The property now housing the Simonette Child Development Center used to be a “peristil,” or Voodoo temple, where a well-known Voodoo priest named Sore ruled for several decades.

Sore was such a famous Voodoo priest that people from different regions in the country came to see him every day for different reasons. Pastor Monas had to face fierce opposition from Sore when he was called by God to start his ministry there 21 years ago.

Just a few months after Pastor Monas began his ministry in that area, Sore, the Voodoo priest, gave his life to Jesus. Many of his followers also turned over their lives to Christ. Before he passed away, Sore dedicated the property to the Lord for the local church and different ministries, including the school.

Currently, Simonette Christian Church is the first partner to benefit from the ministry’s reconstruction program after the 2010 earthquake that destroyed the inadequate school infrastructure that existed.

Pastor Monas shares,

“I give thanks to God that among the 44 projects that were destroyed by the earthquake, Simonette is the first one that benefits from the reconstruction. I have been facing big challenges in my ministry here during the last 21 years, but I can now testify that our partnership with Compassion (10 years) has opened the door to long-term development for our community.”

Before Pastor Monas’ ministries started in Simonette, none of the children in that area had the chance to reach the seventh grade. The reason for that was the location of existing schools. It took some children three hours to walk to the nearest town for school.

The Simonette school has made a great difference in the community as it allows more than 300 children, 280 of them sponsored, to benefit from the best education.

“Before I started my ministry in Simonette, the whole community was under the domination of Satan. As a result, many children died before reaching grade six. Because of the gospel, the devil has now no power over the children and their parents.”

Parents and children were brokenhearted when the earthquake destroyed the only school in the community. This new construction with 12 classrooms and other infrastructure brings hope again, as it will allow more children to benefit from a better education.

Ricardy is an orphan who became sponsored at 5 years old. Now, at age 15, he is in grade nine and has big dreams for the future because of our ministry’s help. Ricardy tells us,

“I like Compassion very much because were it not for its assistance, I would never been able to go to school since I have no mother and no father.

“I like my school because it is near my house. During recess time, I go to my house, eat a little something, and come back to class. If it was far away from my home, my grandmother would not be able to find transportation money to send me.

“After the earthquake, we were gathering under a tent for class. Right now I am proud of my school because it is the most beautiful school in the whole community.”

Pastor Monas is proud to see that his vision is being accomplished through the years. The reputation of the church is increasing every day because of the quality of our program. The academic performance of sponsored children is higher than the national average.

In the latest statistics, our students ranked an average of 74% in the grade 12 final exams compared with the 50% country average, and 86.11% in grade 13 final exams compared with the 86% country average.

Pastor Monas ultimate’s goal is to see that all of the children from his community have the chance to attend school and become accomplished adults. He also would like to see the whole Simonette population turn their lives to Jesus before he passes away.

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Anne was one of those children at Bugolobi Child Development Center who gave their lives to Jesus Christ every day after the altar call at the center. She had done this for the three years she was part of our Child Sponsorship Program.

As a Child Development Officer at the center then, I did not know whether Anne and the other children took salvation seriously or, better still, whether they understood what salvation was. It was not until Anne turned 10 that I understood that God honors a child’s commitment to Christ, and He gives such a child His Spirit, too.

I remember that it was an ordinary Saturday. Because Anne was 10 years old, her mother, a police constable, deemed Anne old enough to come to the center and return home on her own.

After attending the center program with a host of other children on that Saturday, Anne boarded a 14-seat commuter taxi that evening for Kitintale, the suburb where she lived with her mother.

My colleagues and I were stunned when at dusk Anne’s mother appeared at the center premises concerned that her daughter had not returned. We immediately reported the matter to the Bugolobi police.

We put announcements on radio describing the little girl and asking if anyone knew her whereabouts. We did not get any response from the public.

After five days, Anne’s mother called the center informing us that Anne was at the Jinja police station. The kidnappers had abandoned her in Bujagali. Bujagali is located about 100 kilometers (80 miles) east of Kampala near Jinja town; it is a lonely spot famous for the whitewater rapids of the River Nile.

Eventually we did meet the little princess and she narrated her ordeal. Anne said that when she entered the taxi, she assumed that the two women were passengers going home after a busy day.

