A journey of a thousand testimonies

You have a testimony. I have a testimony. We all have a testimony. No matter what your life has looked like up until this very second, God has always played a part in it, whether you believe in it or not. God has brought someone, who's reading this, through a bad car accident and saved their life. He's brought another through a severe illness and extended their time here on Earth. God has brought at least one of you through addiction into sobriety. He's given someone their rainbow baby after a loss, or even many losses or years of trying to have a baby. He's given someone another day with a special loved one, that seemed impossible in the eyes of medical professionals. God has restored hope in someone's life when they had no hope at all and were on the verge of taking their own life. He's been there for all of us through thick and thin, because that's just what He does. He's a healer, a helper, a miracle worker, and a good, good Father. Personally, I've experienced His goodness, graciousness, and mercy way more times than I could ever begin to deserve. Even when I didn't feel His presence or want to have Him close in my life, He continued to rescue me over and over. He saved me from more than one accident that I never should have walked away from. He saved me from multiple suicide attempts, drunken years, and a very deep dark brokenness. He saved me from myself, because I was destroying myself. In Mark 5:19 Jesus tells a man who's just been set free from demons, "Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you." This is how we should all be living our lives, and it's how we are trying to raise up the street kids we work with. Your testimony is too good to keep to yourself, so share it and tell everyone of the power of Jesus over your life. Some of these boys already have powerful testimonies, and many more are seeing their testimony unfold rapidly. We have so many who have stopped drugs, Praise God! We have so many who now teach at our Bible studies, Praise God! We have boys who passionately praise and worship the Lord, Praise God! We have boys who preach in church service, Praise God! We have boys who want to move away from the area they once wanted a room in, to get away from the evil that lies within, Praise God! God is moving so much, and so rapidly, here in Uganda, so here's another (probably pretty long) update!

Since the last update, in May, a lot has happened, to say the least. To begin with I took a quick, 2.5 week furlough trip back to Tennessee in June. It was pretty jam packed, but a wonderful break. I had some amazing meetings with my home church leaders, made a video update for the church, got to attend church service at all 3 of our church campuses, see so many sweet friends, and give updates to many of our supporters and friends. But one of my most favorite things was being on the city square praising and worshiping our Lord and Savior with thousands of other people! It's always one of my favorite things our church does, and to be able to be there in person after missing the last 3 was wonderful! I got to spend time kayaking with my dad and some great friends, and hung out at the pool with my little nephew too. A healthy balance of "work" and rest. Overall it was a super fast, but super sweet trip. While I was gone everything went smoothly here in Uganda, thanks to the great work of Thomas, Mary, and Joy (our new partner). There were only a couple of hiccups, but nothing that couldn't be handled by them. I'm so blessed to have such a great team that I love and trust. I never wanted this journey to be about me or revolve around me, and when I take trips like this and the organization continues like a well oiled machine, I know the groundwork was done well. Praise God! This was only week 3-5 for Joy to be with our team and the boys and was kind of the test for us all to see how she'd fit in. Let me just say, she's amazing and I'm so blessed to have her working along side of us! She has a heart for the street kids and is enforcing all of the rules and regulations we had already established without any hesitation. Joy is truly a joy to work with! Praise God for a sweet friend who introduced us! Here's a pic of us celebrating her birthday in July at the project. She was so surprised and the boys loved it so much! They have welcomed her with open arms and respect her and she's amazing with them!

