"BELIEVING HE WILL PROVIDE"

Christmas Challenge 2011

2011-11-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

The Love in Action Christmas Challenge has started, this year we would like to buy every child we are helping a T Shirt. The cost is £10 for 3 - How many will you give! Visit www.loveuganda.com to place your order. Thank you

We are joining Love in Action with this Christmas Challenge! $16.00 USD Will make three shirts for our kids. You can donate through us at
http://www.hewillprovide.org/giving/financial_donation.php
or at www.loveuganda.com

We Are Called to Have Faith

2011-08-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

On a recent Sunday morning, Jim was given the opportunity to share his and Robyn's testimony of faith, with the congregation of Harrison Community Baptist Church in Idaho. Listen how God changed their lives prior to going to the mission field in Uganda.
Please click on the following link: http://harrisonbaptist.org/sermons/31Jul2011.mp3

See How God Is Working!

2011-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Here is an update from Love In Action, our project partner in Uganda!

Hi everyone.

It has been a while since I visited the school at Kasaka and I was amazed. “What is that?” “That is the canteen” – I opened the door to find a builder hanging up his trousers (he had another pair on). The canteen will be a small shop where children (and possibly others) will be able to buy small snacks for lunch, (eg small bag of peanuts, or a local bun made by an enterprising parent, or a piece of sugar cane perhaps) and where the teachers will be able to buy credit for their phones etc.

I saw the bore hole, complete with pump, and a good fence around it. I had a go at pumping, and was surprised by how much water came out with each fairly hefty pump.

Then I wandered around to the clinic – well, not wandered exactly, more like scrambled on dusty mounds of earth where giant tree roots and scrub were in the process of being dug out in readiness for future construction. This building, which Alan told me was at wall plate level last week, had a tin roof on it. It is brilliant, and beyond our dreams at this stage. This clinic is being funded by a group of medical students from Birmingham University who arrive here in 1 week’s time. They will also be funding the nurse to work there for 2 years.

I went into the shell that will house a nurse, and then clambered over bricks and assorted buildingy stuff into the waiting area which separates the accommodation from the clinic. The next room will be divided into two by plywood, and will be the examination room, and the treatment room. All as prescribed by the government regulations here.

Of course a well is no good without drinkers, and the clinic will need a nurse and patients. I believe there will be no shortage of patients at all, and we will start advertising for the nurse very soon.

In a similar vein, the school is just a building without staff and pupils, and after wandering round the site we went into some classrooms. All seems so ordered now, and if the standard is maintained, we should soon have an excellent reputation. Of course, I can always see room for improvement, and no laurels are being rested upon.

The teaching style is teacher/blackboard/questions and a forest of arms waving around. I suddenly had a vision of the donkey in Shrek shouting “Pick me, Oh pick me”. I wondered though about the row of boys who looked like they had no idea “How many sticks Cate picked”, and what was more they did not care!

The teacher had mentioned that she had just had the class up singing a song because they were in danger of falling asleep. I guess it had been a long maths lesson. My sympathy was with the boys in the 4^th row.

Reaching home I had a cup of tea, and thought through the morning. It wasn’t the buildings I remembered, or the maths lesson, or the one classroom that was filthy, it was one little girl.

We have a few children for whom we are fully responsible who live at the school during term time. We have a brilliant young lady looking after them, but a couple of children had been sneaked in without our knowledge, and Alan had sent them back home to live. I did a check on which bed belonged to which child, and came across a name I did not know. I asked to see the little girl. Meanwhile I phoned the office to check the story. Yes, we had given permission for her to stay, because she had received a cruel punishment at the hands of a relative for stealing.

The little one has a visible scar. As I sat with her I could see that that scar was pretty unimportant in the great scheme of things, but the one in her heart was dreadful. Her little face was so sad and her eyes were deep. Rovence translated as we talked, and as I prayed for her. I do not have a good memory, but if I could draw, I would be able to sketch her as she has captured my heart.

Over the next few weeks we have UK visitors who will visit the school, and do some fun things with the pupils. This is one child that I hope will catch more than a ball during games, or learn more than maths during a lesson. I hope that she learns that not all adults are cruel, and that love can conquer all things.

Having returned from Kasaka, I had asked our visitor to swing by the bakery to get some bread for lunch. As Alan drove them back they saw a teacher hitting children with a stick as they left the classroom in a school over the road. For several reasons it was not possible to physically intervene – not least because at that distance, it would not be possible to identify the teacher. This is an everyday occurrence here in Uganda, and when and where possible, we act – when our children are beaten in school, we complain and make a huge fuss. Beating children is against the law here, but continues none the less. It makes our blood boil, and we feel powerless on many occasions, such as this. Please pray that we would always have the wisdom and courage to know where and when to intervene. It is a hard mindset to change, because there are parents who endorse this harsh discipline. One teacher told us –“We have to beat – I have been to Liverpool and the teachers there wish they could beat children!” On another occasion Alan and Noah complained to a head-teacher “If you carry on like this, a child will die”. His answer was “If a child dies, it is between me and my God”.

This is one of our main motivations for building and running schools – to run establishments where children are safe from harm, and where teachers can teach children who can learn in an environment that is conducive to fear-free learning. We want to teach other ways of disciplining children – which in the end will lead to self-control.

Would this be Beryl if I didn’t moan? Three weeks now without water. Country wide 24yr power cuts mean that there is no water in our town. Little water is being processed, because power is off, and because of where we live – up a hill – above the level of the town tank , we are very very low in the pecking order. Until today, judicious use of the water we had, and large rain water tanks, and a delivery by water tanker, means that we have eked it out. Now though, the last drop has gone, and it is THE LATRINE, and baby wipes for washing, until the next tanker load arrives.

Not being able to bathe or wash up may be many a teenager’s dream, but after a day the novelty wears both off and me down. How do you even prepare food without a tap? On the plus side we will all smell like a baby’s bottom – (the fresh and clean ones until the baby wipes run out!). We cannot wash our floors, our feet or our clothes. Lively debates are around the best way to reuse underwear, and our lovely visitors think it is all great fun. I will reserve my judgment in case my awaited tanker does not come.

My lovely father used to give us rainwater from our underground tank each Friday with which to wash our hair. I felt like a princess. Yesterday Alan bought a large pump to transfer the remaining water from the rainwater tank up to the main tank so that we could shower and flush the loo. It was quite a performance to prime the pump, and someone had to climb the water tower, and several somebodies had to hold up the pipe. In all the melee, and calling for more jerrycans to fill the bucket that the pump was sucking water from, it was noticed that one lad was filling the jerrycan to feed the pump with water from the tank that we were trying to fill! Sometimes I feel like a princess with my soft rainwater shower – and some times I feel like I am starring in a Carry On film (minus the naughty bits). TV? Don’t miss it much. We have it all here – comedy, culture, and more than a little drama.

Please do not sympathise or spend much time worrying – we can drive the 20 mins to the school to collect water from the borehole if we need to – doesn’t that bring me back to where I started? Ever decreasing circles!

Have a good weekend,

Beryl (& Alan) Went

Love in Action

Masaka

Uganda

www.loveinaction-int.com

Weebale Nnyo

2011-06-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

(Thank you very much)

Dear Sponsors and Friends,

We are so thankful to you for your faithful support to make all of our work in Uganda possible! Over the past few years, because of your support, we have provided a home for many children, but besides shelter, we have provided love, food, education and most importantly, their spiritual needs. Our goal has been to teach Christianity and for the children to discover a personal relationship with Jesus. In addition to the care of our children, we have been able to give medical aid to save lives, bring food to some starving drought stricken villagers and help spread the Gospel to everyone through evangelism, in person and over the radio. We really want you to know that we could not do this work without you; therefore, this is your story:

This is Moses. Life on the streets is tough; we had to teach the children how to play!

He carved this truck from a banana tree.

In 2008, you took in a ten-year-old Muslim street- boy, who spoke no English. He eventually accepted Jesus and he changed his name to Moses, and after about another year he learned English and became an excellent student in school. Every Sunday he would sit next to me in church and when he knew that I would soon be leaving to come home, he asked me if I would baptize him before I left, and indeed, before I left we celebrated his 13^th birthday and his baptism. Just this week we were informed, with the assistance of our social worker from Love In Action, that we found his little sister. He has missed her because he has not seen her since he went on the streets and he has really been burdened with worry about her.

To be continued…

We give God all the glory for this and we all should be thankful to Him for allowing us to play a part in any of this. These are real lives being changed through the grace of God! We really want you to know how important you are to us to help make all of this happen, because the works of this ministry have been very fruitful, praise the Lord!

As you recall, after a very long time in Uganda, of literally nonstop work, Robyn and I are on furlough in Idaho. This lengthy journey was not by design, but out of necessity and dedication to the job that just needed to be completed. You probably have heard the acronym TIA (This Is Africa), what it is referring to is true, nothing is easy in Africa and in fact, some things that are simple back home become very difficult over there. One of the difficulties in working the mission field is a lack of long-term help from dedicated people, but God has His plans to take care of all our needs. Unfortunately, in 2009, thieves stole our money that we had set aside for our trip home, so it was a test of faith to see how our Lord would take care of us. When the Lord decided it was time for a break, He provided the means to make it happen, and we offer a special thank you to those who provided the airfare for both of us to return home. When God has blessed a plan, it is destined to be successful, and no man can destroy it. This time at home has given us a much-needed rest, and has allowed us time to rejuvenate physically, mentally and spiritually. We feel especially blessed, because God provided a home for us right next door to our daughter Jenny and our son-in-law Todd, and five of our grandchildren, on Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho! We serve an amazing God!

Proverbs 16: 9 In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Remember when we shared the story of our friends, Alan & Beryl Went of “Love In Action,” a Ministry from the

? They came to us and offered to take in our children so we could return to the US and leave with the confidence that our children would be properly cared for during our absence from Uganda. We continue to send funds every month from our sponsorship program to support our kids. This has become a wonderful relationship with our ministries, and our children have been doing really well. With this, we see how our Lord has established our steps.

After much thought and prayers and through the grace of God, we decided that if we combine our Ugandan resources, facilities, and work forces, it would provide the best situation, especially having more people to share the workload. Love in Action is blessed with capable leaders and a staff; including social workers, who can take care of business and uphold their standards even during the absence of Alan and Beryl while they take periodic breaks. Most importantly, we are committed to the same goal: To serve our Lord. Love In Action arranged to purchase property, with buildings, for our new boy’s home as they had about 60% of the needed funds donated to them for this project. We were able to contribute $1200.00 towards the purchase of the new boy’s home. This amount is what we have been able to set aside from various donations other than our regular sponsorship funds we receive. We need about $1500.00 more to complete this acquisition. This is really a great situation as there will now be a separate boy’s (Hallelujah House) and girl’s (Hosanna House) compound, and we will save on monthly rental costs. With these combined facilities, we will be able to take care of more children with more efficiency and ultimately do a better job. We have always strived to be good stewards of God’s money, and we ask for His guidance in all that we do.

This is the new boy’s home! The locations of the boy and girl’s compounds are now within a 15-minute walking distance to the main facility where meals and fellowship take place.

