Happy New Year to you, my friends and family! As per usual, its been a busy season here in Uganda, but God is doing amazing things! As we enter another new year I just wanted to send a little recap and praise God with you all, for what He has done for us, this year.
2022 in summary:
January: Schools finally reopened, here in Uganda, after a 2 year closure, due to COVID. We were able to send the first 4 boys back to primary boarding school and they were beyond excited for the opportunity! We found a school about 45 minutes away so the temptation of escaping and going back to their former way of life was a little harder for them. When we got to school on the first day and they got to open their metallic boxes for the first time they were all so grateful for what God had provided them. They had enough school supplies, boarding supplies, and snacks to get them through the term. All of them commented that they'd never been given everything they need before, and they were so humbled and thankful. We also had 2 boys start their businesses and they were so excited for the second chance! We praise God for His provision for these guys to begin their new education and business journies. We had 3 boys in January have surgery, and while 2 had some minor initial complications, all recovered very well in the end. We praise God for His provision in providing good medical care for these boys! We were able to complete another mainland Following Jesus class for 25 Pastors, thanks to the work of Thomas and Titus, while I was in and out of the hospital with one of the boys. We praise God for His provision in the amazing staff we have, and for allowing us to continue to train the local pastors. At the end of January we had the first team of the year. I was able to go to one of the islands with the team, this time, and witnessed God move mightily among the people. We praise God for such a loving and serving church who sends people to walk along side of us in this ministry!
February: This month we were able to send 3 more boys to primary and secondary school, as well as start up 2 more businesses and enter 2 boys in welding programs. We praise God for the provision in allowing these boys a second chance at education/training so that they can learn more about responsibility and be able to sustain themselves and a future family, in a healthy way vs the street life they had. We had an extra 50 boys show up to join the project after the January team, however after hearing all of the rules I have, only about 30 of those came back. We want to be very firm and very consistent in our rules and how the project is ran. We're not just here to give them all they want. We're here to share the word of God with them and teach them how to be responsible Godly young men. I do have many many rules, but if they truly want to change they stick around and follow them and man is God changing hearts and minds through this! We praise God for His goodness, grace, and mercy in the lives of these young men. In Feb we also started having boys teach at every bible study. We had started seeing so much growth and change in so many, we wanted to give them an opportunity to study and teach in front of us, so we could correct and guide as needed. It's been so amazing to see them volunteer each week and be excited about teaching their brothers the word of God! Praise God for His wisdom and fire in these boys for Him!
March: March brought 2 more surgeries, 10 more boys to bible study, 2 trips out of the country in 2 months because of visa issues, and a sweet visitation day with the school boys, who all did very well on their midterm report cards. I also got to spend some time at Prayer Mountain here in Uganda, with my sweet friend and the bible study group I was in. It was such a sweet day of prayer, community, and refueling that I needed. Praise God for the times of refueling and being filled up, when day to day I'm pouring out so much! I also became "mother" to some of our boys on birth certificates we had to get for them, for school testing, for a total of $3.42USD! This was quite an experience and still makes me laugh to this day that it's even a thing. However I am 100% written down in the town council book as mother and Ugandan to some of our boys!
April: In April, we participated in our first public event, as a Certified CBO, here in Jinja, recognizing and celebrating with the street children, for International Street Child Day. We had so many from our project come to represent us as an organization, and I was so proud to see our boys cheering for one another during competitions, helping to set up and clean up for the day's events, and helping to take away drugs and monitor the younger boys. God really showed me how much change some of these boys have had, only by His grace and mercy. We praise Him alone for all of those amazing changes! Thomas and his team also finished another Following Jesus class on one of the islands, in April. They had about 40 pastors in attendance and had such a great response to the teaching. We praise God for the work He's doing in training these pastors correct theology and providing bibles so they can actually teach truth each week to their congregations! I also was involved in an "accident", that was completely done on purpose. You see, life is hard here for locals. They work all day but barely get paid. They use the little money they get on things they think are important, but in fact aren't always important necessities, so they continue to be starving and hurting. One thing that happens, more often than not, is that some people are just sick and twisted and try to cause accidents, but try to make it look like it's not their fault, to get money from someone. Often this does happen toward the "muzungu" community, as the general consensus is that if someone is white, they have money. I was driving back from bible study one day and a boda guy (motorcycle) pulled up beside me, saw I was white, slowed down, then immediately cut in front of me to make me hit him. I saw in his eyes what was about to happen and started slowing down, but still hit the bike when he cut in front of me. He knew exactly what he was doing, so he jumped off, as not to get hurt in the process. Within seconds my car was surrounded with people saying it was my fault and wanting me to get out of the car. I rolled all the windows up and refused, and what felt like hours later, but was probably only minutes, an off duty officer came to my window, showed me his badge, and said he saw it happen, it was the other guys fault, and just don't open windows or doors. He got the crowed cleared, but man was it scary! I had just a few scratches on my car, and didn't have to pay or do anything for the other guy since the officer witnessed it wasn't my fault. Praise God for his protection always! We also sent 2 of our boys to a seminary school in April. They are both boys who stay at our project house and manage everything without complaint and I'm going to be sad to see them go when they graduate this year, but I also can't wait to see how God uses them! Praise God for these opportunities and for other ministries here teaching truth to our future church leaders! I also had my first personal Ugandan hospital experience in April. I had a debilitating migraine for several days and nothing was helping it. In the States I've had to get Magnesium infusions with some other vitamin cocktails mixed in it for them to stop. So I'm super thankful for the hospital I use here, and the doctors I work with, who listened to me on what I needed, even though they've never heard of the mixture, and it took away my migraine in about 3 hours. We picked up boys from first term at school, and also celebrated Easter together. We were able to feed the boys a nice meal after church, thanks to our wonderful supporters. And then, at the end of the month, we welcomed another team from my home church! They held a marriage conference since it was 4 married couples on the team, did bible study with the boys at the project, evangelism on the mainland and at the islands, and helped with a large street kid day function. Again, super thankful for such a loving and servant hearted church! Praise God!
May: We began the month by sending the 7 boys back to school and my car overheating on the side of the road while trying to take them back. Luckily I have a great mechanic and one of my boys training under him, so they came to the rescue. We still sat on the side of the road for hours, but they got it fixed and had me on the way with no other problems. Just a day after that happened, my partner called me that her neighbors son was in the hosptial not doing well. I went to visit him and after reviewing his chart saw that he had incredibly low blood counts, needing a blood transfusion days ago. I then learned that here in Uganda, you have to find your own blood if the hospital doesn't have it. Well this hosptial didn't have it, and his mom and my partner, didn't know where to begin looking. I got on the phone calling everywhere asking for his blood type, but all of the local hospitals were out of blood. Long story short, we finally found blood at a hosptial about 1.5 hours from Jinja, so we loaded up sweet Jowally and took him there as fast as we could. I made a promise to him that day that I would find where to donate blood and donate as much as I possibly could. Well about a week later, as I was riding through town on a boda, I saw a blood donation tent on the side of the road. So I had the boda pull over and drop me off, and I fulfilled my promise. What an experience all of that was! My sweet little friend is doing much better now and an even bigger praise is that his mama gave her life to Christ after witnessing Jesus work in Jowally's life! Again, we are so thankful for those who support our mission to help others in need. The next week I got a call that the boys house had been broken into while no one was home. There wasn't a ton that was stolen because of how the windows have bars, but it still was an eye opener to beef up security there. So we added razor wire to the top of the fence and fixed the broken window. We work with street kids, both those who truly want to change and those who only want the perks of an organization. I'm honestly surprised it took a year for one of them to break in there. We had suspicions of who did it, but never had total proof. After the April team left, we had 65 boys come to the project wanting to register. We had to make the decision to hold of on bringing in more at that time because we needed to truly be intentional with those we did have in the project, and focus on quality over quantity. We invited them to church and told them when we were able to accept more they could have first dibs. Some of them have been coming to church since then, and others haven't. We've been able to add a few here and there since May, if boys have graduated from programs or stopped coming, but we still have a line waiting to come in. May is also when I felt so strongly called to ask Joy to come work with us. Praise God for all of His sweet children He sends us!
