Ever since I have been serving here in East Africa there is one thing you can always depend on no matter where you go, or so I thought until this week. No matter where you go there are always more children than you know what to do with. Even at the events being held for adults, still the children come from everywhere. This has been true for the conferences we’ve been doing. There is never enough room for the adults much less the children in these churches that hold these events.

At each conference I always set aside time for the children to enjoy something special. A family from my home church, Will and Bernadette Campbell and their children made their Christmas project something I could use here for the children. They purchased some Veggie Tale videos and it has been such a joy for the children to watch them. I wish I could capture in words what its like to listen to them laugh, really laugh.

Each week there is no where left in the church for the children to sit, that is until this week. I had noticed the low number of children once I arrived there, but it wasn’t until I had movie time for them did I realize just how few there really were. There were less than 25 children and that is just not normal. Last week there were over 150 and thats about the average everywhere I go.

This week I stayed in the center of an area where sugar cane is grown everywhere. The roads and huts/houses all bunt up to the edges of the sugar cane fields. The sugar cane fields cause the mosquitos to be worse and my heart ached as I learned that 3/4 of all the children born in this region die from Malaria before they are 5 years old. They do not have access to any medical faculities because the distance is great. Most often they have no money to take their children to a doctor and when they do the journey is so far that the doctors can’t save the childrens lives.

This is a picture of the children from this week and I say they are miracle children, malaria has not claimed their lives yet.

Sweet Bush Children

But when I look at this picture and see so many of them who are still under 5 years old…I realize that some of these very children will also die.

So much heartache in this land called Africa. There are times like this week when I feel so helpless. Not only does this region suffer from such a high number of Malaria deaths, it is also an area where there have been no wells bored. They told me that most of the people there at that church have to travel 3 hours one way to get fresh water. I didn’t learn about this until the last day of the conference and I realized the gift that had been given to everyone who attended. The Pastor told me that it was their youth who traveled daily to bring the water needed for the conference. So with that said, I refuse to write this week about not having a toilet and a shower because a teenager walked 6 hours daily to get the water I was given to bathe with. I was blessed to have what I had.

Although there were emotional challenges throughout the week, I truly enjoyed staying with my host family for this conference.

My host family this week…Michael and Isabella

Their home was very different than any I’ve stayed in thus far. The husband has been employed for 26 years with the local sugar mill and has been able to give his family a better quality of life than their surrounding neighbors. It was this couple who gave the land where the church we held the conference in was built.

The church was decorated for our conference….

God continues to bless our efforts at each of the conferences. I can honestly say not a day goes by that I myself am not challenged by the questions the participants are asking. What a joy it is to be challenged and have the opportunity to talk about the Lord and share our journeys and learn together what God wants from our lives.

35 years ago the Lord entrusted me with a beautiful baby girl….from the moment I knew she was coming into our family….I loved her and today that love has grown 35 years stronger. She has always made us laugh and God has grown her into a beautiful Godly woman. I love you my sweet Dana! Happy Birthday!

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

Another week has come and gone and I’ve reaped many blessings from another conference. The conference this week was held in the most remote village I’ve stayed in Kenya thus far. I’m once again settled into a little hotel room and have had a wonderful shower and am thankful once again for a toilet.

Last week being the first trip was what I thought would be the most difficult. I really hadn’t had much time to adjust from being home in the states before I arrived out in the bush. Throughout those first days I prayed often for the Lord to help me through. I reached a point in my prayer time that I told the Lord that I knew I was right where He wanted me to be and I was planning on continuing His task He had given me to do, but I ask Him if He could somehow make it not so hard. Adjusting to no running water or toilet is just plan hard especially since it is a drought here…hot, dry and dusty.

When I first arrived at our destination for this weeks conference, I had to make some other adjustments. Never having traveled to any of these remote areas, and not knowing what to expect, I try to mentally prepare myself for the days ahead. Knowing it will not be easy for me with the living conditions as they are, that there are some things that are simply just not easily adjustable.

I was carried to the hut where I would be staying and the odor from within met me before I walked through the door. I stepped inside the hut and kept a smile on my face while I was being shown around…but I was genuinely crying out to the Lord, telling Him, I can’t do this, You must do this through me because everything within me is screaming run out of this place, to tell these people I’ve made a mistake…I can’t stay here.

We were only inside the hut for a short time before heading across the road to the church to teach my first class. Throughout the day I kept thinking about what lay ahead for me when dark came. I knew I was going to have to overcome the odors and do my best to adjust. When I arrived back in the hut and was alone, I began to seek out what smelled so bad. The closer I got to the bed, the worse the odor became and my heart was sinking. Only the bed had a mosquito net and I had no choice but to get under it for cover for the night.

