So, How Many Cows Are You Worth?

So today, Simon and Steven, the local directors for YWAM Soroti, were here at the Amecet base and they were looking “smart”. Now when I arrived to Uganda, I thought that looking smart meant that I looked intelligent, however here, its means to look handsome/beautiful and virtually anyone who dresses up in nice clothes “looks smart”. So I asked Simon and Steve what the occasion was for being dressed up, and they said that they were headed to a traditional marriage.
Here came the next question, what is a traditional marriage here in Uganda? In a traditional marriage, the groom and his family are introduced to society along with the bride’s family, while the bride is kept locked up in a house near by. They go into a meeting room and they bargain for hours on the price of the bride, that’s right, the price of the bride. So while this seemed like some sort of legalized slavery, I asked what the going rate was for a bride which led to a whole separate shock. “About seven cows,” was the answer. “Seven cows? You mean they buy the bride with cows?” This was their concept of a dowry. Steve saw my shocked look and said “well not only cows, there are goats, and camels, and donkeys…” and so on and so on as he listed the different animals that were considered dowry worthy.
They continued to explain that once the groom and his family had settled on the number of cows/livestock wanted for the bride, then the bride and groom were given permission to marry. Sometimes, however, they never settle on the number, and there is no wedding. “But they marry for love?” I injected. “Of course, Apapero.” (Apapero is my new Ateso name which I am convinced means crazy muzungu, but they assure me it means friendly one.) His assurance gave me some sort of peace of mind, then chuckling, he looked back at me and asked “Apapero, so, how many cows are you worth?”
Well dad? How many cows? I am hoping you say that you wouldn’t settle for less than ten camels, but hey – that’s your bargain.


Till next time,
Wondering about her worth in cows,
Lauren

"But You Will Make Me Strong Again."

I don’t really know where to begin. I feel like I have written and rewritten this and yet cannot find the words, the reasoning, that I want to give. These last few days I feel like I have woven my way in and out of sadness and joy, pain and comfort, confusion and certainty.
You know a year ago, if I had been in the place that I am in now, I don’t think I would understand, because my world back then consisted of only black and white. God has been adding gray tones and throwing me off what I thought was the only truth about Him. He says “who knows the mind of God, or who has ever instructed Him?” I haven’t. I used to like to fit God into a box that I could understand, but God has broken that box. I’ve been limiting him. Because you see when God is in a box, he is predictable, he is understandable, but outside of a box he is dangerous, he is too far beyond us. Like C.S. Lewis wrote depicting the Jesus character in his beloved “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”, Jesus Christ isn’t safe – he is a roaring lion – but He is good, and He is the King.
I don’t understand his ways. I don’t. I have only begun to scratch the surface, and I think God reminds me of that by bringing me into times of brokenness. In those moments, all I have is Him. It leads me to the throne of grace, to sit before the king, and ask him, and inquire of his being and all that he is.
God has brought me back into one of those times. Two nights ago, one of our babies died. Her name was Margaret and she was three months old. Margaret was a Down syndrome baby and was two months premature. She came to Amecet the day of her birth when her mother died, but she never took to the treatment we gave her, and after the first two months she stopped eating on her own. We began feeding her through a tube, but Margaret never progressed. Last week, Margaret got pneumonia and her little lungs couldn’t handle the stress. We put her on oxygen, but her body wasn’t adjusting and her little heart couldn’t cope with the trauma.
I stayed up with her all night while Els, the director of Amecet, was in and out. Her heart beat was very irregular and at two o’clock in the morning, her heart stopped. Margaret fell asleep and didn’t wake up. I’ve never experienced death that close before. I know that Margaret is in Jesus’ arms right now. She doesn’t have Down syndrome anymore and she doesn’t have pain anymore. I know that Jesus saw her in her pain and said “You’ve endured enough, come home,” and I know that he is good.
But her death broke me. It broke many of the staff’s heart. It broke her father’s heart – she was his only daughter, his only family left. I don’t understand that. I am still working through this. It brought me back to the throne of grace, back into a place where I am pressing into Him. I am weak now, I am broken, but I am not destroyed. Like the psalmist wrote, “You have shown me many troubles of all kinds. But you will make me strong again. And you will bring me up again from deep in the earth.” Psalm 71:20

Learning brokenness,
Pressing into Him,

Lauren

This is for the Glory of God

Family and Friends,
I thought I would update you on the matter I asked you to pray for last week: Dennis. He has had a unrelenting fever for months and after laying hands on him and rebuking the fever, it left him. He also was vomiting up most of his tube fed food and after declaring deliverance, he stopped vomiting. He has been feverless and has not vomited in over five consecutive days! Praise the Lord.

Then on Saturday night three other girls and I laid our hands on him and prayed. God showed up in a beautiful way and one of the girls just prayed that a spirit of hope would rest upon Dennis and that we, as his intercessors, would live in a spirit of praise despite the outcome. The next evening, Els, the base director, placed a bowl of rice and meat before Dennis, as she usually does, hoping for a change, and Dennis picked up a piece of meat and began to eat. Dennis hasn’t eaten without a tube in over four months! How great is our God.

We are still praying for complete healing and I would encourage you to continue bringing Dennis before the throne of grace, but I just wanted to encourage you and point you to the author of life and the healer of all, Jesus Christ. I was so encouraged and I wanted to thank you all for standing with me and for declaring healing over this young boy. God has healed him and it is so beautiful to see him sit and play and smile with the other children. Praise the Lord!

Thank you Lord that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified by it. John 11:4