I love to read the writings of Apostle Paul…reading the books in the Bible that God gave him to write is like reading a letter from a friend. One of the things I love to read about, is that no matter where he was writing from…he longed to see those he loved. He either wanted to go to them or for them to come to him. Tomorrow I begin my 40 hour journey home to see the people I love. I long to see my family.

My children….Bryan and Dana….

My Sweet Daughter-in-love…Kim with Bryan

My Precious Grandchildren..Stephen, Eli, Emma, Sawyer, Caleb, Michael, Sarah and Isaac

My church family, and the friends God has surrounded me with. I was packed on Monday….I guess that is a good indicator of just how ready I am to come home. I do not take for granted that when God called me to be a missionary to Africa that He gave me the opportunity to come home a couple of times a year. I think of those who are serving across our world today that have not been able to see their families in a long time and my heart breaks for them.

It’s amazing how things work out in our lives. Before coming to Africa to serve, I had never gone longer than a month and most often a week without a seeing my children and grandchildren. If someone had told me that some day I would live so far away from them and only see them a couple of times a year, I would have said…there is no way. It would not have been something I could have done in my own strength…or anything I would have chosen for myself. Yet, God in His goodness had a plan for me….a plan that would give a healthy balance to both serving Him and being a Momma and a Mommaw. I would have served Him obediently if He had sent me where I could not come home, so I must praise Him for the choices He made where I could see my family more often.

My heartfelt thanks for every prayer thats been prayed on my behalf during this yet another battle with malaria. This time has not been as bad as before. I know the reason is because of all the prayers. I believe when I leave out to head home tomorrow, I will only be dealing with the side effects of the injections…so much easier trip than last time. Please continue praying that I keep getting better and have no reoccurrence. Also, remember to keep me covered in prayer as I travel. I will arrive in Atlanta on Sunday night.

I would love to hear from all of you who pray for me..support me…or do both…while I am home and have the opportunity to thank you personally.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

This morning I left with my driver Sezi and his family to attend worship services at one of our bush churches on the banks of Lake Victoria. Sezi has been driving me since just a few months after I first arrived here. He is such a sweet man and has a wonderful family.

Sezi, Naomi, Joy and Joshua

They like Jimmy and Tom, have become my family over here. They were all dressed up for Easter Sunday….such a beautiful family. I have a special bond with his daughter who shares my name, but his wife, Naomi and son, Joshua are also just as special to me.

All of our journey after leaving the mission house with the exception of about 2 miles was all dirt road. It was about a two hour drive and the closer we came to our destination the muddier it became. I guess you are probably already guessing what happened…yes….we got stuck.

Pastor Nicolas who we were going to attend his church had walked to meet us and was driving along with us. When we saw this huge mud hole, he had Sezi stop and he walked to a nearby hut and borrowed a hoe and a big knife. He and Sezi cut brush and placed it on top of the mud hole….but we still got very stuck.

Sezi and Pastor Nicolas adding brush to the mud hole….

The people who had loaned Pastor Nicolas the hoe and knife came out and literally pushed us through the mud for a very long way.

I took this while they were pushing us through the mud….

I felt so badly for Sezi who was dressed up in his good clothes…but he never complained as he never does….he just kept smiling and took it all in stride. I was thankful Pastor Nicolas had worn clothes that he knew he might need to have on because of the mud.

When we arrived at the church, the view of Lake Victoria was breath taking,

Lake VIctoria

but even more so was the children awaiting us. The children around Lake Victoria are the poorest of the poor here…so malnourished and under clothed

Sweet little boy….

…but so beautiful and happy.

Pastor Nicolas and the youngest two of his eight children….

One of the pastors here who inspires me every time I see him is Pastor Minor. He has two legs but both are completely useless, so he walks with his hands.

Pastor Minor and his family….

He pastors a church and doesn’t let his handicap stop him from accomplishing God’s will for his life. Because he could not maneuver through the mud today, he came by boat. Together we all had a wonderful church service…celebrating the resurrection of our Lord.

Spending Easter in the bush brought my week of traveling to a close. Four days this week I spent in Kitale, Kenya teaching a conference. Sezi and Tom traveled with me and we had a great trip. We stayed with a very special family….

Pastor Protus and his wife, Jannefer

Their children…Sandra, Kelvin, Branton, Dan and Malake

Pastor Protus pastors a church which sits near the base of Mt Elgon.

Mt Elgon

Here are some faces of those we met and taught throughout our visit there.

The widows I was blessed to teach….

The Pastors I was blessed to deliver study bibles to…

Tom with Jannefer and her friend

Sezi with boys who were his shadow all week…

This last picture is of the one who encouraged me most during the conference.

A Servant of God…

This man has one leg and one eye, and stories from being in the bush with such disabilities that make you cringe….but through it all he gives all the glory to God.

Overall, I am most blessed to have seen the Lord work throughout the week in peoples lives, including my own. What a joy to be part of His work.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary – East Africa

I find myself for the first time in over a week having time to reflect on all goings on here. Its been another great day as I was blessed to facilitate the third week of Bible Skills Institute classes for our pastors. Today they had their first exam so many were quite nervous when they arrived this morning. They are working hard to learn all that is available for them to learn. It takes about 10 hours per week to complete the required homework, and 6 hours of class every Saturday. Although I am not able to participate in the actual class as a participant since I facilitate, I committed to doing the same homework as them so we are enjoying learning together.

Our First Bible Skills Institute Class

One blessing as we were having our picture taken as a class this morning was that little Arafat wanted to come out and see everyone. It was really special as he gently, step by step walked outside to greet the pastors. He was so happy when they all circled around him and prayed for him.

Our sweet little Arafat receiving the prayers of the pastors

He is doing much better since his additional surgery that was done last Saturday. He stayed in the hospital until Tuesday, then was released back into Dr Brenda and Pams care. He still continues to require around the clock care, but is so much better than he was. We’ve made wonderful memories with him here at the mission house. Here are some of my favorite pictures…..

Precious

Arafat wanting to sleep in the chair in my room and not wanting to go back to bed

This week while I was doing a conference in the Uganda bush, I had the opportunity to meet with the adult literacy class that meets weekly in that area. This is a picture for you to see what your support is doing.

Syonga Literacy Class

I had the opportunity to remind them that it was those of you who support me financially that make their learning possible. In November, none of them could even write their name. They all send their greetings to you and asked that I tell you from their hearts how thankful they are for your helping them.

The last day of the conference I met with the leaders. During our sharing time, the wife of the Pastor who oversees this area of churches, shared that for the first time in her life, she can write her name. Then her husband who was in our meeting smiled and said, tell Joy what else you can write, he just beamed as she told me she has learned to write his name. For all of you who’ve been here to serve, this is Pastor Joseph at Syonga and his wife Anna I am writing about…..so you can imagine his smile as she shared! He is so proud of her….she is in her fifties and for the first time can write their names!

Pastor Joseph and Anna

This group along with our 13 here in Busia gives us a total of 33 adults whose goal in learning to read and write is to be able to read the bible and write the verses. They had all written me a letter and in each letter, they had written out a bible verse. Thank you sweet friends for loving these people that me and the Lord love so much.

Full week ahead coming up as I head to the Kenya bush for a 4 day conference. Please be in prayer for as I am the only one teaching. Its tough to teach this many days with no breaks. I return here to the mission house on Friday evening just in time to welcome our Bible Skills Institute class members. We are going to do Saturdays class on Friday evening. We will have class from 6pm until 2am…..then…..we are joining in Secret Church simulcast until 8am…..what a night that is going to be!

I am so thankful to Angelia Stewart, media director at The Church at Brookhills, and Kevin Spratt, adult event coordinator at Lifeway for making the Secret Church simulcast possible for us here. Please pray that we will not lose electricity and that we have a strong internet signal. We have a generator to supply power for the laptop, but without power for the lights, we can’t see to write in our study guides.

If there are some of you who don’t know about Secret Church, check out the Secret Church website (http://www.brookhills.org/secretchurch/) and find a location near you that is offering the simulcast. It will be an event that you won’t want to miss. My son Bryan and his wife Kim are going over to First Baptist Woodstock to participate. We were all together at Secret Church in Birmingham while I was home in November, so it will be a different experience for our family, doing it simulcast. Can’t wait to see ALL God is going do now that so many are going to have access to the event. For us here, it will be life changing….

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

Today we are interviewing Joy Breedlove. This is Joys second year in East Africa. Joy partners with Helping Hands Foreign Missions based out of Gainesville, GA (http://helpinghandsmissions.org). On the mission field she is partnering with Grace Calvary Christian Ministries which is a Baptist Association in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the Congo. Joy has two children Bryan and Dana and 8 grandchildren. She would like the Secret Church audience to know the following:

God wants us to grow deeper in our relationship with Him. How that looks is different for each one of us, yet, Secret Church is an opportunity that will help us all. Our brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution need us to be aware of what is happening in their lives. The Bible tells us in James 4:17: “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin”. Secret Church will open our eyes to what the right thing to do is and then we will have to make a choice in how we respond.

Follow Joy by going to http://www.joybreedlove.com.

SECRET CHURCH (SC) :: How do you plan to use Secret Church overseas?

JOY BREEDLOVE (JB) :: Secret Church will be used in two ways….first…the participants will be pastors from Uganda and Kenya. These men of God have little to no bible training and the bible study from Secret Church will be a valuable teaching tool for them. The second way Secret Church will be used is…most of these pastors live in remote villages and have little knowledge of what goes on outside of their communities, much less their country. Secret Church will open their eyes and help them grasp the reality of many persecuted believers living in our world. Also, because our population here is 70% muslim, they will be encouraged to learn they are not alone in this world taking a stand for Jesus.

SC :: How is the Lord preparing you for Secret Church?

JB :: Participating in Secret Church here in East Africa has given me the opportunity to seek Gods plans for this event. Through this opportunity He has been revealing how this will impact not only myself, but all those who attend. I believe His preparation began years ago, the night I attended my first Secret Church. He knew even then, that I would be here on April 22, 2011 participating via simulcast 8000 miles from Birmingham. He has given me a love for Secret Church and through that has now opened a door for others to as well.

SC :: As someone who has attended Secret Church live what has been your biggest take away?

JB :: Secret Church is the real deal. It is by far, the most intense bible study I have ever participated in. For months before I attended my first Secret Church, I had been listening to Pastor Platts podcast sermons. God had prepared my heart for the mission field, yet, most often I felt alone in the journey. Not alone in the sense of Gods presence not being with me, but alone because I didn’t have people surrounding me who were experiencing the same call on their life or walking along the same road with me. Often through Pastor Platts sermons I would find that connection…a connection to a group of believers who truly understood. I can remember as I was driving to Birmingham, I was having doubts that this was really as real in person as it had seemed listening to the podcast. However, once I arrived, I no longer had any doubts. From the moment it started until it ended, Pastor Platt allowed the Holy Spirit to use him as a vessel to teach us.

SC :: What do you expect others will learn after experiencing Secret Church?

JB :: Life after Secret Church…I think what can be learned is determined by ones expectations. If someone is truly hungry for the Word of God, then Secret Church will fill them up to overflowing. In my circumstances, not only did God use Secret Church as an in-depth bible study, He also used a pastor from the Gaza Strip to seal my obedience and surrender to the call of being a missionary. God will use Secret Church to open the eyes of His children who do not know about those in the persecuted areas of our world. No matter where one is in their relationship with the Lord, Secret Church will challenge them to go deeper.

SC :: What particularly challenged you at Secret Church that helped you come to the decision to follow the Lord overseas?

JB :: That first night during the prayer time for persecuted churches, the only evangelical pastor from the Gaza Strip spoke to us and followed with prayer. I was very moved by what he shared with us, but more importantly, his prayer was a prayer like none I’d heard before. It wasn’t the words he used, it was the obvious relationship he had with the Lord. When God first began to reveal His plan for me to go and serve on the foreign mission field, He helped me to understand that this was the avenue He was taking to bring me to the next step in my faith journey. He was pleased that I would go and share about Him and help others, however, He knew my hearts desire had been to know more of Him…to grow our relationship deeper. His decision to send me to Africa was what He knew I needed to have my hearts desires met. When the Gaza Strip pastor began to pray, I knew he had the kind of relationship with the Lord that I wanted. Immediately I understood that he attained his relationship through total obedience and total surrender.

Secret Church

Since I have come to serve here in East Africa, we have never housed a child here at the mission house. Yet, in the past 24 hours, God has sent us two. I am writing once again seeking your prayers for another child. His name is Derick and he is 7 years old. Today someone came for Dr Brenda and told her she needed to go check on this child. He is not a child in our school, or one we have met before, but she felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to go.

Derick and his Momma

What she found as you can see from his picture broke her heart. Derick has cancer in his face and his Momma didn’t have money to get him treatment so the cancer is now at the point of taking his life unless Dr Brenda can find help for him. He weighs maybe 25 pounds and can no longer get much food into his mouth. The cancer has caused his face to be damaged and it is difficult for him to breathe. He and his Momma came to the mission house tonight where they will sleep and then travel in the morning with Dr Brenda to Kampala in hopes of treatment.

My prayer request is this: Please pray for Gods perfect will in Derics life. The outlook is gloom at this point, yet, we believe and trust God to do what He knows is best. Pray for divine healing, whatever that looks like for Derick. We need prayer specifically for Derick to have minimal pain as he travels the four hour journey to Kampala. We need specific prayer for doors to be open and answers given as to what care is available for him. Also, a simple but much needed prayer….please pray for Dr Brenda, Pam and myself… pray that God will get us through and we will glorify Him in all that is done.

I come again to you asking for your prayers because I know there are some incredible prayer warriors who will read this and we need ALL of you praying. Your prayers were felt throughout the day today. You will be pleased to know that Arafat just in the last few hours seems to be some better. He had a visit with his guardian and sat up for a long time.

Arafat visiting with his guardian

Tonight he started singing…which just amazed us beyond belief. Thank you for all of your prayers….God heard and answered….He sent colostomy bags!

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

4 weeks ago one of our orphans was hit and ran over by a motorcycle. He was hospitalized in Kenya and released into his grandmothers care Saturday. Yesterday morning he walked to church which is a miracle in itself and it was obvious he was still in critical condition. Dr Brenda examined him and found his injuries to continue to be life threatening if he did not receive proper care. He would have died if he had been sent back to their hut.

Without hesitation we made the decision for him to come and stay with us. Now our living room is a hospital room and little Arafat is getting the best care from Dr Brenda and Pam. How incredible our God is to have both Dr Brenda and Pam who is a nurse here for this time.

This picture is both graphic and precious at the same time.

Precious Arafat

Arafat is a great kid! Another God thing is that he speaks and understands english, so it has been easy to communicate with him. He has a beautiful smile….and such a sweet personality. Yesterday during one of the times we gathered around him to pray for him, he told us he wanted to pray. It was hard for us to understand everything he was saying because he was so weak, but we understood his calling out the name of Jesus and he was telling Jesus he was a boy. It was a intimate moment between a boy and Jesus….there was no doubt in any of our minds…that Jesus was listening….

I don’t know all the specific terms to describe his injuries. I know that the motorcycle ran over his stomach and his intestines were damaged. The reason he is so malnourished is that he does not retain anything he eats. He had surgery to correct part of the injuries, however some still remain and his bodily functions are coming out of a hole in his stomach. The skin where it runs out is raw and no matter what he eats, it causes him such pain when it has to be cleaned.

Yesterday, Pam and I went to Torroro looking for a colostomy bag, but there was none to be found. We sent someone into Kampala today to search for some, please pray that bags will be found.

Arafat is truly in the hands of the Lord. Dr Brenda is doing all she can to save his life, but with limited resources, it is not easy. Her and Pam spent hours and hours trying to use what was available to make a bag for him, yet nothing works properly.

My prayer request is this: For Gods will to be done in Arafats life. He is from a Muslim family and we know that God will use this in some way to draw not only Arafat but others into a relationship with Him. Pray for the colostomy bags to be found. Pray for divine healing for his body. Pray for Dr Brenda and Pam as they serve so faithfully using the gifts and talents God has given to them.

I feel almost ashamed to mention my malaria now that these last 24 hours has brought Arafat to us, however, I wanted to send an update. I took my last injection yesterday and so the malaria parasite should now be dead. This evening I will take 3 pills that will kill the eggs the malaria parasite left behind. I am still not feeling 100%, but each day I am stronger and have less symptoms. Please continue praying for my healing.

Thank you for all your prayers…please continue to remember my friend Pastor Charles Card as he undergoes quadruple bypass surgery in Birmingham tomorrow.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa

It’s been a rough week battling malaria, and just this evening I am beginning to feel better. On Wednesday I had to return to the doctor and another process of injections began. I don’t know what frustrates me the most… knowing I am doing everything possible to prevent malaria and still getting it….or not being able to control the symptoms and feeling so helpless. Yet, one thing is for sure, when those first moments become clear that you’ve turned the corner and are beginning to feel better, you can’t help but rejoice!

Each and every time God has allowed me to have malaria, I am always reminded of our children here. Even if a child has malaria, they walk to school sometimes so sick they can barely stand just so they will get to eat a meal. I try to imagine how difficult malaria must be for them, yet I don’t think I really understand.

As the day was passing today, I was concerned about how capable I would be to start our new Bible classes in the morning for our pastors. The treatment medicine makes mentally focusing a challenge, but mid afternoon my mind began to clear and I was able to focus on the preparation.

I am very excited about the work God is doing here in the lives of our pastors. Tomorrow begins a two year commitment for me and them. All of them will walk or ride a bicycle to get here early in the morning, and will do so every Saturday. Each of them received a new study bible during registration last Saturday, so this is a well equipped class of students. It will be a joy to watch God grow them up and prepare them for bigger and greater plans that He has for them.

Dinner this evening was very special. Around our table here in the mission house, we had Wilzon from Bolivia, Willi from Germany, Pastor Moses and Rose from Uganda and those of us from the states. There was much laughter as communication seemed to get funnier and funnier. During our meal we talked about how although we come from different countries and speak different languages, we share a common bond….we all love JESUS!

Please continue to pray for my friend Pastor Charles Card as he under goes quadruple bypass surgery in Birmingham on Tuesday. Also, remember Pastor Kevin Ross from my home church and the mission team traveling with him in Argentina.

Thank you for every prayer thats been prayed for my health this week as well as my unspoken request. I just couldn’t imagine having a week like this one without the prayers from those of you back home.

If you think of us tomorrow as we are having our first class, give a word of thanks up to the Lord. What a joy to be here and see such excitement over learning the Word of God.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa