Remembering: November 2013 prayer and praise update about meeting with a gang leader in El Salvador

Reminiscing about God's faithfulness and found this old update - the meeting went well and we thank God for His faithfulness!

We appreciate those of you who have been praying for us and sending encouragement and counsel our way... We have heard counsel to go ahead and also counsel to "flee" for sometime, we have also prayed and heard God thru His Word and thru the peace He has given to us and Samuel will be meeting with the gang leader in our community this Saturday...All of this peace that I feel has caused me to reflect, and I wanted to share with all of you, and especially with those close to us or who I know are praying for us:

As I look back over the timeline of my life, of my husband's life, and our life together, I am so thankful for all that God has brought us through. He has shaped us and prepared us for where we are at right now and I know that He will continue to do so - for our good and for His glory!

Some highlights (not including those that seemed good at the time) of things He has shown Himself through in Samuel's life are: surviving birth (a miracle really for each of us alive today!), helping with cattle as a toddler - many times he "should have" been trampled, living IN a battlefield from age 6-13 (not just in war or near fighting, but IN the battlefield, ie in the jungle with bombs exploding nearby, running through gunfire, being in a war camp with no food or water or housing for years, (where people were dying or suffering from disease all around him) having his home looted and property taken at gunpoint..), at age 13 being told to "eat Jesus, instead of food" and surviving off of less than a meal a day for a year, being unlawfully arrested and tortured for 3 + months, a few motorcycle accidents, including hitting a bull at 150km/hour and being thrown, mob "attacks" while working for Habitat for Humanity and when bringing relief as a Red Cross district youth director...

Those are just the "big" ones...but God has shown Himself faithful and strong and has moved in miraculous ways to keep Samuel alive so far, and I can't help but think that it is because He still has a purpose for him here on earth and will be more glorified by his living than by his dying (and I also like to think that He was saved just for me and for our children!). I trust God completely with his life and KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He will preserve his life until such a time as He decides to call him home. And when He does call him home, if I am "left behind", I know that God will continue to be a Husband to me and a Father to our children, even as He is now... I have NOT been given a spirit of fear...

So, as far as my husband meeting with the gang leader this Saturday and for our continued work in a potentially dangerous place, I KNOW that my God will go before us, that He will use Samuel's life for His own glory and that He loves each gang member and it is His desire that none of them would be lost - but that they would be saved!

We were called here with a vision...not just a vision to build a home and take care of a few orphaned children...but a more holistic vision, for the community, for discipleship, for sustainability, for Christian education and for training up a generation of children (our own included) to further the Kingdom of God; to love Him and to obey His commands.

I am excited to see what God has planned...and I know, that even through the trials, He will be faithful and He will be glorified (which doesn't mean it will all go the way I think it should, but that it WILL be perfect anyways!)

I also believe in the power of prayer and would ask that, if you know God and live in relationship with Him, that you would join us in praying...pray for wisdom and discernment and also for perfect Spanish for Samuel and pray that the Holy Spirit would draw the gang leader (and all those who are lost) to Himself - that He would lead them to Salvation. Pray for protection and pray that God would be glorified! Pray that we would be kept in perfect peace as our minds remain steadfast on Him...

And, as another little testimony of God's protection: a few years ago, we were also being told to fear for our lives in the community and never to walk alone there, etc. we prayed about it with some fellow missionaries here and the next time we went to the community we were met by Don Manuel (the elderly caretaker, recently become blind), saying that he could SEE our car driving onto the property and all around it were people dressed in white, ascending and descending & encircling the vehicle in chariots...and he knew not to fear for us anymore. Not only are there Angels all around, but THE God of angel armies is by our side!

Reader’s Favourites

Father's Heart Coffee

Father’s Heart Coffee gives 100% profits to The Father’s Heart Village in El Salvador. With every sip, you empower us to sustainably care for the holistic needs of orphaned children. Lets us know if YOU want to try our coffee! It is: -Shade grown -High Altitude (Apeneca) -Pacamara -Honey Process -Organic -Dark, Medium or Blonde Roast AND, for every pound of coffee sold, we can purchase 30 blocks for building a future of hope! We can ship coffee to you anywhere in North America! Order via our Canadian Website - donate page (more order options coming soon too!): www.fhfcanada.ca And, don't forget to order your copy of our book! Proceeds help our family to care for fatherless children in El Salvador & Uganda! Amazon Author Page

More of life in the village - began writing in the village, and will slowly finish this week

As I sit here to write, I am surrounded by small children –some nephews, a little orphaned girl, and a great-nephew, plus some of my own children coming and going. I came to the church building to write, because the internet reception is better, the heat is not as intense, and I thought I would be alone – if I could speak the language I might ask them to leave for a little while, but I think that choosing love, and bearing the noise of all the “emotokars” (cars made of pieces of wood –that don’t resemble cars, but with an imagination and some good sound effects, they become perfect cars!)…in the time that it took to write that, they realized that I wasn’t looking at pictures or doing anything interesting, so they took their cars outside –but left a baby behind to play on the dirt floor. Actually, the floor is not dirt, it is made of cow dung. Here is Benjamin’s description of the [making of the] cow-dung floor: “I watched one of my cousins make a cow-poop-floor. First, they coll...

