What's up guys and girls!? It's me, Josh, yet again. I just got off the phone with Kim again. She probably won't be able to post much because the internet coverage is so spotty. She said it's all she can do to get a Facebook post up. Everybody is still doing well. Everybody's healthy and good.
Kim and Charli were pulling "baby duty" tonight. Donna, help me out with this, but what I gathered is that baby duty is when some of the volunteers sleep with the smaller ones to give the nannies a break and let them get a good night's sleep. Kim just so happened to be sleeping with Steven tonight. I wonder if that was rigged ;). When I was talking to her, I could hear him "talking" and just like any other little one, trying to play instead of going to sleep!! She's loving it!
Please be in prayer for Kim, Charli, and another girl named Kate as tomorrow they are going into Steven's village, to meet his birth father and minister to him and Steven's other siblings. Steven's mother died during child birth and due to poor living conditions, Steven's twin brother died shortly thereafter in their village. Financially, Steven's father couldn't afford take care of him properly so he was brought to Sonrise. (You can read more of Steven's story here: http://www.sonrisebabyhome.org/meet-the-babies/steven/) I'm sure this will be very emotional for everyone involved.
Other than that, she said they just hung around the home today. They got a chance to get to know the nannies much better. Kim said they are all so kind, loving, and happy. Most of the staff live at the home, but have families and children in other villages. They have come to Sonrise to make money to send back to their families. One in particular Kim was talking to, said she was had a one year old back home, and she was trying to raise money to go to school, so she could make a better life for her baby. Oh, the things we take for granted here in America!!!!
Prayer Points:
-Pray for the ladies ministering to Steven's family tomorrow.
-Pray for those building the beds, that it will continue to go smoothly.
-Pray for Kim as she is leading devotion for the team and nannies tomorrow.
-Pray for continued health, strength, and rest as the week goes on.
-Pray for the nannies at Sonrise, that those who don't know Christ will come to, and those who do will be strengthened and encouraged in their walk.
Thank you to everyone who is praying. Kim says they feel it over there. We love you guys!!!!!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
How Beautiful Are the Feet.........
Paul says in Romans 10:14-15 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!' ".
I got off the phone with Kim this morning (Verizon will thank me for that next month!), this is the passage of scripture that immediately came to my mind. Why? Thanks to a little device called a Proclaimer. A Proclaimer looks similar to an alarm clock. It is produced by a ministry called Faith Comes By Hearing. It can be charged through a wall outlet, solar power, or hand cranked, so it can work anywhere. But basically, it plays someone reading the New Testament in whatever different language you choose. Before Kim left, a good friend of ours (Kandy Sanders) contacted Faith Comes By Hearing and was able to get us three Proclaimers in Lugandan, Uganda's native language (yes, it is Lugandan, not Ugandan, no typo), to take with them and leave there. Anyway, I was talking to Kim this morning, and she said they got all of their stuff unpacked, including the Proclaimers. They showed the staff how to use them. The ladies there loved them, and immediately began listening to them while the babies were playing. The team left to run into Jinja for supplies for the beds and shelves, and when they returned a couple of hours later.........the ladies were STILL listening to the Proclaimer. Why is this so important? Not all of the staff at Sonrise are believers!!!! This could have absolutely HUGE, ETERNAL implications. Please pray for God to open eyes and ears!!!
Other than that, Kim sounded MUCH better than yesterday. They had gotten some good rest last night, and she sounded like a brand new person. Like I said, they went into Jinja and got matresseses for the children's bunk beds they are building, and got the lumber orderded. They got all their supplies unpacked. She also said the staff went absolutely crazy (happy) when they got their new scrubs and Sonrise T-shirts!!! She's got video of everybody singing and dancing. It sounded like another very productive day.
Kim's actually been eating some local food, and said she loves the African tea they've been drinking. She also said the weather is perfect, high's in the 70's and lows in the 60's. Keep in mind, as she was telling me this, I was standing in my driveway at 7:30 pouring sweat as the temps approached 90 already!!!! I believe thanks to some sleep and rejuvenation from the Father, the team is in much better spirits!!!!
Some specific things to pray for:
-That God will allow the men and women to "hear and believe" His Word through the Proclaimers.
-That construction of the bunk beds will go smoothly.
-That the team will continue to rest well when they can.
-They will all remain healthy.
Thanks everybody!