Optimistically, Robyn and I are planning to return to Uganda for about five months, sometime around the fall of this year and returning home in the spring of 2012. This would also place us in a better climate than what we would typically expect in an Idaho winter. One of the things we will be evaluating this year is the feasibility of hosting short- term mission trips in the future, so please pray about this. This year’s trip greatly depends on the availability of funds, as we have always paid for our travel expenses with our (now depleted) personal finances. We have decided it is time to let our needs be known, and we want to give the opportunity to everyone to help make our work possible. Airline fare for two round trip tickets is about $3500.00, which is one of our larger expenses, but there are several other expenses as well. For your convenience, an automatic monthly payment ($10, $25 or more) for our support can easily be set up. If it is the desire of your heart, you may contribute towards our support & mission trips with just a few clicks on our web site with the notation; “Jim & Robyn’s missionary account.” Missionary Donation

Since our beginning, from the founding of this ministry and the opening of the Door of Hope to help children and teens in Uganda, we have trusted in the Lord to take care of every detail... and He has. For sure, the result has not always been what we expected, but we have the assurance that our loving God has our plans for this life and our eternal salvation as His glorious purpose for each of us.

May God Bless You Abundantly,

Jim & Robyn Fruehan

PS: Keep up-to-date at our blog site: http://www.hewillprovide.blogspot.com

Giving Our Heart To Jesus

2011-02-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

What a happy Valentines day!

We were asked to share a story of our mission experiences in Uganda with our church teen group. We just don't know how the Lord is going to do His work, we think it is only the task at hand that is so significant in His eyes, but when you do God's work He will surely yield all of the flavor for His Glory.

Four teens accepted Jesus Christ as their savior on February 14, 2011 (Valentines Day)

This was the Lord's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:23-24

Praise the Lord!

PLEASE JOIN US FOR WEEKLY PRAYER

2010-12-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

While we are enjoying our time back in the USA, we have resumed our weekly prayer service that began more than five years ago during the beginning of this ministry. When God blessed us with this home, we immediately knew we would set this back in motion.

Please join us for fellowship in prayer every Thursday evening at 7:00 PM

401 Lake Front Drive

Harrison, Idaho

Bring a friend!

If you would like to have a prayer night in your community, we would be happy to guide you into hosting an evening with the Lord for your friends too! Just let us know and we will share how God's grace will make it happen. Just don't wait until you have time!

Please forward this to a friend!

1 Peter 3:12

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

Today, in the USA, we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. It is an especially wonderful time for families to come together to celebrate a great feast and to give thanks for their blessings.

We would like to celebrate today by praising our almighty God and thank Him for so many blessings because He has truly provided for all of us. As missionaries, we have learned to trust in Him for all of our provisions as we are committed to serve Him. God always amazes us with His plan for our lives and how He orchestrates everything to work together for His good and in His time. We have learned to honor "His time", but sometimes it takes a lot of faith and patience.

Our Testimony Of How God Has Provided For Us

In January, God provided the airfare for Robyn and then again for Jim in July, for them to go on furlough in the US. It was a much needed break because 18 months is a long stretch without a day off with the help of only one part time staff member. In Uganda, nothing comes easy and a seemingly simple task back home can become a difficult challenge there. To make all of this possible, God provided a partnership with Love In Action, to care for our children during our break. This has been a wonderful transition and truly blessed by our Lord as our children are doing fine! This has been a great relationship for all of us because Love In Action has been able to provide additional support to our children, like social workers and other staff. We have continued to transfer the sponsorship funds to cover all the costs of our kids for education, food, shelter and clothes, and we thank and pray for our faithful sponsors who help to provide for these children.

We thank God for this time with our family and to check up on our health and to rest. While in the USA we stayed with our daughter Jenny and her family since we had no permanent home other than in Uganda. Todd, Jenny's husband, was offered a pastor-ship at a church in the neighboring state of Idaho. We were then called into action to help prepare their house to be sold, this worked out pretty well since Jim's background includes owning a construction company specializing in home improvements. The Lord had the house sold in record time as we have seen Him do before with our own house just three years earlier. When God calls you, He will take care of everything, including all the necessary details. In faith, our plan was to stay in the home until the close of escrow and then go wherever God sent us. Just a week before the close of escrow, the new owners of the house offered for us to stay with them for a while until we had a place to go, of course we thought; Wow! It is just amazing how God works! We have found that many times the Lord will give more than one solution to a problem or a need, just to remind us how magnificent he really is. A few days later we were at the new location of our daughter's house in Idaho after helping them move. On the day we were to return to Montana, we found out the house next door had become vacant. We were able to meet with the landlord and she agreed to an extremely low amount for rent, (what we could afford) with no deposit or up front money, she simply said; "we need you here"! A truck and trailer were provided for us to move our possessions to our new home. We have been blessed with a little home overlooking beautiful Lake Couer d' Alene, which is next door to our family with five of our grandchildren.

In his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Late one night, a visit to the emergency room became necessary because of a case of pneumonia. The bill for the ER services was $600.00, and we don't have health insurance. When we went to make arrangements to pay the bill, the clerk said you have no balance. The hospital bill was "mysteriously" paid!

On a follow-up visit with doctors, many other needed tests were performed for various medical conditions, and all of the medical fees and several months of the very expensive medications were covered under a grant program. Since getting settled, the Lord has provided us with food and other needs through many people in this wonderful community.

...The Lord will provide... Genesis 22;14

During this time in the US, besides resting, visiting and praying we have been working on our future plans in Uganda. We were blessed again recently when we met with a director of Love in Action to discuss our future in Uganda regarding the continuing care of our children along with some other exciting possibilities.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Yes, this is a time of Thanksgiving!

"Baptize Them In The Name Of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit"

2010-07-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

On a recent Sunday we had another exciting event at the Door Of Hope! We decided to have our weekly fellowship at the evening service at church, because one of our boys was ready to publicly proclaim his Christianity, by being baptized! Our entire family was there along with the other church members, to witness this wonderful event.

About two years ago, Moses accepted Jesus Christ as His savior and that is when he dropped his given Muslim name for his chosen Christian name. It is encouraging to all of us as we witness our children take new steps in their walk with God. We praise God and give him thanks for all of these opportunities as we watch our children grow in their faith and love of the Lord!

It truly is exciting to witness these milestones!

This Is How We Celebrate Birthdays At The Door Of Hope!

2010-07-16T04:03:00.003-07:00

Happy 13th Birthday Moses!

One thing Robyn has taught us at the Door Of Hope is how to celebrate birthdays. In fact, anyone who personally knows Robyn will attest to this. She makes it a special time to celebrate your life and to thank God for your existence. It is a special day that begins when you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at the end of the day.

Here in Africa so many of the children have no idea when their birthday is, let alone celebrating it. Over the past year and a half we have introduced birthday parties and assigned birth dates to ones who didn't have one. It has become a very popular event here. The thing that is really exciting about our birthdays is that it is not focused on presents. It is focused on everyone celebrating and having fun and of course birthday cake too!!

Why Was This Birthday An Extra Special Event?

Because we introduced Birthdays, "Door of Hope Style," to Love In Action! They will be hosting the parties while we are out of the country and they joyfully welcomed our birthday party events! The kids run the whole show, from decorating to games and skits. It really teaches them a lot about loving their neighbor!

This was a special day for Moses as he turned 13! This is truly a time to thank God for all His blessings, because just a little over two years ago, Moses was on the streets without a home. The Lord has blessed him and us!

Stay tuned for later this week to see what else is in store for this young man!

Robyn Is So Happy, She is Doing Handstands!

2010-07-14T13:20:00.001-07:00

Well, almost handstands!

File photo- the day we received the ministry-cycle

Thank you for the donations to get Jim home! We appreciate it so much. So far we have collected $1140.00. We praise God and give thanks for all His blessings. It is so wonderful to have friends who are able to help make this happen, it is very encouraging to all missionaries around the world!

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick , raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

11 Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. Matthew 10: 7-11

The fees and paperwork for the Work Permit Visa have been submitted, so we are hoping to be able to make airline reservations soon!

We Believe He Will Provide!

We Are OK, Praise The Lord

2010-07-12T03:53:00.000-07:00

The US Embassy has advised us to contact our friends and families to tell them that we are OK!

"U.S citizens in Uganda not directly affected by today's events are strongly encouraged to contact friends and family outside of Uganda to notify them of their well-being."

We are a couple of hours away from the capital where the bombings took place. We know from past experiences to be extra careful and watch for local activities that are spurred on from events such as these. So saying a few extra prayers for us is always helpful, they won't go to waste!

Here is one of the full communications our Embassy has sent us:

On 11 July 2010 at approximately 2310 local time, a bomb exploded at The Ethiopian Village restaurant, which was filled with spectators watching the World Cup finals match. Approximately 10 minutes later, a second explosion occurred at the Rugby Club, also crowded with customers watching the soccer match. Initial reports indicate that at least 13 people were killed at the Ethiopian restaurant. At least 40 were reported by the police as killed at the rugby club site. Many others were reported injured at both locations. At least one American was reported killed in the blasts.

U.S citizens in Uganda not directly affected by today's events are strongly encouraged to contact friends and family outside of Uganda to notify them of their well-being.

Bombs are popular for criminals and terrorists because they are easy to conceal or place. A device does not have to be complex to be effective, and even a small size bomb can cause great damage.

It is critical to remember that a bomb can look like anything. It is limited only by the bomber's imagination. Practice good situational awareness by being aware of suspicious objects or individuals around you and remember the "3-R Rule" to responding to a suspicious device:

--Recognize
--Run Away
--Report

The following are other protective measures in response to a suspicious device:

--Do not attempt to move or investigate anything in the vicinity of the device
--Move people away from the immediate area
--Do not move the object
--If you do hear an explosion:
--Move away from windows
--Evacuate to a safe area
--Assist the injured
--Be aware of the potential for secondary devices or explosions

U.S citizens are reminded to maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.

The Great Preacher Has Already Come!

2010-07-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Our radio broadcast this evening focused on one of our familiar verses. One of my favorite scriptures can be found in several books but I usually go to Matthew 28: 16-20. It gives us specific instructions: All authority in heaven has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

The Great Commission of the Old Testament!

What I find very interesting is that this was not the beginning and end of that message. As we dig deeper we find that we have been directed to do this from the beginning. Yes, in the Book of Genesis we find in chapter 12: 1-3 The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

We find in Isaiah 49: 6 “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.

So where does that leave us? Surely, this is a big responsibility that we have been given! How are we all supposed to do this? We can't all leave our country, can we? We can get out of our comfort zone. We can get out of our favorite chair. We can go outside and down the street to a neighbor and share the Word of God.

But we might say; "We are not all great preachers!" My answer is the great preacher has already come, we are here to reflect the light of Jesus. Christ is the light of the world! Remember if we are reflecting the light of Jesus, we don’t need to be a "great preacher."

You might ask; "How can I get enough strength and confidence to do this?" The answer will be found here in Acts: 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Let us all pray that the Lord continues to have you and I work for His purpose, honor, and glory and that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and give us the power!

