The MinistryCycle Update!

Here is a little update on the MinistryCycle. The motorcycle is now in service as a boda and it provides transportation for our ministry. After much prayer, our decision was to hire Richard as our boda driver. He is the older brother of the three children that we reunited earlier this year. The whole family is together now. Richard who is 20 years old was in need of steady employment and we needed a driver who we could trust.

The preliminary figures show that we should have income of about 150,000 schillings per month from the driver lease and in addition to that we should save about 70,000 schillings per month for our transportation. For a total 220,000 schillings, that is the equivalent to about $110.00 per month. (Our total monthly operating budget is about $2000). We will keep you updated as we track more time on this project.

Now we have two income programs in place for our goal of becoming partially self supported. During this next month, we will be updating you on our farm project.

Both of these projects were made possible by our donors!

Thank you!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

I would like to share this recent email from my daughter!

Dear Dad,

Well I am wiped out! I just had 9 kids in the house between the ages of 5 and 8!!

We decided to do a full out birthday party for Jesus tonight. Jaden, Kellen, and Sage each invited a couple friends (Christopher and Katie went to Graham's house to play). The party was from 4pm to 8pm. I painted a big sign and taped it on our front door that said "Happy Birthday Jesus." We hung up crete paper in the dining area. We had a white tablecloth and red plates with Happy Birthday napkins. We had dinner together and decorated cupcakes together. Each child got to have a candle to blow out as we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. We played the cotton ball game, made "stained glass windows" that say Jesus by shaving crayons onto wax paper and ironing it. We watched a little bit of the movie, "The Nativity Story," and the rest of the time, the kids played and played and used up LOTS of energy. The kids all brought birthday presents for Jesus. (One child even used his very own $). This is the exciting part! All together, Jesus raised $144.75 at His party! And guess what?? It all goes to Jireh/Door of Hope for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Love you,

Jenny

Christmas Menu and Gifts

A Special Thank You To Those That Sent A Gift For

"Christmas At The Door Of Hope!"

Robyn decorated the dining room in red and white with balloons and table cloths. Since we have only about 12 of us here right now because a few had some relatives in their village to visit for the holiday, we split our big double dining room table into two sections, one for dining and the other for the buffet.

We started the day with scrambled eggs with onions and tomatoes along with fresh mangoes, and chapatis served with hot milk and tea. Everyone received their own apple too! Apples and milk are luxury items here, and they don't get eggs often so this was a pretty special Christmas breakfast.

After several hours at church we had lunch!

Lunch was a buffet today serving goat stew, rice, motooke, fried whole potatoes, yams, cooked cabbage, fruit salad bowl with watermelon and apples. We also had fish for a couple of non meat eaters. We had a green salad of cabbage and tomatoes with onions with home made Thousand Island dressing. And to top it off, everyone enjoyed their favorite soda with their meal. Having meat at this meal was pretty special along with other things, like soda. So the gift we received for this meal, and to make this day special, was quite a blessing to our family!

We had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake for dessert! Robyn said, instead of blowing out the candle on His birthday cake, we are lighting a candle. I thought that was an awesome idea!

The best part was the stories after dinner. The realization that we are doing more for these kids than we ever thought. This was the first Christmas dinner that they had ever been a part of especially sitting a round a table together. One reason is because they haven't had a family to celebrate Christmas together. They went around the table and gave testimonies of their life especially this past year here with us at the Door Of Hope. Three of them had literally been on the street prior to coming here. Peter, who works as an administrative assistant in our office, has a sister (Jennifer)here in our family. He is 24 years old and was extremely appreciative of joining us today and said not only was it his first time to have a Christmas dinner like this, but he was so happy to celebrate Christmas with his sister for the first time!

These are some of the gifts that were made possible by this donation too:

Transportation to their village for those with relatives.

Leather sandals (2nd hand)

20 fleece jackets / pullovers (2nd hand)

2 coats (2nd hand)

Sweatshirt hoodie (2nd hand)

Windbreaker (2nd hand)

Jean jacket (2nd hand)

Six boys dress shirts (2nd hand)

Eleven girls blouses (2nd hand)

4 boys jeans (new)

One dress trouser (new)

Two dress shirts (new)

Two skirts (new)

One tailor made traditional dress (Jennifer had her own material)

One baby doll (new)

Airtime for a short phone call to a friend or relative

Two movie rental

Sweeties

This was all made possible by $344.75 donated specifically for this day!

We just never know how the Lord will use all of us in His blessings!

Give A Gift In Honor of Your Friend

The small inset above shows the front and back view of the card.

This Holiday Season give a gift that keeps on giving! You can give a gift to The Door of Hope Family in the honor of someone special to you. They will receive a Christmas card with our family picture along with a note showing a gift was made in their honor.



Contact us with the name address to who and where you want the card sent. You may make a donation on line or by mail, just let us know what you prefer! info@hewillprovide.org

NGO STATUS

This officially "puts us on the map"!

We Received Our Approval For An NGO!

We have been working on this all year, and comparatively speaking, it was a lot more work than getting our 501 (c) (3) in the USA! So now we are allowed to apply for Visa Work Permits instead of Visitors Passes which in the long run will save us money along without the hassles of going to the immigration office every two months. This is important to all of us long term volunteers. It will also allow us to apply for any government grants that are available in the USA or Uganda.

Jireh Ministries Foundation, Inc. USA
He Will Provide Ministries, UGANDA

30 Days Until Christmas

May we please have a $10.00 donation?

