Fallen

Today I saw a pair of 1 dollar sandals stolen from a dying man's feet.

I saw people vandalizing a wrecked lorry without regard to the dying man laying in the grass within their view.

I saw people taking pictures of his wounded head with their cell phones instead of calling for help.

I saw a lathargic group of health workers try to avoid treating him.

Today I caressed the hand and arm of a suffering man - praying that he was saved - praying that he would die - so that his suffering could cease.

I am reminded that we live in a fallen world.

I hope with all my heart that this man is in Heaven with our Saviour tonight.

Cooking with Jane: Premier

When I first arrived in Uganda I wondered, "Why do they pick their bananas when they're still so green? And how come I can't find huge 'yellow' bananas on the market like that? Where do they all go?"

Yeah, they were plantains.

So Jane is teaching me how to make matoke (aka banana mush) these days. Actually it's made from plantains. You can't peel them with your fingers like our sweet yellow bananas. You must peel them like a potato with a knife. (They actually taste more like a potato too.) It's fun peeling with Jane. She's a great teacher!

So after you peal, you simply boil till soft and then mush. Just like mashed potatoes, but a bit more rubbery and no additives needed.

I do enjoy matoke - even prefer it to rice. But only at our teamhouse. No one else makes it as good as Jane.

The beginning of Moses' story

Moses is a very special child in Buremba. He has no blood-relatives here, but he is more famous than any other child. He was brought to Buremba with his mother when he was still a nursing baby.

Community members from Buremba found Moses' mom laying helplessly along the dirt road that led to their village. They say that she was obviously very ill - both physically and mentally. She had Moses in her arms, so they picked both of them up and took them to the local health clinic.

Moses' mom wasn't in the clinic for 24 hours when she died. Moses was still attached to her breast feeding when they found that she had stopped breathing. She obviously loved her precious son until her last breath - making sure she cared for him until the last moment of their lives together.

No one can say exactly why Moses' mom died, nor what caused her health issues because no one knew her. They can't even tell me her name. She was not from Buremba. They just found her and Moses and tried to help them before she died. It was a blessed act of kindness - particularly for Moses.

The clinic advertised in the community when Moses was orphaned. They asked that someone come and care for him, despite his lack of relatives. Unfortunately, he was already malnourished and sickly. It was unlikely that anyone would take him in such a condition (the community explained this to me.) However, Mary saw Moses and desired to care for him. With Mary's care and the help of the community, Moses became a healthy little boy within a couple years. And today he is absolutely vibrant!

So that's the beginning of his story. God miraculously saved Moses' life.

Please continue to pray for him and his caretaker, Mary. That God would re-light that mother's love into her heart - that she would properly care for this precious boy - that even now, Moses would be growing into a strong man of God.

I will be posting more on Moses in the coming weeks...

Richard - my Rich man

I attended a local government meeting regarding water and sanitation, today. I met a lot of new people. Here's one of my more entertaining conversations.

"Have I met you? Who are you?"

"No. I'm Melanie. I work for Samaritan's Purse."

"I'm Richard. You're very lucky to have met me. I am from Kahunge. Do you know Kahuge?"

"Somehow. I have been to that place, but I do not know your people there."

"You really are a very lucky woman to have met me. I am the richest man in Kahunge. You have just met a very rich man!! Aren't you happy?"

"Yes, of course." (I hold back an eye roll. I think.)

"Yes. I am so rich. I will tell you my forture. I own 4 goats! They all belong to me. I take care of them all myself."

Then I laughed along with others who were listening to our conversation. I realized I found a comedian. We live in the land of cattle. Many of these people are "rich" by village standards - because of their many cattle. But goats (though valuable) do not make people rich here. It just makes for a good laugh. Thanks, Richard.

Prayer

(Children praying after our Hygiene Fair this week - precious)

I love praying with my team. We pray every morning together, before and after our devotions. We pray for our project, our community, other projects and offices all over the world. We even pray for you. And we especially enjoy praying for one another. It binds us together. God binds us together.

"In Him we are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." Ephesians 2:22

I feel God's presence dwelling with us here in Buremba. I know that His hand is all over this project. And I know it is a response to our prayers - all of ours - yours included. Thank you so much for praying with us. Thank you for being so near in heart.

"In Christ Jesus you who were far away have been brough near, through the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:13

It's really amazing that any of us can have a relationship with God. It is only Christ who has brought us near to God. And it is only Christ that brings you near to me.

I wish I could be praying under the same roof as you today, but I am comforted knowing that someday, we will all be together again. Someday, there will be no more goodbyes. For those of us who know Jesus as our Saviour.

Please, spend time with Jesus today. Talk to Him. Pray. He's anxious to be with you. He loves you so much.

Amos and Justine

(Amos teaching children about good health and hygiene, two days ago)

Please pray for my friends Amos and Justine. For the past six months, we've been rejoicing about Justine's pregnancy. When I visited her last week, I commented on how healthy she seemed. So active and glowing. Justine went into the hospital yesterday to deliver their baby boy. Sadly, their little boy died the same day. The reason is still unknown. This is the third child that they've lost in their three years of marriage. Amos and Justine are heartbroken. Please pray.

More on bugs...

It is indeed the rainy season as I've said before. This means that I have extra rats and bugs at my house/office in the village. Above are some pictures of my new friends. They are the most annoying friends I think I've ever had. That's why we decided to roast some of them for a little snack. You can see Jane preparing our termites for a crunchy delicacy above. Unfortunately, we weren't able to eat them all. The guy on the middle right is poisonous would scream every time I tried to remove him from my mosquito net. Seriously - he screamed. It was weird. (And I should correct myself, it was William who was removing him from my mosquito net.) That moth in the upper right was so big that I thought he was a small bat flying around in my office.

I must say, it is nice having other ladies around. Jane and Juliet (both pictured above) don't like these bugs either. We've had some fun jumping, screaming, and cooking them together. Maybe God is using these bugs to develop some closer friendships ... I'd like to think there's some good reason for them...

'Bans don't cut abortion rates'

This is an interesting article. It doesn't come from a Christian source, nor does it use the bible for its foundation. Therefore, please do not take this and run too far with it. However, I like the author's view of women's freedom. It's not about giving women freedom to chose to have an abortion. It's about a woman's freedom to chose to become pregnant or not - before conception. Particularly in developing or less-developed countries I think this is crucial.

I admit, I am not giving this blog post enough time. But regardless, it's food for thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8305217.stm

But to be clear - I do support bans against abortion.

No accident, no problem

"Hey William - can you come check this thing out? It looks like a spider nest or something. But there's no web. But I think I see a big spider growing in there. Seriously Big."

"Oh Melan, it's no problem. If there's an accident, you die. But no accident, no problem."

"Kill it, William - seriously!!"

"Haha. No problem, Melan."

Spider dies.

Melan sleeps.

Life is good.

Planting seeds

(Church in Oru Tabo)

This weekend our Household Water Team was invited to preach and show the Jesus film in two of our communities where they had been constructing water filters, sharing bible stories and praying.

Over the past three days, we shared the Jesus film with more than 500 community members. On Friday, they showed the film and spent all night praying with the village of Oru Tabo. On Saturday they remained in this village to continue sharing with them and on Sunday they shared the Jesus film with more than 300 men, women, and children from a neighboring village named Omun Tebe.

Many of our men shared with me this morning about the amazing work God was doing. They spoke of healings and new committments to Jesus. One man said, "The people of Oru Tabo couldn't believe that our organization would bring this message to them. But I responded, it isn't our organization that brings this message - it is God."

"It is as if they know the Bible, but they have never understood it. This message was new to them. Salvation through Christ - not through works."

Please pray that God would grow the seeds that have been planted. Pray that many will place their faith in Christ for their salvation - not in their works. And please pray that God would receive all the praise and glory for the great work that's being done - physically and spiritually.

Shallow wells and public health

"During the dry seaon, our old water source would dry up or any water remaining was extremely muddy. We would have to walk as many as 2 hours (one-way) to find another source that could be boiled for drinking. But now, this well is so deep! It supplies us drinking water - even during the dry season. And it only takes 5 minutes to walk there" Wilson says.

