Hosana

Heaven

I talked about a boy named Richard in our home and wanted to show you a few photos of him so that you could get to know him better, (and in his case, three pictures really are worth a thousand words!)

I also wanted to share an email from a man who I admire so much for his humility, love and understanding of God and His word, and his commitment to care for the vulnerable on his response as to whether or not Yahaya went to heaven. He is a theologian and professor at Phoenix Seminary and wrote the below email, oh yeah he also so happens to be my dad =-) It was something I had felt deeply in my heart based off of my own knowledge of God and who He is, but his email really put a lot of things into light. I hope it will encourage you as it did me!

Abby,

We are so sad that this happened. I would love to have you call and talk about this if you would like to.

You and David do such difficult work. God is grieved over human suffering, even when we partially or entirely bring it on ourselves. Isaiah 63:9, in a context of Israelites suffering due to their sin, God says “in all their affliction he was afflicted.” God is so grieved when people hurt, regardless of the cause. (Matt 9:36, Jesus’ compassion for the multitudes is similar.)

You love so fiercely and that is such a beautiful trait. I want to give you some biblical passages that I think will encourage you regarding whether or not Yahaya is in heaven. I am totally convinced that all babies, young children, as well as older children or adults who have diminished mental capacity (I’ll respectfully called them “the diminished”) will go to heaven. I didn’t know Yahaya, but it is pretty clear to me, even from seeing his picture, that he did not have normal mental/emotional capacities. He had some dysmorphic facial features, suggesting some abnormalities and deficiencies from birth (genetic abnormalities, fetal alcohol syndrome, or other conditions which I’m no expert on). There are so many factors which severely impact a child’s mental development and cognitive functioning—the mother’s nutrition during pregnancy, the mother’s drug or alcohol use during pregnancy, nutrition during infancy, severe neglect during the first three years of life, etc. Then you throw in experiences of trauma with no ongoing safety or support as well as the mental damage caused by drug usage, and you have a child who simply does not have the mental and emotional capacity to fully understand or respond to the gospel or to offers of other kinds of love and care. The fact that Yahya ran away so quickly and simply refused offers of care, even toward the end when he had gangrene in his foot and TB is indicative that he did not have proper mental/emotional functioning. God understands this and does not condemn someone for what they cannot receive. More than that, I believe God considers that his children who will be with him for all eternity.

There are many different biblical passages and theological principles to affirm that children and the diminished go to heaven.

1.       The love of God and the work of Christ lead us to logically infer that infants and others with reduced mental capacity go to heaven.

Christ died for the whole world—every single person ever created, and wants them to have a relationship with him. This is the clear message of John 3:16 and many other passages. 2 Pet 3:9 says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. It is only logical that since God loves all humans, Christ died for them, and God wants them to come to him, that based on the work of Christ, he saves those who by means of their diminished mental and or emotional capacity cannot trust in Christ.

2.       The diminished cannot fully understand their sin and their need for the gospel or turn to Christ. Since the basis for people not going to heaven is that they reject Christ and hate the light because they love their sin (John 3:16-20; cp. Rom 1:18-32). The diminished haven’t rejected Christ because they don’t have the full capacity to do this. Thus, they are not eternally judged. Furthermore, children in the Old Testament who were killed in pagan rituals to the Canaanite gods are declared “innocent” by God (Jer 19:4). God does not condemn the innocent and hates it when people do this (Prov 17:15).

3.       Jesus uniform attitude toward children is that they are innocent, blessed by God, and are spiritual examples for others to follow (Matt 18:2-4—children are called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven). Others—adults, are told they must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3), implying that children are already in God’s kingdom. These things would not be true if some children were not going to heaven. For instance, Jesus blessed the children as a group, seemingly without exception (Matt 18:3-5). Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus pronounce a blessing on anyone who stands in judgment, who is not a child of God.

4.       King David’s response to his infant son who died (2 Sam 12:17-23) was to get up, quit fasting, and to find comfort in the fact that even though the child couldn’t come to him in this life, David would go to him (v. 23). This only makes sense if David was confident that that child was with God where he, David, would be someday also. Further strengthening this interpretation is David’s dramatically different response to the death of his rebellious adult son Absalom who revolted, raped David’s concubines, and launched a civil war (2 Sam 16). When Absalom died, David was so overcome with inconsolable grief that his general had to confront him (2 Sam 18:33-19:1-8). This is because David knew that this adult son’s rebellion and sin evidenced that fact that he was not a child of God and David would not see him in the afterlife.

