Life that Matters - Kimberly L Smith

Report from Sudan Mission Team

2012-02-15T14:17:00.000-06:00

Guest Blogger: Sonda McGowen

The team is finally all well but it has been very, very hot and so they are trying to stay hydrated.

VBS had been a huge success with the younger children! They have loved what they are doing! They are studying Joseph and having a great time! The discipleship groups(with the older children) have gone well – the girls have been very excited and “on fire” from their lessons and the boys are slowly getting more involved and interested. There are 50 women in the women’s ministry group and they have been going around today praying and witnessing to the people from the community that are coming for the medical clinic.

The clinic has been a wonderful help yet very difficult for our nurses and doctors. The medical team has seen at least 400 people a day along with our NLM kids. They have been able to save many lives, yet there are so many things that they are unable to fix. Please pray for their hearts and strength that they would not get discouraged. There is a very, very large number of people who are suffering from malnutrition and starvation and that is only going to get worse with the famine. An elderly woman told Dr. Sweet that she usually gets to eat once every 7 days. So many of the cases that they cannot help now could have been cured with food or medicines that we take for granted (a little boy of 3 may die because he got tetanus and now has lock jaw and can’t eat).

Please pray for a young girl from the community named Achu. A year ago Achu broke her leg and the bone is STILL sticking out of her leg and dying. We offered to fly her to Juba to get it operated on – but her father is a drunk and her mother is dead and we are not sure that he will give us permission to fly her out to amputate her leg or if he will just let her die. Please pray for Achu’s father to open his heart and for Achu to stay strong until we can fly her out for life-saving surgery.

So overall things are going very well – but the team truly needs our prayers for health, strength, wisdom and encouragement.

Thank you!

Sonda McGowen
Child Sponsorship Coordinator

Deimante's Case

2012-02-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

Thank you for your ardent support of this little girl. Deimante is not just some poster child. She is a real-live-living-breathing-seven-year-old survivor of human trafficking. She has so many wounds, which we cannot even begin to address until she is out of all of the drama of the insanely-unjust-judicial system of Lithuania.
Here is the report I received this morning:

“Today, Deimante's hearing was postponed until 04/05/12. We are not surprised, since the prosecutors and judges are trying to stall the trafficking or pedophilia aspects of this case they can manipulate the system to return Deimate to her mother. So, they will wait until Deimante's place of residence will be finalized with her mother by other courts... although the child is pleading to not be returned to her mother who sold her to the perpetrators, the prosecutor is moving for a ruling to use force to remove Deimante from her aunt’s home where Deimante feels safe. Now, they have two months now to do that.”

At this moment, I am in an airport on a layover to another country to fight similar injustices until early March. Over the next weeks, someone from our office will post email addresses where you can continue to write asking that the Lithuanian court system listen to the psychological reports, which have already been performed and documented, and the personal testimony of Deimante.

As uncomfortable as it is, one way to live the “true worship” of James 1:27 to care for the widows and orphans, is to reach out to the ones who we cannot adopt, but can definitely stand in the gap for, as a great cloud of witnesses crying for justice.

If you’re interested in knowing more about how to live out James 1:27 in ways other than—or in addition to—literal adoption, you may want to attend The Summit, an annual conference put on by Christian Alliance for Orphans. This year I am leading a workshop on The UNadoptable Orphan. We’ll be exploring topics from what her daily life is like, to what makes her unadoptable, to how we—and our own children—can engage her from our living rooms. Milton and I are attending together, and hope to see many of you there! http://www.summitviii.org/

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Live from Sudan, by Guest Blogger Matt McGowen, Sr. Field Coordinator

2012-02-13T10:22:00.000-06:00

It’s hard to believe that our week at Hope for Sudan is already over. The week has flown by as we have enjoyed these beautiful children. We have done lots of praying, lots of playing, and lots of loving! The team has really been a group of troopers considering the extreme heat and the stomach bug that has made its way through most of the group. Now it is with both deep sadness and deep expectation that the team departs Hope for Sudan – some of us are going on to serve at New Life Ministry and others are heading home. We pray that the faces and stories of these amazing children never leave our hearts.

One of the many amazing parts of this trip is how fully and lovingly these children have welcomed and trusted us into their lives. We have been privileged to see such unique personalities and ‘characters’ among the children. In the words of team member Zack Pruitt, “The most powerful part of this trip has been having the opportunity to get to know the children as individuals. It’s one thing to see a picture but it’s another thing to realize that each of these children is a real person. I have seen such a wide spectrum of emotion in the kids this week – joy, anger, sadness, pain, excitement. These are real people with real struggles and I feel so privileged to have been able to be invited into their lives. I see in a way I didn’t understand before how important child sponsorship is!”

I would like to share with you a few stories of children at Hope for Sudan:

Masmino and Ibala Update: One year ago you first met Masmino and Ibala when we shared their story with you. You may remember that Romano traveled many miles to find Ibala, like a good shepherd seeking a solitary lost sheep. God has given Romano the vision and calling to rescue the most extremely vulnerable, therefore he searches far and wide for children in most urgent need of care. When Romano finally reached Ibala in a remote mountain village, the child was severely malnourished and emaciated. Ibala was sleeping in the dirt and the only nourishment he had received in weeks was locally brewed beer that some of the men in the village had given him. After Romano brought Ibala to Hope for Sudan, he learned that Ibala has an older brother, Masmino. Soon the boys were reunited in their new home!

One year later, Masmino and Ibala are thriving. They are receiving excellent education from the incredible Hope for Sudan teachers and they are both healthy and happy. One day early in the week I walked to the craft station at Bible School to find Ibala peacefully sleeping in Rachel’s (team member) arms. He had been asleep for some time and the look on his face was of absolute serenity. Eventually Rachel had to assist the children with crafts and she passed Ibala to me – he never stirred and continued to sleep soundly, he was so tired from all the running and playing he had been enjoying. As I studied the face of this child at rest I was struck by the total peace and security he now feels. One year ago he was fending for himself, clinging to life with only a few sips of beer. Now Ibala can rest and be a child.

David, a quiet child with a mischievous grin, is one of the newest children at Hope for Sudan. David’s story, like all our children’s stories, is a tragic one. David’s father died in combat in the Nuba Mountains in 2010. David’s uncle, by custom, took his mother as his wife. After experiencing extreme abuse from this man, David’s mother attempted to escape and went to live with extended family. Enraged, the uncle decided to murder the mother and child. The mother hid David with neighbors and the uncle came and shot David’s mother and grandmother. After this tragic incident the child was not accepted by any of his relatives. Please pray for this wounded child who longs for love.

Lopeto was ill as an infant and at the hospital the nurse attempted to put an IV in his head but missed the vein, causing major swelling when the fluid was pumped between his skin and skull. Lopeto’s father, thinking the child had a severe illness, abandoned the child at the hospital. Instead of draining the fluid, the caretakers decided to cut off the swollen portion leaving Lopeto with large scarring on his head. The child’s mother was shamed to return to the village without her husband and afraid that her son’s ‘deformity’ would be viewed as punishment for some kind of evil she had committed. Without a husband and without support from her village, Lopeto’s mother began to use him to raise money on the border by begging because of his facial scars. Lopeto was eventually abandoned by his mother and discovered by Romano. Lopeto bubbles over with intelligence, vigor, and spirit. He is a fighter – has had to be to survive his six years – and he is also remarkably brilliant. Lopeto has a bright future ahead but the Hope for Sudan staff need your prayers as they try to harness this child’s strong will and boundless energy!

Owon and Angelina’s father was a driver for a local commissioner and was ambushed by a gang of people who wanted to kill the commissioner. The father and all the people in the car were taken and shot. As it turns out, the commissioner wasn’t even in the car at the time. Owon and his sister Angelina were left with only their mother to care for them, who by custom was to marry the father’s brother. However, the father’s brother would not claim the children and care for them (though he wanted to take their mother as his wife) so she refused to marry him. As a result, the mother was driven from the village and she came to Torit with her children to survive by begging in the market. Romano found this family and recognized that soon these children would be terribly exploited and he provided a place for them at Hope for Sudan.

Please continue praying for baby Cristobal! He was born Christmas Eve and his mother died in childbirth. Cristobal is living at Hope for Sudan and one of his aunt’s lives on site and provides total care to him under the guidance of our staff. When our team arrived, Dr. Kim Sweet and Amos Maganga recognized that Cristobal’s caretaker was struggling to feed him enough and he was malnourished. Thanks to some great coaching from Doc Sweet and Amos, Cristobal’s caretaker is much more educated on the child’s needs and Cristobal is gaining weight every day!

All of these children, and so many more, are in need of sponsorship. What better offering to lay at the feet of our Savior than our hearts poured out for His children? http://www.makewaypartners.org/child-sponsor-main.php

We thank you for our continued prayers as we have a large team at New Life Ministry this next week!

Deimante's Hearing is Tomorrow!

2012-02-12T15:50:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow, Monday, February 13, is the day that the courts of Lithuania are finally supposed to hear the case of child trafficking and pedophilia of seven-year-old Deimante. http://kimberlylsmithblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/current-case-of-human-trafficking-where.html Up to this point all hearings have been about trying to take the little girl from her aunt and return her to her mother, who Deimante has testified sold her to the pedophiles to begin with.

I am asking you to do two things:

First, pray the judges will be transparent, include all evidence, including Deimante’s multiple testimonies, and investigate Deimante’s mother for selling her own child to the perpetrators.

Second, send an email tonight to the court system at this address vilniaus2.miesto@teismas.lt so that the entire Lithuanian court system continues to feel much international pressure for justice. If you send your email tonight, due to Lithuania being seven hours ahead of CST, they will be waiting for the judges in the morning before the hearing begins.

You can address your email to Jolita Rasiukeviciene, the chair person/ president of Vilnius 2^nd district court, where the hearings will take place. Please keep it short and simple. To follow is an excellent email a friend has already sent. You can use it as a guideline or cut and paste it into your own email and send it as is. At this time, the point is showing a high-level of international attention through inundating their email box!

Recommended letter:

Dear Justice Jolita Rasiukeviciene:

I am a US Citizen that has learned of the plight of one of your great country's young defenseless children and her family. We in America have sex slavery and human trafficking problems, just as all nations do. Wherever and whenever it happens, a life and family is destroyed. But we can stop it if our leaders will shame, and our authorities will prosecute, the perpetrators of these crimes against our fellow citizens.

I urge you to not shrink back from the intimidation of those who would seek to scare you into ignoring these tragedies that are happening right in your cities and families. Ask yourself: What if Deimante Kedyte was my daughter or this was my family? What would I do? What should I do?

Then I know you will do the right thing.

Thank you for your leadership and defense of the great people of Lithuania, especially the defenseless like Deimante Kedyte.

Sincerely Yours,

A History of Love

2012-02-11T13:07:00.002-06:00

I have read so many "love stories" that only tell of the perfect sort of things that I never quite experience, or at least not very often. Even after nearly 25 years, Milton and I are on a spiraling quest for an authentic marriage, which is to say a flawed one--full of betrayals, disappointments, and often teetering on the brink of utter despair.

It seems, only as we are willing to die--at least to our romantic notion of what a marriage "should" look like, do we find glory. Glory in ourselves, our union, and something greater to come. So, I share my Valentine's letter to my beloved openly with you as encouragement to join us in search of the authentic marriage, or divine dance if you are single---the unique one that our Father dreams for each of us. Love, your sister on the prowl.

February 9, 2011

My Love,

The Romantic in me grieves that our life’s work has taken me away from you on Valentine’s Day for the last eight years running. Yet, the truest Lover in me accepts that our love is deeper than any singular day on the calendar. We are united in a mission bigger than ourselves or even our union.

So, tonight as we celebrate, nearly a week ahead of the calendar, the ridiculous hope of love, commitment, and marriage, I remember...

Twenty-two-point-something years ago your passion and presence turned me inside out, exposing my raw love of you. Finding no worthy restraints, I asked you to marry me. You not only told me, “No” but you fled my savage desire to your distant city, from where I heard nothing of you for three cold months.

When you returned to me, thawing the frost of separation, how could I contain my desire for such a beautiful one as you? I, of course, again asked you to be mine. While your “No” was as clear and certain as your first rejection, it didn’t take as long for you to recover, and return to me.

That final date, where I asked you for the third time to be my beloved and to take me as yours, forever changed the course of both our lives, and formed a bridge over which many others have traveled seeking their own destinies.

From the beginning of our time, a torrent of water has always flowed under the bridge of our marriage. As swelling crests pushed and tore against our timbers, the bridge itself nearly gave way, leaving us each stranded—and alone—on the bank of ourselves.

We fell in love through turbulence. Married in turbulence. Brought our children together in turbulence. Struggled to make a home in turbulence. And, even bled and fought to build a ministry in turbulence.

Albeit much of the turbulence has been self-made, I look back and see some has been the mercy of God saving us from an even greater turbulence. And, too, much has been from the evil one who has been anxiously about tempting us to abandon the bridge altogether, luring us back to the bank of ourselves.

I’ve thought much during these last weeks about our time in Manchester, as we were first trying to build a life together. We were both so desperately hurting and found much comfort in one another’s arms. You were so very broken, and I was foolishly unwilling to break.

In my foolishness, I thought I could heal your brokenness, you would heal my unworthiness, and together, we could overcome anything…the Dynamic Duo. The myth of us. The older I get, and after 22-point-something years of wrestling with you, God and myself, the more I grapple with the truth of our utter powerlessness.

Powerless because we will indeed die. Therein nestles my hope, knowing that in that death we will stand before He Whom we serve, and He is good. I know that coming day will render me more powerlessness than ever before but, for this present time, as His healing washes over us day-by-day, I catch glimpses of His deep pleasure in us. At certain moments in our toil or play, as we are learning what it means to truly love one another, I feel the Wings of His delight flutter against the cage of my heart—bending the bars and making way for freedom.

As I prepare to leave you, once again entering danger neither one of us wishes, memories of our coming together flood my soul. As we planned to wed, we purchased beautiful wedding bands from Service Merchandise—modest by most standards, barley attainable for us at the time.

We kept them in your nightstand drawer, waiting for the day we could wear them. I remember from time-to-time I’d sneak in and put mine on, just to see it on my finger and dream of finally being your bride.

