Nazarene Christian Church...a picture story of giving!

This is what Nazarene Christian Church looked like when we first found it.

This is one HUGE reason they needed a roof!

Early in the project a donor helped purchase some Iron sheets, and the people rejoiced.

Later on, sponsored families volunteered their time to help with the build

In December Pastor Dan graduated from his Biblical Studies

The community came out to celebrate Pastor's graduation...

The AFR sponsored families surprised Pastor Dan by
each bringing their own donation of Iron Sheeting!!

Even Daniel, a blind single father suffering with HIV AIDS
sacrificed much to bring his Iron Sheet.

This picture is so precious...what wonderful sacrifice

This is as far as they were able to get

Pastor Dan's office...zoom in to read some of the detail...I love this man

Baby piglet brings hope to family!

It's amazing how a little piggy can transform a family in Uganda

Check out another new letter from a precious family in Uganda to their American donor family!

"Hello my dear friends ANNE AND BOB,

It is with great pleasure that I write to you. To us you are not just friends but parents. So please accept us when we call you Mom and Dad. What can we say? We do not even have enough words to say thank you because it is wonderful that among all the families which needed a donor that you chose our family to help. Before our father (Edward Mitaawana) died he told us to express his gratitude to you just in case we ever see you. He was not even aware that we are going to write to you. So we are delivering his wishes to you. We hope one day you will come to Uganda so that we can see you and talk to you. You must be amazing!!!!

Edward (seated) shortly before he died

Our father and mother seemed to be happily married until 2007 when at the Hospital they told my father that he was HIV Positive. Prior to this knowledge, my father had been very sickly. He had malaria on and off all the time. He could not work anymore. He had to sell a piece of land every time he had an appointment to go to the Hospital. They had three of us as their children – myself Godfrey Yiga, my sister Night and Josephine (in the picture). 

When the woes between Father and mother started it was the start of misery for us children. Our father had no money and our mother had no heart to work and provide for us. She did not care that we had no food or any other domestic basic items like soap. I cried a lot. I saw my father and mother tearing themselves apart. I did not know what to do. They could not listen to anyone especially my mother. She had changed and gotten kind of wild. I could see my father dying a miserable man. 

When our mother threatened to abandon our father, friends, the Pastor and relatives counseled her not to leave him and the children at the time when he needed him most. She argued that he had spent all the money, sold all the land and was dying. What use was he in the world? She one day packed her things and all the house hold items and left. What she did not take were our clothes, including those for her husband. She did not go to her parents’ home. We do not know where she went. I felt hurt. I thought it was very heartless of her. But there she was, took her decision. I was left as the senior person to take care of my dying father.

Sometimes things would be very bad. We would have no food and no money. Then I could take my sisters to our grandmother (mother of our father). At least there we got something to eat. But father would soon send a message for me to return. I felt helpless and useless. I could see him getting weaker but I had limitations in every way. This made me sad. I think he was also sad. I could sometimes see tears in his eyes. If I saw the tears I moved outside. I did not want to cry in front of him. This would make him lose hope. When one is sick they thrive on hope and faith. I tried to encourage him. 

Our hope had gone when our mother decided to leave our father when he was seriously sick. That was when schooling was no more for us because we had to go and dig in people’s gardens to get money for treatment for our father who was down. We did not have food; the money was not enough for transport and treatment. We suffered and became very miserable. I thought that God had forgotten me. Thank you very much for your help. He at least got treatment and some food to eat especially juice to drink. But his time came and he passed away. I am happy to say that he did not die in pain and he did not starve to death. We thank God for giving you to us as our parents. We ask you to accept to become our parents from today.  

Thank you so much for our continued monthly help, it has improved our life. Thank you for loving even us the poor orphans.  May God bless all the work of your hands? May He open many doors for you and may He pour amazing blessings over your family and work. Why! Because you have greatly helped us the poor orphans. Now we are back to school and we have got enough food to eat. Much as we are seen as orphans, at school we are now the first to pay school fees. Before your help came in, we never paid school fees until when we were sent home twice or thrice. We have uniform and books. 

We have planted a lot of potatoes and beans. Even we have got a local piglet we are taking care of because we want to have a big piggery project in the future. Piggery can be a lucrative business if well taken care of. Through the savings from the monthly help received we plan to construct the piggery.

