It’s hard to believe I am heading out today for the next to last Secret Church conference in Kenya this year. I have never had time pass so quickly here, as these past few months have passed. What an incredible journey its been thus far! Once again I am headed out today to a part of Kenya I’ve never been. Looking forward to seeing more of Gods creation and meeting more of His servants! The last conference was filled as always with so many blessings.

Pastors attending the Secret Church Conference

Young pastors training in the Word~

These young men are in their twenties and doing a great work for the churches they pastor. Every where I go, there are usually some young men, but they’re not always pastors. God allowed me to see these young men in a different light and burdened my heart to help them get more teachings. I have some separate Secret Church studies that I am going to bring these pastors here to Uganda to the mission house to do. Last year the folks at Radical gave me the remaining studies from the Secret Church teachings, some of which we have not completed yet. Now I know at least 3 of who these remaining studies were meant for.

Pastors Completing Their Study Guides

My home for the week

My host family

The kitchen and women who took care of the pastors

These were my roommates for the week: 2 mother chickens and their babies and a duck. Also a cat.

Please be in prayer for our sweet Umaru.

Umaru

He has basically stopped eating in the last few days. He is no longer wanting food. His little body is continuing to swell more and more. He will sometimes drink some yogurt and this morning he ate a boiled egg, but thats not a whole lot. We know there is nothing we can do, and we must trust God in what His will is for Umaru. Selfishly, I want God to heal him here and let him stay with us, but as I learned with Derick, sometimes God is ready to have them home with Him. Its hard to leave today not knowing if he will be alright until I get back.

His Mother left two weeks ago to go plant her crops. She has returned only once since then and visited him for a couple of hours. I know this is hard for him, so please join me in praying that his Mother will soon complete her work and return to be with him. If you don’t plant crops here, you don’t eat, so I know it must be hard for her to have to make such a decision when he is so sick. Yet, I know she has peace that he is in good hands here.

Here is a picture I took this week of our kiddo’s that live with us here at the mission house. We are so blessed!

From Left: Phylis, Esther, James, Arafat, Doreen and Umaru

Pray for our conference this week as God once again uses Pastor Platt’s teachings to grow in wisdom and knowledge those who will attend. As always I am very thankful for the Radical team and all they have done to provide training for our pastors here. Also pray for my health as I’ve been battling stomach issues for several weeks. And today I leave with a severe headache that I’ve had a couple of days. Pray that I will be 100% healed by the time I reach the conference later today where I can complete all God has for us this week.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

Week before last we had another incredible Secret Church conference in Kenya. With each conference I see more and more of how God is working in the hearts of these pastors. At this conference one of the pastors who had attended two of the previous conferences asked permission to accompany me on the rest of the conferences throughout Kenya. He believes God is calling him to go to Northern Kenya and Southern Sudan to teach these Secret Church lessons. He wants to attend all the conferences where he can be equipped fully to answer Gods call.

Pastors at the Secret Church Conference

Gods girls taking care of His men…

This makes a total of 4 pastors who feel a calling to other countries. This of course is the goal of Secret Church, to equip and send out. This past Friday night I participated in the live Simulcast of Secret Church #12 from Birmingham. What an incredible experience to be a part of 20 nations from all over the world learning about The Cross and Suffering and praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters in The Horn of Africa. If you didn’t have the opportunity to participate, please go the their website radical.net and listen/watch the teachings. It will give you a different understanding of suffering. My eyes were opened to new truths and I gained much knowledge.

On Saturday I visited our pastors who are in our BSI classes at Lake Victoria and in Buradi, Kenya. I was blessed to deliver new dictionaries to help them gain a better understanding of some of the English words in their curriculum. Thank you Dorks College Text Books for providing these tools for the pastors. They were so happy to receive them.

Pastors receiving new dictionaries from Dorks College Text Books

The rainy season is in full force so we are back to getting stuck often as we did on Saturday.

No doubt….rainy season is here!

I am leaving out today for another week in Kenya for a Secret Church conference. I have never been where I am going today, so I have no idea what to expect, but know that in all things God is in control! I am excited to be visiting the place I am going today. I first met the pastor whose family I will be staying with two years ago. Ever since I met them, they have wanted me to come and stay with them, so it’s exciting to finally have that opportunity. The pastors wife’s name is Joy, so we are excited to spend time together!