5.       One of the most powerful evidences of the fact that God treats children categorically different from adults and that they are not judged for sin the way adults are is found in Deut 1:39. In the context of God’s judgment on the Israelites whose sin caused God to deny them entry to the promised land, forcing them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, God says he will allow their children to enter the promised land because they “have no knowledge of good or evil.” God does not hold children responsible for things they don’t have the mental capacity to understand and thus gives them blessing and not judgment. This same principle applies to the diminished—they do not truly have knowledge of good or evil and thus aren’t under judgment but will inherit heaven.

6.       God says that children whose parents fatally sacrificed them to the pagan gods are “my children” (Ezek 16:20-21). Clearly God is saying that physical children are his spiritual children. This same principle surely applies to the diminished who are not by age little children but developmentally are children.

Abby, I would finally note the applicability of Matthew 25 to your care for Yahaya. He was “one of the least of these” and you loved him, offered him food, drink, clothes, and shelter. You did exactly what Jesus describes in this passage. It is so sad that due to his traumatic life experiences and diminished capacity he couldn’t receive this, but that doesn’t change the fact that as much as you did this to Yahaya you did it to Jesus. And Jesus takes great delight when we care for the vulnerable and marginalized that he cares for. Your love for Yahaya and your grief over him delights the one who gave his life for Yahaya. And I am confident that you will see him again some day and he will thank you for offering him love and care in Jesus’ name, even though he couldn’t receive it at the time. And Jesus will thank you for caring for His precious child. This doesn’t take away the loss and grief now, but it puts it in an eternal context. We don’t live for this life; we count on God’s future grace and live and serve in light of eternity.

I pray that God will encourage you and give you a sense of his delight in you for your work.

I would love to talk whenever you have a chance to call.

Love,

Dad

"The Journey is Not Over for Us!"

There is a boy named Yahaya that many of you know of because he is a boy that I love so much. He is a boy I have asked many of you to pray for as well as I know that you have. I always knew that Yahaya was supposed to be in our home. He did come into our home a couple of times but never for more than two days before he would run back to the streets to do drugs to which he was so strongly addicted. He had been through so much and just couldn't trust anything good in his life. He was also so addicted to drugs, going off of them for any period of time felt impossible for him. He was so hopeless and could simply not believe that anyone could love him or be good or trusted.

Two days ago Yahaya passed away. He had eaten something and began foaming at the mouth, convulsing and vomiting. Shortly after that he died. Last year, three street children were poised and killed by women living in the slum community (who didn't like street children) and two women were convicted and put into prison. It seems that Yahaya was another victim of poisoning.

There was so something so extremely beautiful about Yahaya. Behind his scars and drugs and toughness was the heart of an extremely wounded yet kind soul. He acted tough but I know that God had created him as a soft and compassionate kid. I loved Yahaya so much and had a perpetually broken heart that he couldn't stay in our home. The doors were never closed to our home and he knew it.

I loved Yahaya so very much and it feels hard knowing now that the hope that he would one day chose a life where he would be safe and loved and happy is no longer possible. I keep remembering the hours that he spent in our home wrestling with David and rollerblading all over the place as he grinned from ear to ear. I think the hardest part is not knowing where he is right now. Yahaya, as far as I had known him turned away from everything good and loving in his life- people, places, medicine and even God.

I am a very steady person but sometimes I feel like my life is full of impossibly high highs and low lows. After hearing that Yahaya had passed away I was surrounded by my boys, all children that God had allowed me to rescue from the street in devotions as they sang with full joyful hearts to God. They are the most beautiful treasures and I wish that the whole world could meet them, because they are the most beautiful example of a life saved and transformed by God. I kept looking at Richard, our newest and smallest boy who reminds me a little of Yahaya in his cuteness yet zeal for life as he sang with his shirt tucked into his high waisted shorts with his shoelaces tied around his calves as he sang and danced his little heart out. It hurt to be reminded of Yahaya but it helped heal my heart too to see Richard and think of where he might have been. 

The journey is not over for us. There are so many children suffering on the streets that don't have a home, and someone to love them, and most importantly don't know of a God who loves them more than they can ever imagine. My heart is still breaking and grieving over Yahaya and the injustices and horror that street children go through. It isn't right and it isn't fair and he lived a life that no one should ever have to go through.  But that is exactly why we stand in the gap to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. 

This was a poem that I wanted to share that I had written last year, while praying for Yahaya actually, that still feels so painfully true for many children that we work with.

