Unbelievable News From a Distant Land

“Like cold water to a weary soul 
is good news from a distant land.”
Proverbs 25:25
I just talked to Dw.  It was hard to understand him, 
but what I could understand – oh my.  
I can hardly contain my joy or my tears!!! 
Let me back up for a speck though….
Since Emma was about six years old she prayed every.single.night that God would allow her to be a missionary to the orphans of Africa and adopt twin African girls.  

The first time I ever heard her pray that prayer I thought,
 “I think you got the job Emmy,
 there aren’t a lot of people lining up
 to be missionaries to Africa 
and I doubt there is a waiting list.”

When Emma was 14 she started looking for ways to get to Africa {alone}.  Daddy was not so into it – at least not without daddy.  We had done lots of missions trips as a family and a few of us at a time, but mostly in central America.   
Africa is a long ways away!

But Emma would not give up!  She and I prayed together for Daddy’s heart to be moved to let her get to Africa that summer.  Emma then decided that her speech was not persuading Daddy, so maybe pictures would.  She went on the internet and found pictures of little children of Africa and printed them out.  She would paste them all over Daddy’s desk at home, on his mirror where he shaved and even on the steering wheel of the car.  

She would put the same scripture at the bottom of the pictures:

Then I heard the voice 
of the Lord saying, 
β€œWhom shall I send? 
And who will go for us?”
   And I said, 
β€œHere am I. Send me!”
Isaiah 6:8
{This is her life verse.}

Daddy was definitely being worked over!
About that time we had some people visit our church from out of state.  They asked if they could go to lunch with us. {They have since become some of our dearest friends – such beautiful kindred hearts!}  As it turned out they were Steve and Celestia Tracy the mom and dad of Abby 
{the wedding feast bride}.
Over lunch we happened to mention that Emma was trying to get Dw to go to Africa with her.  Well, isn’t it just like God to move and orchestrate things – they shared about their Abby living in Uganda….
The following Sunday at church Steve {the dad} said to me, “If I could get some pastor’s together for a pastor’s conference in Uganda, do you think Dw would go and teach it?” 
I said, “OH.MY.GRACIOUS! Pastor’s Conferences are Dw’s “love language” as he has done them in many countries…and yes, I am certain that would be just what he needed to motivate him to go.”
Within a few months Dw was on his way with 
Emma to do his first pastor’s conference in Uganda. 
 The interpreter and I at the Ssenge Village church 
{where the first three Legacy Conferences were held}. 
I spoke there on Sunday in April.
The thing about Pastor’s in Uganda – there are no resources.  There is no Saddleback or Willow Creek to go to. There are no Christian book stores. There is no money even if there was. Feeding your family is the priority for the day. 
Dw had prayed about it and felt that he should call it a Legacy Conference – two full days of challenging the pastor’s to leave a Legacy to the next generation – a legacy that would honor God by being men of integrity, moral purity filled with sacrificial, selfless and passionate love for Christ and mankind.
That first conference I think there were about 40 pastors.  They loved my sweet husband {who wouldn’t?}.  They loved that we had adopted lots of our kids.  They loved that he was old {by Ugandan standard – there are not many men in their 50’s}.  They loved his sincerity.  They loved his sense of humor.  They just loved him!
The thing about international missions is that often people come and promise the moon, yet the people seldom see them ever again.  But not that man of mine and they love that about him too.  They can count on him.  They can trust him!
So today in Uganda began the 4th Legacy Conference.  There were over 700 pastors there.  700!  
Dw had brought the spiral bound books {he has written and each year is a new one} with sermons to use.  They can then, in turn, teach them to their congregations.  Sometime ago it was said that over 1,000 churches were using the Legacy Materials and it was spreading.  
When Dw called today and said there were over 700 pastors I started to cry!!  Yippee Jesus!
He who has been faithful in little, will be given much!
But let me tell you a really cool part of all this.  Yesterday Dw met with the Bishop who is kind of the man in charge of Dw coming and teaching the conference.  The bishop told him a story:
In 2006, 38 pastors gathered together.  They said, “We need a man of God to come and teach us.  We have no resources and we have no one to teach us.  We need a man of God to come.”  
Those 38 pastors committed to spending the last week of each month in prayer that God would send a man of God to them.  And then they also committed on the Saturday of that last week of each month, they would all fast. Fasting for God to send a man of God to teach them. 
He then said, 
“You are that man of God that we prayed 
for two years to come!” 
As the Bishop shared this story, Dw was moved with great emotion:  To think that for two years, 38 pastors had asked God for a man of God to come.  For two years they had fasted each last Saturday of every month for God to move…and to think that beginning in about 1999, on the opposite side of the world a little girl was ending each day praying that God would allow her to go to Africa to be a missionary to the orphan…
And Almighty God was moving and would intersect those prayers and move on hearts and situations because He loves the pastors of Uganda that much…because He loves the orphans that much….because He loves us that much – to remind us that He is the Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God!!
Tomorrow is the last day of the two day 4th Legacy Conference.  Please pray with me that God will continue to do a mighty work in these pastors who have nothing.  That it will be just one more way that God will be using ordinary people to change Uganda into the Godly nation that He longs it to be.

33 thoughts on “Unbelievable News From a Distant Land

  1. I just cannot get enough of these stories! The way God moves…the tapestry He is making in all of our lives…AMAZING!

    Praying now for the Lord to speak through DW now and always!

    And praising GOD big for Emma's heart that is so soft toward His voice…

  2. I love every post you write. You and your husband and children have the kind of passion and commitment in your lives that I so far only dream of having in ours. When I finish reading your posts, I get out my Bible and read, read, read. I read your whole series on "How to Hear God Speak" and am praying now that God will "confide" in me — I want so much to hear His voice, not mine! I want Him to come into our family in a way that is far beyond just having a "Christian culture" in our family but that is all about HIM being in our life. When I read this post about DW and Emma and the men of Uganda and the pastor's conference that has grown from 40 to 700 in four years, I think, "That's the kind of followers I want US to be, us in our little family." How do we move from being petty and small to being ready for HIS plans and HIS desires? Ha – as I write that, my dryer buzzer sounds, and my brain instantly moves into laundry gear. Bless you for posting — I will continue to read your posts and pray over the things you ask for prayer for, and rejoice over the things you rejoice over.

  3. WOW! That's so amazing! The story is so powerful even before Dw found out about the men praying for him but to find out how it all worked behind the scenes is SO COOL! I love the name Legacy…. what a legacy for Dw and your family!!!
    I can't wait to hear about Emma's twin baby girls someday! πŸ™‚

  4. This is a wonderful super charged story of God's deep love for His children…Oh, Linny is opens a person's eyes to the power of prayer and how much God desires for us all. Beautiful! Praying for the conference, for protection, for safe travel, for miracles…for it all and more.

  5. What an awesome story πŸ™‚ especially of Emma when she was 6 years old. It's amazing how she is in tuned with Him and felt His calling and know it too. Amazing. Beautiful πŸ™‚

    Will pray that YHWH put His mark on all the pastors at the conference and they have His heart in all things. May He have the preeminence in their thoughts and reasonings and may the people of Uganda sense His presence through them. Praising Him. He is so good πŸ™‚

  6. Oh my gracious!! I'm just bawling!!! God is so amazing, and He just spoke sweet things to my heart as I read this. Thank you for sharing and in turn encouraging me to continue this road of faith He has us walking.
    Blessings,
    jenn

  7. So amazing. So many times these past few years I have been reminded that sometimes when we see an 'unanswered' prayer – it is because God is moving in a way that answers MORE than one prayer.

    So thankful for Emma's heart, for DW's heart, and for those pastors in Uganda that prayed for God to provide (through your family!)

  8. It's so amazing how God works! I just read the below post and I have to say that my heart is breaking for baby Daniella. Oh, how I wish I could hold her in my arms and love on her. But all I can do from here is pray, and pray I shall!

  9. Thank you so much for sharing this story! And in your writing of it, God used Em's life verse to speak to me. This was one of no less than 5! places this week that I found Isaiah 6:8 or the hymn Here I am Lord show up unexpectedly. πŸ™‚

    Praying!

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