“Palm Sunday”. Thinking about Worship, “social distancing” & examining ourselves and our Gospel message

Psalm 139:23, 24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” 2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem by a crowd full of people singing and rejoicing over miracles. When Nicodemus came to Jesus and said that they (the Jewish leaders) knew that He must be from God because of the signs/miracles, Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) The Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah, and the entire Old Testament is full of messianic prophesies - on the road to Emmeaus, after His resurrection, Jesus went through the entire scripture to teach that it was all about Himself. The mes...

reflections on airports and travel (written in 2003)

Departures Written by Charity Pilkey, April 2003 To every photograph, there exits the negative from which the subject was derived. And here stand many subjects. Some would think themselves the photographer, or more defined as the photojournalist. Others, of course, are the born model. While some still, would rather not be depicted as either. But all are indeed, to me and my purpose, if not in reality the subject. The subjects in a photograph taken here, before each one’s destination, and yet also, after their arrival. Each one has a negative; a strip like that of a comic, but more properly described as a slide-show. And whether their departure is but for a little while or if it is expected to be for an eternity, there will exist forever in their mind’s eye, this place of departure and the happenings that brought them here. This place where everyone holds ready their passport, will be stamp now in each one’s life passport . A stamp which cannot be erased....

Life in the village, as a parable that points to Christ and to eternity

I have stepped out of the village for one week, and am spending time with my sister and her family in Kampala (with my 4 littles). Samuel is still in the village and working hard to finish a permanent brick house for our extended family there. We began this house 9 years ago, and it has been very slowly taking shape. Unfortunately, not much can be accomplished with any quality, without Samuel overseeing (even now, if he leaves a “professional” builder to work on one portion of the house, while he is on the other side, he can come back and find that no level has been used, and the work needs to be redone). As I wrotelast time , I could die to certain life comforts, and would gladly count them a loss for Christ, but still struggle with being a foreigner with the language. We haven’t been called to live and minister long term in an African village (at this point in our lives). So, I am enjoying a visit with my sister before spending the next few weeks in the village and the...

Excerpt from Chapters One & Fifteen of Samuel's testimony/book

1 Ingoratok: People from Ngora From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. Acts 17:26 MY FAMILY COMES FROM WHAT is now the District of Ngora, in Uganda, East Africa. And before that, as history tells it, my people were traveling for generations. My ancestors originally came from the Mediterranean, which perhaps is why even today our language has some similarities with the romance languages of the Mediterranean. Words such as emesa which means “table” in my mother tongue of Ateso, is very similar to the Spanish translation mesa, to name but one of many examples. From the Mediterranean, we travelled down through Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and then down through Uganda and Kenya. We arrived in Uganda around 1600 AD. As we travelled, we left settlers along the way, including the present-day Kalenjin, Maasai and Jie peoples of Kenya, the Kuuku of Sout...

Reflecting on Child Soldiers and IDPs in Soroti, 2004: Journal Entry and Poem

Child Soldier (Reflecting again on meeting child soldiers in Soroti, Uganda in 2004) Although I didn't know it at the time, I met my husband - and even interviewed him- in Soroti Town in 2004. That visit will forever be etched on my memory. We have just published the second edition to Samuel's story now. Having freshly re-read and edited every page, I have again re-lived his story as if it is my own (which is probably why I have been feeling so exhausted lately!). Imagining life as an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), living on a battlefield and surviving in the jungles, is one thing; remembering the child soldiers and child wives that we met is another. The picture on the right, and the one below, are of IDPs in Soroti. They have beautiful smiles, and while they were completely displaced and spread out throughout the city, seeking safety from Kony's army that rampaged villages in the district, they were still "innocent". The children that we me...

The Father-heart of God: a Definition

Having grown up hearing and learning the meaning of the “Father-heart of God”, I have never thought to sit and write a definition, until now as we prepare for a time of staff training (or envisioning). And as I have recently been told that the term didn’t make grammatical sense to someone -I wondered if it was our (mine and Samuel’s) Canadian, British and Ugandan language background, and similar church and training background that gave as a unique understanding of a term that maybe doesn’t actually makes sense? But when I googled it, mostly American blogs and studies came up - so American English uses the term too …but what does the term mean ? That is what I want to write about here. I am sitting in a coffee shop, thinking about the Father-heart of God, with headphones on. I felt compelled to listen to “How Great Thou Art” as I write and wish I could sing at the top of my voice while sitting here… thinking of all that it has ever meant to me and what it means now, the great truth...

listening and writing habits

So, I haven’t written a blog post in 4 months (!) and have also taken a 2 week break from other writing/editing/website work…so, I need to practice putting words on paper (or on a screen) before getting back to work… These past several months have been full of growth, challenges, and blessings, and I am SO thankful for God’s mercies which are new every morning, and for His people who encourage me/us. Some lessons seem to be life-long, and God keeps on bringing me back to grow even more in areas of my life that I thought had already been matured. And, as is always the case, He uses the people around me (like my littles!) and His Word to challenge and sanctify! I am so glad that it is GOD who promises to complete the work that HE began in me! Lately, I have been so encouraged by making it a habit to listen to podcasts and imusic audio studies, and to also put on either worship music or preaching (usually with headphones/earbuds in just one ear, so I am still “present”). It i...

Passionate for Truth: If you are a born-again Christian, do you use the JW Bible or Book of Mormon? What if I told you that Jesus appeared to me with insight into re-translating the Bible? What If I added words to the Bible and made it available for Christians everywhere?

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” Revelation 22:18-19 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:1-2 “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6 In the Garden with Eve and in the dessert with Jesus, Satan used the Word of God too... ...

A Call to Discern, Contend for & be Sanctified by Truth

Search This Blog