As much as we loved those rings tucked away in your drawer, our lives were so unraveling, and we just could not keep them. Being so flat-out-broke, we returned them shortly before we were to take our vows.

The total sum of money we got back wasn’t much, probably less than what we’ll spend on the Valentine’s date we’re having with dinner and a movie tonight, but back in the day, it kept us housed and fed for a time and half a time.

I thank God we were not so discouraged that we threw away our dream of marriage. Instead we went to the pawn shop and bought those little $10 bands. Some years later, after we moved to Talladega, my ring slipped off my finger into the bathroom sink. My heart sank down the drain with it. Even the plumber couldn’t find it.

While we had plenty of heat in the bedroom, we still struggled to keep food on the table and lights on in the house. So, we made another trip to yet another pawn shop, and found another $10 band for me, which I wear proudly to this day. You still wear your original one just as proudly.

Times were so hard for so long. Your anger and depression. My fear and control. Both our spiritual and emotional pain thundered throughout days of work, kids, bill-paying, church, and just trying to hold on.

Finally, I got the job at the bank. I thought it would help to cover my shame and give me self worth.

Instead, while it provided much material wealth, it set me up for further self reliance and brought in a new sort of turbulent times. I feared you would leave me. I feared I would leave you. Mostly, I feared I didn’t deserve you, had won you by some sort of hook-and-crook that would all be discovered soon.

Just when I thought surely it was all coming undone, in the winter of 1993/94, you did something extraordinary. For the first time, I began to think, “Maybe I don’t have to hold on so tightly because Milton is holding on, too.”

Valentine’s Day of 1994 was approaching. You were never one to “give gifts” and money was scarce to boot, so anything you would have given would have, by necessity, been extremely modest. Dinner and a movie would have been unthinkable at the time. One-or-the-other a stretch.

And, yet, there YOU were, in a crowded shopping mall with all our kids running wilding around us, unable to wait for Valentine’s Day to arrive. Pride, hope, and excitement bursting from you—like a bachelor about to propose—with your gift in hand. Your gift to me.

Eyes glistening, you opened the box and presented me with a beautiful diamond-laced wedding band, which as you know I cherish and wear even now—with my pawn-store treasure on the other hand, binding me to you no matter which way I turn!

Yet, this ring I wear is not the real gift you gave me that Valentine’s Day so many years ago. It was the absolute shock of what I know you had to have gone through internally to even offer me such an outlandish, impractical hope. A wedding ring in the face of a crumbling union—what utterly foolish, divine, and massive hope you risked that day and lavished upon me.

Even more, you continue to risk hope every night as you climb into bed with me and every morning that you put your feet on the floor, still cleaving to me as my husband, even as I leave you to go so far away risking I may never return.

I love you so—and hope likewise—not in ourselves nor in our union, but in the One who created us for each other, and for such a time as this.

All these years later, I am still asking you to marry me. With this ring, I thee wed, for a time, and times, and half a time.

Love me, which is to say, yours.

Congressional Addresses

2012-02-11T07:42:00.001-06:00

Thanks, Lyric, for suggesting we post this very helpful link to knowing how to reach your Congressman.

http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Contacting the Congress: A Citizen's Congressional Directory

www.contactingthecongress.org

Contacting the Congress is a very up-to-date citizen's congressional directory for the 112th Congress.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

2012-02-10T17:03:00.000-06:00

It is estimated that in the last six months more than half the people of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan have been either killed or displaced. In this case, “displaced” is a sterile word for “run out of their homes” as they watched them being looted and burned to the ground.

Passing your days and nights with your nursing baby in the cleft of a mountain, with no food or water, and awaiting the next bomb gives a whole new meaning to the term, “between a rock and a hard place.”

The UN estimates that in 2-4 weeks time, more than half a million people—from this mountain region of Sudan—will be dying of starvation. The GOS (government of [north] Sudan) has blocked all road access to these “displaced” people. All indications are that they are preparing to launch aggressive ground attacks before rainy season hits in just a few weeks.

In addition to blocking the roads, the GOS is blitzing the entire area with bombs and mobilizing mass troops for further ground attacks. The bush airstrips that Make Way Partners used when we landed there in August have now been extended (by the GOS) in order to accommodate their Antonov bomber planes.

Satellite images show that the airstrip we used in August is now taken over by the GOS and is lined with helicopter gunships. Thus, the situation is so dire that even the pilots who specialize in high-risk flying (who we used in August) have stopped flying there. The missionary pilots we use for other parts of Sudan will not fly into Nuba either.

While everyone suffers under such atrocities, it is the orphan who falls prey first and hardest. When thousands of people stampede for cover, who will defend, protect, and provide for her?

What can you do from here in the US? There are two things I ask you to do.

First, click on this link to see a letter written by Congressman Frank Wolf to President Obama. The “young American” (Ryan) mentioned in this letter is the missionary for whom MWP recently supplied dirt bikes for more efficient transport. You can forward the letter to your congressman and President Obama yourself, with a personal note expressing your support of the letter, and urging immediate action.

Second, pray for the leadership team of Make Way Partners to have both wisdom and courage in specifically how to participate in God’s desire to defend and protect these precious orphans. While we were with him last August, Ryan also introduced us to several local pastors.

One of the pastors had been working to care for several hundred orphans but the bombing grew severe—just before we landed—his supply chain was been cut off, and he had no way to care for the orphans. So, the orphans ran to hide in the hills.

In the same spirit in which we tested a potential partnership with James Lual Atak in Darfur many years ago, we left this Nuba pastor with a fair amount of resources to use at his discretion. What he did amazed even Lual Atak!

Like a loving shepherd, he went to the hills and gathered all of his orphans. He has been caring for nearly 300 orphans since we were there in August. Now once again, he is cut off. It is not as though we can just wire money to him. There are no banks. Our options seem very limited, but our God is not only powerful, He also awes us with His creativity.

Pray that the leadership team of Make Way Partners has both the wisdom to discern what He would have us to do in this very complicated situation and the courage to faithfully implement the plan He reveals to us.

In all mine and Milton’s years of fighting to save and protect the unadoptable orphan, never have we known a situation as seemingly hopeless as this one in Nuba. It is now then, more than ever, that we wait expectantly upon our Father, for He loves to bring Himself glory by doing the impossible. And, He delights in seeing us dance and work as His Hands and Feet.

“Lord, may the cleft of the Nuba mountains be---for your children today---as secure as the place of protection You made for Moses in Exodus 33:22.”

Expectantly waiting for His glory and our place of participation,
k

Fools for Christ

2012-02-08T13:44:00.008-06:00

It has been written of Mother Teresa, “She obeyed more in form than in spirit.” I think that’s one way in which we can all identify with Mother Teresa!

For example, many times the only reason we don’t speed has absolutely nothing to do with our spirits being in agreement with the law, but rather, we simply do not want to receive a ticket.

This sort of living will carry us well through passing school exams, schmoozing our bosses for a promotion, or staying out of trouble for a season—as when Mother Teresa was first forbidden to step outside her convent to work in the streets with orphans and other oppressed people.

On the outside, she accepted the limits of the law imposed upon her, all the while seeking the right time and opportunity to live what was burning in her heart.

While we strive to humble ourselves and live as the Apostle Paul taught, “when in Rome,” we also want to let that truth rub against the truth of “be in the world but not of the world.”

A reflective life often causes one truth to rub against a seemingly contradictory truth until it refines our hearts, and our way of living.

There comes a time when the accepted morays of the day are not as important as a crisis at hand. I remember one time when I was a child of nine or ten. I was bitten by a snake three times before I could get away.

I finally made it to my mother, a normally very law-abiding woman. Upon seeing the fang punctures in my rapidly swelling leg, she quickly threw me in the car and raced through so many red lights between our home and the hospital that I was more afraid of dying in the car than I was of any poison in my veins.

Good sense tells to play it safe. Save for our retirement, when we can really start to enjoy life, and only travel to places that are “American Friendly.” Like obeying the speed limit, those are good rules for daily living. But what rules have we established that keep us from seeing the children of God who are in crisis, who need us to “run all the red lights” our comfortable lifestyle sets in the way of saving them?

Sometimes, God taps us on the shoulder as if to say, “Hey, there’s a child in need who’s worth you risking your life for…ignore the speed limit and do whatever it takes to feed her, touch her, tend her, love her, save her.”

I’m thankful for so many of you who break-a-way from the normal rules of the road and give your time, treasure, and talents to save children who the “rules” deem too far away or too costly to reach.

Right now, a team from around the world is breaking all the rules as they serve at our Hope for Sudan orphanage. They’ve had a great week playing and praying with the children in Vacation Bible School, teaching advanced-mid-wife classes with the women and sharing in Bible study.

Yesterday, though, several of them succumbed to the 125-degree-plus heat and a horrid stomach bug. I ask that you keep them in your prayers. In a couple of days they will travel an additional 1,000 miles to reach our other orphanage, New Life Ministry.

Tomorrow, another large band of brothers and sisters from around the country will break many of our common-sense-ways-of-living to join the current team; they will all travel northward together. Nearly 600 orphans eagerly await them, and are busy making preparations even as I write.

Are they foolish to go? Indeed! They have chosen to be counted as fools by the standards of the world so that they may be found faithful as sons and daughters of their King.

Likewise, many of you become joyful-fools-for-Christ by your sacrificial giving when our world tells you, “If only you hold onto that money, you could have…”

When I’m not “fool” enough, I end up feeling restless, unsatisfied, or unfulfilled. I then try to remember something Mother Teresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” It reminds me my life is not my own and when I try to live as if it is, I find no rest.

As I was writing this blog post, a friend sent this me a video, and I thought the prayer this little girl sings is one of the best expressions of “Thy Kingdom come” that I’ve heard in a long time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foUrBztgzZA&feature=youtu.be It is my hopeful prayer for each of us, especially for the orphans who know the pain of poverty, slavery, and war.

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Mission Team SAFE—Bombs in Nuba, Sudan

2012-02-03T16:48:00.000-06:00

Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…

A couple of hours ago our mission team from all around the US and Australia meet up in Nairobi. It would have been well after midnight (Kenyan time) before they reached their guesthouse, where they will catch a few hours of sleep before journeying onto our Hope for Sudan orphanage in Sudan. Next week others will join them as they carry on northward, nearly 1,000 more miles to our New Life Ministry orphanage.

Many of you wrote letters to your precious orphans who you sponsor, and mailed them to our office. With no mail service in Sudan, our team is hand carrying your letters to your children. They will also carry home letters from your children back to you!

Many others have been praying, helping to raise funds, buying supplies, packing suitcases, or doing anything it took to encourage the loved ones you were sending off.

No matter what your role—coming, going, sending, praying, giving—we’re all on the same mission, worshiping the Father—brining the Kingdom to earth—by caring for the widows and orphans (James 1:27).

Fortunately, both of our orphanage locations have been very secure the last few months. We haven’t experienced any attacks in these areas in quite a while. Praise God!

There is, however, another area (hundreds of miles from either of these orphanage sites) in urgent need of your prayers. It is in the Nuba Mountains area, where Matt, Lual Atak, and I visited a few months ago. http://kimberlylsmithblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/into-war-zones-for-orphans.html

While we were there, bombs were dropped in the surrounding villages, but now the attacks are increasing. When the soldiers/militias invade orphans are the first ones to be taken into slavery, as there is no one to protect them.

The following report is from a young man who used to work in Nuba for Samaritan’s Purse. His name is Ryan Boyette. He still lives there, but is no longer under SP. Make Way Partners recently purchased a couple of motorcycles for he and his team to move around more effectively in the Nuba Mountains.

“On February 1, 2012 at 4:30pm I heard an Antonov bomber plane pass over my location near the town of Heiban in the SPLA-N controlled areas in Southern Kordofan. The plane circled Heiban town, dropping 2 bombs on every other pass. A total of 8 bombs were dropped. After the last pass I traveled to Heiban town to inspect the damage.

I learned that all of the bombs landed near a Bible College that was constructed by Samaritan's Purse 1 year ago. One bomb landed in the compound of the Bible college completely destroying two buildings. Even though the Bible School was full of students, teachers and the families of the teacher, no one was injured or hurt.

Ps. Zachariah Boulus is one of the teachers at the Bible School and lives on the school compound with his family. He told me that he was working in his office at the Bible school when he heard the airplane over head. He explained that he did not think the plane was going to bomb and just then the first bomb fell just west of the compound. Everyone laid down. The plane bombed several times. He said, "I don't even know where my wife and children are because they ran for safety near the mountain."

Click here for a more detailed article regarding the Nuba Mountains of Sudan: http://www.satsentinel.org/press-release/satellites-show-government-sudan-paving-way-final-assault-nuba-people-south-kordofan

Make Way Partners has also been supporting a pastor who is trying to care for nearly 300 orphans. In this moment we have no way of getting money to him; he is running out of food, money, and supplies as the militias have cut off all supply lines. We are aggressively working on solutions now, and ask you to pray with the same passion as if these children were your own.

Your call may not be to go. Each of us is only called to be faithful to the unique part of the Body we were created to fill, be it a finger, toe, or leg. Your prayers and support from home are just as needed to bring God’s Kingdom to earth as anything our missioners are doing.

I’ll keep you updated on both the team’s progress and the Nuba Mountain crisis.

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Peru Bound

2012-02-01T14:47:00.002-06:00

Many people have asked me, “After all you’ve seen and done, how can you still send your daughter and son-in-law to a place where you know traffickers thrive and law enforcement colludes?”

All I can say is, “I don’t know, but if I figure it out I’ll let you know.” What I mean is that I could not send them, nor do I know how to let go even as they choose to go.

Knowing David and Whitney will not return to the States for at least three years, I stood for a long while watching Diane and Tom Milton (David’s parents) say their loving and teary-eyed goodbyes. Then I watched my husband Milton reassert the lessons he’s been long preparing them with, followed by his final blessing. Then it was my turn.

It suddenly hit me that my entire life---since I was 19 years old---all my goodbyes have been with a suitcase in hand as I drove off or boarded a plane, leaving loved ones behind. I had no past experience of standing at the gate seeing off someone I love. Waiting. Watching. Hoping. Already longing. Fearing. Praying.