The mattress on the cot for me to sleep on smelled, but not as badly as the blanket they’d given me to sleep under did. I always bring sheets with me but because its always so hot, I didn’t think about bringing a blanket. Apparently the climate is different in this region and it gets normal hot during the day but about midnight coolness sets in and then it gets cold.

After I finally fell asleep I woke up trembling from the coldness around me, yet I could not make myself get that blanket and wrap it around me. I knew I was better off cold than vomiting from the odor of the blanket. It was a long night and I was thankful to hear the roosters begin to crow, I knew daylight was around the corner.

Tom who is like a son to me here in Africa is traveling with me to these conferences. Before we left to go to the church I saw a chicken walk into my hut. I told Tom we needed to get the chicken out and his answer shocked me. He said, Mum, we can’t get it out, its nest is in there, didn’t you know it was in there last night? He then took me and showed me that at the end of my cot was a pot that had been made a nest for this hen and the eggs she was hatching.

My roommate for this weeks conference

All I could do was laugh! I had gone to bed with a chicken not one foot below my feet and didn’t even know it. So, I decided that God had done me a favor by not letting me know that chicken was there that first night. I don’t think I could have held it together if I had known. Then it struck me, I was going to have to go to bed that night and every night there after while I was there with that chicken in its nest right below my cot.

Not wanting to offend my host I kept quiet and once again went to bed that night miserable. Another long cold night came and went. Do you know what surprised me, that chicken didn’t make the first sound. Thats why I hadn’t heard it that first night. I began to think about how God creates His creatures to behave exactly as He created them. That chicken wasn’t worried about me, my being there didn’t stop it from doing what it was suppose to be doing. That chicken was going to protect her eggs no matter what the circumstances around her.

I began to understand the lesson God was teaching me. If He could create a chicken who would protect her unhatched eggs no matter the circumstances, how much more was He protecting me, the girl He created as His child regardless of the circumstances surrounding me. The chicken was still there, the blanket and the odor of it and the rest of the hut were still there but I found peace in my surroundings.

Later that day I asked to meet the owner of the hut I was staying in. I knew it was one of the church members but I hadn’t been told who they were. This is the family I was introduced to….

Sweet widow and her children 

a widow woman and her 6 children. They had given up their home for me to have a place to stay. For two days I had been miserable in my surroundings, yet this precious family lived in these surroundings every day and its their home. A home they gladly shared with this spoiled American woman who thought it wasn’t good enough for her! (A word of thanks to everyone who financially supports me. This widows hut leaks badly everytime it rains, because of your support WE were able to give her the funds to fix her roof before the rainy season arrives in a few weeks. For the first time in a long time her and her children will have a dry place to live).

It seems everytime I think I have reached a place that I have worked on what God needs me to work on, He up and shows me another area where I need help. He continues to strip one layer after another away, yet, I keep holding on tight to Him because I know that with each layer He removes, I move closer to Him.

Later in the day Tom traveled 4 hours round trip to get me a blanket and as I laid down that night wrapped in warmness of the clean blanket, I was reminded of a book I read called, Safely Home. It’s a story about a missionary in China living through years of torture and ultimately leaving this earthly world as a Martyr for Jesus.

I lay in my cot, the odors still all around me, the chicken still below my feet, and yet I knew I was blessed. My life was not in danger and I knew that when morning came I would not be persecuted as I walked across the road into the little bush church and taught what God had given me to teach. Although its not easy to be here, I thought about all over this world there are missionaries and persecuted churches in grave danger in much worse surroundings than mine and I knew I needed to pray for them more than I ever have before.

As morning came and I walked over to the church and began my lesson, something very special happened. I was in the middle of the lesson and all of sudden I couldn’t remember the point I was making, the words just wouldn’t come. Slowly, Holy Spirit took over and I found myself sharing about some of the hardest times in life, things I’ve never shared not even back home to very many people.

People here think we Americans are rich and according to the standard of life they live we really are. But they also think we’ve never had problems or hard times. We come into their lives and our outward appearances appear as if we’ve got our lives under control. We tell them about Jesus and thats what we should be telling them, but I realize now how important it is for us to also share about how God has helped us to overcome our own personal battles.

At the conclusion of the session many women leaders, pastors and lay people were admitting their own failures and struggles, some doubted their salvation. Others had not been able to let of go a past that haunted them and oh how I could relate. It was a very special time for each of us. I know Gods plan for this conference was held in this place because He knew what He needed to do and He trusted me to share.