 

   
         

When I returned to Uganda, of course it was time to hit the ground running. But, so many cool things are happening these days and I was coming back with some big surprises! I was able to come back with 500 bibles ordered awaiting production here in Uganda, 150 Gideon bibles for the boys in the project, and several sponsorships for boys to go to school or get businesses, which they have well earned. We had a lot to prepare and a lot to do to get them started in their programs. One of the first things we did was to get 5 boys into a small business/finance program in preparation for the businesses they wanted. We found out about this program after we had sponsored the first 7 businesses and knew it was something we needed to do, to benefit the boys, after several hiccups and set backs. This class is a business class taught with biblical foundations and principals, including information on start up, successful businesses longevity, and financial planning and saving. One of the teachers is also a former street kid from here in Jinja, so he was able to share his testimony and encourage the boys as well. All of the boys really enjoyed it, and even the 2 who were annoyed that I made them go appreciated it after it was all said and done. They all said they learned a lot and found out they actually had no idea about business like they thought they did. All 5 boys graduated and got their certificates and recommendations and will be getting their small businesses set up in September! Praise God! The day before the class started I got a call from Ivan (one of the boys who lives at the project house) that one of the boys, Swaibu, was very sick at home and I needed to check on him. I sent my boda guy, Bandy, to bring him to me from the village since I wasn't sure what was wrong and didn't know what medical stuff to take. When Swaibu arrived he looked horrible and miserable! He was the most pale African I've ever seen. Swaibu doesn't speak much English so I had Ivan translating for me. As Swaibu was talking I could tell he was guarding how he talked, like his throat was hurting him. A few sentences into Swaibu talking to Ivan, Ivan looks at me and says, "Auntie, you're not going to like this..." and proceeds to listen as Swaibu tells him more. Ivan's eyes got really big and he stopped Swaibu. "Auntie, Swaibu had surgery this morning." So of course my mind goes into action and I proceed to ask where and what for, etc. We have a great Dr and hosptial we use, so it was weird to me he went somewhere else for surgery, and was out and about already, as it was only about noon. Ivan proceeds to tell me that's the part I'm not going to like. You see, Swaibu had a sore throat that morning and apparently many people in his village had been sick with strep throat lately. The issue was, someone who lived there decided it was not a true sickness, but yet a curse, since so many people were having the same issue. This man took it upon himself to proceed to cut out the tonsils of people who were sick, in their huts, without medication, etc, to get rid of the "curse". Something that antibiotics or a legit monitored surgery could have taken care of turned into this, simply because he didn't know. This explained why Swaibu was so pale, because he lost a lot of blood. The man (who was not a doctor of any form by the way) also told him to not eat or drink anything at all for 3 days. Praise God that his roommate called Ivan to tell me to check on him, because otherwise Swaibu may have died from infection or dehydration after such a major trauma. I tried taking him to the hosptial but he refused, so we gave him antibiotics and plenty of fluids and pain medication and I followed up with him every few hours for the next few days. Swaibu was supposed to attend the business class on Monday, the following day, but of course he was not feeling up to it. By Monday evening he finally had energy to walk out of his house, had regained color, and started looking and feeling much better. To my surprise, when I went to check on him Tuesday, he had went to class because he didn't want to miss out! These boys are fighters! I'm happy to say Swaibu had no more complications and is doing very well now, but wow what an experience! He promised me he'll never let the local village guy do anything to him or his friends ever again. He learned his lesson for sure. Never a dull moment here! Praise God for Swaibu's protection! 

At the same time this business class was going on, Thomas and Titus had started another Following Jesus class in a village about 45 minutes away. We had about 40 pastors and many church members attend this session. I was able to pop in for the second day to supervise and also on the final day of the program for the graduation and handing out of bibles. I'm so blessed to have the team that I have. Thomas and his team are doing amazing at this teaching and I always hear so much positive feed back. On the last day of the class we always do certificates for the pastors, because those are very important here if you ever want to get a Passport or anything of status in Uganda. At this time we also present them with bibles, because like I've mentioned before, some pastors don't even have bibles here. We tell the pastors if they do have a bible to share it with another church member or leader, someone who doesn't have one. Even if it's only part of the bible, we want them to always pass it down so someone else has the opportunity to read the word of God. I've been to a few of these "graduations", but never one like I experienced with this class! We finished the last topic and had a small break before closing remarks and certificates. Next thing I knew 40 pastors and church leaders were walking into the church in caps and gowns! These pastors were so proud of the class and so proud of what they learned, that they used what little money they had to rent these caps and gowns. It wasn't a show, it wasn't because I was there, it was genuinely because they were so honored to have been taught truth and it meant so much to them! For anyone to attend any sort of classes here, the attendees have to pay their own transport, usually their own lunch, and contribute something to the classes. I am so thankful for the people who pour into our ministry so we can offer classes like this for free to the pastors. They appreciate it so much and they let me know all the time how much it's blessed them. I'm humbled all the time at the faith and joy all around me. Praise God!