June: In June, I took a trip back to Tennessee for almost 3 weeks. I was super intentional about the dates I chose because I really wanted to go to our church's worship night that they have on the square every year. While there, I was able to spend time on the water with my dad and with some friends, see some of my sweet littles I've been missing, and of course be filled up by family and friends and my home church family. It was a wonderful time of respite for sure! But also much more hot and humid than it ever is here! About 2 weeks before I left for America, Joy began coming to our project to learn the ropes and rules, so that while I was gone to America, she could help Thomas and Mary, and also kind of use it as a time to see if she'd be a good fit for our project. She immediately asked me for a list of the rules and disciplines that I enforce and studied them like she was going to have a test. She wanted to come in prepared, knowing that street kids will manipulate and try to get one over on her as the new person. When she first came she also wanted to learn how to do the basic medical we provide so that she could assist with that. I made a list and she studied it and is a huge blessing in helping with that! Thomas, Mary, and Joy held down the fort very well while I was gone, all while Thomas had another team here too. While I was away I also had many meetings with the church and made a promo video for Uganda to hopefully spread more awareness at our church. We have an amazing creative team at ECC! When I got back, everyone, including Joy, agreed that she was a wonderful fit with our group, and she officially became EHI staff in June! We are so blessed to have her! We praise God for adding more help for us, and giving Joy the heart to love these boys so well.
July: In the beginning of July we had another visitation day for the school boys, in term 2. Another round of good midterm reports and praise reports from the teachers. We had another boy have surgery the following day, who had went to the hospital with Joy and a serious issue while I was at visitation. This was one of the boys we've had constant trouble with, but we will help any of the street kids when it comes to medical issues, no matter what they've done to us. We thought we saw a change in him while he was recovering at the boys house, however about 3 weeks into recovery, when it was time for him to shift back to his room, he stole things on the way out and showed us he was the same as he's always been. We started 2 more boys in welding programs in July, met with one of the vocation schools about enrolling 5 boys in their next open enrollment in September, and Thomas and team completed another Following Jesus class. This one was one of my favorites because they were so excited about the teaching and what they had learned, many of them rented caps and gowns to wear to their "graduation". We had 5 boys who were ready to start a business. I heard about an organization here that does small business training, including budgeting, money management, business etiquette and other important aspects of being a business owner, as well as teaching all of this with a biblical base and even doing bible study with the boys. So we enrolled these boys in the program and they graduated at the end of the month. The teacher said they all did wonderful, and the boys all commented on how much they learned. They really enjoyed learning more and have put those practices into their businesses now. One of those boys got his tonsils cut out in a mud hut in the village the day before class started. He was super sick and super weak from blood loss, but thanks to God, we were able to treat him and he only missed one day because he wanted to go so bad! At the end of July/beginning of August we had another team here from ECC! They had a rocky start to the trip with flight delays and having to split up to make it to Uganda, but man did God show up and change lives! This team was a pretty young team, but they handled all of the changes and issues very well and were up for anything. Many people were set free from demons on the island, many people were baptized, including another 37 of our boys, and many people got to hear the word of God for the first time, thanks to the obedience of this group. I was also super excited for Abraham, one of the boys who stays at our project house and is Seminary, and Joy join the team on the islands. We praise Him for all that He's doing in us and through us!
August: Well, August started off with a bang. I woke up one morning to a message from my mom that my dad had fallen, may or may not have passed out, and broke his ankle. Anyone who really knows me knows that my dad and I became really close during 2020 when my plans of coming to Uganda were brought to a sudden standstill and we spent the entire year hiking, working in the yard, doing projects, and enjoying a cup of coffee together. This was the first big thing that had happened back home in TN, since I came to Uganda, and it wrecked me. Knowing he would have to have surgery, knowing his heart history, knowing too much medical stuff, it brought me to my knees because all I could do was pray. He had surgery a few days later and came out with 9 screws and a couple of plates, and was non weight bearing for a long time. I praise God for bringing him through that and giving me an amazing church who stepped in and helped me find someone to build my dad a ramp, since every entrance into their house had stairs. Q went to work as soon as we talked and was such a blessing to my dad. My dad is now into everything again and doing fantastic! He really is a good therapy patient! I went to the local Agriculture fair where I saw a King Cobra and a viper behind very thin sheets of plexiglass, with a "zookeeper" making them mad to strike on the other side. Don't care to see either of those in person, but also didn't care to see the Black Mamba I saw in person last year, but it happened anyway! Titus went back to the island the team was on in July to stay for 2 months, teaching Following Jesus and helping to grow leaders within the community. God did amazing work through him! We picked up boys from 2nd term at school, and all had done very well on their end of term reports too. August also brought my sweet baby Tara, Thomas and Mary's 3rd child, and my namesake! She was born a sweet, healthy little chunk, and loves her Auntie Tara something fierce! It's now to the point if I walk in and talk while she's breastfeeding she stops eating to look for me...oops! Less than 24 hours after birth, myself and her other Auntie (Thomas's sister) loaded baby Tara up in the car and took her for vaccines. We didn't have to sign her out, we didn't have a nurse with us, nothing...just us and a newborn driving away to get shots. So many new experiences here all the time! I also got to go to my first Ugandan introduction ceremony and wedding! It was super fun getting all dressed up and being immersed into their culture, as these were things I had never been a part of here before, but wow were they long days! I was able to get so many baby snuggles in and I absolutely love being Auntie Ta-a to Thomas and Mary's kiddos! We also had to complete our CBO renewal this month. After all of the paperwork and fees, we had our inspection in September, while I was out of the country, and got our approval for another year! Praise God!