When I think about where I use to be and all God has forgiven me for, how He took a life of brokenness and made me whole, how He saw something in this mess of a women to use for His glory, I simply stand amazed.

Years ago Pastor Dave Channell and Brother Vic Smith counseled me and helped me understand that I could let go of my past and embrace who God had always known I could be. Their faith in me and the encouragement they gave me is a vital part of the foundation of who I am today.

Later on, Pastor Kevin Ross joined them, choosing to see me as Jesus sees me, he allowed me to serve as a leader. His encouragement and leadership pushed me out of the nest and I began to learn how to fly not hindered by the weight of my past.

Last but not least, the Lord brought Pastor David Platts sermons via his media department and Secret Church sessions that helped me not just fly but taught me how to soar. Through his teachings I was encouraged to be what God was calling me to be. Not long before I left to serve in Africa full time I was blessed to have Pastor David pray for the journey that lay ahead for me. Once again I heard words of acceptance and encouragement to be All God was calling me to be.

I could write on and on of the people who have impacted my life but today I want to honor these 4 men of God who taught me how to accept myself and be all I could be for the glory of God.

I thought of all 4 of them as I stood in that little bush church in a remote area of Kenya where more than 200 people were listening. Because these men of God believed in me and spoke truth into my life, Holy Spirit was able to use me to help others reach the place in their spiritual journey where they too are learning to fly and some were even soaring before the conference was over.

Are you a mess, is your life full of brokenness? God loves you and accepts you just as you are, brokenness and all. He has a plan for your life, even if you can’t see it just now. He longs to make you whole and from someone who has walked that path, turning it all over to Him is something you will never regret. And the view once you’ve learned to soar is nothing like you’ve seen before.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa

It’s been an amazing week here in Kenya. I am settled in comfortably into a small hotel here after spending the past four days completing my first conference here. I am so excited to have a shower and a toilet, even if there is no toilet seat! The hotel has a little restaurant that I have found to be a wonderful place to sit and read. Their food although limited to what I can eat is good and tonight they made fresh passion fruit juice for me, the best I’ve tasted yet!

I am just not sure at all if I can express times this week when I felt as if I were in a magical kingdom. A kingdom filled with Christians displaying such a sense of wonder and excitement as I’ve ever seen over learning new things from the Bible.

I’m traveling with a generator, extension cord, DVD player, speaker, monitor and a white bed sheet, (our modern screen..haha) as well as 3 loaded ministry totes..of course which most of the weight is study Bibles and story cloths

The first story cloths delivered….

I am giving out. It has been worth it all as the week has ended and I’ve had time tonight to filter through the week and choose some of the things to share.

Each evening I would stop teaching discipleship and teach about whatever movie we were going to watch. We watched the Nativity Story…the story of Ruth and the story of Esther. Most if not all of these people had never seen a movie before. Because we had learned what the Bible said about what we were watching, it was genuinely more entertaining to watch the people as they watched the movie. I would have to say that being a part of bringing these Bible stories to life is just about one of my favorite memories since I came here. They cheered the good scenes and showed genuine concern during the sad parts.

I thought about a story Pastor Moses told me not long after I first came to serve in Africa. He said that one night he was showing the movie about Jim Elliott and the other missionaries who were killed with spears. Some of the people who were watching the movie thought it was all real and that they were under attack. Before Moses knew what was happening, things were thrown into the screen that was showing the movie.

Although my experience this week was much different, many times I sat silently in tears as I realized how special it was for God to allow me to be a part of such a tender moment, a moment when the stories came alive and ministered to their hearts. They will never forget learning about Ruth and Naomi, or the wonderful story of Esther, and most of all the story of the birth of our Savior.

Yet, there is one more memory from this week that will never leave my mind. I was teaching on eternal security and had spoken of the rapture. At the end of the class time I gave the opportunity for questions, and in the next few moments I knew that if I never served another day as a missionary, this moment would be worth it all. They shared that they didn’t understand completely this thing called rapture and wanted me to explain it to them.

This might seem bazaar that at a conference where many are Pastors that such a question would arise. Yet, you have to understand that many of these Pastors, especially the bush pastors who are far away from any major towns don’t have a Bible and the ones that do, only have portions of one. Very few have a complete Bible of their own.

This picture is the first 3 study bibles I gave out this week.

The first 3 study bibles delivered…

The pastor in the middle, Pastor Charles has never had his own Bible. Someone in his congregation has one that he gets to use when he preaches, but he has never had one to sit and read anytime he wanted. Most of these Pastors can only preach sermons they’ve heard preached before, mostly by teams who have held Pastors conferences for them.