“They were friendly. They gave me a book with pictures to read.”

Anne did not remember what happened next except that it was morning and there was a loud sound of gushing water coming from the neighborhood. She saw a big river that she recognized. We had once taken all the children at the center to see the Bujagali rapids.

Anne continued to share with us in tears, wiping her eyes all through,

“I was taken to a small hut. The man inside the hut saw me and told the women that his spirits did not like the Holy Spirit inside me. He said that the women should go and bring another child to sacrifice.”

The two women ushered her out of the witch doctor’s shrine and ordered her to walk ahead of them. That was the last Anne saw of the women; they disappeared into the bushes lining the footpath.

In Uganda, most footpaths reconnect to the main road. Anne trekked until she reached the Kampala Highway. It was the most tormenting journey of her tender life!

At the highway, she asked for the nearest police station. A Good Samaritan took her to Jinja police station whereupon the police made connection with the Bugolobi police.

When we got Anne back, we took her for trauma counseling. She found strength to testify before fellow children at the center. Her testimony moved the one hundred and fifty plus children in attendance that Saturday to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and ask God to give them His Spirit.

Anne reiterated to the fellow children that when children give their lives to Jesus, God gives them His Spirit!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Kateu served as a child development officer with the Bugolobi Child Development Center for seven years before joining our Uganda field office as Sponsor and Donor Services Associate in July 2008.

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Lloyd Pulley is the senior pastor at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge in New Jersey and author of Everyday Conversations, Eternal Impact.

After 9/11, Pulley spent time in New York City sitting with those who had been traumatized, listening to them and their stories. During these months of ministry with wounded strangers, Pulley had a revelation from Jesus Himself.

A revelation for those who desire to share Jesus with others as well as those who desire to know that they are loved by God.

During this chaotic time, Pulley was studying the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman. As he read the verses from John 4, he realized that the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus was not only life changing for her, but is an everyday model for us in how we can reach the hearts of the lost.

For the lost who are living in sin and know it. And for the lost who have been battered and abused by life after making one bad decision after another.

Know anyone like that? Were you or are you someone like that?

The things Jesus said to the Samaritan woman and the questions He asked were undergirded by godly wisdom that in turn revealed Himself to her and His love for her. Jesus was intentional in the way He communicated to her.

I want to be able to speak to others like Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman. But how do I start a conversation about Jesus with a total stranger? What’s the best way to talk to people about sin without making them feel worse and turning them away from Christ?

Pulley uses the acronym S.H.A.R.E. to explain how to offer the gospel to others as Jesus did in this story. S.H.A.R.E. means:

S – Sensitive to the Spirit
H – Humbly Build a Bridge
A – Arouse Interest
R – Reveal Sin
E – Explain the Plan of Salvation

With each letter, he explains how to engage others in conversation about Jesus in a genuine way. A way that may or may not lead them to a relationship with Christ, but a way that will let the person you are talking with know that there is a God whose name is Jesus, He is loving and He wants to be in relationship with each of us.

Pulley reminded me that if I let the Lord lead my conversations, I can rest assured knowing that each conversation I have about Jesus is ultimately in His hands.

This book has been a mirror for me; helping me to see times I have hurt others with my attempts to share Christ. It has also shown me times when I thought I messed it all up, and while the outcome wasn’t exactly as I had hoped, I was right where the Lord wanted me to be.

Do you struggle with evangelism and sharing the gospel with others? Are you ever uncertain about when is the right time to talk about Jesus, the need for a Savior, and the realities of sin?

Tell me how you start the conversation and how you approach the subject without alienating the other person.

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Mexico City is one of the most crowded cities in the world. Over 20 million people try to survive the traffic, the pollution and life every day. Many have struggled to carve out a small spot to live and work in the giant city and its surroundings.

Angelica and her husband Miguel came to the city nearly 20 years ago. Trying to find jobs, they left their hometown in Veracruz. In addition to leaving their families, they also left behind part of their culture in order to build a better life together.

They established themselves in Mexico City near some close relatives who provided temporary support and guidance for survival.

