Goodbye Rob and a Home Gets Some Help

Greetings from the Hopeland Base in Jinja. It has been a bittersweet week for us here in Uganda. Another one of our team members has left for home this morning. Rob decided that it was time for him to go home a couple of weeks ago, so he prayed about it and felt that the Lord gave him the O.K. to do so. He left for Canada this morning, so pray for traveling mercies on the long series of flights necessary.

Rob was one of my closest friends throughout the entirety of my YWAM journey thus far. The Lord has blessed me so much through him physically and spiritually. We will be dearly missed by all of the team members and especially by me. Rob, I will miss you, bud… See you this summer Lord willing!

There was another tragedy in the United States this week that I am sure all of you are aware of. The deadliest shooting spree in US history occurred at Virginia Tech on Monday. It comes almost 8 years to date from the Columbine Shootings in Englewood, Colorado. Tragedy is a constant reminder to me of the state of our humanness. I am from Colorado and remember the day of the shootings at Columbine. I know how devastating that these actions can be to communities and to my country as a whole. Every 20^th of April, I remember the shootings by listening to the “Lullaby for Columbine” album and take time to pray for our country and especially our youth. The song that impacts me the most is one called “Friend of Mine” written by Jonathan and Stephen Cohen, two students of Columbine… These are lyrics that all of us should keep in mind. Please take time to pray for all for all of the victims and their families of both Virginia Tech and Columbine. Pray also that we will act in Love toward all people.

“Turn our pain, to your gain,
Keep our hearts, on the mark
Comfort us, with your love, love again.

Christ of grace, Oh turn this place to
Look to you, honor you,
Fix you in our view”

On a lighter note, there is a definite praise report this week. The Lord has spoken to someone back home through this blog. I got word early last week that St. America’s Home [refer to previous blog entries] will be getting a monthly supporter! The donors will remain unnamed, but most of the technical information was handled today on a journey to the orphanage. This will be the home’s first monthly supporter since it was started in 1994. It is such an answer to prayer. They were so excited to hear the great news! I am so thrilled that they will be getting the support because I have seen the tremendous need that they face. I am also honored that the Lord would use this humble blog to accomplish his will!

I will also be supporting St. Ameria’s Orphanage with some of the funds that will be raised during the benefit art shows later this summer. If you would like to help out as well with any of the ministries that I have highlighted in this blog or the Team Ethiopia blog, please let me know.

It was so nice to see the children again today. Tara came with me and it was her first time to St. Ameria’s. The children sang again today, but instead of singing of how AIDS killed their parents, they sang of the hope that is found through Jesus Christ. The headmaster/choir director was also there today (he had been at a conference in Kampala the previous visitations). He was telling us of how the children use songs and dances to the Lord to comfort them when they are in pain. I felt such hope today, more so than the other times I had visited. It was such a blessing to be there.

The Vocational Training School (VTS) put on a coffee night for the base on Friday night. There was food, great coffee, and wonderful entertainment. A group from Tonga are here on outreach for a Frontier Missions School and have been helping out with the VTS. Another couple of staff in the VTS are getting married soon as well, so much is happening in that arena. The Tongans did a number of traditional dances for us, so here are a couple of the pictures from that night. They were also able to raise some money for the school as well!

Plans for the benefit photography shows are also coming together as well. As is stands right now, the cities are as follow (in order): Denver, Chicago, Ellensburg, Seattle, Santa Barbara, and Las Vegas. Please pray for the dates and places to be solidified. The ministries that will benefit from the shows will be: Bereket Orphanage (Ethiopia), YWAM Mercy Development (Ethiopia), Hope Enterprises (Ethiopia), and St. Ameria’s Orphanage (Uganda). To learn more about
each one of these ministries, please refer to past blog entries both in this blog, and the Team Ethiopia blog (http://ethiopiadts06.blogspot.com). If you want further information, please contact me and we will work something out.

A portion of the benefit will also go for my student tuition for another YWAM program called PhotogenX “round the world” tour. I think I have posted information about it before, but will go into a little bit more detail now. It is a program that starts at the end of September 2007 and ends at the beginning of April 2009. As the name suggests, it involved photography and going around the world. For the first 12 months or so, we will be traveling the world starting in India then proceeding to Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Chad, Southern Africa, Germany, Venezuela, and then back to Kona. In Kona we will be taking some more classes in photography and then going back out into the world for outreach. During the course of the school, we will be focusing on child trafficking and the sex trade. Part of the course will be taking the short version of the School of Biblical Studies as well. The final product of the course will be an Associates degree in photography, a portfolio from across the globe, a published book of all of our work, and a wide range of experience. More than what is seen, what I wish to make a difference in the world that was entrusted to us. I hope to fight some of the injustices that plague humanity as a global community. For more information, check the resources available on the internet. [PhotogenX]

Thank you so much for reading yet another blog and for the encouragement that I get from hearing your comments. I have mentioned this before, but to all who get the link to this site from the email I send out, I don’t just add everyone in my address book to the list, but because I want to. I don’t necessarily want this to be a one way mode of communication, but more of a two way mode. Please leave comments and questions you would like me to address and I will do my best to get back to you. And, if you just want to drop by and say hi, or have a prayer request, please feel free to email me and I will reply as quickly as I can. Thank you again.

Please continue to pray for all of us out here in Uganda. The struggle against HIV and AIDS is an uphill battle; we are behind in the fight and are still losing ground on a wide scale. We hope that with this conference we can stage an offensive and finally make some of it up.

In Christ Alone

John Paul