"The Same Hearts"

Despite the many struggles we have recently been working through; today was a blessing, simply put. We arrived at the village of Pastor Fred and Ruth to find Henry seated and slicing mangos to put in the solar dehydrators! It is officially Mango season and they are in pure abundance! Our children love them. Isaac climbed the tree and devoured 21 of them before returning to the ground.
The Farming God's Way farm is looking incredible! The corn (popcorn) is standing double the height of the corn that was planted traditionally. The last two weeks have been void of rain and while we were there the rains came! We kneeled on moist ground and prayed for the Lords continued blessing for the harvest.

Not only has this family began a new venture of drying mangos and farming God's way, they have also started selling clothes and porridge to the piki drivers at night as a way of paying school fees for the orphan children. Village Pastors in Uganda get paid very little, if anything; so these new business ventures will help provide for their family and still allow Pastor Fred to use the gifts the Lord has given him in ministry.

We have grown to love this family. Their love for the Lord and for others is beautiful. Today was a planned celebration for the 15 orphan children this family is supporting. They began caring for the children in 2010. They have now registered the organization under the name BACO (Bless A Child Organization) There are 13 others who are supporting members of this organization. Today they all came together and shared their resources in order to have a before school celebration party for these children. Everyone ate Pilaw (fancy rice with meat and only eaten on special occasions), beans, and sodas.  Laughter, football, eating mangos, talking and prayer. At the end of the day, Ruth gave each of the children books, pens, smearing lotion, pencils and erasers for them to be prepared to begin school on Monday for the second term.

Pastor Fred said to me as we were watching the children play; letting these children know they are loved is enough to give them hope. He said he seen this in Isaac, who has been staying with our family during school holiday. Indeed, the transformation has been beautiful and may God receive all the glory. The village is a safe place where these children can laugh and play. At the end of the day, they will be headed back to extremely difficult living situations. Ruth's dream is to one day stay with these children in order to love and nurture them on a daily basis.

The final blessing of the day was when we were able to spend some time with the grandfather of the village. His words are etched in my mind; Our hearts are the same, they are one; the only difference between us is the color of our skin. How true it is. It's not complicated as we can so easily make it; we are all here on this earth to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to share good news with the poor, to free the captives, release the prisoners from darkness, and to heal broken hearts; regardless of where he has placed us, our culture, or skin color. What a great reminder he gave me today!  Something that is not possible to do on our own, but only with the power of the Holy Spirit that is always available to us!

Praising Him today for the Joy and Hope he has bestowed on us and for the blessing of walking together with this family as we run the race together with our eyes on Christ and what a day it will be when we cross that finish line!

*we will soon be posting pictures of this day on Facebook.



LOVE, The Fisher Family