Hiya Dearest Friends and Family,
My heart has been moved by the words of Isaiah 1:17, "Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of fatherless, plead the case of the widow." This week, those words have taken on new meaning for me. I had the pleasure of visiting two orphanages while traveling around with Samaritans Purse in Uganda. I met a lady named Grandma Mary who has 38 children who live with her and a young man named Timothy, an orphan himself now in his 20's, raising 11 children. Both Timothy and Mary have felt the Lord placing a tremendous burden on their hearts to care for the orphaned but both face major struggles to provide for their family of orphans. They struggle to make ends meet between feeding, clothing, sheltering, and paying school fees for their orphans. But you know these are just two homes of many throughout this country and continent where the need is so great. I do not tell you this to make you sad, but to encourage you to do something about the "oppressed...fatherless...widows." As a body of believers, we are called to care for those in need, but it does not have to be overseas or in a different country, there are great needs all around. I encourage you in this new year to seek ways to serve those in need, not necessarily with money, but time. Volunteer somewhere, love on and play with children who do not get enough of it, buy a meal for someone who is hungry, listen to someone who needs to share! I will explain to you that orphans in my community are generally taken in by extended family, but can be neglected meaning they are last in the family to be provided for. Thanks for reading what the Lord has placed on my heart to share!
Well Happy New Year! I cannot believe we are entering a new decade. I apologize for the long time between posts. I wrote a long post last week while in Nairobi, then internet went down and was unable to save it, so today getting to another one. Drumroll please...I have some most exciting news to report. Sarah summitted Mount Kilimanjaro, "The Roof of Africa" at 5896 meters, or over 19,000 feet early last Sunday morning. She said it was challenging, but an unbelievable experience. Sarah might be hooked on hiking/climbing now. Our team members, Wayne and Joyce, joined her on this journey, but shortly before the summit they turned back due to the effects of the altitude. The three of them are amazing. And for those of you who do not know, Sarah also ran a marathon last April, so a marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro all in 9 months is quite an accomplishment. Sarah had only a day to rest this week which included lots of errands to run, then back to the village. She is helping get many things organized for the new school year which just started. We are both very detail oriented people which can be a bit of a challenge in an African culture, so lift up Sarah in prayer as she is putting together many details for our school in these next few days. She has a lot on her plate with work and remember we still are working very hard on language. Another drumroll please....our school is almost registered. This is a process Sarah has shared a lot about and it is almost finished, after over 2 years in the making. Once our school is registered, we can proceed forward with working towards getting government funds to help with school costs and maybe move towards working with an organization like Compassion or World Vision to have our students sponsored for school. You all have generously supported us already, but if you would like to sponsor a child it is around $10 a month. Shoot us an email if interesteed.
Right now I am at the end of my time off as well. Since climbing and mountains are not really my thing, I decided to escape the hot weather (we are entering our hotest months), to head to Kenya and Uganda. I felt blessed to get to wear pants and a long sleeved shirt while in Kenya. I have been in Uganda for almost a week and have been able to see one of the five children I transported last year with Children's Heart Project. He is a 4 year old who had heart surgery at the hospital I worked at in St. Louis. He is growing and his mother is very thankful to the Lord for his healing and he has not been sick since this surgery. I also visited some of my Ugandan friends who work for Children's Heart Project. And I am proud to say I conquered the Nile river. Tuesday I headed to Jinja were the Nile starts from Lake Victoria and boarded a raft for one of the most exhilerating days of my life. It was unbelievable to say the least and maybe a bit scarier than I would have liked, but I think I would do it again. We went down several class 5 rapids and had to get out and walk through one class 6 rapid and many class 3-4 rapids. Our raft flipped twice and it seemed like a long time before I came up for air one time, but crazy fun. The first time we flipped, I ended up way far from my raft so had a kayaker come rescue me. There were 10 rescue kayakers for 6 boats. If you like an adrenaline rush, head this way to conquer the Nile. Sarah likes her mountains and me my water! No more extereme sports for a while for the both of us.
I had a few extra days of rest in Uganda due to some changed travel plans but it has been a restful time of reading, praying, and enjoying God's presence without lots of distractions which we have in the village. The Lord knew I needed this. Tomorrow, I head to work on a large island on Lake Victoria on the Tanzania side. I will be shadowing a team of doctors and nurses. I look forward to seeing a large public health ministry in action.
Thanks for reading and we treasure your prayers! Until next time...
Hugs,
EM
