Because Someone Needs to Know

Peter Majok at New Life Ministry

If you've ever wondered, "How much difference can child sponsorship really make?" Read the beautiful real-life story from Peter in the link below. We did not ask Peter to write his story; he simply wrote unsolicited because he felt, "Someone needs to know."

Click here to read Peter's letter.

Thank you Shana, Leonard and Tiny for saving Peter's life and filling him with hope for a redemptive future!

Your sister along the journey,
k

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Broken to Beautiful

As I hope by now you’ve seen, in celebration of MWP 10^th Birthday, we updated our logo to more clearly reflect what God has been doing through this amazing partnership. As our staff, friends, and family prepared to celebrate 67 years of life this weekend (I turned 50 at the same time my firstborn grandson turned 17), I felt a particular surge of creative energy. My garden got a good work over (to which my back continues to loudly testify). Then, as I organized my kitchen to include our new MWP logo coffee mugs, our former MWP logo mugs kept staring at me as if to ask, “What about us, the old ones?”

I’ve never been able to just throw old things away… so there they sat on the counter needing me to help them find their new place in a rapidly changing world. I could relate.

As I consider my 50 years of life thus far, the thing that shouts the loudest is God’s insistent, pernicious, resurrecting grace as I continue to flail, fall, and fly into finding my place in His ever-coming Kingdom. I can see all the little broken shards of me through the years, all the big pieces of shattered dreams, and all the deep cuts which many of my life choices have carved into the hearts of my loved ones. The difference now is, for the first time in my life, instead of shame over the color of all those things (more honestly, over me) I see God’s tender face smiling at me and His gentle Hands compassionately reshaping all my tragedy into a legacy of His grace, mercy, and kindness. His Goodness.

As I felt the smile of God upon me this weekend, I knew what to do with MWP’s former logo:



Sometimes a thing has to be rendered totally unusable, completely useless, and utterly broken before it can find it’s bold, redeemed beauty.

Coffee mugs—aka pottery—can teach us a lot. Jeremiah 18.

THANK YOU FOR THE TONS OF FACEBOOK POSTS, PERSONAL NOTES AND CARDS, AND DONATIONS TO MWP IN HONOR OF 50 YEARS OF THE LIFE GOD HAS GIVEN ME THUS FAR!

On the journey toward complete uselessness,
k

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God's Interruption

Recently we blogged about James Kanuto, an eight-year-old boy in South Sudan who lost his leg when a bomb exploded where he innocently played with three other children. Not only did James lose his legs, he witnessed all three of his friends be blown apart and killed by the same explosion.

Your ongoing support made it possible for us to medivac him to Kijabe Hospital in Kenya, where Dr. Bird performed surgery and saved his life.

James has been released from the hospital, and once again Eugenio and his loving family have agreed to host another recovering victim of the horrors of Sudan. James is in deep shock and denial. Anytime he glances down at the remaining stump of his leg, he screams and cries. He refuses to pick up his crutches. The entire Kirima family cries with him and reaches out to him. Now that James’ life has been saved, it is time to help him face the agony, anger, confusion, and trauma seething in his heart.

Such trauma—whether experienced firsthand, secondarily as witnesses, or even tertiary as hearers of it—raises questions that stir us, trip us, and interrupt our lives. Although I know God despises the suffering that evil causes, it is clear from the Psalms and many of our forefathers’ stories, that this is exactly what God wishes to do with trauma, loss, disappointment, and betrayal—stir our deepest heartfelt questions and interrupt the lives we have built with our own hands.

James Kanuto is but one of thousands of children of whom I could write such horrors. As the ministry of MWP continues to grow, we seem to be called to go deeper into this sort of suffering with both our staff and children. As you continue to help us meet the physical needs of food, water, medicine, and education, we are able to spend more and more of our energy simply giving our faces to the faces of screaming children, who cannot fathom a loving Father or Redeemer until they have first felt it through the Spirit and flesh of His Body, us—His incarnate presence who eagerly awaits His final return.

Although you may never visit Sudan, work in a war zone, or meet little James Kanuto, I invite you to ask God how He wants to use this horror to interrupt your life—and participate in the suffering of His little ones, which is to say His suffering “…if you do this for the least of these, you’ve done it for Me.” ~Jesus

Love, your sister along the journey,
k

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Welcome to the Celebration!