We have two new beautiful children here at the missions compound. The first is Umaru. Umaru has a heart condition that is jeopardizing his life. The doctors have said that his life expectancy is very short. As you can see from our picture his stomach is extremely extended. This is the result of fluids created from the heart not functioning properly. Each week he has to go and have fluids drained off, but within a few days, the stomach is back to this condition again.

Umaru

He and his Momma, Rose, were Muslim believers. When he came to us for medical help, the gospel began to be shared by several of our staff and others. He and his Momma have now received Jesus as their Savior. Rose stays here with him and the two of them are attending church and Sunday School each week.

Umaru and Rose

Please be in prayer for Gods perfect will to be done in Umaru’s life. We have our Arafat as a perfect example of the Great Physicians abilities to heal when the doctors say there is nothing more they can do. Please pray for Rose as Umaru is her only child that lives with her. She has an older girl who is married and lives in Kampala, so it has been just Rose and Umaru for a long time. They have their own room here in the compound and they are both enjoying being a part of our lives here. Umaru is absolutely precious. Oh how I wish you could hear his voice in this message, it is so gentle and sweet.

The second child we have received in is Esther. She is 6 years old and was hit by a motorcycle walking home from school. She was hospitalized for a time then came to live with us when she was released. She is a complete mess! She is mischievous and funny, what a joy she is to our lives.

Esther

A team from the states is here this week working with Dr. Brenda at the Village of Eden. Dr. Brenda has done an amazing job over the past few months overseeing the purchasing and design for the Village of Eden. She leaves out tomorrow to head back to the states, and I am going to miss her terribly! It has been such a joy to have her here for an extended time. She and I share the same unit and her leaving will leave a void! But, I know she will soon return….and l look forward to her being back here more and more often now that the Village of Eden is up and going.

The roads are now cut in and other development is underway. I am pleased to share that my apartment site has been chosen and is part of the first buildings to be built. In a few days when I return from this conference I will have the opportunity to talk to my dear friend Jimmy Wallace about the layout of the interior rooms! Isn’t our God good! Jimmy and his wife Becky are two of my dearest friends. They have been a vital part of every part of my missionary journey. When we started this journey a few years ago, I never would have dreamed that God would make a way for Jimmy to design and help oversee the building of my new apartment here. Steve Moon, Helping Hands Board member is here with the team this week and has worked on the layout of the septic system for my apartment, woohoo! That means I will have a toilet and running water! Thanks Steve!

It will be exciting in the months ahead to see it being built and then begin my transition from the mission compound to the Village of Eden. God created me to be a pioneer and I love that I am going to be on the pioneer trail again being the first to move out to the Village of Eden. My Helping Hands accounting tasks has intensified as the Village of Eden is now under construction, making the need of my transitioning there sooner. Most of the time that I am not traveling, I am working on the books. What a joy to be used in this area.

As I finish out my travel schedule in the months ahead, I will be transitioning into full-time accounting for Helping Hands Uganda. Its been great doing their accounting for the years I’ve been here and to now see the need of a full-time accounting person and be able to fulfill that need. Every season of my life is under Gods control, and as much as I will miss the traveling and helping the pastors next year, I understand that this also is an important need that God has placed me here for. He has a plan and He will not leave me without ministry opportunities. There are hundreds of people surrounding the Village of Eden property…I know He has a plan and will use me to continue teaching and making disciples while I fulfill a need for Helping Hands. How incredible that I get to do the things I love!

Please be in prayer for our Secret Church conference this week. Pray for God to continue to open eyes to see His world, open ears to His voice and penetrate hearts to surrender to the call of missions.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

Another great week of Secret Church ministry in the western part of Kenya. As the week ended, our hearts rejoiced as two pastors shared how the Holy Spirit had spoken to them about a call to the mission field. One requested prayer for the call he wants to answer to the country of Angola, and another requested prayer for the call he wants to answer to the country of North Sudan. One is a young pastor, the other an older pastor. Proof that God can use us, no matter how young or how old.

My home for this week….

The surroundings around my home for the week…

Beautiful ladies who cooked for our pastors…

Back breaking work…washing dishes for the pastors…

The road we walked from our home to the church….

The church where our conference was held…

The men of God who grew in knowledge and wisdom this week….

A wonderful example of a Paul, Barnabas, Timothy heritage

The young man on the left was taught while he was growing up in Sunday School by the man in the middle. The man on the right was their pastor. Today this young man is the district leader over both his Sunday School teacher’s church and his former pastors church. What a loving relationship they all had for one another and a beautiful heritage they have made being an example of a Paul, Barnabas, Timothy relationship.