Some people have asked us about a Christmas wish list. To be perfectly honest we have not been thinking of Christmas presents because we still need a lot of the basics. We were thinking a special Christmas dinner would be nice where we would buy some meat for dinner and maybe some sodas or have a cake for a special dessert. We don't have any toys or play things, and our soccer ball is on its last leg. All of the girls need dress shoes. A new outfit for each child would be a huge blessing. So here is what a small donation of $10.00 can do for us! Click on this link to donate now!http://hewillprovide.org/giving/financial_donation.php
A $10.00 donation equals about 20,000 Uganda Schillings. 20,000 shillings could provide any one of these items:

• One Blanket
• Seven Umbrellas
• Two sets of Bed Sheets
• Two Pillows
• Eight Pairs of Flip Flops
• One pair of boy's jeans, three pairs of socks and underwear
• One skirt, slip, and bra
• One pair of Girls shoes
• 2 Sweaters or sweatshirts
• Boys shirt, and undershirt
• 1 pair of leather sandals

Other larger items that would be a blessing to this ministry are:

• Solar powered lanterns for the dorms when power goes off
• A generator for when power goes off
• Computer
• Refrigerator
• Oven
• Books
• Video projector

Shipping items is not very practical as it takes two to three months to get here and it is very expensive. Are you interested in helping in another way? Then please let us know, because right now we don't have anything special planned for Christmas. You may contact Robyn directly with any ideas robynfruehan@yahoo.com

For I Was Hungry And You Gave Me Something To Eat / Matt 25:35

This is Part I of the story of Buyinjayinja Village. We visited here on Saturday November 8, 2009. Two children were reported dead because of hunger due to the draught in the area and we set out to see what we could do. This is only about an hour from our house and this is going on dirt roads and sometimes no road. So it is very close to home!



In this first photo we are portioning out maize flour into smaller bags to distribute to the families. About 17 families were identified as "very needy" and we went with a guide to take us to each family. Robyn and I took two of our boys, Matty and Robert along with Pastor Moses to the village.

We ran into this man on his way home. Do you see the small bundle in his arm/ That is what he went out and gathered to feed his family. We are telling him we just dropped off food at his house for his family.

Thank you Jesus! This family was very appreciative. This gentleman lost his eyes in a lumber mill accident.

This family was ready to serve their lunch. We can see how little they have.

This man just lost his wife about six months ago and as you can see, he has five children. They were very happy to see some food. He used to get to work with his bicycle, but he had to sell it for money to feed the family.

This woman was quite surprised to see us, especially bringing food. Do you see the green bananas? That is motooke, it is suppose to be a lot larger than that, but because of the draught it is better than none.

These boys said their Grandma was out looking for food. Won't this be a pleasant surprise when she returns?

This young man was so excited when we tried our hand at sign language. His mom is pictured here, and she told us she has two sons that are deaf. How many ways can you feed someone?

Robyn is with two of the children that didn't eat the poison roots, because one was a sleep at the time and the other one was sick.

Jim and Robert look over the graves of a brother and sister that were just buried here and their sister is in the hospital. They were looking for food and ate some bad roots.

This is one of the twins that Robyn is holding, besides being hungry she is missing her brother who died.

So many people were surprised and overwhelmed with the food that was being delivered to them! We told them it was Jesus for sure taking care of them. A simple form of evangelism.

A little story about Matty

Here is a little follow up story about Matty, that we just posted about being on the radio.

It was just earlier this year that 17 year old Matty joined our family. He had been on the streets for quite a while. Fatumah found him along with many others in doing her street ministry. She helped him discover Jesus for all he knew prior was his Muslim background. He accepted Jesus while still on the streets. She brought him to our family last March and he has grown so much in many ways. His growth in the Lord has increased tremendously. He often leads in prayer and worship and is ever willing to step up to the plate to share the gospel!

This is the boy that was on the air with me last night helping to preach the Gospel to a million people here in Uganda. When it is in the Lord's plan, anything can happen!

Praise God!
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Radio Ministry

Matthew on a recent visit to his old village

Tonight Jennifer was not feeling well and has exams tomorrow at school. So we gave her the night off from the radio program as our interpreter. Matty stepped up to fill in for Jennifer. He did a great job and has a great radio voice. He has had a couple of guest appearances on the radio prior to this so I figured he would do well. It is so good to have all these opportunities for the kids to build their confidence and gain experience.

All praise goes to God!

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Campaign: Save the Babies!

Praise God, we have an update on our program!

We received a phone call today from the Probation /Child Welfare department. They have set November 5th for the date for us to meet with them to come up with plan of action! This is exciting for many reasons. The government and the NGO's are not only working together for a common cause but to save precious lives! Our plan is to meet with several of our faithful ministry colleagues here in Masaka together with the government officials.

We had a brief discussion tonight with some of our ministry partners at our bi-weekly International Fellowship meeting. We have enthusiasm for working God's plan whatever it is! He placed it on our hearts do something about the babies being dumped in the rubbish piles.

So far The Lord has provided this:

The sign designer

The sign printer for signs at the dump sites

Donations towards the costs for the sign frames, concrete, and installation.

A local printer lined up to print educational posters for churches, shops, etc.

A meeting with the local officials.

Here is what we need:

YOUR PRAYERS!!

THE REALITY IS THIS; IF WE SAVE BABIES FROM DEATH, THEN WE WILL HAVE TO CARE FOR THEM. I HOPE WE DON'T THINK THAT IS A PROBLEM!

Are you ready to get involved in this project?

We would love to have you!

Praise God!

Our Star Pupils!

John is 12th out of 88 students!

