BILLY

(Many of you know that John's brother Billy recently passed away. Some have asked how it happened, and we haven't been very vocal about it. This has been a difficult week for the whole family, and we've needed some time to process together. John asked me to write something to share with you, so I chose to prepare something to say to the family yesterday at his memorial service and post that for you today. I hope it answers your questions and blesses you in some way. Photo: John's dad, sister Gina, sister Janette, brother Billy, mom, John)

We’ve all come together to honor Billy’s life and to say goodbye. We talked about doing this at a funeral home, but that would seem awkward and out of character for this family. Instead, we’re meeting at the Henson house, where we always get together. Most holidays and special occasions as long as I can remember have been here. We talk and laugh and set out food and play cards and get into heated political discussions. It’s what we do. Then someone asks if Billy’s coming. Nobody ever knows for sure. “He said he would try to stop by later.” Sometimes he does. Usually he doesn’t. I find it fitting that the coroner hasn’t released his ashes and nobody has been able to guess if his remains would be available for this get together today. We’ll just have to do what we always do—talk a little about him and hope to see him soon. I think we will see him soon, not because he was a great person who earned his way into heaven, but because this life is short and Jesus is so very good even when we’re not.

What can we say about Billy that will honor his life today? All I can do is say what I know, which isn’t much, because even after knowing him for a quarter of a century, I hardly knew him at all. What I saw in him was that he was handsome but the lines on his face were too deep for his age. They couldn’t quite swallow up his big warm smile though. He was too skinny for his height, but he was as strong as an ox. His voice was rough and so were his hands. He didn’t keep his word, and he was not dependable. But, he was kind and gentle and never ever harsh. He was always good for a hug and a short, amiable chat. He told me a few times that he was trying hard to clean up his life. That’s where I think he went wrong. He was trying to do the impossible. He wasn’t equipped. His heart was too big and too tender. Maybe that’s why he turned to drugs to make life bearable—until they didn’t.

I’m afraid when people hear that Billy died of an overdose, they’re going to be quick to relegate his death to the dungheap of history where we put the useless and evil people. I’m afraid they’re going to make the mistake of thinking of him as a wasted life. I don’t believe there is such a thing. Billy had a whole family behind him, rooting for him to pull out of his addiction, and that struggle has not been wasted on any of us. It has changed us and, in some cases, brought us closer to God. Billy had parents and siblings and nieces and nephews who wanted him to get better. He even had children who counted on him to be the father they needed him to be. He just couldn’t do it, and I hope one day we’ll remember him for what he did offer and not for what he didn’t.

In the meantime, I hope we’ll all find some closure today and consider the reason we can honor Billy’s life in spite of the fact that it was cut short and never fulfilled the potential we all saw in him. God made Billy and he loved him, and because Billy believed that and was baptized, God has not only forgiven him, but He has made a place for him in heaven. So, our time today to say goodbye and honor his life is really more of a see-you-later because of Jesus. I suggest when we’re finished here, we set out food and play cards, but maybe skip the political discussions. Instead, maybe we could talk about the good things in life and how blessed we are to have each other now and the hope for eternity together in the future. Goodbye, Billy. We’ll stop by later.

What I've Learned from Sourdough

Did you know that if you mix a little flour and water together and leave it at room temperature, it will become sourdough? Usually after only about twenty-four hours, the yeast in the air will begin to snack on the natural sugars in the flour, and the gooey mess will start to bubble and smell…well, sour. That’s when it’s alive and needs to be fed. As long as you keep giving it a little flour and a little water, it will keep growing and maturing into what baking connoisseurs call a local sourdough starter. There’s more to it if you want to turn it into delicious baked goods like bread, biscuits, and pancakes, but it all starts with those basic ingredients and it’s pretty simple. You should absolutely try this at home; it’s fascinating. 

If you keep feeding a sourdough starter, it will never die, outliving you and your children and their children. Each place has unique ambient yeast so local starters can vary greatly in flavor and aroma. Ever heard of the world famous San Francisco sourdough? That one’s been kept alive for over 170 years—that we know of. But, here’s the thing, if you leave any starter alone and stop feeding it, the yeast will continue to work its way through the entire mass of dough until it runs out of food, at which point it will completely devour the tangy and delicious contents of your mixture and turn it into a rotten, moldy clump of muck. It has to keep receiving fresh ingredients to be useful, which can be tedious and time consuming. You kind of have to love it or it will cease to exist.   

I recently started a fresh batch of sourdough in our new home in Nebraska. As I waited for the hungry little molecules to start nibbling their way into the mix, Ephesians 6:12 came to mind—the Scripture about not wrestling with flesh and blood but with the spirits of the air. Just like the yeast is hanging around waiting for something to devour, so are the demons that inhabit this world. It made me realize that the only thing keeping us from becoming that rotten, moldy clump of muck is God himself. He pours fresh ingredients into our souls through His word, as His spirit guides us through the gauntlet that awaits us at every turn. 