Working Together For A Common Purpose

2010-06-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight as I was driving a truckload of kids, African style, I thought how amazing God really is.
We had about 18 of us loaded for the journey! Here this is a pretty normal way to transport from one point to another. They have school trucks here instead of school buses, if that gives you any indication of our methods of transportation, in fact I have been in the bed of a pickup truck several time. Actually the journey over our bumpy roads keeps you in about second gear at tops for most of the short trip to the homes.

We had fellowship tonight at Love In Action's compound. This is a Sunday event that we participate in, first we have supper and then the fellowship. We have drums and worship music singing in Lugandan and English, pretty awesome! We have some talented children sing, drumming, and dancing all to the Lord! We have a small sermon on the Word, which tonight was given by Peter our resident advisor for the boys. What is really cool is this; Love in Actions compound is just up the road from Equator Radio, where Jennifer and I share the Word on Saturday and Sunday evenings. So After the fellowship we walk or get a lift to the radio station and do our half hour show and then we meet back with the others and we journey home at about 10:00 PM.

So why was I thinking; "God is so amazing" on the way home tonight? Well, Alan from Love In Action is on his way to the UK and Beryl was taking him to the airport. So neither one of them was here to do the regular transporting of the kids home after the service. And I don't have a truck, our ministry fleet is a motorcycle. I am driving the Eagles Wings Truck, because one of their girls stays with the Love In Action girls (Hosanna House), as they are located about two blocks from Eagles Wings. Eagles Wings is our very close neighbor, just about the distance of a city block from our compound.

So why I think God is so amazing is because He has all of us working together for a common cause, His Cause! We all recognize it is God's ministries that He has appointed us to run. We all have our specialty services and projects we each offer, but we all have Jesus Christ as our common focus. So as I was driving I was thinking; He Will Provide Ministries (USA) is driving the Eagles Wings (Canada) truck transporting kids from the three ministries who were fellowshipping at the Love In Action (UK) compound. In the "real world" we would be competitors! Could you imagine two companies sharing their trucks or facilities?

Thank you Jesus, we are truly blessed doing your work and seeing how you provide for our every need!

Ahhh! At last, My Time Has Come!!

2010-06-18T14:07:00.001-07:00

Even the Lord took a day off !
Genesis 2:2

So yes my time has come, but I need some help!

I have been prayed for, encouraged, and even justified that I am deserving of some help. This is my first public appeal for finances for myself! Honestly it is easier to ask for donations for our children. I love our kids and feel very strongly about them and will go to any length to take care of them. Quite frankly that is one reason I do have to ask for help. We are also a donor to this ministry, like many of you, and actually we have nothing left for ourselves. We couldn't let the kids go hungry, a place to sleep, school fees, or clothes so we just did what we had to do. I am telling you when we are on the front lines we are called to action! Of course it didn't help that last year we were robbed of money we were saving towards airfare.

So now the time has also come for us to make an appeal! Will you please help us out. We have targeted needing about $1700.00 between my airline ticket and immigration papers. The immigration papers include my two year Work Permit that has been approved, but not paid for yet, it will allow me to get back in the country upon my return . We have installed a donation button right here for your convenience. Please make a notation that says "LTM Jim Fruehan".

Send A Missionary Home!

Believing He Will Provide,

Jim

He Said "I Will Take Care Of Everything"

2010-06-11T14:55:00.001-07:00

When we patiently wait for God's answers

they will eventually come!

Our first night at the Door of Hope. (January 2009)

God sets the lonely in families Psalm 68:6

We never knew the length of time God wanted us in Africa, so a lot of things in our lives have been up in the air. Our plan has been to be obedient to His calling. As a matter of fact we both have been spread a little thin, especially lately with Robyn on one end of the world and me on the other. Basically we manage two ministries to make all this happen, Jireh Ministries Foundation in the USA (the support) and He Will Provide Ministries here in Uganda (the Project). Robyn has been in America since the end of January and she really has needed me to assist with a few things back home, as many of you know our story, we still have vehicles to sell and belongings that are in storage. We are eager to reunite, especially since this is the longest that Robyn and I have been apart in our 34 years of marriage, and it is time for me to see our "other family" including our six grandchildren!

Since this ministry involves the lives of children it is a non stop operation, in taking care of all of their needs, clothing, food, medical, school, along with their spiritual welfare. The children have not been without at least one of us since we began this home in January 2009, and that is a long stretch without a day off. Through God's infinite wisdom and mercy, He called upon some friends to offer to help care for our children so we could have a break! Praise God! Yes they offered! They listened to God! I don't know for how long and I don't have a flight scheduled or the money for the fare, but for now I will leave that in God's hands too. I hear him saying; "I Will Take Care Of Everything!"

Robyn Fruehan and Beryl Went (pictured with Hadra)
For an afternoon of fellowship in 2009

After their offer to assist us, we have made arrangements with Alan and Beryl Went of "Love In Action" to care for and watch over our children in our absence. Love in Action is a UK charity and a Ugandan NGO who are blessed with a large enough staff to perform their good works, as they have been doing for quite a few years. Our children have known and fellowshipped with Love In Action since our beginning, so they are not strangers. They will continue with basically the same love and care they are accustomed to and we are assured they will be provided with the proper care! Of course our children will continue to be financially supported through our sponsorship program.

This actually is a good step forward in our growth, as most Directors including the Went's are able to leave their project for holiday breaks throughout the year. Because we are still small in number without a staff we have not had this opportunity until now, but our Lord God has Provided for us! The Lord has proven that He does not have boundaries and is able to move mountains in order for His will to be done!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers so we receive the necessary funding to make this complete.

Please tell us how God is working in your life!

Friends, Fellowship, and Jesus!

2010-06-05T15:45:00.002-07:00

Thank You Jesus!

We Praise You For Providing For Us!

We always need to see the Lord working in everything we do. The little things are really important because so many times it is all the little things summed up together that makes the big picture! The Lord has provided friends for us to lean on during times of need, whether it be spiritual fellowship or friends to share a meal with. We have become friends with other people here that have a ministry similar to ours. This has become very important to us lately because I am doing this alone as Robyn has been in the states since February.

On one of our visits to the "English Garden" in 2009, under a magnificent Mango Tree!

We recently began a weekly fellowship for the kids with our friends Alan and Beryl Went at Love In Action, who are from the UK. If you have ever been here to Uganda you will know them as Masaka Internet Cafe, it is one of the branches of their ministry. You may remember the English gardens we visited a while back and that is where our group photo / Christmas card was snapped. So on Sunday evenings we have dinner and fellowship. It makes a nice size group of about 30 and the kids play the drums and sing worship songs and then we have a bible study! This has been a real gift to me to have some help with our kids.

I have said it before, but it is amazing seeing the Lord work right before our eyes. I just shared with you recently of some of our needs that are just not covered by sponsorship money. In fact it takes a few sponsors to take care of just one child. By the time we provide shelter, clothes, food, education, healthcare, etc., well it all adds up past the pledged amounts! So each month we wait and see how the Lord is "going to do it" this time. To me it is a regular miracle because somehow the Lord puts it on someone's heart to take care of whatever need the Lord sees fit! Many times it is just the right dollar amount needed to purchase some much needed supplies, pay for school fees, purchase school uniforms, or even in Robyn's case when someone donated specifically for her airline ticket to get home for a much needed rest!

So it tells us that the Lord knows our needs
&

we should be patient and have faith in Him!

I know when we are ready to announce our new direction for growth, it will be at that time that the Lord will begin funding for that project. I also have faith that the Lord will provide a day off soon so I can kick back and rest a bit, after 16 months I think I am overdue! But God knows our needs!

Is There A Reptile in The House?

2010-05-21T15:56:00.002-07:00

YES!

We do have reptiles in our house. We mostly have geckos that we consider friends because they eat bugs. In climates like this bugs thrive and geckos thrive too. Recently we had some new visitors that arrived with the help of some of our boys. They call them our pets!

File Photo

These are Chameleons that are pretty abundant around here. The first one was Shane, and then came the others; Sebastian the the small green one, Sidney the big brown one, Saith the small brown one, and Sean the big green one. These guys are pretty amazing to watch and are very friendly and love to be held. The geckos are a quite skittish and would rather be left alone. The geckos also can climb walls and ceilings and run fast.

When they were first introduced we found most of the locals seem to be afraid of them. But some have accepted them as there friends, as it seems with our family.

I am glad nobody seems to love snakes around here! There is the black mamba which is a venomous snake which can be found in the bush areas, but thank God not in our house!

Back To School Sale

2010-05-19T05:10:00.003-07:00

It is time for the kids to return to school for Term II! They have enjoyed a holiday for about three weeks. This second term will end in mid August. Thank God that once again we were able to pay most of the school fees, we just have one child's fees yet to be covered. We want to thank all of you for supporting us to make this all happen. We are still lacking in a few areas and we have come up with a new page that is called Our Current Needs, you can see the tab on top of this page just under the header.

While you are at it you may take a look at these other new tabs as well. We have added tabs for Prayer Requests, Be a Missionary, Become a Sponsors, Meet The Authors, and Visit Our Web Site. Our hope is with this new feature that more people will connect and participate with us!

If you notice, the Prayer Requests is specifically for you to tell us where you need prayers. Our children have learned to pray for others around the world. This way they are loving their neighbor as themselves and learning not to focus on their own problems. They see and understand how they can make a difference in other people's lives by the power of prayer. You may also consider attaching a photo, the kids love seeing pictures.

So what is the BACK TO SCHOOL SALE?
We would like to introduce you to our sponsorship program if you are not presently involved in it. When you become a sponsor of the Door of Hope Family you will be known as an Auntie or Uncle to the children. We encourage you to exchange letters and pictures with any or all of the children. It is the combined effort of several people that makes this project work.

Our successes can be seen when we look at just one child's life.

Johnny
Johnny was on the street in 2008 when he was found by a missionary team. He is 11 years old and had never been to school. He was abused by his step mother which was ignored by his father, which is a common problem here. We first met him in 2008 while he was in a temporary home and we brought him here in January of '09 to join us at the Door of Hope. He did not speak English and school was very difficult at first. He is now top in his class and we can hold a conversation in English. He loves to fix things like a handy man, he also loves farming, and is a really great tree climber! He is also blessed with a wonderful sense of humor!
Praise God!

We have three levels of sponsorship.

$14.00 per month for Junior Sponsor

$28.00 per month for Sponsorship

$60.00 per month for Level II Sponsorship

Read Barbra's Thank You Letter to our Sponsors

Grasshoppers A La Carte

2010-05-10T07:00:00.003-07:00

The grasshoppers are swarming in clouds of smoke in the bright lights over the barrels to catch them. At night, as you look in the distance at the bright lights, you will see thousands of them. During the rainy season, which we are in right now, they are in abundance and these people are ready for them too. They are a true delicacy and the locals love them. Robyn and I both had one in 2008 and that satisfied the curiosity for us!

