MWP Report: October 31, 2011 - www.makewaypartners.org
Going to the most vulnerable & least protected to end human trafficking.
Amos, a medical missionary who has worked in Sudan for more than 20 years (and is joining the MWP team in January) is in Renk, Sudan right now. Renk is near our New Life Ministry orphanage where the food crisis is hitting our orphans the hardest.
Amos reports, “There is no food in the markets and the Northern government will not allow food to be shipped in. Locals are forced to smuggle food in during the night.”
In the meantime, our indigenous director has been under great pressure from the corrupt businessmen to purchase the food they have stolen from USAID. He has drawn a clear line in the sand by telling them, “No. We will not empower you to continue to steal from the very orphans this food was intended to feed. God willing, we will find another source.”
Our logistician is in Uganda today trying to close the negotiations and secure transportation for the food to feed our orphans, the beloved children who have become a central part of all our lives.
I admit that four weeks ago, when I sent the first email to you explaining our food crisis, I felt something less than hope that little ole MWP would be able to raise nearly half a million dollars in the short span of four weeks. It all felt so doubtful. So I did what I do most every time I feel despair: I cried out to God the agony of living in a fallen broken world and asked Him to glorify Himself. And, I asked you to be a part of that glory.
When Milton and I first formed MWP, nearly ten years ago, we struggled with what to name this fledging organism that sprung from our grief over innocent children being trafficked. At that time, Milton was leading our family in a Bible study covering all the foreshadowing of Christ, all those times throughout the Old Testament where God used other people as an example (or foreshadow) of Who was and is to come.
We “happened” to be studying the life of Joseph in Genesis when we discovered our first brothel of Portuguese orphans. In the Genesis story, when Pharaoh adopts Joseph, he sends his chief guard out ahead of Joseph shouting, “Bow the Knee” or “Make Way” for the coming of Pharaoh’s son. Of course, we see this exact same thing with John the Baptist as he “makes way” for Christ.
We know this is what the Church is to be doing today as we make way for the second coming of Christ, where the Kingdom will be fully known and every knee will bow…all will be made right. Eden will be restored.
Today, though, we live a long distance east of Eden, and a long, long way from all being right with the world. So, nearly ten years ago, we named this new organism, birthed from grief over the darkest evil preying upon children of the Fall, Make Way. As the words came to us, they felt right and, yet, something felt unfinished in that name. We kept praying, seeking. Then the rest of the story came.
We felt so alone, and we knew we could not fight this evil alone. The Church was meant to stand together, usher in the Kingdom together. Saving, rescuing, protecting and loving the world’s most vulnerable orphans was not our job, alone. We knew that we needed partners, many partners throughout the Body of Christ. Thus, the name was born: Make Way Partners. The name, the work, belongs to all of us, for YOU have become the answers to those lonely, broken prayers.
Your listening, prayers, phone calls, notes, emails, Facebooking, Tweeting, networking, and shared sleepless nights have rescued God’s precious ones from one more threat upon their lives. In just four weeks, you have given more than $400,000 toward their food crisis.
Not only have YOU given, but you have invited others to participate in this miracle, and thus we have had more “first time” givers donate to MWP than in any single month since our birth!
God has used gifts ranging from $25 to $100,000 to accomplish this miracle. One of the most moving stories, to me, came from a young couple with little children of their own who prayed for weeks over how to respond. They kept hearing God direct them toward giving a gift that seemed impossible for them. They waited, prayed some more, and asked again. They heard the same astounding figure. They counted the cost, examining the sacrifices their own family would have to make in order to be obedient. Today, they called me to say they were sending the gift.
Saturday, October 1st was the day I learned that the East African drought soared our food bill from $90,000 annually to nearly half a million dollars. As I prepared to write you that morning, Milton led us in prayer that not only would God hear our prayers to feed the orphans, but that He would be glorified greatly through it all.
Milton prayed specifically that all our partners know His glory as He used each of us to our ability, and that our orphans would know He’d heard their plea, and moved mightily through His Body to feed them.
Those of you who pray, weep, give, and share the story know how beautiful it is to be the broken alabaster jar spilt over His aching heart as He weeps for the orphans. Thank you, Jesus, for hearing our prayers and the indescribable joy of participating in a tiny bit of your suffering.
Although we are still about $60,000 short of our half a million dollar goal, I must make a decision today. I am authorizing our logistician to order the food knowing we will have to wire him the money by the end of this week, Friday November 4th. I will keep you in the loop as our truckload of food makes way from Uganda across hundreds of miles of roadless, lawless land toward Darfur, and our waiting orphans.
If you would like to be a part of this unfolding miracle, donate today, and continue to invite others to reap the joy through sharing the updates on Facebook, Twitter, and your email list.
Love, your sister, in search of Eden,
k
If you have some extra blessing consider giving to the hungry on the other side of the world.
I have been thinking a lot of faith recently and how a lack of it is total disobedience. I had a day a week or so ago where I was really wobby and when I hit the bottom God sent hope...just in time.
Kimberly Smith's faith totally inspires me to have greater faith. If you want to read a book that will completely change your world view check out Passport Through Darkness by her. It is a missionary journey like you would never hear about in Sunday School.
Some quotes I love lately-
Faith is putting all your eggs in God's basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch.
Ramona C. Carroll
Bless more; blame less.
Marianne Williamson