When I think about spirits of the air wanting to devour something sweet, I think of children and how vulnerable they are to the evils of this world. They rely on grown ups in their lives to protect them. Our little feeding program that has become a full-blown non-profit organization started out with kids who had no adults in their lives, abusive adults in their lives, or adults who love them but don’t have the resources or the knowledge to care for them properly. Now, Hugs for Tomorrow feeds, clothes, educates, and provides medical care for 125 kids every day, but none of that is the most important part of our ministry. Our main focus is to protect them from the evil that seeks to devour their precious little hearts, as we raise them up to know Jesus Christ and to be fortified with His Holy Spirit.

We greatly appreciate each and every financial gift we receive on behalf of these precious children, but those of you who give regularly are like the flour and water in a sourdough starter. You are largely responsible for the steady growth and maturity of the entire ministry. Thank you for your constant attention to this lengthy task that brings no immediate gratification. We know it can sometimes seem tedious, but as we all work together to consistently provide the fresh ingredients of God’s word for the children in the program over the months and years ahead, He is surely busy preparing a specific use for each of the men and women they will become in His Kingdom. That is certainly worth every ounce of our time and money and is very gratifying. We pray that as you pour into these kids, God will continue to pour a fresh measure of His spirit into your heart and mind.

Send a tax-deductible donation here:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.

Happy Birthday, Irene!

This little girl is a big deal! Her name is Irene, and she’s Snoden and Susan’s child. She turned one on July 31, which in and of itself is cause to celebrate, given the infant mortality rate in Malawi. Of every thousand babies born, seventy-six die before their first birthday. We’ve known some of them personally, and I don’t believe their deaths were necessary. In fact, we lose only five babies for every thousand born in the United States. That’s reason enough for us to do what we do through HUGS for Tomorrow, to give the kids in the village the same opportunities as our own children.  

We’re not highlighting Irene because she’s different or special—although we think she’s pretty great. She just happens to be the first baby born into our program who will be able to experience every level of what HUGS offers. God has so richly blessed our feeble efforts to help some underprivileged kids in the village that we’re now able to begin providing comprehensive care for a child even before she’s born. Snoden and Susan are some of the best parents we know, but they haven’t always had what they needed for their kids. Irene is named after Snoden’s mother, who was raising the oldest sibling when we met their family. They have since brought all their children home and done quite well, but Irene is their first to have received what we would consider a proper beginning. Susan had everything from prenatal care to regular checkups for Irene and herself since the day she found out she was pregnant. We want that for every family in the village. 

Irene has smooth chubby cheeks and clear brown eyes. She’s active and curious. Most babies in the village don’t look or behave like that. They’re smaller and less energetic. Of course, this beautiful family’s well being is worth all the resources that have been poured into HUGS, but God is multiplying our efforts, and so many more people are being affected than just this one family. Snoden and Susan were doing their best to serve their neighbors before we even met them. We believe God has seen their hearts and is rewarding them—and our program—in tangible ways. Now they just have more to share.

We’ve been away from Africa for longer than a year, so we haven’t met Irene in person yet. We’ve only experienced her adorable coos through video chats, but I can’t wait to hug her—and all the kiddos in our program—with my own arms. We plan to be there by the end of this year, at which point we hope to, among other things, spend some quality time with Snoden’s whole family and dream and plan together about all the ways we can take this program to the next level. We want every child to have the same chance for a good life and the same hope for a bright future as Irene. Together and with God’s blessing we can make that happen.

Send a tax-deductible donation here:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.

Mwayi and His Family

Snoden is introducing Mwayi to you. He’s seven years old and a member of our feeding program and Kindergarten. His father died two years ago, and now his mother is terminally ill. He’s one of eight children. Mwayi has a quickly developing skin condition that you can clearly see in this video. We want to address that immediately, and two hundred dollars, the amount of money Snoden is asking for, should cover a trip to the hospital and a visit to a doctor. It may even cover his medication or a small procedure. However, as you may have deduced from the situation, we’re going to need more.

Friends and neighbors are helping the family while their mother is sick, but when she dies, the children will be orphans. As much as we want to take in all eight of them when that happens, we can’t. Not only is it probably best that family take care of family, but the government encourages it. The closest relatives will be responsible for them, whether they want to or not, and we would like to help lighten that burden—especially since sometimes these “unwanted burdens” are targets for abuse. Eight more children without more income can be devastating, so we want to be sure that wherever they go, there is enough money to provide for them.

This family is under an unbelievable amount of stress with their father gone and their mother as sick as she is. We will get Mwayi to the doctor even before you help us pay for that. It’s obviously urgent and cannot wait. But we’ll need your help to provide for these kids during the most difficult time of their lives. We would like to try to keep them together, but nobody in the village will be able to afford them all, and it’s likely they’ll be separated and possibly shipped to relatives far away from each other. We pray Mwayi will stay close and continue his education with us. It’s not up to us who they’ll live with, but we can offer to help pay for their food, clothes, and medical care until we’re no longer needed for that. Snoden is asking for two hundred dollars, but after learning more about this family, we realize this is just the tip of the iceberg.

This is one of the situations we dread the most in our ministry. It’s out of our hands and seems hopeless, but we know it never is. God is fully capable of making something beautiful out of this tragic situation. Please pray for Mwayi and his family, and give whatever God puts on your heart. We’ll do our best to discreetly provide for them and keep them together while they lose their mother and make the transition so many village children make every year to orphan status. We’ll continue to be as involved as possible and to keep you informed about their lives as much as we’re permitted. Thank you for your love and generosity!

Send a tax-deductible donation here:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.

Long Distance Connection

Snoden and Angela at her new boarding school

Snoden and Arthur (in the background) harvesting food for the kids

When I was an exchange student in Vienna, for an entire year I had to walk to the end of the street and use a calling card at a phone booth for my mother to hear my voice—and she could never call me back. In order to talk to my friends I sent aerogrammes and waited weeks for a return letter. The problems of a sixteen-year-old girl are many, and by the time my mom or my friends got back to me in writing with their well-thought-out responses, I had already moved on to the next crisis. Times sure have changed, and now I can sit with a cup of coffee on my comfy couch, touch a button on my phone, and talk to people in an African village, where they don’t even have running water or electricity. It’s amazing, really. 

We talk to Snoden and Susan that way quite often. They have the kids wave to us while they’re enjoying a meal or let us “sit in” on a class while they teach. They walk us around and show us the progress on a construction project or let us see how well the maize is growing on our land. We chat over a 9,000 mile distance like we’re standing next to each other on the same soil. That makes it easy for us to forget how difficult it is to live in the village and just how much those kids need this program. No water, no electricity, no health care, no security, and no education—for too many of the children there. But the kids in our program receive all these things, so we continue to work together over this long distance to improve and expand our ministry. Snoden just sent us the two beautiful pictures I’m sharing with you here. They’re not the highest quality images or even textbook examples of composition, but what they represent is of far greater value.

The first picture is a selfie that Snoden took of Angela and himself while he was dropping her off at her new school. It means she doesn’t have to walk four miles through dangerous neighborhoods anymore just to arrive at a school with hundreds of students to one teacher per class, no books, and no lunch. She’s a bright girl with untapped potential, and we want to see her thrive. Thanks to our generous friends and supporters, she will. We started out by applying for her to attend the international school where I taught and where the boys went when we lived in Malawi. After the initial enrollment process, we realized that may not be the best school for her after all. Among a few other issues, getting there and back each day was going to be a challenge. It took a bit of searching but we believe her parents’ legwork has paid off and that she’s been enrolled in the perfect school to suit her needs. It just so happens to be the girls’ boarding school Gret Glyer, the founder of DonorSee, started when he lived in Malawi. (I wrote about his recent passing in my last blog article). We love to see Angela’s bright smile in this photo, and we share her sentiment.

The second picture is of Snoden at our new farm, showing off some of the beautiful produce already ready for harvest. He was on his way home from leaving Angela at school and stopped by to grab some food for the kids in our feeding program.You can see Arthur, Angela’s brother, playing farmer in the background. We know God is blessing this endeavor because it’s not the growing season in Malawi; there is no rain. This new land is low enough that it stays wet and allows plants to grow even when the land around it is bone dry. This means that even with the price of food on the rise, our kids will not go hungry and we should be able to feed others outside our program. It also gives the kids exposure to foods they have never eaten and increases their health and the likelihood that they will eat a well-balanced diet in the future. I cannot express to you how excited we are to see the abundance of nutrition represented in those green leafy vegetables! 

We hope to eventually eradicate poverty from the lives of every household in Malawi. Our latest two projects—the land purchase and enrolling Angela in school—have been especially fruitful to that end. We received the images that inspired this article just minutes after Snoden captured them on his phone, thanks to the miracle of modern technology. Now I’m sharing them with you just hours later. Isn’t it amazing that we can all be a part of what’s happening in Tambalale village right now? We don’t have to read about it in a book a year from now or a letter a month from now or even hear about it over the phone without actually seeing it. You and I can interact with real people living in real poverty today, and we can do something about it—today! It truly is an awesome blessing to be included in such a vital Kingdom work. We hope you feel the connection and the difference you’re making to put an end to the cycle of poverty in so many precious lives. 

Send a tax-deductible donation here:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.

