Hi everyone, I arrived in Uganda on Tuesday.
When I walked out of the airport I had the sweetest feeling I was home.
Last night I sent a personal email to some of my family
about a wonderful experience I had at church this Sunday.
I decided I would share the story with all of you.
All Praise Be To God
Here is a copy of my original Email,
With a few added details:
I went to church today, this was
the first time being back to VCC. Before I left the house I was praying
that if VCC is where I am suppose to be
going that God would give me a sign so that I would know for sure and that if it is not suppose to be my church
anymore than that I would know.
I arrived at church and I had such a
wonderful welcome by all of my friends there. The first face I saw was Sam, he
is one of the boys from Teen
Challenge, he's only about 17, and a former street boy. He is soft spoken and very sweet. His
face when he saw me was priceless he was so surprised and came to give me a hug.
I told him to take me to see
Dan. Let me give you some background on Dan.
I'm not sure how much I told
you about Daniel but he is the boy that I sponsor from Teen challenge. When I
first met him I didn't know he was a
former street child (No wonder I naturally had a heart for him). At church he
was always so quiet and he would help out with everything, there was
something about his spirit that attracted me. He has such an innocence about him
and such a servants heart. I prayed about him for a few days
and then one day I introduced myself and found out that he spoke very little
english. I also learned that he was a
student at Teen Challenge. I asked him if I could pray over him and he let me. When I finished he thanked me about a million times
and I knew I was suppose to help this boy in some way. I told him that if it was okay I wanted to be his big
sister (He is only 16 yrs old). I can't describe how happy he was when I said
this. Later I learned that his father died when he was a toddler and that his
step father would abuse him (step children in uganda are not accepted by step
parents) and then his mom died also. He was stuck with his step father who threw
him out on the streets.
After praying for him I gave him a
small amount of money because I felt like I was suppose to. I learned later
that he bought a cell phone with the money I gave him. There is something very
significant about this cell phone. When Daniel was on the streets he survived
by pickpocketing cell phones to get money to eat. The money I gave him to get a
phone was the first time he had ever been able to respectfully buy himself a
phone instead of stealing them for money. Before I left I was able to spend
more time with Daniel but his english was very poor. One day i was able to meet
the directors of Teen Challenge they were so excited to meet with me, they
shared with me that Dan had been very depressed and alone for a long time. He
was shy and didn't make friends very well and he was sad because he felt like
he had no one. They told me he is the only student at Teen Challenge who does
not have a sponsor and that they have not been able to put him into school because
of it (why he didn't speak english). I had enough money to pay for his school
fee's before I left. Dan even came with me to the airport to see me off, I
insisted he be there with me.
Daniel also shared with me himself that he had been praying for a long time that God would give me family again because he has always felt so alone. He told me, " I never doubted God though, I knew he would be faithful and bring me someone."
Now.. back to this morning at
church. Sam took me straight to Daniel and he was sooo happy to see me, he
seated me in the front row right beside him and immediately left and came back
with a cold water bottle for me (I know Dan's allowance is hardly anything and this small gesture was so special to me.) So worship started (oh how I missed this
worship) during worship I started praying again, "God, I'm waiting on your sign, I know you will be faithful, I just want to know for sure that this is my church." Then the sermon came and still I waited for my sign. I started to realize I was sitting right
in the middle of a group of boys from teen challenge and they all had there
T'shirts on. Suddenly, I heard the pastor announce that it was Teen Challenge Sunday
and that they will be announcing and celebrating the graduates today. I turned to
Dan and asked "Are you graduating today?" and he shook his head Yes.
He thought I had come specially for his graduation!! He was absolutely thrilled
I was there. He said that people had told him I wouldn't come back and that he
would always tell them she will come back I have faith in her. I HAD NO
IDEA IT WAS TEEN CHALLENGE GRADUATION DAY, I didn't even know it was Teen Challenge Sunday. But God did and he made sure I was there for this boy.
They began announcing the boys
one by one and the boys would go up and give their testimony and pray for each
individual boy and receive their grad certificate. Dan turned to me and said "when they call my name will you go up on stage with me?" I told him of
course. But honestly I was kind of nervous, it is a HUGE church bigger than The
Rock. I went up with him and he gave his testimony and at the end he told
everyone that even though he doesn't have any family he has me and that I am
helping him go to school. I never realized the impact I had on this boys life.
When I was there on my last trip he went to the slums with me a few times to help me feed the
street boys (he was a street boy himself and he had SUCH a beautiful heart for
these street children and after all he knows what they are going through) When
he would come with me he was so protective over me, he knows all the little
tricks people can play to pickpocket or take advantage. He watches out for
me
like I really am the only family he
has. Remember he is only 16 yrs old and yet he is so protective.
I couldn't believe I showed
up on his graduation! God came through with his sign, it truly felt like a
miracle to me. More exciting news is that Dan's english has improved soooo much from
the schooling I have paid for. He had never been in school so he had to start
from kid garden and he is now to 4th grade level, I can communicate with him
now much better. After church Dan said to me, "I want you to meet my teacher!". His teacher suggested that I
get him a personal tutor instead because in a class setting he will fall
behind. SO then God provided another miracle. There is a young man at my church
his name is Francis I met him last trip he is actually a christian author, he
has written several books. He is very smart and soft spoken, he's a really
sweet guy. He was who Dan's teacher suggested I higher as a tutor, I was so
happy to hear I could hire Francis because I know him already and he is someone
I can trust. I could see God's hand over Dan's life today.
When we sat back down with his
certificate he said to me, "I am a good boy now." looking down at his
certificate like it was proof of that. I told him he always was a good boy. And
he kept saying I knew you would come I knew it. It's just so weird because I
didn't know I would come, I didn't even know what I was coming for. But God
did.
Lynne
Daniel giving his testimony
A photo I received of Dan when I was in the states getting ready to go to school
His certificate of completion from Teen Challenge.
For those of you who haven't heard of the organization it is a christian rehab center for boys who
have struggled with substance abuse. When Dan was living on the streets (he was only a little boy) he became addicted to alcohol.
I plan on continuing to provide Dan with school fee's until he is
ready to take his exams and graduate.
It was pricey to hire him his own personal tutor but I knew it was what God wanted
me to do and Dan was so proud. I sat down with him, his teacher, and his new tutor.
Most kids hate anything that resembles a parent teacher conference but let
me tell you Dan could not be more excited for me to meet with his teachers. He was so
proud to have me there with him and I was even more proud of him for how
far he has come. By the way I got an excellent report from his teacher, his teacher told me
Dan is a very responsible young man and that he is even paying him some small money
every other day to pick up his children from school because he knows he can
trust Daniel with his children. (Pretty cool, right?)
Since Dan is now graduated from Teen Challenge he can no longer stay at the
rehab center. Because a lot of these boys who graduated are former street children,
they often have no place else to call home. So there is another home that they have started
for the graduates to stay at until they can get on their feet.
I would love to eventually
be able to help provide Daniel his own place, he told me yesterday.
"I know God will provide me a place, he is always faithful to me."
Dan is always right when he talks about God's faithfulness.