The grasshoppers are a boost to the economy as well by supplying food to the people and the birds along with other animals. As they are rich in protein, they may very well be a good supplement to their diets. During the night the collection stations are numerous and during the day you will see the vendors walking the streets with the prepared treats in clear plastic containers with a measuring scoop inside. The preparation is taking off the wings and legs and frying the bodies. For eating, it is just popping them in your mouth.

Last year one of our boys ate a few too many. He woke up with a swollen face, itching all over and trouble swallowing. A quick dose of an antihistamine seemed to settle him down. I noticed he is a little more reserved about eating them this season. One theory is that since the grasshoppers eat vegetation, they become rich in pollen and it may be after eating the grasshopper we ingest a large dose of pollen thus an allergic reaction.

As I am writing this, one of our boys just got home with a pocket full of live grasshoppers that someone gave him , I think he stopped on the way home and picked them, which is another common way to collect them, just on a smaller scale. As he emptied his pockets, grasshoppers starting spilling out and jumping around the kitchen. He willingly shared them with the other boys and said; "I don't eat these anymore, you take them." They quickly captured all of the grasshoppers and began the process of winging and legging them so they could prepare another batch.

I Just wanted to share with you another way of enjoying God's creation and giving thanks for all that He gives us.

Confession or Testimony?

2010-05-03T15:43:00.001-07:00

Recently, I sat here staring at 6,000 schillings the equivalent to about $3.00 USD, yes three dollars! I said OK Lord, this is your ministry, so it is your move. What else do you want me to do? I told God that I will have faith and not worry about it. Now, I know our commitments and what it takes to run this place, and it is pretty hard to just shut those things off like they don't exist. So I became more intrigued on how He was going to do it, because I did have Faith in Him. There were all these thoughts on how He has never left us without food, He has always come through. Over the past five years, since the beginning of this ministry, there would always be an unexpected donation from the least expected person to cover our needs.

This time I did have different thoughts go through my mind. Here I am, all the way on the other side of the world, alone (as Robyn is in the US right now), sitting here with these children that the Lord has entrusted to me with a meagerly $3.00. What kind of caretaker am I? I don't have big financial backers behind me. We have our few faithful sponsors that contribute each month to make this happen. Is He testing my faith again? OK, if He is then it means He has plans for us. Because as all this was taking place, the Lord was telling me to grow the ministry!

GROW THE MINISTRY? Yea right, take on more kids Lord? OK you want blind faith? Then you got it!! This was all your idea from the beginning and I am only following your command. He has taken over the keys now as I am writing and I don't know where we are going, as I am in the Spirit right now. What is He telling me? Where are we going? I should complete my testimony to you. As I was sitting there with the $3.00 I knew we were behind in payments at the school and we are preparing for the next term with a financial obligation that is compounded by what we were already in debt for. Robyn and I decided that we would not go further into debt and just trust God. Then an unexpected donation came in from a church, who we didn't even know, for $490.00. That totals nearly all of the school fees that we need right now to cover this past term and this new term. Within that few days other sponsor money had come through and we were able to once again meet our day to day obligations. But that was a major pivoting point for sure!

Do you know what that is like to see God working right before your eyes? As He comforts you and says "I have it all under control, trust me." I think; What does He have me here for? He can cover all the costs of His projects with one person or a thousand, I think it really depends on His plan, how He will include people, who's life does He want to touch. His miracles are always multifaceted and I don't think we could ever understand the full impact of one of those small things He does in our lives. How amazing it is to be a part of it all!

So as He tells me His plans of expansion to include more children, and evangelism, I still have to wonder how He is going to do it , not out of doubt, but out of amazement. The message I got from all of this is that He wants our faith first, the same message that He has had me preaching lately. He doesn't want the vision, or the huge task that needs to be done, because He can do that easy enough. But He wants our faith and He will manifest off of that. I often think of how Peter was to step out of the boat and walk on the water towards the Lord, and I realize that is some pretty heavy and awesome faith! Am I ready? Here I am Lord!

Now I am looking to where I am suppose to insert commas and do a few humanly things to make this legible.

I have been re-reading Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life, the same book that helped get us here in Uganda in the first place. In chapter ten he talks of totally surrendering our lives to God. He tells a few stories of how some well known people, especially in Christian circles, had surrendered their life to God. In Romans 6:13 it sums it up by saying we should surrender our whole selves to the service of God to be used for a righteous purpose! How awesome is that?

I surrender my life to you God, a slave to our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen

Achieving Milestones In Our Infancy

2010-04-30T17:26:00.001-07:00

In December we posted this entry about our NGO status:

December 2, 2009

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.

This Officially puts us on the map!

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

May 1, 2010

Now our work permit has been approved!

Another milestone!

Being a young organization, as we are in our 5th year, these are all the steps needed to do the job we are doing here. The NGO is a non government organization equivalent to a non profit organization in the states. The work permits are for the immigration department so we can work in an organization without renewing special visa passes every two months. They have issued a two year work permit to us. This will save us money in the long run because of the cost of special passes, and save so much inconvenience not having to deal with the capital city for all the immigration services.

This is all good but it doesn't come without a price tag. We are in need of some additional funding as this all adds up. The one work permit we have right now for Jim is $250.00 per year for two years and the processing fee for the work permit is $150.00 and the processing fee for the NGO is $200.00. This total comes to $850.00! This is kind of expensive just to be a volunteer (it is still called a work permit) to do God's work! But I guess it goes with the territory. We are really grateful, because once submitted both our NGO and Work Permit were approved relatively quickly as we have heard some stories of long delays.

If you are able to help out with these costs it will be greatly appreciated. We know the Lord will provide, we just don't know how He plans on doing it and who he is going to use. But we just want to give everyone the opportunity to participate. Please memo your donation: NGO These can be made on line or by check.

Regardless of how you can help, everyone please pray for us!

A special thanks goes to Richard at MAF, Mission Aviation Fellowship, who assisted us by the processing of this paper work for these two government agencies. May God bless them as they have been the missionary's missionary. This is an extra service they do besides their main ministry of flying missionaries and supplies into remote areas.

United We Serve The Lord Our God!

Amazing Maize

2010-04-30T16:08:00.001-07:00

How Sweet It Is!

Farm Project Update

Just a few months ago we shared with you about our co-op farm with God's Revival Church here in Uganda. This project which is funded by donors, enabled us to develop and plant four acres that were available to us to grow crops. Our maize is now about 5 feet / 3.5 meters tall! It seems we planted at the right time, just in time to take full advantage of the rainy season. The timing was not ours but the Lord's since we were dictated by the donations we received to fund this project.

I would love to show a picture but we don't have a working camera at the moment.

It is funny, in the village the people are amazed at our corn crop because many of theirs are just beginning to sprout. Some didn't plant because they were afraid the rain wouldn't come, others didn't plant right away because they doubted the rain at first and then planted late. We planted when we had the funds and on faith that the rain will come! Sounds like a bible story to me!

With the crop both ministries will use some of the corn flour or known locally as posho, that we will have milled. We are planning to sale some to the market so we can purchase other food, and prepare for next season. The donations made to us will be multiplied through this project!

We will keep you posted as we get closer to harvest time!

Rejoice In Our Suffering

2010-04-16T14:54:00.001-07:00

I prayed; "Please God Heal Me" as I was heaving my way through the night, I knew I had become really ill. My head had been aching non stop for hours like it was going to explode. My eyeballs felt so much pressure like they were going to pop out. I could barely crawl back to bed and wondered how soon I would have to get back up for more, because I couldn't move fast if I needed to get out of bed in a hurry. Everything hurt! I was just waiting to the point when I could at least drink some water and keep it down.

It seems I have malaria, and as I started taking the course of medications, my body was rejecting anything I was taking by mouth, and that meant no headache medication either. It seems I am now on the road to recovery, not 100% yet, but getting there, it will take a couple more days.

So what is so joyful about this? As I am alone here with my kids, I realized they are supposed to depend on me but I have nothing left to give. But when called to action they stepped up to the plate and kept checking to make sure I was still alive. Yea, I mean that literally, malaria is the number one cause of death in Uganda as well as in several other African countries. They have seen death occur far to often, so they know the possible consequences of an illness. Most everyone here has had malaria or have seen it, so they know all too well the effect it has on your body. So they made dinner and followed the schedule for the cleanup and chores. The evening prayers and worship were conducted as we have scheduled. They prepared the morning breakfast and locked the main house so they would be able to come in and get their morning breakfast without disturbing me.

All of this is something to rejoice to the Lord about. My little children, made up mostly of orphans and street kids, have learned what "Love thy neighbor as thyself is all about". I think they also know what having a family is truly about too! Praise God!
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No Joking Matter

2010-04-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

As Jennifer and I completed our Bible Study Radio Show on Sunday evening, she turned to me and said; "Jjaja, do you know who those people were?" She was referring to the ones that were entering the studio for their show as we were signing off and exiting. Because of the local language unless you have an interpreter as Jennifer, a lot can go by unnoticed. She said they are witch doctors, and they are selling their healing preparations. This is the reality of what we have here in Uganda.

I know back home in the states, when people hear of witch doctors they depict something from the movies, people with colorful headbands and shakers dancing around the fire and the impact is usually humorous to the observer. Jokes are often made about them and they are used in comedy routines as well. When you see first hand the impact they make on a society, it is not so funny anymore. It is very real and often people are cursed. So much of the time the fear of the curse is enough to bring people down. Land has been cursed because someone is building a church, or because of a family feud. Unborn babies are cursed to have deformities or to die. It is an evil practice but very real. False healing is given to others and because they did not get proper medical care they become more seriously ill or die.

We have a variety of culture, religion, beliefs, and cults here! We need to be aware of our surroundings and to take things seriously. It is must be quite an interesting contrast to be listening to the radio, because within the same hour, they hear about Jesus and eternal life and then hear of the evil side. This is how blatantly Satan operates here.

Since I know the Lord was on our side during our broadcast, as we always cover ourselves in prayer, we have faith that His almighty power was covering our listeners. Please remember to keep all of us in your prayers.
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To Have A Servants Heart

2010-04-06T13:04:00.002-07:00

In John 13: 1-17 we learn a good lesson in humility and to have a servants heart. When Jesus can go around and wash his disciples feet it really teaches us a few things. The example that He laid down for us is pretty amazing. He is teaching a level of leadership that can be really challenging for most of us. Our human side tells us that this is not the proper protocol of a leader of a kingdom, company, organization, or a church. But Jesus is telling us otherwise.

Tonight we played out the Gospel story. Matty was the narrator, Rob played Peter, and Jjaja Jim played Jesus. So as Matty began reading the scripture I went with a basin and a pitcher of water and a towel as Jesus showed us, to each of our children and proceeded to wash their feet. When I came to Rob, he read Peter's part; "Lord are you going to wash my feet?" 7Jesus said; "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Then we continued through the scripture 8-12. I completed the washing of our children's feet / After the completion of washing the disciple's feet Jesus said: 13"You call me teacher and the Lord and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

Then the children proceeded to wash each others feet as it says in the scripture; 16 "I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

It was just on Saturday that I was talking to the kids about having a servant's heart. We should have a good attitude about helping one and other and offer to do something that you see needs doing. We find that all of of life's lessons can be found in the Bible. Hopefully this will be one of those Bible stories that will stick with them for the rest of their life!
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A Birthday to Remember!