Moses is 6th out of 94 students!

We first met these two boys in 2008, shortly after they were rescued from the streets by "Believers World Outreach" who were here on a Missions trip. They were left with God's Revival Church, pastored by Gerald & Betty Kasozi. It was placed on the hearts of two of the BWO team members to sponsor these boys, so they could have food, shelter, clothing and education. When we opened The Door OF Hope Family in February of 2009, they were transferred here. When they arrived, they could not speak English and had a very limited education.

This is their third term in school and they have made a lot of progress. Moses is in P2 and John is in P1. Moses is reading and speaking quite well and John has made a lot of improvement just in the past couple of months. They have grown, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Moses had accepted Jesus in the latter part of last year, when he dropped his Muslim name of Hussein and adopted the name of Moses. This year in August, after he accepted Jesus in his heart, John has made a remarkable improvement in everything, including behavior, spiritual growth and schooling.

On Tuesday, I joined John and Moses at the local bakery for a special treat and reward for some cakes and sodas to celebrate!

Praise God for these small but wonderful miracles!

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Free Haircuts!

On the weekends we open The Door OF Hope Barber Shop! Well it is not quite that sophisticated, but it works. This is when all of our kids can get spruced up for the week! We also open this up to other ministries and Pastors who can't afford such luxuries. If we are able to save them a few coins it helps them to have more for food. As it is customary here in Uganda, school children (both boys and girls), and men keep their head pretty smooth. Tonight, Fatumah brought over the boys from her ministry, The Children Of The Kingdom Of God. This is a real blessing to them!


Sometimes doing small things can be a big blessing! Praise God for all the ways He Provides!
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Join The Campaign- Save The Babies!

This is a campaign for community awareness and education! In order for people to stop dumping their babies in a rubbish pit, they need a choice or a solution to their "problem." As unfortunate as it is, we can't simply say DON'T DUMP YOUR BABY HERE! Because if they follow those instructions, they will just dump the baby elsewhere!

The campaign is to show them alternatives, to save lives! We will be directing these babies to a "safe haven" or a receiving station so we can place them in a baby's home for proper care under the guidance of the local authorities.

Here is our progress report:

• We have an award winning graphic designer volunteering to design the signs!
• We have a sign printer in the USA who has volunteered to print and ship the signs!
• We have local public officials backing our efforts!
• We have fellow NGO's ready to help in our our efforts!

Here is what we need:

• DONATIONS to locally build the metal frames and install the signs in concrete.
• The final approval from Child Protection Services, and senior authorities.
• YOUR PRAYERS for a successful project.
• Final wording to get the message across, in two languages!

WE INVITE YOU TO GET INVOLVED!

A Tribute To Our Sponsors & Friends!

This is a tribute to our sponsors and friends from one of our boys. This was a class assignment for prose & poetry. It is entitled "MY JAJJA'S," this is what the kids call us, it means grandparents. But the only reason we are able to do our work is because of you and your good gifts, we only have the love for the kids but you make it all happen! Please see what all this means to this one boy.

My JAJJA'S

What a wonderful gift.

They are so caring and loving.

So Marvelous!

What a wonderful gift.

They pay for my school fees.

They provide me with food

Oh so marvelous!

They teach me how to talk English

And they advise me to practice it all the time.

What nice jajja's they are!

Oh so marvelous!

They make sure that I have everything.

They advise me on things that will help me.

Oh so marvelous!

They encourage me when I lose hope

And they teach me to believe in Jesus.

Oh they are really so Marvelous!

By John Travis

John is a very quiet young man and for him to approach me with this, is really a big thing! We are his only family and it has been great to see him grow since February when he joined us. It is actually difficult to just give a little background on John because I think he has enough stories to write a book. He witnessed losing his parents in the Rwandan Genocide around 1995 and somehow, by the Grace of God, he is OK!

Thank you to all our sponsors and friends! May God bless you!

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FAITH

Praise God! I would like to share these testimonies with you. God's Revival Church is one of the local ministries here in Uganda that we partner with.

On Sunday when we visited God's Revival Church, I delivered a message, as God had spoken to me about the topic. As He is so amazing, sometimes the message is not clear to the messenger but the message is meant for the ones receiving it. It is only by faith that these types of messages are delivered, because if you listen to other voices, it could be Satan trying his hardest to discourage us from speaking what God has chosen for us to say!

I think on first reading this, it may sound confusing! What I am saying is that faith in God is always important. Because when He chooses to communicate through us, we have to know, that it is what He wants us to do (to deliver the message).

I can't explain how hard the devil tried to stop me! Here is what I am praying for now: The next time that I receive so much opposition in preparing the Word, that I will recognize it sooner and not let it even have a chance to work. That it will instead encourage me to continue on the same path! Thank you God to use me as a vessel to carry your Word! I pray for humility and wisdom in doing your work.

After the church service we visited with Pastors Betty and Gerald. We were so happy to see so many chickens. Last March when Rob Brennecke was here as a missionary with us, we visited with Betty to discuss chickens. Rob had experience raising chickens with his family in the US. I was hoping we could do something to help them with their chicken project. They had on a few occasions attempted to raise chickens for income and had run into a few problems.

But if you recall a few months back, as we reported here in this blog, the topic of conversation changed from chickens to water. In a few minutes of talking I became aware of their situation of needing water. We had a water program called H2O8 and we had the funds to assist them in getting a tap.

The water project is a success! They not only have water but it is a blessing to the community as well because it is nearby for many to come and fetch water. The government tap is not perfect water but it is a huge difference from swamp water. Because of our water project, it was necessary to install a main water line to the village which will help many people in the future because they will now only have a short distance pull a pipe line from if they want to install a tap.

