Visit to the YWAM Children's Shelter

Before anything else, Karin asked me to say hello to all of her family and that she misses you; she's pooped and doesn't have time to write at the moment.

Today we spent most of the morning at Amacet, which means Shelter of peace. It is a children's shelter run by YWAM. The take in infants and toddlers who are very ill or malnourished. They often have babies whose moms die in childbirth, too. Right when we got there, there were several babies outside on the porch being cared for by some Ugandan women. One little gal caught my eye right away because you could tell she was having trouble breathing. We found out that she has congestive heart failure and now has malaria on top of it; she is not expected to live long. We were taken to the infant room where there were about 5 babies all crying for attention, so we each held them as much as we could. I began singing our Nehemiah blessing song over the baby I was holding, and then Rebecca & Karin sang, too. We decided it was the perfect thing to pray over them: The Lord will bless you and watch over you, the Lord will smile on you, and be kind to you, the Lord will look on you with favor and give you peace. The first baby that Rebecca & I held was named Judith. She is about 8 weeks old and was brought to Amacet after being found, still attached to the placenta, in a pit latrine. The director of the shelter said it was the most awful sight one could have imagined and Judith was not expected to live, but being attached to the placenta is probably what kept her alive. She is now looking quite healthy and smiles a lot; Rebecca did a great job of getting smiles out of her. We also held Isaac, a 2-month old who was brought on the brink of death because of starvation. He looks so scrawny; not like anything you can imagine. But, he was alert and so happy to be held, and so happy when we sang. We also held and prayed over a little one named David, and then another one named Else. After a while, we moved outdoors to the porch again and Rebecca & I were given Betty to care for. She is around two years old and is HIV positive. her mother, who is HIV positive, is not expected to live much longer. Betty can barely sit up on her own, she is so thin and weak. But, Rebecca found out that she loves to be pushed on a baby swing, and she loves to have people smile at her and sing to her. Please, pray for all of these children; we will be visiting them and praying over them throughout the week.
In the afternoon, Rebecca led a devotional and did a craft with 3 Ugandan children. It was so neat to see her feeling comfortable and interacting with them. they will come again after school tomorrow. We're hoping to set up a time for Rebecca to go to school with her friend Betty, too; Betty said that someone else got caned again today and it will be so nice to have Rebecca there so nobody gets a beating from the teacher.
Well, those are the highlights for today. It's late and i better get some sleep. The three-day women's conference begins tomorrow. Please, pray for clear direction as to what to teach, and sensitivity and love as I listen to the women and interact with them.
Thanks to all of you for your prayers for us.
Love, Kori & Rebecca