GOD IS ALWAYS AT WORK
A beautiful recap of the last few days from the precious team on the ground in Uganda. Selah Balli, 15 years of age, shares her thoughts.
Thursday. Thursday wasn’t a very eventful day – it was a travel day. But despite it being calm (which was much needed), it was fun! We rolled down the moonroof and let the wind blow in our faces, and just rode along. Coming along the journey with us are three amazing Ugandan men and so now our crew is made up of seven people! The three other peoples that have joined us all work for AICM, and we’re so thankful to have their bubbly personalities joining our adventure.
Halfway through our long drive to Iganga (where we were driving to), we stopped for a touristy surprise. None of us knew it was coming and when we got there we were pleasantly shocked. We were at the Source of the Nile! It was pretty amazing. We got to ride on the waters in a boat and touch the river (which the locals say blesses you) and see monkeys and snakes and even a crocodile (in a cage)! We then arrived at our hotel and slept long and hard in preparation for the upcoming days.
Friday. Friday was a VERY eventful day. We started off by visiting a Muslim school… kind of crazy right? Surprisingly, the teachers and children there were very open. The children were so cute and we loved getting to serve them food, play awesome games, and cuddle them with all our might. They were so full of laughter and joy. We were able to share our testimonies with them and even have an alter call; some of the children and even teachers opened their hands and accepted Jesus!
This next part is so special. We were given the opportunity, the gift, to go to a child’s home and watch as he was told he had been sponsored. It was so exciting!! His name is Dixon and as we sat and watched Sam (the man who runs the sponsorship program), we got to experience, with a family, a child being given a better chance at life. We experienced a child being given food, and clothes, and medical care, and even education. We were part of a child becoming a part a new family. The Balli family. Tom and Sandi Balli (my grandparents) were the new sponsors of Dixon and because of that he is now a part of every Balli’s life. We got to hug him and tickle him and call him brother (technically uncle for me), and pray blessings over his family. Dixon’s mother’s joy and gratitude was so overwhelming that she kept singing “aye aye aye aye!” and raising her hands up to the Lord in praise. That experience was not only a blessing to Dixon and his family, but also to everyone who got to encounter it.
After going to Dixon’s house and telling their family the good news, we went to two other, already sponsored, children’s homes. While we were there, we gave the families beans, rice, sugar, bread, dishtowels for the mothers, and candy and a toy to the sponsored children. At one of the houses, lived a wonderful, kind, humble, thankful woman. She was a grandmother who ran a house full of many precious children. This Jaja (grandmother) has lost so much in an extremely short amount of time and because of that our hearts ached for her. In the past few months she has lost her husband and three children/children-in-laws and her heart is in deep mourning right now. Losing your loved ones is a traumatic, heavy, painful journey and this Jaja is in the middle of that suffering. Yet, despite her heartache, she was thankful to have us in her home and we were thankful to be with her. We prayed truth and love over her, and blessing and peace over her home. While we were praying for Jaja, my mom mentioned the word hope, and as soon as I heard the word I knew what I needed to do. You see, I have this key. It is called a giving key. A giving key is a key that has a word carved into it; such as love, joy, fly, faith, create etc. The reason you possess the key is either because someone gave it to you, or you bought it for yourself. You have a key that has a word that you feel you need in your life. And when you come across someone who you find needs the word more than you, you GIVE them the key. That is why it is called a GIVING key. I had a key that said hope on it. I bought the key because I felt I needed hope in my life. When my mother spoke the word hope over Jaja, I felt I had found the person who needed hope in their life more than I did. Honestly, I did not want to give up the key, the word. But I knew God wanted me to. And so, I knelt down and took Jaja’s hands in mine and I told her what the key represents, and then I gave it to her. She was so sweet and thankful and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for the moments I spent with her.
Saturday. Today we spent all morning and evening with the teachers of the Muslim school. Remember the school? I know it was a long time ago, but remember the playful children and the alter call? Today we got to speak to the men and women who spend all day, every day, with those children. We ate in fellowship with them, and we played games with them. It was actually very fun; a bunch of adults playing and laughing like children. But the most important thing we did was teach them how to better care for their students. Today was very similar to what we did on Wednesday, except much longer and at a Muslim school, instead of a Christian school. We discussed opinions with the teachers and yet again, I shared in confidence how Mr. Deutsch has transformed my life for the better by not only making school fascinating, but by also caring for my heart. It was so important for us to tell the teachers how every aspect of a child’s life, school and heart, matters in order for them to learn. We also had the amazing opportunity to tell these teachers about Jesus and a few decided to except Jesus into their hearts and lives! The Headmaster of the school, who is fully Muslim, cannot stop praising God in Jesus’s name and it is a MIRACLE and an incredible thing to see a man who comes from a Muslim background now praising Jesus’s name! Our whole team is basking in awe for what the Lord has and can do, and we’re entrusting him with our hearts and minds for what is coming next.