But this is where it even gets better! With the profits of selling water they have invested in 200 chicks, some fryers and broilers, this is the first step so they can purchase some layers! God sure has His ways of working these things out!

Our ultimate goal with any of these projects is to help us all to become self supported! It is the starting of these projects is where we need help. But you see after we helped with the water, it becomes a stepping stone. We recently received a motorcycle, so we can cut our expenses and generate an income as well. Please pray with us in thanksgiving as we recognise that these are truly gifts from God!

We thank you for all your prayers and financial support to make all of this possible in Jesus' Name!

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God Knows What We Can Handle

With the wind blowing in my face at 11:00 pm it is exhilarating to say the least especially after doing our evening radio show. It gets my adrenaline up as we deliver the evening message of the Word of God. What a wonderful opportunity He has given us to serve Him. As Jennifer and I headed back home after we finished the show I was thinking how God wants us to do His work. The night air is refreshing and maybe a little chilly sitting on the back of a motorcycle as our boda driver guides us around pot holes and bumps and safely gets us back home. I think; what am I doing on a motorcycle on these roads and at this hour and in this country? This is God's plan? He is funny! And I am wide awake! But I am not complaining, I asked for an evening time slot and He answered!


We did the show by ourselves again this week, just me and Jennifer. We were prepared for our solo this time and things went well. Pastor Moses had a robbery where he is staying and they took everything he had, which wasn't much. Even his clothes! So he needed the night off and we were able to handle the show, Praise God! Please pray for Pr Moses!


God never gives us more than He knows we can handle. Well maybe a little bit more just to keep stretching us and our faith. We were just having this conversation with the pastor last week about God providing provisions, and he was wondering when God was going to start to provide just a little bit more for him. Then he gets punched in the face with something like this. Yea, sometimes He really stretches our faith. So Moses really does need your prayers for renewed strength and encouragement!
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In God's Plan

Is this the destiny that God had in mind for one of His children?

UPDATE:

Masaka, Uganda Today we met with Ruzena Rita, Senior Probation & Social Welfare Officer for our area here in Masaka. She is over Child Protection Services and has jurisdiction over our facility. One of her main concerns is taking care of the OVC (Orphan & Vulnerable Children). She is quite enthused about our Save The Babies project and will be discussing it with her boss and setting up a group planning meeting with all of us; NGO's, Churches and whoever else we can get on board to join in this effort.

California, USA I heard from Lauren Chavez, one of our volunteers, and she is asking her aunt to help print some adhesive signs that they could ship to Uganda and we can stick them on some metal sign posts. This is a real blessing and could be a more sophisticated sign that what we can get here locally. Maybe we could get a couple artists out there that can offer an idea or two.

We still need to raise some funds to pay for the metallic signs, concrete, etc.

I spoke with a radio announcer and host, that we know through the church. I filled her in on our project so that she will be able to help over the radio with some public education about dumping babies.

Do you want to know how God works?

He sent Rita, the probation officer, here today on another mission, so I didn't have to track her down, as she is extremely busy in her position and it is normally pretty hard to catch her. A footnote to that is, she wants us to take in a foster child from a neighboring country for a couple of weeks. So we will have another teenage girl for a while. Right now, if a child needs care such as in this case, the only place they have for them is a jail cell at the juvenile center. Even, as in this case, the child is a victim not a criminal.

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WHO CARES? About the Babies

WHO CARES? About the Babies
So far we have the following local partners on this project that also like what we are doing: Uganda Child Care, To Africa With Love, Eagles Wings, and Love In Action!

Help us save the babies! Please pray! We need some signs made! Show us you also care about "Saving The Babies" http://apps.facebook.com/causes/22409?m=3f1cca43



Submit your sign ideas to us! Commit this to prayer in your group or church!
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First steps to "Save the Babies'

I met with our local chairman of our village today along with Robert who recently discovered the Dead baby that was dumped. Our chairman is behind us as we discussed our preliminary outline of a program to stop the baby dumping. He shared with us some history about this problem as it has been going on for a while that when he was in charge of the refuse pick-up it was common to discover babies every week. We know that only a portion of these babies are actually found because there is a serious problem here.

Here is the dilemma: If we put together a program for a safe haven for babies to be dropped off, we will have lots of babies. What is the alternative to that? Don't receive the babies and they will continue to be discarded but we won't know about most of them!

I know that God put this on my heart to do something and I can only expect Him to provide! If God had Fay and UCC start a babies home, then He must of had a reason. Because now God is into phase two, "take care of a problem."

Our next step is to start on one section of the town and design a prototype sign to erect at dump sites to instruct people where to take their unwanted babies. We will be coming up with "safe havens" for drop off points as these people will not go the police station or other government facility and the hospital has problems of its own.

We need funding for this program, so if this strikes you as a place for you to make a small offering then we will be happy to assist you. We have a program on Facebook http://apps.facebook.com/causes/22409?m=3f1cca43 or you can go to our web site www.hewillprovide.org and make a financial donation.

With a combined effort we can make this happen!
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He Has Reminded Me That He Is In Control!

An open letter to all of our supporters!

Dear J & S,
What an amazing thing to wake up to today! I see your gift and I praise God! I thought the balance of the bike was a lost cause and for me to just get on with the next project and be grateful for the portion that has been provided. But Me of little faith! Thank you for reminding me that He is in control of all things.

