The Importance of a Sponsor
When IChooseYou was "born", I wondered how on earth I was going to get sponsors for 20 children. It has been so easy!!! Why? You ask....I'm so glad that you did. There is only one answer.....The Lord has chosen each sponsor!! Yes, there are things that we need to do but IChooseYou is here because it is to bring glory to The Lord!!!
I would like to share a couple of things that have happened since our 2013 Team has returned....remember, team member and board member, Callie Eacret, is still there and will be until November.
1. One of our little girls fell on the playground at school and broke her arm. She arrived at Callie's house after school to do her homework and she looked like she was unhappy, a little sad or maybe in some pain.....they do not complain much. Callie talked to her and she told Callie what had happened and that she had gone to the doctor and that the doctor had given her some cream to put on it! I am so thankful that Callie is there...she took her to another doctor, had her arm x-rayed and they put a cast on it. She will be as good as new in a few weeks.
2. The next day, a different little girl, fell and broke her collar bone! This is not a new thing for this young lady, she has broken both arms....this is the third break in 4 years. Again, Callie took her to the doctor and she too will heal and be as good as new!!
I tell you about these two little girls because if they were not a part of IChooseYou and if they did not have a sponsor....their arms and collar bone would not be set and they would have a difficult life trying to use them.
One more story:
We have a young man that has been in IChooseYou from the beginning. He is 12 years old, doing well in school, a little shy and has the sweetest and biggest smile that I have ever seen! His mother died after we left. They had the burial in a different village so he with his Jja Ja (grandmother) went to the village for the burial. The Jja Ja returned to Namatala but the boy did not. When someone went to check on him, his uncle said that he was not going to come back to Namatala, to IChooseYou or to school. He was to stay and live (probably work) with his uncle. We could not do anything about it. So, we prayed, and prayed and prayed. Last week, Callie and Aidah went to the village, found the hut he was living in and found 4 + children under the age of 14 living there....no adults, no food, nothing. They were dirty, hungry and very sad. At the time, they could not do anything for all of the children but they could bring our IChooseYou child home. They also found out that his Jja Ja would beat him and not let him have food so he was not excited about going home. God is so good...he is living at Aidah's home for now, Callie is working with him and he will move into the hostel when he is ready. He is back in school and they are feeding him food for his physical body and food for his emotional and spiritual well being.
This is just one more way to see God move in the lives of these children AND in the lives of the sponsors!!
So, I say, "Thank you Lord!! Thank you Sponsors!!!" You are making a way for children that would be lost in a world with no love, care, food, school or knowing the blessings of their Lord.
If you are reading this and want to be a part in the life of a child in Namatala, Uganda you can!!!! Go to www.ichooseyou.net , look at the children's pictures and join our family!!! We welcome you!
If you are a sponsor, then again, we say....THANK YOU for obeying God's calling on your life by sponsoring and loving a precious child!
Blessings,
Becky
Monday, July 8, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
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ICHOOSEYOU MINISTRIES NEWSLETTER 2013
For you are
a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God.
Of all the people on earth, God has chosen you to be His own special
treasure. Deuteronomy 7:6
This is
IChooseYou’s scripture, the following is a personal favorite of mine:
Behold,
children are a heritage from the Lord…
Psalm
127:3a
Team
members, Becky Ball, Darby Burleson, Katelyn Lipscomb, Madison Nye, Bryanna
Armstrong, Anapaulina Perez, Rachel Gober Thomas, Chase Thomas and Callie
Eacret, left Houston on May 1 for the great adventure of 2013!
We had many
highlights, choosing 3 more children for the IChooseYou Sponsorship program (we
now have 50 children!), treating wounds in the slums of Namatala, spending
quality time will all 50 children (no school…they were on holiday!), teaching
new songs, having a great personal hygiene class for the older girls and
boys…..I could keep on going! Darby, as
always spent good quality time with the IChooseYou Sewing Moms. There was a lot of sewing going on and she
was able to sit with them and talk to them about their goals, their vision for
the future, their wants and their needs.
Darby is such a blessing to these ladies…she shows them just how
important and special each one is to her, to us, to the children and above all
else to Jesus.
But the
biggest highlight for me this year was being able to experience a huge first
for the children of IChooseYou. None of
the children but 2 have never been out of the Mbale/Namatala area ever in their
lives. Well, we took them to Kampala and
Entebbe for a great two day field trip!
We loaded 47 children, 10 team members and 4 Ugandans on a bus and a van
and headed out! They were all dressed in
their new IChooseYou T-Shirts, new school shorts, new school shoes and new
backpacks. It is a 6 hour drive one way
and on the bus, we heard many songs and unfortunately some sick bellies but it
was all amazing!!! We stopped once on
the way for a potty break. It was on the
side of the road by a forest (sorry, I can’t remember the name of it) and 47
children hopped off the bus and ran into the bush!!! Oh my, this was a first for me….we could
never do this in America!!! It was
hilarious and this was just the beginning!
We drove
across the Nile River then we drove through Kampala, the capital of Uganda,
then on to Entebbe. We had lunch at the
shores of Lake Victoria; I think the 2nd largest lake in the
world. Lake Victoria is the headwaters
of the Nile and the lake itself is in 3 African Countries...just a little side
note. They ate fried chicken and fries
(another first for them). They saw a ski
boat pulling a skier, I’m not sure they understand that one yet! We then went to the Entebbe Zoo and Learning
Center…it was great! They all said that
the Chimps were their favorites….they did put on a show for us…they are very
loud! They giggled at the monkeys that
ran all around us throughout the park.
After the Zoo we took them to the airport to show them where we fly in
and out of and to show them the size of the planes that we fly on….they were pretty
amazed by that. After our day in Entebbe
we arrived at a church encampment in Kampala where we would stay the
night. We arrived and they had dinner
ready for us, the children sang and danced after dinner then it was off to
bed. I will have to admit, it did bring
a tear or two to my eye when I walked into the girls dorm. They were giggling and chattering in their
beds….this was the first time most of them had ever slept in a bed! They were not sleeping on a mat on a dirt
floor this night and they had mosquito nets over them….they were little
princesses on this night, the most exciting, fun and memorable night of their
little lives. All I could say was,
“Thank you so much Jesus for this night and for allowing me to be a part of
it”….our God is so good and so big!!
They slept through the night without anyone falling out of their bed and
after breakfast the next morning we said goodbye to Darby, Madison, Rachel and
Chase and we headed back to Mbale/Namatala where life goes on. But isn’t our God so good to give us sweet
moments like a trip to see the Nile River, a big lake, chimps at the zoo, big
airplanes and a bed to sleep in!! I am
so thankful and so blessed by these children…seeing new things through their
eyes!
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