What joy filled my heart as I realized that the mighty God I serve had given me the privilege of telling them about the second coming of Christ. To be perfectly honest, I was speechless, and knew I needed to take time to study where I could give accurate scripture references. They were thrilled as I promised them that the next day we would study about the rapture.

The next morning excitement began to build in all of us as we explored the scriptures referring to the rapture. While I was teaching, a memory from my early years as a Christian crossed my mind. My children and I attended Hebron Baptist Church and for a time on Sunday nights many years ago we would be in church service usually before the message began and one of the young people would yell rapture practice! It was great! I never remember it causing trouble, I remember it being something the whole congregation participated in! Immediately when we heard those words, rapture practice, everyone would jump straight up out of their seats as if we were being rapture right on up to glory!

It seemed appropriate that I should share this special memory as we learned about the real rapture that is really coming. I took my interpreter and told him what we were going to do, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. When the interpreter and I sat down and then jumped up and yelled rapture practice, the people really understood what we did and the next thing I know people are running all over the building hugging each other and shouting about how wonderful that day is gonna be.

I don’t know when we’re going to hear that trumpet, but as excited and memorable as the minutes were, it will not be anything compared to how they will really respond when that day arrives.

Oh how I wish we could get this excited in our churches in America! I believe our country would be a much different place if people understood as these bush people did that one day Jesus is coming back for us.

I spent four days with no shower/bath or toilet. I slept in a hut out in the middle of the bush

My host family for the week in front of their home…

and it was there where none of the comforts I wish I had were available, that God revealed Himself in a new an refreshing way to me.

I hope this memory stays fresh in my mind because it had been a long time since I’d done my own rapture practicing, since I spent time reading through the scriptures that tells us of that day. The one day of our life here on earth that we as Christians live for, shame on me.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary, East Africa

Not long ago I had the opportunity to visit with a couple who have encouraged and supported me since I first began my plans to serve in Africa. During my visit with Christin and Craig Haynie of Cables and Kits they shared they would like to do something for me and asked was there anything in particular that I needed. I shared with them the greatest need I had was the need to get our African pastors their own copy of Gods Word, more specifically study bibles.

I shared with them how most of our pastors don’t own a complete bible. They might have a New Testament or a partial piece of a bible, but very few have the complete Old and New Testaments, and none of them have a study bible. The moments that followed were moments of amazement and shock as they shared they would purchase each of our pastors a study Bible! This began a chain of events that can only be described as a God Thing!

Christin and Craig Haynie

Another set of friends….Trevor Cain and Brad Faulkner of Dorks Textbooks told me they would order the Bibles from the publisher for us. Back in the summer my Sunday School class which is Jim Wallaces class at Blackshear Place, along with Trevor and Brad sent me enough study bibles for our teachers at school and through that process I was able to deliver a few extra that had been sent to our key Pastors who are leaders over our churches.

Teachers with their new study bibles

A few days ago I went to pick up the Bibles and when I first walked in the book store I saw all of these cases of Bibles and I rejoiced at the sight of them!

What joy…for Joy to be surrounded with new study bibles for our African pastors

However, those moments of rejoicing intensified greatly as Trevor and Brad shared how they had been encouraged by what Christin and Craig had provided and they also were donating the same number of study bibles, where not only all of our pastors will have one, but also their associate pastors.

Trevor Cain and Brad Faulkner

The associate pastors train under the leadership of the pastor and when a new church plant begins they become pastors in the new church. Now, all of the pastors and associate pastors of our 115 churches will each have a study bible.

It has been a heavy burden this past year to see such a need for Bibles, especially study Bibles. I say a heavy burden because study Bibles are expensive and I knew we needed so many of them that it would be a miracle if we got them. In my mind I had settled on getting a few at a time as I could over there. Yet, God had bigger and greater plans!

Even before I knew about the Bibles, I had planned my 2011 schedule to travel more in the bush and focus on discipleship. Now, I will not only be discipling, but as these new study Bibles are delivered to the pastors I believe I am going to see a major movement of God. I anticipate great and mighty things ahead in 2011 as each and every Sunday the pastors are going to bring new and exciting sermons from where they’ve read, studied and prepared!

All 115 churches scattered throughout Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will grow stronger in the Word of God. As I shared with Christin, Craig, Trevor and Brad, there is only one of me and I can only accomplish so much. But with what they have done, there will now be 231 of us equipped to share the Word of God!

Imagine with me just for a moment….let’s use a conservative number of believers in each of these churches. If each of these 115 churches has 50 believers, that means that 5,750 believers will sit under the teachings from these new study bibles in 2011. Now, lets take it a step further, if all of the 115 associate pastors are sent out to the new church plants and in each of those new church plants there are 20 believers, that would add an additional 2,300 believers sitting under the teachings from these new Bibles.