2010-04-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

We had some donations through "Causes" on Facebook for my Birthday, totaling $60.00! Wow and thank you so much! This is where a person can designate a cause for someone to donate to, in lieu of giving a traditional birthday gift. Of course my cause was Jireh Ministries Foundation.

So what was so exciting this year on my birthday? It was telling the kids that they will receive "birthday presents" on my birthday! There were things that we had on the list to purchase whenever our budget might allow it. So, some real needs were met, and we had an extra nice party too.

So for about $11.00 usd we had goat, plain spaghetti, home made chapatis, deviled eggs, with cabbage salad! The kids said it was like a Christmas or Easter dinner, a real feast for all 14 of us here!

The gifts were an allowance of the equivalent of $2.50 / 5,000 schillings each to purchase sandals for the boys and some necessities like knickers, bras and petticoats that the girls shopped for and picked out their most needed items. They all were extremely excited about this gift! Some of us take the basics for granted but everything is a blessing here, Praise God!

So that totals $31.00 for food and clothes which leaves us with a balance of $29.00 to go towards some of our other needs, like, school fees, rent, food, utilities, etc. Thank you so much for the birthday gifts!

We played games, danced, played drums, and had birthday cake too!

Priscilla came up with this game of sorts, where you pick a small wadded piece of paper from a bowl and after you unravel it, you have to do whatever the message tells you. Well, little nine year old Joseph decided to keep cashing in on his ticket. It said; "Hug Jjaja", so every so often he would come over, take it out of his pocket and show me what it said, and then give me a big hug and a big smile! It really shows all of us how important a hug can be!

So much of the day was spent in preparation for this party. Just in case you might think it is a waste of time and energy, it was not. It shows the kids thinking of others more than themselves, not focusing on their own problems or difficulties and being optimistic and happy about life. There were children decorating as I was not allowed to go in the living room until party time and even then had to be escorted. They walked to town to buy their birthday gifts, made birthday cards, iced the cake, made chapatis, fried the goat and cooked the dinner. Kids were hiding things and covering their papers as I would walk by, just a busy excitement in the air. My job was making deviled eggs & spaghetti, and preparing the icing for the cake.

We closed in prayer and a few songs about 11:30PM. What a long and productive day! To be the guest of honor was a real blessing in itself but I also realized, we met another milestone! Praise God!
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My Birthday Party Reveals A Renewed Spirit!

2010-04-03T04:06:00.004-07:00

In February 2009 we opened the Door of Hope Families here in

Uganda

. My birthday, March 31, was the first to be passed by, almost unnoticed. Robyn mentioned it, but birthdays don't have much meaning over here. For one thing, several of our children did not know when their birthday was, and they surely never celebrated one before. We tried to have a little fun and they were going to guess my age, well that was a real smart idea Einstein. 93 - 78 - 65 OK lets stop this, and try something different. Most of them had not spent much time with a muzungu before and we look different than the locals, and the longevity of life here is in the forties. I was 58 last year, not too old yet, right? But for a young African child, this white man with graying hair must have looked ancient.

Well through this past year we learned how to celebrate birthdays and before long everyone decided that it could be a good thing. We assigned birthdays to ones that didn't know theirs and we had cakes and parties, games, and music and fun!

Here is the stories on how we make Birthday cakes:

http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2009/07/proud-father.html

http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-pancakes-please.html

This was all made possible by Robyn's joyful spirit. She taught them how to decorate and make the day special. We never started with gifts as a necessity or a focus.

They started bringing small gifts with home made gift wrap of something that was special to them that they were willing to give up and share. The decorations were soon taken over by a couple of girls that "took the ball and ran with it" as they could make a room look festive by going out in the village and gathering vegetation and that added with a few traditional balloons, and like magic it was a party!

Birthdays were now a time to give someone a special day and for all of us to celebrate with each other. We would always include prayers, and worship, and testimonies and talk about what this person means to us or discuss their special attributes and praise God for the gift of life.

So this year my birthday still falls on March 31, but there was a different excitement in the air. The kids said we need a good party this year because last year it wasn't very good. Can we have a real party? Yea lets have a great party. How about goat or beef for dinner (meat is only on special occasions, like Christmas or Easter), and chapatis, and eggs, and jack fruit. OK lets do it, so how about we wait until this weekend when we are out of school so we can stay up longer for games and fun.

The excitement of this event was a healthy change in their lives. It was optimistic, thoughtful and fun. When your family is made up mostly of orphans and street kids you realize that events like this are a true blessing from God and we thank Him for showing us the change that is being made in these lives.

I will tell you how it went on the next post!

How do you celebrate birthdays?

REJOICE IN THE LORD!

2010-03-28T12:48:00.003-07:00

In the mist of some tough times we can Rejoice in the Lord! We learn this in a few places like; Romans 5:3 and Matthew 5:12. We will see where it tells us to rejoice in our sufferings! This week I noticed how the Lord kept blessing me with small but powerful conversations and events that have turned into what I will call mini-testimonies that I am sharing with you. Sometimes we have to listen carefully an we can hear the answers to our prayers and God speaking to us about direction and confirmation through people. I always imagined when He talked to Moses, Noah, Abraham, and all the others, that it was with the loud voice coming from the heavens, I guess Hollywood helped with that thought a lot too!

One of our boys asked me for a box, and because boxes are not easy to come by here, I first asked; "What do you need it for?" He told me that his teacher was suggesting the kids bring some of their clothes, that they no longer wear, for the less fortunate children and he wanted to take a shirt and trousers. One nice thing was that our children are not in that category anymore, although we are still in need. I told him to just put them in a plastic grocery bag. As he motioned with his hands he said; "I can't do that Jjaja, I need to wash and iron them really nice and place them in a box so it will make it a really nice gift!" I think that translates into: Do it with love! Yes, I got him a box with some makeshift tissue paper. Interestingly enough, this is one of our two boys that don't have shoes right now because they were stolen.

Another young boy that has been, well... lets just say in the learning stages for most of this past year. He has been making some real visible changes in his character and it looks like he has really accepted Jesus in his heart. As I was preparing dinner the other night, he came up to me, as I usually have an audience as I cook, and said Jjaja; "I have been abusing (that means insulting like verbal abuse, calling names, etc.) this other boy in the family, in the past, but I am not going to do that anymore. I just want to apologize to you for that and I am not going to do it anymore. Kind of speechless I said; "What? Why? Whats this all about? He said "I just am" because it wasn't right. I asked if he apologized to the other boy and had asked Jesus for forgiveness, he said; "yes." When we accept Jesus in our heart, the changes will come.

We received a package this week that was in transit for five months. It was an answer to some of our needs and a few "extras." Some of the items were boy's belts because what we get here fall apart in a few weeks. The boys were very excited, in fact, for a surprise I had told them we were going to talk about repairing their belts and bring your old belt to the meeting. One was almost in two pieces, just falling apart, so he was pretty excited as he had a choice of a couple styles and colors to choose from. The Lord Will Provide.

In this package were also scientific calculators for our senior girl students. They were so excited, I wish I had it on video! They opened the packages, smelled the new packaging, looked at the interchangeable colored covers and then were additionally excited to see they were dual power, battery and solar, because it will reduce on the need for batteries. They all needed a calculator desperately for several of their classes. What we found here last year was inferior models that really did not perform as a scientific calculator or the others would just quit working, so we didn't waste our money on the local models again this year. This morning as we were leaving for church I noticed one of the girls had her calculator, and I asked; "Why are you bringing that to church?" The girls all laughed and said Jjaja, "She even slept with it last night!" I think they really cherished these gifts. So it was appropriate to bring a gift from God to church. Did I already say The Lord Will Provide?

When I was talking to the girls about these gifts, we also presented the results of a recent craft project they did. They made some yarn hand bags and when Rita went back to America she presented them to some churches in in Indiana, and when she returned, she brought the proceeds of the sales for the girls. These earnings were unexpected by the girls and they were joyfully overwhelmed because they don't often get the chance to make income. That is a wonderful gift from God, thank you to the people that purchased them. But it gets better than that, read on:

Today at church there was an exciting event that took place. When it was finally time for the tithes and offerings we had some new participants! I say finally because I think they could hardly wait!! We had four people this week that had earned some money and calculated their tithes. Three for the handbag sales and another from some local work here in our village. This was the first time for some and if not the first time, it had to be the largest amount that they have ever given to an offering. If you are able to give a tithe it means you earned some money and that is a great gift. To give back to God with a happy heart is priceless!

There were a few other events that showed generous hearts, where some had shared their money. One was so happy to have her clothes chest repaired with her own money instead of having to wait until we could afford to have it repaired. Another was able to help out a relative with some transportation needs that had come unexpectedly because of a death in the family. We are often blessed by the least expected source.

As I said in the opening, I was truly blessed this week witnessing God at work in so many areas! I am really happy that He is answering some questions and giving us encouragement, as He guides us further into this journey. God gave us so many happy things that I just can't remember what those bad things are right now, I won't give them any honor! Rejoice in the Lord!

Amazing Grace

2010-03-24T13:52:00.001-07:00

Moses has found a little job in our village, and he is excited to be earning some money. A woman at a nearby house asked him to do some weeding and yard work for her. She has had him back a few times to do addtional work, so maybe he has a regular customer. Moses is twelve years old and came to us in February 2009, he didn't speak a lick of English and had not been in school since only God knows when. He had been on the streets for a couple of years. He is now in P3, speaks English and is 3rd in his class! He is an amazing boy. He is saving his money and each time he brings home his earnings he places the money inside an envelope inscribed with his name that we hold for safe keeping.

We talked about tithing and how savings can add up with hard work over time. So the big question you might ask; what is he saving for? He is saving for a bicycle. Having a bicycle here in Uganda is really special. There are even adults that would like to have one, because transportation is not easy.

So I asked him; "When you were on the street, what would you have used that money for?" Without hesitation, he looked up at me and answered; "FOOD!" I am really happy that he can now think about things that a twelve year old boy should be thinking about, and he is willing to work for it. Picturing yourself riding a new bicycle in the future is a much healthier thought than wondering if you will eat today!

We speak of God's amazing grace, and here it is!
.

OK God, Now We Have Your Confirmation, Thank You!

2010-03-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is a thankless job, or maybe I should say most of the time. Don't get me wrong, we are not here for the thank you's because we could get that somewhere else and probably with less work. I think I have heard people talk of this in the medical profession as well. I am not talking about the polite thank you like when we teach our kids manners, but something here on earth, that helps us make sense of why we are here doing God's work. Maybe a little encouragement because missionary work is not all fun and games, it is hard work.

It all came together tonight while talking with one of our boys. We have talked on several occasions and he is quite reserved when it comes to telling what is going on inside. He lost his mom when he was about three or four and his dad a few years later. He had been bounced around to a few relatives and to a children's center and back to relatives and living a pretty tough life, fending for himself most of the time. He was working to support himself at age twelve as a fisherman.

