Yesterday a whole stack of letters arrived for our Scholarship Kids (sponsored orphans). Under the new one-to-one sponsorship program - each student has an American sponsor who has their picture and biography and prays for them daily. In response I have asked sponsor families to send their own photo (or “snap” as we call it here) to their kids with at least two letters a year. Most sponsors have just received their first letters from kids and many have responded quickly and wonderfully with responses, I’m sure others are still on their way.

So yesterday I had the delightful job of walking around campus and delivering mail. For legal reasons I open each letter and read it before passing it on to students, one step in the process of preventing stalking or abuse long-distance. As I opened and read the letters I delighted in the messages being given to kids across the miles. Moments later I was loping across the football pitch, finding the kids and hand delivering their messages. ” From your sponsor family,” I said, each time I handed over an envelope. The response was touching and dramatic - some of the the boys, in their early twenties, nearly did the low-curtsy that is a child’s thank you here. As it was, they received their “gifts” two-handed with the bowed head that shows their great appreciation for something truly valuable. I almost cried.

As I walked back towards home I saw several of the girls who had received letters sitting in groups with their friends, sharing the contents of their envelopes. Some received handmade friendship bracelets or seashells from beach vacations. They were eagerly identifying the faces in the photos of their families. All attention of the circle of girls was on the sponsored kid, newly belonging to these far-away friends. They alone had received this attention, this care and this love. They stood out for once, as unique not in their aloneness but instead in their being KNOWN.

Thank you, dear sponsors, for loving kids. For me, all the hard work of matching children to adults, coordinating giving and mailings and photos and information - it all paid off yesterday in the two-handed receiving of a deeply needy child’s heart within the body of a tall and gifted young man. Know that you are making a difference for eternity. Much like the cup of cold water the Bible mentions, your letters are given in Jesus name. And Jesus heart, like those of these kids, is blessed.

One of the funny realities of daily life here is thinking in the millions daily. One dollar bill is worth roughly twice as much as the Ugandan 1000 shilling note. So we deal in the thousands for small money, and in the millions for bigger money.

Last night, 3.8 million was stolen out of our bursar’s office. The thieves, who must have been insiders, used a crowbar to pry two sets of locks out of the wooden doors in the administrative building, then clearly knew where to look for the keys hidden in the bursars office (no, we didn’t know he hid them there for safekeeping.) Though this is the equivalent of only a few thousand dollars - it is a huge amount for us to lose. It’s a fortune here, and a fortune in terms of what it buys us for students we are already vastly underfunded to provide for.

In two brilliant moments of response to this crisis I first criticized my husband for being “too fraternal with students” - what this has to do with the theft I’m not sure exactly but my hasty words didn’t need much of an explanation in my own mind. Then I went outside and told the school gardener, “what else should we expect from the Babwisi, they have a habit of stealing.” Lovely. Glad to report to you all that I am totally filled up with the Holy Spirit, all the time.

Desmond, our bursar, told a story last week during our meeting for sponsored orphans. He told how a street kid, if you look them in the eye for more than a little while, will pick up a rock and throw it at you. Amidst the uncomfortable laughter of the students, (who haven’t really seen street kids), he explained that that’s the kind of orphan the Bible says we are. We don’t believe that anyone will come through for us: not parents, not friends, not God himself. We think that at the slightest danger we must protect ourselves with the greatest force. We are street children, our arms cocked back and armed with the biggest rock around.

And isn’t that the truth about my own heart? Faced with the reality of hardship in the form of stealing, I fought back quickly, fiercely and unreasonably with my words. And no doubt our thief has done the same; faced with the reality of lack in their own lives, they are using any means necessary to acquire what they believe they need.

I’m glad to report that I went back to both David and Samuele within the hour to ask their forgiveness and speak truth instead of lies. Though I have been adopted into the family of the King I often forget that I am no longer an orphaned street child . . . . He will care for me, if I can only learn to trust.

So far these last two weeks we’ve had inedible food served to 400, no access to running water for our hundreds of daily athletes, and a series of full latrines leading to fighting over something as simple as where to go to the bathroom. Who’s running this school, anyway?! We’ve also had girls soccer tryouts with Ashley leading them through two hours of soccer drills - 25 screaming, laughing girls carrying each other around on their backs was a memory to treasure. And eight female staff eating a Mexican meal in our home, by candlelight, their beautiful faces shining as they laughed and conversed was a moment of pure joy for me. As was their mostly uninhibited conversation about what it means to be a woman, courtesy of our study based around the book Captivating.
David needs time badly, time to get a handle on the “important but not urgent” so the “urgent and important” things come more slowly. He has incredible amounts of finances to comb through and re-order in a way that makes sense to him. He has budgets for new building projects to scrub before those projects can begin. He has classes to observe and classes to teach. He has staff members to reprimand, encourage and disciple in so many many ways. He has a 100 little “shoe string stresses” each day on top of the major crisies that just don’t stop.
Jennifer keeps quoting from the story of the woman who ran out of oil. Elijah told her to gather all the pots she could and that God would fill them, and he did. God filled them until all that she had gathered were full. It can be a reminder that unless we bring a lot of pots we won’t see the fullness of God’s provision. But what it has been reminding me this week is that I have a whole lot of empty pots that I sure didn’t work very hard to gather. They are just there, staring me in the face. Waiting for God to fill. And I guess if we have faith, He will.

Miss Ashley, missionary teacher to both of our kids, had her Golden Birthday on Monday. The weekend was a flurry of preparations for our kids and the younger two Masso kids, who share her classroom. Naomi and Liana are her third graders and Quinn and Gaby her kindergartners. It’s an active class with Ashley shuttling back and forth between the two groups of learners, and managing to incorporate an incredible amount of fun time too; games, songs, art, etc. Ashley is also our new girls soccer coach at Christ School. We’re so thankful for Miss Ashley!

Gaby and Liana spent Sunday night sleeping over at our house, getting things ready for Miss Ashley’s birthday party. They decorated toilet paper banners with carrots and rats - Miss Ashley’s two least favorite things! (see her expression in the first picture!) Naomi and Liana also designed and prepared a scavenger hunt for Miss Ashley. We ate lemon poppy-seed cupcakes, played games, and laughed.

Poor Miss Ashley gives and gives, and we are trying hard not to give back in the wrong way . . . This week Quinn and Gaby both had massive haircuts in an attempt to keep scalp fungus from continuing to spread to others (they both catch it easily from local friends.) Both of us families are also using bactroban to try to group disinfect from some nasty staff infections that we keep passing back and forth, and to our teachers at school too, of course! Aahhh . . .the joys of life on a close-knit missionary team. Those who disinfect together, stay together. We’re really family now.

I was greeted by an emerald green snake with cobalt blue eyes and a long thin blue tongue. Hardly bigger around than a pencil, the snake was several feet long. He was strikingly gorgeous and inviting - I wanted badly to pick him up.

What a fascinating start to our time remembering a decade of marriage, celebrating our anniversary May 29th, at Semuliki Safari Lodge. I believe ten years of a solid marriage is no small feat - especially where we find ourselves now, cultivating love, commitment and mutual respect amidst the hard and sure arrows of the Enemy.

This charming and deceptively inviting snake greeted us as we entered our luxury tented cabin - combining the simplicity and romanticism of a tent with the luxury of a real bathroom. Surprisingly, our tent held a Rutooro name meaning, “the place of witch doctors” or “the place where people die when they drink the water.” I am still puzzling over that name and over the snake who greeted us and the extent of the spiritual oppression that pursued me during our two days away. Some missionaries here say that any area where we take a stand is where we will feel the greatest attack. In the last few months I have helped both my female workers legally begin their escapes from abusive marriages and polygamy. Perhaps that is another piece in the puzzle.

Semuliki was startlingly luxurious - not so much in the accomodations as in the stillness - we shared the huge dining and sitting room, the small but brilliantly blue pool and the lovely grounds with only one other couple. Each and every gourmet meal felt hand made just for us and was served by an attentive waiter with every beautiful detail. Being able to lie pool side, soaking up sun and swimming beside David without any prying eyes was truly satisfying. Taking complementary game drives without any tourists, forest walks with just a guide to ourselves, watching monkeys in the our trees in the early mornings with no sounds around us - this was true luxury. It felt as if this small and sparkling gem of a place was left here just for us.

David painted me a beautiful picture of our surroundings - while I shared my beauty with him as his muse. We read several books each, soaked up the amazing bird life and ate and drank tranquility for two days and two nights.

Thank you God.

I haven’t yet mentioned here that when students aren’t yelling or throwing stones, they sing beautifully at night . . . . As preps let out around 10 pm, noise suddenly escalates with the sounds of laughter and goodnight calls then settles into a soothing murmur of nighttime routines for students, washing out underwear or socks, brushing teeth, chatting. Then the murmurs slowly change to singing and we begin to hear the beautiful voices of our girls choir, practicing: “I’ve got my mind made up and I won’t give up, I’m going to see my Jesus, O Lord . . . . .” - think of a Negro spiritual tune and imagine it brought forth into the darkness of the African night, by tribal people, who, like the slaves, have known much suffering. It’s a pretty amazing experience - and it’s ours most nights around 10:30 pm.
Today was another incredibly full day, but the car tires are all functioning again, we are well on our way to having more reliable household water, and the school batteries are refilled and ready for more punishing use. I met with the orphans, we supervised a whole lotta meals, and our kids had a fun day with friends.