 Pictured from Left to Right:  Dr. Linnea Smith: psychiatrist, researcher, consultant, author, public leader to protect women and children against exploitation, and wife of Coach Dean Smith; Kimberly Smith: Chair; Louise Coggin: Vice Chair, 40-year veteran counselor and psychotherapist for the severely sexually traumatized and public speaker against human trafficking; Claudia Maxwell: retired from corporate America and church lay leader; Steve Coggins: pro-bono attorney for MWP; Audrey Moore: founding board member and secretary; Dr. Rev. Lauran Bethell: missionary and global consultant for human trafficking with more than 30 years in the field.

Throughout the Spring I often wrote about Make Way Partners turning Ten, and the unbelievable things God has been up to with our children. Then, last weekend, as our board of directors gathered for our semi-annual board meeting, we found ourselves immersed in a celebration of decades on multiple levels: Make Way Partners turned ten, I am turning 50, another board member is turning 60, and yet another has just turned 70.

While parties are fun, celebrations go deeper. Celebrations are a call to remember, and to mark the spot. Jacob celebrated when he built an ebenezer, marking how far the Lord had brought him to that point in his journey. The Israelites celebrated—and marked new territory—as they took stones from the Jordon, after God had ensured their safe passage. And, Jesus celebrated His death and resurrection—in advance—when He broke the bread and drank the cup, instructing us to do the same… always in remembrance—marking us as His own.

In this spirit, we small ragamuffin sojourners celebrated God, our amazing orphans, the unbelievable indigenous staff He has blessed us with, the growth in our stateside staff, and YOU!  In the early days of MWP, Milton and I often found ourselves feeling like teenagers with an unexpected pregnancy—scared lonely, and overwhelmed at the thought of caring for the baby we carried.  But, day-by-day, that baby grew, kicked her feet, and stretched out her arms until finally she pushed through the womb of our hearts into a bounding, loving family of thousands. Each of you now help to feed her, guide her, care for her, and make sure she grows into all God desires her to be.

Soon, we’ll be launching our new website. One of the major themes of this site is a design to encourage each of our partners—whether prayer partner, financial partner or mission volunteer—to prayerfully seek God’s unique call on their lives and how that fits into the complicated puzzle of caring for those at risk to human trafficking and the unadoptable orphans. God calls us all to care for the fatherless, still, how our particular station in life intersects with that call will be different for each and every person. I invite your personal responses, questions, comments, and reflections as to any way I can help you to discover YOUR role within Make Way Partners and protecting the world’s most vulnerable orphans.

Lord, thank you God for the pause to celebrate YOU and all those You have brought our way.

Looking forward to the journey along the next decade!
k

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Evil's Bombs by Guest Blogger Matt McGowen

From Guest Blogger Matt McGowen, Senior Field Coordinator

When I was a little boy I loved to explore.  I grew up in a rural area, miles from any town, and there was nothing I enjoyed more than roaming through fields and pastures with my dog Bonnie and my bb gun.  Together Bonnie and I fought countless battles against imaginary enemies and discovered hidden worlds.  Sometimes I would stumble onto old discarded pipe or oilfield equipment and would pretend I had found a cannon or missile launcher.  Memories like these are a source of deep joy for me and many people I know.

Last week Romano (Director of Hope for Sudan) called to share terrible news about some children who live within two miles of Hope for Sudan and had been out playing and exploring as children all over the world tend to do.  These children, though, happened to be growing up in a war zone.  As they played war games with one another they discovered an old discarded 60 mm explosive mortar shell used in heavy artillery.  Being inquisitive, the children began to play with and hammer on this new find.   In the midst of innocent childhood play, disaster struck.

The bomb exploded, instantly killing the two nearest children. A third child died in the hospital shortly afterward.  These were children of laborers on the HFS farm. 8-year-old James Kanuto survived the blast but sustained a terrible leg injury and was taken to the nearby state hospital where his leg was amputated below the knee.

Romano spent many years as a pastor in the Torit area and is still called upon to shepherd the community by comforting the afflicted and hurting. After days of counseling and encouraging these grieving families, Romano visited the state hospital to check on James Kanuto and encountered a horrific scene.  The child’s bandages had not been changed for 5 days and the foul smell of infection was overwhelming.  James had not received IV fluids and was visibly dehydrated, neither had he eaten in days.

