Meet Joshua
Joshua is a young boy that started coming to our home in
2012. He became friends with our boys
and we have included him in our family.
He has become increasingly closer and we are finding out more about his
family. He is the only son of his father.
In this culture that means that you will inherit land. Land is very
important here. We discovered that he was being threatened by poison by his
stepmom. We have confirmed this story with neighbors. We asked him “Why do you
stay with them?” He says that he is
hoping that someday he will inherit the land! He wants the approval of his
father. He is a very strong boy and does not show much emotion, but he did when
he was telling this story. He had tears silently streaming down his cheeks.
We also discovered that he couldn’t read. One night, I
(Tanya) was reading with each of my children for school and I asked Joshua to
come and read to me too. He was so shy and didn’t want to come, but I forced
him! He could not read! It broke my heart to see him struggling and feeling
bad. I told him not to worry and that he
would learn to read. I then started to
teach him the sounds of the alphabet. When school holiday came, we hired a tutor. Joshua and the tutor went to the
Beyond Pamba Resource Centre every morning for three hours and she tutored
him. He is much improved.
Joshua came to our house a short while later and I could
tell he was upset. I pressed him to tell
me what was wrong. His father had chased
him away. He was no longer welcome to live in his home. His sister was also
chased away, but was welcomed back. (Fathers get dowry for girls) He was again crying and it broke my heart.
Joshua’s mother lives in a tiny room and it is hard to fit all of them into
this little room. Thankfully Joshua’s mother is very loving and she also loves
the Lord. In this culture, the child is
forced to live with the father after they turn seven years old, if the father
insists. (This WAS the case with Joshua) Mothers do not have many rights here.
Anyway, I talked to Joshua and I said, “Joshua, who loves you?” He went on to
mention everyone in our family. I then said “But Joshua, who loves you more
than even us?” He then said “ Jesus”. I
was like “Yes, God loves you more than anything!” We continue to love him and
encourage him.
This year, after prayerful consideration, we decided to pay
for his school fees. We have put him in a private Christian school and we keep
close watch on him. He is learning, but he is still struggling with his
classes. Please join us in praying for Joshua. Pray that God will help his mind
soak everything in. Pray that he will know the love of his Father in heaven,
and live in that peace!
Beyond Pamba Rental
All proceeds from the rentals are used for sustaining and the ministry of
the Beyond Pamba Resource Centre
Bridal Dress and
Bridesmaids Dresses
We have been blessed to know a fabulous tailor! Catherine
has been Tanya’s friend for more than two years now. We are now giving her a
lot of work making bridesmaids dresses. We have many Ugandans that come into
the rental and they want to purchase the dresses. The rental just hires them
out, but we will also sell dresses once we have our original dresses complete.
Catherine also attends the women’s Bible Study at the Beyond Pamba Resource
Centre. Tanya has been teaching on who we are in Christ! We have Freedom in
Christ! We ask you to pray that we can be witness to the workers at both the
Resource Centre and the Rental.
Sound System
Music is so important to the culture here. For this reason we have been working on
raising funds to build this project for the sustainability of the Beyond Pamba
Resource Centre. Many of you have
already participated in starting this project by financial contributions. We would love to eventually purchase live
instruments as well as construct a Christian recording studio at the Rental
facility in the future. We are thanking
God for the blessings received and our prayer is that this Rental project will
continue to provide funds for the ministry BPRC.
Supporting our
ministry is easy and gifts are tax deductible.
The fastest way is to make an Online Donation via www.WorldOutreach.org/donations and
select our name from the list. The system can process USA
& International cards. You can also set-up automatic
monthly gifts if you select the "Monthly" option. Or simply
mail your gift to:
World Outreach
Ministries,
PO Box B,
Marietta, GA 30061
(designate it
for Steve & Tanya Tiesenga #414)