NOW HE HAS PROVIDED THE ENTIRE MINISTRYCYCLE! This is amazing! A few people answer the call and here are the fruits. Now I know why He needs to start with the small things because He prepares us for what is ahead step by step. I believed and have taught that it was important for us to take care of the small things and to be good stewards of all of God’s gifts, which is true! But this also teaches us that we actually need to be prepared to receive such wonderful gifts because it could be too overwhelming for the average person to bear. He is capable of abundant blessings and we shouldn’t forget it. How God chooses to use each of us in His work is also a mystery and a great blessing! Thank you for listening to your heart. Matthew 22:14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” We are the ones to make a decision to accept the invitation.


Believing He Will Provide,

Jim Fruehan

PS: I find the unusal amout of the donation to be interesting, ($405.00) it must be of some significance!

My Testimony To The Holy Spirit

The power of the Holy Spirit is pretty awesome! I think many of you, who have been following our lives through this ministry, know how God has been using us. Lately He has stretched me further to a place that I didn't know He wanted me. I am referring to sharing the Gospel in public places. He started off by having me share the Word in a village church where it is like home when I go back periodically to "teach" the Word of God. I was asked to share at a few other outreach events as well.


Now we are involved with a radio ministry where we are on the air on Monday and Tuesday evenings. We are involved with another bimonthly event called the Big Saturday Miracle Explosion where I have spoken at the last two events. This is something like a crusade where people gather for the day and receive the Gospel, praise and worship and Divine healings. I now am spending a lot of time preparing for my presentations which of course involves reading and researching the Bible. So this is where God wants me to be!

Although I know that the Holy Spirit guides me through these sermons, I am compelled to spend time preparing. It is a lot of work because I have to wait to feel what God wants me to talk about. But when it is time to share the Word, The Holy Spirit takes over and guides me through like something that I can't really describe. There is such a spiritual high that I feel!

Since last week when I first brought Jennifer with me to the radio station to fill in as my interpreter, we have been asked to appear together to do our shows. She was also with me this weekend at The "Big Saturday." This has been a great opportunity for her as well. You just never know how God will choose to use you!

I think it is important to say, that God knows our hearts, I was ready to serve Him however He wanted me.
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Please Save The Babies!

As Robert was walking home from school on Thursday he noticed some people standing near the neighborhood dump site. As his curiosity grew him closer to figure out what was going on he came to the realization that once again a new born baby has been dumped. The baby was dead and it seemed to have some trauma to the head leading him to believe that possibly someone struck the baby before dumping.


I know when this similiar thing was happening back home, the hospitals started a no questions asked policy to receive unwanted babies. I have been thinking and praying about this problem here in Masaka. I know that Uganda Child Care has recently opened a babies home here and would take in these unwanted babies to give them life and a future. In fact they have received babies under these same circumstances.

I have an idea that we will speak with some of the local officials about putting up signs near these dump sites for people to take their babies to a receiving area instead of leaving them for dead. I will speak with UCC about a program such as this and see if we can organize a plan of action.

We will need to organize a fund raiser to produce and erect the signs throughout the city. Keep this in your prayers so the Lord can guide us on how He wants us to solve this problem.


Let me know if you have any other suggestions or ideas!
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Our 100th Blog Entry!!

My Sidekick, Jennifer

The sweat was pouring out of me like a cartoon character! Have you seen the cartoons where it is pouring out in buckets because of being under pressure and how they exaggerate everything to illustrate a point? Well that was me tonight!!

About an hour before we are to go on the air tonight for our weekly radio show, I received a message from Pastor Moses that says he is stuck on the way from Kampala and could I take on the whole show with my own interpreter tonight. So I asked Jennifer if she was up to it tonight, as she has become one of my main interpreters here at the house. She wants to be a journalist so this is all a good experience for her. She is 15 years old, pretty amazing girl. It is good to have your regular interpreter here because the interpreter needs to understand my accent in order to follow.

So when it is time for us to go on the air I understood that we would have an engineer with us, but I was wrong. The engineer came in to turn on the intro music and makes the mikes hot and leaves! Yes he just leaves the studio and I am talking and this music is still playing because he had said to start but didn't show how to fade out the music. Oh good he comes back and realizes I need a little help here! He shuts off the music and leaves me again. OK I figure we can do this. I have this board with the slides switches like you see in the movies, a computer screen and phones but I don't know one switch from another. Yes it is exactly like that! Like a comedy show. Pastor Moses always operates the board and I sit across from him and just do my bit. But today Jennifer is sitting across from me and I am it!

Normally I have about 20 minutes of material because there is intro time in the front of the show and their is wrap up time at the end. But not tonight! When you are on the radio you can't have dead air you have to keep saying something. We kept it moving and luckily I had a few extra verses in my notes to refer to so I could stretch out the message. But there is no break, I can't signal over and fade to music for a minute and take a breather because I don't know how to use the board, so we are there with an open microphone beckoning us to keep talking. I look up at the clock to see how we are doing, and it won't move, the clock says I am only half way through the show and I am running out of material, but I have a whole bible in front of me, why can't I just start reading something, I could start at Genesis.

Then I am wondering are we really on the air? Oh yes I can hear myself on the headset but what am I saying? Oh Holy Spirit guide me I need the gift of tongue tonight! You know with a live audience at church they can see you if you are looking for a verse in the bible but when you are on the radio you have to go play by play. My hat is off to those great radio personalities that keep the show going. Boy the radio can really be exhilarating!