The whole experience makes me wonder what it was like for Abraham’s father (Terah) when Abram (Abraham’s original name) left him for a place God would show him. Abram could not comfort his father with assurances of where he was going, what his new life would be like, or how he would be able to take care of himself and his wife.

We’ve all spent months preparing for this day. Milton has invested many hours of mission training, and will continue long-distance training for the next year or so. Still, are you ever really prepared for the unknown?

In the end, Milton and I know it is our Father who sends David and Whitney and we are indeed full of hope about what He is doing in them, in their marriage, and in Peru. It is a giant step for Make Way Partners to expand to Peru, but a tiny thing for God.

We know God is already in Peru, seeing what is happening, and weeping with the children. We ask your prayers that David and Whitney have the eyes to perceive what God is up to, and for us to have the wisdom to guide them through their first long-term missionary assignment as a married couple.

Much love, The Mom, and your sister along the journey,
k

Great and Terrible Times

2012-01-26T08:36:00.000-06:00

In Cry of the Soul, Dan Allender and Tremper Longman write, “The Psalms disclose God’s fiery love for His people. He draws us to the extreme edge of life, where we cannot live by careful, well-planned control. This is where the desert begins.

        “How can we begin to understand the nature of God’s anger unless we enter into our own?

        “Unrighteous anger is a dark energy that demands for the self a more tolerable world now. Instead of waiting for God’s redemption according to divine design and timing.

        “Righteous anger invites change.”

        Recently, I’ve thought a lot about change. To be fully alive, of course, is to embrace change. How could Christ transform us from depravity to the abundant life without change?

        Babies form in the womb, but how could they grow to full maturity from within that inner sanctuary? Once born, children fill our homes with laughter, joy, energy, and a reason to make the world a better place, but how could they fulfill the dream their Father had for them as He knit them in our wombs if we don’t bless them to go, leaving our homes barren once again, void and wanting?

        A very cerebral part of me cognitively both understands and accepts the great role of change in our lives. Another part of me is like the 660-foot-thick foundation of the Hoover dam trying to hold back the terrible tide of change.

        I—and to some degree—all of MWP pivots on the cusp of change. We’re about to send out five of our Core Leadership team to dangerous and unknown destinations. Some of them will join larger teams; some will carry on alone.

        Whitney and David will leave us for at least three years, maybe longer. Matt, Audrey, and Olivia will be gone one month. By the time they return, I will be back in Africa, and it will be a very long time before we are all reunited, if ever. As Gandalf warned in Fellowship of the Rings, perhaps not all of us will return. Those of us who do will certainly be forever changed.

        Our great and terrible day fills me with so much hope, and so much grief. The life-giving-mother of me shouts with joy for our troops moving out, full of hope as salt rubs off them as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world in airport lines, food lines, orphan homes…whomever they touch, wherever they go. The fleshly-Hoover-dam of me clings, wails her protests, and grieves loss.

        Yesterday, as Milton and I led the commissioning service together, he prayed as we shared the Communion, “God thank You for sending your Son, and yet—in one way—You didn’t send Him. He chose to come.”

         In that prayer, a watershed of God’s grace poured out upon me and I unclenched my fist for the first time in days…

        Two of the ones MWP is sending this time are Whitney and Olivia, the two daughters who still lived at home (Spain and Portugal) with us when we discovered that first child brothel.

        Now, years later, Whitney is moving with her husband, David Milton, to Peru. Their union is divine, and uniquely mirrors the ecumenical heart of Make Way Partners to mobilize the entire Body of Christ.

        Whitney’s denomination is Baptist, and she went to a Wesleyan university. David is half Lebanese; his denomination is Lebanese Maronite Catholic, and he went to a secular university, but also did much mission work through a Presbyterian student ministry. It has been so beautiful to watch both churches come together to bless, encourage, and send this young couple in the same Spirit. Click here: To read an article about David and Whitney by Greg Garrison in the Birmingham News.

        Olivia is my youngest child, and is going to Sudan for the first time, without me. She is part of an exciting team, which Matt McGowen (MWP Sr. Field Coordinator) will lead, but every part of my flesh wants to cling, control…play God. Trusting a ferocious God is both a great and terrible thing.

        Many of the team members pictured here from the last Sudan mission team will return to Sudan next week. New members will join them. They come from Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania, Alabama, New York, Oklahoma, and also Kenya and Australia.

        I thank each of these team members for forsaking an unrighteous anger that as Allender and Longman say, “demands for the self a more tolerable world now.” Instead, they choose a righteous anger that shows us how to live the life Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done [through us].”

        These teams will provide medical care, vacation Bible school, and women’s ministries for the staff, orphans, and community in both Darfur and Southern Sudan.

        I thank you, too, because it is your faithful support of prayer and finances that makes all this great and terrible work possible. You can follow the team’s great and terrible journey—and know exactly how to pray—through my blog, or expand their work by financially supporting it!

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Birmingham-based ministry fights child-trafficking in Peru

2012-01-25T10:15:00.000-06:00

Birmingham-based ministry fights child-trafficking in Peru

David and Whitney Milton, missionaries for Birmingham-based Make Way Partners, will leave for Peru on Feb. 1, 2012, for a three-year assignment to battle child-trafficking.

Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012, 10:00 AM

By Greg Garrison -- The Birmingham News

Make Way Partners, a Birmingham-based ministry that cares for 1,000 orphans in Sudan and funds a home for women and children in Romania, is sending missionaries to fight child trafficking in Peru.

Make Way Partners founder and president Kimberly Smith, who wrote a book called "Passport Through Darkness" about the ministry in Sudan that has helped rescue sex slaves and orphans, said the situation in Peru is tragic.

She's sending her son-in-law and daughter, David and Whitney Milton, to Peru on Feb. 1. They will stay at least three years to set up an organization to fight the exploitation of children there. They have been working with a Peruvian accountant turned missionary, Jack Vasquez, who spent a year studying the problem of child slavery and sex trafficking in Peru.

"We thought Peru was a place we needed to be," said Smith. "Jack spent a year traveling the region. David and Whitney spent several months with him." Smith, a former missionary to Portugal who helped break up a sex trafficking ring there, had been looking for ways to fight sex trafficking and slavery when she founded Make Way Partners in 2002.

'Poorest of the poor'

David Milton, 30, a former Spanish teacher at Mountain Brook High School and outreach manager to Hispanics for St. Vincent's Hospital, has previously done mission work in Peru and Mexico and has a master's degree in Spanish from Auburn University. "I've found Peru to be a very special place," he said. "It has a real beauty in the country and people."

Whitney Milton, 26, a graduate of Oklahoma Wesleyan University in mission studies, attended high school in Spain when her parents were missionaries there and also speaks Spanish. "We've been working with Make Way Partners and we've seen a lot," she said.

Make Way Partners now has an annual budget of $4.5 million to fund its work in Sudan, Congo, Romania and Peru. It has built five homes for orphans in Sudan.

"They'll basically follow the same model I did in Sudan -- identify indigenous leadership that is working on the problem and help them," Smith said. "It will all be led by indigenous personnel, with them supporting and partnering with them. It will take someone who has the call of God; it's very dangerous work."

The Miltons will be based in northeastern Peru, near Chile. It's a mountainous region where small children are often put to work in mines, working in spaces too small for adults, Smith said. Girls are frequently forced into prostitution at mining camp brothels.

"The mountain areas are where the poorest of the poor are," Whitney Milton said. "There's a great need there. We want to provide needs so families don't feel pressure to send kids to mining camps."

David Milton said he hopes to find people looking out for the protection of children, and to help them expand their work.

"The issue of child prostitution in Peru is pervasive throughout the country," Milton said. "We want to go and find locals to team up with. They're able to see dangers and problems. The long-term goal would be a network of people with that calling to serve this need."

It's a risky situation, but Make Way Partners has dealt with similar risks in Sudan and Romania, Smith said.
"They're not entering naively," she said. "They know the dangers; but they know the children there have no options."

© 2012 al.com. All rights reserved.

Cry of the Soul

2012-01-23T07:51:00.000-06:00

…don’t assume that resolving your turbulent emotions is the key to meeting God. It is actually within the inner mayhem of life that a stage is built for the intrusive story of His light and hope. The absence of tumult, more than its presence, is an enemy of the soul…He comforts those who mourn, not those who live above desperation. Dan Allender and Tremper Longman Cry of the Soul

Victory for Deimante!

2012-01-20T16:41:00.002-06:00

Be encouraged! Good news! God has heard your prayers for the oppressed once again! The many ways in which God is using you—as His hands and feet of intervention—never cease to amaze me! What seemed like a certain loss in Lithuanian courts has been won. Today, the Lithuanian court did not even hear the argument to forcibly remove Deimante from her aunt’s home, the home of Judge Neringa.

        This decision was made on the basis that the judge who was to hear this case today could be biased, since he is the same judge who had previously declared Deimante should be removed from her aunt’s home, by force if necessary.

         This is a beautiful—even if short-lived—victory. It is one more victorious battle, still the war still rages onward.

        The bad news is that the court still is not addressing the charges of Deimante’s mother selling her to high-ranking-Lithuanian-government-official-pedophiles. Instead, Deimante remains on trial in that the seven-year-old has been ordered to undergo further psychological examinations. Part of what makes this outlandish is the fact that Deimante has already undergone numerous court-ordered psychological examinations, and all of them unanimously validate the child’s testimony, and fear of returning to her mother.

        To make matters worse, these psychiatric tests will be performed by “court appointment” rather than mutually agreed upon, independent doctors.

        In the meantime, Deimante’s mother’s side is working hard to defraud her aunt, Judge Neringa, by having her stripped of her status as a judge. If this happens, of course, it is much more likely (with Deimante’s father already murdered) for the child to be returned to her mother or placed in a “state” system where she could easily “disappear” as the only witness against those who raped her.

        Bottom line, we’ve been given a larger window of opportunity. So I am asking you to help us to garner larger-scale media attention for Deimante. If you have any contacts in that area, please make a direct inquiry and continue to blog and post about her. Let us not forget Deimante. In the meantime, I will keep you abreast of further developments and ask your continued prayers.

        Today, we rejoice in great victory of protection for one more battle for the oppressed children of our world!

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

One More Opportunity to Save Deimante!

2012-01-19T12:11:00.000-06:00

Thank you for your powerful response to help save seven-year-old Deimante Kedyte from further trafficking and sexual assault. Thousands of you have already written Lithuanian officials, and still we need everyone to write and forward this urgent follow up. If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, here is the link: click here.

        Today, there is one more step you can take. This one could have a larger international impact. Click on the following link to find an international-action link: click here.

        The above link contains very detailed-factual information about this case (warning, it contains very difficult information about what this small child has endured), and it provides an invitation to register an international concern at this email address: info@ekspertai.eu. You can cut and paste the same letter you used yesterday to this larger international community. At the bottom of the letter, you must sign your name, and give your state and country (not your actual address). To follow is a link to the letter to cut and paste into the international email: click here.

       For more information about how Lithuanian’s are responding and documentation on the case, you can view this video which is not as graphic as Deimante’s personal testimony: click here.

        This morning I have received a document confirming that at least four people have already been killed in association with this case, and that “Girl‘s father have wrote more than 200 application to Lithuanian law enforcement asking for consistent investigation of pedophilia, but proper and comprehensive investigation was not made.” These facts make it all the more important to keep Deimante safe with her aunt rather than turning her over to the woman (her mother, Laimutė—Laima—Stankūnaitė) who Deimante accuses of selling her to the pedophiles. To follow is a link to a document from the Lithuanian judge in personal charge of Deimante, providing a portion of Deimante’s unimaginable testimony: click here.

Thank you for your partnership to save the lives of our world’s most vulnerable children, your sister,
k

Testimony from Deimante - Warning Graphic

2012-01-19T11:32:00.000-06:00

Started: 10.30

Finished: 10.50

FACT STATED CIRCUMSTANCES’ RECORD

The 9^th of January 2012 No 0137/12/04

Kaunas

It’s me, the bailiff Valdas Zubinas who started to state fact circumstances according to the address in Klonis street, Teleičiai village, Garliava, Kaunas district in the living house on the 9^th of January, 2012 at 10.30 on the basis of Neringa Venckiene’s p.c. 47105210087 assignment to state fact circumstances about the infant D.Kedytė declaration to live with her mother Laimutė Stankūnaitė.

I state, that having come to the house by the address Klonis street No 7, Teleičiai village Garliava, Kaunas district, D. Kedytė p.c. 60402190576 was found there. Having asked the girl if she could declare about the possibility to live with her mother Laimutė Stankūnaitė, in front of cameras, the girl agreed to have being filmed. Neringa Venckienė allowed that the girl would be filmed and asked in front of the camera. In the process of filming D.Kedytė said:

“I don’t want to live with Laima…, I don’t want to live with Laima, because her friends were poking their sexual organs to my mouth, Laima was standing and looking… They wanted me to be silent and not to say anybody, and if not they would hurt me with a knife. I want to live with Neringa, because she is very good to me. I want to live with Neringa very much. I don’t want to live with Laima… I don’t want to live with Laima, only with Neringa. They were poking their sexual organs to Orinta’s mouth, she was tied… I want to live with Neringa”.

The Statement of facts was finished on the 9the of January 2012 at 10.50.

The techniques were used:

a) Sound fixing means

b) View fixing means

c) Other means for fixing sound and view (videocamera).

There are two copies of this document, having the same legal importance. One copy is at the person’s having given assighnment disposition, the other one – at the bailiff’s.

The disk, with the fact stated possibilities are attached to the record for the court and are considered as the part of the record.

A Current Case of Human Trafficking Where YOUR Voice Can Save the Life of a 7-Year-Old Little Girl

2012-01-18T16:17:00.003-06:00

Warning: this may be the hardest of my stories you’ve read, but it is also one where your voice today could literally save one little girl.

Deimante Kedyte is seven years old. She lives with her aunt, a judge in Lithuania. The reason Deimante lives with her aunt is because her father was murdered after Deimante testified in court that her mother repeatedly sold her, forcing Deimante—from the age of five—into sexual activity with high-ranking Lithuanian government officials, for “lots of money”.

        Now Deimante’s aunt, Judge Neringa Venckiene, is caring for Deimante in her home. Avoiding all testimony against high-ranking government involvement, the Lithuanian judicial system is trying to force Deimante to return to her mother. Recently, more than 200 Lithuanian citizens surrounded her aunt’s home in a valiant effort to protect Deimante.

