“So he got up and came to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20

This month we had the wonderful pleasure of hosting Noelle’s sister Hosanna, and her Ugandan fiancé, Abraham!  It was a comfort and a blessing to see family and to share our life with them.  Abraham runs a ministry in central Uganda, called World for Life, which focuses on evangelism at schools and through sports.  We are so excited to officially welcome Abraham into our family when their papers go through.

The day we said goodbye to Noelle’s sister, we saw God’s power and intimate love.  David, both my friend and the manager of our soccer ministry, and myself had just dropped Abraham and Hosanna off to wait for her flight. As we headed back, we suddenly found ourselves needing to drive around a mother and her young daughter. They were asleep in the middle of a busy street in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.  David and I pulled off the road and woke them up, attempting to convince her to rest with her child on the sidewalk, where it would at least be safer.  They were in a terrible condition.  They had walked bare footed for 250 miles on low rations and were completely out of energy.  When we were helping her up we learned that she was an Acholi, which is the same tribe we minister to. Furthermore, she was from Kitgum, which is only two hours to the north of Gulu.  We offered her a ride home.  However, when she was almost to the car she violently refused to go with us because she was mentally unstable.  David and I got back into the car, committed her to the LORD and continued on our journey.

As we were driving away we realized that the GPS had taken us on the wrong route, and that we needed to turn around.  Just before reaching the correct road we saw the woman and her child again and we decided to try another time.  David remained in the car so that we would appear less threatening, and the woman allowed me to pray for her.  Miraculously, the God restored the woman’s mind, and when she had gained clarity she agreed to ride home with us. 

During the long drive we learned who the woman was and where she was from.  It turned out that she was the neighbor of Peter, the pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Kitgum and our close friend.  Peter arranged everything, and God brought her home to her husband and her church.  Apparently she had been missing for more than two weeks, and there were many people concerned for her. 

Earlier in the day as we were still on our way to Kampala, David shared the dream he was having when I woke him up at 5am.  In his dream some people alerted him to a woman in danger of drowning.  He said that I woke him as he was pulling her out of the water.  God pursued his lost sheep.  God caused the GPS to go off track so that we could find her and her daughter.  God healed her mind.  Our LORD brought them home and restored them to their family.  And despite weeks of harsh conditions, her child was perfectly healthy. 

“He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”

Psalm 18:19

God Bless You,

Matt & Noelle & Family