September: The beginning of September, we were able to send another group of 7 to school for the first time, along with the others who were already enrolled. 5 of these boys started at a vocational school in town in a special certificate program mechanic course. They were all so humbled and excited to start and voiced they never thought they'd have another chance at school. We praise God for His provision to allow these things to continue to happen for these boys! September also brought another surgery for one of the new boys. This one had a few more complications than others have had, but after a couple of months he was back on his feet and moving around well. Each time the boys have surgery I stay overnight in the hospital with them so they're not alone and so I can be their advocate if needed. This time, my sweet Joy, volunteered to stay overnight since I had been there all day. We alternated days and night caring for him. She's such a blessing to me! It's not easy staying in the hosptial overnight anywhere, but especially not here. Another boy started a welding program, and then I had to leave the country again. While it's a pain to leave every month, I always use the time to really seek God and be present with Him because I don't get the refilling I always need, as much as I pour out. So it can be looked at as both a curse and a blessing to leave every 3 months, but I choose to see it as a blessing as it always falls at the perfect timing of needed respite and also I'm getting to see places I never thought I'd see. This time I went to Cape Town, South Africa, went whale watching, and went to the southern most tip of Africa, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. What an amazing God we have! While I was in South Africa I felt more tired than usual for no reason, so when I returned I went to the lab and ordered some labs for myself. (Medical care is much easier here!) It came back that my platelets were low, which is often a sign of a gnarly parasite we have here called Bilharzia. I had a test for that at home, so immediately took it and it was positive. So for the next 8 weeks I had to treat for this bug. I had no other symptoms other than unwarranted fatigue, however after taking the 9 pills each time I had to treat, I was super sick for over 24 hours. I felt worse with the medicine than I did with the bug. I've since finished treatment and retested and I'm happy to say I am parasite free! Praise God! It's just a fact of life living here that you'll get some sort of parasite at some time. Again, surprised it took this long. We also got news of Ebola in the country while I was in SA. At first it was contained to one area, but quickly spread to other parts of Uganda. It took until November to reach Jinja, but it didn't have a huge outbreak here like it did in other places. Praise God!
October: In October my best boda guy, Bandy, called me one day that he wanted me to go visit his mom in the village and pray with her. He had been telling me for a couple of months that she was super sick and eaten up with cancer, somewhere in her abdomen but he didn't know how to tell me in English. A few days later we loaded up in my car and made the trek about an hour away to go see her. His sister had passed away just a few weeks prior and left behind 3 kids that his mom was also watching over. When we got there we saw that mama could barely get out of bed and the kids (ages 5, 7, and 10) were really caring for her. We spent some time there and then prayed over her before we left. Bandy told me the next day that mama had energy again and could move around out of the bed, which is something she's not had in months. Mama has continued to heal and we praise God alone for the miracle of life and health. Of course I got plenty of baby snuggles, and actually had to wear a hoodie outside here several times. I looked up the weather on those occasions and saw that it was 70 degrees...my blood is definitely adapting to Uganda weather if 70 is cold for me! We got to do something super special for the boys in the project in October too. A few months prior my Uncle had sent me some money to do some sort of special meal for the boys. Well, the boys rarely get chicken, because it's a more expensive meat option, so we opted to do chicken for all the boys at bible study. Let me just say, it was a huge hit! They celebrated and were so appreciative of such a special meal! We wanted to make sure many of our regular boys were there from school and other events and it was the perfect time for it. Baby Tara and I got a Solly wrap from another missionary family, who was leaving Uganda, and it became her favorite place to be snuggled up! (also mine, I can't lie!) At the end of the month Mary called me, with a hysterical Reuben (her middle child) in the background. He had been burned by hot beans on his foot. I rushed that side to her house with all of my burn supplies and my sweet buddy had a terrible burn. We treated it for weeks and it finally healed and has minimal scaring now. He still likes to say "you see" and point to it every now and then so he gets Auntie kisses! We praise God for healing my buddy! Thomas and his team held another Following Jesus class and the participants were super excited about hearing truth and getting bibles, as many of them didn't have a complete bible, if they even had one at all. I also started filling in teaching spinning classes on Thursday evenings, while our usual instructor was out of the country. I was super nervous at first, but it's always a lot of fun and we had a blast!