During this same time we had another boy have surgery, although this time it was a legit surgery, at the hosptial, with a legit medical Doctor! He had a strangulated hernia. This guy has been with us for years, even before I came. He's known for being one of the ones who fights everyone and steals everything. He can talk the talk, but then when he thinks you're not looking he gets sly and sneaky...he thinks. I don't care who comes to me, they're all getting the same care and attention, especially if they're sick. We spend all day at the hosptial after surgery, but luckily this time we got to go home instead of staying overnight. Typically when the boys have surgery they stay at our project house for recovery, at least for 2 weeks. Mainly so there's someone else watching them and if they need more medicine or attention the 2 who live there can call me and I can go check on them easier. Well when people found out Medi had to have surgery, they all started talking about how he can't stay there. They were all warning us that he'd steal everything or do something bad. That's a chance we had to take. I can't just put him on the street after a major surgery. I told the boys who lived there to just keep their stuff locked up and let me know if there was an issue. We were all praying for God to change his heart because of this circumstance he was in. During recovery all went well, he was humble and kind, respected the boys at the house and their property. About 2 weeks post op another boy was playing around with him and didn't know that Medi had surgery recently. He picked up Medi with his shoulder directly in the spot of his surgery site and it took Medi to his knees, on the ground, in tears. Medi couldn't move for a few minutes because of the intensity of pain. We got him some ice and pain medicine and had him lay down for a while because he didn't want to go for a check up. The next day I got a call that Medi couldn't urinate and was in severe pain, so off to the hosptial we went. We did a scan on him and went home with more medication and monitored him closely again for a week. We praise God because now Medi is totally healed with no further complications! But, we still pray for Medi's heart and soul. He was good for the first few weeks after surgery, even preached a great lesson at one of our bible studies, but just this week he's stolen stuff from the project and even tried to take the pipes from the bathroom. I'm not one to give up on the boys, but they get punished when they do wrong. Medi is now suspended again, but we continue to pray for him and try to bring him closer to Christ. 

While Medi was having his post-op issues, I also had a team here from my home church in Tennessee. Their whole trip was a whirlwind and an adventure to say the least. Starting with airline delays and half the team coming to Uganda at different times and 2 days late at that, we had a busy few days of changing plans...luckily here in Uganda I'm used to the ever changing plans and times. I went to pick up the first half of the team on Wednesday morning and when we got back to Jinja they hit the ground running doing evangelism in a local village, but only after we got pulled over twice by the police wanting money because they saw a car full of Mzungus! In the village were able to meet with several people who gave their lives to Jesus, including a lady who was a bar owner and after giving her life to Christ she wanted to sell the bar and get out of that business. Late that evening the rest of the team finally arrived to my house. They all got a little sleep then got up early to head to an island for 2 nights and 2.5 days. The team encountered much evil and darkness on this island. It was fairly small so they were able to reach every person on the island to share the word of God and pray with many people, as well has have 2 crusades, over the 2 days they were there. While there, many people were set free from demonic possession, and many people gave their lives to Christ and were baptized! Praise God! One of my boys, Abraham, had asked me before the team even came if he could join them on the island. (Abraham is the one who has 1 leg and goes out and does evangelism every week in one of the slum villages here.) Of course I had no issue with him going, he's amazing and loves spreading God's word! One of the things I love about him is he will never let his crutches and 1 leg stop him from anything. I received a picture the first day they were on the island of Abraham and another teammate in the water baptizing a man. This man was a muslim and when they shared with him the Gospel and talked to him for a while answering questions, he wanted to give his life to Christ and immediately wanted to be baptized! Abraham and Andrew went immediately into Lake Victoria and baptized him! Oh the celebration! God is so so good! We didn't get to have our big street kid day like we usually do with teams because of the timing and the issues with the team arriving late, so on Sunday we went to the church the boys go to for both services. After 2nd service we served them food, as well as other street kids who came because they heard we were doing food. All in all there were about 190 boys present. Then we went down to the lake and baptized 37 more boys! Praise God! We had been talking to the boys about baptism and the meaning behind it for some time. Thomas, Joy, and I really tried to make them understand what it meant for them to get baptized. Back in August of last year we baptized 49 and this time we baptized 37 more! God is moving in these boys, friends! Praise HIM!

