Since I have been serving here in Africa, God has allowed me to share the gospel everywhere I go and teach. All along the way there have been those who pray and accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, but today is a day I will not soon forget.

I taught today in a bush church in the middle of nowhere. The church meets under the shade of a tree, there are no structures at all. They have been meeting there for over 2 years now and the church is growing. They have started an orphan school that holds class every weekday under the shade of that tree. They have about 60 orphans that come every day. They sang a song for me when I arrived. Where they are standing is where both church and school are both held.

Orphans Being Taught Under The Shade Of A Tree

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I can’tt believe it’s been almost two weeks since I last wrote an update. The days are over before I know it and then a week passes by. It seems impossible that I have already been in Africa 3 months! Without a doubt I am settling in and feeling more at home here. Having a place to live that has water and power at the same time and most all of the time has helped. However, one of the best things I’ve been given here that has helped me feel more at home than anything else is having people around me who have become my family here. (more…)

I’m very excited to write home and share pictures of my new home here, God has truly blessed me beyond measure. Although the first mission house was a great place for Africa, my new home is more like home back in Lula, Georgia. Of course it’s not quite the same, but it is as close as you can get here. I have such a thankful heart to the Lord for His provisions. Also, a special word of thanks to Dr. Richard and Dr. Brenda Kowalske of Helping Hands Foreign Missions for all they did to make it possible. (more…)

WOW! It’s been an amazing two weeks. I haven’t had power or internet other than a few hours on Mothers Day, so writing home has been impossible. Even now I am able to write only using a generator. Two weeks in a hut without power or water has made me appreciate being back at the mission house regardless of not having power and water. It’s incredible how you adjust to life when God is in control. There is no other explanation than God is sustaining me. (more…)

Today there are many tears flowing down my face. My heart aches and I long to see my family. Today is Mothers Day and I am 8000 miles from my children. It has now been over 2 months since I’ve seen them. Never in our lives have we gone longer than 30 days and not seen one another. I know for some of you who live away from your families that 2 months is not a long time to not see one another. But for me it is by far my greatest challenge of being a foreign missionary. (more…)

Friday was an amazing day at the orphan school! Last week I had challenged the staff to learn the books of the New Testament in order, in English, and I in return would learn them in Kiswahili! Friday was the day we said them from memory to one another. We had so much fun! They all did a great job and yes, I now can say them all in Kiswahili! (more…)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me the past few days. I am well physically as I’ve now passed the 10 day mark of when Malaria would have shown up. To God be the glory that I am not sick even though I had over 200 mosquito bites! Thank you as well for the prayers in my being strengthened emotionally after the sadness of Rodgers death and the senseless act of violence against Gloria.

Gloria is still in the hospital recovering from her attack. Her little 4 year old body has a long road of recovery ahead. Her test results were positive and she has been infected with Aids from her attacker.

Today for the first time since her attack, I was able to pray for the soul of the man who did this to her. I know my delay in praying for him does not indicate spiritual maturity, but I’m just being honest, I could not pray for him until today.

Today I began to pray that through these circumstances this man will come to know Jesus as his Savior. After I was able to pray for him, it occurred to me, what if God ask me to be the one to share the gospel with him. Could I, .would I, the answer is I simply don’t know. I would want to be obedient and do what God ask of me, but I truly don’t know if I could do it.

So many of you have responded with an outpouring of love for Gloria. Gloria is one of the orphans here in Busia. She is being cared for by her uncle since her parents death. Her attacker was a man who lived in her village that she knew and had no reason to be afraid of. Her attacker is still a free man, the authorities know who he is, but cannot arrest him until documents from the hospital can be obtained.

I did not find out until today that it cost about $100 to process the documentation and the uncle does not have the money. He had to decide between spending what money he had on getting Gloria medical care or having the man arrested.

Trust me I know what is going through your mind. This isn’t right, but this is life here be it right or wrong. As soon as I learned why the man wasn’t being arrested, I agreed to pay for the documents they needed to do so. Once again, if it were not for those of you who have made it possible for me to be here, I would not be able to help Gloria. Thank you for helping me be the hands and feet of Jesus in her life.

Her injuries were so severe she was moved to a larger hospital that is far away. Today I was blessed to travel to a city much bigger than Busia and I went in search for a toy I could send her. On the back isle in the store I found a wonderful stuffed bear! I’m sure Gloria has never had a real toy because most of the children here have never had a real toy.

Gloria’s Bear

Tomorrow I will be meeting with the uncle and sending the bear along with him back to the hospital and also sending the money he needs to pay for the documentation the police need to arrest her attacker.

I would love to think she could come home from the hospital and come live with me. Just like Sunday before last when one of the church members brought a baby less than 2 years old to the service asking if anyone knew the baby. It was found wandering and no one knows who the child belonged to or what happened to whoever was caring for it. Unless one of the church members keeps it, there is nowhere for this baby to go. The church members are already caring for more children in their homes than they can feed, yet they continue to take them. The Pastor and his wife have 6 orphans in their home along with their own children. They are leading by example.

On our trip today I learned about some food here I had not seen before. I could see children out in the gullies digging but I didn’t have any idea what for. It was obvious these were very poor children so naturally I wanted to know what they were doing.

Termites/White Ants

This is a picture of the termites also called white ants they were gathering in their cups to eat.

Also here is a picture of some orphan boys proudly displaying their food.

