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January 2009

back home again…

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tricky internet connections made posting more often a challenge during the trip…but i wanted to share some afterthoughts about it.

Ruth in Uganda

Ruth in Uganda

one of the highlights was the kids in baale singing us into their home church.  it was such a blessing of worship, and i thought about these believers as i sang with our worship team on sunday.  i thought about how pure their worship was and how wonderful it is to share God with others halfway around the world.  one of the other highlights was my visit with my sponsor child, misac.  as we got acquainted, i found that although misac’s grandfather is a preacher, misac has not made a profession of faith.  now, i know how better to pray for him.

 

as we spent time together assembling a lego set (tell me i’m ridiculous for giving him a toy with a million tiny pieces to lose out in the bush), we talked about his family and his village.  misac had not been outside his village ever, so a bus ride into the big city, a stay in a hotel, restaurants,   elevators, electric lights, swimming pools and white people were a bit overwhelming. english is also not his first language, so the project worker who chaperoned him also served as an interpreter.

we ended our visit by exchanging gifts.  one thing i gave him was a soccer ball, covered with the colors of the wordless book.   i explained to him what the colors represented, and in so doing, also gave him the Gospel.  it was such a privilege, although misac didn’t seem like he was paying much attention.

still, as we parted with smiles and hugs, i came away praying the God would water the seeds that were sown…i left a piece of my heart in uganda, i think…

pics from uganda

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church in ugandamom overcome with emotion at how much she has benefitted from Compassion Internationaldancing in churchlearning a tradebabies in child survival project

learning how to make basketslearning how to embroiderLDP students telling their stories

it’s gonna be really hard to get these pictures id’d correctly.  here goes:

from left to right:

1) picture of a chapel at Child Survival Project UGCS27 Kitimbwa CDC/UG611

2) a mom who was sharing how Compassion International has helped her and introduced her to Christ.  she became so overwhelmed sharing her testimony, she cried.

3) dancing in church…I know. how awesome is that?

4) this same mom is learning how to sew so she can learn to tailor and help support her family better.

5) the moms in this at risk area are learning a lot of things, including how important it is to play with their babies and letting the babies play with each other.

6 and 7) many of the moms have learned a crafting trade so they can make goods to sell at a market.  one mother learned not only how to market her ability, but how to save enough money to buy a pig.  a pig can fetch a good half year’s salary in this area, so she’s learning how to save, invest and build up her business.

8 ) these are just some of the students in Compassion’s Leadership Development Program.  they are the cream of the crop from the sponsored project areas–kids who excel academically and who can handle college-level material.  the LDP program is not automatic for a sponsored child–it’s a high-level program that takes the best in Compassion International’s child programs, sends them to university and trains them to be servant leaders.  of the 300 LDP students attending university in Uganda, Uganda Christian University is educating 153 students.  there are several  attending other public univeristies and at least three studying at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Il…

these pictures represent the ministry, vision and future of Compassion–primarily, they aim to build the kingdom of God.  The Gospel is open and often repeated…and for every child that accepts Christ in Compassion’s projects, leaders say at least 10 others also come to Christ through their faith walk.

…all with the help of a sponsor and $32 a month.

uganda

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Red dust covers everything in Kampala, Uganda.  When it rains, the red earth becomes brick-colored mud and it gets into everything.

As the team from our sister station, WCSG, Compassion International and MNN visited project sites, we tracked it everywhere.  There was a notable difference between our footprints and those of the people who lived in the villages we were visiting.  For the most part,  our footprints were the outlines of shoes. The throngs of kids and some of their parents we visited were barefoot.  A few people had shoes, but they were the rarity.

Why did that strike me?  I felt really gross when we got back to our hotel after a day of trekking through the bush.  I could wash off the mud.  The people whose homes we’d just visited could rinse, but for the most part, the next time they stepped outside of their home, they’d get dirty again…except that was their way of life.

That difference alone was a stark contrast.  The village we visited yesterday was less primitive than some.  Subsistence farmers can eke out roughly $11 a month…stretched to five mouths to feed.   The people we met had a home.  They had a roof, walls and a floor.  One had furniture.  There were three really worn out toothbrushes and a cracked mirror hanging off the front door of another house…whose kitchen was essentially a lean-to in the yard.

Yet to see their faces, they were so happy Compassion International had taken an interest in them.  Before Compassion began their project in Kitimbwa (about 66 km west of Mukono), the infant mortality rate was high.  Few children, if any, got a chance to go to school.  Mothers and fathers struggled not only with their marital relationship, but also with raising the children.

After Compassion launched the Child Survival Program, basic things like hygiene, nutrition, pre-natal care and infant care were taught.  Mothers were encouraged to play with their babies to help them develop.  Mothers began getting together for play sessions.  They were also given the opportunity to learn a trade so they could earn some money to help lift the family out of poverty.  Once a child gets into the CSP, when they turn three, they can get into the Sponsorship programs.  From there, children get food, medicine, love and given the chance to go to school.

Most importantly, these people, once wallowing in poverty and hopelessness, were exposed to the Gospel on a nearly daily basis.  They heard it, they saw it in action with the Compassion staff, and then some of them felt it.  As we spoke with the project directors, we were told that for every Compassion child that comes to Christ, ten other people also come to Christ because of the reality of the transformation they see in that child’s life.

For the staff we spoke with, that transformation is the driving force behind everything they do.

But, kids grow up.  They age out of the school system, and then what?

Compassion International has introduced another program for the best and brightest of the sponsored children: the Leadership Development Program, or LDP.

Once accepted into the LDP, the sponsored student can go to college.  As we’re told, many of them are excited about getting their law degrees, or social work degrees with the express purpose of continuing that transformation.  Some go back to their villages as part of Compassion International.  Others take change outside of their villages and hope to advocate for families in a court of law.  Still others are making a definite footprint on a national level in government.

It’s so exciting to see how $32 a month can give a child such hope.  It’s even more exciting to walk step by step with them and see where their footprints lead.

On Thursday, I will meet with Misac, a little boy my family is sponsoring from one of the project areas near Kampala.  He shares the same birthdate as my son.   I am so excited to share the hope that we have invested in him.  I asked one of the LDP students I met this week, Joseph, to record a quick encouraging word for Misac. Their stories are very similar, and I thought that for Misac to hear that someone was like him at his age, to know that he can rise above his circumstance, that God is moving powerfully through boys like this–and I realize it’s like the story of loaves and fishes all over again.

God takes so little and creates so much for His glory…

It’s a new year and God is good

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Well, it’s 2009 and already the news has taken a turn. We’re no longer talking about the incredible amounts of persecution in India, now we’re watching the unrest in Gaza and the Israelis continue their offensive against the Palestinians. They retaliated for Hamas’ rocket barrage, breaking a cease fire in the region.

According to reports, more than 900 people are dead — 250 of them are children.  Thousands are displaced because of the constant air attacks.

In the last two weeks we’ve been criticized by both pro Israel supporters and pro Palestinian supporters. I guess that’s how you know you’ve done a good job covering a story when both side think you were biased for the other side.

We have some interesting things planned for MNN in 2009, but they are all dependent upon funding. Pray that funding will continue to come in to MNN. We hope to apply for two grants in the next few months. One is for equipment. We need four new computers for editing. The other grant we’re applying for would allow MNN to be not only translated on our website in Spanish, but translated on the radio in Spanish. That would allow MNN to be on Spanish speaking radio stations in North, Central and South America.

We also plan to do more behind-the-scenes videos and pictures. We’ll have trip pictures/videos and in studio pictures/videos. In fact, maybe I’ll do one tomorrow.