Tonight as we were talking he said he wanted to share something with me. He said; "I am not here for the school fees or the food or even the bed, I could probably manage with some of that". As he touched his heart he said; "I am here for the family and the love that I get here because that is something I can't get anywhere else."

Have you seen the TV shows that when you say the right answer all the balloons fall from the ceiling and the sirens go off? OK anyone old enough to have seen Groucho Marks re-runs? Well it was like that! I wish Robyn was here, to hear it, because that is what we have been tirelessly trying to create, and maybe we have been successful in the eyes of this young man in his life. Maybe someday he will be able to show that same love to his family when the time comes. We have said from the beginning, that "family" is what needs to be developed here in Uganda and maybe we are on the right track!

This is a tribute to all of our supporters, volunteers and church partners who all make this happen and most of all to you Lord for directing us to do your work of taking care of these children.

Donate Your Old Car, Running or Not, it Is A Treasure To Us

2010-03-20T06:40:00.003-07:00

A treasure to us and a tax deduction to you. We will take care of everything, just call the tow free number 1-877-227-7487 or contact on line: Donate your Vehicle running or not. 24 hours a day!
We receive a check, and you receive a tax deduction for the full value of the car!

Jireh Ministries Foundation, Inc is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization and all donations are tax deductible under section 170 of the IRS code.

Examples of Real Heart

2010-03-19T22:02:00.004-07:00

There was a sports competition with 15 schools from around the area. Rob received second place in the 3000m race! If you notice it says Mugumya Richard. Richard is his late brother whom we lost in January, he ran the race in his brother's memory, even to the extent of changing his name. You may recall the story: http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2010/01/please-pray-for-us.html

Our school won several of the competitions, including the relay race, but only the one who finishes the race gets the certificate, Matthew was the second position runner in the relay race, and as we all know each person in a relay race is important. About not receiving a certificate he said; "It doesn't matter because our school won the cup!" Good attitude! Gotta love the sportsmanship!

Matty on a recent visit to his village

Hold Your Breath and Watch Your Children Grow

2010-03-19T04:59:00.001-07:00

As a parent I love to watch my kids as they grow and do different activities. But sometimes it makes me skip a heart beat as I cringe helplessly on the sidelines.

When My oldest daughter, Jennifer, was ice skating, we got past the little falls, because before long she was out there doing jumps and spins and I would jump and spin inside. When she was a cheerleader, of course, she had to be the flyer, the one on top that they throw in the air, so wouldn't you expect it that she would be the high diver too? That platform is pretty far up there! Our second daughter, Kimmy, rode horses and she was very tiny but the horse was very big! We knew whatever sport that Kimmy played, that had to do with a ball, that she would inevitably get hit! One time with a soft ball right on her braces and we had an emergency visit to the orthodontist.

Now we have this new family in Uganda. We seem to have to go through this again but this time we have boys too! Well John loves to climb trees, and we have a big magnificent climbing tree in the front of the compound. Really if I was younger I would be climbing it too. John is an exceptional climber, and he gets up there so high and sometimes just looks around at the surrounding areas, very quietly, in fact you would not even know he is up there. One day I went outside and thought John and some of the other kids were out there and I just started looking around and didn't see anyone, then I remembered to look up in the tree, and there he was.

John waves and says very quietly, almost whispers, Jjaja (grandpa), and points down below him at a nest of birds. He has a big smile on his face as he towers in the upper branches above this little family, just observing life. I am not cringing now, but I am a little envious, but really happy for him, because he had a real birds's eye view!.

I am glad that I did not allow my fear to stop my children from growing and experiencing life! What makes this extra special to me is that John was on the streets less than two years ago. For this twelve year old little boy, we are his first real family experience, I can now see him starting to grasp the importance of family.

Praise God!

The lower branches are the height of the house

MARCH FOR PRAYERS

2010-03-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Anytime is good for prayers. For the month of March I have been informed of a few requests. The last time we had our prayer list it was very successful. If you want to be included in our list, just drop us a line and let us know.

A Couple of Announcements and Updates

Robyn is doing well on her whirlwind visit in the USA. She is being blessed wherever she goes and knows the Holy Spirit is really with her. He has truly refreshed and renewed her spirit and we give thanks to God for that.
We have joined the BlogFrog to invite new visitors to our blog and in trying to keep up to date on the best ways to keep everyone informed of the events of this ministry. We thank God for all the opportunities He gives for us to communicate.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Zak is having his surgery on March 22 nd. You may recall that he is nine years old and lives in San Diego CA and is the cousin to our volunteer Lauren Chavez. He has been undergoing chemotherapy for bone cancer on his leg since December. We ask for the Lord's protection and intervention during and after the surgery. You can see pictures http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=349955&id=34796135240
Please pray that our communications through the various communities and blogs is fruitful to this ministry and pleasing to the Lord and we ask for His guidance on how to use them effectively.
We pray that God protects Robyn during her tour of the USA and continues to bless and comfort her.
We pray for the congregation of our church partner, The Lord's Church in Prather, CA to meet their upcoming financial commitment. This will secure their property for the church. We give thanks to the Lord for their faithful support.
We pray for all the missionaries coming to visit us this year, we ask for their financial needs for the trip to be taken care; Lauren Chavez; Paulo Split and gang; and those that have not been revealed to us yet. Also Casey and Erin Scritchfield to continue on their 11 month / 11 country mission trip, who visited us earlier this month and Chris Villalobos and all the Oral Roberts group coming to Uganda this year.
We pray for Jim & Robyn's daughter, Kimmy and her son Xander, that the Lord guides and directs her, and reveals His almighty presence to her through her trials.
We pray for a special blessing to our "behind the scenes" volunteers that work so hard to help this ministry. For our Web Site Administrator, Adam McWethy; IT Specialist, Jessica Brown; Creative Director, Todd McWethy; Administrative Assistant in the USA, Lacey Gipe; Media processing & Distribution, Sara Kenyon; Blog Community Coach, Melissa Bushey, .
We pray a special thanksgiving to all of our sponsors to this ministry for their faithfulness and support.
We pray for the congregation of our church partner Cornerstone Baptist Church in Phelan for their faithful support.
We pray for our Local Employee staff here in Uganda, Cook and Caretaker, Fatuma; Administrative Assistant, Peter; Boda Driver, Nasulu; that they do their work in the Glory of God.

We give you thanks Oh Lord for all of your blessings that you have given us and we give you all the honor and glory, and we ask you to show us the way that we can continue to do your work that pleases you. We know Lord that you know all of our needs even before we do, and we ask you to help us to grow in our faith in you!

Amen

Feel The Power

2010-03-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

I don't ever want to get used to it or take it for granted. So whenever I feel the power of the Holy Spirit, I feel compelled to tell everyone about it . I think it keeps us praising God and that's what we are suppose to do, right? In fact it is our duty!

So here is my small testimony. Whenever I have the opportunity teach the Word, I call on the Holy Spirit. But like a lot of people, I really call on Him when I know I am in trouble, like not as prepared as I would like to be or feel I should be. I guess when I feel it the most is when I am on the radio. Maybe because you have no one in front of you to see if even anyone is out there, but then on the other hand you think, whatever I say the whole world is going to hear, so it better be right!

Well tonight I felt His presence! I hope the listeners did as well. I got so wrapped up in the Word I lost track of time, (not really good radio protocol). Maybe you should look at my blog about my first solo night on the radio to get the whole feel of what I am saying here. http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2009/09/our-100th-blog-entry.html When I looked up at the clock and saw I was over (my time slot), I looked at the door and no one was there waiting for me to get off the air. So they must be late, alright, now I still have time for a closing Prayer, Yea ! Praise God! Of course it was:

Thank you Holy Spirit for being here with us tonight...

...In Jesus Name,

Amen

Armed Only With The Armor of God

2010-02-25T10:30:00.004-08:00

Jireh Ministries Foundation, Inc (USA)

He Will Provide Ministries (Uganda)

By Robyn Fruehan

In 2005 my life was changed! After reading the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, I was challenged to venture on a missions trip to Uganda. This was something that I always wanted to do but never thought was possible. It is my belief that once God sees that we are committed to answer His call; He continues to work within us. In 2006 my husband and I founded Jireh Ministries Foundation to help the people of Uganda.

We found during my second visit to Uganda in 2008 that in order for us to fully support a ministry in

Uganda

, we needed to have full accountability from them. We learned that this could only be made possible by us starting our own ministry in Uganda.

In January of 2009 we returned to

Uganda

with a vision of beginning a ministry to help the children. We visited with the government offices and learned of the great need to care for the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children. There are over a million children that fall into this category. We also found that this country needs lots of help not only with the children but within their own structure of the government, churches and business leaders. There is a lot of corruption, deceit, and outright disobedience to God. Much like we read with Paul’s letters to the early churches. To be perfectly honest with you, Satan is alive in Uganda, and we need to recognize and understand that, because that is the battle we face! We knew that whatever we were going to do to help children that first and foremost we needed to raise them up to be God fearing faithful leaders for the future of Uganda.

So with that being said, this past year has been extremely difficult in so many ways. We have been wrongfully accused, threatened to be arrested, lied to, cheated, and on three occasions robbed; and that is only the first half of the year. The second half of the year had its ups and downs as well and ended with one of our boys being killed in a tragic motorcycle accident. Unfortunately even out of that came lies, deceit and corruption from his relatives. After a year of this, and as I was desperately missing my family back home, my daughters and six grandchildren, it had really wore me down. But God knew, and He had someone rescue me with a plane ticket home to get refreshed and to tell our story.

So here I am Lord!

Praise the Lord we also have a good side to tell. Despite these obstacles and equipped only with the armor of God we have some successes to share.

January 2009

December 2009

February 2010

In February 2009 we founded the Door of Hope Family with a group of kids that were presented to us as “children needing help”. Through the year God sent us more children and had us give others their freedom.

· We have reunited a family of three orphan siblings who now call us their family and the government wants to place them under our foster care.

· We have three "street boys" that have no one else in their life to care for them.

· Two of the street boys spoke no English when they came to us and now we can sit down and have a conversation!

Two of the boys have dropped their Muslim names and have adopted Christian

names and want to be baptized.

· Two of the boys have changed their hearts from lies and stealing to standing up to tell the truth.

· When Jim is called to give the Word of God, his interpreter is one of our 16 year old girls, Jennifer, who goes on the radio and outreaches with him.

· Our children are setting an example in our village by cleaning our road of rubbish that is habitually strewn around by the locals. They are learning to help their community and take care of God’s creation.

· The schools have recognized that we are raising leaders: John is his P2 class monitor, Moses is his P3 class monitor, Rob is his P5 class monitor, and Matthew is in P7 and is the school Prefect. Sara is one of three of our S2 students and is the class monitor and Jennifer is her S3 class monitor.

· All of our children have grown tremendously this year, I think if we totaled the combined inches we would be talking in feet! We can only account for this because of good nutrition and a balanced diet along with drinking water, which was a new concept for them, believe it or not!

