Power is out

Sorry that there wasn't a weekly post  yesterday. Our power is out, and I am penciling a post. I don't really have time to type it out while we use the generator. There is a story that goes along with the power outage and it will be in the next post. Right now I need all of the prayer I can get concerning getting my visa extended. Mainly I need to just in God's word to me which was "Wait." I will be waiting on the Lord to work this out.

One Step at a Time

It looks like the internet isn’t going to let me post this evening. I’ll just write some things down and post them when I get a chance.

This week was good, but there have been some challenges. One of the boys is still having trouble with math, and I even caught him trying to cheat. The problem isn’t that he can’t learn the concepts; he knows how to do the problems. I’m not really sure what the root of the problem is, but I think it has to do with his general hard-heartedness. It is a struggle to get him to do anything that he doesn’t really want to do. These boys are in Father’s house physically, but I find it hard to believe that they grasp what it means to be in Father’s house spiritually. Just as the Israelites desired to go back to Egypt when they were delivered so too these boys seem to want to continue in their selfish ways. They don’t seem to want to go into the promise land. They are constantly pushing the limits as far as what they can get away with, and lately it is wearing me out. It makes me wonder if I act that way toward God in anyway. These boys often remind me of certain parts of myself that God is still working out of me. My prayer is that God will show me when I am wrong, and that I will be willing to be corrected by Him.

By request of one of the boys we have moved away from reading Proverbs to reading a linear story. My favorite Bible character is King David, so we are simply starting with I Samuel. They are reading a portion and then telling it again in their own words (that was a piece of advice from my mom). Supposedly telling a story in your own words is the first step toward learning to write papers and such. We’ll see how it goes. I partially wanted to keep reading the proverbs, but I’m not sure if the boys were understanding them very well. Typically stories, and the lessons contained within, are much more understandable.

In other news Friday was even crazier than I thought it would be. We had our grand viewing of the videos that the class made last Friday. It went fine, but then we began filming the teaching videos and that is when it got crazy. There lots of kids running around for the last day of Fridayschool, there were water-trucks coming in and out to fill the pool which had just been fixed, there were loud announcements broadcasted from the valley, the power kept going out which made one of our mics stop working, and there was even a disco party of some kind blasting away outside. All of these things made the filming quite difficult. I’ve been going through the footage (which is really difficult) and it looks like we may need to film some sections again. I had really thought we had finished, but I guess it will be okay. I would like to get behind one of the cameras myself next time.

I have a praise report! I have been informed that $700 has been sent to my account in Lifechangers. I am desperately hoping that will be enough to cover my plane ticket. I am going to need to get my visa extended before the 17^th rolls around. God sure likes to keep me leaning on Him, and I’m learning what David meant when he said, “But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2). I will continue to lean up against my Father and trust in His timing. He is faithful.

God continues to stretch and mold us here at Father’s House. I greatly appreciate your prayers. If there is anything I can pray for you please don’t hesitate to ask.

My email: mjstanton21@gmail.com

God Knows How To Stretch Us.

Hello Everyone!

This is the first time I am writing on a weekly basis. I have found a good time to do it in the evening just before going to bed. So, now Tuesday is my "get stuff done" day. Normally that means I clean up my room, do my laundry, and help clean the house with everyone. This week, however, it meant that I do several weeks worth of laundry (there was no water for sometime, but that is another story), finish editing the Friday school movies, finish touching up the script for shooting Eric's teaching tomorrow, and write in the blog. Needless to say today was a busy day and it isn't done yet.

God has been really stretching me lately in the area of finance for the past couple of years. I always feel that I need to go do my part with a job. If God called me to a job that brought in an income then I would do it with all of my heart. Right now He is teaching me that He will provide for me even beyond what I could ever do for myself. We read the thirteenth chapter of Matthew this past Sunday (the parable of the sower). Verse 22 says, "The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful." The deceitfulness of wealth seems to be the idea that if I just had enough money then I could stop worrying. So, we worry about getting money so that we can stop worrying. Why not just cast our cares on Him who cares for us (1 Peter 5:7)? 

