Because It's There

 In the early 1920’s, a British mountaineer named George Mallory was planning to climb Mount Everest.  When asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, Mallory replied, “Because it’s there.”  When I heard this, it reminded me of Africa.  Many may ask us – why do you go?  Can you really make a difference?  But once we see the people, see the needs, see God working, participate in God’s love taking on hands and feet – we have to go!  It’s there, it’s a commandment.  We must go!

We had an amazing trip to Uganda last month.  It was a fast 10-day trip, but there was so much we were able to accomplish.  We had a mission team of about 20 people from Georgia, Utah, Illinois, and one from Bolivia!  We had people from all sorts of career fields.  We had an age range from early 20’s to 60’s.  God definitely put each person on this team for this time.  Mike did an amazing job leading the team.  They hit the ground running, doing medical clinics each day, seeing about 650 patients over four days.  Children’s ministry was going on each day as well as evangelism and prayer ministry.  We prayed with many of the people who came through the medical clinic.  Team members also walked through the villages sharing about Jesus and praying for those who could not be seen at the clinics.  We saw many people accept Christ as Lord of their lives.  They have the opportunity to grow in their faith at each of the churches that hosted a clinic.

We also had over 200 care packages from our Child Sponsors to distribute.  I worked on that each day with the children at our school in Busia.  It was a blessing to see the children receive gifts from their sponsors in America – to know they were thought of and prayed for.  I want so much for these children, just as if they were my own.  I want to know every name and every story.  I want them to know someone cares when they get sick or hurt.  I want them to be given a good education, to know they can look to the future with hope.  I want them to know and love God, to know how much He loves them, and to know all He has planned for them.  This burns inside my heart like never before, and it will never leave.  

A highlight of this trip was working with our children in Syonga, one of our bush schools with 270 children.  We were blessed to spend time there and feed the children beans that day.  Some of you raised money to help us feed them.  These children are hungry.  Right now, they only get beans once a week.  I was able to leave money with our staff so they can get beans a few more times each month for the coming months.  It is still not every day – but it is improvement.  Please pray for us as we begin to open up sponsorship opportunities at this school.  Having regular sponsorship funds to use will help us meet our goal of feeding these children protein every day.

This is Arafat, a 3^rd grader at our school in Busia.  In my last blog from Uganda, I mentioned one of our children had been hit by a motorcycle and was having surgery at a hospital in Kenya.  We were told his intestines were damaged but the surgery went well, and he was improving.  This past Sunday, he walked to church and Dr. Brenda saw him.  The surgery corrected some of the injuries, but not everything.  He is so weak from malnourishment.  Our children at school get a protein meal every day - they are healthy.  Arafat used to be healthy.  He is so malnourished now because he cannot retain anything he eats.  We know God can heal Arafat.  We know God is working in this situation.  Dr. Brenda and Pam (a volunteer nurse) had not planned to stay in Uganda, but felt they should stay longer.  God knew what they would be doing.  Please pray for Dr. Brenda and our other staff/volunteers caring for Arafat.  Please pray with us for his complete healing.  Please pray for our staff as they try to find the medical supplies needed to care for Arafat.  Please pray for his guardian family (they are Muslim) to know God through this situation.

Thank you for your prayers and support as we continue working with Helping Hands.  I know we say this all the time – but we really can’t do this without you!  Your prayers and support enable us to provide resources, love, and hope to the precious people of Uganda and many other countries around the world.