Folks, .this is reality, this is not something that might happen, these are conservative numbers I am using. In 2011 it is very likely that 8,050 people will grow in their relationships with the Lord.

Now let’s think about another reality. In each of these churches as these believers grow, they are going to begin sharing what they are learning with non-believers! I don’t believe it will be possible to keep up with how many people will make a decision for Christ and one day join us in heaven.

Can you handle just another moment of imagining with me? Once again let’s use conservative numbers. If in each of these 115 churches, 20 new believers are added in 2011 and in each of the 115 new church plants another 5 are added, what would happen! By year end we would have the original 8,050 who had been discipled and we would add the 2,875 new believers. Are you ready for the total….10, 925 eternally affected by the Word of God thats being brought forth!

Does this make you as excited as it does me? I can hardly wait to get there and begin to see God work! Its going to be an exciting journey, one I know you will be waiting to hear about!

I sure love all of you and am honored to be walking this journey together.

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

It is good to give Thanks unto the Lord! That is what this update is all about! Giving thanks for ALL the blessings in the time I’ve been home. Today I shared with a friend that my cup is running over!

Without a doubt in the time I’ve been home I’ve done things that I can’t do in Africa. Things like eating something besides rice and beans, sleeping without a mosquito net, going to bed at night without the sound of an armed guard walking past my window, drinking water from the faucet, having power and water 24 hours a day, washing my clothes in a real washing machine, or simply being able to put toilet paper in the toilet! These are just a few blessings I’ve experience and although they each have their importance it is not these things that are the most important to me.

In Africa I cannot attend a church service with my son and daughter!

Serving the Lord with my son Bryan and daughter Dana

In Africa I cannot find my grandchildren snuggled up together playing!

My grandchildren…Sarah, Caleb, Michael and Sawyer enjoying their morning after a night at Mommaws house

In Africa I cannot watch my granddaughter overcome a fear in her life! (one that I might mention her Mommaw has not yet conquered!)

My granddaughter Emma conquering her fear of snakes…

Or, my grandson being strong and brave!¦

My grandson Stephen holding King Kong…

In Africa I cannot see my grandson just after killing his first buck!

My grandson Eli and his first buck

In Africa I cannot see and hear my grandson laughing!

My grandson Isaac…just being himself….

It is these blessings that are most important to me. Time with my family makes wonderful memories that will carry me over until my next trip home. It will be these memories that keep me strong when I get homesick, or give me a reason to smile when the sad things of life in Africa get me down. Although I only see my family a few weeks out of the year now that I am doing the Lords work in Africa, I consider my life blessed beyond measure. To spend a second, minute, hour or day in time with these that I love most is what I cherish.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

Birthdays are such wonderful days. I sit here this morning reading all of the wonderful words of love so many of you shared with me as I celebrated my 53^rd birthday yesterday.

Early yesterday morning as I was talking to the Lord, I thought about what was it like for Him 53 years ago when He gave me breath. What was it like for my aging parents to hold their newborn baby, or my grown brothers and sisters to hold a new little sister. Without a doubt, I am who I am because of the love I was given from the moment I was created. I never remember a single moment in my life when I thought no one loved me. The Lord has showered me with an indescribable depth of His love, my parents and siblings loved me unconditionally from the moment I was born.

Yesterday I spent the day being the Momma and Mommaw of the family the Lord has given me. I realized that although my parents went home to heaven when I was younger and even some of my siblings have now joined them, I continue to be surrounded with family who love me deeper than any human love I’ve ever known. Days like yesterday that I am blessed to spend an entire day surrounded with my children and their families is by far my favorite days. Of course this year is very special since I’ve been away from them most of this year. What a joy to be home!

Some say they don’t count birthdays anymore, of course they say it in humor as our birthdays come around each year whether we count them or not..but for many it is a struggle! Yet, I just don’t feel that way. I love being older, embracing who the Lord created me to be. Some years ago He helped me to understand that to not be happy with the aging process of this body He gave breath to, was to not be happy with Him.

It amazes me that often times I can’t distinguish between Mothers and daughters today. I’m concerned that my generation is so consumed with looking and acting younger that we’ve not given to our children and grandchildren a realistic or healthy image of life in later years. If we continue to act and look like the younger generation, who are our children and grandchildren going to look to for wisdom and maturity? If we live our daily lives in a constant battle to overcome the aging process what are we saying to the generation coming behind us? If we are not careful we will create a lifetime of struggles for them.