The Shadow of Death

When I was in college I would sometimes wake in the middle of the night to a panicky feeling, only to realize it was because I’d forgotten to deliver someone’s drink at my waitress job or to turn in a paper at school. Not exactly life threatening, so it didn’t take me long to go back to sleep. Later when I became a wife and mother, I woke to thoughts a bit more important like kids’ schedules and overdue bills. Again, nothing critical. But now I feel like I’m constantly aware of the ticking clock hours before I want to be. My mind races with weighty issues that are completely out of my control, like the overabundance of drugs, pornography, and violence that my boys will have to navigate as they grow up and go off on their own. I haven’t been a news watcher for a long time, and I’ve recently adopted the habit of reciting as much Scripture in my head as it takes to doze off again. I recommend both to anyone who deals with nighttime anxiety. It does help, but in a world where evil seems to be intensifying at breakneck speed, it’s getting harder and harder to get a full night’s sleep.

A few nights ago when that familiar 3:00 am anxiety tapped me on the shoulder, I pushed it away with the opening words to the twenty-third Psalm. If I recite it slowly, that one usually has me asleep by the end. This time I stopped in the valley of the shadow of death—not on the words exactly but on the image. I imagined myself there like I never had before—in a deep valley with a black shadow, paralyzing my sense of direction—and it felt scary. It was as if God was saying, “This is what wakes you up, right? The darkness is what bothers you, but there’s no reason to be anxious. It can’t touch you; it’s just a shadow.” I must have recited this Psalm a thousand times through, but I’ve never before realized that the darkness I associate with that valley—the evil of this world—is only the shadow of death, not death itself. Just like an eclipse is impossible without the sun, the shadow of death only exists because of the brightness of God. And just like that eclipse will be gone before you know it, the darkness over this world will disappear when the Light behind it is revealed.

I was shocked the next morning to hear the tragic news that the founder of DonorSee, our main fundraising platform for the ministry in Malawi, was shot and killed in his home. He was only thirty-two years old and left behind a young wife and two babies. Even though I never met Gret in person, I’ve had many phone conversations with him. We’ve been with DonorSee since 2017, shortly after its launch, and I feel a strong sense of connection to the program. During the initial development of his website, I was vocal about what I wanted to see, and Gret was very responsive, making several changes I requested. DonorSee has been instrumental in feeding hundreds of children in our program, and we pray that Gret’s legacy will continue. It’s hard to make sense of such an abrupt and untimely death. I’m sure many people are seeking God’s peace today as we all wait for answers.

I lost my brother to a tragedy when I was in grade school. It took me many years to sleep through the night after that. I know there are no words to comfort a soul in that state of grief. I would not presume to speak any. But I do know that God can and will heal a broken heart, so I ask Him to do that for Gret’s family and for his friends. I pray that they will feel His presence as they walk through this valley and that they will feel the warmth of the Son that shines all around the shadow of death. What a sweet day of fellowship it will be when we’re reunited with those who have been swallowed up by death, when we discover that it was indeed just a shadow and that what is real is Jesus and His life and resurrection. May God bless this dear family and grant them peace and comfort until they can once again sleep through the night.

HUGS for Tomorrow

The day is finally here! Five years after we moved to Africa, we now have an official 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. We’ve been working for months with a banker, a lawyer, and an accountant to file all the paperwork necessary to allow us to register with the government and receive tax-free donations on behalf of the children of Malawi. I can’t say it was a fun process, but we are happy to announce that it’s done and we can get on with the business of raising those kids. This brings a few very positive changes for you, our friends and supporters. 

First of all, when you give money to help the kids in the program, it goes straight to them with nothing and no one in between. There’s no more waiting to see if we got your donation, and there’s no chance it’s going to get lost among the other ministries sharing the same account—even if you forget to write it on the memo line of your check. Over the past twenty-five years we have enjoyed the oversight of some excellent churches all over the country, but managing an overseas ministry is a big job even when it’s one dimensional like this started out, feeding kids. But when that one dimension turns into the many facets involved in developing a PreK-12th grade school, that big job becomes a full time job. It’s not fair to expect any church to juggle that caliber of ministry alongside all the others they support. That’s why we’ve made it an autonomous entity with its own board of directors. Though it’s a bittersweet transition for us as we become more independent, we hope to be a source of pride and accomplishment for the many people who have helped us get to where we are today. It’s nice to be able to accept funds from a church without obliging them to manage the distribution of those funds. It’s simpler this way.

Another good change is our new name. Instead of referring to us as that family who has that ministry in Africa that feeds those kids, you can call us “HUGS for Tomorrow”. You’ve probably heard us talk about the dangers of hand outs, so it may help to think of the HUGS part as a Hand Up for Growth and Success. We like to think of each meal, each trip to the clinic, each set of clothes, and each lesson we teach these kids as a hug that will carry them into a bright future—HUGS for Tomorrow. Besides, Hand Outs for tomorrow would be HOGS and that doesn’t really work, does it? 

