresh promise for this area.

Rachelann and I have begun to sow into this area the seeds of prayer to see what opportunities the Lord might have for us to either buy land near this area, or work with FDLM to help develop it. There are many possibilities that are afoot. Our current goal is to be given the priviledge to steward a portion of land for the construction of a place that we can call home. In this home we can be more intentional in blowing on the embers of family growth.

We are praying about the possibility of taking in additional children into our family circle. Living on the base makes family time a challenge due to the large number of responsibilites as well as the close proximity of our room to any person who has need. While great for anyone who needs us, this current living arrangement makes quality time challenging due to the frequent interruptions. So we are praying and asking the Lord what He might have for us.

Land ho

So today Javonta and I went on a journey with our friend and colleague Godfrey. We walked two miles up to Penniel. The site for the future children's homes. Right next to Penniel there is a 3 acre piece of beautiful land. I prayed walked the land. I can feel such peace up there. The bore hole is producing clean water and the farm is flourishing. We do need more rain. We are praying about purchasing land. We don't know everything God wants but this land feels so good. Pray for us. Even Javonta loves it. We walked home with Godfrey carrying 5 gallons of beautiful water. It's so yummy. He is strong!

Snaptshots: Interesting Sights and Sounds from Around the World

1) So we have been looking around the local market for Oatmeal. We went into an Indian supermarket just for fun one day to see what they had. We inquired of the shopkeeper if he had any oatmeal. His facial expression twisted into a very confused and bewildered one and finally responded, "no, but I have cat food in cans."

2) Today one of the school kids asked Rachelann for "a rubber." In America "a rubber" is a slang term for a condom. Rachelann probed further and asked for what he wanted the rubber for. "For school" came the reply. Aghast at this thought Rachelann said, "No way! I'm NOT giving you a rubber for school!" The child realized he wasn't getting his point across to this foreign person who seemed to not understand him. So he made a hand motion with his hand to try and demonstrate what he wanted. Rachelann realized she might have the wrong idea as to his request and finally asked him, "what's a rubber?" An older kid nearby piped up, "a pencil eraser for the back of the pencil."

Poverty Striken

It's been 5 weeks since we landed at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda Africa. Many foreigners travel to and from Uganda, all with various agendas. Perhaps this is the reason for why it has taken 5 weeks for my new friend Noah to let me into his heart.

"Ben, can we talk?" asked Noah a few days ago. Seeing the pain in his eyes, I quickly told him I wanted to hear what he had to say. "Sure" I responded, "Let's go for a walk". So out we went. We exited the base and walked along the pothole laden orange dirt road that wound its way through the verdant Ugandan rain forest. As we trudged along, it became evident that Noah had a tremendous weight on his heart.

Noah is the firstborn of ten siblings. Two years ago Noah's dad died. It happened as he was completing his final exams in secondary school. Suddenly, in a matter of seconds, his whole life changed. Here in Uganda, if the father dies or runs away, it is the eldest son's responsibility to care for his siblings and his mother. The mother, who spent everything she had on medical bills for her dying husband, now runs a small vegetable stand on a street in her village where she sells the produce from her garden. Noah was the only one who was able to finish secondary school. The rest of the children are awaiting sponsors to assist with their school fees since what little money the mother makes goes primarily to food or medical care for the children.

Noah has since come to work at FDLM and is now getting ready to go off to college with an all expense paid scholarship from the governmet. He leaves in two weeks. But amidst the joys of getting ready for college, his heart still carries the weight of his family. I can see the concern in his face. Noah is a man who loves deeply. He has not forgotten them, they are fresh in his mind. He tells me about how sometimes he will send his whole paycheck to his mom just to help them get by.

He is now approaching me looking for options. He has already managed to get his mother set up to receive $30 from an NGO when funds are available. But it's not enough. School fees alone for the children cost about $380 for all 9 of them to finish this next term. Then there are medical costs and food costs and school supplies costs....

I told Noah that we would have to pray for God's guidance since there isn't much we can do in our own right. But we can pray. I also suggested to him that we look for sponsors for the children or try to research various NGO's that have resources we have not yet tapped into. But Noah needs help for his family now. So we started praying and asking for God's help. And soon we will see what God does. Perhaps He will provide through sponsors for the children or perhaps He will network us with an NGO. Or perhaps this season He will have us wait. I don't know. But I do know He is faithful.

This story is a common one here in Uganda. Everyone is trying to make ends meet as well as try to help the next generation to have a better life than the generation before it. And so we will see what God has in mind. I have already been having internal dialogues with God about what exactly constitutes abundant living. Does a college degree secure this? I have many friends here who have gone through the rigors of higher education but now don't have jobs here in Uganda because the demand just simply isn't there. At the same time having a forward motivation to keep the mind encouraged and the heart passionate regarding bettering the livelihood of oneself and one's family is a good thing. But just how high of a standard of living does one need to be content? I know many Americans who are still unsettled on this question. However, having a good meal for your family daily and being able to care for each other when a family member is sick are all good things.

The Word of God says, "for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17). What if our standard of living isn't based on what we have but on our levels of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit?

Noah and I pray around this verse as we finish our walk together. Our hearts are to be filled with the good things of God and to have His abundance. At the same time, we see our friends and families in need. Noah's family is still struggling, despite being filled. But maybe being filled with the fullness of God is enough. Maybe God will provide the rest, just like He says in Matthew 6:33 - "Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well." In the meantime we pray that God will give us wisdom and leads us in the way we should go, with an undivided and a thankful heart that is full of praise and full of joy.

Come Lord Jesus come!

His store house of Food

LOL ok today i spent 3 hrs in the Jinja Market in a maze of African delight. Lucky for me God placed a woman who has called me daughter and I her mama. She was Sara Zijjan's mom. In the right place at the right time, she took me around to everyone and showed me where to shop and the prices for everything. We bought food for 60 people for one week. When we got back the children saw the food and started to praise God!

In heaven He has a store house of food today HE LET US IN. They all went to bed full of Him and full of food! Praise GOD!