Orphan Boys and Termites/White Ants

This was their meal for the day.

What have you eaten today?

Love to all.

(Parents please read this post before allowing your children to read it)

As you can imagine the past two days have been emotional for me. Having to say good bye to Rodgers and following through until he was buried. I learned that he had just asked for some porridge and when they came back with the porridge, he was dead. It didn’t seem apparent that he struggled at all. I am thankful because it seems even Rodgers didn’t know death was upon him. Thank you Father God in heaven for taking him unaware.

Here in Uganda there are no funeral homes or anything like we have back in the states. If a family has money a body can be preserved for a couple of days, but for deaths like Rodgers where there is no money to preserve the body, the burial is done quickly. Rodgers died at 8:00pm on Sunday night and he was buried yesterday before dark. Not even 24 hours passed from his death to his burial.

All during the day yesterday I was trying to prepare myself for the funeral, not knowing the customs and culture here. He was going to be buried in the village where his father was buried. This village was a long way from here, so a truck had to be arranged to bring the body.

I continued to think I was prepared for whatever lay ahead when we reached the destination. Yet, nothing could have prepared me for when they lifted his body out of the bed of the truck. He was wrapped in the new blanket I bought him and the mattress I bought him was his casket. At that point I had to totally trust the Lord to get me through the rest of the funeral as I realized he was not going to be put in a box. He was going to be put directly in the ground and the things I had given him were the only protection.

We walked about a mile or so back into the bush. Beautiful lush green valleys and mountain ranges. His grave had been dug in the middle of a cornfield with green beans growing under the corn stalks. I though how ironic that Rodgers had lived most his life hungry and yet he was buried in a place bountiful of food.

Although the day left me drained emotionally, I rejoiced as the gospel was shared. I know God works in mysterious ways and although we did not see evidence of the gospel being accepted, I believe God used Rodgers death in a mighty way. Now it’s time to press on and help those who are still here.

There is a little girl named Gloria who is 4 years old who is now in the hospital recovering from a brutal attack from a 34 year old man with Aids who raped her after being told by a witch doctor that if he had sex with a small child, he would be cured of Aids. She was injured severely and has a long road ahead of her not only in recovering physically, but emotionally. She will now live life in fear of Aids taking her life.

Gloria is one of many children who have been violated at the commands of these evil witch doctors. Gloria is not an exception, this is common practice here. Child sacrifice here is rampant. Children are not only violated like Gloria, but they are killed in various ways as a sacrifice for the evil practices here.

Please join me in praying for our children to be protected. Most of them have no parents looking after them so child abduction is often gone unnoticed until the body of the child is found. Please be in prayer for Gloria. She needs us interceding for her.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa

Rodgers

Today is Rodgers first day in heaven. Today Rodgers received ultimate healing from the Great Physician. For the first time in his life, Rodgers isn’t living in poverty. He is no longer alone or hungry or cold. There won’t be an obituary written for Rodgers. He won’t be buried in a place with a headstone telling his name and his 18 year life span. For the most part, Rodgers won’t be remembered. But there is a place Rodgers will always be remembered. His memory and his incredible smile will remain in a special place in my heart and some day we will be reunited in heaven.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa

It appears that in our efforts on Saturday to rid the mattresses and bedrails with termites that we somehow allowed mosquitoes to take their place. I woke up Sunday morning with a couple of hundred bites on me. More than 50 on my face and the rest were scattered all over me. I truly look like a life size human connect the dots puzzle. I have been wondering if I took a marker and connected all of them, what might be the finished piece of artwork!

I’m sharing this to give God glory because as you all know getting Malaria from mosquitoe bites was one of the things I had to prepare myself for here because I couldn’t take the preventative medicine for the extended time I am going to be here! Here I sit covered in bites and there is no sickness in me! They don’t even itch! God allowed me to get bitten, but not by the ones who cause Malaria! I am truly Praising Him for His goodness to me!

Yesterday I found a chemically treated mosquitoe net for my bed. The previous 2 nights I had been trying to sleep under my sheet, because the market was closed where I could get netting! Last night I slept sooooo good! I could still hear them buzzing around me, but they couldn’t get to me!

Had a great visit with Rodgers. As you can see from the picture I was able to take him a mattress, a blanket and some food. If you look down at his feet, you can see how swelled he is. My next task is to find him some bigger shoes and some pants that fit. He only has one shirt so hopefully I can find him something warmer. It is very damp and cool sleeping inside the hut for him. With him being so critically ill he gets even colder.

A very happy Rodgers! A mattress, a blanket and some food!

The people who live around him have already begun to gather the sticks to build him a small hut right beside theirs. The church is going to work on getting the grass and the nails needed as well as supplying some labor to get him a place of his own built. The hut he is now staying in has a hole right in the top of it and just the past two days alone, the mission house here where I live experienced water coming in under the doors with the heavy rains that are here. I am concerned that he is wet and cold, but I have peace knowing he isn’t hungry this week or sleeping on the ground with no covers like he did last week.

Thank you to everyone who is helping to support me financially. Because you gave to me, I was able to give to Rodgers. It took all of us to make a difference in his life. Rodgers won’t have the opportunity to personally tell you thank you from here on earth, but someday when we are all living in our heavenly home, he will look you up and tell you thank you! From Rodgers and me both, we are thankful for you.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa