a letter from Abby about the boys we sponsor

Here is a letter I received from Abby about the boys we sponsor:

Hey Gina,

About Eddy, he now comes to our street programs regularly and hopefully will begin sleeping in the church soon. There are 2 new homes opening up for 40 kids in our street programs to go into and we want Eddy to be given another chance in one of these homes (praise the Lord for them opening!) so within 2 weeks, as long as Eddy stays around in our programs, and I am sure because he is such a smart kid that he will, he will be going to a different home off of the streets.

Amos and Godfrey are also doing wonderfully! Amos adapted to the home the moment we brought him home. he is such a sweet, responsible, and caring kid. Godfrey is also doing great, he is passionate, caring, and loves to make people happy!

The boys are on school holiday now for 4 weeks which is exciting, Davis came home with us from boarding school and is having a blast. I bought 4 pairs of roller skates for the boys to share, it was the most hilarious thing watching them as they learned. They now have the hang of it and we often take them to the basketball court at the university nearby to practice. We are also reading through the Chronicles of Narnia series with the boys, especially on their holiday and they LOVE it, they just love books. It has all 6 or 7 of the books in one big, fat book and we ARE going to finish it! =-) We are also reading through a book about Jesus, (it goes through the New Testament- all of His teachings and His life, death, and resurection) for devotions each night and then talking about it after we read it

Pious, Dissan, and Shafik are composing more songs to sing at church- they are so cute, they love performing and writing songs to praise God for the new life that He has given them.

William, Peter, Amos, Shafik, and Kateregga also got special treats for being the "cleanest" boys in the house and doing such a great job working hard to wash their clothing and keep it clean.

God bless,

Abby

an update from Abby about Uganda

Hey family and friends

God has been so good to us, yesterday were able to move all of our big family out of the slums in Kivulu into a big and beautiful house in Wakalega, Kampala. Its a big and beautiful house were the boys can play away from the drugs, prostitution, clubs, and gambling of Kivulu! We are praying that everything will continue to move forward with our new land as well as our paperwork continues to pull through with A Perfect Injustice and as we look for land (we did find a really beautiful 22 acres at a great price and are just trying to tell now whether it is legitimate). Rent in our new home isnt cheap and we cant wait to have our own place in the village.

God is bringing many visitors in the next few months to help with the work which is also such a blessing. Please pray as we try and begin a new project for prostituted young women counseling them and teaching them how to make jewlery so that they can know how special they are and how much God loves them and have a life off of the street. It is overwhelming starting this project but I know that it is something that God has called me to do. Please pray that He will keep his hand over it, heal the girls that we are working with, and give us wisdom. We are hoping to model the project after our "bead guys" so that after a 4 or 5 months or so, lots of counseling, and love the girls will be able to run the business on their own, and that it will be "theirs". We will purchase the products from them and help them find other markets where they can sell them as well.

Things smoothed out in our street programs. We will be starting them up again in 2 months or so andd are already talking with other churches and people now about restarting them more organized then before, with as many people working together as possible to love on street children for Christ.

Thank you for all your prayers,

God bless,

Abby

Here in Uganda

Today is Saturday and I am here in Uganda. I spent my first night here at the safe house (Half way House) for the boys who are off the street and attending school. There are 13 of them. I also attended a program on Friday for the street boys. They played games, heard a Bible story and had a nutritious lunch. Kampala is a bustling city filled with motorcycles, walking people and Toyota minivans. The streets at one time were paved but have never been repaired, so they are a mess. The colors and smells are vibrant and pungent. The people friendly and the weather warm and humid. I have already taken some great photos and I will try to post some later. I am sort of in a hurry today as Abby and I and some of the Ugandan staff are taking three boys to the zoo. This is a VERY special treat that they earned. One boy consistently keeps his bed neat and clean and takes good care of himself, one was the top of his class in school, and the other is the most self disciplined. Abby and the staff were thrilled to see the items that I brought (that the church gave). They were the most excited about the soccer balls, pumps, and art supplies. Note to self...Abby likes foo-foo tea and coffee! HA! Tonight I will be going to the Senge house and stay there for at least a day or two. I am excited to see another part of Uganda. The Safe house is truly a refuge in the storm. It is located in a slum surrounded by trash, bars and violence. They lock the doors tightly and regulate who can come in.
Abby bought all of the boys athletic suits (pants and t-shirts). They were thrilled! The three boys are, of course, wearing theirs to the zoo. Tonight we are taking all of the boys swimming and I will try to videotape as much as I can.
I love you all and I will write more when I can.