Edwin

We want to thank each and every one of you that reached out to us with prayer and funds after our last medical blog. God is faithful to His kids and many of our sponsorships have been covered. In light of all the blessings we have received, we have incurred some more medical expenses for Edwin. The process for his cast removal will be more expensive than expected. 

We were told by the doctor today that he will need another x-ray, along with a minor surgical procedure to remove the 2 metal pins that have held his ankle together the past 7 weeks. Instead of the expected $400 it has increased to $800, and we have $200 towards the surgery so far. We are looking to raise $600 in the next week for Edwin.

Like any kid with an itchy, uncomfortable cast, Edwin is ready to have it removed. Even with all the delay and lack of funds, Edwin has been amazingly patient. He is an example to all of us what joy looks and acts like in the midst of trials. He has that same smile with or without the cast, but we have a feeling it’s going to get even brighter once it’s removed! 

If you are interested in giving, whether in part or in full, towards Edwin’s cast removal; please visit our blog at http://www.hispicketfence.blogspot.com  to give through paypal or send a donation by check to:  

Doors Ministries

282 Lee Road

Cottontown, TN 37048 

4 seconds.

 Jack gave a really good lesson before our day started on the Nile rapids.  Don’t let go of your T-grip, if I say paddle, do it like your life depends on it (because it just might), if I say get down and hold on, do it, and no matter what- don’t panic.  If you go under you will pop up in about 4-10 seconds.  

 I had been rafting a few times before, nothing like the Nile, but I was pretty sure I could handle it. I like adventure, I like outside, I like water,  I can do at least 10 push-ups.  Let’s raft!  My Bear Grills mentality was going strong up until I adjusted my life vest and met our bearded guide Jack who looked like he could wrestle a crocodile while going down a class 6 rapid.  I didn’t have much time to think about how scared I was because after our 10-minute lesson on how to survive the Nile we were off.  Jack informed us that the first rapid was a class 5 and the most dangerous of the day.  

Gulp.  Paddle. Breathe.

We didn’t flip and we all were pretty proud of ourselves.

The next rapid came quickly.  We did everything Jack told us to do.  The wave came as fast and high as the last one.  Before I knew it I didn’t feel the boat under my butt, wait… where is my paddle?... where is the surface?... Oh crap… rocks…it seemed a lot longer than it was.  I had time to ask Jesus to pop me up out of the water, I had time to remember Psalm 27 I read that morning, I had time to remember that Jack was gonna yell at me for not holding on tight enough... then I saw the sun. 

Whew.  I can breathe.

Some ripped rescue kayaker came quickly, and as quickly as it happened I was back with my friends and Jack handing me my paddle. 

God taught me a lot in those 4 seconds.  There have been countless times in Uganda when my fear threatened to overtake my faith, times when I just wasn’t strong enough to hold on, moments when my greatest loves and desires looked me in the face and said “You’re not good enough.”  I always come to the surface, the sun beaming down, and Jesus is right there handing me my paddle, pulling me back in.  Jesus is with me and I am all in to His adventure. 

“The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?” –Psalm 27:1

Prossy and Crew

I find myself with a lot of questions living in Uganda. What is helping and what is hurting? Is offering free medical care to a family hurting them more than helping them? What if I know that they have absolutely no money to go to the doctor? Do I stand by and say “Pray harder” or “Sorry, you should have made more money for yourself.” 

Of course, none of that goes through your head when you get a phone call that a little girl from your school has been unconscious with a fever for most of the day. You don’t think about how your medical budget has dwindled to nothing when your holding that eight year old against your chest, crying as you pray over her, for the twenty minutes it takes to get the hospital. 

I am fully aware that paying for every persons medical bills in Doors Primary and the slum of Namuwongo is not sustainable and that there needs to be a better way to help children and families who cannot afford their medical care, but until that method is developed we are relying on your sponsorship. 

Friends, we’re in desperate need for medical sponsorships. This is one of the many cases that have come up in the past month, and we struggle to pay for these cases and the cases that are to come. 

Please pray about partnering with us to support DOORS medical work within the slum of Namuwongo, as well as, a case within our own home. If you are interested in helping sponsor one of the cases below, there are two ways that you can contribute. You can mail a check to the address below, or click on the link below to access our Paypal account through our blog. You can e-mail us with any questions at findingyourfence@gmail.com. 

Doors Ministries
282 Lee Road                                           
Cottontown, TN 37048 

 http://www.hispicketfence.blogspot.org

Prossy...Prossy is the eight year old girl that we found unconscious with a fever and took to the hospital. She tested positive for a very strong case of malaria, (a normal malaria blood count has 5-10 parasites and her blood count contained 50 parasites) which led to a 4 day hospital stay and intense treatment. We are looking for a sponsorship to cover her medical bills of $82. If you are interested in sponsoring Prossy, whether partially or in full, please include her name in the memo line of your check or on your paypal donation. 