November: I started November with a visit to the boys at vocation school, and seeing how happy and excited they were just melted my heart. They were so grateful for what they'd been given that they all talked my ear off for some time. Later that evening I got a call that one of the boys, who's not at all consistant in coming to the project, and really only comes when he has a big medical need, fell off of the rubbish truck and hit his head and was having seizures. So we went to the local government hospital where he was and they don't have CT scan or most medications there. I had to load him up in my car and take him to another hospital for CT scan then bring him back, again no paperwork, we just left for another hospital like it was nothing. Sure enough he had a skull fracture and blood on the brain. We went back to the other hospital where I had to go to pharmacy to pick up his seizure medications and pain medicines for them to use, and monitor him overnight. I couldn't stay at this place because the wards are literally beds everywhere in one giant room. He had a friend with him, so the friend stayed and had my number if there was any issues. We got word the next morning he walked out in the night even though he was still seizing and no one told me, and no one could find him for over a week. We finally saw him in town a couple of weeks later, back on the rubbish truck, like nothing happened. We praise God for watching over him. Later that evening when I got home they had built a makeshift wall down the alley by my house so they could tear down an old building. Well that wall had fallen and was blocking my way into my driveway so one of my boys had to come help move it so I could park my car. A few days later I had another team on the way, but they also got delayed due to cancelled flights from a strike in Kenya. We had already planned to feed the street kids after church on that Sunday, so I continued with that plan and the boys were so happy. The team came in later that night, early in the morning. As they were getting ready to pull in the alley, a van full of thieves got caught like deer in the headlights stealing everything from behind that broken down wall, while the local security guards stood by and watched. They ran so fast to get in the van and take off we never even got a good look at them. I was watching from my gate and the team saw it from the entrance to the alley. What an adventure. While the team was here we were able to minister in Masase which is the slum area of Jinja. It's where most of the boys we work with are from, and where the worst of the worst live. Theres always murders, prostitutes, drinking, drugs, and all forms of debauchery happening in Masase, day and night. We really felt called to minister there and connected with a pastor that Abraham does evangelism with on Sundays. So many lives were changed and so many people gave their lives to Christ! We had a big church service on Wednesday evening to conclude our time there and even more came forward to be prayed for and to accept Jesus! It was also super cool to see some of our boys translating for us and sharing the word of God with their neighbors! We praise Him for his work there! The team also went to one of the islands where more lives were saved and God really spoke to the community. After the team left the island, Titus stayed behind again to teach and train leaders. While the team was here I also experienced such an outpouring of love and community after one of my boys in the mechanic program, took my car to be serviced and drove further than he should have without someone with him, and had a bad accident. After the accident people were trying to kill him, they stole his clothes, his bag, his phone, and so many things from my car. He had no choice but to run because they were literally trying to kill him. The thing about Uganda is so many people opt for "mob justice". So if you cause an accident or cause an issue, others try to kill you for justice. I saw my car when Bandy heard about the accident and took me, and I immediately knew that the boy was injured, but no one knew where he was. A few tearful hours later he showed up and explained how he was being beaten to death and had to run. We took him to the hospital because he was having severe chest pain, abdominal pain, and head pain. He had thrown up 3 times at this point. We scanned him head to toe and other than a bunch of bruises and contusions, the majority of his injury was a bleed in his brain from hitting the windshield so hard. He was sore for days, but he's now recovered, with only PTSD from the trauma. He's remembered bits and pieces from the accident since then, and has great remorse for what happened. I'm just thankful he's alive and ok. We have had a battle fixing everything since then because the people he hit ran my number plate and saw my white girl name. They've been trying to get more and more money simply because of that, so Thomas, Bandy (my boda guy), and Andrew (my rolex-the food not a watch-guy) were at police every day for several weeks. We finally got everything settled the beginning of December and started working on the other car. Luckily my boy is in the mechanic program, so he's learning from his big mistake in more than 1 way. One of my favorite American style restaurants here in Jinja had a Thanksgiving meal, and man was it delicious! The owner is a woman from Texas and her Ugandan husband, so they did it right! That was my only Thanksgiving celebration, but I do have so much to be thankful for this year and overall in my life! We also got notice that schools were closing early because of the Ebola outbreak so Thomas and I had to tag team to go pick up all the guys from school. We finally got my car brought back home from police impound at the end of the month where it sits until I can fix it totally. Baby Tara has figured out she loves hammock time with Auntie and laughs the whole time she's in it, until she falls asleep! Praise God for my sweet Ugandan family/community who is always here for me!