The most practical change you need to know about is our new address, which I’ll share at the bottom of this article. Even though we live in Nebraska now, we’re keeping the nonprofit registered in Texas. We loved working with the secretary from our last church so much that we hired her to work for HUGS. John, along with his new job at York College, will remain the director of HUGS and I’ll keep writing and posting pictures and videos to keep you informed. We want you to know that without your overwhelming support we would have no reason to go this route. Because of you, HUGS for Tomorrow exists and will serve some of the most precious, most forgotten children in the world for years to come. God bless you for your generosity and for your prayers. 

Now, we need some mail so go ahead and try out our new contact information:

HUGS for Tomorrow

P.O. Box 1816 

Azle, Texas 76098

Or make a tax-deductible PayPal donation here.

Advocating

Lately, Andy’s been in trouble for being “lazy”. He’s graduating a year early to start college in the fall and he really needs to be doing extra school work, not sleeping in. I have literally shaken his slumbering body and yelled in his ear to wake him only to watch him flop around, unresponsive. “What in the world is wrong with you? Your brother never even did this, and he pulled some doozies!” That’s what it was like in our house—for weeks. Then we discovered that he has mononucleosis. Wow, did I feel guilty! Not only did he feel terrible, but we were harassing him on top of it. Our family doctor thought his throat was too bad to be classified as just mono, so she sent out a culture and told us to go home and wait for the results, which could take a couple of days. Within twenty-four hours, though, we were in the hospital emergency room because his tonsils had swollen so much he was having trouble breathing. The kid was sick. 

He was admitted for observation and kept for five days until the swelling finally went down. During that time we had to advocate aggressively on a couple of occasions. Since the hospital doesn’t allow children to visit, John and I were constantly trading out to be with Ben at home. I happened to be with Andy when most of the doctors came to his room. The first was the hospitalist, who I will call the doc. He reiterated what both our family doctor and the ER doctor said, that Andy appeared to have a secondary infection. The throat culture hadn’t come back yet and, because he couldn’t eat or even drink, he was started on IV fluids, including a steroid and a strong antibiotic. (You may remember that Jonah was diagnosed with malaria seven months after being home from Malawi. Not knowing what was wrong with him, the doctors were bracing us for the worst and at the same time refusing to test for endemic African diseases. After a cry of malpractice, they agreed and found that he indeed had malaria. Treatment immediately reversed his symptoms and saved his life.) Andy’s situation felt eerily similar, so we wanted those same tests. Even after I relayed Jonah’s story to the doc, he scoffed and patronized, “This is not Burger King. You can’t just order what you want.” God gave me the strength to maintain my composure but my determination was only increased, and our intense debate continued until John joined the conversation through speaker phone. I introduced the doc as the man who refused to test for malaria. Needless to say, John started in with a discourse that parroted mine, when I suddenly had an idea. “Okay, how about we all agree to check for one thing at a time and as long as it comes back negative and he’s still not better, we go to the next thing on the list?” That sounded reasonable to the doc, and we just wanted some answers, so the first blood draw was ordered. Negative. True to his word, the doc ordered the second test, which would take overnight, so we waited.

The next morning brought another negative result, but Andy had still not improved. The doc came early and admitted that he had expected Andy to be doing much better. He seemed to have had a change of heart and apologized for being condescending, agreeing to test for whatever we wanted. His seemed genuinely concerned, which made me a bit nervous. Was there something gravely wrong with my son? He called an ear, nose, and throat specialist for a second opinion. Hours later, the ENT still hadn’t shown up but it was discovered that he had added notes to Andy’s file as if he had. When paged a second time, he soon entered the room like gangbusters, spoke quickly and turned to leave, when I stopped him asking, “Did you say you came to see my son when you didn’t?” He stopped in his tracks and turned around, offering matter of factly, “If I came up here to actually visit every patient they call me to see, that’s all I would ever do. I looked at his chart. He’s fine. He just has mono and I can’t even imagine he’s in that much pain. He should just go home. He doesn’t need to be here.” I started to remind him that Andy was having trouble breathing and that three doctors believed he had more than mono, when I realized I was wasting my breath and that the conversation was over. Maybe it was divine providence that John wasn’t in the room for his lecture, but I relayed it to him later and he promptly reported the incident, asking for a new ENT. Instead, an infectious disease team was called in. They were extremely thorough but found nothing. Thankfully, over the following long hours Andy’s swelling began to subside and he was able to drink and to eat, and his breathing became much less labored.

In the end, nothing new was detected in any of the tests, so the doctors were obliged to call it a severe case of mono and to send us home with orders for follow up bloodwork and a month of low impact activities. As we waited for discharge instructions from the hospital, John and I went to the cafeteria to decompress. I took one sip of my coffee and broke down in tears. John tried to console me, saying that our son would be fine, but that’s not what was bothering me. I knew Andy would be okay because we were there to advocate for him just like we advocated for Jonah and insisted on the malaria test that saved his life. I knew Andy would be alright because we were there to expose fraud by a specialist who might have sent Andy home without the steroids that ultimately reduced his swelling and allowed him to breathe freely. He’s okay because we were there for him, but what about all the kids in Malawi. I hadn’t thought about them in days, but that’s who I was thinking about at that moment. 

