I am praising the Lord that I finally have internet! I should be able to connect daily now! My day is coming to a close and I’m just about too tired to blog, however, I have been waiting for two weeks to have internet and today so many wonderful things happened, I must write.

I want to share with you about 5 people who impacted my life today. The first person is my friend Edith. She is much like a social worker here at the orphan school; she knows all the orphans and their history. She and I worked together while I was here last year, and now we are working together even more. She spent the day with me today and accompanied me on some home visits as well as walked me through Busia and helped me find my way around. I will close this blog with more information about her and our day.

Edith and me

Two other people I want to share about is a elderly Grandmother who cares for 4 of her young grandsons, one of whom has aids, as well as the Mother of another child with aids. It was this horrible disease that prompted our visit today.

The Grandmother and me

Mother, daughter and me

While we’re visiting in the second home, the guardian of one of our kindergarten students saw us and showed us the little boy who has a bad infected tooth. It was obvious that he was in so much pain from it. It cost 5000 shillings for this little boy to have the tooth out, but no one in the family has the money. 5000 shillings is $2.50. We were on our way to visit our most critical person, so the school nurse couldn’t turn loose and take the boy. However, tomorrow I am sending the money with her to get him some help. I know that I can’t help everyone because I have to have money to live on, but I am positive that God will provide for my needs as I share what has been provided for me.

Rodgers is an orphan and hasn’t had parents for a long time. In the past few years that he has been sick, the person he was staying with never really thought he was sick. They always wanted him to go get a job and help even though he could barely walk. When he learned unless the Lord intervened he would lose his life, I thought my heart was going to break into. You could hear his sobs as the reality of his critical condition became clear to him. The most difficult part of learning this news was that he didn’t have anyone to stand with him. I knew at the moment the Lord had sent Rodgers into my life because I will do everything I can to be standing with him.

Rodgers and me

Today, Rodgers was on my visit list. When we arrived where he has been staying we learned that he had moved to live with another family member on Saturday. For a few minutes as Edith was learning the circumstances of where he had gone, I was so afraid that he had moved where I wouldn’t see him again. Then we learned that he been moved several miles away and so we began our journey to find him.

Edith, the school nurse and I started out on our journey with the two of them on their bicycles and I was on the back of a bora bora (a bicycle with a driver). As we were going down the major road in Busia that connects less than a mile from the Kenya border, I realized something very important. I am okay riding my bicycle from the mission house to the school, but it is so worth the small change it takes to have a driver for that main road! When we had passed through the middle of the second set of two big tanker trucks that made my decision clear! We traveled several miles and many times the big trucks came flying by and I could have reached the sides of them from the back of the bicycle! I think it’s a great blessing here that the bora bora drivers sit high on their bicycles in front of you because you can’t see what is coming straight at you!

Leaving the main road we headed into the bush to find where Rodgers is now living. The path was overgrown and at one point our bicycle actually wrecked. Eventually we gave up and began walking, pushing the bicycles. My heart was overjoyed when we found the hut where Rodgers now lives. He was sitting outside under a tree when we pulled up. The look on his face was priceless when he saw that we had come to find him.

He looked better than he had on Saturday when I saw him. The medicines given him were helping with the swelling of everywhere but his legs and feet, both of which were still swelled terribly. In our visit with him we learned that he is now staying there with an Aunt.

As you can tell from the picture of the hut they live in, he has nothing. Not even a mattress to lie down on. Just as we were leaving he told us he didn’t have any food as is so common here. Once again my heart was breaking. Here is this incredible kid with a contagious smile and the gentlest spirit about him who has lost his parents and is dying in a hut on the ground with no food to eat. Now he is not accessible to me on the daily basis I had planned on because of the distance away as well as the location of his hut. I gave him what food I had in my backpack and that will sustain him tonight and hopefully tomorrow God will provide not only the food he needs, but the transportation to get it to him.

Rodgers Hut

Okay, I know this is a long post but I’ve one more person to share about. I want to tell you about my bicycle driver whose name is Idi. In the long drive we had out to visit Rodgers, Idi in his broken English began to tell him about being a Christian. I responded to what he had said and told him how thankful I was to hear he was a Christian. I loved what he said next, he said very boldly, I am a born again Christian. I began to try to recall when was the last time I said more than I am a Christian. When was the last time I showed the boldness Idi showed today that clarified what being a Christian was to him. How ashamed I became when I realized it had been too long.

On our way back after our visit, I learned more about Idi. He was born into a Muslim family and was rejected when he became a born again Christian. He talked about how hard it had been for him because he was a teenager when he surrendered his life to the Lord. It was awesome to hear him give God glory and honor for getting him through those first tough years on his own without his family.

Idi

As I first mentioned, I am so tired and the heat has taken a toll on me physically being outside all day, but I will lay my head down on my pillow in just a few minutes knowing that I helped make a difference in the lives of the people whose own lives impacted mine today.  I am honored that God picked me to come here. I love being His girl.

Now back to my friend Edith who walked every step of the way today with me. As she and I parted ways at the end of the day, I came back here to the mission house where there is running water, (well normally there should be running water, but today is the fourth day with no running water and no inside bathroom.) And I also have electricity. Edith went home to a different life in her hut. She still had to ride her bicycle several miles back home, get her water jugs and walk to get their daily water supply. She had to cook supper over an open fire for her own two children as well as the three orphans she cares for. Now that it is dark, her only light source is a single candle.

Here I sit although wishing I could take a shower and use the inside toilet, finding myself very blessed. I sit here with lights overhead, cold water in the refrigerator and electric fans keeping me cool. Although our lives are different, I know that Edith will also go to sleep tonight feeling just as elated as I feel that we were able to help others today. I pray God will bless Edith in a special way.

I want to encourage everyone who reads my blogs to prayerfully consider coming here with one of our teams this year. We need help here and I can promise that you will never be the same once you’ve given of yourself to help our children here. My home church, Blackshear Place Baptist Church back in Flowery Branch Georgia is bringing a team in July.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on the way back from visiting Rodgers, a bracket on the front of Idi’s bicycle broke. He had to get me another driver. The new driver and I had gone maybe a quarter of a mile and he hit a rock and the tire busted! So, I walked the rest of the way…about 2 miles! I guess this is my new normal…. all in a day’s work as a missionary~

I now have a new mailing address for here. Support should continue to be sent to the PO Box listed on my support page, but this address here can be used to send letters, etc.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – Uganda