December: December brought another visa trip out of the country, but such a sweet time with wonderful friends. 2 of my friends from the States met me in Switzerland for my trip out of the country this time/aka my birthday trip! It was the most amazing and most beautiful place I've ever been! It was like a Hallmark Christmas movie everywhere we turned. It was freezing cold, so I'm super thankful for all the warm clothes that were brought to me! We traveled by train throughout the country and I learned how to ski in the Swiss Alps on my 38th birthday! What an experience! We had so much chocolate and cheese and amazing food. We had so many laughs and just sweet sweet time together that I needed so badly after the month that November had been! Praise God for these sweet moments! When I came back we had 4 days to prepare for our huge Christmas event for the street kids. Every year we set aside a day on Christmas eve or Christmas day to celebrate with the boys. We invite all of the street kids, not just those in our project (which is not something that ever happens here with other organizations). We have games with prizes, music, a time of bible study and prayer, a time for those who want to surrender to Jesus, a time of fellowship with tons of good healthy food, and we always end the day by giving out clothes to everyone. I look forward to this day every year! It's so beautiful seeing the laughs and the joy on these kids faces, because they don't often have the opportunity to just be present and be a kid. It's also so beautiful to see the ones in our project step up and help out. They know my rules and they know my expectations and they help enforce it without even being asked. They help monitor those who are on drugs or trying to do drugs, they watch the gate and they help with cooking, serving, and handing out clothes. I am so proud of them and how far they've come, because a few of them were the roughest ones even just a year ago! Praise God for these kids of all ages and for those who love us so well to allow these things to happen every year! This year we had over 350 kids attend! It grows every year, and event though I don't know the names of over 1/2 of them, they all know me and they all respect me and our team. On the night of Christmas or sometime early the morning after a group of boys broke into the boys house compound again and killed and slaughtered our New Years goat, Gus. We know it was some of the boys because one of them left his hat behind and it had identifiers on it that we recognize. The group of boys that are in that particular gang haven't come to bible study in over a month, and never have been super consistent. When they did come they would frequently steal things, even our light bulbs. But we continued to give them grace and mercy and show them love, because that's what our Jesus has done for us. Again, it's no surprise, just disheartening that people would do such a thing.
Today on New Years day, as I look back at what all God has done this year, I am just in awe. I'm in awe of the partners and community he's given me here. I'm in awe of the growth and opportunities these boys now have. I'm in awe of my home church in TN that loves and gives so much to us. I'm in awe of every moment I've been able to witness God at work. Last night on New Years Eve I got a message from one of the boys, who started school this past September. He asked me to go to the village for his 2 month holiday to see family he hasn't seen in many years. The text he sent was this (spelling and all exactly) "I thank you antie for changing my life coz i was almost dieting of alcohol, even they wondered in the village. may God bless you and you continue with that spirit" WOW! I've seen him change but to read that sweet message and know that it was nothing that I could ever do, and only GOD who could change him, melted my heart. I wish everyone could see the before and after of these guys. Some you wouldn't even recognize. Praise Him over and over for His work here in Uganda!
We had our fair share of downfalls this year too. We had businesses fail because of the temptation of money and world. We had boys leave the project because they were tired of following rules. We had heartache and tears. We had sickness and pain. We had stressful moments and frustrating moments with the boys, and we had humbling teachable moments. But through it all, God has never left us for abandoned us. He's always here, he's always working, and he's always moving. We are thankful for this year, for the good, bad, and ugly. We are thankful for lessons learned. We are thankful for the changes and growth. We are thankful for brothers and sisters who stand with us and for us. And we are thankful for our supporters who love us and make all of this possible!
Happy New Year from Experience Hope International! We love you! Here are some photos since the last update!