So the sweat is just pouring out and my head is soaked and I look up and we are going to make it, I see the clock and what I am reading in Psalms should end just about right on time. You know some of the Psalms are really long but not the ones I chose tonight! Anyway, I figure OK we are home free and we are right on time, but where is the engineer? So I think OK let's have a closing prayer and I am trying to pray long but it is coming up short, it is hard when you are on the spot. But I have nothing left in this prayer and I look over at Jennifer who is just doing so great and interpreting every word I say. So I looked at her and say well Jennifer do you know a song? At this point we just tell our audience that we are sitting here without an engineer and don't know how to sign off. If we weren't in the middle of it I could probably think of so many things that I could say.

Oh the engineer comes in and we hand it over to him as he somehow makes music come from somewhere and shuts off my mike. He said; "Oh I forgot to turn on the air conditioning, you are really sweating!"

And I was wondering what would be a significant enough event to have the honor as the 100th blog entry! Praise God! Thank you Jesus for an exciting journey!

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Fighting Malaria

It seems we no sooner got David home from an overnight stay at the clinic for malaria, and we are bringing in Rob. David was on an overnight IV drip because we could not manage his level of malaria with oral medications. He responded well to the IV and came home this afternoon. In the meantime we were treating Rob with the oral medication for malaria, because he tested low. Later this afternoon when we checked his temperature he was 104.5 Fahrenheit about 40 Celsius. We cooled him down in a cool bath to a less dangerous level of 102. We took him to the clinic at that point and they admitted him for an overnight drip.

It is not uncommon for us to get one of the kids tested when they don't feel well and the test will show negative. And then it could be the next day and they are off the charts! Even when we seem to catch it early with some oral medication, which we keep handy. Very high temperatures are common with malaria, as we have done the cool bath routine before to break a high fever. I feel for them because I know it is not a comfortable bath but we have to take some immediate actions. We know the clinic does not have facilities to cool down a patient and I have yet to see them take the temperature of a patient. It really makes me realize why the average life expectancy is so low as 45 years. We have noticed that the IV drip of quinine seems to be quick acting. Malaria is a tricky disease, it has highs and lows, one day you may feel OK and then the next day you get really ill. The symptoms seem to vary among patients.

Let us praise God for giving us clinic to go to and for providing the funds to pay for it.
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Update for Friday

Here is today's update: We just got power back on and are on line again, we are surprised that power was restored because most people are not working. All the shops are closed as the people call it a "strike." If shops are open the people attack them, the open vegetable market was attacked and they had to close it. A big problem is looting because of people who take this as an "opportunity" for bad behavior. Military and local police are out and about arresting many. Shots have been fired throughout mostly from the soldiers at the "hooligans" as they are referred to. Rita has not been able to get out of Kampala yet so she is staying safe there. We have all of our children back on the compound, home from school and our guard has shown up, so we are going to be tucked in for the night. We have plenty of food, water, and cooking fuel stored up, so we can be OK for a while until things calm down. And we have JESUS too!


Continued violence and disruption in Kampala and surrounding areas:


Kampala, Uganda

Warden Message

September 11, 2009


The U.S. Mission in Uganda advises U.S. citizens that the violent demonstrations experienced in downtown Kampala and surrounding areas on September 10 are continuing today and possibly through the weekend. The demonstrations stem from political friction between the central government and the authorities of Buganda, a cultural kingdom in central Uganda.

U.S. citizens are advised to avoid downtown Kampala as well as surrounding neighborhoods including, but not limited to Kampala Road, Natete Road, Rubaga Road, Hoima Road, Bomba Road, Wandegeya, Hotel Ecuador, Clock Tower, and Kabuye Circle. U.S. citizens should avoid large crowds of people anywhere in the city or in central Uganda, including Kayunga District, as protests can materialize quickly and become violent. The U.S. Peace Corps has temporarily withdrawn its Volunteers from Kayunga District.

U.S. citizens should consider sheltering in safe locations and avoiding all non-essential travel until the unrest subsides.

The Kampala-Entebbe road connecting the Entebbe International Airport and Kampala was closed several times yesterday and it is expected this will continue to occur today and through the weekend

Official Word From US Embassy

We are in Masaka, about two hours from Kampala and are presently safe, However Rita is in Kampala and attempting to come home here on Friday so keep her in your prayers. This is the email from our embassy:

Violent Demonstrations in Downtown Kampala and Surrounding Areas.

Warden Message

Kampala, Uganda

September 10, 2009

The U.S. Embassy in Kampala wishes to advise U.S. citizens that this weekend the leader of the Kingdom of Buganda is planning his annual visit to Kayunga District against the wishes of the central government. The disagreement has resulted in a stand-off which appears to be fueling long-standing grievances between the Kingdom of Buganda and the central government, and between different political factions within the kingdom.

As of the afternoon of September 10^th, 2009, violent protests are occurring in downtown Kampala as a result of this situation in Buganda. This message is an advisory to all U.S. citizens to avoid the central and western downtown areas of Kampala including, but not limited to Kampala Road, the Hotel Ecuador, Clock Tower and Kabuye Circle. U.S. citizens should avoid large crowds of people anywhere in the city as protests can materialize quickly and become violent.

The U.S. Peace Corps has withdrawn its volunteers from Kayunga District and U.S. Mission employees have been advised not to travel to the Kayunga District until further notice.

U.S. citizens with questions or concerns may telephone the Consular Section of the U.S. Mission in Kampala at (256) (0) (414) 306 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791. In the case of an emergency outside business hours, or during any suspension of public services, U.S. citizens may reach the U.S. Mission duty officer at the same numbers.