        Before his murder, and while facing apathy and injustice, Deimante’s father fought to protect her. He was accused of killing two of his daughter’s molesters but, since he was murdered before any real investigation could be done, we may never know what really transpired. Finally he resorted to videoing his daughter’s testimony, hoping the world would intervene on her behalf.

        While I do not presume to pass final judgments from afar, I have accumulated much data on this case and know only one thing: no child should be forced to return to a home where she claims such torturous events as Deimante does in this video http://vimeo.com/14331400 (strong warning: very disturbing and graphic testimony from this small child)

        The young cousin, which Deimante says was abused along with her, has now disappeared. Not only was her father murdered but several others who stepped forward to defend Deimante have either been committed to institutions for the insane or have simply disappeared.

        What is unimaginable is the fact that, in spite of five psychological examinations all stating that the child is not making up her accusations (as if a five to seven year old could even imagine this sort of thing had she not experienced it), there has not been one single charge filed against her mother or those who Deimante names as the pedophiles who raped her.

        Instead it is Deimante, a seven year old child who claims this abuse started at age five, who is on trial. Seven masked men usher the mother everywhere she goes. She knows too much to be left alone. What would Deimante’s fate be in this environment?

        We have a very narrow window of opportunity to stand in the gap for Deimante. A final court date is set to determine Deimante’s fate for this Friday, January 20^th.

        First, I am asking each and every one of you to send the letter you will find at this link: CLICK HERE to the key Lithuanian officials listed to follow.

Name: Dalia Grybauskaite

Title: President of Lithuania

To contact the president of Lithuania, follow these instructions:

Please click here: http://www.president.lt/prezidentas/en/letter_to_the_president2.html
Cut and paste the sample letter from Kimberly into the “Message” box.
Enter your “First name”, “Last name” and “Email” into the proper fields
Next to the field requesting “Address” simply enter the City, State and Country where you live. NO EXACT ADDRESS REQUIRED.
Enter the “Security Code” into the proper field.
Click Submit

To contact the following key leaders, please cut and paste the same letter into an email for each of them directly at:

Name: Remigijus Simasius

Title: Minister of Justice

Email: rastine@tm.lt

Name: Vitalijus Kondratjevas

Title: Ruling Judge in this case

Email: 22.teismas@teismai.lt

Name: Darius Valys

Title: Attorney General

Email: darius.valys@prokuraturos.lt

        Second, we’ve seen the power of the internet when you’ve e-blasted, tweeted, facebook share, blogged, and forwarded these prayers before. Let’s save a little girl’s life by the power of witnesses.

        Years ago, when we discovered our first child brothel in Portugal, International Justice Mission told us, “Just don’t leave! Stand up! Make as loud a noise as you can until the government knows you will not stop until the children are free.” It worked, and I am asking you to join in making the joyful noise of demanding Deimante’s protection.

We may not be able to save them all, but we have a clear path to step forward for this one—united we shout at the darkness until its very foundation crumbles,
k

Letter on behalf of Deimante Kedyte

2012-01-18T16:15:00.002-06:00

Please copy and paste the following letter:

I am writing on behalf of Deimante Kedyte.

I understand the Lithuanian judicial system is about to determine whether or not to uphold the decision to remove Deimante Kedyte from the home of her aunt, Judge Neringa Venckiene, and force her to return to her mother.

I write to protest such a decision before a complete investigation has been performed, with full international disclosure of the process exploring Deimante’s testimony of sexual abuse.

As you know, child trafficking or sexual assault upon any minor is a serious international crime. As a prominent leader of Lithuania, I ask you to take a public stand against child-sexual abuse and human trafficking by performing a highly transparent investigation of all Deimante’s allegations.

A concerned citizen of the world on behalf of one child at a time, namely today: Deimante Kedyte.

Please send the above letter to the key Lithuanian officials listed to follow:

Name: Dalia Grybauskaite

Title: President of Lithuania

To contact the president of Lithuania, follow these instructions:

Please click here: http://www.president.lt/prezidentas/en/letter_to_the_president2.html
Cut and paste the sample letter from Kimberly into the “Message” box.
Enter your “First name”, “Last name” and “Email” into the proper fields
Next to the field requesting “Address” simply enter the City, State and Country where you live. NO EXACT ADDRESS REQUIRED.
Enter the “Security Code” into the proper field.
Click Submit

To contact the following key leaders, please cut and paste the same letter into an email for each of them directly at:

Name: Remigijus Simasius

Title: Minister of Justice

Email: rastine@tm.lt

Name: Vitalijus Kondratjevas

Title: Ruling Judge in this case

Email: 22.teismas@teismai.lt

Name: Darius Valys

Title: Attorney General

Email: darius.valys@prokuraturos.lt

For more information visit: http://kimberlylsmithblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/current-case-of-human-trafficking-where.html

Focus on the Family Broadcast

2012-01-17T16:03:00.000-06:00

God is greatly using the two-part Focus on the Family broadcast about Make Way Partners and Passport through Darkness. In just 24 hours, thousands of dollars have already poured in via on-line donations, all of which will go toward our ongoing battle to protect the most vulnerable children from human trafficking. The broadcasts are also spreading the word about our best story-telling tool, Passport through Darkness. Out of the millions of books on Amazon, today Passport through Darkness catapulted to the top 500, and continues to climb.

Please help us be the best stewards of this powerful resource from Focus on the Family by tweeting, facebooking, or emailing these live links to everyone on your list. To listen to the program please click here for Part 1 & Part 2

After hearing the interviews, follow these links to "after hours" stories Jim Daly and I shared after the broadcast.

Human Slavery Today in the USA - Kimberly Smith explains why the United States is one of the largest nations perpetuating human slavery today.

The Story of Little John - Kimberly Smith shares the sad story of a lonely African orphan left abandoned on the side of the road.

The Story of Teresa Nyibol – Kimberly Smith tells the story of an orphan girl rescued from human slavery.

Be a part of saving lives by sharing their stories!

Love, your sister along the journey,
‎k

Mass Killings and Child Abductions Near Hope for Sudan

2012-01-14T11:13:00.001-06:00

Since late December there has been increasing violence in Junglei State of Sudan. The village of Pibor has been hit the hardest with an estimated 60,000 people on the run, mass killings, and hundreds of children abducted. Depending on which report you read, numbers of trafficked children range from 150 to many more times that. The same conflicting information comes around the death toll, depending on who is trying to protect what image. This is one article from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/14/world/africa/south-sudan-violence/

As if this news is not disturbing enough, the saddest part is that the killings are from within. These are two different tribes from within the Republic of the Sudan (southern Sudan) that are killing each other, and trafficking the children from each tribe.

These attacks are happening in the state next to Eastern Equatoria, the home of our orphanage Hope for Sudan.

Please pray for our children’s safety, and all those “outside” our gates who have no protection at all. We have a mission team headed to Hope for Sudan on February 2; hopefully we’ll have more detailed information then.

Love, your sister along the journey,

Sanctity of Life, Really?

2012-01-12T15:08:00.004-06:00

Each year many Christians around the world celebrate the third Sunday of January as the Sanctity of Life Sunday. During this month there is often a flurry of debate, dialogue, and writing around the subject. What eludes me is the why we Christians tend to back ourselves into a defensive position, dumbing down “sanctity of life” to the singular question of “When does life begin?”

          The below link leads to a fantastic article by RC Sproul, Jr. I only wish he'd expanded upon his statement, "Proclaim not the sanctity of life, but the holiness of God, whose image the least of these bear." Since he did not, I will, and I ask you to respond on facebook, twitter, and blogs so that together we might pose important questions to stir the hearts, minds, and actions of many. http://www.ligonier.org/blog/should-churches-observe-sanctity-life-sunday/

          While I completely agree with his lament over the holocaust upon voiceless babies, I also think the glorious image of God as revealed in humanity demands so much more engagement from us than the singular discussion around abortion.

          What are we fearing when we refuse to allow God to expand our hearts beyond our secure borders of hearth, home, country, and church to include children who have indeed been granted temporal life, but little else? Millions who were not killed in the womb are still just as defenseless, and cry out from among us. The only breath they draw is from the foul stench of extreme poverty, rape, war, slavery, and oppression—largely abandoned by the Church who fought for their “right” to be born.

          These helpless children know not for what they long, for they have never known anything but the Great Emptiness. They simply wait. For most of them, the pregnant days of waiting births only a slow and agonizing death because there is no food, shelter, or even parent to care for them.

          If we are to speak authoritatively of the sanctity of life, we must also remember the elderly grandmothers who cry over the graves of their children while not knowing what to do for the infant grandchild war, famine, and disease have left in their hands.

          If we Christians want to be taken seriously in the discussion of glorious matters such as Life and Death, proclaiming God’s glory manifest in all who enter it, then we must be willing to make room at our table for all who enter this world.

          There is no more room for us to decide who we will care for and who is too far away, too expensive to reach, in too dangerous a location, the wrong color of skin, from an unsavory lot, or ungodly religion. The sanctity of life boils down to the weight of God’s glory falling down upon us all in every state and station of life...all the way down to the manger.

          I can only imagine that our turning our backs upon those who find themselves on the “outside” of our circle must cause Christ's agonizing words to echo hauntingly through the centuries of fallen mankind, His image-bearers, "My God. My God. Why have You forsaken me?"

          Let’s use this month to engage in the full discussion of sanctity of life, all life as precious in the site of our Father. Join me next Monday and Tuesday (January 16th and 17th) on your local radio station as Focus on the Family’s President Jim Daily and I share in a two-part interview on Passport through Darkness, and God’s heart for each of us to be fully alive, knowing and sharing the truly abundant life!

          To find a local channel and airtimes click here: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/broadcast/find-a-station.aspx or after Monday you will be able to download a podcast from my website: www.kimberlyLsmith.com

Love, your sister on the journey,
‎k

His Banner Over Me is Love

2012-01-10T15:10:00.002-06:00

Going to the most vulnerable & least protected to end human trafficking.

Dear Orphan Lover,

When I was a child, we used to sing a song called His Banner Over Me is Love. One of the stanzas we sang declared, “He brought me to His banqueting table, His banner over me is love.”

Even though I was born and raised Appalachian-style poor, I never went hungry. My experience of being able to tangibly taste, touch, and feel the Goodness of God as expressed to me through family, church, food, and material provision cleared a logical path for me to understand God cared for me. When I did suffer, having a baseline experience of the Goodness of God made it easier for me to trust that He would help me through those difficult times.

When I compare my relative “good” life with that of a scared and lonely orphan’s, the question comes to me, “How does the extreme opposite of that “good” experience affect an orphan who has known nothing but desperation, fear, loss, disease, and hunger?”

Perhaps that—more than any other reason—is why God tells us to care for the Fatherless, so that they may know and experience their Father as they taste, touch, and feel the banquet of His Goodness.

So many demands at the table of our lives can crowd out the orphan’s hunger and despair. What measures can we take to ensure we make room to hear their cry?

One way to “make room” might be to set aside intentional time to ask God to open our eyes and increase our heart for the orphan. As you plan your 2012 calendar, I ask you to consider setting aside one day to be a banner of His love over the world’s most vulnerable children.

Just one day, November 11.

Each November Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) calls for churches around the world to set aside one Sunday to focus on our call to care for the fatherless. This year that Sunday is November 11^th.

As thousands of churches around the world devote their entire worship service to hear God’s heart for the fatherless, you have a unique opportunity to make a global impact from within your local church. November 11^th, Orphan Sunday, is beautiful way to unite, educate, and mobilize the members of your church to be His banner of love over the orphan.

Many churches don’t stop with sermons or music, but also hold public concerts, shared meals, prayer vigils, dramas, and youth activities—all designed to equip and ignite their members toward care for the orphan.

As the Spirit rouses Believers to the plight of the orphan and prompts them into action, people need a channel through which they can respond. Adoption agencies are one venue, of course. Thanks, in large part, to CAFO’s powerful work, thousands of American Believers have opened their hearts, homes, and families to an orphan through adoption.

Still, whether due to war, corrupt regimes, US sanctions, or inaccessibility, adoption is not an option for millions of orphans in our world. How can we invite these most vulnerable of the vulnerable into our lives, if not our living rooms? Orphan Sunday provides an excellent opportunity to introduce your pastor, Sunday school class, or other parts of your church to Make Way Partners and the unadoptable orphans of no-go zones.

November may seem a long time away, but church calendars are planned far in advance, and now is the time to begin preparation for this most important day of our liturgical year...a time of true worship according to James 1:27.

On November 11th, thousands of locally led, orphan-focused events will resound across America, all moving toward a single goal: that God’s great love for the orphan will echo through our lives. Take action today to make sure that your church finds their unique voice in God’s orchestra for the orphan.

One day. One voice. One purpose. Now is the time to approach your pastor and mission committee.

For Orphan Sunday resources click here: http://orphansunday.org/

Cristobal’s story http://kimberlylsmithblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/hope-rushed-in-starting-new-year-right.html is a great way to introduce unadoptable orphans and the work of Make Way Partners to your church. For Make Way Partners’ material to share with your church please contact Audrey Moore at audreym@makewaypartners.org

Forward this email, pick up the phone, offer a prayer.

From under His banner of love,
‎k

Hope Rushes In: Starting the New Year Right

2012-01-02T12:45:00.004-06:00

A few days ago, I wrote the following blog about our Christmas child at Hope for Sudan. Today Romano sent me photos of the Christmas child’s first bath, and a brief update (below).

At 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, in the same village of our Hope for Sudan orphanage, a child was born. A son. A firstborn son to a very scared, desperately poor, and extremely young woman. As the child drew his first breath, his mother drew her last.

There was no room for the child; neither was there a mother.

In a land where millions barely escape slave raiders and starvation, legends are created to assuage the raw reality of having no means to care for a motherless newborn. One such legend teaches that a mother cannot bear to be without her child, and so she beckons him to join her in the grave.

The family cannot bear to take the child’s life, neither do they have the means to feed him, and so oft times they leave him alone in a tukel (mud hut) until he “joins his mother”…in death.