Since we started our program four years ago, we’ve personally known children in the village who have died from treatable illnesses like malaria, asthma, and HIV. They weren’t a part of our program and nobody was protecting them. My heart was heavy with the realization that as much good as our program has done for so many children, there are hundreds if not thousands more that need support. These kids are undernourished and undereducated, but they’re not underintelligent or underimportant. They just need a chance. Andy’s health scare encouraged me to use my education and resources to work a little harder on behalf of those children who don’t have mothers or fathers to do what we do for our own kids. God puts it in us to advocate for the helpless because it’s what He has done for us. It’s at the very heart of the Gospel. There is power in numbers and we’re asking you to get a little more involved by praying daily or giving monthly. Any one of these children that we’re feeding and educating could grow up to cure malaria, asthma, or even HIV. Given the right opportunities, they will work side by side with our kids to make the world a better place. Thank you for partnering with us to advocate for them so they can become the men and women God is calling them to be.

Make a tax deductible donation here. 

Food Shortage

(UPDATE to this article: I am happy to report that I shared this to Facebook at noon, and by 2:00 the land purchase of $4,000 had been fully funded.)

Did you ever see the movie "Elf"? Remember the part where the dad proclaims, “I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do and I’m way behind”? I’ve been over quoting that. It’s not even funny any more, just true. Our house has looked like the Chiquita banana packing plant for weeks because banana boxes are strong and stackable and we’re putting everything we own into them. We had columns of them everywhere until last week when we took a truckload containing half of our possessions up to Nebraska to clear out the house for prospective buyers. Packing up, listing the house, and finishing the homeschool year in time for Andy’s early graduation was more than enough to make us all crazy, in spite of the fact that we had a team of people from the church help us prepare the house. We’ve been hyper focused on our own stuff, and I was pretty sure I had reached my limit and couldn’t do one more thing when Snoden called. 

We were ready to tell him we would have to get back to him when he said that, since the president declared a state of emergency earlier in the year, the price of grain has gone up so high in Malawi that people are coming to him asking for food. They’re starving. We knew the rainy season brought unexpected flooding and drought, which did not produce the crops needed to replace last year’s reserve, but we didn’t know how serious the problem was until now. The grain supply is running out. All of a sudden our critical tasks weren’t so critical. We had to stop everything and address the real emergency. 

Snoden had the idea to travel out to where the elevation is a bit lower and the ground a bit damper to buy a piece of land we can use to grow more food. He believes we can raise crops year round there, not just during the rainy season. He has two cousins we know personally who can come work the land and protect it from squatters. We talked about hiring them to do the job, and Snoden went to search for a good piece of land at a fair price. He found two acres and we were in the middle of that negotiation when our son Andy got sick and was admitted to the hospital. Now we had a new priority, so we told Snoden to go ahead and buy the land and hire his cousins and plant the crops, using some of the money we sent last month for the feeding program. We assured him we would do our best to replace that money as soon as possible so nobody goes without.  

We are not being modest when we say we can’t do this without you. We need your support to continue caring for the 125 kids we feed each day and now for the land we will use to grow food to provide for people when the famine hits. This is not outside the scope of our ministry, which is to care for the children in our program and their families. Many of the people we will feed from this land are family members of these kids. When our money runs out, there will be other people with money to buy what’s left of the food in the country. But when the food runs out, there will be nothing more anyone can do. It will be too late. It’s happened before. If you haven’t read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, it’s helpful to understanding the situation. That’s why we are planning for that day by developing new farmland. We expect to save lives through this purchase. 

We just spent $4,000 to buy the land and we need to replace that immediately to be sure none of the children in our program skips a meal this month. They really cannot afford to. We understand that everyone is struggling financially right now, but any amount will help. Whatever we have left to raise after next week will be posted as a video on DonorSee, but we have high hopes that our supporters here are going to take care of this. I know we’re all super busy and way behind in something, but please take a moment now to pitch in because food for young children is not something that can wait. There is so much need and we want to be able to help as many people as possible during this time of crisis. Thank you and God bless you for your generosity and care for these precious kids and the people of Malawi!

Make a tax deductible donation here. 

A New Chapter

John and I with Sam Smith (the president of York)
and his wife Lisa during our visit

Recently John saw his college friend, Sam Smith, on Facebook announce that he is now the president of York College in Nebraska. He was coming to Dallas to host a fundraising dinner, so we took the opportunity to go and say hello. I’ve been getting to know his wife through social media and was excited to finally see her in person; we seem to have so much in common. It was a brief visit but quite energizing. We were pleased to hear that Sam is passionate about maintaining Christian principles as he prayerfully directs the future of the student body he now leads. Sam said he has been watching the progress of our ministry in Malawi and would like to hear more about it and even how we might partner on some level with York. We made tentative plans to come visit the campus sometime in the near future and promised to keep in touch. 