To make a very long story short I have recently found out that God's children are awesome! I have a living cost of around $300 per month and I have around $800 in the Lifechangers account at the moment. That is so cool!
But, now I  find that my plane ticket will cost around $1600 (actually $1635) There was one I found for $1500 but that would mean I couldn't take the second bag back for the soccer balls because it is a mixture of airlines and the last flight would only allow one bag for free. Anyway, I find myself in another uncomfortable situation. I ask that you please pray carefully for me as I take the necessary steps to acquiring the money for these tickets.
You should know that the tickets are needed for two reasons: 1) I need to get home for my older sister's wedding, and 2) my visa is going to expire in August, but we can request an extension if I have a ticket home. The departure date is  September 23 and I will be returning to Uganda October 7. 
The bottom line is that I need help. I know that really my help comes from the LORD the maker of heaven and earth, but perhaps you could pray along side me as we watch God do something cool with the children he loves. 
The financial resources that God entrusts to us can be used to teach us a great deal. Please don't give to help me just because you feel sorry for me or something like that. There are plenty of other much worthier things to give God's money to. I remember a time when I was first working and saving for my first car God prompted me to give $500 to two different organizations. That was almost all of the money I had saved for my car. I still don't know why I needed to give it to those two organizations. I knew the money wasn't really mine so I allowed God to bless someone through me. If you feel prompted to let God bless someone through you be sure you pray about where He wants that money to go. We are all being shaped into good citizens of the kingdom of God. For me at this time it is trusting God for something which I cannot take for myself. I have to learn to receive from the Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children. At other times in my life it was learning how to freely give what he had given to me. Whatever phase God has you in I pray that you continually surrender into Him. 


I'm sorry that so much of this update is about money. Now that I have got this off of my chest I'm going to try and not worry about it anymore. Next week's update should be good. We are going to watch the Friday school movies on Friday, we are starting shooting for Eric's thing tomorrow, and we are hoping to do some more experimenting with film this Thursday. The boys are really getting into the filming so I think I'm going to teach them some combat stuff when we have a chance. There might be some action movies appearing on here in the future. There are so many things I could talk about, but I don't want to waste anymore of your time, so I'll save it for next week. See you later! 

Wow! Has it been that long?

Again another long period of time has gone by without me saying anything. So, once again I have many things I need to catch you up on.

I'll start with the mildly disappointing news. The Friday School kids will not be doing the play. One reason is that only about half of them were really disciplined enough to sit quietly whenever we practiced. Another reason was that I could never print enough copies of the script for us to have a descent practice. Usually either the power went out, or we'd run out of ink or paper. So practices have been a disaster. On the up side we have switched to doing some filming instead. We will probably be winging it this week, so I NEED your prayer. I'm hoping that doing something new will keep kids quiet and interested long enough to get some stuff done. I will try to put the finished product up on here.


The other news is interesting too. Eric (the founder of Father's House) is going to be recording some of his teachings on video. There is a good friend of theirs who will be supplying the equipment, and I will get to help with the shooting! I will also be the chief editor for the project. For those of you who don't know why I am excited about this, allow me to explain. My plan when this year is over is to either find a job in the film industry or go back to school for filming. My hope is to one day be an editor and/or director in feature films. This will be some great experience to get under my belt. A friend of mine put the video I made for the medical team on youtube. The aspect ratio got messed up somehow... It used to be 16:9 (widescreen). Now it is a little squished, so I'll need to redo something. Anyway, enjoy!

I also wanted to mention that things have been going better in the classroom. There are still a lot of disobedient moments, but I have a lot of hope for these boys. We are reading a chapter of Proverbs every morning. I'm having a hard time getting them to talk about what they read but they are slowly getting the hang of it. I think a lot of it is slowly sinking in. I'm also having them read James because of how it talks about bridling the tongue. 

I haven't heard back about the soccer balls yet, but when I do I will be sure to let you know the details. I have started playing soccer every Saturday. I am meeting a lot of new people and I'm getting to know Ugandan culture a little better. 

The last bit of news is not very good. I am a little confused about how I am going to get a plane ticket home for my sister's wedding. I thought it was going to be much simpler than it is. It also looks like I will need to raise some extra support for the ticket. I hate asking for money, so this is especially hard news for me. I also need the ticket soon so that we can request an extension for my visa which expires in August. I could really use your prayer. I'm trying to find the balance between putting it in God's hands and doing what God would have me to do concerning the matter. 

Please pray for:

-The Boys-

I really long to see them flourishing in the kingdom of God, but we all have a long way to go. Mainly pray that they could learn humility. 

-The Futbols- 

Pray that the company will let me purchase just a few balls at the organization rate and that we could work out a way to get the balls back to Uganda.

-Plane Ticket-

Pray that I will be able to trust God to make the way for me and that I won't seek to make the way for myself (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Sorry...But Better Late Than Never Right?

Sorry I have not posted a blog in quite some time. The truth is that I have been a little lazy about it. Doing school from 8:30-3:00 every day is a little tiring, but I still should have told you guys what is going on with me lately. Now I have a whole bunch of news to catch you up on. Let me try to start as far back as is necessary. I’m sure you don’t want to hear all of the little details, but I can graze over all of the ‘important’ things that you missed.

In addition to the school that we do during the week we also do ‘Friday School’ (I may have told you this already). I teach drama to the kids 9 years and above. The week before last Friday I asked the kids if they wanted to do a play. With more excitement then I expected they said yes. Then, this past week I told them about my idea for a play about a road trip from Kampala, Uganda to a city to be decided in Nigeria. They were even more excited. My last idea was to not use any props. Instead we would use the other actors as our props! They didn’t really understand this at first. We then tried out a scene where the main actors ‘passed’ other vehicles on the ‘road’ as well as encountered ‘speed bumps.’ They then opened a ‘door’ and used a ‘payphone.’ It was really hilarious to see one of the boys dial the ticklish telephone as well as move in unison in their invisible car. So, if you wouldn’t mind praying that I would get the rough draft of the script done by 13^th I and the kids would greatly appreciate it. If we have a performance it will be on August 3^rd and I will be sure to record it.

There has been a lot of name calling and tardiness among the boys lately, so they have to do push-ups as punishment. It was an idea I took from my old youth leader Mitch as well as from a good friend Mr. Fair. It has been working really well for the tardiness, but the name calling is still pretty bad. Sometimes it is just them teasing and playing with each other, but other times it is really spiteful. For example one day the name calling was escalating without me knowing it because it was all in Luo (the language that the Acholi in the house speak). After it was done both of the boys looked really upset. Apparently the younger one was pestering the older more than he could stand so he said something to the effect of “Why don’t you leave me alone. Go and kiss your grandmother’s a**.” The younger one had lost most of his family in a fire some years ago and still has some burns himself. I assume his grandmother died in the fire too. So the younger one kept saying, “How could you say that? My grandma is dead.” I told the boys to do some pushups and tell each other they were sorry for what they said. The older boy refused and said he wouldn’t forgive the other (I’m being vague on purpose). I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I reminded them that Christ asks us to forgive even as we have been forgiven or something like that. Anyway, it didn’t seem to have any effect so I just sat down and whispered a prayer. Very shortly afterward the older boy said that he forgave his brother and then immediately did his push-ups and got back to his school work. There have been a few things like that which have been neat to watch.

In other news: we went and saw two soccer games of the Ugandan national team. One game was a qualifier for the 2014 World Cup which was a miraculous tie. Uganda tied the match in the last few minutes against Senegal. It was really crazy, fun, and LOUD. They take their football (soccer) very seriously. In fact, on the way to the game I saw a billboard that said, “This isn’t football, it’s war.” The following week Uganda creamed Congo 4-0 (not Dominican Republic of Congo, but the other smaller one). It was even crazier than the first game! The fans flooded the field, tore the nets off of the goals, and danced around like mad. It was so fun to spend that time with the boys. Two of them, Francis and Daniel (12 and 13 yrs.), both really love football. I taught all of the boys a game called ‘butts up’ which involves keeping the ball in the air for as long as possible and if you mess up you get a letter. Once you spell b.u.t.t. you have to let everyone shoot the ball at your butt. They loved that game so much that we wore out the very durable leather ball that I brought with me. So today I was looking for a more durable ball and actually found a neat organization that has invented an almost indestructible ball. It is called the One World Futball Project. The balls are made out of the same material as crocs (those rubbery slipper shoes), and it can even be punctured and still be played with. http://www.oneworldfutbol.com/about-the-ball/. There is also a rate for organizations to buy 10 balls at $19 each, which got me thinking that it might be fun to buy some for Ray of Hope. That is the school and aid organization in the slums of Kampala which hosted the medical team these past few years. I was asked by some of the ladies there to come and do like a bible study with the boys there sometime and have yet been unable. My plan today is to ask a few people if there would be any way to make it down to Ray of Hope every once in a while to play some football and read the scriptures to those kids. It would take around $250 to purchase the balls, and ship them to NC. I could then pick them up while I am home for a couple of weeks in September. Oh yeah! I’m coming home for a couple of weeks for my sister’s wedding! That is something to look forward to. I hope to see many of you while I am back.

Anyway, between the schooling, the Futball idea, and the drama I’m keeping pretty busy, but I will try very hard to make it a habit to write something down every so often. I also have some videos I would like to put on here but the internet won’t allow. And lucky for me the internet just turned back on and I can post this. 

Banange (My Word)

Banange is about the only word I have really learned in Luganda which is the most common language in Kampala. It means "my goodness" or "my word." I'm working on learning some other things in Luganda but it has been slow going so far. I don't get much exposure to it around the house because the kids all speak Luo because they are from other parts of Uganda. The most exposure I get is during Friday School, but banange, I have not even told you about that, have I? Again, I apologize that there has been little posted on here. It seems that the internet is finally stable enough to allow for more posting.

-Blessing and Cursing-
I think one of the problems (believe it or not) was my post that cursed the internet. The other night I was reminded that I 'cursed' the internet and instead I decided to verbally bless the internet. Since then I have had very few problems with the internet. I thought it was interesting because there has also been a lot of name calling among the kids, and Eric had to talk to them about the importance of their words.

-In other news-
The medical team is gone, and just before the last team member left I completed a short video about their time in Namuwongo (the slums of Kampala). I am hoping to put it up on here sometime soon which is easier said than done. Their time here was very productive, but it also consumed all of my time. However, it was a really blessing to be able to give of myself in that particular way. I helped in the various parts of the clinic as well as doing a lot of filming for the video. The best part was praying for people after they had gone through the clinic. The thanks and blessings that we received from people was abundant. We even were asked by Muslims to pray for them. There were several people who asked Jesus to become Lord of their lives for the first time and many other's who recommitted their lives to Him.

School is now in full swing, but we had a few bumps on the road. A detention punishment has been enacted, and the boys in my room have to do push-up if they are late or misbehave. By the looks of it they are either going to become very fit or very obedient by the end of this year. It seems to be working, and there has been a lot less burping in the class room.

I have been taking a lot of videos and I hope to to put some of them together soon.

That is all I can think of for the moment, but I will post again soon. If you know of anyone (especially at BECF) who would like to read my updates please send the link of this blog to them.

Things to pray for:
-Patience for myself and Lilian (the other teacher)-
There have been a lot of issues that keep piling up in the behaviors of some of the kids, and it is hard to turn those habits around.
-Provision-
My sister has gotten engaged and really wants me home for the wedding in September. The ticket is around $1,500 so that is something that I am trusting God will supply by some means.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if there are mistakes I really wanted to get this up asap.

Oops (again)

So it has been brought to my attention that I made another, rather large, mistake in this blog and in my letter.
I gave the wrong P.O.Box number for Lifechangers.
So, here is the corrected address:

Lifechangers 

PO Box 3709 Cookeville, TN 38502

Office phone: 931-520-3730 

(3709 not 3909)

I have also been working on some videos lately more that writing and will get those up as soon as the Internet permits.