Come come come

We say, He says

Stay stay stay

We plead

But so often you slip into the night

Out of our hands that try to hold on so tightly

And forever we wonder

You thought you were invisible

Because you left and no one noticed

You hid and no one sought you out

But I see you now

and you were never lost from His sight

I think sometimes it can be hard for you

To look through to the other side

Of us who sleep in beds at night

And don't have to fight to survive

Who get food from a fridge rather than a trash can

And to believe that we could possibly understand you

That we could possibly be someone you could trust

But we do

We love you

Please jump

Off of the cliff

That you have so many times before

And trust that this time it will be different

And we will wait here

Watching you

Our faces turned up

     and our arms raised

To catch you as you fall

We will be here

For however long you need it

Thank you all for praying for our children here in Uganda. Thank you as well everyone that has given to our ministry in the last couple of months, it has encouraged our hearts so much and been such a blessing, we are doing this work together, thank you all we love you.

God bless

Abby and David Kakeeto

The "Pig Project"

A few months ago, God led us to adding a new outreach to our ministry. As we were praising God for the great work He was doing in our boys homes, we couldn’t dismiss the fact that there were many other children in our community that were in the need of our assistance. While these children had a loving family, that family was unable to provide for them education, and many other necessities… so we began community outreach! Thank you for the many people who have joined the effort and sponsored these children or donated towards this program as well as dedicating your time to pray for them. A handful of these children now attend our homeschool program, and they are improving and excelling at great speeds.

In efforts to help not only the children, but also their families, we created “the pig project.” This week we were able to deliver a mattress and three pigs to each of the seven community-sponsored families.  Yes, the little piglets are adorable, but not offered for pets (just incase you were wondering). Rearing these pigs provides means for these families to become be self-sufficient- an important value here at API.  We pray this project will be successful in improving the lives in our community and we also hope to start a chicken project in the near future. As we provide for our community, we strive to not only provide for their physical and educational needs, but we also desire to teach these families how to provide for themselves and cultivate sustainability.

What a blessing it was to deliver these piglets to so many families we have grown to love! Their expressions quickly became filled with joy and thanksgiving. Yes, A Perfect Injustice provided for a few of their needs – but ultimately it was God using your support to provide through us. We pray that these families not only feel loved by us, but also by our great God who loves them and cares about their every need. We pray that not only are the relationships of these families strengthened, but that each member of these families would form a relationship with Christ!

Deutoronomy 15:11 says, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’”

We are thankful for the support that allows us to provide for the needy in our land and we pray that you also seek ways to provide for the needy in your land.

Snake bite, with permission of Emma

Matthew 17:20 Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

This is a verse that I have gone back to many times, because when I think about my faith, how much I can doubt and fret I can certainly say it resembles more of a mustard seed than anything big or grand. However, I have seen so many times that God can take my tiny little seed of faith that I plant when I am moving out on faith, and by the time I turn back around it has turned into a mountain that God has shifted...

Meet Emma. 

Emma in the homes now

Emma is rambunctious and hilarious and lives his life with his heart on his sleeve. 

Emma loves everyone and will go into a depression if he sees you upset, pouring all of his energy into making you smile once again.

Emma is precious to me. 

I have told him several times, if in my entire life the only thing that I ever did was be able to be used by God to take him off of the street that my life would have been worth it. I would have lived a life that mattered. 

Let me go back a little bit, so you can meet Emma when I first did several years ago on the street... 

Emma on the streets

Emma was tiny, and adorable and grabbed my entire heart when he lived on the street. He had been through so much in his life, including watching as his father died. Yet as hard as his life was on the streets, he still had the ability to smile and to bring joy to others around him. At that time, I didn't have a children's home yet and so there wasn't much I could do about the fact that he was on the street other than love him and encourage him and assure him how very much God loved him (which of course is no small thing). 

One Sunday morning I came to church to find Emma deathly ill. I had spent a lot of time around street children and seen all kinds of sicknesses and injuries and the moment I was with him, I knew in my heart that he was going to die (as I later found out, he knew too). 

He was so sick he could not sit up, drink, eat or do anything. I sat there with his head in my lap and prayed and prayed for him. We took him to a hospital where he was checked and x-rayed and a doctor confirmed that he had severe pneumonia and that his lungs were shockingly full of fluid, the doctor told us another night on the streets would have killed him. 

A group of Ugandan men that we were ministering with said that Emma could stay with them as he recovered and took his medicine. I promised to Emma that he would never, ever again return to the streets. 

In the few weeks that Emma was getting better, God miraculously made a way for us to start our home. Emma got better and came home immediately into our family. 

Emma and I a few months after he came into the home

 We have had such a fun time with Emma who of course always keeps you on your toes since he loves joking and moving around, is a little accident prone and loves any creature that moves. 

Several times in his past, God has spared Emma's life. 

God has big plans for this child. 

Very recently, I was going through a hard time. Somethings were going on and it felt like we were being crushed by the bad in the world, that the more we fought injustice, the more the unjust wanted to fight us. It was in the evening at the children's home and I had been crying over it and praying with some other leaders when I walked over towards the kitchen. I was talking to the nurse when suddenly Emma ran up and collapsed at our feet. 

He was hysterical and saying that he had just been bitten by a snake on his leg and that it hurt really really bad.

We recently had had a staff training on what to do if there is a snakebite (thanks nurse Amy!) which essentially said to immediately clean and wrap above the wound away from the heart, keep the child as calm/still as possible and rush to a hospital for anti-venom. 

The moment Emma told us, Mama Dan rushed out of the kitchen and gave us her wrapper (kind of like an "African apron") to loosely tie around his calf above the bite. I shouted to David who *just so happened* to be standing with the van keys and the van nearby who ran into the van turned it on. 

Mama Dan, the nurse Jennifer, the nearest child, Bob and I picked up Emma and rushed him into the van. Now, of all children in our homes, we have three main "guardians". Steady and soft-hearted boys who always take care of everyone around them. Bob is one of these guardians.

Bob

It was dusk and we were in the village but David floored it to the closest hospital/clinic. Bob, the nurse and I held onto Emma and began praying like crazy, all of us were crying. 

I kept telling God, "God you cannot take this child away from me! You have saved his life so many times before, please I beg you to do it again! Take me instead but not Emma... not Emma!"

We had been holding Emma in a laying position (me from the seat behind and Bob and the nurse from both sides of him on the first row). Emma began panicking again because of the pain (which is bad because it increases the heart rate and flow of poison) and so the nurse scooped him up into her arms like a baby to try and calm him. Sweet-hearted Bob, immediately cuddled him from the other side to calm him down, I kept my hand on his head and continued to plead for his life. 

About 30 seconds after David had begun driving (and remember we are in the middle of a village with no electricity and a crazy dirt road) something happened to the van.  

It pretty much sounded like the van was going to explode as a screeching metal sound filled the van and the night around us. We weren't sure what it was but knew that we had no time to stop and investigate, even if the car was completely ruined. The sound however filled the night and warned people on the road to jump out of the way far before we reached them. When we reached the main road their was construction going on and so David just...went around and over it. We reached the hospital, jumped out and carried Emma inside. 

The doctor was there and immediately gave him anti-venom. 

Almost immediately Emma was feeling no pain whatsoever. 

We looked for the bite on his foot and we could find nothing. 

Nothing. 

God had miraculously (and kind of dramatically) once again saved the life of Emma!

In the van on the way back, God whispered in my heart, "See I am in control. Satan has no control over this ministry or over the lives of these boys. Just as I have fought for Emma's life I will continue to fight for you as you stand against injustice. Do not fear for I am your God..."

I thought back over everything that had happened. 

How Emma had collapsed at the feet of the nurse, as the van was next to us, that of all the kids it was Bob who had been nearby, how the metal (which ended up being just an unimportant piece of metal on the back of the van) had fallen down to clear the road for us, how the doctor had been in, and how Emma had instantly recovered)

God had been in control every single step of the way.

Our God is so much bigger than anything else that can come up against us in this world and this was a big reminder.

Maybe I should introduce him again... Meet Emma, the boy who I am sure, God has set aside to one day change the world!

Forever Homes Update!

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear His voice, Psalm 95:6-7

Our forever family in Bombo!

Hello all!  We here at API pray that you are all doing well.  We thank-you so much for your continued support of the ministry.  It is truly such a blessing for us and we couldn't do it without you.  We just wanted to send a little update about what God has been doing in the ministry in the last few months and let you know how He has blessed us through your prayers and gifts.  He has been so good to us the last few months and the following are just some of the new changes in our ministry:

We have opened our discipleship house! We now have a 2-3 year discipleship house and program for our older boys 17-21 years of age, who are severely behind in school and unable to finish where they can learn how to handle independence, work, learn vocational job skills, take adult education classes (because they are sooooo far behind in school and we want them to be able to read and write!) be mentored, have daily devotions and save their money before they launch out on their own. The boys learned the skill of building as they were trained to build the discipleship house themselves. They did a great job and are looking for other building projects where they can be hired to build as well!

The d-house boys

We have started a bakery out on the land in Bombo.  The boys in the discipleship/vocational program have been learning how to make bread there and then they have been going into the village and town to sell it. They recently received bikes to peddle the bread on, but have received driving instructions and so they are hoping one day to have a vehicle to drive and sell the bread from. Having a bakery also means that the boys in the homes now get fresh bread with their breakfast.  Such a blessing!

It's no wonder we are selling our bread with such charismatic bakers as Sadic!

 

Monday showing off his bread

Now that we have the discipleship house, it has allowed us to bring in an older boy, Albert off of the streets. Albert had been on the streets for over 7 years. He was tough and very street smart. However, he accepted Christ into his heart and began to desire to get off of the streets and out of the "thug life". He began coming to our programs, working hard to be a good example, working odd jobs in the slum(for hardly any money) and turning his life around. Albert is 17, has never been to school before and is used to being independent. When we asked if he wanted to come to Bombo to be in our discipleship home and vocational program he rejoiced at the opportunity. Albert has no script on what it looks like to be merciful, a godly man, etc- but it has been beautiful to see his heart to please and become a godly young man!He is doing great and growing spiritually each and every day!  Older boys on the streets have a difficult time getting vocational opportunities or getting jobs (because no one trusts them) and so many of them give up and give in to the "ghetto life" that they find themselves in in the slums. Every time that I see Albert my heart fills with joy to see him off the streets and happy!

 Albert showing off his bread by the ovens

 

We have had some new boys enter into our forever homes and forever family. The newest is a sweet young man named Luke! Luke had a hard time on the streets. The other kids were constantly hurting him and picking on him, he was so shut down he could hardly speak or look at you. He would always simply shadow me around, silently sitting close. When his family rejected him to come home, we celebrated the addition of him into our family. The eight year old boy who was so shut down on the streets has come alive and is now an impish and happy young man! Who knew?! God is definitely at work in his life, every time I see him, my heart melts at the joy it is to see him safe and happy at home!

 

Luke Kafero

Luke is in gray on the left on the trampoline

We were recently able to take our boys from the homes on a safari trip to Murchison Falls. For so long we had wanted our Ugandan kids to be able to see their national wildlife and the beauty of their own country! We were able to go on a couple of wildlife excursions to see national wildlife, we took a hike along the waterfalls, and then we took a boat ride on the Nile back to our base camp. The boat ride was a huge hit among the boys! We also had elephants, wart hogs and baboons all around our campsite (and yes it was a big job keeping the kids from trying to ride/feed/befriend them).  The boys were also given disposable cameras and they were able to take their own photographs.  The boys had such a great time and it was such a blessing to be able to be able to take them.

Setting out!

A hartabeast?

Buffaloes!

Hakim is not going under!

The lake (there were loads of hippos!) and my beautiful mom (and my dad who was not in the picture)

 

It was kind of a long drive...

We now have a chicken project of close to 150 chickens that we raised as small chicks. They chickens are being tended to by Mama Joyce with the help of the younger boys, and very soon when they reach maturity the boys will be eating eggs everyday and the discipleship boys will be selling the remaining eggs at a nearby trading center. Needless to say, the boys are very excited for the chickens to start laying eggs!

 

Bwogi showing us the chickens

Solomon

We have also started homeschooling some of the boys out on the land.  We have hired some amazing teachers who are teaching the boys for us.  This program is specifically for the boys who need to catch up in school.  While they are on the streets the boys cannot go to school and they often fall far behind.  Being home schooled though, they will hopefully be able to make up about 2-3 years’ worth of school in 1 year’s time as well as learn in an enviornment where they do not feel ashamed for being so old for their class. The kids have been loving it! We have also been able to add some other needy children from the village to study with the boys which has been great! We want to be a light for all of Bombo!

Finally, it has been a long prayer of our ministry to be able to bring married couples to work in the homes out in Bombo as full-time caregivers, to love and raise the boys as well as give them a script of what a healthy marriage/family/father looks like.  Many of these boys do not have a good or accurate view of marriage or family because of their history which has often included neglect or abuse.  It is so important to us that they see how God intended families to function.  Our prayers have been answered and we have brought three married couples into each of our three homes. We now have a married couple and older "grandmother figure" at our two children's homes which has been a perfect combination of parenting for our kids, in addition to outside mentors like our music teacher, counselor, etc- 

Please continue to pray for a smooth transition for the families and the boys and that God would use these families in such a way to truly minister to these boys.  We praise God so much for the lovely people He has brought together to care for His children. We ask you to pray for us that we will continue to minister together in unity and that God will fill us up with love, peace, patience and understanding for His children.