I got off the phone with Kim this morning (Verizon will thank me for that next month!), this is the passage of scripture that immediately came to my mind. Why? Thanks to a little device called a Proclaimer. A Proclaimer looks similar to an alarm clock. It is produced by a ministry called Faith Comes By Hearing. It can be charged through a wall outlet, solar power, or hand cranked, so it can work anywhere. But basically, it plays someone reading the New Testament in whatever different language you choose. Before Kim left, a good friend of ours (Kandy Sanders) contacted Faith Comes By Hearing and was able to get us three Proclaimers in Lugandan, Uganda's native language (yes, it is Lugandan, not Ugandan, no typo), to take with them and leave there. Anyway, I was talking to Kim this morning, and she said they got all of their stuff unpacked, including the Proclaimers. They showed the staff how to use them. The ladies there loved them, and immediately began listening to them while the babies were playing. The team left to run into Jinja for supplies for the beds and shelves, and when they returned a couple of hours later.........the ladies were STILL listening to the Proclaimer. Why is this so important? Not all of the staff at Sonrise are believers!!!! This could have absolutely HUGE, ETERNAL implications. Please pray for God to open eyes and ears!!!
Other than that, Kim sounded MUCH better than yesterday. They had gotten some good rest last night, and she sounded like a brand new person. Like I said, they went into Jinja and got matresseses for the children's bunk beds they are building, and got the lumber orderded. They got all their supplies unpacked. She also said the staff went absolutely crazy (happy) when they got their new scrubs and Sonrise T-shirts!!! She's got video of everybody singing and dancing. It sounded like another very productive day.
Kim's actually been eating some local food, and said she loves the African tea they've been drinking. She also said the weather is perfect, high's in the 70's and lows in the 60's. Keep in mind, as she was telling me this, I was standing in my driveway at 7:30 pouring sweat as the temps approached 90 already!!!! I believe thanks to some sleep and rejuvenation from the Father, the team is in much better spirits!!!!
Some specific things to pray for:
-That God will allow the men and women to "hear and believe" His Word through the Proclaimers.
-That construction of the bunk beds will go smoothly.
-That the team will continue to rest well when they can.
-They will all remain healthy.
Thanks everybody!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
They've arrived!!!!!
Hey everybody!!! It's Josh again. I may have to be posting more for Kim on here, because she said the internet is very spotty. Anyway, the team has arrived at Sonrise. I got a call from Amy's (Washington) mom about 3 a.m. this morning saying they had arrived in Entebbe. But I'm not sure what time they actually made it to Sonrise. I talked to Kim about 1:30 our time (9:30 Uganda time).
Kim said Damali (who runs the home) picked them up from the airport and had Steven with her. Steven is the baby that Kim and I sponsor from Sonrise. She said Amy handed him to her and she (Kim) just broke down crying when he grabbed hold of her. She got to hold him the entire ride back to the home. I think if she left tomorrow, she would say the trip was worth it, just for that. BUUUUUT they are not leaving tomorrow, and now have to get to work. They will be heading into Jinja tomorrow to buy supplies for the bunk beds and shelves they are building for the children's home.
She said everybody is doing well, just very, very tired. They didn't sleep well on the flight to Entebbe either, so that makes approximately 2 days with very little sleep. Other than that, she is very excited about the upcoming week. She said it was like Ella, Avery, and Addi multiplied 6 times. But she's in heaven. Hearing her voice, I could tell it's going to be a busy, tiring, but awesome week.
A couple of things in particular to pray for:
-Pray for each team member specifically by name: Kim, Charli, Amy, Jeremy, and Mandy
-Pray for God to grant them a good night's sleep so they will be well rested for tomorrow.
-Pray that all will remain healthy and no one will get sick.
-Pray that they will find favor in Jinja tomorrow and be able to get all supplies needed at a reasonable price.
-And lastly, continue to pray for a physical, spiritual, and emotional hedge of protection around them
That's all for now. Oh yeah, she said they shared the flight from London to Entebbe with the Watoto Children's Choir. They are a Ugandan kids choir that performs worldwide. Go to Youtube and search "Watoto Children's Choir". Very cool. Either Kim or I will post updates when we can!!!!! Thanks for the prayers!
Kim said Damali (who runs the home) picked them up from the airport and had Steven with her. Steven is the baby that Kim and I sponsor from Sonrise. She said Amy handed him to her and she (Kim) just broke down crying when he grabbed hold of her. She got to hold him the entire ride back to the home. I think if she left tomorrow, she would say the trip was worth it, just for that. BUUUUUT they are not leaving tomorrow, and now have to get to work. They will be heading into Jinja tomorrow to buy supplies for the bunk beds and shelves they are building for the children's home.
She said everybody is doing well, just very, very tired. They didn't sleep well on the flight to Entebbe either, so that makes approximately 2 days with very little sleep. Other than that, she is very excited about the upcoming week. She said it was like Ella, Avery, and Addi multiplied 6 times. But she's in heaven. Hearing her voice, I could tell it's going to be a busy, tiring, but awesome week.
A couple of things in particular to pray for:
-Pray for each team member specifically by name: Kim, Charli, Amy, Jeremy, and Mandy
-Pray for God to grant them a good night's sleep so they will be well rested for tomorrow.
-Pray that all will remain healthy and no one will get sick.
-Pray that they will find favor in Jinja tomorrow and be able to get all supplies needed at a reasonable price.
-And lastly, continue to pray for a physical, spiritual, and emotional hedge of protection around them
That's all for now. Oh yeah, she said they shared the flight from London to Entebbe with the Watoto Children's Choir. They are a Ugandan kids choir that performs worldwide. Go to Youtube and search "Watoto Children's Choir". Very cool. Either Kim or I will post updates when we can!!!!! Thanks for the prayers!
Monday, July 12, 2010
A Husband's Perspective
Okay, so I have successfully hacked Kim's blog and am taking the first "official" post of the trip. (Just kidding. I told her I was going to post some and she gave me the okay.) I wanted to take a minute to address some of the questions that I know are swirling around in many people's heads right now. Namely they why's and how's. (Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself, but I can say with a 98.9 degree of certainty that Kim's responses would be nearly word for word the same as mine.)
Let's start with the why's:
1. "Why the sudden interest and passion in caring for orphans?" That's an easy one. James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their time of distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Why is looking after an orphan in their time of distress considered pure and faultless? Simply put, because it's an absolutely beautiful picture of the Gospel. Think about it. An orphan is fatherless. An orphan is helpless, defenseless, and has no representation in the world. An orphan, without some sort of help will die (literally thousands do, everyday). Now, before I was a follower of Christ, you could fill in my name where "orphan" is in the few sentences above and it would've been a perfect description of my life. Before we knew Jesus, we were fatherless, defenseless, starving, helpless, and as good as dead. Because of what Christ did, I am now an adopted son of God (Ephesians 1:5). Adoption is a perfect illustration of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And just in case that's not enough (it is, but just for argument's sake), IT MATTERS TO THE FATHER, SO IT HAD BETTER MATTER TO ME.
2. "Why Sonrise/Jinja, Uganda?" Again, an easy one. Because this home and this country is where God has undeniably called our family to minister to (another very long post and I won't get into how we know this). Now, why did He call us to focus our attention there? You'd have to ask God. But He did. Kim and I both know this, and that's really all we need! Next question.
Now a couple of the how's:
1. "How are you guys doing this?" Completely and 100% by faith. We've been talking a lot in our Sunday school class about living our lives engulfed in situations that if God didn't show up, we'd fail miserably. That has been what this is. When the opportunity to go on this Uganda trip and the other one in November came up, along with me going on two trips to Haiti, my first response was "No way." Financially, on paper, there is no way this could be pulled off. I am in the mortgage business. If any of you know anything about what's going on in the mortgage business right now.......well, let's just say the word "lucrative" isn't used in conjunction with my profession much anymore. Kim told me repeatedly "God can do it." She was absolutely correct. We gave it fully to Him. And He has been more than faithful. We can no longer use "lack of funds" as an excuse not to do missions. Again, it would be another separate post, but His provision has absolutely blown us away! There is no way this trip could've been pulled off without God's Hands all in it! To God Be the Glory!
2. And lastly, (in light of yesterday's tragic bombings in Kampala) "How can you let your wife still go over there with all that mess going on?" I will answer that with a question of my own.......how can I not? Just because terrorists bombed some restaurants, does that mean those children all of a sudden don't need to experience the love of Christ anymore? Does that mean that since it's now "dangerous", that it's not as important that the non-believing Ugandans they WILL come in contact with hear the Gospel perhaps for the first time? First of all, I couldn't stopped her with a platoon of Navy SEALs. Secondly, the thought didn't even occur to me to try. God has called Kim and the rest of this group on this trip. That has been made clear. I don't for one second want to attempt to remove her from the will of God, to protect our comfortable, safe life here in Gardendale, Alabama. He has a plan and a mission for this team. Regardless of what happens, He will get the glory for it!
