Praise God for Answered Prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Megan and Gabriel.  Pray as she works to get him back.

-  The Son of God Orphanage was closed down.  Um.... this is a miracle.  I mean, this just doesn't happen in Haiti.  Only a couple days after our friend Megan Boudreaux asked for your help signing the petition to close it down, she had a meeting at the presidential palace.  The next day Haitian authorities removed the children from the orphanage.  The Associated Press covered the story: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Haiti-closes-orphanage-for-child-neglect-2229995.php#photo-1688710  As you can see, these kids are scared.  That could be the only home they've ever known.  PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THEM!  Continue to pray for Megan too.  Here is the link to her most recent post: http://blessedwithaburden.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/as-the-dust-settles…/  She and others are still trying to locate 34 children that should have been at the orphanage!  

Moses

- Baby Moses has a family!!!  All I know is his dad is a surgeon and his mom's name is Lisa.  What awesome people to adopt a special needs baby!  PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT HE'D BE WITH THEM SOON!  The process can take awhile, and he needs to start getting therapy.  I'm sure the Livesays will have updates soon on their blog: http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com 

Rachel caught me working hard unpacking.

-  We moved into our new place and all have our own rooms!  No longer will Sarah wake us up at 6AM to go to the cafe.  No longer will I wake them up at 4AM as I clean up from painting.  All our new friends in Bristol have been so generous housing us while we waited for our place to be finished.  None of us have furniture here either because we don't know how long we'll be in Bristol.  So many people here we've just met have donated furniture.  Without them I'd continue to sleep on the floor.

-  I get to spend Sunday to Thursday at USC!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS MY JOB?!  I am meeting with some big people to talk about USC students getting involved with SafeWorldNexus.  If we could start a partnership between SafeWorld and Carolina, I think all of my desires on this earth would be fulfilled.  

Psalm 34

¹ I will extol the LORD at all times;
   his praise will always be on my lips. 
² I will glory in the LORD;
   let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 
³ Glorify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.
 ⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
   he delivered me from all my fears. 
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
   their faces are never covered with shame. 
⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
   he saved him out of all his troubles. 
⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
   and he delivers them.
 ⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 
⁹ Fear the LORD, you his holy people,
   for those who fear him lack nothing. 
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. 
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 
¹² Whoever of you loves life
   and desires to see many good days, 
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
   and your lips from telling lies. 
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
   seek peace and pursue it.
 ¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
   and his ears are attentive to their cry; 
¹⁶ but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
   to blot out their name from the earth.
 ¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
   he delivers them from all their troubles. 
¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
   and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
 ¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
   but the LORD delivers him from them all; 
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
   not one of them will be broken.
 ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
   the foes of the righteous will be condemned. 
²² The LORD will rescue his servants;
   no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
-  There are a lot of other personal prayers and prayers for SafeWorld I'm watching God answer.  It. is. insane.  If you have prayer requests, I tell ya now's the month to ask them.  I think in America we are so easily distracted, and brought up thinking if you just work harder, find the right self-help book, things will come together, when what we need to do is STOP.  It's not about us.  We're here for God.  Ask Him.  Enjoy Him.  He's smarter than us.  He'll do something we never thought possible.  It might not be WHEN we want though.  While waiting, this is a great song (Thank you Livesays for introducing me to Sara Groves):

Help Expose This Orphanage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The least graphic picture I could have shared.  A child who had severe burns, left on a dirty floor.  She went 13 days without her wounds being treated.

Part of the reason I went down to Haiti was to meet this girl my age named Megan Boudreaux. She started a school for children who are pretty much slaves. We wanted to see if SafeWorld could help in any way.  Megan is also the primary caretaker of two girls, former slaves. If raising these girls in a language she's only been speaking for ten months, while trying to run a school for the first time wasn't hard enough, she is also trying to save the lives of children in a downright evil environment. The Son of God Orphanage in Haiti had 53 children go "missing" from October 2010 to March 2011.  They are trafficking children and even trafficking children's organs!!!  There was a five year old there who only weighed 11lbs due to starvation!!!  Along with her two girls, Megan was caring for a young boy from this orphanage named Gabriel.  Megan worked with the police to bust this orphanage, only to have the police take Gabriel AWAY from her, and the orphanage to REMAIN OPEN!  Haiti is corrupt.  Even though the orphanage has known trafficking (sexual and organ), known abuse, known neglect, it is still open.  Megan is petitioning CNN to expose these atrocities.  The government won't act so we are going to the media.  I am begging you to share this with all of your friends, coworkers, family.  Here is the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-freedom-project-expose-human-trafficking-at-son-of-god-orphanage-in-haiti 

Catalyst 2011 and then some.

I got to go to the Catalyst Leadership Conference in Atlanta for the first time this year.  It was filled with 13,000 Christian leaders.  Matt would introduce us to someone and then say, "You know who that was right?"  We'd reply, "no".  Then he'd say, "he worked with Eva Longoria on her campaign for Haiti after the earthquake."

Oh OK.  

That's pretty much how the weekend went.  

"Hi what do you do?"  

"I change the world."

I got to meet Katie Davis' youngest two daughters.  If you haven't heard of Katie Davis yet, you will.  Her book Kisses from Katie just came out.  Here is her interview backstage of Catalyst: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17711160  

I wish I could have heard all of the crazy awesome speakers like Katie or Francis Chan or Andy Stanley. I got to hear maybe ten minutes of Andy Stanley.  Then I heard Mark Driscoll, Judah Smith, and the TOMS shoes founder.  I think the best parts inside the conference were moments like Catalyst telling Katie they would pay for her daughters' college education, or when the men in Jeff Foxworthy's Bible Study were presented with a car!  I did not know Jeff Foxworthy lead a Bible Study. So cool!  Check out his backstage interview here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17734404 

Here's what SafeWorld did all weekend:

Matt ran a lab panel with Pastor Charles Jenkins, Lisa Harper, and Jim Reese.  He also was interviewed backstage of Catalyst.  You HAVE to check that out to better understand what we do and hear Caroline's story.  I'll get to meet her in November.  Here's Matt's interview: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17718850  While he was shmoozing with the best of them, Sarah, Rachel, and I manned SafeWorld's booth in the Justice Tent.  Throughout the conference area there were organization's booths, however SafeWorld was FEATURED with top social justice organizations.  It's pretty amazing that little ol' SafeWorld was in the tent with groups like Compassion International, Blood Water Mission,  International Justice Mission, Adventures in Missions, etc.  Pretty much we talked to people about coming on medical trips to Uganda with us, but every now and then we run into people from other organizations that were interested in helping us do really big things for the people in Luwero, Uganda.  I really look forward to talking more with everyone we met in the next couple of weeks/months.  

Again, SafeWorldNexus is kind of unique in the fact that we have been working with the same people over the last couple of years, with no plans to leave them.  If you go on a trip with us we will be introducing you to friends.  You will pass out mosquito nets with no quota, meaning if you pass out one net to one family and spend the evening with them then WE LOVE IT!  We want you to get to know people and make friends.  Our board member, and Senior Producer of The Dave Ramsey Show, Blake Thompson, just wrote a great piece on the Luwero people and our upcoming trip.  I'm copying this straight from his blog http://beyondblake.wordpress.com/ :  

I'm headed to Luwero Triangle, Uganda at the beginning of November (a few weeks away) for 11 days w/ SafeWorldNexus.  Devastated by war in the mid-1980s that killed more than 100,000 and displaced 750,000, Luwero struggles to regain traction. The use of child soldiers was commonplace, which has led to a deterioration of the family unit, and leaving over 123,000 children listed as “at-risk” for reasons of AIDS, malnutrition, slavery, etc. Upwards of 50,000 of those children are known orphans, some left to care for several younger siblings alone. Fresh water sources are scarce, and many residents have to walk up to six miles roundtrip to have access. SafeWorld is pretty established here providing/maintaining water sources, etc.  One of the most important parts of this trip will be mosquito net distribution. We have been working to find ways to connect personally with each area that we work. Our delivery method is door-to-door. We don’t have a quota for each day, but instead we’re wanting to spend as much time as is needed in each home. Representatives from the village leadership (frequently including the chief) will be traveling with us to make sure their people understand just how important the use of their nets are to help avoid malaria. Distributing in this way helps us build trust and relationships, and build demographics for the area. Each house will be marked by GPS, and basic information on each household will be recorded. This gives us a specific picture of the needs in each area.  We will also be taking a medical team to help with medical needs.
This is where I can use YOUR help to make a MAJOR impact.  I’ve personally already paid for my trip, but could use your help in raising an extra $2500 for medical supplies needed.  If you can help w/ $10 or $100…I can reach this goal in the next week or so, alowing us time to purchase what is needed before leaving in November.  If you decide to participate, please make your checks out to: SafeWorld Nexus (put Uganda Trip in the memo line).  You can hand them to me personally or you can mail them within the next two week deadline to: SafeWorld Nexus 516 Holston Ave. STE 204 Bristol, TN 37620

Thanks for your continued support with our work in Haiti and Uganda.

-Blake

If you would like to donate any bit of money (again, just $10 even) towards medical supplies on our November trip then you can also go to our giving page.  (Seriously if you've read this much there's no excuse.)  In the dropdown menu select "Mission Trips" (don't worry about the second dropdown that will come up), put in your amount, and then in the comments section say "November Medical Supplies".  THANK YOU THANK YOU!


Updates:
If you read my post on baby Moses, he was just moved to an orphanage.  You can read about it HERE.  So far there have been no applications to adopt him.  Pray for his future family.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 
 -Micah 6:8