Hope for Sudan’s mere presence has begun to rewrite these legends. After an agonizing night alone, this small, newborn-Christmas child was brought to Romano, our indigenous director at Hope for Sudan. Romano received him with joy and named him Cristobal.

Hope is rising up. The entire community is being transformed as dignity replaces depravity and freedom to choose replaces the chains of despair.

Today, Romano reports that Cristobal is thriving—eating, laughing, and sleeping well. His one prayer request is for Cristobal’s caregiver to have the heart of a mother, raising him with the love that only a mother can give.

Romano also told us a bit more about how Cristobal’s mother died in childbirth. It was all so very preventable. Her young life was snuffed out simply because there was no one with any training to tend her. When she didn’t deliver as quickly as those attending her thought she should, they began applying too heavy pressure upon her abdomen. She bled to death. In a land with no hospitals, and scant medical or even midwife training, sadly, it is often left for babies to help other babies to deliver babies.

In a violent attack against death and disease, hope rushes in this new year through our new medical program. Dr. Kim Sweet and Amos (our new Health Manager) will not only lead medical teams to initiate direct care, but also much of their focus will be on training indigenous leadership at each Make Way Partners’ ministry location. For more information, please contact Dr. Kim at doctorkims@makewaypartners.org or to support this life-saving medical ministry

Joyful, Joyful New Year to you, our friends,
‎k

Little Miss Muffet and Controlling Family Members

2011-12-29T16:37:00.000-06:00

Each Tuesday morning the Make Way Partners’ staff gathers before we begin our work day for a time of sharing intimate moments along our journey. Sometimes it’s lighthearted musing and teasing (we have a couple of jester wannabes among us.) Other times it’s wrestling with weighty ministry direction and decisions. More often than not it’s working through pithy relational stuff that seems to affect all areas of our lives. The holidays tend to demand more of the latter.

In the pit of it all, this video helped us to laugh and find perspective on those relational frustrations. The rest of this blog will make more sense if you watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcPIyiQNjY&feature=related

Dern-a-Bing-Bong! People simply will not conform into what we want them to be, will they? When they won’t, how do we rip off their wings, pluck out their eyes, or stick on something that might not fit them in order to contort them into what we think they “should” be?

I thought a lot about the Little Miss Muffet inside of me on Christmas day. Our family dynamics are changing, drastically so. Our children are grown and have lives of their own. Even our grandchildren wander into their own sense of being these days.

Our family talked a lot about how to stay engaged with one another over the holidays without forcing a sense of how things “ought” to be, especially based upon how things used to be. It’s easy to get stuck in our own expectations, and before we even know it, work the wonder of Little Miss Muffet ripping the “gills” off our family and sticking “noses” on our friends.

A reality check came for me as I reflected upon what the Christmas experience might feel like for an orphan—a child with no family and no expectation of friendship, intimacy, or even the simple comforts of food and shelter during the holidays, or any other time for that matter.

At 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, in the same village of our Hope for Sudan orphanage, a child was born. A son. A firstborn son to a very scared, desperately poor, and extremely young woman. As the child drew his first breath, his mother drew her last.

There was no room for the child; neither was there a mother.

In a land where millions barely escape slave raiders and starvation, legends are created to assuage the raw reality of having no means to care for a motherless newborn. One such legend teaches that a mother cannot bear to be without her child, and so she beckons him to join her in the grave.

The family cannot bear to take the child’s life, neither do they have the means to feed him, and so oft times they leave him alone in a tukel (mud hut) until he “joins his mother”…in death.

Hope for Sudan’s mere presence has begun to rewrite these legends. After an agonizing night alone, this small, newborn-Christmas child was brought to Romano, our indigenous director at Hope for Sudan. Romano received him with joy and named him Cristobal.

Hope is rising up. The entire community is being transformed as dignity replaces depravity and freedom to choose replaces the chains of despair.

The word orphan was first coined around 1300. Originally, it not only implied bereft of parents, but also meant to be “deprived of free status.”

Hum…deprived of free status…from its very inception “orphan” meant to be enslaved, at least on some level. And, of course, we know orphans are the most vulnerable people group to modern-day slavery.

I read an interesting article this morning about modern-day Christians. According to the article, we look incredibly similar to Little Miss Muffet. The article posed that if Christians spent less time “working on their relationship with God” and more time practicing being decent human beings we’d probably end up a lot closer to God. http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2011/12/27/bait-and-switch-contemporary-christianity

At first, I felt slightly off-put by the article—sounded a tad too “works” oriented for me. But as I stayed with it, I realized all the article really said was that our faith would bear fruit if, in fact, it existed.

The article also whispered of James 1:27, reminding us that true religion doesn’t take place so much inside the pristine-walled or stadium-seated worship center as it does on the muddy streets of an orphan-packed village.

My mind played back and forth between those Little Miss Muffet expectations I tend to impose upon my family and the complete lack of any expectations (because she’s been stripped of hope) an orphan experiences.

I wondered, “How are the two thoughts (above) connected?” Other questions came to me. “If I more regularly practiced setting myself and family free from expectations, how might that impact how I better practice ‘true religion’ with the orphans?”

And if orphan means not only parentless but also loss of freedom, or to be held captive, then “What are the orphaned places in my own heart, life, and dreams?”

And “How do I orphan members of my family because they aren’t living the way I want them to?” Finally, “How can I make a safe, loving, and restorative place for not only the orphan half way around the world but also those within my own heart and within my family?”

In this New Year, may you feel God’s love of you more intensely as you silence the Little Miss Muffet judgments against the orphaned dreams our Father has for you and the orphaned members of your family—and may that love expand your heart to extend your hand to the vulnerable orphans half way around the world.

Love, your orphaned sister along the reclaiming journey of God’s family,

2011-12-22T14:53:00.002-06:00

And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

I slept a full eight hours last night for the first time in so many months that I can’t even remember when it last happened. This has been a year full of triumphs, victories, and amazing redemption. It has also been a year of near-miss disaster.

What a roller coaster ride! It seems before we could even take in the panoramic view from the peak of celebration an onslaught of attack, loss, pain, and fog-like chaos would hit so hard the deep plunge left us all in a state of brokenness where sleep seems to hide under someone else' covers.

For example, our orphan-food crisis. The savage drought escalated the price of food in Sudan higher than anyone could have predicted. The mountain peak: God heard our prayers, and your amazing response provided all the funds we needed! The plunge: Then, every door we knocked on slammed shut; we couldn’t buy the food—at any price. The mountain peak: after weeks of back-breaking work, we found a restaurant supplier in Nairobi who sold us the food and agreed to transport it. The plunge: the new government of the Republic of Sudan refused our tax exemption, and wanted to tax our food up to as much as we had paid for it! The mountain peak: Lual Atak banged on every politicians’ door, refusing to leave, and with the help of prayers from every corner of our world, finally, he was granted the exemption we needed. The mountain peak: our trucks rolled out of Nairobi with a year’s supply of food. The plunge: while the one headed for Hope for Sudan made it without a glitch. The four headed 1,000 miles farther north to New Life Ministry have been pummeled at every juncture. Two finally made it safely there a few days ago. The third sat broken down for more than a week just shy of the border in Kenya. The fourth was to remain with the third one (the one broken down) so that none of the drivers traveled alone. However, the fourth driver abandoned the third, and then the fourth driver (and truck) disappeared. The mountain peak: the broken one is repaired and on the road again. The plunge: the Kenyan police found our fourth truck, but the container of food had been taken from the truck bed. They cannot find the driver or the food. The mountain peak: we had only paid 75% to the supplier up front. Since the supplier is responsible for his driver breaking the agreement and abandoning the broken down truck, if the supplier does not find and deliver that last truck of our food we are not bound to pay for the portion he lost; which means the finances balance out. The plunge: we’ll have to go back to shopping all over again for the last 25% of our food.

And that is only the food crisis roller coaster; there's been so many more…

I’ll borrow from a message Matt McGowen, our Sr. Field Coordinate shared in a recent reflection upon a John Eldredge quote from the book Fathered by God. Matt begins with the Eldredge quote, “‘As I said before, what the evil one does to a good warrior - if he cannot take him out, cannot keep him from entering the battle at all - is to bury him. Dog pile. Make it all about battle. Make it constant, one battle after another...’

Then Matt shares his own thoughts on the Eldredge quote, “This speaks not only for me personally but also for the way we’re all being hit. These have been heavy days. If evil's plan A is to try to keep us from the battle then his plan B is to lay so much battle on us that we get buried and take no rest and lose all joy.”

Rest finally came to me last night. Perhaps, I finally allowed it to enter. And with it, joy returned through the wonder of a dream I had. In the dream, it’s as if my eyes were a camera lens.

The lens is first set to a wide panoramic view. The scene before me is a barn. All that is in the barn is a manger. The Christ Child is in the manger, but there is no Mary, Joseph, or shepherds...not even an animal stirs in the barn. Just the Christ Child wrapped in His swaddling cloths, and laid on top of a bed of straw tucked down inside a manger.

As my eyes focus, the “lens” zooms in so closely I see nothing of the barn scene, except the manger. But the focus is not the manger or even the Christ Child. What the spotlight illuminates is the straw.

In the dream I realized that I had limited my understanding of Christ’s coming to earth in such an impoverished station of life only to show us that His power did not come from material wealth, but rather from His heart and spirit. While that is true, the dream was showing me how God is in the details. He could have chosen many forms of poverty to show us that, but He chose specifically to place His son in a manger where a bed of hay or straw would be His first place of abiding.

Upon waking this morning, I pulled out Milton’s commentaries and did several internet searches on hay or straw. Here’s the bottom line of what I found, “Straw: hollowed out, easily broken, dried and threshed wheat often used as fodder…when used as an adjective it is often used to describe something as a sham or fictitious.”

Christ’s first dwelling place was in a bed that would normally hold straw. From the moment of His birth He seems to be telling us, “I desire to live in your dryness, your brokenness. I will use the very sham of your life as fodder to bring about My new Life in you.”

Next in the dream, the spotlight shifted to the manger. Instantly, I realized a manger is a place for food…a place of nourishment. The very first moments of Christ’s life on this earth pointed to what was to come. His very first dwelling place was a manger, a place for food. From the beginning moments of His life He showed us what, one day to come, He would speak during some of His final moments of life, “Take. Eat my body. Drink my blood.”

I awakened with Jesus’ words on my mind, “Let the children come to me.” I laid tucked under the covers wondering how, similarly to how I'd overlooked the message of the straw and manger of Christ, I might have also overlooked the details of the lives of the orphans we save and serve. What do the details of their lives tell me of what is to come? What are those details pointing me to today?

God is the Greatest Story Teller ever, and He speaks to us in the details of our lives—and those who He places before us. It takes patience and practice to become a skilled listener, observing and discerning the details of His Story, and how He lives it through us and others, especially children.

I invite you to sit at the manger for the following four minutes asking God to reveal more details of the Story He invites you into as you study the lives, stories, and faces of our children in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-cbnhBRstY

May you see the manger and all its contents in ways you’ve never noticed before,
k

The Perfect Gift for the Man, Woman, or Child Who Has Everything

2011-12-21T14:47:00.001-06:00

As I dressed for work this morning, I listened to Christmas music on the radio. The talk-show hosts offered free tickets to something-or-other to the first listener who called in with the correct answer to the following question, “How much does the average American spend on a Christmas gift?” After the give-a-way, a commercial aired from a local mortgage broker enticing listeners to refinance their homes, rolling in all of their Christmas credit card debt into “one easy monthly payment.”

Each year millions of Americans struggle to find the “perfect gift” that will bring joy—or at least momentary pleasure—to their children, parents, siblings, and/or spouses. And each year, as we accumulate more and more “stuff,” the bar is raised higher and higher until we ascend to the category of ridiculous gifts for the man, woman, or child “who has everything.”

What if this year you could give your loved one the joy of giving the gift of life? What if instead of an obligatory gift, you honored your loved one by saving a child’s life in their honor? What if your loved ones’ Christmas gift carried a child from a manger to a safe and cozy bed with a full belly and a bright future full of education and opportunity?

Sponsor one of the precious children pictured below, telling us in whose honor you wish to gift their sponsorship, and we’ll send your loved one a photograph and biography of their child. We’ll also explain how they can communicate with their child and learn more about her daily life.

Honor your loved one + Save a child = Breaking two cycles of hopelessness: A hungry child’s battle to stay alive and ours of looking for joy in material gifts.

Merry-Meaningful Christmas!
k

You can protect a child at risk to modern-day slavery! Your partnership as a "Walen" or "Malen” will provide a child Complete Care and a life full of hope! Select the “Click Here” button under a child’s picture to read more information about his or her life. Then become a “Walen” or “Malen” today!

100% of your designated donation goes directly to care for your child.

No administration fees are taken out of your life-saving gift.

	Displaying 1-12			Next Page-->


Abraham Athum Gop		Isaiah Kuach Mathiang	Peter Kuol Chan	Peter Riak Luieth
Age: 12		Age: 16	Age: 14	Age: 14
Click Here to view detailed information about this child.		Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.


Lokolong Longor		Tom Guom Guom	Mary Aman Geng	James Yel Deng
Age: 11		Age: 12	Age: 12	Age: 15
Click Here to view detailed information about this child.		Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.


Samuel Dut Deng		Simon Ngang Deng	Peter Akuach Akuach	Santo Aguot Iek
Age: 15		Age: 15	Age: 8	Age: 13
Click Here to view detailed information about this child.		Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.	Click Here to view detailed information about this child.

For more information contact us today: 1.205.240.8597 to speak with a MWP staff member.

What the Advent Looks Like for an Orphan

2011-12-15T11:42:00.001-06:00

I’ve been home from Sudan for several days now. As my body moves through our stateside lives of meetings, emails, phone calls, and general busyness, my mind is stayed upon the beautiful faces of Emmanuel, Mary, Sadia, and Okitik.

I visited Hope for Sudan (HfS) to celebrate the opening of our new orphanage there. Just three months ago, when I was last at HfS, it was doubtful if Okitik would survive. Romano had found her crying on her mother’s slaughtered body on the side of the road. She was so weak it was difficult for Okitik to drink the milk Martha, her caregiver at Hope for Sudan, offered her.

