Miracles

Well, first I apologize for not blogging on here since I have been in Uganda!  It has been amazing.  This ministry is near and dear to my heart and I am so excited to be serving alongside them for this short time.
If you would like to find out about our first couple of days you can check out our blog at missionuganda2012.blogspot.com.
For now I will talk about today.
Today has been an emotional roller coaster.
This morning I woke up early and went to the Segner's house to do family pictures of them, got some really good ones:)
Then we came back to the guest house, picked up the team, and headed to shop.  Jason met Kari on main street to get her to help with a burn victim (a 2 or 3 year old baby girl) they had treated the day before.  She had been dropped in a vat of boiling grease and has 3rd degree burns on 80% of her sweet body.
When they got there they realized it was much worse than they thought.
They took her to the local clinic and were told they didn't have the supplies to treat her, at this point they made the decision to take her to Kampala to a burn unit.  Kari called me to tell me the situation and asked that we pick up the kids and her mom, Bonta.  At this point Jonathan, and Dawson decided they should join Jason, who is obviously emotionally strained and then Kari arranged for a driver so Jason wouldn't have to.  I asked the team to come pray over Jason, Jonathan, Dawson, baby girl, momma, and the Dr's.  We prayed for peace, we prayed for a supernatural relief of pain for the baby, we prayed for the Dr's who will greet them that they will have open arms and hope.  We prayed for the trip and safety, we prayed hard.
We left the boys and headed to eat lunch with heavy hearts.  Today was our fun day and we had swimming and a boat ride planned.  Man was it hard to go from that emotion to trying to wind down and have fun.
But we prayed about it, since there was nothing we could do at this point other than pray and my team needed a little rest even if they didn't want to.
We then met up with Kari at Arise again and Jason and the guys and momma and baby were there as well.  First thing we are told by the guys is that a miracle has already happened!!  For 3 weeks (that is how old the burn is at this point, which Jason could not believe she had made it so far) and from what we were told she has not been able to stop crying this whole time.  They arrived to pick her up and she was sitting up in bed eating!!!!  You cannot imagine the emotional wave that was sweeping through our team.  We gathered around the van they were about to drive to Kampala in and prayed again for their safety, for baby and for Dr's.
Again transitioning from emotional roller coaster to trying to have fun was so hard.  But I tried to set an example, getting right into the pool and swimming around, and soon we were mostly all laughing and playing with the kiddos.
We ordered our food and then headed to do something that I have dreamed about since I was a girl.  We got on a boat and rode around in the Nile river!  I got to visit the SOURCE OF THE NILE!   The Nile river is an amazing thing.  To me it has always been something incredibly magical and amazing.  To think of all of the historical moments in time that have taken place in the Nile.  I am so thankful and blessed for this amazing opportunity to enjoy another beautiful piece of creation.
When we were done we walked back up to the resort we were swimming at and had already ordered our dinner.  They had several tables set up for us.  It still took at least an hour or more to get our food!  But it was really good!
Then once we were done it was 9 at least, maybe later.  We had originally planned on leaving by 8, but the food took so long it was later.  So we called our driver to let him know it would be later and they said "no problem, Jeffrey will be there to get you" who is not our normal driver.  Well we get out to the parking lot to load up and we don't see the bus!  So then we realize it was there but they had sent an 8 passenger van!  We had 20 people!!  He said "I'll take half of you and come back for the other half" it's pitch black by now and we are a good 15 minutes at least from the guest house which means it would be at least 30 minutes probably more to getting the second half.  We were thinking about calling a Matatu (basically a taxi van), and then Kari and I looked inside the van and we decided we could fit everyone!  And we did!!!  We literally fit 17 full grown adults and 4 children (including driver)!!  We made it back all in one piece and didn't get stopped at the police stop!  Whoo hoo!! There will be a great "clown car" video later:)
We got back and Kari called Jason to find out how things were going.  We had found out earlier that they had made it to the hospital and were able to be seen and things were looking good.
The guys had planned on staying the night in Kampala because it is dangerous to travel at night.
Dawson answered the phone when Kari called and he informed Kari that the guest house that had been arranged and they found was either not the guest house they were supposed to be at or was and there was no way they were staying there.  Apparently it looked like an abandoned warehouse in the middle of crazy bars!  So they had started to make their way back to Jinja.  This of course concerned Kari and Michelle!
So first things we did as a team was to sit down and pray for the guys.
Then we had an incredible time of testimony and devotionals.
About 10 minutes later the guys pulled in.  As they walked in I was beginning this blog, so there is some new information!
They walked in and said, the story was much worse than originally thought.  The momma told the driver on the way there that she was a co wife.  She said that she had been in an argument with the other wife and that the other wife had intentionally poured boiling grease on her baby girl!  My heart just literally dropped into my stomach at hearing this evil!  I cannot fathom causing this innocent sweet baby girl harm for any reason much less over something so trivial as an argument!
But then they went on, it was only the story that was worse.  They said when they arrived they spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out where to take this baby.  Jonathan described the hospital in this way:  "The worst hospital in America, in the middle of the slums would look like a 5 star hospital compared to what I saw tonight"  He went on to describe blood on the floors and people with chunks of their legs cut off waiting in the rooms while this sweet baby with open wounds was waiting to be seen!
They said they were told several times to go to another area of the hospital until finally a Dr saw her leg and the wounds and asked them what happened.  They explained the situation and he said follow me.  From that moment on they were escorted to the front of every line!  She was seen and the Dr is certain she will survive!!  The hospital may be a horrible one as far as cleanliness, but it has a burn unit, dr's who know how to treat it and are optimistic as we prayed for, and because it is a public hospital all of the treatment will be free!  PRAISE GOD!!
Then this is where I am just continually being amazed by the Segner's,  as they leave, Jonathan describes Jason as emotionally and physically exhausted but instead of succumbing to that, he begins to witness to the driver of their van!!  He begins to explain Christ and what it means to be a follower!  Getting this mans number and explaining to him how to except Christ as his personal savior!!
To say that I have seen God working today would be an understatement.  We witnessed miracles today.  We have seen what Healing Faith is here doing and I for one know that I want to support and help them as much as I possibly can.  To see their faith and their compassion and willingness to serve those they do not even know is incredible!!  God is so good.
If you have made it this far I am incredibly thankful for you.  I want to ask that if you haven't yet, you please visit Healing Faith's website at www.healingfaithuganda.org.  They are incredible and I ask for your prayers for this amazing family and their ministry.
God Bless!