Prison Praises

When we visited the prison on March 8 and March 22, so many women had been released.  Your prayers are helping these women.   I miss them, but I am SO glad they are free from those walls.

Also, on March 8, Florence talked to them about the denomination whose pastor told them to play no music until Easter.  She assured them that in that very church, every Sunday, they played instruments and sang, even during Lent.

The women had a long discussion between themselves.  It only got a little heated, and the next thing I knew, they had pulled out the three drums, the shakers, and EVERY single person was dancing and jumping as we sang.  Music really can bring joy to the soul.

I had visitors from southern Uganda with me that day, and they told me they could even feel how joyful these women were and what a wonderful time of worship and celebration they had had with these women.

Other praises:

*  One woman who had told us her file had been "lost," so she had no way to get out, informed us that her file was "found."  Interesting, huh?

Several more have "lost" files we are praying for.  You can pray, too, for them to be "found."  (I'm sure money will have to be involved somewhere).

*  They are so appreciative of the white T-shirts from that middle school in Arkansas because they have something clean to wear when they go to court.

*  I was walking through a neighbor's yard last week for a short-cut, and I saw a face that I recognized, but I had never seen her at this house before.  She recognized me and smiled, and when I saw the smile, I knew I was seeing Irene from the prison.  She's out.  She has a long hair weave now, and she's my neighbor.  Fun, huh?

*  One lady, "F," confessed two weeks ago that she was dreaming some awful dreams and hadn't slept in three days.  Since some young people read this blog, I will just say that her dreams involved her and dogs.  Enough said.   My friends from the south, prayed over her in Jesus' name, and she has since told us that since we prayed, she has been sleeping fine.  Praise Jesus!

I missed going to the prison on the 15th, because I was in Kampala.

That is a story for another blog.

Thanks for keeping these women in your prayers.  They are so thankful!

Jesus' Cousin: Prison, January 26, 2012

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I really liked today’s story.  We talked about John the Baptist, his role in life, Jesus being baptized, and then Jesus being tempted by Satan.

Most of their questions after the story were about the temptations in the wilderness.  They really were bothered by the way Satan (sorry, I put "Jesus" earlier) was drawn in the picture, and I must say, I’m not too crazy about them either.  They, of course,  were bothered by his long nails and red skin.

I’m still not sure why we depict Satan that way.  Anyway…two of their questions…

*How did Jesus get down from the Temple once he was up there?

*Who are the mother and father of Satan? 

I had other questions about Satan for them, but it was my questions on baptism that were harder for them to answer

*Was Jesus baptized as a baby?

*Do you believe the Bible is true?

*Does it say in the Bible that to be born again, you must be baptized?

After that question, we had a long discussion, because they were SURE that it says in the Bible that you have to be baptized to be born again, when it, in fact, is does not.  I also told them to remember how Jesus was taken to the temple as a child to be dedicated to the Lord, but he wasn’t baptized until later.  So we got into the discussion of infant baptism, because there is no record of that in Scripture either. 

They really pondered these things.

The beautiful part of today was the welcome they gave me for my return.  They sang louder than I had ever heard them, and everyone that knew me hugged my neck, instead of just shaking my hand.

The four Fusion girls went with me today, and they got TWO "welcome to prison songs," in addition to all the praise songs they sang.

Some of the ladies we knew had been released, but there were eleven new ones that I met for the first time.

After the story, the ladies asked me to sleep with them at the prison for one night because they missed me so much.

I know you are disappointed, but I declined.

Then they asked if they could sing again at the end because they were so happy and wanted to rejoice some more.

Florence told me the words to one of the songs was, “My sister was gone, but You, God, returned her to us safely.”

I love the joy I see in these women!

Someone, Somewhere Prayed

I wrote you about taking a freezing shower on day 16 with no power, and even though I didn't hear from anyone, I know someone must have started praying.

Day 17 - Power came on at 3pm!

Thanks, God!

Journal of Praises (Jan 13)

I really love to journal and get my thoughts on paper, but blogging uses so many of my thoughts, that I don’t get as much written down as I used to. When I started journaling the first morning in Africa, I thought about how much I would need to train myself to “give thanks in everything.”

So I began.

I start every sentence in my journal with the words “Thank You,” and then if I need to elaborate, I do with another sentence or two. This has kept me from complaining or wishing for things.

For example, here at Brackenhurst, I have written, “Thank you that when the shower flooded while Kylie and Caleb were in it, that the water just flooded the bathroom and didn’t reach the living room.

OR

“Thank you that Doug and I were able to spray Karis’ and Caleb’s sheets to kill whatever was biting them and they weren’t bitten last night.”

Normally, I would have written, “There are no mosquitoes here because it is too cold, but something has been biting Karis and Caleb each night in their bed. The bites are red with white heads and itch for a day. I talked to one of the missionaries who suggested it might be a spider or bed bug and that I should spray.”

One statement gives more information, but the other one surely stretches my brain in how to be thankful. I need that here.

I got a little down yesterday because my mind doesn't see anything or anyone familiar, and I don't feel like I have a place to "rest," especially my mind, because I'm always trying to figure out where I am, where my stuff is, or where I’m going. I know a lot of it has to do with not seeing my home yet, being unpacked, or feeling settled.

I feel your prayers, but please continue to lift our whole family up. The kids are adjusting here better than Virginia, which is crazy to me, but prayer is a part of that as well. Many of the missionary children already knew each other, so it was a little hard at first for Kylie to see where she fit in, but after her first art class she had already made friends. Karis just does her thing and plays with whomever, and has found another friend named Karis whom she really likes, and Caleb is going to class each day easily and playing with kids wherever he is.