Romano immediately went to work procuring the documents to send James to Kenya for treatment.  Thanks to the quick action of Eugenio (MWP Logistician) and the cooperation of Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) we were able to fly James to Nairobi where Eugenio immediately rushed him to Kijabe hospital and the care of Dr. Peter Bird.

During the 2 hour drive to Kijabe, James was able to talk a little but Eugenio said that mostly the child cried and screamed in agony.  Upon arrival at Kijabe, James’ old bandages were removed to reveal an incredible amount of pus seeping through the stitches.  James required a blood transfusion and needed much rotten flesh to be removed, but before any of that could happen he had to receive IV fluids for his severe dehydration.  After stabilizing James, Dr. Bird operated on him late into the night to remove rotted tissue

Today we received this report from Dr. Bird:

“We took James back to theatre this afternoon. His amputation stump was already doing much better after removal of the dead tissue last night. This was cleaned again. It will need 2-3 more trips to theatre and he will probably end up with an amputation going ethrough the knee joint. His other injury is to his left upper teeth, where he’s lost some teeth and damaged the bone there (alveolar-maxillary margin). This was also cleaned up (debrided) and hopefully will heal slowly on its own. He is generally quite weak and miserable, but safe now I think. He’s needed a blood transfusion.”

Please pray for young James Kanuto and the staff of Kijabe currently providing him such excellent care.  James will likely spend some recovery time with Eugenio’s family after leaving the hospital, along with Awek and Night so prayers are also appreciated for the Kirimas.

James’ tragedy reminds me of the stark disparity between my childhood and that of a child growing up in the warzone of Sudan.  At the same time, I am reminded of what John Eldredge writes in Waking the Dead – we were all born into a world at war.  Evil’s desire is to steal, kill, and destroy. Sometimes that destruction takes the form of literal bombs, but evil has many tools in its arsenal, including bombs of shame, fear, and accusation.  My prayer today is that each of us would be aware and vigilant of evil’s attacks – aware both of the bombs evil desires to detonate in our lives and watching and praying for God’s hand as he moves to rescue, redeem, and restore in unexpected ways.

As you join us in prayer for James and the other families devastated by this grievous catastrophe, please also join us in prayer for the Faith, Hope, and Love medical network.  Yet again we are reminded of the severe need in South Sudan for expanded Christ-centered medical care and medical training.  How wonderful it would be to manage cases like James, Dominic, Awek, Night, Achu and thousands more in-country rather than constantly flying the most vulnerable patients to Kenya.  Your help is needed!

Please click here to make a financial donation to the Faith, Hope, and Love medical network to cover transport and medical costs for James and others like him.  Donations to the Faith, Hope, and Love fund also help make the hospital dream a reality!

With Love,

Matt McGowen
Senior Field Coordinator

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I Once Was Free, but Now Am Bound

Being in Sudan just in time to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of New Life Ministry was a real treat for Nick, Matt, Olivia, and me. The kids who live there call the anniversary of NLM “Happy Day.”

The celebration is an all-day event. On the grand day, I crawled out of my tent while darkness still blanketed everything about me. Sitting outside in my plastic chair, reading my Kindle and praying for the coming day, and waiting for the sun to rise, I heard playful giggles and a gentle swoosh, swoosh sound of sweeping. It didn’t take me long to realize some of our children were already up, taking pride in their home, sweeping the desert floor free of any debris the night winds might have blown in.

By 8 a.m. all 600 of our beautiful children were queuing up for the parade they would dance through town, and warming up their glorious voices! The day before I’d watched our boys line the sidewalks of their dorm rooms shining shoes and telling stories. Our girls burned wood down to coals so they could fill their old fashioned irons with the coal to press their uniforms after precisely folding each crease of their pleated skirts. Pride seemed to burst forth from every seam as this would be the first Happy Day that they had uniforms to wear!

By 9 a.m. we were all lined up, and the children began a marching dance that would lead us all the way into town, circling through homes, shops, near the military barracks, through the Police compound, and finally snake its way back across the dirt airstrip and down the road returning to NLM. Everyone in town would come out to see the sharpest children of Nyamlel praise God for saving and transforming their lives. Local women dress up in traditional garb and join in the sing and dance along as we go.