So, hopefully that clears up a few things you may have been wondering about. I'm sure Kim will be along in a day or two to reprimand me for posting first! All joking aside, please continue to pray for this team. As much as Satan has tried to derail this trip, that tells us that God has got something huge planned for them while they are there! Stay tuned for more posts from Kim!!!
Let's start with the why's:
1. "Why the sudden interest and passion in caring for orphans?" That's an easy one. James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their time of distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Why is looking after an orphan in their time of distress considered pure and faultless? Simply put, because it's an absolutely beautiful picture of the Gospel. Think about it. An orphan is fatherless. An orphan is helpless, defenseless, and has no representation in the world. An orphan, without some sort of help will die (literally thousands do, everyday). Now, before I was a follower of Christ, you could fill in my name where "orphan" is in the few sentences above and it would've been a perfect description of my life. Before we knew Jesus, we were fatherless, defenseless, starving, helpless, and as good as dead. Because of what Christ did, I am now an adopted son of God (Ephesians 1:5). Adoption is a perfect illustration of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And just in case that's not enough (it is, but just for argument's sake), IT MATTERS TO THE FATHER, SO IT HAD BETTER MATTER TO ME.
2. "Why Sonrise/Jinja, Uganda?" Again, an easy one. Because this home and this country is where God has undeniably called our family to minister to (another very long post and I won't get into how we know this). Now, why did He call us to focus our attention there? You'd have to ask God. But He did. Kim and I both know this, and that's really all we need! Next question.
Now a couple of the how's:
1. "How are you guys doing this?" Completely and 100% by faith. We've been talking a lot in our Sunday school class about living our lives engulfed in situations that if God didn't show up, we'd fail miserably. That has been what this is. When the opportunity to go on this Uganda trip and the other one in November came up, along with me going on two trips to Haiti, my first response was "No way." Financially, on paper, there is no way this could be pulled off. I am in the mortgage business. If any of you know anything about what's going on in the mortgage business right now.......well, let's just say the word "lucrative" isn't used in conjunction with my profession much anymore. Kim told me repeatedly "God can do it." She was absolutely correct. We gave it fully to Him. And He has been more than faithful. We can no longer use "lack of funds" as an excuse not to do missions. Again, it would be another separate post, but His provision has absolutely blown us away! There is no way this trip could've been pulled off without God's Hands all in it! To God Be the Glory!
2. And lastly, (in light of yesterday's tragic bombings in Kampala) "How can you let your wife still go over there with all that mess going on?" I will answer that with a question of my own.......how can I not? Just because terrorists bombed some restaurants, does that mean those children all of a sudden don't need to experience the love of Christ anymore? Does that mean that since it's now "dangerous", that it's not as important that the non-believing Ugandans they WILL come in contact with hear the Gospel perhaps for the first time? First of all, I couldn't stopped her with a platoon of Navy SEALs. Secondly, the thought didn't even occur to me to try. God has called Kim and the rest of this group on this trip. That has been made clear. I don't for one second want to attempt to remove her from the will of God, to protect our comfortable, safe life here in Gardendale, Alabama. He has a plan and a mission for this team. Regardless of what happens, He will get the glory for it!
So, hopefully that clears up a few things you may have been wondering about. I'm sure Kim will be along in a day or two to reprimand me for posting first! All joking aside, please continue to pray for this team. As much as Satan has tried to derail this trip, that tells us that God has got something huge planned for them while they are there! Stay tuned for more posts from Kim!!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Getting there....
I thank God that he holds me up with both hands! Without Him none of this would even be close to being possible. Tired is not even the words I have for the state I'm in today. I believe a bit of my sanity is gone but that's OK.....all for the glory of his name! Demanding kids do not help the situation at all, but I do love every single one of them a little more for making me work harder at JUST packing supplies. It does sound simple, but with two mamma's on little sleep and crazy ideas running through their heads, not to mention 4 kids running around, nothing is simple. But how it blesses my heart at so many willing people to give so much! The stacks of medicine, shoes, diapers, books, vitamins and formula we just didn't know where to start. But I promise you we filled as much as those red duffel bags could be filled without busting a seam along with a few suitcases. God is so good and he uses amazing people to do his work, and I thank all of YOU amazing people out there that have helped and sent in supplies.
In all the packing of supplies, the beautiful Sonrise T-shirt has arrived! It's the best shirt ever and if you haven't gotten yours, well then you should be ashamed of yourself. Email me and I can get you one! Or click below and we can get you one shipped. (after the trip of course)
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