U.S. citizens are advised to register and update their contact information with the U.S. Mission in Kampala. The U.S. Embassy is located at Plot 1577 Ggaba Road. The phone number is (256) (0) (414) 306 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791, fax (256) (0) (414) 258 451, email: KampalaUSCitizen@state.gov, and U.S. Embassy Kampala website: http://kampala.usembassy.gov .

For the latest security information, citizens living or traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs internet website at: http://travel.state.gov/, where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts, Travel Warnings, and Country Specific Information can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada, or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. Federal Holidays).

"NEWS SHORTS"

From our www.hewillprovide.blogspot.com to you!

Here are some updates and a couple of things that are going on with us!

"Momma Robert" as we referred to her, is doing much better. I met with her on Sunday and she was smiling and very grateful for the medical care we provided. Praise God, He saved her life!

We spent most of this morning at the hospital today for a follow up of eye exams for three of our children. It is a process here to get anything done and this was just the same. And we still have to go back tomorrow for the second half of the test. For some reason they dilate the eyes first and do part of the test and then since the eyes are dilated they have to wait until the next day for the second half. I think if they reversed the procedure it might be better. And like I said this was a follow up, so yes they had been seen at the eye doctors office and then he refers them to the hospital for examination. This was for a simple vision check. I always got my eyes examined in one day, but this isn't America. We also have one boy with extensive hearing loss in one ear, it seems to be ear drum damage so we will followup with that on Friday for further testing. That's that in a nutshell, but we could probably make a movie out of all the details that surround a day such as this.

We have been on the radio now for two days and it is going well. The first night was little hectic, they had changed our time slot by 15 minutes later and we only ended up with a half hour instead of the hour that we planned for, so that meant a little last minute program cutting and editing. But I had the extra 15 minutes to put it together. So tonight was much easier because we were able to follow our plan. We will be on the air on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. I refer to our half hour show as a bible study, it is a teaching and sharing format. The radio is is a powerful form of evangelism, the old is forever new. Here in Uganda, people gather around radios and listen together to shows like this. The sponsor gave her approval of our format and likes the variety that we are able to contribute to. May God to continue to bless this women so she continues to support two radio shows!

We put out the word that we would like to get people involved with a little micro financing with us so we could get a motorcycle to help with our ministry. This would help with our transportation and help us to generate income by running our own boda. This would give someone employment and produce income to pay for the cycle. I proposed paying off a loan of about $1200. USD at $50.00 per month. We received two offers for donations towards a motorcycle and one of the donors said he will finance the balance. So now we have a MINISTRYCYCLE FUND! It looks like we have already more than half of the estimated cost of $1200.00 donated. The more that is donated the less we need to finance. So if you know anyone that is interested in improving our economics let them know about this project. We have really been thinking about projects that can help us to be self supported. It is better than being totally dependent on donations for all the operating expenses. Praise God, this all happened after I last wrote that we needed God to provide transportation for our radio ministry, and guess what?
HE IS PROVIDING!
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Back To School

Do you know what it is like around the house when your kids go back to school? Today is the official back to school day for Uganda, returning from the second term break. Can you imagine how quiet it gets around here, when seventeen kids return to school?



Every day we had so many activities with outreaches and fun things. We were running tutoring classes in math, English and science and the kids were busy studying for the next term. There is always a ball bouncing in the background and the chatter of kids as they do all their various chores and other activities. Oh, and there are a few squabbles now and then too!



Now today it is very quiet around here, I don't think we are ready to complain about the silence quite yet, but we probably will be, soon enough. This evening, when they all return home we will be meeting them at the gate as they greet us with hugs and laughter!
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WHAT MAKES A GOOD LEADER?

The topic for this weeks radio show was "What makes a good leader." We were invited again to the Saturday radio show aimed at the youth. Four of our boys were guests on the local talk show this week. They all did an excellent job representing The Door OF Hope Family!

Robert, Phillip, David, and Joseph are on the air!

Go Into All The World And Preach The Good News To All Creation.

In Mark 16:15 we find the instructions pretty clear! Go into all the world and preach the good news. That is a pretty heavy "to do" list. Even as we are here in another part of the world, I find that we can only take care of a small area of Uganda at a time.

This past year I had the opportunity a few times to present the gospel on the radio. I really enjoyed the experience and Pastor Moses had an open invitation for me to return. I have put it off for a few (good) reasons. First of all the radio program is at 5:00 AM, YEA! In the Morning! I am a night person, I have a lot of responsibilities and duties and I can't burn the candle at both ends. Besides, I am not a preacher so do they really need me? And on and on. But quite honestly it was tough.

I thought, I am not a preacher but I have been asked on several occasions to share the word at Sunday services or at some of our village outreaches. So maybe God wants me to "preach" my style. Maybe that is what some people want or need to hear.

So this is where God's sense of humor comes in: The other day Pastor Moses stops by our house to share the "good news" about his ministry with me. He tells me that the lady that sponsors the radio show has decided to sponsor two! "Now we have two radio stations!" He tells me. "One in the morning and one at night." "We have two radio stations 5:00 AM and 10:00PM" That's good I say; as I am recalling myself saying; "I am a night person." (Be careful what you ask for).

So I am always up at that hour and even later, so it is just a matter of rescheduling my nightly activities. So this is one of the ways He wants us to "Go into the world and preach the good news!" With the roads and transportation being such a problem here, it seems the radio waves will allow us to reach more people with less effort. The new radio station is more powerful and even goes beyond the Ugandan borders. We now are only faced with the local transportation, to and from the radio station and being at night it does create a new challenge, but I am guessing the Lord has an idea about that too!

