Okay, so I promised to write about Alex, and new ministry things. I am SO TOTALLY EXCITED about the amazing things that God is doing here. Yesterday, the women in our Hope House program graduated. We had a big ceremony and lots of people came. The women have been saving up for a long time, and have been planning their own businesses. Yesterday the launched! I am so proud of them; they were once broken women selling themselves to feed their families. With God walking ever step with them, they have been transformed into the strong, beautiful women that God intended them to be. They have the confidence that comes from recognizing that they belong to Christ. That being said, we have space for expanding a new branch of ministry, and its one that is near and dear to my heart.
Abby first posted about it a few weeks ago, the idea we have. Both of us have very similar hearts for the specific kids we want to be working with. There are a handful of boys that have been at our programs for a long time. They are amazing kids, the kid of boys that can totally change the dynamic of the group because their personalities are so captivating. That beings said, for whatever reason they cannot be in our Forever Homes in Bombo. Sometimes its due to safety for the other boys, and sometimes they are to rough (have deep anger or attachment problems) to stay in the homes. But we love them, and God wants them off the streets so badly. They are so challenging, and the brokenness there is so deep that I cannot even see the bottom of it, but God can. There is nobody else who can take them, they are honestly the lowest of the low. These are the boys that we want :)
When Abby told me we were going to start this, God immediately began putting pressure on my heart. That is the only way I can describe it, I feel it heavy in my soul. I can't stop thinking about these boys (Alex being one of them) and praying for them. I feel on fire with love for them (I love all my kids, so much and its hard to describe why this is different, but it is). God does not want me to take a back seat to this ministry. Not that I ever really do, but more than ever I feel him leading me to step up. I was a little timid to tell Abby and David because I didn't want to take away something that they were excited to be involved in. Finally, I brought it up and was so glad I did! Turns out that as God had been leading me to step up, He had also been leading Abby and David to let me. Abby wanted to hear it from me, but when we talked about it, it was such confirmation that this was what God wanted. Its one of the clearest ways we know God is working, when the three of us get the same message from God. We all have the same idea of the boys we want, and the staff we are looking for.
I am going to be really busy. I will still be in charge of teams, and then taking on this home of the most difficult boys we work with. We are going to take in a small number (5 I think) and pour into each of them a lot. I am going to be there every day, spending time with each of them. There is a part of me that has always wanted this, but I am wholly devoted to A.P.I. and would never branch out on my own. Our Forever Homes are are outside Kampala, where street programs are. I need to be at programs as much as possible too, and am living at the Volunteer House in Kampala working with teams. That means that it needed to be the perfect timing, and a different kind of home. How amazing that God brought it about so soon!!
I want to see this home come about within the next few months- I feel urgency in this. These boys need to be rescued badly. God wants them home now. To do that, we need a lot of prayers and help. Each of our boys will need two sponsors (ten altogether...if God perhaps breaks your heart when you read this you can email me :) and a home for them. I am praying for a home that God blesses, that His presence dwells in. We need staff, especially an uncle who God has commissioned for this. He needs to be fully devoted to these boys, patient and strong (they need to respect him). Honestly, I think finding him is going to be the hardest part, but I know God has the perfect man for the job. Please pray with us in these things, so we can bring these least of the least home.
God really never wants us to be comfortable where we are. If you're comfortable, ask God where He wants you to move. Here in Uganda, apparently we got comfortable. So here we go again...
Abby first posted about it a few weeks ago, the idea we have. Both of us have very similar hearts for the specific kids we want to be working with. There are a handful of boys that have been at our programs for a long time. They are amazing kids, the kid of boys that can totally change the dynamic of the group because their personalities are so captivating. That beings said, for whatever reason they cannot be in our Forever Homes in Bombo. Sometimes its due to safety for the other boys, and sometimes they are to rough (have deep anger or attachment problems) to stay in the homes. But we love them, and God wants them off the streets so badly. They are so challenging, and the brokenness there is so deep that I cannot even see the bottom of it, but God can. There is nobody else who can take them, they are honestly the lowest of the low. These are the boys that we want :)
When Abby told me we were going to start this, God immediately began putting pressure on my heart. That is the only way I can describe it, I feel it heavy in my soul. I can't stop thinking about these boys (Alex being one of them) and praying for them. I feel on fire with love for them (I love all my kids, so much and its hard to describe why this is different, but it is). God does not want me to take a back seat to this ministry. Not that I ever really do, but more than ever I feel him leading me to step up. I was a little timid to tell Abby and David because I didn't want to take away something that they were excited to be involved in. Finally, I brought it up and was so glad I did! Turns out that as God had been leading me to step up, He had also been leading Abby and David to let me. Abby wanted to hear it from me, but when we talked about it, it was such confirmation that this was what God wanted. Its one of the clearest ways we know God is working, when the three of us get the same message from God. We all have the same idea of the boys we want, and the staff we are looking for.
I am going to be really busy. I will still be in charge of teams, and then taking on this home of the most difficult boys we work with. We are going to take in a small number (5 I think) and pour into each of them a lot. I am going to be there every day, spending time with each of them. There is a part of me that has always wanted this, but I am wholly devoted to A.P.I. and would never branch out on my own. Our Forever Homes are are outside Kampala, where street programs are. I need to be at programs as much as possible too, and am living at the Volunteer House in Kampala working with teams. That means that it needed to be the perfect timing, and a different kind of home. How amazing that God brought it about so soon!!
I want to see this home come about within the next few months- I feel urgency in this. These boys need to be rescued badly. God wants them home now. To do that, we need a lot of prayers and help. Each of our boys will need two sponsors (ten altogether...if God perhaps breaks your heart when you read this you can email me :) and a home for them. I am praying for a home that God blesses, that His presence dwells in. We need staff, especially an uncle who God has commissioned for this. He needs to be fully devoted to these boys, patient and strong (they need to respect him). Honestly, I think finding him is going to be the hardest part, but I know God has the perfect man for the job. Please pray with us in these things, so we can bring these least of the least home.
God really never wants us to be comfortable where we are. If you're comfortable, ask God where He wants you to move. Here in Uganda, apparently we got comfortable. So here we go again...
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