David was up early yesterday, arriving for the first class of the day to observe one of our A-level (similar to Junior college) teachers at work. In an effort to improve our baby A-level program, we need to see what’s really happening in the classrooms. The day continued with a meeting with his deputy h/m for students, as they discussed what the parent meetings with the senior 2 students and their guardians, would look like. Parent meetings are a great experience, but not simple for David or his staff. In Africa, communities like to solve problems so parents like to be called in to discuss and challenge both the school and the students. Parents meetings meet much like a town council but with a very simple agenda.

As parents gathered by 2:30, David and Betty spoke briefly to the parents, explaining the reason for the three day suspension and encouraging parents to act as guidance in their children’s lives. In return, the parents and guardians spoke for another 2 plus hours, mostly criticizing the work of the school kitchen while thanking the staff for their efforts in education. There is a saying in Lubwisi ” it is the hungry stomach that dances.” According to a few parents, their children’s lack of good feeding this term, has contributed to their delinquincy. I was proud of David as he responded calmly and thoughtfully to each accusation and statement as well as the encouraging remarks. His responses were humble and repentant in the areas we’ve failed but confident in the ways that we are succeeding. It was hard for me to imagin that parents would come away without reassurance that David was up to the task.

And the meeting ended well - there were five suspensions but no expulsions yet. Pray for these kids to learn well from their experience of discipline and to be able to return to us long-term. Preps were quiet again last night even with all the s2s back, so perhaps many have been cautioned well. Of course so many of the actions that we take as parents, employers, teachers - are designed to deal with the symptoms. Stopping defiant and angry students from acting out dangerously is important. But far more important is the softening of their hearts towards God’s heart for them. A desire to embrace His truth for their lives. We need His help not to lose sight of the heart- picture and to find new and better ways to communicate that to our staff. Pray for s2 teachers not to glory in their “winning” but to use this time of calm as an opportunity to love their students better, to grow in their compassion and mercy while knowing the need for firmness.

As David finally arrived home just before seven, we noticed our car tire was completely flat and resting on the rim so David went to jack that up before rushing in for a quick dinner. After dinner David was off again to student council meeting where he taught the new incoming student council members a short lesson on leadership then walkes them through the “win-win” process of negotiating for almost two hours. They were negotiating through what originally seemed like a simple problem but turned out to be quite complex - student health issues! David finally arrived home for the night at 10 pm.

Sunday night students were LOUD, rocks were thrown at the kitchen that evening after their evening meal was delayed an hour because of mistakes in the kitchen. Most students seemed happy with the delay which translated to less time for preps, and satisfied with the late meal but we spent all evening listening to loud noises from students through prep time and constant noise from the girls compound (right next to our yard). I went to sleep with this constant noise and both David and I had very bad dreams. I woke up still sick to my stomach with that on-edge feeling, and we heard more rocks had been thrown and staff were not venturing from their on-campus houses, or if they were, were carrying improvised weapons.

Monday is a day full of meetings - a staff meeting which incorporates all almost-thirty of us and a following leadership team meeting. Staff meeting was intense - a full hour of teachers complaints, fears, and requests regarding out of control students. So much of what is happening now centers around our problems in the kitchen, but also around David’s newness in the position of Headmaster. Students are testing him and they are testing his relationship to the staff. They are trying to turn one against another just like kids try to appeal to their Dad when their mom says no or vice versa. It’s so much harder to communicate well and stay on the same page, though, when there are 350 kids and 30 parents!

Monday afternoon’s leadership meeting led to a decision to suspend the entire s2 class for three days; effectively removing the majority if not entirety of the trouble makers for a forced “time out”. Though David called in police officers to monitor the students as they left our gates, there was a very calm departure. It’s hard to imagine that we have called in the police over our sophomore high school students, but perhaps it’s helpful to realize that many of these are males around the age of 17, big boys who have been raised with significant physical violence.

Today s2 students will return with their parents for a brief parents meeting. Some students may subsequently face expulsion for their behavior. In a boarding school where we must care for and monitor students 24/7, and where the student/staff ratio is at about 13 adolescents for every adult, acts of defiance and disrespect have to be treated seriously to maintain safety for all involved. Students who have demonstrated a clear and consistent pattern of defiance will be expelled to protect the environment for other students. All of this is touchy, difficult and of course sad. Pray for us to love families through these sad changes, to testify to the love of God through discipline. Pray for a spirit of peace to invade the campus of Christ School.