While the team was on the island I got news of some issues with the lead pastor and with prayerful consideration I really felt the nudge from the Lord to have Titus, our partner who helps with Following Jesus, stay there for a month or 2 training the pastor and teaching the people. There was so much evil and then such a drastic change on that island in just 2 days that we needed to make sure they had a strong foundation to build their faith on. After returning we went to work on seeing what that would look like for Titus to go, getting approval and budgets, and making very clear rules and guidelines for him. This was not a mission for Titus to go and take over this church or plant a new church, it was for him to train the current pastor and help the current church become organized and biblically based so that the new believers and others on the island would have a place to go that speaks biblical truth. The goal is for the first month  Titus teaches our Following Jesus class to the pastor and new believers while watching for people with leadership capabilities to train up. The second month he's there, Titus is to choose those leaders and train them and supervise them as they lead bible studies and teachings, all while helping the church leadership structure grow. Thanks to a wonderful donor, we were able to send him Titus 2 months. He's still there now but I keep getting amazing updates from him on how it's going there. He said so many people are coming to the classes and learning and so many more have confessed the name of Jesus and have been baptized! He's given great reports on the pastor and his willingness to learn and be taught truth so he can better shepherd his flock on the island. Praise God for the willingness of Titus and the heart of those of you who support us! Here's Titus!

I also got to experience my first time going to an Introduction ceremony and wedding here in Uganda a couple of weeks ago. An Introduction ceremony is a cultural tradition and one of the first steps in engagement to be married, here in Uganda. When 2 people are dating and decide to get married, the man is introduced to one of the paternal aunts first. Then, if the aunt approves of the marriage they set up and Introduction ceremony. The purpose of the ceremony is to introduce the groom to the bride's family. The groom's family members are considered visitors to the ceremony and many gifts are brought to the bride's family. The ceremony was quite long, and we didn't even stay for the entirety. I was with the friends and family of the groom, so we had to meet first to get the plan of the evening. Once everyone was present we packed into cars and drove to the site of the party, where the bride's family was already attending. Once we arrived we stood outside for a while waiting to be invited inside and had to wear a small pin signifying that we were with the grooms party. Once inside we sat together and the bride's family and friends came out to greet us and the groom in small groups, where they were given presents from the groom's side. I got nominated to go with some of the other ladies to present gifts to the uncles and brothers of the bride. There was much entertainment and talking (most of which I couldn't understand), but it was a fun event. We ate supper around 630 then the bride came out around 730. She was taken around while music played so everyone could see her and then even more gifts were given. After some time she was taken out to change into another gomesi (the local wear for introductions and ceremonies) and the grooms family and friends unloaded a huge truck full of gifts that were part of the dowery for marrying the bride. He had to bring couches, chairs, animals, and baskets on baskets on baskets of gifts. It was a fun experience and I loved getting dressed up for it, but I was wore out when it was over! 2 days later was the wedding. This couple had a traditional church wedding, so it was slightly familiar to me, with just some few cultural differences. After the wedding I had to deliver some cakes for Mary then we went to the reception. Another very long, yet fun day!