Fast forward just a few months. On the night of our grand opening celebration, one of our security guards danced around the room with Okitik as she giggled and entertained us all. When he put her down, Okitik’s tiny fingers curled around his thick ones, latching on and pulling herself up to her feet. Obviously this was a game they played regularly; the guard gently cooed her into taking one step at a time until she’d toddled before each of us in the celebration circle, as if to receive her blessing.

Okitik has spent most of these last months, since coming to her new home at Hope for Sudan, tied to the back of Martha, our cook. Martha has become as a mother to her, sharing the same plate of food by day and sleeping in the same bed by night.

The beautiful sound of these children’s lives clap in celebration and crescendos into the amazing song of God’s rescue and redemption…Emmanuel, rescued after the LRA killed his mother, grows tall and strong—his toothy grin flashes throughout the passing days as he takes great pride in speaking, reading, and writing in English.

Sadia’s God-given joy leads the way in times of song and play. And big sister Mary stands tall as a mother-hen-in-the-making pecking at and preening all the little chicks in the coop.

Look for each of these precious children in this brief video as they warmed up for the big celebration - Click Here!

This time of year I become especially reflective, looking back upon all that God has been and done throughout the year. I do not normally travel to Sudan during the holidays, and had not planned to go this year. It was God’s unexpected provision that sent me: this new orphanage was completed under budget and ahead of schedule.

Sharing a portion of the season of Christ’s Advent with children born as He—with no place to lay their tiny heads—fills me with a strange mixture of humility, brokenness, hope, and joy.

The hope is in a thing not yet seen, a faith in what is to come. I cannot know the particulars of that coming thing completely, but I rest this day in the goodness of God and pray that it includes bountiful provision and protection for the many new orphans who will finally have a safe place to lay their heads—thanks to you and your support—at Hope for Sudan.

On some level, at least, I think that is how the Advent happens each and every day—us, His Body, making a safe place for the smallest among us to lay their tiny heads.

May your hearts and home be full of the peace, love, and joy of this blessed time of the Advent,
k

Passport through Darkness Receives INSPY Literary Award

2011-12-14T09:46:00.000-06:00

Please join us in celebrating all the doors that God is opening! INSPY announces their 2011 Award Winners: Passport through Darkness won the Award for Best Creative Non-Fiction!

Give the Gift of Transformation this Holiday Season!

Buy Passport through Darkness & get one FREE!

Purchase copies of Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances by Kimberly L Smith on Amazon or your book vendor of choice, then let us know how many you bought and we'll send you one free copy for each copy you purchased online!

1. Click here to purchase Passport through Darkness online

2. Email us telling us how many you purchased and we’ll send you a free copy for each one purchased!: audreym@makewaypartners.org

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Missionaries to Peru!

2011-12-09T08:31:00.001-06:00

Earlier this year I announced that our daughter and son-in-law, David and Whitney Milton, were going to serve as fulltime missionaries in Congo. However, as time grew closer, the necessary doors for that to happen did not open. We all continued to pray as to where the ministry most needed help and how God could best use their gifts and skills.

Whitney and David spent a good bit of their summer in Peru, learning firsthand about the pandemic plight of trafficking there. As they met and interacted with little children who had already been trafficked as well as those in extreme poverty or mining camps who are at high risk, God did a work in their hearts bonding them with both the people and the culture. Of course, the fact that they are both fluent in Spanish is a real benefit!

They will live in the mining regions, where extreme poverty and rich minerals make for the perfect storm of child trafficking. Small children are forced into tiny furrows and mines where adults cannot fit. Girls are also trafficked for sexual slavery, serving all the workers.

David has a Masters degree in Spanish, worked in public health at St. Vincent’s Health System, and taught at Mountain Brook high school. Whitney’s degree is in missions, and of course, she was a child at home with Milton and me when we busted that first brothel in Portugal. For more of their history and details of their ministry, please read this article: http://villagelivingonline.wordpress.com/tag/make-way-partners/

This is an exciting new ministry. Please offer your love, prayer, and support as it takes root. To support our Peruvian ministry, please click here.

Love, your sister along the journey,

Prayer Update: Our Daily Bread

2011-12-07T10:11:00.005-06:00

From Guest Blogger Matt McGowen:

This morning (US time) I could no longer contain myself and I called James Lual Atak in Juba since I had not yet heard from him. I could tell that he was in a SERIOUS conversation by the tone I was hearing and he quickly told me he would call me back soon. I knew that James was using his God given gifts of persuasion in effort to get our paperwork approved so that our trucks of food could begin the dangerous and long drive toward Nyamlel.

A little while ago (around 6 pm Sudan time) James called back and over the static filled line he told me, “Matt, I have been in these offices all day long. I have not had a bite of food or a drink of water. I finally met with a big man and was having a serious discussion with him when you called. The news is…” The cell phone went silent.

Then James was back, “Yes, I was saying I met with the man and the news is…” Silence again. At this point I was yelling into the phone, “YES? YES? The news is WHAT?”

He was back again, this time I heard the playfulness in his voice, “The news is…. WE HAVE THE TAX EXEMPTION! OUR PAPERS ARE APPROVED!” He let out that signature deep bellied Lual Atak laugh that reveals a heart deeply connected to God's heart for the defenseless. That laugh often rumbles out of Lual Atak when we are delivered from a crisis and God’s hand has been visibly manifested.

We laughed and joked and expressed our relief. James Lual Atak expressed deep gratitude to God, who continues to meet our needs in unexpected, mysterious, and often 11^th hour ways. James asked me to tell all of you – “Thank you for standing with us through this crisis and through every crisis that happens. Thank you for your prayers. The children of New Life Ministry and I are so grateful that we are not alone.”

So many of you have facebooked, emailed, made phone calls, and most importantly prayed. I have few words right now, only that sense of wonder that settles upon us when we catch a glimpse of the holy privilege it is to serve such a mighty, compassionate, and wild God. The story we have fallen into not only is written by the most amazing Author of all time but also features the most beautiful main character – God Almighty Himself, Defender of the weak. Let us bow our hearts in awe as we reflect on the opportunity we have been given to be part of a Big Story – God’s own story.

Grace and Peace to you today – and let us thank our Father for the daily bread He has provided. As the children at New Life Ministry love to sing, “What a mighty God we serve.”

P.S. Keep Praying! Our trucks will need protection and provision as they make the very long drive across dangerous terrain.

Matt McGowen
Senior Field Coordinator

Urgent New Life Ministry Food Update

2011-12-06T11:59:00.001-06:00

From Guest Blogger Matt McGowen:

Yesterday we shared an urgent prayer request with you – our food trucks are being held at the South Sudan border while James Lual Atak, our indigenous director of New Life Ministry, negotiates in Juba for our import and tax exemption papers to be approved. Initially we were rejected but the ‘big boss’ told James to return today at 3:30 pm (South Sudan time). James texted me this morning saying that the big boss is not even in his office, he left the country on an airplane today!

A very discouraged and frustrated James spent all day knocking on every government official’s door he could find and has yet to find anyone willing to help. Tomorrow James will go to the South Sudan President’s office to speak truth to those in power on behalf of these vulnerable children and the evil being perpetrated against them. James reported today that many organizations are facing these same challenges and are having their import documents rejected so that the government can collect exorbitant taxes.

Our blood boils at the injustice in all of this. The Government of South Sudan has received much aid from the US in order to win their independence from the Islamic regime of the North which has preyed upon the vulnerable South Sudanese for generations. Now the new Government of South Sudan demands outrageous “taxes” on donated food for orphans for whom they are not taking the initiative to provide. Much evidence points to vast corruption within the government of this newborn nation.

As we talk with our trusted partners in Sudan we hear their anger at the vicious North Sudanese regime. We also hear their deep sorrow as they see their new nation heading down a path of corruption, greed, and bureaucracy. This in many ways is a deeper betrayal.

As we walk this path together of ministering to the ‘least of these’ there are truly few allies. Every day in this broken world the poor and needy are trampled while the powerful fill their own coffers – our Warrior God was furious at this kind of injustice in the days of the Old Testament prophets and He is furious today.

We ask you to continue with us in the agony of prayer – that God will move in hearts and our trucks will be released. Please continue to pray, Facebook, tweet, and email – spread the word so that people will be aware and be on their faces before God. If you know anyone that God has placed in a position of influence that might be able to help our children please contact Matt at mattm@makewaypartners.org and let’s discuss how you might be able to help us.

Let us join together in prayer and action as we cry out to the Defender of the orphan and widow.

Matt McGowen
Senior Field Coordinator

Urgent Prayers Needed for Food Trucks Headed to NLM!

2011-12-05T10:44:00.000-06:00

From Guest Blogger Matt McGowen:

Earlier today you read that Kimberly Smith is in South Sudan celebrating the grand opening of a new orphan home at Hope for Sudan. I spoke with Kimberly early this morning and she excitedly reported how joyful and beautiful the time with Romano and the children has been. We also celebrate that thanks to all your prayers and generosity the food for Hope for Sudan has arrived safely!

In this battle for the hearts and lives of the ‘least of these,’ celebration on one side is usually met by crisis on the other. The joy of provision travels hand in hand with the pain of loss. As we celebrate God’s provision today at Hope for Sudan we ask you to join us in the agony of intercessory prayer for provision at New Life Ministry.

As you know - thanks to your amazing commitment to pray, tell, and give - God provided MWP with the funds to purchase this year’s food for our children. However, we have continued to face difficulties through every step of the process of purchasing and transporting the food. We have encountered one frustrating hurdle after another. Now our trucks - loaded with food – wait at the border while James Lual Atak negotiates in Juba with the ‘big men’ in charge of approving our import papers. As of today, our papers have been rejected, which means that our trucks are stuck at the border while bureaucrats shuffle papers. James Lual Atak has amazing skills in the arts of persuasion but he cannot fight this battle alone. Many times in the past we have faced similar roadblocks and we have asked you to pray – true and agonizing prayer from God’s people has been what has made the difference every time we have been pressed against the ropes by evil and corruption.

Now we ask you again – on behalf of hundreds of orphan children whose bodies and minds need food – to join us in this battle by praying that God will move in the hearts of men and that our trucks will be allowed to pass and begin the long journey to the southern edge of Darfur.

Please forward this message, tweet it, Facebook it – utilize any means to get people praying! We are asking God to use James Lual Atak in a mighty way as he negotiates. We are asking God to move in the hearts of the government officials making this decision. We are asking God for provision for our children.

James Lual Atak has been turned down by the ‘big men’ but has been told to return on Tuesday at 3:30 pm (6:30 am CST). Over these next hours we ask you to pray, fast, and tell the story to others. We are crying out to God – the one who hears the cry of his people, who feels the pain of the vulnerable (Exodus 2:23-25). We will let you know new developments as soon as we have them.

With deep gratitude to be "in the trenches" along with you,
Matt McGowen
Senior Field Coordinator

P.S. You may be wondering how it happened that the Hope for Sudan food was delivered on time. Due to the location of Hope for Sudan near the Uganda border, Romano was able to go directly to the border to negotiate clearance for the Hope for Sudan food. The officers at the border were not going to approve the paperwork when suddenly one of them recognized him as “the man who takes care of Emmanuel” (Read more about Emmanuel here). After that, Romano had no more problems! What a powerful reminder of the amazing and unforeseen ways in which our wild God provides for the needs of his little ones. As we pray today may we carry this reminder with us.

New Orphanage at Hope for Sudan, and more growth!

2011-12-05T09:01:00.002-06:00

As you read this email, I will be in Sudan. We are celebrating the opening of a new orphanage at Hope for Sudan! You can look forward to fresh video next week!

It is hard for me to believe that it was just six years ago when we began building our first orphanage on the border of Darfur, Sudan at New Life Ministry. Praise God! We now have three orphan homes, a primary school through eighth grade, a medical clinic, and a church all on the same compound!

God continued to grow us in order to save more orphans! Three years ago, God provided another 200 acres nearly 1,000 miles south of New Life Ministry, near the border of Uganda. There we began Hope for Sudan. Now, we are completing our second orphanage at Hope for Sudan! Here are two brief videos that will introduce you to some of the children already rescued and being cared for by our loving indigenous staff: I have Power and Do You Want To Know Me? Please pray for Romano (our indigenous director for Hope for Sudan) as he begins the bitter-sweet task of selecting which orphans with whom we will fill the beds of our new home. It is such a joyful time for the ones who come in, but so very painful for him to say no to the many who still await a safe and loving home. Your sponsorship of a child, helps us to make room for another: click here.

As we rapidly approach 1,000 orphans under our complete care ministry, our next growth phase at Hope for Sudan is to begin a major agriculture project to grow much of our own food. As for our New Life Ministry children, such as Mary, Chol, and Peter, who have survived the horrors of persecution and genocide they have thrown themselves deeply into their studies. Their life goals are to become Christian doctors, dentist, and leaders to transform their nation.

Year by year, we’ve added a new grade until now they have completed primary school. In January, we will break ground for our new high school at New Life Ministry! Beginning a high school will require missionary teachers from Kenya and possibly the United States, at least until Sudanese teachers can be certified for these much more arduous lessons. Open Doors is providing the first $250,000 for the building! Still, we will have many additional and ongoing costs.

Supporting either of these ground-breaking projects will save definitely lives today, while investing in future transformation. Donating to either cause on behalf of your loved ones is also and excellent way to honor the people on your Christmas list, especially those who’ve invested into your life!

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Humpty Dumpty’s Wailing Wall

2011-12-02T08:37:00.000-06:00

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

Can’t you just picture it? The king’s so ticked off because fumbling old Humpty Dumpty fell off his wall…again, and this time he made such a squawk about it that it’s become an embarrassment to the king!

So the king sends out all his horses, but they can’t fix a dadgum thing. Now the king’s hand is called; he’s forced to make a play—fold or pony up.

This king won’t be stonewalled so quickly. Even though he disdains the loathsome Dumpty, in an ardent effort to display his infinite valor, he sends all his men to join all his horses out at what has now become Humpty’s wailing wall. Shards of Humpty’s shell litters the grounds and his yoke stains the King’s grass as he squalls, “If the king had built a better wall, smoother, thicker, and not so dangerously tall, I wouldn’t be laying here now all broken and splintered on the ground at the foot of it.”