Edwin... Edwin is a boy within the Doors Home who at the beginning of July, had a bicycle accident and broke his ankle as well as dislocated it. He was rushed into surgery and was put in a cast for the next 8 weeks. The boys within the Doors Home are covered with a medical sponsorship, but the sponsorship was not enough to pay for the $3000 surgery. For Edwin’s case, we had a few donors come forward and help with the surgery, but now at the end of his 8 weeks he needs to have his cast removed and the metal taken out of his ankle. We are looking to be able to remove his cast and his metal implants within the next week, but we are lacking the $400 to make this happen. If you are interested in sponsoring Edwin, whether partially or in full, please put “Edwin” in the memo line of your check or on your paypal donation.

Vivian, Alex, and Justine... Justine is the mother to Prossy, as Vivian and Alex are her brother and sister, all who also fell sick with malaria during the time that Prossy was hospitalized. We were able to treat them all before the malaria progressed for a total of $28. If you are interested in sponsoring Prossy’s family, please put “Justine” in the memo line of your check or on your paypal donation.

Simon... Simon is a 9 year old boy who is in the nursery class in Doors Primary. For the 17 months that we have known him, he has had a double ear infection that oozes from his ears. We have taken him to the hospital several times and he has been treated with iv medication, steroids, and antibiotics; but nothing has been able to stop this ear infection that he has had since he was born. It causes him much pain and he is very behind in school, due to many sick days and not being able to hear well. We are beginning to save money to help Simon get a much needed surgery. We are unsure of how much the total hospital stay and surgery will be, but we are looking to raise a start up fund of $2000 before we proceed with Simon getting the surgery. If you are interested in sponsoring Simon, whether partially or in full, please put “Simon” in the memo line of your check or on your paypal donation.

The next step that Doors is trying to take in order to have more sustainable medical care, is to be able to test for malaria and provide medications to our children in Namuwongo from our own outreach center.  We have the nurse, we have the clinic, and we have plenty of sick kids. What’s missing?  The medications and blood testing equipment.  The needed funds for the testing and the medications are $300.  If you are interested in sponsoring the Namuwongo Clinic, whether partially or in full, please put “Clinic” in the memo line of your check or on your paypal donation.  



If these sponsorships become fully funded, any additional gifts will help Doors Ministries continue to provide quality medical care to more of the people we serve.

Check!

  

 We love to make lists, prioritization charts, and goals don’t we?  It’s what we are taught to do because it would be crazy to go to the grocery store before you go to the bank to withdraw money.  It’s a natural human instinct and it has helped us out a lot.

Make spear. Run down animal.  Eat. 

It’s been going on for a while, and I think as humans we are quite good at it by now.

We have become so efficient in fact, that we fail miserably when it comes to walking with Jesus.  I think I have figured it out and organized everything so well that it isn’t until I fall on my face, bloody, tears streaming, and broken that I realize my check list was all wrong.  That all the things, activities, and people I put before “Coming unto Jesus” have transformed into detestable idols that have “become a burden to me and carried me off into captivity” (Isaiah 46).

If I decide to be a nurse before I am a forgiven daughter of Christ, I will hate those beautiful, sick children I see every day. If I decide to be a best friend or sister to someone before I am a pure child of God, I will curse those friends in my heart and murder them with my thoughts.  If I decide to work for a non-profit before I am a servant of Christ I will hate ministry, single mothers, and feeding the hungry.  If I try to love, without first realizing the infinite love that Jesus has for me I will be fake and religious. 

How do I know?  Because I have felt it and seen it happen over and over in my heart.

The Lord has called me back to America for some time in September, till who knows when.  I get the question- “What has been the biggest lesson during your time in Uganda?”  That question used to take some thought, but not anymore.  There is a song in my heart that beckons me to sing out loud to myself, churches, organizations, and families everywhere. 

Love the Lord your God with ALL your HEART.  Any thing, person, or place you put on His throne will carry you away into captivity.  Don’t let any outside force or the inward love of self get in your way of getting closer to Jesus.

Go ahead, make your checklist.  But keep in mind that if Jesus isn’t the first on your list or in your heart, the day will be a messy disaster, whether you know it yet or not.  If Jesus is above all things, know with peaceful certainty that your list may still be messed up by His own doing and know that you are in perfect order of His perfect plan for the world and yourself.  