Long-term, our desire is to identify problem students early, not so that we can “mark” them as issues to be dealt with (as we informally do as a staff now) but so that we can do our very best to meet their heart needs in a way that satisfies their sadness, their angry and their disrespect. This week I met with a Mabwise who will soon graduate with a degree in Social Work and who is interested in joining our teaching staff next year with a side job in student counseling. Pray that God will guide opportunities like these and expand the “tools” in our “toolbox” for dealing with the hearts of students.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my afternoon painting nails for students. I ended the post talking about some of these students consequent acts of misbehavior . .. . . And our reaction. I called the post Life in Color.

Well yesterday, as a result of our nail polish afternoon, life got more colorful. In our weekly staff meeting, some members soundly denounced my action as encouraging student indiscipline and contributing to promiscuity. As I learned more deeply than I had realized before: to some men and women here, any form of physical adornment is inappropriate in a school setting, where students are supposed to focus on studying. And to others, nail painting itself is somehow connected to sexual enticement.

I share this information as a snapshot of my life here; a life of taking risks that end in mistakes, of refusing to take risks that end in doors closing, of very, very occasionally, getting it “right.”

And that’s why I choose to see this mistake too, as “right.” This mistake provided me with an opportunity to love girls. It provided me with an opportunity to reach out to a particularly troubled student in a new way. It gave me the opportunity to disappoint some staff, and be confronted by them. It gave me a chance to bow to their request not to do it again, and thus learn humility in their presence. It gave me an opportunity to respect some cultural issues which I believe can be harmful or damaging but are not mine to choose to change. It also gives me the chance to see how shocking I am; to see that my painted toe nails, my shiny lip gloss, and my choice of earrings can make or break someone’s opinion of me.

I have ideals about how girls should be raised, how women should be educated, and what it looks like to embrace men and women as complete people, not divorced from their sexuality but completed through it and many other characteristics of their selves. I have ideas about why trousers are a positive choice. Why nail polish can enhance self-esteem while meeting many women’s desire for beauty. But my opinion is far less important than meeting others in relationship with the love, communication and respect that will allow them to make choices not out of fear but out of knowledge. I want to truly impact the future for good, not just influence the small choices of today. So girls will be color-free for a bit, as we encourage them to remove their earrings, and stay make up free. Meanwhile I will continue to wear modest trousers in some public situations, to light up my life with colorful toe nails and put on that fruity lip gloss once in a while. And in conjunction, I pray that people will see that I am somehow still (with all my “modern” ways) a faithful wife, a loving mother, and a guider to Truth. And in time, perhaps, girls will learn what it looks like to honor God with beauty and adornment . . . . Even if I can’t be the one to adorn them.

One of the biggest burdens on our shoulders right now is that of getting the school fully funded so that we end this year in the black. Though our mission has historically allowed some freedom in advances on funding, the money eventually has to come from somewhere. Right now we are several thousand dollars a month short in ongoing funding - the funding that makes up the difference between what our students pay and what it actually costs to educate them. Several dollars a month is a pretty significant shortfall by the end of a fiscal year!

So we pray, we think creatively, we connect strategically when possible, we ask for people’s hearts to open to the need and to their ability to influence eternity, we publicize, we wait. The waiting is difficult as is finding the balance between faith and hard work between good stewardship used towards looking for money and trusting God to bring it in.

In the past few months we have prayed consistently as individuals, a couple, a family and a team for new funding for Christ School and we have seen prayers answered, though we are still missing these critical monthly gifts. Most surprisingly has been the ways God has brought in some of the money, proving to us that He is bigger than we imagined and controls more than we realize. Recently God has given us funding through:
- money from the chief administrative officer of Bundibugyo District to fund our students trip to the football nationals. This money is supposed to be paid by the government but this is the first time they have ever done it - too often the money is eaten by someone in the chain. Getting this money took many visits by David and the cultivating of friendships - well worth the doors it opens for him not only for the school but for future opportunities to impact Bundibugyo education on a grander scale.

- money from Uganda’s Ministry of Education to fund USE (Universal Secondary Education) students (much like a charter school situation). Our school costs more than USE funds so parents must make up the difference. We badly hoped that the promised funds would come in, but money from the government is never a sure bet so when David saw it arrive in the school bank account it was huge reason to praise!

- the potential of a free plastic tank for expanding our water project, as a result of too many tanks donated through a large international organization to Uganda’s public primary schools . . . Pray that we do get this, but this could significantly cut budge needed for our water project!

100% of sponsored orphans have been fully funded on Scholarships through the CSB Scholarships Fund - that is truly amazing!! And we have money in the bank for water, latrines, housing issues, and some other major needs. We have so much to praise God for, and He has provided in so many abundant ways. When I look at needing several thousand dollars in monthly commitments, I feel overwhelmed knowing that a whole lot more people have to begin giving regularly to keep us in the black. But when I look at what God has already done, it gives me hope and faith.