The current flow of life

Zaina with her baby Musa

Bryan 
Bryan’s Mexican cooking has gone well. It requires above average levels of washing up, but on the other hand we make enough for plenty of leftovers, so it balances out. Except for collecting loan repayments on call, Bryan has been spending hours a day reading the Bible, listening to sermons, and researching sticky and bizarre Bible topics. If you need a good debate, he’s your man. I love that my husband has ample time for such activities. As what we do influences what we talk about, our conversation is full of meaningful, interesting and inspirational points.

A cultural stress point
I was feeling so uplifted by being with the young mothers yesterday. Then on the way home, I ended up walking alongside men leading a man they’d chained. One can assume he was a thief. (Thieves here do not go lightly punished and it’s a communal affair.) They stopped with him at a certain point. I kept going, following my instinct not to look back. Although I have my points of disagreement, I understand: that punishment prevents further theft; that neighbours need to help out or else they won’t be helped when they have problems of theft; that shaming them by laughing is off-putting; and that the Ugandan justice system is unreliable. However, I do not get why people who aren’t involved and who won’t be affected need to get involved. Mob justice – what should I do about you? When I reached home I chose to pray and worship rather than dwell on negative thoughts and images. I felt better almost immediately. Then, as a God-timing bonus to the restoration of my inner peace, Bryan passed me the phone to talk to my in-laws.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." ~ Matthew 5:9

The Jinja Crisis Pregnancy Centre

Florence with her twin girls

I remain committed to my 3 days helping out at the Jinja Crisis Pregnancy Centre (JCPC).  We’ve added 2 ladies over the past few weeks. These additional ladies actually have 1 year olds, however they’re very underweight so we felt it was the right thing to do. The JCPC ladies are opening up to me more every week. (On average that is, there’s always some who come when they’re too tired or distracted by home issues to properly engage.) Yesterday afternoon I spoke to the group on Luke 4. This chapter recounts the time when Jesus has just been baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit, is led into the wilderness for a 40 day fast, and resists temptations from the devil. It opened up some great discussion on the reality of temptations; that victorious living means that there is a struggle but that in Christ we have the power to overcome. The ladies brought up their own examples of daily triumph, such as refusing to fight because they’re children of God, or rebuking demons that come at night. We can’t choose how the ladies receive or live out such messages, but we sure can pray that it’s all part of the puzzle of transforming their lives into hope and purpose.

I strongly believe that praying for people is the best thing we can do for someone. That’s why I have made prayer cards for each of the 24 ladies. I’m going to send them to some of you. I figured that if each lady has someone specifically praying them every week for a year, say from Christmas 2012 to Christmas 2013, there’s definitely going to be change seen in their lives.

"Therefore confess you sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." ~ James 5:16

Night and Mary

One of the new ladies, Night, is the younger sister to our friend Fausta. Her daughter, Mary, is 1 year and 4 months old (we think) but only weighed as much as the 5 month old babies. Darling Mary was so fearful of people. She liked me for some reason, which was nice because a few of the children took weeks to be comfortable with me (or even up to now). However, yesterday, after starting off the session with the normal tears when Sarah weighed her, she became very playful. Unfortunately, I thought she would enjoy being lifted up. You know how normally when you lift little kids above your head they giggle? Well, not Mary. Back to mum’s lap she went! My bad – I won’t be pulling out that fun trick again!




Join me in prayer
Praise reports:
- Bryan’s time to seek God and Bible knowledge.
- That Night and Rose could join the program, with their babies Mary and Mukisa.
- For the lady who no longer gets images of her late husband disturbing her.
- For improved weight almost weekly for most of the babies.
- For the ladies’ regular attendance and improved participation.
- Despite the massive gaps in our fence where the poles were stolen, no thief has come (note that the gaps have now been wired shut).

Prayer requests:
- That Bryan and I would hear and be faithful to do what God guides us to in 2013.
- For the women to take away the JCPC lessons and encouragements, and so be uplifted in their daily lives. That those suffering emotional trauma will understand, be counselled and healed.
- For Bob and Carolyn on furlough, to be rested, strengthened in their relationships with friends and family, and to have successful awareness raising and fundraising where they speak.
- That the Jinja police will be faithful in keeping justice and that in turn citizens would entrust that responsibility to them.
- That the prayer cards will reach their destinations.

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favour as with a shield." ~ Psalm 5:11-12