Can you even believe that Christmas is just around the corner? Over the last seven years we have managed to find dependable relatives for all but twelve of our kids! That is incredible because we have traveled extensively to the refugee camps and to South Sudan, looking high and low. The kids are excited because they get to spend Christmas with their families!! We are excited for them. Christmas is about Jesus and family. We are going to send almost one hundred children by bus and taxi and motorcycles to all of these places. I will personally take seven of the younger ones and then go back to pick them up. It is a huge undertaking. I usually receive emails and FB Messages from a few people asking how they can give a present or help buy presents for Christmas. This year we would love help with the cost of sending these children home for the holidays. To send them all and bring them back home to us, will cost a little over $4,000 USD. We would love your help. May Jesus keep blessing you to be a blessing!
Last month I went to The Netherlands (Holland) to minister at a conference at The Lighthouse. I usually go every year and every year I am so blessed by the hunger of the Dutch people for more of Jesus! It always encourages me and I love to encourage them. This year’s theme was the nations. There were quite a few different nations represented; Germany, UK, Canada, Mexico, Uganda, Kenya, Sweden, Brazil, and more that I know were there. I love how God brings all of the different tribes and cultures together and how fun it is to learn from each other, even the ways that we worship the Lord. I know I am going to LOVE heaven when I get to see so much more!
Because of the war in Sudan (not South Sudan), the airspace above it is now a no-fly zone. So, whenever I travel to anywhere Europe or the USA, our plane goes all the way over to Yemen and curves back around to Amsterdam. It adds another 90 minutes to an already long flight. This war, all these wars, really do affect the nations at large. I know that men mostly fight for power and control and greed but I still cannot wrap my mind around how they have no thought for all the people who have to suffer the fallout. When we send our children to visit relatives, they have to mostly go to refugee camps. This year we have to also send food since the UN stopped food distribution. Even within the borders of South Sudan there are over 2 million people in an internally displaced refugee camp. This is where they originally wanted to put our kids! The struggle is real.
The children have been on Spring Break here as our year starts at the beginning of the year. I decided to take the little ones to Murcheson Falls National Wildlife Park and through the wild animal park. It is one hundred kilometers of beauty and all wild, seeing elephants, water buffalo, antelope, warthogs, giraffes and many other animals including monkeys and baboons. It was such fun to see the wonder in the eyes of the children. On the way back, while still in the park, the heavens opened and a deluge of rain poured out on us. We had to stop because our Land Cruiser back doors are not sealed anymore as it is old and very, very lovingly but hard used, and we had a literal waterfall of water inside the doors! I finally figured out to open the doors and hang folded towels and slam the door shut, making a seal. We were all soaked and laughing at having a waterfall inside our car after having seen a real waterfall. Our Land Cruiser is now old and has had many repairs. Sometimes we fix leaks with caulking, sometimes with towels – lolol.
This week I was able to meet with the Vice Chairperson for our really large district and had a wonderful exchange with her. She also heads a women’s rights group at the government level to ensure that the girl child is represented and that women have access to equal employment and pay. She was so happy to hear about all that we do for children and child rights and also about our girl’s mentorship program. She asked if she could attend our next meeting with the girls in October and to bring her group of twelve women. This is such great news and gives our village girls more eyes on them from government offices.
Finally, last night we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the beginning of God’s creation and starts the ten Days of Awe, the High Holy Days. We blew shofars and praised the Lord and ended the night with sodas and pumpkin and pineapple pies! We are teaching our children about the Jewish calendar and how important it is to know the times and seasons of God. They also really like learning about these things. I had downloaded a four-minute MP3 file of the shofars being blown over Jerusalem and put it on our loud speakers and the sound went throughout our village! Our neighbors heard it for sure. We felt the atmosphere shift. It’s incredible when you hear that sound. Love and blessings to all of you from all of us!