Chapter 10 Update #5

October 5, 2010

Sunday was a great day of worship! Solomon, Godfrey & I went to Revival Christian Church in the morning. I always have such a great time of praising God with my brothers & sisters in Christ at RCC. At one point the children’s Sunday School teacher passed a note along to call me out to visit their children. They were singing a simple praise song that I taught them the sign language to! We also signed our traditional “Follow You” to Michael Priebe that they love!
At the close of the service, one of the ladies came to me to talk with one of the visitors. This young lady was visiting from Ireland. She is there for 9 months working with a business. But the lady that approached me said, “Can you please talk to her and explain about having a relationship with Christ? I am not sure she is understanding me.” So we had a great conversation. I was able to share my testimony with her and encourage her about her lengthy stay in this beautiful land. She expressed that she already had accepted Jesus as her Savior! God is good!

Solomon, Godfrey & I went to the Sunset Hotel for our lunch. Solomon had me drive to and from the hotel, church and hotel. The two of them actually sat in the row behind of me. I think that Solomon is enjoying being chauffeured around!

Sunday afternoon we went to Cornerstone Church for a music conference. Annette had been the organizer for this event. It was a wonderful time of praise and worship! They had different singers from all over come to share. By time we stopped by the conference had already begun. Even though it was not interpreted into English, I enjoyed myself so much! I could understand basically what was going on throughout the service and enjoyed just being in the presence of God! It was great to be back in fellowship with our brothers & sisters in Christ at Cornerstone! The power of reconciliation is a very humbling experience. All things are possible with God.

Monday arrived to a great surprise in the staff devotions. I always enjoy the Monday fellowship because they go around the table and have everyone share. The topic is, “What did you learn in church yesterday?” It is good to hear others share. If you did not go to church, you simply must say, “I was not able to attend yesterday.” The response is, “Praise God. May He bless you,” Keeps everyone accountable! But when it came to Esther her response was, “I have a surprise. Please close your eyes.” I thought, “Wow. This is new!” Everyone was quietly clapping while our eyes were closed. Then she said, “ok you can open your eyes!” To my complete surprise, she was standing next to Apophia from the business center…with a pink lei around her neck! They said, “It is Apophia’s Golden Day!” They all then began chanting, “Golden Day! Golden Day!” I was shocked! It was a sweet moment to be a part of this! They then went around the room, and each person gave a word of encouragement to her. To see something we started with our CBU team, passed on to a group here in Uganda…wow! Someone told me later that the ways in Africa are not one of encouraging one another and lifting one another with good words. When they saw our groups having “Golden Days” they said they wanted to start doing the same. It is making a difference here with their workers. God is good.

Solomon & I took one of our girls, Margaret to the hospital today for stomach pains. We showed up to a very crowded waiting area with a very LONG LINE in front of us. As we tried to decide what to do, Solomon looked up at a sign that said something about Jinja Hospital working in cooperation with a local ministry. This other group is the one that Solomon had been with when he stayed at Global Seminary. His good friend is part of this group. He got on the phone and made a call. We were able to get right in. The doctor diagnosed that she may have an ulcer and prescribed medicine to take for a week. Even the medicine was just given to us. Our God is so good.

Solomon and I went back to the two houses that we are considering to rent. We finally met the woman who is renting the smaller house. After going inside the house, we have decided that it is much too small to meet our current needs. We went back to the bigger house but was not able to get back inside. Solomon has been negotiating with the landlord over the phone. It looks like he is willing to rent it to us and we have agreed to pay only 6 months in advance. This is far better than requiring the full year. As I was standing in front of the house, I thought how God takes care of every little detail. Something I have thought of was, “When we build our house…I would like to have a porch.” When I looked at the house I realized that not only do we have a front porch, but upstairs there are two balconies! We have not only 1 but 3 porches! God supplies our needs…with excess!

We bought more food for the children as well. The food we bought last month was just coming to the end. Solomon is doing a great job keeping the supplies stocked. We bought more rice, maize flour, onions and food for our supper. When we pulled up to the house Solomon said, “You know, when I left this morning, David & Emma opened the gate for me to leave. They said, ‘Uncle Solomon, when you come back can you please bring back rice….and…Aunty Eydie!’” Solomon said, “I have accomplished what they asked!”

The children are in school and don’t arrive home until 5 pm. We make the most of the time we have together as it is shorter than when I come during holiday periods. Last night during devotions, I gave out all the letters and the combined letter from those of you who sent in a note of encouragement. They were so excited to receive your love and encouragement! I was about to close our devotion time…and they said, “to the right…to the right…” Ha! It was later than normal and I was just going to close out the time. They reminded me that they wanted to do the “Cupid Shuffle!” So we actually went through it twice!

When it came time to venture back to the hotel, Peter was going to join us. But I ended up having 8 other children come in the van to escort me home! Sharon sat with me in the front seat, and 7 other boys were in the back. Solomon said, “we are going to America!” Henry laughed and said, “Sharon, remember the first time you went to the place Aunty Eydie stays? You said, “I have been to America!” So it was true! But as we drove up to the hotel, Sharon said, “This looks like a palace for a King.” Solomon said, “You never know. Maybe Aunty Eydie is a Queen!” ha!
Actually…just a child of the King.

What a privilege to serve Him in such a wonderful place. The children all piled out of the car to give me big hugs. The guards later commented, “Wow. You have many children who love you. That is so great.”
It is great. It is amazing. As our children say…Our God is good…all the time. All the time…God is good. And that’s His nature…wow!

Here are our current prayer requests:
1) Pray for the final negotiations of the two story house. Pray we get all finalized before I leave so we can move in.
2) School. The children are in their third term of this school year. We have a possible solution to finishing the third term. Pray as we are meeting with someone from one of the schools this afternoon.
3) WE NEED YOUR HELP. Thanks to those who have already helped sacrificially in giving to assist the children. In the midst of a struggling economy, we recognize the generosity of your gifts. Thank you for caring for the children. If you would like to help in this critical need of moving into a new home, you can make a tax-deductible donation of any size. Contact our treasurer for Raining Hope Inc., Carol John at carol@caroljohn.com as soon as possible. You can also go to our website at www.raininghope.org You can make credit card donations at that site.
4) Continue to pray for the transition. Pray especially for the children and for the staff. Pray for all of the relationship that are involved.

Kale!
eydie