A beautiful Kenya sunset….

Each evening as I walked from the church down the road towards home, I was blessed to watch the sun going down. Simply breathtaking beauty by the Creator to end my days….

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

We arrived safely to our Secret Church event on Monday afternoon. I say this because our enemy’s arrows were shot all around us to stop our efforts for this conference. Many things happened over the course of the day, but two of the arrows came through the traveling process.

In the years I have been serving here and traveled into Kenya, I have never experienced what my driver and I experienced that day at the police checks along the roads. We were accused of violating Kenya roadway laws and told we were being taken to court. At another police check we were accused of not having the correct paperwork we needed to be in Kenya.

At first I didn’t realize what was happening. But slowly as we were trying to convince the police we had not violated any laws, it became so clear that the enemy was at work. While the officer was standing in my window telling me he was going to take my driver and I to court (which means take us to his superior) I began to pray and immediately the officer changed his mind and let us go.

The second time it happened I was better prepared. As the police was insistent that we didn’t have the paperwork they wanted to see .I sat there just saying the name of Jesus, over and over again and all of a sudden they saw in the paperwork we had what they needed to see!

By this point I was so excited! I knew God had great and mighty things planned for this conference since the enemy was battling to keep us from getting there.

My translator, Tom was not able to travel with us and met us there. When he arrived he was stressed because of the challenges he faced in his own journey that day. We went into the hut where I was staying and went to the Lord in prayer, surrendering everything to Him and asking Him to renew us and use us to accomplish the work He called us there to do. God listened and answered our prayers!

Before we left the hut to walk over to the church, I had Tom check the hut for chickens. I was so happy there wasn’t one setting on its eggs under the bed like last year. The chickens were everywhere outside and would walk in and out of the hut if I was there, but they didn’t sleep there.

This time it wasn’t chickens I had to sleep around it was rats. At night when I first went into the hut, there wasn’t any to be seen, but when I would turn off my lantern, I would hear them coming in from the outside wall sliding down the mudded walls. I was miserable, the first two nights were so long. It is a difficult thing to speak of such things to those around me for fear of offending, but by the third day I shared with Tom how I hadn’t been sleeping and why.

Tom told me the rats of course come in at night to feed. They wait until the light goes out, then come in. I was so glad I shared with him, because I realized if I left my lantern on, they wouldn’t come in. That night I tried it and it worked! Now I have a great plan for such circumstances, I just take extra batteries for my lantern and let it burn all night!

Although those first couple of nights were miserable, the joy and excitement of the days during the Secret Church sessions made up for it. On the last day we took pictures and they shared about how much they learned. Once again, I was overwhelmed with the goodness of our Heavenly Father that I get to witness such a change in the lives of these men of God.

Pastors from this weeks Secret Church in the Kenya bush…

Maybe a good illustration would be this: imagine that the only ice cream you have ever had is vanilla. You love vanilla ice cream and eat it every opportunity that arises. But then one day, someone takes you to an ice cream shop and you are introduced to more varieties of ice cream than you can count. Your world has been expanded and you will never be satisfied with just plain vanilla anymore.

Most of these pastors have never had any type of bible training. The only times they’ve heard the bible taught is when a preacher from another country comes through and preaches. Because these villages are so remote, that hasn’t happened often in their ministries.

As they begin those first hours of Secret Church, their range of bible knowledge begins to expand and by the last day they are hungrier than ever for more. They are no longer satisfied with just a little knowledge. They hunger to know it all!

We had a wonderful team of women once again serving the pastors by walking for water and cooking for them.

Precious daughters of the King

What I didn’t realize until the last day was, that as they were cooking, they were listening to Pastor Platt teach. Their hut for cooking was beside the church, but I hadn’t realized they were listening. On the last day when the pastors were sharing what they had learned, I was thrilled as the women also shared what they too had learned!

If you’ve never experienced a Secret Church session, please go to their website and look for a location near you where a simulcast of the April 6th sessions will be held. You will not want to miss it! http://www.disciplemakingintl.org/secretchurch/

Love to all,

Joy Breedove

Missionary-East Africa

I’ve someone new to introduce to you. This is our newest orphan living here with us at the mission house. Her name is Doreen and Arafat is so happy to have another child here his age. Yesterday they both went with us to a bush church. What a joy to see them carrying their Bibles and then listening to them pray during church.