We would like to say thank you so much Dad and Mum. We desire to see you in the near future. God bless you."

 Yours,

GODFREY

We have approximately 80 families like this one waiting desperately for help. Please email Melody Pahlow to find out more information.

Widow Teresa

Life with just about nothing

Pics from the past few days

Village Dish Washer

Adorable Feet!

Oreos are tasty after not eating for 36 hours

Rain comes in very easily 

First Oreo Ever

Melody Comforts

Oreos and Tears

Hands of Prayer

Precious one was starving when I met her

Does God still heal people??? Meet my friend, Dana Morey!

Evangelist Dana Morey with me

Please let me introduce my great friend Dana Morey.  He is my friend.  He is a successful businessman.  Everybody likes Dana.  You want to know why?  Because he cares about everyone in his path.  I can not tell you the many times he has blessed our family.  He and his wife have supported each and every one of our ministry endeavors.  He has believed in us 100%.

When I heard he and his awesome team were going to be in Uganda, at the same time we were, I had to be there to support him, and because I wanted to my family to see God's power and glory through his ministry.  So we hopped in our vehicle and drove 9 hours to the town of Kabale to catch a glimpse of this awesome crusade.

Kampala to Kabale is about a 9 hour drive

We got to the crusade about an hour too late on Saturday, so we had dinner with his team, and heard so many stories...but did not get to see or feel them.  The next day however was amazing.  God is real my friends.  He still heals and restores.  I remember sitting in my Tuesday men's bible study discussing the book of Acts, and several questions were asked, "Does God still raise people from the dead?  Does He still make the blind to see?  The deaf to hear?  The lame to walk?  I too felt the doubt and wondered these things.  Do I have to fly 10,000 miles, then drive 450 km to find this out?  I guess so.

Are we in the front row?

On a side note, as a father, I long for my children to see God for themselves, to have Christ become real to them...not just their "parents Christianity"  I mentioned this to Dana a few months ago.  I know for a fact that he and Karman pray for our kids often.  What shocked me was right before Dana went on stage in front of thousands and thousands of people, he asked his wife Karman to invite Hope and Michael up on stage...FRONT ROW! (there was very limited room) This was so they could have a great view of the testimonies...what a lifetime opportunity! 

Note Mike and Hope in the back in shock.

Dana preached the best Gospel presentation I have ever seen.  I was moved to tears as he described how intensely God loved me, and how Jesus bore the pain of all my sins on the cross.  As the tears were rolling down my face, I saw a girl in the crowd, so moved as Dana was describing God's love for us, she was so moved with grief over her own sin.

She raised her hand to believe in Jesus, but kept one hand in sincere grief.

Thousands upon thousands of people gave their hearts to Christ.  It was an unbelievable experience to see the crowds response.  Looking out on the sea of faces, I saw hope and excitement and relief.

The spirit of God fell on this place

There were many healings, blind people who were blind for all their life, were seeing!  Deaf people heard for the first time, several lame people walked!  My favorite healing story is this woman and her twins...

Here is a part of Dana's blog..."The last night of the Festival, one woman who had two daughters with Epilepsy testified.  She was demon possessed and delivered at our event.  She brought with her two daughters who would fall into epileptic fits three times a day - everyday.  Morning, noon and night, it was the same.  To my amazement, the mother and her two children were at that same moment healed! It was the third day without the fits when she gave her testimony.  Those dear children had those fits three times every day without fail until she was set free."

So amazing.  So incredible.  Praise the Almighty One.

Dream Evangelist's jump first, and fear later.

Each time I travel to Africa, I seem to bump into some of my personal heroes.  Once in Rwanda, I met Rick Warren...that was a total honor.  Today, I got to meet one of the most inspiring men I have heard of...Jason "Radical" Russell.  He is the co-founder of Invisible Children.  We bumped into him downtown Kampala...before he heads up north to Gulu.  I just loved what his business card says: DREAM EVANGELIST on the back it says: JUMP FIRST. FEAR LATER.  

I did not even know it was him.  I saw a young man reading Rob Bell's latest book, and out of the blue asked him what he thought of it...we talked back and forth and he asked me where we were from and what we were doing here in Uganda.  Then I asked him, and he was so modest, he said he was with a group of folks that started a non-profit called "Invisible Children".  I was so amazed.  I had followed his awesome ministry since 2003, which Ironically is the same year we were called to serve Africa!  They are doing amazing things using Media to tell the untold stories of thousands of children here in Africa.  IC wants to help transform apathy into activism!  I love that.  

Did you hear those four simple words I typed above?  JUMP FIRST. FEAR LATER.  How can you apply this to your life? Hebrews 11:1 says "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."  Melody and I have been know to Jump First...but we still struggle with the fear part...Even with so many past experiences where God guided us through a tough situation or proved His amazing power in our lives.  How about you?  Where in your life do you need to Jump First?  Where is God asking you to trust Him?  What plank do you need to walk off  while blindfolded?  One person can make a difference.  You could be the one to fear later...

Learning and Re-Learning the meaning of Patience

Wow.  Here in Africa, I learn many things about myself.  Looking back at my recent time in the USA, I allowed myself to become quite demanding.  I have high expectations when I need or want something.  I want it now.  Maybe you can relate.  When you feel a craving for a cheeseburger, you drive a mile, go thru the drive-thru, and WHAM...a juicy hot heart attack on a bun is waiting for you in the paper sack.

Traffic in Kampala

Its one thing if its a WANT, but what about a need?  Here in Africa we have a saying...T.I.A. (This Is Africa) I have been in several countries in Africa, and it seems to be the same everywhere...things happen at a snail's pace...well maybe slower than that.  Well our ministry NEEDS a vehicle to further our mission.  I NEED IT YESTERDAY!

 More Traffic

The last couple of days I have been trying to purchase a vehicle for Africa Family Rescue.  I now know that I have forgotten about this aspect of the African culture.  Relationship, Relationship, Relationship!  I was thinking how I could explain this to my American friends, but it will be a painful read.  You just wouldn't even believe the set of events that have transpired shopping for this used vehicle!  Its been two long days, driving all over tar nation, meeting strangers, negotiating, meeting, negotiating, meeting someone new, more negotiating, and at the end of the day, I can't say I have even accomplished anything!  STILL NO VEHICLE!

One of the 4x4 vans we looked at today

After the first 4 hours waiting for a friend to pick me up the first day, I decided to try to enjoy the journey.  So I have sat in a car sweating in the hot sun for hours, stuck in insane traffic, being stood up by people called from classified ads, sitting...waiting...waiting...sitting...negotiating...all this while making new friends, laughing out loud, making fun of ourselves. I am discovering people willing to help me for hours on end, with no expectation to be paid or get anything in return, just simply out of concern for me and knowing my need.  I am  humbled by the selfless giving of these wonderful people, and how they have taught me to enjoy the journey.

Blown Away

Today I was blown away by the generosity of my waitress.  Stop right here and look at the note she wrote me in the picture above.  Let me introduce Nicole.  She has been waitressing at Cracker Barrel for years.  I met her at the Romeoville location, and as we moved up more north, she transferred to the Naperville store.  

Early this morning, I took my oldest son Nathan for the last time in a long while, for a daddy-nate breakfast.  Nicole has been on our email list for years, and has followed what we are doing in Africa.  While she was serving us, we discovered that she had a fire at her home, and it burnt to the ground 9 weeks ago.  No one was hurt, but she lost everything.  Nicole is a single mom.  She has an adorable little girl.  I got up to go pay the bill, and she handed Nathan the above note, and told him "don't show your dad this till he is far away from Cracker Barrel."  As I was driving away, Nathan handed me this note, folded up, and inside it was a $100 bill.  "WHAT IN THE WORLD!", I said.  I tried to turn around, but Nathan said "Dad, she would be hurt if you tried to give it back to her."  I was choking back tears.  How could this be?  How could she sacrifice so much money?  

Clean Water for Namyoya!!!

Mike and Luke with their new buddies checkin out the "old water hole"

Disgusting!!

Refreshing!! Borehole # 2

Mike says this was very heavy

Luke struggling to carry this heavy jerry can

Two are better than one!

Melody and Ben at borehole # 1