· We have our compound divided into sections and 100% of the grounds, house and dorms are the responsibility of each child to maintain. In addition to that, several of the children have other responsibilities like, the Maintenance Department, Hospitality Hostess, Breakfast Chef, and the Shop Keeper.

· After spending the better part of the year jumping through hoops with all the bureaucracy and red tape, we received our Foreign NGO (Non Government Organization) certificate. This is similar to our non profit organization 501 (c) (3) status in America, but it was much more difficult to obtain. In Uganda we are known as He Will Provide Ministries, which is basically the translation of our USA name, Jireh Ministries Foundation, (Jehovah Jireh = God to provide) .

· We are on the radio two nights a week conducting a Bible study reaching many remote villages. Many of them do not have electricity, but listen to us on their battery operated radios.

· Periodically we go on outreaches; evangelizing in villages, and visiting hospitals and prisons and praying for them.

Every two months, we participate in a local ministry event called the Big Saturday Miracle Explosion by teaching a Gospel message.

· We have a Water Project called H2O8; this past year we installed a water tap at God's Revival Church, a small village church and children’s center. Before this, they were fetching water at a swamp. Not only do they now have water for their personal use but they are able to pay the water bill by selling water at a reasonable rate to the locals. The profit from selling water has allowed them to invest in raising chickens and they now have 750 layers and broilers. The added bonus from this project is that it has made water available to an entire village because our project brought in a large enough water line for people to tap off of in the future which will make it more affordable to them if they choose to install a tap of their own.

· We have started a co-op farm project with God's Revival Church to create income for both of our ministries to help us become self supportive. They had the farm land and we helped to finance the planting so we can split the profits. We are planning and praying for two crops a year.

· We had a motorcycle donated to our ministry this past year. We lease it to a boda driver for income and it reduces our transportation costs, because as part of the agreement, he drives for us. This helps us to generate income and reduce our costs, so at least we are partially self supportive.

We are only able to continue to do God’s work with your help.

Would you consider sponsoring us?

We have three levels of monthly sponsorship to help meet most anyone’s budget, at $14.00 for Junior Level, $28.00 for Sponsorship Level, and $60.00 for Level II.

http://www.hewillprovide.org/giving/sponsorship/

If you are currently a sponsor of this ministry, we thank you and we are happy you can see what you help make possible!

Most importantly! Please consider to be a prayer Sponsor!

THE GREAT COMMISSION

2010-02-17T03:20:00.000-08:00

The gift of tongues!

I don't speak the language, but the Holy Spirit finds a way.

Our 16 year old Jennifer is our interpreter, she speaks four languages!

She interprets in Lugandan, but that is not her native language.

We completed the book of Matthew in our "Radio Bible Study" tonight. I felt filled with the Holy Spirit as we read through the last chapter of the Resurrection and continued through to verse18. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All the authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Wow! He has us teaching this nation on the radio! Praise the Lord, Alleluia!

Playing Catch Up! Here Is An Update!

2010-02-11T12:52:00.005-08:00

Well I had a big gap in my updates to you but I hope you know it is nothing personal but I have been so busy around here and time flies when you are having fun! So I thought I could give you a run down of tidbits to get us up to speed.

If you recall, Robyn received a gift to fly back home for a long overdue visit with our family. She will visit some churches and friends along the way and hopefully see many of our sponsors as she travels her circuit.
Of course with Robyn away it has left me with a heavier workload, especially since school just started! But this has caused me to work smarter so I can survive this "one man show".
In December we hired an administrative assistant for me, since I just could not get caught up in all the required duties. The accounting alone has lifted a burden. Praise God! Shopping is not easy here because you have to go to so many places to get a few things. It is not like going into a Wal-Mart and finding everything you need. The flip side is, we end up with so many receipts and pay-out vouchers (for the places that don't have receipts), that it becomes a huge mountain of little receipts to be entered in the books.
We had a few kids choose to go back to their village to live with a relative for various reasons. The biggest reasons were that they didn't want to follow our family rules. Interestingly enough, the ones that left were the ones who had a "fall back" relative to go to. In other words the best behaved and faithful ones are the orphaned and vulnerable children under our care. Basically the orphans and street kids are the ones who really value the family. God has a way of refining through fire and I believe He revealed what He wanted.
Finances have been difficult this year and we have reached an all time low in our bank account. But I feel this was part of God's big plan that we can not see right now. I ask myself; If we had plenty of funds, would we have agreed to let these children go when they showed their true colors of character? Yes refinement through fire is pretty powerful!
Like I said, we have all of the children enrolled in school. We have most of the school supplies and we were able to make an agreement with one of the schools to defer some school fees until next term when hopefully we will have more funds. We know the Lord Will Provide, but it is stretching our faith for sure!
Speaking of school, I am happy to announce that John in P-2 is his Class Monitor, Moses in P-3 is his Class Monitor, Rob in P-5 is his Class Monitor, Matty in P-7 is the school prefect and English Speaking Prefect and in charge of his class. Sara in S-2 is her Class Monitor. It looks like we are raising some leaders here!
As far as special duties here at home we have Jennifer as our "Interpreter"(she interprets here at the house when needed but also goes on the radio with me on Monday and Tuesday) , Moses as the "Breakfast Chef"(he prepares the early morning breakfast before school), Sara as the "Shopkeeper" (she issues the supplies, like soap, toothpaste, pencils, etc. to kids from the store room twice a week) and Priscilla as our "Hospitality Hostess" (you can always depend on her to make guests feel welcome & comfortable, and to decorate for birthday parties). John is the "Maintenance Man" (he loves to fix things, replaces burned out security lights, turns on the security lights every night, prunes trees, etc.) All of the children have their regular chores which includes cleaning the compound. The entire compound is divided into sections and everyone has their area of responsibility.
As you will recall, we had a tragic accident involving Richard on the motorcycle early in January. We since have repaired the motorcycle and now have just put it back in service. The accident ended up costing us quite a bit of money, because of the burial expenses, transporting the children, retrieving the motorcycle, repairing the motorcycle, etc. So hopefully it will begin to earn money as that was its purpose.
Speaking of finances, we are behind in our rent here so please say some extra prayers for us. If you know anyone that might be interested in sponsoring the Door of Hope, we have three levels of sponsorships at $14.00, $28.00. $60.00 per month. Just go to our web site.
Now that we mentioned the web site, Jessica has just finished another batch of updates for us with some new pictures throughout our site. Please watch for more updates coming soon.

Well that does it for now since it is about 2:00 AM and I need to get up early to get the kids off to school. Thanks for joining us here!! We will talk soon!

Here Is What I Am Hearing

2010-01-12T14:10:00.005-08:00

It has been about twenty years since I communicated with my little niece Becky before she died at the age of about nine. I was learning, but only spoke "broken sign language" as I watched my brother and sister-in-law masterfully sign to her. It was simply another language. So many times as I listen to the Ugandans speak their native tongue I realize how much we don't hear when we don't understand.

I find this very interesting! Through my journey of villages in Uganda, I have come across deaf children on at least three different occasions. The children that I have met are not going to school and are just left to stay in silence with maybe only the basics being met. I think that just because they can not hear, they receive no education at all. But there are schools for the deaf here. So there is hope!

When I attempt to speak to any of these children that I have come across, they are so excited and seem to realize that I know they are "in there" just waiting to come out. I believe the Lord has placed this on my heart. Let's just say there have been signs from God. I tried to phrase an account of a sign but it doesn't word well. Sometimes when the Lord speaks to me, it is not in words, but in feelings. I am not sure how He wants me to proceed with this.

Before I can take anymore children in, we need more funds. Especially a project of this nature. If we have people that have a heart for a special needs child, specifically (at this point) deafness, and the Lord wants us to do something, then I am ready. Before I came to Africa I had a feeling about the needs of developementally disabled chidren. This is an area that I have had experience and the passion. The key word here might be "special needs" and that could be someone who needs a cane to walk.

Let me know what you think, and how we can help!

It Is Good To Pray For Others

2010-01-10T14:23:00.002-08:00

Lately our family has been blessed by prayer requests. It seems that we have come to know of many challenges in people's lives through their connection of knowing or helping us. I have compiled our current prayer requests to share with you. As we focus on others we may find it comforting to know we are helping others and not being the victim. Our goal is for our children to realize that even though they may not have material possessions, parents, relatives, etc., they have the power of prayer to give to others and it doesn't cost them a thing!

Please join us in pray for:

Zak, our nine year old buddy in the USA with bone cancer.

Jessica & Paul's Wedding, Jessica is our IT Wizard, they're facing opposition!

Kimmy Fruehan, our daughter in USA, homeless, jobless, new baby, husband left.

The Bloes Family, a sponsor, lost a job.

People on the street in Oklahoma and other places throughout the world, freezing.

Paulo Splitt, putting together a missionary team for Uganda this summer

Pastor JB getting ready for his new ministry this summer in Northern Uganda.

Lauren Chavez, Rita Beach, Chris Villalobos, missionaries raising funds to do God's work.

"Dr. Sam", our Medical student, needing school fees.

Aimee Hill, a sponsor, needing prayers.

God Knows All Of Our Needs

We Just Need To Pray

Please Pray for: "The prayer List At The Door Of Hope"

He Provided!

2010-01-05T14:32:00.004-08:00

We received a wonderful gift from God!

We have been here in Uganda for nearly a year on this trip. It is a long time to be away from our family back home. We have six grandchildren from our two daughters in the USA. Someone heard about the theft of our "return ticket money" and sent a donation so Robyn can come home for an overdue visit. Praise God, for He does provide from places we didn't know of.

This is truly a blessing to our family, thank you Jesus!

After visiting with the family for a while, and in order to get the full benefit from this trip, Robyn will be traveling to a few places to share about this ministry. If you would like to encourage and host her to come to your town and visit your church or school, please let us know to see if we can include it in the schedule.

This is all in God's plan. Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Robynfruehan@yahoo.com

PLEASE PRAY FOR US!

2010-01-03T06:03:00.004-08:00

Robyn, Richard and Rob taken in March this year, normally Richard had that big smile like Rob's!

We received sad and tragic news early this morning. Richard was killed in a traffic accident. He was driving the motorcycle early this morning and evidently was hit from the side coming up on his rear maybe being passed by a car. We don't have all of the details yet and the location is about an hour or so away so we have not yet been there.

Richard was the eldest of his three siblings Sara, Babra and Rob who are all orphans that are in our family. We were going to celebrate his 20th birthday this month. Rob has gone with an Aunt to claim the body and arrange transport to the village of their recently discovered grandfather, to lay him to rest on the family land.

Richard had joined the family last month to get on his feet, so he could have a place to live and be our boda driver so he could have some steady income and to help us with our transportation.

We are making arrangements for our family to go for the funeral tomorrow. Transportation is always difficult and a real hardship on all of us. Burials happen very quickly here because of the lack of facilities or procedures for preserving the body.

It is so hard to understand these things, especially when things were just coming together for this family, but our faith is in God for we know He has a plan. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers!
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The MinistryCycle Update!

