love the villages

I went out with the Pregnancy Crisis Center to the village of Nyenga to meet with 16 young ladies that are in the weekly program. Now, quite honestly, the young ladies are committed because of the bags of food they receive each week. They receive beans, rice, oil, eggs, tomatoes and flour. In order to receive the food, they must attend the bible study and counseling. They are being fed physically and spiritually.

Most of the young ladies have accepted Christ! Nyenga is a small village just past Buziika (where the Canaan Children's Home is located). It is out in the villages where the most needs are. It is there where you can discover situations that would not otherwise be discovered.




That is how we found a 14 year old girl taking care of her sister's baby. Her sister abandoned the baby and the 14 year old girl was taking care of this baby less than a year old and her brother who is about 7. We started asking where the parents were and we walked with the social worker to her home. It is there where we discovered that the 14 year old girl had been abandoned by her own parents. This 14 year old child was the head of the household. She changed her story a couple of times and we think it is because she has become attached to the baby. After much translation and conversation, the social worker called her father. The father has a shop in Kampala and Jinja and wanted the baby to go to a home. The sweet little 14 year old girl (whose name I could not get or understand) asked to keep her until she starts school on Monday. She showed us the bed where all three children sleep. The social worker will now contact the authorities and get the probation officer to sign off a release for the baby to possibly go to Amani Baby Cottage. Carolyn (the director of the Pregnancy Crisis Center) explained to the 14 year old girl that it is not permanent and that she can visit her. And so, that is one story of how an orphanage receives a child. Amani is the perfect place for this sweet baby because they work to put families back together. This story will hopefully end with a 14 year old girl finishing high school and getting her niece back. She is a very special young lady that has a sensitive heart and loves the two she is taking care of.
We walked back to the group and finished a Bible Study with the other ladies and their babies. A new pregnant teenager joined the group today. We do not know her story yet but she looked very young. The social worker will gather all the information and find out where she lives. She was very nervous and her hands were shaking when Carolyn talked to her and gave her food to eat. She asked her to come back next week. She is an example of a young girl joining the group for the first time. She was sad, scared and lonely.

Several of the other ladies in the group will be graduating from the Center. Their babies are almost a year old and they are healthy and happy. It was very rewarding to see the two examples: one pregnant scared young girl starting the program, and eight happy, healthy young ladies with healthy babies graduating from the program.

As I have researched and visited different ministries and villages, the one thing that the Lord keeps putting in front of me is this: Heal Ministries is supposed to be here and we are supposed to start a family care Christian Center that helps the orphans and abandoned children and women. This abandonment includes pregnant girls with no place to go. I really believe that the heart of the center will be the family unit and the importance of keeping the family together. Even the abandoned children and true orphans can grow up in a family style setting. I left today thinking that I wished there was a place that could take all three abandoned children that we visited in the home: the 14 year old girl, the baby and the brother. They will probably all be separated.

The other thing that the Lord keeps reminding me is that this will happen in His way and His timing and He will provide the people that will make this happen. I am so humbled and blessed when I think about the people that God has placed on the board of directors and the board of advisors for Heal Ministries. They have caught the vision. They are passionate about God's plans and the next phase for Heal Ministries. And it is not about me or because of me. It is about a God that is so great and so much all over His plan that He has put the passion and desire in others. What God starts, He will finish and I'm excited to see what unfolds. Several of the board members will be coming to visit next month and I cannot wait for them to see everything that I have been experiencing. I hear their excitement when I talk to them and I see their love through the encouraging emails.

Love. All that the Lord asks of us is to love. Imagine a world where all people love each other. That would be a place with no orphans or abandoned, hurting people. That will be Heaven.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22: 36 - 40