Just days after that evening we got an email from Sam asking John to apply for the position of Vice President of Student Life at York College. Considering neither of us knew exactly what that was, it didn’t seem likely that he would get the job even if he did throw his hat in the ring. Besides, he wasn’t looking for a job. He’s been preaching for the Westworth Church of Christ for the past two years, and we’ve been working to further develop the school in Malawi—two fulfilling endeavors that have enhanced each other. However, after a phone call with Sam, John was convinced we needed to at least pray about the possibility. Sam was fully aware of John’s lack of experience in the institutional world but also optimistic about what his specific experiences would contribute to the school. He said John could learn the mechanics of the job as he went but that his consistent pursuit of the Gospel was something that could not be taught and exactly what was needed to propel more students into Kingdom work. Sam feels that our family would complement the plans he has for the spiritual growth of the students he has come to love so much. He admitted that it’s a team effort, and he wanted John to join that team. 

The whole idea seemed to be out of the blue, but we agreed to really pray about it over the next month, at which time we already had a trip planned to Colorado to take John’s mom home. We decided to go through Nebraska to give God every opportunity to answer those prayers. We toured the campus and spoke with faculty, staff, and students. I was in every meeting with John and we included the kids in our conversations after each one. After the following weeks of questions and answers and back and forth about the details of how the college and the Malawi mission might benefit equally from such an unlikely partnership, we feel confirmed that this is indeed a good idea. John accepted the position and our family is planning a move to Nebraska this summer. 

For those of you who know us, this may not come as a surprise. When we committed our lives to each other, we also committed them to Jesus. We promised to follow Him wherever He leads and to trust Him to provide our needs. This is no exception and we fully expect great spiritual blessings for our family, for the kids in Malawi, for the students at York College, and for you, our supporters and friends! We’ll keep you posted as this transition develops. In the meantime, we’re working diligently to finalize the paperwork required to make the Malawi ministry an official non-profit entity before we leave for Nebraska. As always, thank you so much for walking with us on this journey. May God richly bless you for your support and for your prayers! 

A Sponge in the Desert

This is a recent picture of Snoden’s family. Angela is standing to the far left. She’s twelve. Snoden and Susan are her parents, but she’s only been aware of that for a few years. When we met them Arthur was their only child, but shortly after John baptized Snoden, he confided in us that he and Susan also had a daughter. They were young when she was born, and they gave her to his mother to raise. He said that after learning God’s ways he and Susan felt like bringing her home was the right thing to do. We agreed and within weeks Angela was living in their home with her parents and her brother. She didn’t really seem surprised, only grateful. She’s a very bright little girl, and I’ve never met a more content child. 

Angela quickly blossomed into a wonderful older sister and caretaker of the babies in the feeding program. She learned English quickly by listening to us and practicing with her parents. She’s always eager to help and looks for ways to serve the people around her. We’ve had high hopes for Angela since we met her but have been discouraged by the limited opportunities available to her in the village and the public school system. Her eager mind has nothing around to absorb, like a sponge in the desert. One day during our prayer time, God revealed the perfect solution—send Angela to the international school in the city. It’s where our boys went to school and where I taught while we lived there. Until our Christian school is up and running, it’s the best education available.

Though we hope to add a new grade each year, we’re only up to the first. Angela is going into the seventh. At that rate she will be eighteen before we could accommodate her educational needs. The international school is the best option, but it’s also the most expensive and a seemingly impossible dream for a girl from the village. When we presented the idea to Snoden he was speechless. We asked him to visit and get a quote for the annual tuition, which he promptly did. He called us with resignation in his voice; the $5,000 fee was simply out of reach. He sincerely thanked us for trying. We assured him it was possible and to continue to pray. 

John shared the idea with our church this past Sunday. I was planning to post a fundraising video on DonorSee but, before we left the building, Angela’s first year was paid for. We were over the moon but probably nowhere nearly as excited as Snoden and Susan will be when we tell them next week. We plan to share the news through a video call next Sunday while the whole church is present. I can’t tell you how much joy it brings us to be a part of something as fundamentally life changing as this ministry has been to our family, to Snoden’s family, and to so many children in the village. Thank you for joining us along this journey. May God bless your life as much as He is blessing the lives of these kids through you. 

To make a tax deductible donation please use this link: Westworth Church Paypal 

Snoden's Spring Break

Snoden (in the middle) and his wife Susan (holding Irene) with the family from Dedza

Snoden and Fades (the widow who needs our help)

The kids in Malawi have two weeks off of school right now for something akin to our spring break. Since some of them have siblings in public education and the parents often use holidays for travel to visit family or find work, we follow their schedule to make things easier for everyone. Also, we’re in the process of accreditation through the government, so it makes sense. Snoden and his family should have this time off as well, but you may know him by now and you might have guessed that he has found someone to help instead. 