2009-12-29T13:37:00.005-08:00

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!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

2009-12-28T09:17:00.006-08:00

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

2009-12-25T03:07:00.010-08:00

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

2009-12-08T01:48:00.012-08:00

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

2009-12-02T06:39:00.002-08:00

This officially "puts us on the map"!

We Received Our Approval For An NGO!

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

30 Days Until Christmas

2009-11-24T22:31:00.005-08:00

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

2009-11-16T13:07:00.024-08:00

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

2009-11-03T00:29:00.003-08:00

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

2009-11-02T14:05:00.004-08:00

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!

Campaign: Save the Babies!

2009-10-28T13:32:00.005-07:00

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!

2009-10-24T16:18:00.002-07:00

Our Star Pupils!

2009-10-21T02:31:00.006-07:00

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!

Free Haircuts!

2009-10-17T11:09:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-10-15T01:47:00.005-07:00

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!

2009-10-14T02:26:00.009-07:00

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!

FAITH

2009-10-12T22:48:00.005-07:00

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!

God Knows What We Can Handle

2009-10-05T14:45:00.006-07:00

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

2009-10-01T05:24:00.006-07:00

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.

WHO CARES? About the Babies

2009-09-30T11:52:00.004-07:00

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'

2009-09-29T10:42:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-09-29T01:56:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-28T13:06:00.008-07:00

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!

2009-09-25T13:24:00.006-07:00

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!!

2009-09-21T14:13:00.005-07:00

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!

Fighting Malaria

2009-09-13T12:44:00.008-07:00

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

2009-09-11T08:24:00.002-07:00

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

2009-09-10T10:54:00.002-07:00

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"

2009-09-08T13:55:00.003-07:00

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

2009-09-07T00:44:00.003-07:00

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?

2009-09-06T06:36:00.005-07:00

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.

2009-09-05T12:20:00.011-07:00

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.

You Reap What You Sow

2009-08-30T13:08:00.008-07:00

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.

Everybody Needs Milk

2009-08-27T01:20:00.015-07:00

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!

Matthew 25:35-36

2009-08-25T10:45:00.006-07:00

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

2009-08-23T13:15:00.009-07:00

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!

2009-08-23T11:50:00.005-07:00

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!

2009-08-23T10:39:00.007-07:00

Make A Wish!

Happy Birthday Robyn, Rob and David

Happy Birthday Times Three

2009-08-20T01:13:00.004-07:00

If pictures don't show on this feed, go to: www.Hewillprovide.blogspot.com

August 20th, Happy Birthday

To Three People At The Door Of Hope!

What A Special Day!

Happy 13th Birthday Rob!

This is Rob On The First Night He Arrived At The Door Of Hope, Pictured with His Big Brother. Always with a Big Smile!

Happy 18th Birthday David!

He Has A Genuine and Kind Heart.

Literally, He Would Give You The Shirt Off His Back!

My Wife: Always the Cheer Leader!

Happy Birthday Robyn

Thank you Jesus

2009-08-19T08:39:00.004-07:00

Thank you Jesus for all of our monthly supporters, their continued faithful giving is what allows us to survive. Today we received two donations that were random in nature, by that I mean they are not one of our regular monthly donors. This helps to bring us past the threshold of where our sponsors carry us. What a blessing this is because it encourages us so much. Our financial needs are real, but we have given that up to the Lord to Provide. He knows our every need, He hears our prayers and He works through people to give them an opportunity to be a part of life. Through this continued support it gives us confirmation that God wants us to be here doing His work! It is awesome to see Him work right before our eyes.

Mentoring

2009-08-06T12:27:00.009-07:00

Tonight, as I was sharing with Rock about space travel, I realized how valuable all of us can be to these children. As we were looking through this outdated book of World history, there was only one page on space travel, and the same applies to numerous other events in history. In just my lifetime, so many events and advances in technology have occurred from transistor radios to computers and cell phones and yes, space travel is another whole area of huge advances.

So what do you have to offer these kids? Probably a lot more than you could ever imagine. I was just reading today about mentoring; where the article said that it was sharing of knowledge of life experiences from an older person to a younger one. It also mentioned how rewarding it could be the mentor as well, which you will find the same is true if you ask any missionary. Here in Uganda, it is just the knowledge that we have learned over the years just because of the modern world that we lived in. It is pretty hard for a young person to understand space travel when you can hardly find a paved road here or even a dirt road in good condition. Most have not flown in a plane or even some have not seen one. But they have cell phones here, not many microwave ovens and most have never seen a washing machine let alone a clothes dryer.

We teach about Jesus and we pray and worship together every night. We have family dinner together and share stories and celebrate birthdays. We talk and share about our family experiences and how God works in our life. What we really give, is of ourselves. Do you know what? That's what the kids really want and need.

Yes, we need some more modern books of history, science, geography and the like. But we also need people to share their lives with these kids that are craving education and knowledge. It is pretty exciting when you see how new some of the old is to them! Wide open eyes and ears ready to soak up the knowledge and them asking questions and somehow for us having an answer is amazing to see. I didn't know how much I knew about space travel until I was asked, and all I answered with is my general knowledge of my life experience.

It is at times like this that I see the Holy Spirit work in me. Usually I notice it during Bible teaching or in sharing the Word, but I Discovered, if you are doing God's work; He is there through all things all the time!

More Pancakes Please!!

2009-07-17T05:36:00.004-07:00

Moses is 12 years old today, so we have another birthday to celebrate. And you guessed it, he wants our famous pancake birthday cake! It is becoming popular around here. It works and does everything else a traditional cake does, looks pretty, holds a candle and it is really sweet too!

Malaria And More

2009-07-13T13:23:00.004-07:00

As I am scratching my back as I am writing this, I am always aware of the mosquitoes here in Uganda. Malaria is really the biggest threat here, because it is life threatening, it kills more than AIDS. We have two boys with it right now, one is with a IV drip on an overnight stay at the clinic and the other one was caught in earlier stages and is on meds. It is a little strange with the symptoms (look it up on the web if you get a chance). Before you know it normally hits people like a ton of bricks. There are tests for it, but in the instance of the boy that is now on a drip, is that he tested negative the day before. He had an extremely high temperature last night as I had him in a cold bath trying to reduce his temperature of 104 plus along with meds. We have mosquitoes nets for the beds and I am sure that helps, but we have had several cases to deal with in the past few months.

I don't know if everyone realizes it or not, but we treat several children besides our "Own." We have several situations where there are students that we know who call us when they become very sick and have nowhere else to turn. We just recently came across a small baby that was left (dropped off) at our little village church, God's Revival Church, the one you have heard me talk of before. This baby was undoubtedly so sick that it would have been a sin for me to not do something. We had the pastors bring the baby to our clinic that we use for treatment. It was Malaria, we saved her life. I was on a Boda the other day and my driver hit a seven year old child! I ran back and the child is laying there, and thankfully I could hear him crying. No one knows where the mother or father were. I told some people that were gathering, if the parents come, we are taking him to Allied Clinic. We hopped back on the Boda and took him for treatment. Luckily it was a superficial wound to his face and he is going to be OK. But you know how face wounds are when they bleed a lot and the face is covered with blood and his lips were quivering because he was so scared? Yea it was a little frightening to say the least. The Boda driver is a friend for life now. He is one of my regulars and when he found that I took care of the medical bill he was quite relieved, because he could not have afforded it, and it could have become nasty to say the least, well maybe you heard some stories.

The point I am making without trying to advertise our good deeds, is this: Our ministry is a bigger than just the Door of Hope Families, we do outreaches and evangelism and community service as our normal activities. But when we are confronted with someone who is sick, hungry or ill, we have to do as we are told in Matthew 25: 31-46 (The sheep and the goats).

We need funding for us to continue to take care of these needs when they arise. Because whenever we are confronted with these situations, we do what needs to be done right now to take care of someone in need. The bible doesn't tell us to check the budget to see if we can afford to do something. If Jesus can do loaves and fishes then He should be able to help us stretch some beans an posho. If we see a sick child or someone in need we can't decide that someone else will come along, because here, the chances are pretty slim that someone else will come along, and they will die. The good thing is this, for about ten US dollars I can get a lot of treatment, it goes far here.

This is just the simple truth of what we are dealing with. The average life expectancy is just in the mid forties. Do you realize what brings that average so low? It is childhood deaths. It is real here, our children have heard of a few schoolmates dieing this year and that is just hard to understand. We pass by the coffin makers periodically and you should see the child size coffins in front of their shops. Yes it is sad! I watched one day when someone was purchasing a small coffin and it was the reality of the situation, the coffins were not just on display, people needed to buy them.

Lord we ask for your help to do what you asked us to do.

A Busy Day

2009-07-12T12:46:00.004-07:00

Both of our schools, primary and secondary, had functions today! So after church (a Ugandan three hour service), we had enough time run home for some fast lunch and then off to the primary school. We have seven students in primary so we split up the classes between me, Robyn and Rita. We hit P-1, P-2, P-4 and our biggest class of P-6 where we have four children. We reviewed their work and talked to the teachers. Then we headed to the secondary school which is on an adjacent campus to the primary school, which made it a little easier. There they were having inter house competitions. We sat and watched some games and also observed one of our boys who is a newly elected prefect perform his duties, and wearing his new uniform.

Then it was time to head home because we have a boy that is sick and we needed to attend to him. The kids are so proud of us when we come to the school for these type of functions. I think it validates to them that they have a family who cares about them. I think we are just as proud of them too!

I thought this is pretty good, we got this down to a science, two schools in one day and 15 children, well I'm impressed! Thank you Jesus!

PS. I think the only thing that was missing today and I am thankful it was missing, would be that we find out at the last minute that we were supposed to bring the refreshments:)
You've been there?

A Proud Father

2009-07-11T14:23:00.003-07:00

With fifteen children we are always having a birthday party. Now here in Uganda the people seldom celebrate their birthday. But with us bringing in our culture, we all enjoy birthdays and the kids really enjoy these special days. Today we celebrated Babras birthday and it was additionally special because she had two guests to come and celebrate with her.

Eva and Anna from Holland came for a few days here with us so Eva could celebrate her birthday as well, so we had a double candled party! Eva had met Babra about four years ago on a prior missions trip and they had remained friends. The whole family is enjoying their visit because they are visiting with all of our children. Tonight after the birthday celebration we had our praise and worship time and the kids went around the room and talked about Babras birthday. All of them were happy for her on her day and for her visitors. They all really enjoyed the special celebration as if it were their own. I just thought how unselfish they were, and I told them how proud I was of them.

Here is how we do our birthday cakes. First of all we don't have an oven so we can't bake a traditional cake. We make about five giant pancakes (about 10") and I make home made icing with butter and powdered sugar and I make a five layer cake. It tastes better than anything you can buy at a bakery here and the kids really enjoy it, and are actually requesting it and say that we should open a Door Of Hope Bakery! Well the cake is sweet and these kids don't get many treats. Tonight Eva and Anne brought decorations for the cake so it had miniature umbrellas and a lot of candles, it looked festive!

We look forward to many more birthdays to come to our family. When you come to visit, chances are, that you may be able to celebrate a birthday with us too!
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