Please pray for transportation, and we will see how He Will Provide.

We have another story about the radio having to do with our kids, we should have that story up tomorrow.

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You Reap What You Sow

This is Rock and John in February, we look forward to posting some before and after pictures.

We have seen the results of our children eating a nutritiously balanced diet along with drinking water! Our kids are growing, really growing. Mostly the boys, they are ranging in ages ten to twenty and all of them are growing at once. It is not the usual growth spurts that we are accustomed to. It seems like they were dormant and then swoosh! Like water on a drooping plant.

So, thank you sponsors and friends, you are making a difference in these kids lives! These kids are the fruits of your labor! Most people here in Uganda are of slight built and on the shorter side. But it looks like people can see the difference of the "Door of Hope Kids." Academically we all know about proper nutrition but to see it in action is really quite amazing, Praise the Lord!

We also noticed this with two of our grandchildren that my daughter Jenny and her husband Todd adopted last year from here in Uganda. Jenny would see the results almost on a daily basis and some of it was just teaching them how to drink enough water. Of course good clean water is somewhat of a precious commodity. At first you could barely get a child to drink any water, and now they want to drink it all of the time.

Outwardly we can see their bodies, but I am also looking forward to seeing the effects it has on their brains, we should know by the end of this school term.

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Everybody Needs Milk

Meet Dave! mmm the one with the beard... mmm the one wearing blue...mmm the one from the UK....mmm the taller one!

David tells us how to feed the dairy goats for a well balanced diet.

All eighteen of us went in one vehicle, African Style!

David and Jackie Dowdy have been here in Masaka for over fifteen years working in their ministry. When I think of how a goat would tie in with ministry work I could only think of Bible stories because they are mentioned their many times along with sheep and many others.

Over the years JOY Youth Training and Goat Breeding Center has developed a program to help the future of Uganda. With approximately 200 goats on this farm you will find a mixture of exotic goats for the purpose of producing good dairy goats. The goats are there for training the youth on the proper care and upkeep to learn how to use them in this country. This program has youth working on a scholarship type of program where they are earning income for further education.

On Wednesday we took all of the children for a field trip to the goat farm and David gave us a wonderful tour and quite an education about the role of dairy goats in Uganda. We learned several things, one of which is that goats eat far less than cows and they can be a great addition to a family to provide milk and at the same time to be affordable to keep. The variety that they are breeding can yield enough milk for a family to receive good nourishment and they can be fed from the family's own production of certain trees and plants. David and Jackie work with local churches in assisting families by education and providing dairy goats.

It is so good to see and visit with other ministries to see how God is working in all of us!

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Matthew 25:35-36

Robert With His Mom

File photo 4/22/09

Robert testified tonight that his mother was near death when she entered the clinic because of dehydration and a kidney infection along with peptic ulcers. After two days of an IV and a few injections she was released from the clinic; Praise God! She has gone to a church for prayers for further healing. She still has a journey ahead of her, along with the care of her many children, for her to return to her village, but I am happy that we could be there along the way. Robert thanked God for his mother's health.

My testimony is that I followed the bible to make the decision to render aid to "Momma Robert," Praise The Lord.

I thank God for the encouraging words I received, after our previous story.

The Writing Is On The Wall

After church today as all of our children gathered around us I realized how big our family has grown. We basically still have our regular bunch of fifteen but we are "taking care" of a few others as well. A "few others" amounts to six more mouths to feed.


We have two extra boys during the holiday break between terms. These guys, whom we have known for a couple of years, go to a boarding high school, they are completing their final year, and this is their home when they are out of school because we are their only family.

We have three others right now because of one of our boy's family. His mom is a widow and has eight children, she lives quite a distance from here and while visiting on her children which two were boarding in another facility, she had to remove them from their situation which wasn't very good. Now the mother has come down with something and is very sick. She was staying in a church basement in an overcrowded situation with no food. So we are taking care of her two other children while she gets treatment. We took her to the clinic we use, she is at the clinic with an IV as she was dehydrated and has a kidney infection, and seemingly a couple of other problems, she may be there for a couple of days. We will cover the cost of her medical treatment as she has no money. We have a couple of questions; when will she be able to travel home, and when she is well enough, how will she have money for transportation back to her village which is quite a distance.


We have another sweet little ten year old girl during the school break, she does not have any family to go to. She has two step sisters and a step brother here at the Door Of Hope, so it is a good reunion for them.

So much of the time when I have to make decisions on problems I go to the Bible and usually I will find a good answer or solution. Robyn and I were sitting at my desk and as I pointed to my Bible, I said I would look it up for the answer on what and how we should help all of these people, and then I said, "Why look it up?" "I know exactly where to read the scripture that tells me exactly what I need to do and how we should take care of these people." Matthew 25:31-46 I even considered that all of these people were not my problem, but I quickly reminded myself about the good Samaritan, and how can we pass anyone by. Sometimes this isn't easy!


Then I recall the scripture our organization was founded on; Genesis 22:14 The Lord Will Provide! And one of my favorites is James 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


Please pray for us!

My Broken Arm Is Better Than Yours!

Now it is Matty's turn to have a broken arm! If you remember, Rock broke his in April when he fell from the guava tree. Matty fell on his arm during a football / soccer game and it chipped his elbo in two places. Thank God we have a good Orthopedic doctor in town. On Wednesday after the swelling goes down, he will get his permenant cast.

Great Happy Birthday Pictures!

Make A Wish!

Happy Birthday Robyn, Rob and David