Another fun surprise from the last few weeks is that Mary and Thomas had a beautiful baby girl, Hosannah Ekirabo Tara, my Goddaughter and namesake! (Ekirabo means gift in Luganda) Mary was well over due and very ready for her to come, and she finally made her appearance on August 14th.  She is the most perfect squishy baby and is doing very well, as is mama! I can't wait to see her grow up and love on her as much as I can. Her big sister and big brother were not so sure of her at first, but now they're loving her. Big brother is still not a fan of me holding her, but has finally started coming to me if I'm holding her at least. Sister just had her 4th birthday last week, and brother turned 2 yesterday. Thomas and Mary have their hands full, but they are wonderful parents and great examples to their children. Praise God for a sweet healthy and happy baby and family!

Along with surgeries, teams, new babies and weddings, I'm getting 18 boys ready for school last week and this week. We got 5 of them back last week and the rest will be starting tomorrow, Monday. It's a job to get all of their school requirements, as we put them in boarding and each school requires different things. It's not like we can just go to Walmart or Target and pick up everything we need. Getting requirements here involves going to many stores and markets and getting what's available at each of them. Between me and Bandy, my boda guy, we had my living room looking like it's own shop this week, but I finally got everything packed in their metal cases for school and they're all ready to go! The other thing we have to do is pay school fees. This involves filling out a paper for each student and standing in line at the bank for sometimes hours to get it all sorted out. But of course all schools don't just use 1 bank, so this time we had to go to 6 different banks to pay all of the fees. Luckily Joy helped me out with that and saved me a few hours and some sanity! For 5 of these boys this is their first term going in many years. They're starting at a vocational boarding school for mechanic training. We give the boys options of going for vocation or for garage apprenticeship training. Most choose the latter, but these 5 really had their heart set on vocation. They had to wait a month before the program started, but they can't wait to go tomorrow. I'm so thankful for the amazing supporters we have who make all of this possible for these boys. They are growing and seeing Jesus every day and I can't wait to see where their testimony continues to take them. 

We are so blessed to have such a great team of Ugandans working with us. Thomas, Mary, Joy, and Titus, along with our consistent translators have a passion for serving the Lord and serving others. They make my life so much easier here and I couldn't do any of this without their loving help and assistance. I'm so thankful for all of them! 

Prayer requests:

-Please be praying for all of the boys going back to school, getting businesses, and going into trade jobs. We have about 40 total over the next couple of months who will be starting, then 15 who are starting in January back to primary or secondary school when the new class begins.

-Baby Tara to continue growing well with no health issues and Mama Mary to continue healing from delivery. Their whole family, Thomas, Mary, Charity, Stella, Reuben, and baby Tara with adjustments in having a new baby around.

-Prayers for wisdom, as we are getting more boys into programs we want to be able to open the doors of the project to more new boys but to do it well and in the right time.

-Prayers for the country. Prices here keep climbing at ridiculous rates, yet most families are not making enough money for even a simple meal a day for their family. Schools all cost money to attend and prices have more than doubled over the last year, so many kids are forced to stay home and help their parents work for money rather than go to school. This causes many issues, such as more kids coming to the streets, young pregnancies, abuse, and abandonment. 

-Prayers in preparation for the next team that will be joining us here, in November. That their hearts and minds are opened to whatever God has in store for them.

-Prayers for me as I travel later this month to South Africa. I, along with many others here, have been having issues with our visas. So I'm having to leave the country every 3 months right now. While it's cool to see other places, it's an extra cost and time away from the ministry. Prayers for my partners as I'm away and that the Lord brings me back home, here in Uganda, safely each time.

God bless you my friends!

Tara