Before we met him, Snoden was a traveling salesman. He would go to other towns to buy food, clothing, or household items and then resell them for a profit in Lilongwe, the capital city and where we lived. He often traveled to a town about two hours away called Dedza, where the potatoes were plentiful and cheap. He tells of one time when he arrived and found no potatoes for sale and no money to return home. A family took him in and fed him until he could find what he was looking for and return to Lilongwe. 

The same family that showed Snoden such kindness so many years ago has now come to him in his own village, asking for help. How they found him is unclear, but what is clear is that our program has developed a reputation for compassion that apparently reaches farther than we realized. The father was very sick and in need of medical care that he could not afford. Snoden was able to get him to the hospital, where he received life-saving treatment.  The family was very grateful and sheepishly asked Snoden if he could help with one more thing. The man’s mother lives in a tiny house that is dilapidated to the point of collapsing, which has happened once before. It’s completely unsafe and needs to be rebuilt—but the right way this time. Snoden spent his own money on the man’s medical care and only then did he call us to tell us he’s out of money to help any further. He asked if we could raise support to rebuild the house. 

At first we were hesitant to entertain the idea of going so far outside the boundaries of our own ministry. The widow’s house is far away from our school and not within the scope of our mission statement, which includes helping only the families of the kids we sponsor. But, on second thought, we realize that Snoden will do what he’s going to do with his own time and his own money, and there are worse things than helping the poor. I’ve said before that we are tweaking our plan as we go along, so here’s a new rule: We will support any benevolence that our own people are willing to spend their own money and time on. That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? 

So instead of vacation photos from Malawi, Snoden has sent us photos of the family in Dedza and a video of himself at the widow’s current house, asking for $1,000 to rebuild it. I will be posting that video on DonorSee shortly after I post this blog article. As always, thank you for your interest and support. You can help with this project or any other by making a tax deductible donation at the link below. Thank you and God bless you!

Westworth Church Paypal

Eniya

This little girl is Eniya. I hesitate to share this photo of her because I don’t like it and we never intended for it to be taken. However, it is a great illustration of what goes on in the village where we’ve built our school, so here you go. Drink in this image while I tell you about her. 

Eniya is only three years old and has two siblings. Her mom sells cassava—which, if you don’t know, is a root that looks like a brown sweet potato and is a major source of calories for many people in developing countries. Hers is an honest living but it doesn’t provide for her three children, so she brought her youngest daughter to us for help. Because of donations from our generous partners, we have been able to feed Eniya a nutritious meal every day since last Christmas. She’s officially a member of our feeding program, and we will raise money for her every six months. She’s growing, learning, and playing. She’ll be four this December and we hope to enroll her in our preschool soon. 

Recently we got a call that Eniya was hurt. She was in the long drop (what they call an outhouse in Malawi—yes, really) at her home during a hard rain, and the whole structure fell in on her. The little hut was made of bricks stacked on top of each other but without mortar. Over time the rain water seeped into the cracks and around the base until it gave way and toppled down on Eniya. Her mother heard her cry and pulled her out from under the rubble. Her first instinct was to bring the child to Snoden. He rushed her to the hospital, where she was treated, and now she’s doing much better. 

As Snoden relayed the story to us, we asked what it would take to rebuild the long drop so it would be safe for the family to use. We asked him to get a photo of the damage. Something got lost in the translation, and he sent us this image. We usually ask Snoden to include a photo or video of the child we’re helping because we want everyone to know who these kids are; we want you to be connected. This time, however, we just wanted a picture of the structure, not of her in it.

It turns out Eniya’s mother rents her house, which is built the same shoddy way as the long drop. In order for them to be safe, we would have to rebuild the whole place from the ground up. Snoden, Eniya’s mom, and John and I all agree that a better idea is for Eniya’s family to come stay on our property in one of the classrooms until we find more suitable and long-term housing for them. They will rent our building for a reasonable price (this is an important arrangement to maintain dignity) while Snoden helps them find a more permanent home. In the meantime, we plan to build a rental house on our property to be used in emergency situations like this one, which come up more often than you might think. 

We’re pleased to be able to offer relief efforts like this one to the families of the children in our program. God continues to guide our steps as we develop a comprehensive plan to raise these kids up to be godly adults, able to care for themselves and others and to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Along the way we’re discovering all the surprising details involved in such an effort. It can be sad and sometimes overwhelming, but it’s never ever boring. Thank you for your interest in caring for these precious children. Stick with us and you’ll share in the blessing of watching them grow. We are thankful for your support and because of your involvement, one day, I suspect Eniya will say the same. 

If you would like to make a donation to help care for kids like Eniya, please follow the link to the Westworth Church. Your donation is tax deductible.