So much has happened this year already!! “Here Am I. Send Me!” Isaiah6:8 By Jim & Robyn Fruehan Well this has been a busy year for us! We started out the year with wrapping up the sale of our home in San Diego and trekking across the states to reach Montana in the middle of winter. Brrr! On March 31st we headed for Uganda for a five month mission trip. We had the opportunity to visit and work at the children’s center and to stay for three months with the pastor and his family in their home. This gave us time to evaluate their entire ministry and to obtain the accountability needed for us to fulfill our obligation to our supporters.

An African Journey!
After three months, we relocated to another house to live where we stayed the remainder of our journey, because of the many needs; we added another month to our trip whereby we ended up staying through the end of September. The Lord used this African journey to give us quite a sightseeing trip. We did get an opportunity for a one day Safari where we saw baboons, hippopotami, crocodiles and zebras. But I am really talking about God’s journey. Besides the ministry that we thought He was sending us on, we discovered that God had other plans for us. We were introduced to so many areas that needed our help. We kept asking; “why are you showing us all these ‘other things’ when you sent us here to take of Jireh Ministries?” The Lord told us “I want you here.” I can understand that, because when we began this ministry, I had related to Abraham when he was asked to sacrifice his son. God did not want the sacrifice; He wanted Abraham! This brings us again to the fact that we are not here to serve man, but to serve God!

Completion of a Program
We worked on many projects at the children’s center and we had the opportunity to host and work with several missionary teams who came throughout the summer. A few of the projects we started were the “H2O8 Program” for clean water, the “Genesis 2:15 Program” to teach them to take care of God’s earth, and we planted over twenty fruit trees to provide food, shade and beauty, we had outhouses pumped, started an agriculture club along with variety of other items. We committed to provide food for the children through the end of the school term in December. Our work at Jireh Children’s Center has come to completion.

A New Vision!
The need is so great in Uganda that we have started our first children’s home. We presently have six girls in a temporary home with about 40 boys and girls waiting for help. The needs of the children vary, some are without family and others are in a vulnerable desperate situation. As long as we have the funding, we can provide beds, food and schooling. We want these children to have a safe environment where they can be nurtured with love and nutrition and of course a good education. We need to see to the best of our ability that the children are in a good situation. To make this happen, we need our child sponsors to stick with us to help with the funding. Some of these sponsors have been supporting these children every month, from when the sponsorship program first began. We really need all of our supporters to help with additional funding. For $28.00 a month it makes a huge impact on what we can do for the lives of these children. As I have stated in the past, if everyone just gave $5.00, it would make a big impact! With over six hundred supporters times $5.00=$3000.00. This would be a great start, because we need all the basics including beds and bedding!! The good news is that the money does go far over there. Our vision is for our sponsors to be involved with the entire home of children that they can, through the internet, be able to find out how the children are doing with their academics, health, and general well being. We invite you to become an Uncle or Auntie to one of our children’s homes!

Needless to say, our Ministry will be taking on a new direction. We will do everything we can to help these children. But praise the Lord! We all know where we are needed to help others (Matt 25:31- 46) and we know that the statistics still show that there are over a million orphans in Uganda that need help. But still, the greatest contribution you can make to us is your prayers. The Lord Will Provide!

Here is our Christmas wish list for items that the children’s home needs:

http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2008/12/under-construction.html