Doreen and Arafat….ready for church!

We went to the church where our guard Geoffrey attends. It was the first time we’ve ever been in church with him. A few weeks back Helping Hands changed Geoffreys job position. He now does all sorts of things and has Sundays off, so he can be in church with his family.

Geoffrey with his boys at church….

This church is also the church of the boy my son Bryan and his family sponsor. His name is John and as soon as we walked in the church, he came immediately and snuggled up right next to me. I sure love this boy, he is very special to our family.

Our sweet little John

This morning, Tom, Sezi and I are heading out to Kenya for the second Secret Church conference. I am so excited as having already experienced the first one helps me know how God is going to work throughout this week. Just a bit nervous about my lodging! I am staying in the hut where I had to sleep with the chicken last year! God knows how to keep me on my toes, and keeps my life here interesting!

At first you might think they should just get rid of the chicken, Even me at times, I think maybe that chicken made it to Sunday dinner! But we have to remember that the chicken is an asset to the widow and that is the life here. So, I bring what I need to endure and keep in my mind that I am blessed to have a place to sleep as this widow and her children will not because they gave up their hut for me.

My home for this week and the sweet family who will sacrifice to make it possible…

Please keep all the pastors attending the conference in your prayers. Also, those who make these conferences possible…the ones who carry water and cook. Anticipating another incredible time of watching God change and grow the pastors as they learn more of the Word and about our persecuted brothers and sisters all over the world.

Love to all,

Joy Breedove

Missionary-East Africa

It has been an incredible week as I’ve traveled with my translator, Pastor Tom Ojiambo and my driver, Sezi to Kenya and held our first extended Secret Church conference. Last year, I was blessed to facilitate several one-day Secret Church events, but this year thanks to Disciple Making International, a wide and effective door opened for extensive training to be held over a 5-day period.

Two weeks of each month, I will travel to different districts for this training to take place. I am blessed to serve with an association of Baptist churches here in East Africa called Grace Calvary Christian Ministries. It is this association of churches that these conferences are being extended to.

There are 13 districts within this association. These districts represent 265 churches across the countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Southern Sudan and The Congo. As I travel this year, these Secret Church studies will be available not only to these 265 pastors, but also the new pastors of new church plants that will develop. A low estimate of participants is 300 pastors by year-end.

The Pastors I was blessed to serve this week…

Most of the pastors of these 265 churches have little to no Bible training. Not until last year did these pastors receive study bibles. For many of them, the study bible they received was the first complete Bible (Genesis through Revelation) they had ever had. As you can imagine these bibles made an impact in their understanding of the Word, yet they desired more instruction.

As we loaded the van to head out on Monday morning I experienced a great sense of excitement. I was in awe of Gods hand working through His body of believers to make this happen. Through the grant Disciple Making International had provided, I was taking along with me mats and blankets for the pastors to sleep on. 3 Secret Church study guides for each pastor; Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey and How To Study The Bible as well as funding for the feeding of the pastors during their five day stay.

I also had the equipment Helping Hands provided; DVD player, speaker and projector along with our screen ( a white bed sheet:)). Of course none of this equipment would have worked without the new generator the Sunday School classes of Jim Wallace, Joel Cobb and Terry Teakell at my home church, Blackshear Place provided.

I share these specific details because it is a clear indicator of how it takes ALL of the body of Christ, working together to accomplish His plans and purposes.

As we drove out to the bush area of Kenya for our conference, I was thinking about all of the knowledge the pastors were going to gain over the days ahead. I was especially excited as the first session, Old Testament Survey began. Each Secret Church that has been taught has focused on a persecuted area of our world. The Old Testament session focuses on the continent of Africa.

Pastors remained attentive 10 hours a day as they learned….

This is the first exposure these pastors have ever been given about persecution. They have never been told of such things and it impacts them greatly. I know God used the first session when Pastor Platt taught it years ago to help others learn about the persecution in Africa. I also know that God in His wisdom allowed this to be the first area of our world to be spotlighted as He knew the impact it would one day have on the pastors here in Africa.

Throughout the week they were impacted as we also learned about our persecuted brothers and sisters in Asia and Indonesia. However, I believe the first session being on Africa, penetrated their hearts the deepest as they developed a passion for their fellow persecuted brothers and sisters; especially those within their neighboring country of Somalia.

