Day 4- discouraged Jan.25
Discouraged -
This morning we once again hiked up the hill for our breakfast. Excuse me, the mountain. Let me tell you about this mountain. As I mentioned before this mountain as we call it is straight up! Think roller coaster steep to get ready to plunge. For every meal Jana and I must climb this hill if we want to eat. This means 3 times a day!!! Some days, we have seriously considered, not eating at all! Fasting is sounding better every day! The steps going up are about 12 inches deep in height, making it even harder to climb. So we dread meal time and have to give ourselves a pep rally before heading that way. The first day we almost died and it took forever as we stopped every two steps to catch our breath. Africans are staring at us to see these two white women climb these stairs. We pretend we are looking at the beautiful flowers, birds, goats, roosters and view! I am proud to say that after only 4 days, we are definitely faster and are looking at less scenery on the way up. LOL Both of our pants are loose! So we will have a new weight loss plan by the time we get back. Ha!
Today after breakfast, I contacted the US embassy and got an appointment with the Consulate for Tuesday at 1:30 pm to discuss the the immigration of Allen and Andrew. I also got hold of Mr. Nyombi and he wanted to see us today for a briefing before Monday, which is our court date, so we made the appointment for this afternoon for 3:30pm.
John, our guide and personal assistant, arranged for a driver and picked us up. John and Martin have been assigned to us by the missionary at the Bible School and have become our protectors on this trip while Pastor Scott is out of town. They are so kind and serving that it humbles us. God has given us protectors during this important time. We are so thankful and feel very safe and confident in their care. This is another Favor to us. (#7)
We received some visitors from the college and they came in to visit. About that time, my phone rang and it was Karla with HOPE FOR UGANDA, she had been looking for me and I hadn't been able to get hold of her. So I was glad to hear from her. She filled me in on some stuff that we need to know about the court hearing and etc.. My heart sank as she said, that out of 5 of the people that needed to testify, 3 of them became very sick and are in the hospital. We needed to take them out of the hospital, put them in a private taxi and when they got to Kampala, put them in a hotel where they could be cared for before and after the court hearing. This was going to cost me 5 times as much as I had planned for!!! Then she said, Let's do this, I have a court hearing right after you and I need those same people to testify on my behalf too, so why don't we split the cost? I surely agreed. Then, I found out that I had to gift the witnesses double than what I was told previously. I then bargained on that one and got it reduced. Two other major expenses became apparent as well and my heart kept sinking lower and lower. I wasn't sure if I had brought enough money, but God reminded me that He was my provision.
The good news was that Allen and Andrew had been told that their mommy was in Uganda ready to get them and they jumped up and down with excitement! She said Allen is the most precious child and there is none like her and that Andrew is the most brilliant child she has ever met! They will be here late Sunday night and we will meet them on court morning.
So, we pray for safety and health as they all travel to court.
I also learned that after the court hearing we would legally become the children's guardian and they could go home with us!!!! So we will get them Monday!!
Well we headed off to the lawyer's and end up waiting as he has another client and then he had to run to the bank before they closed. He returned and we entered his office and sat down. He proceeded to fill us in on what will happen. John our ever valiant protector went right in with us. He was told to not leave us at all and he never did. Mr. Nyombi explained the court procedure and about all the allegations of child trafficking and how all of his applications have always been approved though in high court and we would be successful. He went on to say that he was not a nice man but then his wife kept bugging him to help the orphans so after he started taking on cases, his heart changed after he saw what the kids were going through. He informed us that he was a member of parliament and he knows all the officials and it would work in our favor. THEN... he proceeded to tell us that just last week the internal affairs and ministry of justice added some fees and we would have to pay almost $900 more per child. My heart plunged with in me as I knew I did not have this money. I asked him when he needed it and he replied, "yesterday". We then made an appointment for the next day on Saturday to come and pay and then finished up. We said our good byes and walked out. I looked at Jana and without speaking she knew what I was thinking. This was going to be impossible to come up with the money by 11am tomorrow.
We arrived home(guest house) and I called Karla in case she didn't know about this expense as she hadn't mentioned it when I had previously talked to her. She told me that I needed to call Mr. Nyombi and tell him that I would not pay that fee as it had not been previously agreed upon. I get real uneasy if I have to confront someone about something and so was relieved when I tried to call him but to no avail.
Jana and I then decided we would take this to God and would also call our husbands to get advise. I also called my parents for advise in how to deal with this expense as they had lived many years in Africa and were used to dealing with situations like this. With this expense and the others previously mentioned, I was not sure what I was going to do. I did not have as much money on hand as needed. We spent the evening in prayer and worship and God lead us to scripture after scripture to guide us in this matter. He is such an awesome God! With prayer and supplication we made our need known to Him and He answered. I prayed most of the night asking God to direct me, give me wisdom and to put the words in my mouth that He wanted me to speak. Though I did sleep some that night, I remember praying in my dreams for the same thing. When I got up the next morning, I felt refreshed and I had a peace about what I should do. God showed me that He would take care of this matter Himself and stand in the gap for the children and myself. I was to humble myself and go in to Mr. Nyombi with honor for him. I knew that God was wanting me to pray over this man in His office which was totally out of my comfort zone. I didn't know this man. He might think I was nuts! But I prayed, "Lord, I will do what you want me to do." All night the course of a song had gone through my mind and I had made it my prayer, "I will go where you go, I will say what you say, I will pray what you pray." I still did not know what to say to the attorney but trusted that God would speak through my lips when we got there.
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