All of our children are gifted song writers, and often make up tunes and lyrics as they walk along. This Happy Day was no exception, as we were blessed with many new songs in appreciation of all God has done to transform our children’s lives. One of my favorite NLM songs, although not a new one, goes something like, “The devil (pronounced ‘deeble') tried to bind me, but Jesus set me free! The deeble tried to bind me, but Jesus set me free! The deeble tried to bind me, but Jesus set me free! Glory! Hallelujah! Jesus set me free!”

Near the end of our very long circuit, we entered the Police compound. A nearly naked man, wearing nothing but shorts and chain cuffs suddenly burst into song and dance, praising Jesus with our children. “The deeble tried to bind me, but Jesus set me free! The deeble tried to bind me, but Jesus set me free. Glory! Hallelujah! Jesus set me free!”  The bound man fell in line, of sorts, as he wove about our parade with wild and unstoppable grace. Click here to watch the parade.  For a moment, we feared perhaps we’d aided in a jailbreak as the chain-cuffed man left the Police compound, continuing to dance and sing as our parade moved on, but Archangelo, our head of security, assured us, “No, he’s a mad man who we keep bound because he knives people to death if we un-cuff him, but he is free to roam the village as long as he’s cuffed.”

Matt and I looked at each other and both said, “The man from Gerasenes, as told in Mark 5.” While I cannot say that I had faith enough to walk up to the man and remove his chains as Jesus had for the man of Gerasenes, I did have enough faith to see myself in the man… how Jesus had both set me free and bound me at the same time.

You see, I’d been struggling a good bit during the days leading up to Happy Day. As Milton reported last week another of the MWP orphanages, Our Father’s Cleft, had been bombed multiple days in a row, and one of our little boys was injured when he panicked and ran from the foxhole as Islamic bombs struck our compound. While I loved being at NLM, my heart so ached for the children of Our Father’s Cleft. And, I felt my complete and utter powerlessness. I hate to even write that word, powerless, much less to sink into the depths of its meaning.

Watching the bound “Gerasenes” man join our “Happy Day” parade made me think of a quote from Brennan Manning’s Ragamuffin Gospel, “Children are our model because they have no claim on heaven. If they are close to God it is because they are incompetent, not because they are innocent. If they receive anything it can only be as a gift.” Manning goes on to explain how we lose our “childlikeness” (our ability to draw close to the Kingdom) as we learn WE can accomplish things. It is our goodness, our competence, our abilities that separate us from God far more than our sin, for while we are revolted by our sin, we trust in our abilities, our accomplishments. A woman now bound to You, oh Lord, is no longer free to cling to her will, her way, her ability.

Oh God! Save the Gerasenes Woman of me who gimps along with your children but is tempted to lean on her goodness rather than fall into her powerlessness at Your feet. Save me from myself, even as you remember your orphans at Our Father’s Cleft, New Life Ministry, Hope for Sudan, and the many more we still hope to reach one day.

Love, the Gerasenes Woman on the journey,    
k

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Beauty Interrupts Evil

Working in a place like Sudan, you come to expect that you will witness brutality. Appallingly, at times, you find yourself responding to the brutality around you with even greater brutality, at least within the privacy of your own heart.

After two years of partnering with Joseph at Our Father’s Cleft (OFC), we have recently received sufficient funding to begin building a home for our 400 orphans in Nuba Mountains of Sudan. As if by some insidious plot, within days of receiving a funding windfall for OFC, a new reign of bombs began falling so intensely it is making passage of our supplies impossible…for a time.

These things are mindboggling, and it’s not just my powerlessness I feel. I cry out, “How long, O Lord, will You wait? How long?” Just when I think the bomb shelter of my heart has grown so hard and angry that nothing will ever penetrate it again, beauty breaks through the scouring winds of doubt, the bitter walls of anger, and even the brutal void of powerlessness.

When this kind of Beauty interrupts evil, even if for just one heartbeat, it silences all evil, all clamoring, all everything. In the Stillness, you know it is nothing less than the very Breath of God whispering glimpses of Eden and pummeling your heart back into submission, which is just a five-dollar word for trust.

This is the state in which I found myself in Sudan just a few days ago. Between jet-lag, our work of the day, the insufferable heat, and the despairing news of more than a dozen bombs dropping in one day near Our Father’s Cleft—with two inside our compound wounding one of our children—I felt battered and unable to even take a bucket bath. I crawled in my tent just after dark, turned on my Kindle hoping Brennan Manning would have some tender words to soothe my frazzled soul.