Pastors humbling themselves before God…interceding for their persecuted brothers and sisters…

Over the next few months as Secret Church goes out throughout Kenya, I am expecting God to call some of these pastors out to Somalia. At the end of the conference as the pastors were sharing, more shared about their desire to go out and teach Secret Church in the restricted countries, than those who only shared specific things they had learned at the conference. God is working in a mighty way. Please join me in praying for the men of God we know are going to say yes to the call.

As I mentioned earlier, it takes ALL of the body of Christ to fulfill His plans. These precious women were part of His plan. They walked hours daily for water and cooked for these pastors. What a joy to serve with them as they happily worked for the Lord.

Precious Sisters in Christ who love their pastors….

Also, the family who gave me a place to stay should be thanked for their generosity. I had a sweet little home while I was there.

My room for the week…

This is their granddaughter Metrine who stayed in the room beside me….

My neighbor for the week…

We head back out to a different district on the 27th. Please keep us covered in prayer. Thank you for praying for the needs requested for this past week. God heard your prayers and answered accordingly.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa

I’ve had my last shower and used the toilet the last time and am heading out to the Kenya bush to facilitate 5 days of Secret Church studies. I’ll stay with the closest neighbor to the church where the conference will be held, so there will be no showers or toilets or running water, yet there will be wonderful fellowship and joy spending time together with those I have been called here to serve alongside. Not only wonderful fellowship and joy with my brothers and sisters in Christ, but more importantly, fellowship and joy with our Lord as we listen over these next few days to Pastor David Platt teach us via podcast the three foundational Secret Church sessions he began with several years ago. We will cover the teachings Holy Spirit gave to him on Survey of the Old Testament, Survey of the New Testament and How To Study the Bible.

This is the first of 10 weeks I’ll be traveling throughout Kenya and Uganda facilitating these studies over the next several months. As I leave this morning, I do so in anticipation of God working in ways I have not seen here before as more than 300 pastors will be trained during these next few months with these incredible seminary lessons. I don’t think I can truly grasp the outcome of it all because there will be no way to tract how the gospel and these teachings go forward until we get to heaven and see those whose lives were touched because God entrusted His word to Pastor Platt and through Disciple Making International, (disciplemakingintl.org) it has now reached us here in East Africa.

Please pray specifically for these areas:
Pray for the pastors who will be participating.
Pray for all of us be to protected from the spiritual warfare the enemy will be enforcing.
Pray for the 5 ladies who will walk several hours daily for water to cook the food.
Pray for safe travel as most of the pastors will walk for very long distances to attend the conferences.
Pray that our minds will be clear and we will have the ability to comprehend the lessons and that we will retain the knowledge we learn in order to go back out and teach it.
Thank the Lord for Pastor Platt and his team at Disciple Making International. Ask the Lord to continue to bless them abundantly as they make a difference all over the world.
Pray for my endurance as the heat here has been 100 degrees or more daily.
Thank you in advance for praying, it soothes my soul to know we are covered by the prayers of the Saints of the Lord.
Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary- East Africa

It’s been a great day today here in Uganda. Today was my first travel day since I returned from my visit to the states. The past couple of weeks I’ve settled in and completed the scheduling and preparation for the months ahead. 2012 is going to be an amazing year! My calendar is full but so are the blessings that come with busyness with God!

Arafat is doing well, with the exception of a small opening that has opened back up in his stomach. He is back in school half days and enjoying being back with his friends. Please pray for this new opening to heal quickly and for there to be no complications with it.

Arafat….he weighs 72 pounds now….Praise The Lord!

Today was a two-fold blessing as I traveled to the bush. The first blessing was distributing Bibles to the bush school children. These Bibles were donated by a special 12 year old girl named Laynie England.

Spent an afternoon with Laynie before I left the states… a very sweet girl! The bible she is holding, is the bibles she raised money for.

Laynie heard me speak at her church youth group at Air Line Baptist Church and her heart was moved when she learned the children here have no Bibles. She began a campaign to raise money for me to bring back with me and purchase Bibles for these school children. With the funds she raised and the funds others like Carol Brown who was inspired by what Laynie had done, I was able to purchase 160 Bibles!

These are pictures I took today as the Bibles made their way into the hands of the children.

What is so incredible about this is, it is not just the children who will benefit from the Bibles. The guardians/parents/grandparents whomever the child lives with, most likely cannot read, so these children will be taking the Word of God home and reading what they can of it to their families.

The other blessing of the day was meeting with the women leaders from the northern zone of our churches here. These women are doing amazing ministry here among the widows as well as sharing the gospel. Our meeting today was to begin planning for our first women’s team conference.

Northern Zone Women Leaders – Syonga

A few months ago I began to pray about asking my home church, Blackshear Place to send a women’s teaching team. I am thrilled to share that this is now happening and a women’s team from Blackshear will be here in July to join me in teaching these amazing daughters of the King!

Today we planned our food budget because much of the food has to be purchased now, as there will not be another harvest before July. They are expecting more than 300 women for this conference so advanced planning is required to have adequate food.

On Saturday our BSI (Bible Skills Institute) classes resume. It has been so good to hear from the pastors who have all called in anticipation of class resuming. I will have the pastors who have been with me the past year here in Busia back, as well as the pastors beginning their second year at Lake Victoria. Also, a new class in Buradi, Kenya. All together we have 56 pastors taking these courses.

On Monday I leave to stay for a week in Kenya for the first Secret Church conference. Conferences that are a direct blessing from our Heavenly Father. I will wait until next week and write an update on this event while I am there and share some pictures. But in the meantime, please be praying for the pastors who will be attending. Pray there will be no hindrances in their participation.

As always I am blessed to be here, to represent the Lord and all of you who faithfully pray/support the work He has called me to do.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary- East Africa

Through all the battles the past few weeks, I am happy to let you know how VICTORIOUS our Heavenly Father has been. This will be a long post….there’s just no way to shortened it. I’m going to start with the most exciting news of all! This is 17 of our new brothers and sisters in Christ!

New Brothers and Sisters in Christ we’ll spend eternity with….

The very first morning I taught last week in Northern Uganda, I taught about salvation. Often here, there is not a clear understanding as many have combined different beliefs from different religions. As my teaching time ended I felt so strongly that some who had been listening might not truly be born again. I never could have imagined the harvest God was reaping.

One by one they stood up…then turned to those around them and shared that they were surrendering their lives to Jesus. What a VICTORIOUS moment as I watched God change them. The rest of the week as I taught, it was a wonderful experience to see them grow as they understood more and more about their new faith in Jesus.

The entire trip brought about much joy as well as much sorrow as I listened to their stories of war time. This is Pastor Julius whom I served with, he is pictured here with his Mother…a precious woman of God.

Pastor Julius and his Mother

Pastor Julius fled about 15 years ago when the rebels came through and were killing everyone. His mother and father stayed behind to try and protect anyone from taking their land. During the raids of the rebels, his Mother was attacked….beaten, put into a shallow grave and left for dead. By the grace of God she did not die and although she is crippled for life, she is happy and praising God for keeping her alive.

Not until last year did Pastor Julius return, he did so to start a church. Now he has 4 church plants up and going. As we drove the countryside, it was different than any other area I have seen in Uganda. One particular stretch we traveled down a dirt road more than 2 hours.

Land with no inhabitants…

All along the way there were no huts or homes, no indication that the lands were populated. I inquired of Pastor Julius as to why it was so empty. He shared that these lands used to hold many families…generations of families, but the war killed most of them and those who didn’t die, fled and have never returned.

He told me a story about this tree.

The rebels killings left many children orphaned

He said on one particular day many people had gathered here where this tree is for some event. The rebels came and slaughtered (his word as he said they slit their throats just like you would slaughter an animal) more than 300 people. They piled all their bodies up under this tree. The dwellings you can see to the right is a small orphanage that was built to house the orphans left.

I met some wonderful people who have suffered more than I could ever imagine surviving. The elderly people at the conference were a joy to my life!

Pastor Julius with one of his elders from his village

I could have spent weeks with them just listening about their lives.

Pastor Julius and his wife Margaret are expecting their first child in a few weeks.

Pastor Julius and Margaret

They are so excited…please pray for her as they have experienced the loss of 3 children in miscarriages. Pastor Julius will be 47 years old on his birthday. Because of the war and having to flee he decided to spend his life serving God in other places. He didn’t think he would ever marry….it seemed impossible because he couldn’t take his bride home. Yet, 3 years ago, God brought Margaret across his path and today they are serving side by side in the village where he grew up. She is a school teacher and her hope is that one day she can start a school there in the village.

In the past few weeks, not only did I make this amazing journey to Northern Uganda, I also had the great privilege of watching both of my Bible Skills Institute classes graduate from their first year. My Busia class excelled in all their work. The lowest GPA was a 80.9. I am so proud of them!

Busia Class

My Lake Victoria class worked very hard and also excelled.

Lake Victoria Class

Their grades were calculated differently and some of their grades were lower than the Busia class, but most importantly they all passed and are now eligible to begin their second year in January.

One of the pastors in the Lake Victoria area, Pastor John Minor doesn’t have legs that work. They hang aimlessly from his body and he walks with his hands. Every week to attend this class he walks with flip-flops on his hands for many miles to learn the bible. Oh what is awaiting him one day in heaven!

Pastor John Minor…precious servant of God….

Also in the past few weeks I’ve had the privilege to take Secret church teachings to the bush! The first time we arrived a little late…as you can see the van got very stuck!

Never a dull day when you’re traveling in the bush!

Oh but what fun we had! This little church had never had anyone come and do any teaching!

Secret Church goes to the bush!

How awesome that their first experience was an in-depth teaching by Pastor Platt!

This past weekend was filled with Secret Church activities. I arrived home from Northern Uganda late on Friday evening. At 2am which was 6 pm time in Birmingham I got up and watched the Secret Church simulcast. What a great lesson was taught. If you did not participate, please check their website as in the days ahead as the podcast will be available. Everyone should invest the 6 hours to watch this particular teaching. It will make a difference in your life and lives of your family.

At 8:00 Saturday morning I took my Busia Bible Skills Institute class with me and traveled down and joined our Lake Victoria class for a day of Secret Church.

Secret Church on the banks of Lake Victoria

The Lake Victoria class had never experienced a Secret Church teaching….now they are anxiously waiting for us to be able to do it again! There wasn’t much sleep for me ….but I was immersed with all that good teaching!

This week I teach Wednesday and Thursday to the Busia district churches. Friday, I finish last minute tasks…and then Saturday I am headed home to be with my family! My schedule next week cleared and there was nothing stopping me from changing my ticket and getting home a week early.

God has been so good and His name has been high and lifted up and I am not complaining….but I am running on empty and need time with my family. When I called Dana to let her know I was coming home early, she was picking up my youngest grandson Isaac from school. I haven’t seen him since he started pre-school and when he talked to me on the phone he spelled his name for me! I miss so much of their lives while I am away, yet I am most thankful to be able to serve the Lord full time and still get to see my family some as well.

This time here has not been as easy as before, and I truly am in need of a break. I look forward to a few weeks of being a Momma and a Mommaw. l will be home until the first of January, so I should be filled up with lots of love by then and be renewed and ready to head back to battlefields here.

Please keep me in your prayers this week as I go out and share Gods love. Also pray for my trip home to be safe. And one last thing I would like to ask you to pray about…my brother Paul is having a stint put in today. Please pray that all will go well and he will heal quickly. Can’t wait to see him when I get home.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

It’s been an incredible week here in Busia! The team has served in various ministries throughout the bush areas. They have done children’s ministry, hut to hut evangelism and revivals. What a joy to watch God call unto Himself new members of His family! I have lost count of how many have surrendered their lives to Jesus this week, I know it is more than 100, but I don’t know the exact count! We just know that the angels in heaven have spent this week rejoicing!

Chris….loving on some children….

Christie…making children happy….

Joel sharing the gospel with the evangel cube

Jonas, Jason, Joel and Henrik…resting a bit after a morning of hut to hut evangelism and children’s ministry

Chris, Nathan and Hal resting a bit after a morning of hut to hut evangelism and children’s ministry

Stacy, Conny and Leonie resting a bit after a morning of hut to hut evangelism and children’s ministry

Two of our translators on one of the paths the team did hut to hut evangelism

Mike and Greg receiving their chicken and eggs as a gift for leading the ministries this week…

It’s hard to believe their journey back to the states and Germany begins tomorrow. My life has been enriched as they have served alongside me. Overall, it has been a joy to watch God work in each of their lives and transform them. I know they are not going home the same, the changes are evident as they have personally sought God in a deeper way than ever before. My prayer is that what you see in them when they return will be contagious, and you too will be encouraged to grow in your own personal relationship with God.

Thank you for all the prayers that have been prayed on our behalf this week. Please continue to pray for all these team members as they travel home and take what God has taught them to others.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

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