Wilson and his family (pictured on left) live in a community we serve. They have worked very hard to dig and construct a new shallow well for their village. We came along side them and provided the technical expertise and a few expensive materials that were needed to complete their work. Since this well has been functioning, many community members say that their families are experiencing less (if any) sickness.

In addition to having a clean water source, they have been taught how to keep their families healthy by storing their water safely and practicing good hygiene. Gadson (pictured bottom right) is one of our Public Health Educators who works hard to improve the health of our community members through education and demonstrations.

Next week, Gadson and I will be visiting a nearby village that has been suffering from a recent Cholera outbreak. (Cholera is a preventable disease (acute diarrhea) resulting from poor sanitation. It is rapidly fatal - infected persons can die within hours.) Gadson will be training trainers how to properly educate this community about good hygiene and sanitation practices - in order to prevent any further cases. Please pray that the Cholera is controlled, and that those identified cases will be successfully treated.

Heaven

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. God, who is seated on the throne, says to us "I am making all things new!" Revelation 21:3-5

Steve Murphy has gone to Heaven to live with His beloved Saviour.

Please pray for His family, as they will be dearly missing him here on earth.

www.prayforian.blogspot.com

Thank you.

Happy Sunday

"Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God - even with my dying breath.

He is the one who made heaven and earth - the sea and everything in it. He is the one who keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and sets the prisoner free.

Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God - even with my dying breath.

He is the one who feeds the hungry - opens the eyes of the blind. He lifts up the burdens of those beneath heavy loads. The stranger He protects and the righteous one he loves.

Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God - even with my dying breath.

The Lord will reign forever! Our God is king to all generations. The Lord will reign forever - our God.

We will praise the Lord - oh my soul. We will praise the Lord as long as we live. We will sing praises to our God - even with our dying breath."

A great reminder of who our God is ... praising Him with you! Happy Sunday!

Oh the joys of Kampala...

My pick-up truck is beautiful again (after her accident) and ready for me to take out to the field. So, I had to come back to Kampala to pick her up. While I'm here, it's great to be enjoying some of the finer things of life...

• Friends at the house (Lily and Ryan - they're both new and I love them already!)
• Speaking "American" English (and having people understand me)
• Bowls of cereal
• Hot falling-water showers
• Clean bedroom, clean bathroom, clean kitchen, clean dishes ....
• Washing machine
• Pleasant streets for jogging
• Flowers
• Supermarkets
• Fridgerators
• Salads

And I've only been here for 12 hours. Ahhh...it's just so wonderful....thank you, Lord!

Rainy Season

(Bihanga rains - one brave and strong little girl)

This poor little girl got stuck in the rain yesterday. Man, she's a trooper! Those yellow jerrycans of water are seriously heavy (25 lbs/ea maybe) and this rain was coming down like something fierce. I wish I could have invited her in for some hot cocoa...

So it's rainy season again in Uganda. We get two rainy seasons a year in the West - an amazing blessing. That is why we can grow a ridiculous amount of bananas, and why we eat matoke (plaintain mush) for every meal. It rains for about 30 minutes to 1 hour a day, maybe three or four times a week. In between rains, are blue skies. This is so different from Liberia where it would rain for days - even weeks on end - without even a speck of blue on the horizon.

These rains are so important for our people right now. If it is a good season, then a good harvest can be expected and water sources should be more plentiful. If it is a bad season, then "people will suffer." Living here makes me very aware of the importance of rain to ensure a healthy livelihood - specifically for our team and little Moses.

Feel free to pray with us for the rain. Trusting that God will provide exactly the amount that He knows we need...

Cotton tail for dinner

As we were driving home, we were having a serious conversation about being thankful to God for keeping the cockroaches out of our noses and spiders out of our ears. And then all of a sudden, Julius starts swerving the Landcruiser pickup all over the road chanting "meat, meat, meat!" I started screaming "no, no, noooo!" We felt a little thump and quickly shifted into reverse to either find a big rock, or our dinner. It was dinner, and I was sad. We just hit an innocent little rabbit. Julius jumps out of the truck to throw him in the bed. We raced home, and the guys fried up our little cotton tail. I have to admit, he did taste pretty good.