As a side note: This past weekend we had “Hurricane Hilary” pose a threat to California. By time it got to our area it was downgraded to “Tropical Storm Hilary”. Where we are at in Ventura, we received some rain on Sunday. But we were not hit hard. The bigger news was we did have an earthquake Sunday afternoon! It was a 5.1 earthquake centered in Ojai which is not too far from us. We had some shaken nerves and things falling off shelves. As I write this today (Tuesday) are still having smaller aftershocks. But for all those who checked in, we are fine and God’s protection was evident. Thank you for your prayers!
Our Raining Hope family loves to learn sign language! During one of the first devotion times, I played “More Than Able” by Elevation Worship https://youtu.be/dQ1xxoP7NJk. They all worshipped while I signed the song. You could see how the words of the song were affecting their hearts. Godfrey immediately wanted to listen to it again. To my amazement, I heard very softly the first few bars of the opening of the song AFTER I turned off the music. When I said, “do you hear that?”, someone said it was Dan on the keyboard! He immediately picked up the WHOLE SONG. He began playing it on the keyboard and the family began singing the words! Your heart would have just melted to be in the room at that moment. It was powerful.
We spent a few nights during our devotion time to learn the song without the track. They sang it beautifully. We added sign language for the chorus. I watched Sylvia lead the song and Henry lead the instruments. I was in awe of how it all came together. They harmonize like a beautiful symphony.
Jireh is one of Godfrey & Irene’s daughters. She is only 12 years old. She has taken an extra interest in learning sign language. I found her teaching some of the younger children from church the signs to the song all on her own. When I talked to her about it she said, “I really love it and want to learn more”.
Trust and Hope are their youngest two daughters who are 6 and 8. Someone told me that many times after church you can hear one of them “preaching” and the other “interpreting”. They pick up a water bottle or anything that resembles a microphone and just go back and forth! No doubt that they are copying their dad and Joan (who does a lot of the interpreting! But one Sunday afternoon, these two little ones said they wanted to sing. Trust and Hope started singing “Jehovah”. Then they began singing, “Jesus Loves Me”. A few more children from church ran over and instantly a choir was born! It was a sweet, sweet sound to the Lord! Then they decided to sing “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High!” I asked if they wanted to learn how to sign “Jesus Loves Me”. They were more than eager! I was surprised at how fast they picked it up.
Hours later I was in the living room with Godfrey and Trust. I asked her if she remembered the signs from “Jesus Loves Me”. She proceeded to proudly start to sing the song, along with remembering ALL the signs! Even Godfrey was shocked! Trust is the youngest in the home. God is already using this 6 year old to proclaim the gospel loud and clear!
I have been teaching the students sign language since the very first mission’s trip. They learned to sign Jeremiah 29:11. Every time I hear this verse, I see them signing it and hear their voices with their Ugandan accents. They memorized this verse by remembering the sign language. Every once in awhile we go back to this verse and they can still sign it!
I had noticed this time some of them are beginning to sign with more fluidity moving from one sign to the other. I realized they are starting to copy me more not just with the actual signs by in HOW I sign music. Maria came to me at one point and said she wants to learn the next step in signing how I sign. They are already doing it. They believe the words they are interpreting and as they worship the Lord, it comes out on their hands. They know it is not performing but how someone who is deaf can experience the song by the way they interpret it. They feel the music. They internalize the words. At one point I saw Maria just walking around signing “More Than Able” with her eyes closed, worshipping the Lord with her hands. Moments like this are hard to adequately describe. My heart was overflowing.
OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS
For those that may not know, years ago we acquired two German Shepherd watch dogs. Even though we are in a gated compound, we were encouraged to either get guard dogs or hire security guards. They said the problem with security guards is they could easily be bribed. So we decided on the dogs.
Unfortunately, one year someone threw poisoned meat over the fence and one of the dogs died. We have since replaced that dog and also have security cameras. The dog who died was named Scooby (yes after Scooby Doo). The remaining dog I had named Pax (Peace). The newest dog is still fairly young. They said his name was Jim! I asked why “Jim”? Their response was Jim was stubborn! Not sure why they associate that name with being stubborn!
While I was there we gave Jim another name! I began calling it “Scooby Two!” Ha ha! They loved that! I am sure the dog is totally confused now!
They don’t let the dogs out during the day. They keep them in their “kennel” so when night comes they are alert as security dogs. They use to keep them in this very small dog house. But we had built a big chicken coop enclosure next to where we built the new kitchen. Before COVID we were able to start raising chickens to have some self-sustainable income selling eggs. But COVID came and the feed for the chickens became outrageously expensive. They were spending more than they were making. So Godfrey said they had to sell the chickens and we will try again once the feed costs normalize.
For now the dogs are happy because they have a huge area to roam around in. You don’t hear them during the day much so I assume they are resting to do their job at night. They are excellent security for the family.
We also have many cats that are on the compound. They wander around the neighborhood during the day and end up at the house at night. In Uganda, animals like dogs and cats are not looked at as domesticated animals. They don’t see them the same way we look at pets. The dogs are security and the cats are a bother.
Then I come in as the “dog & cat whisperer”! Ha ha! There was a little baby kitten in the house and I was so excited! I began being nice to the cats and they were amazed. At meal time, one of the calico mama cats came and just sat right by me. The cats were just happy someone was petting them! They said, “They are only coming around because you are here”! By time I left, the attitude towards the cats had changed. You could almost hear the cats in their meows saying, “Finally! Thank you for coming!” Ha ha!
I have at least four more updates for Chapter 26. This will include Shopping in Town, the Hotel, Sunday Services, Reconciliation, Wedding and my Send Off. It is amazing so much happened in the short three weeks. I am working as quickly as I can so I can get to posting photos. Thank you for reading, praying and encouraging.
I couldn’t imagine being on this journey with anyone other than you!
Kale,
Mama Kisakye
No comments:
Post a Comment