My most vivid memory of those I first came to respect for their wisdom and maturity was the adults I went to church with. I can close my eyes, scan inside the church building and see them, see where they sat, how they stood, hear their voices as they sang those great old hymns and most of all hear them pray. They looked different, they acted different, .they were different. They had walked through a lot of life, good, bad, sad and joyful times.

As another year has come and gone for me, I give praise and glory to the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be a year older…and what a year it has been! Today I sit here praying for what God would have me do for Him should He give me life here on earth until my 54^th birthday, how can I be a more mature and wise Momma, Mommaw and servant of God. Without a doubt my hearts desire is for this wisdom and maturity to come from a deeper walk with the Lord as I continue to immerse myself in His Word and grow to know Him more in my daily communication with Him through prayer as I surrender daily to His perfect will for my life.

For those of you reading this that are part of my family, thank you for loving me so deeply and unconditionally. For those of you reading this that are part of my childhood memories, thank you for being wonderful wise and mature grownups. For those of you who have come into my life along the way over the past 53 years, thank you for loving and caring about me. I am most blessed to have all of you in my life.

Love to all.

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

My day began by waking early, still on Africa time. A great benefit to the time adjustment is more sweet hours with the Lord in prayer. There is just something so special about the hours just before daybreak. This morning I sensed a deeper presence of the Lord, I can’t put my finger on exactly what brought it on, I just realized this morning was different than other mornings. There was a great sense of anticipation, but for what I did not know.

Leaving home, heading to church, once again I sensed the Lords presence driving along while the morning sunlight was bursting forth through the fall colored leaves. The beauty of His creation was all about me as He began to speak to my heart about how He creates a new day every day. No day is exactly like any other day, they are unique. I began to think about my own daily life and what was I doing to ensure that the Lord has the opportunity to create something new and unique in each of my days. I began to pray and asked the Lord to create something new in me today, to move me from any spot in my life that I have become complacent.

I guess some would think that serving on the foreign mission fields of Africa would be enough, yet I experience the same struggles there as here on American soil, the struggle of complacency. I often think that the struggle is more difficult there simply because I spend the most time alone without the blessings of church services I can understand, and healthy bible study groups and other activities that aren’t available to me over there. My walk and growth with the Lord is dependent on my holding myself accountable and that is where I find myself becoming complacent. Yet, complacency is the last thing I want for my life.

Also, I can see where becoming discouraged pushes me towards complacency. Without a doubt this past week I experienced the most discouragement I have experienced since going to Africa to serve. This last bout of Malaria took its toll on me, and I began to question if I could continue to withstand these frequent bouts of Malaria. I felt as if I could no longer physically deal with being sick yet once again and this made me very sad. I know I am called to serve in Africa and I’ve tried to be obedient, so to begin to have thoughts of I can’t do this anymore was very hard for me to accept. It is so clear to me now that I was becoming complacent. Malaria had become a way of life for me and instead of turning it over to the Lord, I was adjusting my life to accepting it as part of life there.

Yet in a very special church service this morning I let go of that complacency, accepted and believed in the prayers that the church prayed for me. I attended church at The Grove this morning where I joined my brothers and my sister for the first time in over 10 years in the same church for a Sunday morning church service. My sweet niece Lecia and her husband Jeff who pastors there took us into the presence of the Lord with incredible praise and worship…and then…God did an amazing thing!

I hadn’t talk to Jeff about my discouragement, yet my heavenly Father knew and He knew Jeff and Lecia and this body of believers would come to church this morning prayed up and ready to see what God was going to do today. Jeff called for me to come down front where I stood in the middle of a group of amazing prayer warriors and there is absolutely no doubt left in my mind that this morning God healed me. Not only did He heal me physically, He restored me spiritually and answered my prayer to come out of any area of complacency in my life.  

While this body of believers were praying, my body became internally hot, it was a physical feeling, and even though I didn’t know exactly what was happening, I knew God was doing it. I don’t know all the people who prayed for me this morning, but God knows, His children served Him well today and a difference was made in my life.

All glory, honor and praise to our God for what He did in my life today. He is taking me forward on to our next journey, what an incredible life I get to live.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

It’s been a bittersweet day saying bye to my African family and friends. All throughout the day I felt so much love from so many who came by for a visit before we leave out in the morning headed back to the states. Although I felt much love, I was a bit sad knowing it will be a couple of months before I get back to see them. The hardest one of all as you can imagine was Jimmy, it is like leaving one of my children behind. I sure love that boy and am most blessed to have him in my life.

Okay, I’ve had to write about Malaria so many times lately that I don’t really know much more to say, other than I am sick again. Yesterday the fever came back and this morning I went back to the hospital for more tests. The outcome has given me some insight to why I might not have been getting well. Today the doctor tested me again and the results were negative. He said he knew because of the continuing symptoms that I had Malaria, then he thought to ask me a great question. He asked if I had taken anything for the fever before I was tested and I told him yes. He then told me that it is possible for the test to be altered when other medications are being taken. Now it seems we have some answers. I have taken something for the headache or fever many times before I was tested.

Today I began injections that will last for the next 5 days. The doctor assured me today that these injections will heal me, please pray for this. Last night and this morning I was the most discouraged I have been over the situation since I first contracted it in June.

Dr Brenda, Mike and Sarah and George and I will all be leaving out first thing in the morning. We arrive in Atlanta Thursday mid afternoon. Please be praying for our safety as we journey home, and pray specifically for me to endure the trip well as I am still running a fever and experiencing headaches. Also, pray for my sweet Jimmy.

This is my first trip home under normal circumstances, I am so excited! Can’t wait to get my arms around my children and my grandchildren! How blessed I am to be home over the holidays when our family is together more than any other time of the year. And to come home in the fall of the year….can’t wait to step out the door at the Atlanta airport and feel the coolness in the air!

As always I am so thankful for all your prayers and support. Today my Pastor friends came from Kenya and we started planning my teaching time when I get back the first of January. I am very excited to have the opportunity to serve in Kenya for several weeks as the National elections take place here in Uganda. Sure love all of you lots and look forward to hearing from you when I get back home in a couple of days.

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

It has been an amazing couple of weeks. Once again it is such a joy to serve the Lord with my son Bryan. He along with my dear friends Jimmy Wallace and Joel Cobb who are like family to me, and they make it seem much like home around here!

Jimmy Wallace

Joel Cobb

I’m not sure of the exact order to write the events of the past few days, much has happened that has been unusual, yet without a doubt each of us knows God has been in control, although some of the events have been hard to understand.

God allowed me to once again experience Malaria, so now I am thinking surely 3 times has to be enough!  As both of the other times, I visited the local clinic for testing and the test results were positive. However, this time, after finishing the medicine, I was not better. So, I traveled over into Kenya and was examined by a real docto who actually has a license hanging on the wall!

License for doctor…hanging on hooks with thread!

He said the medicine I took last week wasn’t effective, so he took me up the next strongest dosage. I started the medicine last night and by this evening I could tell I was getting better.

Although I have been ill with Malaria, I have been able to participate in much of the activities. I’ve only had a couple of days where I just couldn’t keep up. Last night was one of those nights I would have gone out with the team regardless of how I was feeling. God graciously gave me the strength and endurance to travel to a bush church and hear my son Bryan preach his first sermon! WOW, God spoke through him and many were saved!

Bryan talking to the new Christians after his first sermon….

I was thinking about how proud I was when he won his first ballgame, and when he won his first wrestling match, the day he became a born again Christian, the day he married, the day he became a father, and now the day he preached his first sermon! What a joy it has been to watch God bring him to the place He always knew He created him to be!

When we headed out to the bush church for service, both of our vans got stuck. Without a doubt it was a fun adventure, well maybe not for the guys who had to get out in the mud and push us out, but it was hilarious! The second van got stuck trying to pull the first stuck van out.

One van getting stuck while pulling the other van out….

It was disappointing to have to turn back knowing the church where we were scheduled to attend would be greatly disappointed. As we started back a decision was made to stop at a church we had passed on the way. A group of Christians were there and we had stopped on the way and greeted them. When we went back there, God showed us that this is exactly where we were suppose to be! All week God has changed our plans to align us up with His perfect will.

Bryan and my friend Ron Bell standing by the church sign…

Last year when I traveled to Busia with a team, I had the privilege of making a great friend named Jeff Sheppard who was a part of our team. One of the greatest blessings of traveling on mission trips is the friends you make along the way. Jeff was no exception, and since that trip I have looked forward to his returning and serving here once again. He arrived here last Thursday afternoon and was super excited to be back. He was looking forward to being a part of the construction team putting the new roof on our church.

On Friday things were going great, the construction team was making great progress when Jeff had a terrible accident. He was on top of the church wall helping bring up the first truss when he fell 20 feet. He was rushed to the local hospital in the back of a dump truck but the power was off so he was transported to a hospital in Kenya that could take the necessary scans and x-rays he needed. God truly protected him, although he has spent the last 6 days in the hospital, he had no broken bones or internal bleeding. Yesterday a nurse flew in from the states and today they flew out headed back home. Please remember Jeff in your prayers, he was very disappointed not to be able to come back here and complete the mission with the team. He continues to seek the Lord and is trusting that God has a plan for allowing this to occur.

It’s been good to be a part of the awesome team God has sent here, as well as the team of people back home who are praying for us and made it possible for so many of us to be here. One of those people back home is my friend Trevor Cain. Trevor has been here to Busia on 2 different mission trips. One of the blessings Trevor has given to us here is some new bibles. We have so many pastors who do not have a full bible. Some have a New Testament, but very few have both the old and new testament. This week I was blessed to hand out the bibles to many of the Pastors here. Here are pictures of Pastor Patrick and Pastor Samuel who oversees not only their own bush churches, but 18 others as well.

Pastor Samuel

Pastor Patrick

I asked Pastor Samuel how many of his pastors had full bibles and it made me sad when he told me that only 4 had them. I ask him what did they do to prepare for preaching and he told me they would use the bible of one of the church members, if a church member had one. Now all 18 pastors have a full bible. I can only imagine how their flocks are going to grow now!

The team has been wonderful, the roof construction has continued,

My friends..Joel Cobb, Mark Stubbs, Ron Bell and George Pilgrim

the sponsor packets have been distributed, the children have been taught,

Bryan discipling high school students..

and more than 10 bush churches have been visited and many have come to know the Lord. Tomorrow will be the last full day for the team and we are anticipating much work to be accomplished.

Safety has not been an issue. We have adjusted to having armed guards and riding in a vehicle every where we go instead of walking. I have learned that in January and Febuary there will be the threat of violence all over the country of Uganda as the National elections take place. We have been advised that this will not be a safe time for me to be here. My friends here that are Kenyans but teach at our school and live here on the Uganda side of the border have told me that even they will flee back to Kenya until the elections are over.

I am planning to leave as scheduled the first of January and head back to Africa, but I will go to the Kenya bush for January and February to teach women’s bible studies as well as leadership. It has been something I have been praying for the opportunity to do and am looking forward to ALL God is going to do! Please remember my Uganda family and friends in prayer in the months ahead as events such as this election bring uncertainties to them and their families.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

I’ve arrived safely to the mission compound here in Busia. It has been a beautiful day as I’ve traveled from Entebbe to Busia. I never tire of the beauty of this amazing country I am blessed to serve in. I’ve met lots of different people since coming to Africa, but tonight I said hello to my first armed guard! I am sitting here chuckling because it seems so strange that this could possibly be my life now yet, it is! I’m tired and need some sleep but I just couldn’t go to sleep without giving praise to the mighty God I serve!

When I first went out to meet Duncan I felt apprehensive. Seeing him standing at the gate with his gun on his shoulder didn’t put me at ease at all! But then he started talking to me and I stood there stunned at what he said. He told me that he had been informed that I requested a Christian guard and he wanted me to know that he was a ‘born again Cristian and shared his salvation experience with me. He told me about the years he served as a soldier and how one day he understood his need of God in his life. I truly didn’t know what to say, this is a man who guards people for a living and works for a company that employs people with all types of religious and other backgrounds and God made him available to guard me!

Peace overtook me as Duncan told me he considered it a great honor to guard a fellow believer! Yet, the most wonderful thing he said was that he wanted me to know he was here to guard and protect me, but more importantly he was trusting the Word of God that he carries in his pocket while he guards to protect us! He said that I might look out some time and see him with the flashlight and he wanted me to know he does it many times during the night, using the flashlight to read his bible! What a joy it was to tell him I had just brought commentaries and many other bible help books and he could use them!

Tonight I’m thinking of the little but powerful song my little granddaughter Sarah sings, MY GOD IS SO BIG, SO STRONG AND SO MIGHTY, THERES NOTHING MY GOD CANNOT DO! Although I was dreading the thoughts of having to have an armed guard, I now see that God knew exactly what He was doing and what I needed, it will be great to see what God is going to do next!

I have wonderful news to share about my grandson Caleb. On Wednesday evening while I was flying back to Africa, Caleb made the most important decision he will make in his lifetime, he surrendered his life to the Lord. My daughter wrote me a message to share this incredible news. She wrote, “Just wanted you to know that while you were as close to Heaven as we can get, flying back to Africa, your sweet little Caleb secured his spot there! Now just my little granddaughter Sarah who is 5 and my grandson Isaac, 3, are remaining to secure their spots as well, then all of my precious family will one day spend all of eternity together!

Thanks for all the prayers over the past few weeks, please don’t stop. We have team members in transit now and the rest will arrive next Thursday, which includes my son Bryan! God is doing some wonderful things all around me!

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa