This story is not exactly about the young girl you see here but she is essential to the story.
12 years ago, Pam and I were living in the city of Jinja, Uganda, in the heart of East Africa. We had just moved into a new compound. This compound was only two blocks from our previous residence but it was much different. Instead of asphalt, the house and the boy's house behind it, were surrounded by vegetation. We lived in that compound for ten years until we were forced to surrender it back to the landlord because the global pandemic prevented us from traveling to Uganda the past two years.
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| Meddie in front of the compound |
During those wonderful years of living there, we hired a young man to be our gardener. He was actually the son of our driver Meddie and needed work as jobs are very difficult to come by in this developing nation. It was a terrific relationship Pam and I enjoyed with Yasin. He was dependable, took pride in his work, and made every attempt to make Pam happy with the care and feeding of the yard and its plants. He planted flowers and shrubs for her and even banana plants!
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| Yasin also took care of garbage |
Yasin was very quiet. It was obvious to us that he was also very curious about the activity in and around our compound and even responded to our invitation to set aside his gardening on occasion to join the mentoring classes conducted during our One Step Course.
Nearly four years ago I participated in something my church was doing. The One Campaign was a takeoff on the story of the Good Shepherd who will leave the 99 sheep to go and find "The One" that is lost. Worship Harvest was encouraging each one of us to forget about saving the world but just look around our normal life and find just one person we would like to see connected to Jesus. We were given three by five cards and asked to print the name of that person on it and post it on a big board along with hundreds of others and pray for the person and speak to them about Jesus.
Yasin was my
one person. I have already prayed for him and now it was time for me to be specific about the possibility of giving his life to Jesus. The challenge was huge from a human perspective because he was a generation Muslim. It would be difficult for him to inform his family that he was no longer devoted to the Islamic faith but that He not only was a believer in God but was also a devoted follower of Jesus.
The love story of the Cross of Jesus Christ was so compelling that he started investigating following Jesus as he started participating in the services of Worship Harvest and eventually went all in.
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| Yasin - NGM Media |
This story is actually about the 27 year old man I am writing about and whom you see here. The changes in Yasin's life appear to be dramatic to some but are common among those who see their identity coming from Jesus. When Yasin's job as gardener disappeared when we stopped renting the compound I asked him if he would like a three-month probationary job in the office working media. He had attended the University Business School and knew his way around a computer but I wanted to see if he was creative and could capture significant moments in the history of Next Generation Ministry with photos, video, and media design. After those three months, we increased his salary and he officially works as the NGM Media Manager.
These details provide the background for the heart of the story. You see, what we do within the job descriptions serves as an environment to see people. People are at the heart of our existence in the nation of Uganda. When the staff members are in the field they are encouraged to keep their eyes open for "the one" that God wants them to love, serve, and minister to.
This past year, on a trip to the NGM farm, Yasin spotted the young girl you saw at the beginning of this story. He was drawn to her because of the light color of her skin and her eyes. She is a dark-skinned albino and consequently suffers from the nearness of the sun to the earth as Uganda is a degree north of the Equator. His compassion drove him to seek permission from the grandmother ... the father is a drunkard who abandoned his daughter and the mother lives in poverty and is unable to care for her ... to take the girl to school and to even pursue adoption.
Each one of our staff knows that the primary priority is to love people on behalf of God so that they might know His Son, Jesus. This is why I am without shame and boldly ask you to donate to the salary of Yasin and the other nine employees of Next Generation Ministries as they seek to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of Uganda by loving them.
This month we have a December Matching Champaign that you can use to donate to the staff salaries for 2022. We have a donor who will match dollar for dollar up to $5,000 in donations. Click on the link below to give online or write a check and mail it to NGM, 29940 S. Dhooghe Rd., Colton, OR 97017.
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