The king’s men are quite serious and well trained, his horses are especially well-bred for hard work, and together they make a formidable force. Yet even with all their skill, training, and hard works and heroics, they simply cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Broken. Busted beyond repair. Shattered, tattered, and leaking. We must be kin, Humpty and me that is. Actually, I relate to the embarrassed king and his mighty troops as well.

The Humpty Dumpty me sort of totters along in life hoping I’ve finally gotten my act together, am headed in the right direction, leading the team strongly down the homestretch, and maybe even preparing to sit back and take a little rest. You know…the bullet-proof life we all dream of.

Then, kapow, an un-forecasted straight-line wind—full of shrapnel—tears uproariously through my life and I’m blown right off the blasted wall, crashing hard and cracking my yolk all over the other unsuspecting eggs.

This week my family lost a friend, a brother, a fellow sojourner we all care deeply about. One minute we’re all sitting in a neat row high on the wall, swapping stories, making plans, and dreaming dreams when suddenly a fracture rents through our lives so deeply that nothing we do—or even all the king’s horses and all the kings men—can put us all back together again. It’s simply hopeless.

Like ole Humpty, I find myself looking for someone to blame. If only that stupid wall had never even been built. If only I hadn’t been so bold to climb it. If only I hadn’t invited others to climb along. If only…

The Land of “If Only” is a dangerous place. When I get trapped there, I find myself stuck and isolated—afraid to open my heart and risk again. Afraid I can’t spare anymore loss of the yolk of my soul.

It’s then I take on the role of “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men,” working overtime, and with great bravado. Even then, nothing. No vapor on the mirror, not even a heartbeat.

The part of me that plays the king just wants the whole mess cleaned up and everyone back to their proper place on the wall. Yet, fractures of relationship run as deep as Adam’s answer to God in the Garden, “She gave it to me.” Even the Apostle Paul and John Mark split for a season.

None of this knowledge brings any real comfort. It only reminds me how we all totter along the wall, and it can go crazy awry at any moment.

Living in this fallen-broken world, none of us gets through life without this sort of fracture. Death. Divorce. Disillusionment with your pastor. Church splits. Bankrupt companies laying you off. Betrayals of trust. Violations of confidence. Divided allegiances. Loss of interest…

Where do we go for encouragement in such a weary time? If all our good, kingly intentions of leadership and all our valiant efforts of man’s training and horses’ hard work fail us, where can we possibly find hope?

“Let the little children come to me.” These are about the only words that bring genuine comfort to me in times of deep loss. Not only does Christ know that I’m one fragile egg—prone to falling, cracking up, and spilling my yolk—but He actually tells the powerful kings, trained men, and hard working horses to get out of the way so that I can crawl up into His lap.

From the foot of the wailing wall, Kimberly Dumpty.

Click here for Humpty Dumpty News Flash video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWE3uF9u9-g

Praise from House of Treasure!

2011-11-29T12:52:00.001-06:00

From Guest Blogger: Matt McGowen

The past year has been a tumultuous and trying one for the girls of the House of Treasure… And for we who support them. Vast amounts of energy, time, and resources have been poured into legal battles for Luana and Anna, which we have shared much about these past months (read more here). Beyond those legal battles, each of the girls finds herself in the midst of a fight for her very soul – a literal tug of war between heaven and hell. Looking into these girls’ eyes offers a glimpse into the battle raging between a God who passionately loves His children and an enemy who fiercely hates them.

Upon arriving at the shelter for a recent visit, I was pleased to see the pride the girls are taking in caring for their home - and the overall spirit of the girls. All of the girls are currently enrolled in some kind of schooling or vocational training. A very “studious” buzz permeates the house and the girls each have a sense of accomplishment and excitement over the opportunities they are receiving.

Few greetings are as soul-moving as the greeting one receives upon returning to the House of Treasure. The girls crowd at the door, each face both longing to be noticed but at the same time afraid to be seen. Some laugh, giggle, and come alive while others withdraw in fear or shame. Some hide behind a tough or outgoing exterior and some literally hide behind the group or behind a door. Each face, in its own way, asks the question – “Am I loved? Am I valued?”

We would like to share updates about a few of the girls and their specific prayer needs.

Christina

On my most recent visit to the shelter, the greeting was exceptionally intense because I was first met by Christina’s beautiful new smile. Christina, who has been at the shelter for two years and is mentally handicapped, has suffered unspeakable abuse for as long as she can remember. Beginning around the age of 5 years old she was sold for sex by her father. Untold number of times Christina has been raped, beaten, abused, even burned with cigarettes by wicked men. Her body bears many scars – and her heart even more. Since most of Christina’s teeth had been beaten out by those who have used her, she rarely smiled in a way that showed her teeth. Her shame prevented her from smiling fully, even though Christina is a joyful soul.

Thanks to extensive dental work, Christina has a beautiful new set of teeth and she is SO PROUD of them! Beyond the cosmetic and psychological benefit, though, Christina is finally free of pain. Since Christina had been chewing food on her gums for so long, the roots of her teeth had become compressed and she was in constant agony. We are so thankful that these dental issues have been addressed - it has been a long process.

When I asked each of the girls how you can pray for them, Christina asked for prayer (in her own unique way) as she prepares to transition out of the shelter and into her own apartment where she will have caretakers looking after her.

Bianca

Bianca has returned to the shelter! What a journey we have witnessed with her. Bianca is so torn between the hell she knows and the potentially more terrifying “unknown” of redemption. The police brought Bianca back to the shelter but Iana believes that Bianca turned herself in or “allowed” herself to be found. Bianca denies wanting to return to the shelter - but we know how the system works in Romania and that the police weren’t necessarily out pounding the pavement to bring this lost sheep home. The likelihood is that Bianca found that life was not very easy outside and she desired to return to the only place of community she’s ever known. Iana thinks that there is a good chance that Bianca only returned for food and clothes and to have somewhere to “land” until she turns 18 in November. After Bianca’s 18th birthday she will no longer be a minor and required to stay in the shelter... the choice will be hers.

Bianca has mixed motives in returning to the shelter. Who of us cannot identify with that? Let us pray that regardless of her motives that she allows the Lord to speak to her heart during this time. As I spoke with Bianca I could see the conflict within her. She desires to grow, to change, to serve God. But she is so afraid of the unknown.

When I asked Bianca how you can pray for her, she responded: “That I would be a good girl.” Such deep longing and deep shame are wrapped up in that statement. May Bianca discover the all consuming and all accepting love of Jesus Christ.

Luana

Luana has been accepted into a special and highly respected art high school, which is truly exciting. Luana is an immensely gifted artist and is able to capture beauty in her drawings and paintings. However, Luana struggles with seeing her own beauty.

After countless hours and delays, we finally achieved victory (at least for now) in Luana’s court case – by the grace of God we were able to satisfy all of the judge’s outlandish requests. Now, however, we are seeing Luana attempt to sabotage her own success due to her deep sense of self hate. After such victory in the courts, Luana is sinking into past habits of rebellion and anger.

These issues are connected with Luana’s fractured relationship with her father. Luana has some contact with her father and longs to gain his approval. When she cannot, she takes her frustration out on others.

One of our social workers recently overheard this phone interchange between Luana and her father:

Luana: (excited) “I was accepted into the art school!” I’m really happy but I’m worried about one of the school’s requirements - having to learn Italian. I’ve never studied Italian before and it’s going to be hard but I’m really going to try.”

Luana’s Father: “It doesn’t matter how hard you try because you’re stupid.”

These types of interchanges with her father set Luana back so far and then she takes out her anger on others. This child has wounds that only her true Heavenly Father can heal.

Pray for Luana - for her heart. She is a beautiful child inside and out and has much compassion. But a battle is raging for her heart, as it rages for all our hearts.

Luana’s prayer request was “That I can have peace.”

Anna

We are facing major hurdles in Anna’s court process. You may remember that Anna’s mother has been making terrible and unfounded accusations against Iana and the shelter. The judge recently ruled against the mother – severing the mother’s parental rights. However, the judge also ruled that Anna be moved to a government shelter. This would be devastating.

Thankfully some allies within Child Protection are working to counteract this judge’s decision. We have filed our appeal and the decision should be overturned - the judge’s stated reason for wanting to send Anna to the government shelter is “House of Treasure does not have a license.” The truth is we DO have a license… and the government shelter does not!
The wheels of “progress” will hopefully move slowly enough that we can get the decision overturned before Anna is removed from the House of Treasure. Our lawyer, however, has advised us to prepare to lose Anna, at least for a time. PRAY that the decision will be overturned. PRAY that Anna’s best will be taken into consideration. But most of all PRAY that NO MATTER WHAT happens, Anna will stand firm in her faith - like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

We are so proud of Anna and the leadership she is demonstrating both at the shelter and at school. Such a transformation is taking place within this young one. She is the “lead disciple” at her Christian high school and is in charge of chapel services each week. She is becoming such a leader. We know that the enemy desires to end all of that. Pray for this child.

Anna asks that you pray that she will have “More patience and more wisdom from God.”

Ramona

I am always so impressed, amazed, and encouraged by Ramona. This girl has come so far. She continues to grow in confidence and in strength.

One afternoon I was showing all the girls pictures from Sudan. They were interested in what I had been doing and they were very curious as to how people live in Sudan. They were amazed at the conditions they saw in the pictures and videos.

As I showed photos of our children at New Life Ministry and Hope for Sudan - children who have no “possessions” of their own but who are so thankful to have a roof over their head and access to education, I could see that our girls were really reflecting - especially Ramona. I showed photos of sick children and women from the community coming to our medical clinic. At one point I looked over and saw Ramona’s eyes full of tears. It was a beautiful moment. This child who has suffered so much felt deep empathy and compassion for others who are suffering. Ramona hopes to one day serve God in missions.

As I observe the craziness that often takes place around the house - arguments, wild antics, attention seeking, competition, etc. - I notice that Ramona is never in the middle of the drama. When I see Ramona she is calmly doing whatever it is she needs to be doing. I asked Iana one night - “Do you EVER have any trouble from Ramona?" The answer was “Never... but...” The concern for Ramona is that she has such a deep hunger for companionship. She longs for deep friendships, longs to be loved. Sometimes this has led her to follow the wrong kinds of friends at school. Things have improved with Ramona for now because she, Luana, and Anna have such a strong sisterhood. Interesting that Luana and Anna are both under such attack - this would also bring such pain to Ramona. It’s more than coincidence that the 3 strongest girls in the house are also under such significant attack.

Remember sweet Ramona and her tender heart. Her prayer request is “That God will give me strength and wisdom to finish high school and university.”

Betty

Betty is a beautiful, energetic, TALKATIVE 13 year old girl. Over the past few months we have seen a tenderness taking root in Betty. Her story is a painful but beautiful one – trapped and trafficked by an older man who claimed to love her, rescued by Iana and brought to the shelter, introduced to Jesus by Anna. Betty has such inner beauty and life – such promise.

Betty’s prayer request was to be NUMBER ONE in her class at school. This will not be a stretch for her, she is a brilliant child.

We ask you to enter into agonizing and gut level prayer for Betty. She is struggling - like so many of the girls she feels such a pull back into the old life that she knows. A few weeks ago Betty ran away from the House of Treasure because of a minor disagreement. She hitch-hiked to Bucharest and found herself alone and scared. She ended up back with her old trafficker. He was afraid to put her on the street this time so he put Betty to work in a massage parlor. After a week a law enforcement contact of Iana’s was able to locate and rescue Betty. When Iana drove the confused girl home to the shelter, Betty was full of deep shame and self hate, which manifested as anger toward Iana. We have such high hopes for this child and we see deep ways in which the Lord is at work in her tender heart. We also see that Betty is a target for evil. She needs you to stand with her in prayer.

House of Treasure needs:

I have shared with you prayer needs for each of the girls at the shelter. Of course also pray for Iana as she serves these girls, fights for their lives, and undergoes serious attacks. Another need we are facing is financial. With worldwide economic crisis going on, our operations costs are rising. The cost of food, fuel, and basic needs continues to rise even as we simultaneously act to improve the quality of care that these girls are receiving. In addition, legal fees continue to be a necessary evil as we battle through this season of fighting for these young girls.

- Matt McGowen, Senior Field Coordinator

Make Your Black Friday a Life Changing Event!

2011-11-23T09:56:00.001-06:00

Finish all Your Christmas Shopping with One Click

Raise Awareness + Save Lives

= Changing the Future

When you make a *donation in honor of your loved ones to Make Way Partners,

we will send a beautiful Christmas card, on your behalf, along with specially

selected gifts to help share the story and allow them to understand the impact

of your gift to protect a child from human trafficking and transform her life.

Send us the name and address of everyone on your shopping list

and choose one of the gifts below!

We’ll take care of the rest!

*(Minimum of $50 donation per honoree)

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Option 1:

With your donation to set the captives free,

we'll send one copy of Passport through Darkness

and a personalized Christmas Card!

"How much would you invest to help someone to find the joy

of God's unique plan for their lives? $1,000? $500? How about $10?

In Passport through Darkness Kimberly shares her personal and marital failures, and the compelling story of God

using those very struggles to reveal His purpose for her life.

Passport through Darkness will inspire and equip you to launch your own journey

into the unique dream God has just for you.

I encourage you to not only read it, but buy 5 or even 10 copies,

giving one to every person you care about."

-Pastor Kim Ryan, North County Christ the King

***************************************************************

Option 2:

Teach Agriculture Today. Plant a Farm Tomorrow. Feed a Child Forever.

We'll send a personalized card with a special note that your donation is helping supply food for the orphans in Sudan!

***************************************************************

Option 3:

MWP Freedom Mug sent with love & a personalized MWP Christmas Card

Share the Story Mug and Christmas Card of Baby Elijah, first baby MWP ever saved.

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Option 4:

Love You Brother T-shirt & a personalized MWP Christmas Card

With this Gift,You will help build the First High School for our Orphans

(Christmas Card of Baby Elijah, first baby MWP ever saved)

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Option 5:

Choose from our New HeArt of Hope Art Cards (set of 5 blank cards with envelopes),

a Mary’s Cross Ornament & a personalized Christmas Card

Beautiful Art Prints by Award-Winning Artist of our Children in Sudan

a Mary's Cross Ornament from the women of Sudan

and Christmas Card of Baby Elijah, first baby MWP ever saved

& &

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**Minimum of $50 donation per honoree.

Your gift will make a lasting impact in the lives of those at-risk to modern day slavery!

This Christmas give the gift of Freedom to another!

Make your donation on-line and then e-mail your Christmas shopping list with names, addresses, and option # to be sent to info@makewaypartners.org

Or mail in your donation with your shopping list to PO BOX 26367, Birmingham, AL 35260

A Small Boy's Journey from Loss to Leadership

2011-11-21T11:31:00.000-06:00

From Guest Blogger: Matt McGowen

At the young age of 18, Peter Mangar is already a powerful leader. He takes responsibility to make sure that he is always dressed sharply and that his clothes are clean and pressed, no small thing for a young man living in Darfur. He stays at the top of his class, and when he is not in class or studying you will find him volunteering in the medical clinic, playing a competitive game of soccer with his classmates, participating in a student led prayer meeting, or preaching at the nightly boys’ devotion time. He has a tender heart and a tough physique accompanied by a disarming smile and a melodic voice. Peter is a bright young man and serves regularly as a translator for our medical teams. When I observe Peter I cannot help but wonder in amazement – what will this young man become?

Peter clearly remembers the night the Arabs attacked and his parents disappeared. It was years ago, when he was around 7 years old. Young Peter heard the sound of distant drums, then screams, then gunfire. In the panic everyone was running and confusion reigned. “My parents were snatched away by the Arabs and I never saw them again.”

After days of hiding in the bush, a hungry and exhausted Peter came back home but no one was there. “I had no place to go except to my auntie. She was very cruel. Sometimes she would give me scraps of food but other times she would say, ‘I have no food to give you. Why should I give you food when my own children are starving?’”

These were hard years for Peter. “I would go to the market to try to find bits of food but there was so little to be found. The only place I could sleep was in the dirt.” Peter spoke with tears in his eyes, “I was not even a human being. It was like I was an animal.” At times the auntie would scream in Peter’s face, “Why don’t you follow your parents!” All Peter could reply was, “The Arabs took them. If I knew where to find my parents I would follow them. The Arabs took them.”

One day as young Peter was walking through the village of Nyamlel he heard the sound of singing. The sound was beautiful and out of curiosity, he followed the sound of worship and came to a church service. The boy became a regular at church and a follower of Jesus Christ. One day Peter met another boy by the name of James Chol (read more about James Chol here). James Chol told Peter about a man named James Lual Atak who was rescuing orphans and would one day build a school. Peter followed James Chol and finally found a home - at what would become New Life Ministry (NLM).

James Lual Atak remembers well the first time he met Peter Mangar – “Poor Peter was so skinny; it made me cry just to look at him. He was quite sick also, and it was very difficult for him to hold down any of the food I gave him. He had never been to school, and his clothes were seriously worn out like rags. It was quite terrible.”

Now, 7 years after coming to New Life Ministry, one would have a hard time believing the tragedy that this young one has faced. His trials have forged a vibrant faith, a hopeful trust, and a tender heart that God uses in mighty and unexpected ways with the other children at NLM and even in the community!
- Matt McGowen, Senior Field Coordinator

Note from Kimberly: Recently, we’ve shared several beautiful stories of what God has done in the hearts, minds, and lives of the little children He entrusted to us many years ago as we began our work at New Life Ministry. As we prepare for Thanksgiving, you might want to take just a moment to review Mary and Chol’s stories. They are glorious reminders of how our Father always meets us in our hard places—even anger and despair. With such beautiful children now approaching the need for High School and other vocational training needs, stay closely tuned as soon I’ll be sharing our ongoing education and vocation strategy.

Love, your sister along the journey…with thanksgiving, praise, and celebration!
k

Give the Gift of Transformation

2011-11-16T12:40:00.000-06:00

Make Way Partners

Listen to Pastor Kim share about the “Our Father’s Dream Retreat”

C LICK HERE

Watch a short video about how God showed Kimberly His dream for her life:

CLICK HERE

*********************************

How much would you invest to help someone to find the joy of God's unique plan for their lives? $1,000? $500? How about $10?

In Passport through Darkness Kimberly shares her personal and marital failures, and the compelling story of God using those very struggles to reveal His purpose for her life. Passport through Darkness will inspire and equip you to launch your own journey into the unique dream God has just for you. I encourage you to not only read it, but buy 5 or even 10 copies, giving one to every person you care about.

-Pastor Kim Ryan, North County Christ the King

*********************************

How Does Passport through Darkness work to Transform Lives?

“In writing Passport through Darkness, I worked really hard to be as transparent as possible about my journey with God.

It’s not always pretty. I share a lot of the hard stuff in my marriage, as well as in my own heart, in hopes it will give you encouragement to face your our fear, pain, anger, and failures.

The amazing thing is, through it all, none of my junk ever turned God away. He just waited for me to be real with Him…whatever that meant…wherever I was…whoever I was.

I can’t say I ever find God much in a pristine worship service. Where I find Him hanging out most of the time is in all my junk, all my shame, just waiting to show me who I really am. My prayer is that reading my journey will help guide you along your own. Love, k”

- Kimberly L. Smith

Give the Gift of Transformation this Holiday Season!

Buy Passport through Darkness & get one FREE!

Purchase copies of Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances by Kimberly L Smith on Amazon or your book vendor of choice, then let us know how many you bought and we'll send you one free copy for each copy you purchased online!

1. Click here to purchase Passport through Darkness online

2. Email us telling us how many you purchased and we’ll send you a free copy for each one purchased!: audreym@makewaypartners.org

Please visit our website at www.makewaypartners.org

Donate Now

Saving Lives, Training Minds, and Tending Hearts

2011-11-14T09:13:00.001-06:00

About six years ago, one of the brightest and best students in our New Life Ministry orphanage on the border of Darfur went missing, Mary Achu. This was before our orphanage was completed and all we could do was provide food, education, discipleship, and scant medical care. With no housing yet available, most of our orphans slept in the open bush, or if they could find a tree they would sleep high in its boughs in order to avoid hyenas.

With no other food or education available in the community, it was never a good sign when one of our students didn’t show up for class. It took us three days to find Mary. When we finally did, we discovered her uncle had captured her and literally tied her captive in his home. He told her “You’re a big girl now. At this age, (approximately 12) you have duties to fulfill for me and all your people. You need to stop going to that school, become a wife, and produce babies for your people.”

The rope burns on Mary’s wrists and ankles burned for many days, a harsh reminder of the brutal realities outside of her loving school at New Life Ministry. Although she was very quiet for a long time after her torture, Mary threw herself even more deeply into her studies.

Today, Mary is not only an outstanding mentor for the two hundred plus younger girls at New Life Ministry, but she is so bright that she even translates for U.S. medical teams who volunteer in our clinic.

Dr. Kim Sweet, who has led short-term medical teams at New Life Ministry, says she would not be able to provide the same level of care for the widows and orphans who she treats without Mary’s unique combination of intelligence and sensitivity to the painful stories these women must tell (about what they’ve suffered) in order to receive medical attention they need.

In fact, Mary played a huge role in Dr. Sweet’s recent decision to become the Medical Coordinator for Make Way Partners. Dr. Sweet not only sees the dire need for medical care in Sudan, but she is also excited about how her role will encourage ongoing education and vocational training for our orphans, while helping them to grasp how vital they are to the future of Sudan. To learn more about our long-term educational plan and the crisis Mary faces, click here.

Dr. Sweet will work side-by-side with Amos Maganga Munai, MWP Field Health Manager for Sudan. I first met Amos in 2007 during a meningitis outbreak which swept through Nyamlel and claimed more than 400 lives. He has faithfully served as a volunteer with us since that time. In January, Amos will assume fulltime responsibilities as the Make Way Partners Field Health Manager for Sudan. To read more about Amos and his incredible experience and training, click here.

Dr. Sweet will coordinate from the US with Amos in Sudan. Some of their immediate goals include:

1. Map out a sustainable, strategic plan for routine, critical, and preventive healthcare for our growing orphan-care network throughout Sudan.

2. Create a First Responder bevy of medical professionals from around the globe from which to recruit frontline “boots on the ground” teams when catastrophes from cholera to meningitis to warfare strike our children.

3. Provide ongoing training for our indigenous staff to improve the quality of their daily medical and hygienic care.

4. Raise awareness of the intense need for medical care in one of the poorest countries in the world, and the funds to implement the strategic plan.

As with all our work, neither Dr. Sweet nor we can do this alone. In the very DNA of Make Way Partners is a contagious strain of solidarity. It is from this unexpected communion of corporate compassion that springs a healing river of deep care to the oppressed. As we extend ourselves beyond our borders we swim in their reality, and share a bit of ours. Together, we are strong.

With your help, Dr. Sweet and Amos will build this medical network, will save lives, and will create a hamlet of compassion to some of our earth’s most vulnerable children.

Please review the four priorities of this exciting venture, and consider where you may fit in it! Contact Dr. Kim Sweet at doctorkims@makewaypartners.org for more information today.

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

Announcing: Make Way Partners Field Health Manager for Sudan by Guest Blogger Matt McGowen

2011-11-12T18:18:00.000-06:00

Amos Maganga Munai is a highly-skilled paramedic nurse, an emergency medic responder, and an expert in malaria prevention and treatment. He is also fluent in four languages which are key to any effective ministry throughout Sudan. A Kenyan national, he began his vast medical training some twenty years ago as an Army medic in the Special Forces.

After working side-by-side with Amos in many deadly situations in Sudan, including the 2007 meningitis outbreak, Make Way Partners is honored to announce that Amos is joining our Sudan staff fulltime beginning January 2012. He is our new Field Health Manager for Sudan, and will work closely with our US Medical Coordinator, Dr. Kim Sweet, to lead medical mission teams, as well as oversee year-round health and hygiene care for all four Make Way Partners’ ministry locations throughout Sudan.

In addition to the direct impact that Amos makes as a health care provider, his value added is truly far reaching due to his passion to train and invest in indigenous medical care providers, including advanced education for our orphans. Amos possesses the heart of a teacher.

Amos teaching others how to administer malaria test

One of the most striking qualities about Amos is his calm in the face of chaos and overwhelming circumstances. Whether he is dealing with a medical issue which we are ill equipped to face or we have 600 patients waiting to be seen and more showing up every minute, the man maintains his composure and treats each patient as a valuable image-bearer of God.

Several stories come to mind from our recent time in Jaac, Sudan. On our first day of clinic during a recent trip to Darfur, some men came walking up carrying their sick friend on a make-shift bed. Amos demonstrated to Philip Koskei (our Light of Darfur evangelist) how to administer the malaria test. The man was positive for malaria. He could not move and seemed near death. A few hours after receiving treatment, the man arose, picked up his own bed and carried it home. The biblical analogy was not lost on us! How amazing it was to visibly watch as death lost its grip on a person.

Adut and Wol

Then, there is Adut and her son Wol, who I cannot get out of my mind. On our second day of clinic many more people had arrived than we could see. Adut and Wol were at the back of the crowd and we had had to draw a line and say, “These 600 people are all we can see today!” Adut, however, would not be deterred. She carried her little child and pushed through the crowd. As I was filling prescriptions I sensed someone standing near me. I looked up and saw Adut standing like a statue beside me – a tall and stern looking Dinka woman. Her eyes were pleading. I looked at the boy in her arms – two years old, the same age as my middle child, Addy. Adut showed me her child’s ears and they were infected inside and out – so infected that broken and bloody scabs had formed behind them.

I push Adut and Wol through the crowd and carried them directly to Amos. As I returned to my station 50 yards away I could hear Wol’s screaming over the voices of hundreds of people. The boy was in pain and was afraid of his first ever doctor visit. The extreme infection was in Wol’s throat, outer ears and inner ears. Had the infection not been addressed, the infection would have headed to Wol’s brain, causing permanent brain damage – most likely resulting in some form of paralysis. We have seen this many times with children who weren’t fortunate enough to have access to a clinic in their hour of need.

Amos, Joyce and their family

Amos is a humble man whose devotion to Jesus Christ and to the vulnerable is evident. Amos has clearly demonstrated a commitment to investing in and training indigenous medical staff. The short term MWP medical teams who have served alongside Amos have been amazed by his character, knowledge, and grace. As our Field Health Manager, Amos will spend his time rotating between each of our four ministry sites in Sudan. His 30 years of medical experience in the region will prove valuable and life saving as he spends his time training indigenous medical staff, increasing our health care capacity at our existing sites, directing medical clinics in remote locations, and building networks as he establishes new relationships. As a result, many more vulnerable women and children will be reached. We are beyond excited to bring this godly man to serve on our team full time.

Amos and his wife Joyce live in Nairobi and have 3 daughters and 1 son. We welcome Amos and his family to Make Way Partners!

-Matt McGowen, MWP Field Coordinator

Celebration! Living the Resurrection.

2011-11-04T19:06:00.001-05:00

In his Wounded Heart conference, Dan Allender spends a good bit of time inviting the participants to join in God’s celebration. What is the ultimate celebration? Living the power of the resurrection.

Most of my life, I thought of the resurrection as something Christ did in the past and something that would happen to me in the future. Today, I understand it is what God calls me into in my very present reality.

In the resurrection, I do not have to fear my sin and shame. I can own and repent all.

In the resurrection, I do not have to worry about am I enough or can I get enough. I can give away everything I have been given.

In the resurrection, I can join the party of life, drinking deeply from His cup as I pass it around for others to share in, knowing there is plenty!

Astoundingly, amazingly, awesomely, humbly I thank each and every one of you for joining the celebration this month. We have raised every single penny, and a little extra, that we needed to buy our orphan’s food. The extra will go toward the rising cost of their meat, which we buy on a weekly basis locally. The drought-induced famine, of course, will affect all food costs across the board. Remember, this Sunday is Orphan Sunday, and many of your churches will be collecting funds for Make Way Partners, and other orphan ministries. These funds will be vital for the ongoing food and provision needs.

Over the next month, I will be launching several initiatives for how we will provide for our orphans in the coming years as this drought will surely have long-reaching tentacles. Please be prayerful for our creative courses for the future, and the trucks which will leave Uganda next week headed to Darfur to deliver this hard-won food!

Praise God!!! He is ALIVE!!! May our lives be the applause, and may the celebration continue!

Much love from your sister along the miraculous journey,
k