“What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.  Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are far from righteousness.  I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed.  I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.” –Isaiah 46:11-13

choking on wheat thins

I like to run on days when my brain is working harder than my hands, 

I want my hands, feet, legs, arms, and nose to be consumed with whats in front of me,

I want my heart to break over something or someone so I can find a safe place in what I’m doing,

So I don’t give in to the thoughts....

why are you still here? 

what did you do today that was beneficial? 

where are the results? 

where is the provision? 

is this really going to matter in the long run? 

Thoughts that I flee from because I am tired of playing defense and it’s easier not to think at all...and it appears that if my hands are busy, the thoughts retreat to some far off place. Thoughts that can choke you - until you either swallow them or spit them out.

There are days that my mind is choked by thoughts to the point where I can’t even hear myself speak. 

It is not from the Spirit of God to flee from these thoughts, to busy our hands and wishfully think that they will go away. They don’t. They grow. 

It’s hard to seek wisdom or the right path from God when these thoughts are dominating your brain - because our escape from them can become our idol. 

Ive learned that we don’t need to escape, but we need to conquer. Even though it may be the hardest words that have come out of your mouth, the driest song that your heart has ever attempted to sing, words that make you feel fake and insincere, praise needs to come forth. 

I have to retire to solitude and even if it feels like I just swallowed a wheat thin whole, “Jesus you are good” needs to come out of my mouth. 

And it may take me saying that ten times, forty times, however many; before praise bursts forth. My thoughts can not become louder than the song in my heart. And sometimes we have to set out to sing even when we don’t want to.

Praise restores. 

Praise drowns out the roar of questions as I look at the answer. 

Praise gives us the grace to walk through our present circumstances and to even consider them grace, no matter what the situation, because our eyes are fixed on the end, not on the moment. 

Take the romance out of it

I don’t look at this dirt under my feet and proclaim “I LOVE YOU!” 
Or stare at my charcoal stove and think “I could never live another day without you!”
And I certainly don’t tell the boda boda as I get on, “I trust you.” 

I don’t walk through the booming loud slum and say to it “I want you to be louder.” 
Or walk through the city where you can’t move one foot without bumping into someone and say “I want you to be closer.” 
And I don’t look to these children and announce “You guys are all I’m living for.” 

When I slip in the slum and land on my butt, I don’t look to the ground and say “Thank you for catching me.” 
Or when he cheats me because of the color of my skin, there is no “Thank you for teaching me” that comes from my mouth. 
And I don’t sing “Africa, you are perfect and HOLY!” 

I see widows prostituting, children starving, the rich not caring for their own, families hopeless, missionaries burnt out, people dying, empty bank accounts, kids who don’t dream about their future because they have HIV, schools that costs too much money, families that look to me to save them, and dads who can’t carry the weight of responsibility that hovers over them and chokes them until they break and leave, and I don’t declare “Uganda, you love justice!” 

There is no romance there. I don’t want to be pursued by Uganda.

And I don’t want to pursue Uganda, because we would not be equally yoked. 

We were made to worship. There is only One that can hold the weight of our worship. If we put the weight of our worship on our jobs, our families, entertaining ourselves, or even the place that we desire to go to serve the Lord - all of those things will surely crack. They can’t hold the weight of worship. Worship was defined for One. 

There is an outlook that many Christians have towards missions that entails these thoughts of great adventure, living with immense purpose, and walking around soaring on wings like eagles. 

There are plenty of days that I feel without purpose. There are plenty of days that I just want to see my friends and do something fun even though I know there are sick mothers I need to see. There are plenty of days that I want to make a plate of chocolate chip cookies and curl up by a fire. The place doesn’t create the purpose. The romance is not in the mission. The romance is not going across the world where you have to light a fire with a plastic bag and some charcoal, scrub your clothes clean with your bare hands, always have dirty feet and sweat dripping down your face, and you hold sick, dying, and unloved children every day. Don't be blinded by that, it's not fun. 

Once I let the romance drain from every spot that I misplaced it, and after every broken heart heals that I've experienced because the place doesn't love me as much as I loved it, and when I realized that this place needs WAY more than I on my own can offer, the idol that we so often make of modern day missions comes crashing down. 

The romance is that there is a Maker whose love covers every wrong and He is everywhere. He calls me His own. God has brought me to a place that exposes who I am to the core and I was the first to learn that I’m not a hero, but that I’m loved by One. 

We can’t wait to be loved. We can't wait until we get "there" until we start living the way that He desires us to live as loved. We can’t be more excited about where God is going to call us, than we are to spend time with Him. We can’t worship the gift more than the Giver. We can’t look at a problem and think it needs you, more than it needs God.  He is waiting for us.