After a few minutes of reading, a beautiful sound pierced the night. I closed Brennan. The only fight remaining in me was against the peaceful sleep that the Beautiful Sound lured me toward. I craved more Beauty, but in the end, the lullaby won.

The next day, I found the source of my lullaby as she pumped water from our borehole into a plastic basin for dishwashing. The song flowed from Mary, Romano’s sister, who is a high school student.

“Mary was that you singing last night?” Shy, Mary gently tilted her head downward and a bit angled from me, “Yes.” Gently lifting her chin, I said, “It was beautiful! You are beautiful! Where did you learn such a song?” “We made it here at Hope for Sudan.” Mary replied. I said, “It reminds me of home; it sounds Irish-Appalachian, where I’m from in Kentucky!”

Although it’s not customary for young men or women of Sudan to let their gorgeous smiles be caught on camera, Mary delighted us as she sang her song for our small team, and now for you. Click here to watch and listen to Mary’s Song!

Thank you, Mary, for reminding me that God is in the darkest night, my most shameful sin, and all our private or collective pains. The only question remaining is, “Will I look into His Face as He delights in me even there?”

Love, your sister along the interrupted journey,
 k

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Kimberly L. Smith to lead Our Father's Dream Retreat in TN

Our Father's Dream Retreat - Join us in TN this July!
Join Kimberly L Smith, author of Passport through Darkness and co-president of Make Way Partners, as she leads the Our Father's Dream retreat on July 26-27 hosted by Calvary Chapel Women's Ministry in Hixson, TN!  What Our Father's Dream is NOT: The Our Father's Dream retreat is NOT a missions workshop. What the Our Father's Dream Retreat IS: Our Father's Dream retreat is not an event, but rather an interactive-heart encounter designed to create a sacred space. A time set aside to move deeper than the American Dream, and allow the Lord to show us His unique dream for our lives. Most of us get so wrapped up in pursuing the American dream, we forget to ask what God dreamed for us as He knit us in our mother's womb. Even our good works---or churchy activities---often leave us wondering what the lasting impact of our lives will be. If you ever find yourself thinking, "There's got to be more to this life," then Our Father's Dream retreat is for you. Our Father's Dream retreat is Friday evening through Saturday evening. During this time Kimberly will lead retreat participants to identify many of the things (from personal shame to cultural expectations) that block us from seeing the unique dream our Father first held as He knit us in our mother's womb. We will also learn ways of discerning that dream and practical ways to live our lives in sync with God’s rhythm for our lives. Learn more: Our Fathers_Dream_Retreat Join the July retreat in Hixson:  Join Kimberly at the Our Father's Dream Retreat hosted by the Calvary Chapel Women's Ministry in Hixson! Date: July 26-27 Friday evening through Saturday evening Location: Calvary Chapel Hixson 8615 Hixson Pike Hixson, TN 37343  Learn More & Register Today at: http://calvarychapelhixson.com/ministry/women/ *Registration deadline is June 23             If you have questions please contact Tricia Morris,  Women's Ministry Pastor, at: tricia@cchixson.com or 423.842.0110	Our Father’s Dream retreat is an interactive 48-hour retreat helping people to discover God’s unique dream for their lives.  RESPONSES FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS Click on the link to listen as Pastor Kim Ryan shares about the Our Father's Dream retreat at his church, ..."I’ve talked to person after person since we did this retreat who said it was one of the most profound experiences they’ve ever had when it came to discovering what God’s dream was for their life..."   “I enjoyed most (about the Dream Retreat was) the variety of the seminar.  Sometimes listening, sometimes watching videos, sometimes sharing corporately or at our table.  Getting to know wonderfully more about the people at my table.  They are like me after all!”  - Karen T. What spoke to me most was “talking about our wounds and how bringing them into the light – sets us free…. Thank you for giving me the courage through your story.” - Mike S. “I enjoyed your honesty sooo much.  How refreshing to hear a ‘missionary’ be so real, so human.” – Jennifer M. Learn More FREE First Chapter of Passport through Darkness Buy the Book Donate Now Questions?  Interested in hosting an Our Father's Dream Retreat at your church? Contact: audreym@makewaypartners.org for more details!