Angelica and Miguel had dreams to study and prosper, but the couple had to start working right away, because their firstborn son was on his way. As their needs increased, there were no more opportunities for personal development or studies. It was necessary to take whatever job was available.

Miguel held different labor jobs until he settled for a job with a car manufacturing company. They offered a low wage but provided the security Miguel needed for his wife and unborn son.

The area where this family lives is located on a hill, right outside of Mexico City. It is crowded with people sharing the same problems — low incomes and high unemployment rates. This area has a very high rate of robbery, drugs and violence.

The homes in this neighborhood consist of small, cement rooms. The houses crowd up the hills, and from the distance they look like cement shoeboxes, piled up with no plan or order.

Angelica’s family now lives in a vecindad, which is a cement-built set of rooms, much like the old-fashioned tenement apartments.

They have only one room for the entire family. The older boys, 18-year-old Alejandro and 14-year-old Miguel,  share the top bunk bed; 12-year-old daughter Angelica uses the bottom bed, and Luis, the youngest at 8, shares the bed with his parents.

The family has a small hall that they use as a kitchen and sitting area.

They share their bathroom, their washing tub, clotheslines and patio with 11 other families living on the ground level and the second floor.

One day the family met a woman from the church who worked as a volunteer there. She served at the children’s club that is now one of our child development centers.

She invited the little ones to come to the program, and Angelica allowed them to come. Afterward, Luis was registered at the Happy Faces Club Child Development Center.

After Luis’ registration, Angelica started to come, volunteering a few afternoons to get to know the program.

After a couple of years, Angelica became a Christian and enjoyed the benefits of the teachings her children received at the center.

“The word of God came to our home through the children.”

Angelica was the first to start reading the Bibles her children received from the children’s club. She said that one of the first sections of the Bible to make an impact on her life was Psalm 51,

“Because it speaks about the sin and the forgiveness of God and how He can create a clean heart in us, and then it teaches us how to live.”

As part of Compassion’s strategy to release children from poverty, children are provided with Bibles. But how can a Bible help children find their way out of poverty?

Children in this part of Mexico are regularly threatened by violence, robbery and gangs, even in their own homes. Children easily become hardened and develop low self-esteem. Receiving a Bible has been a great gift, especially after the church tells them that the Bibles hold precious treasures for them.

Miguel, the teenage son shares,

“Receiving such a gift made me feel important.”

But this is not the only benefit of a Bible. All three children took their Bibles home and shared the love of God with their parents. Luis constantly asked his mother to read his favorite Bible stories for him.

He was too little to read and needed help, so out of curiosity his mother started reading the powerful Word of God.

The daughter, Angelica, had always been close to her father, and she didn’t hesitate to share the Bible verses she learned at the program with her daddy. One day when she, her mother and brothers came home from church, Miguel mocked them and called them “alleluias,” a common name used to make fun of Christians.

This was one of the most stressful times for the children and their mother, but they remained faithful and continued attending church. Instead of fighting their own father, the children prayed and invited him to see with his own eyes what they did at church. After only a few weeks he decided to come to church with them and became a Christian himself.

After Miguel committed his life to the Lord, he changed his old ways. He does not spend any money buying alcohol, and he is committed to his family. He does not use bad words or yell at the children.

Every morning before sunrise, at four in the morning, father Miguel gets up to pray and spend time reading his Bible and praying to the Lord.

Angelica shares about her husband and marriage,

“Miguel used to be very different. He even admitted to wandering off on the streets before coming home, instead of taking the children to church on the week days.

And I used to be very rebellious; I used to fight constantly with my husband about the expenses or just any other reason…. Now when I get mad, I try not to do as I used to do before. I am trying to become a better woman and wife.”

Other than the old TV and homework, reading the Bible has become one of the children’s afternoon activities to help them stay entertained. The children in this cement shoebox are very close to their family and to God.

Now at home the children sometimes start sharing the verses they have memorized. It is almost like a contest: One of them starts with one verse and another one follows. Sometimes two or three start at the same time, and the oldest son, Alejandro, acts as a referee.

They keep a record of the Bible verses, and at the end they acknowledge who said the most. They have developed their own rules: They cannot say the same verse if someone has used it before, and they need to say the verse and the reference, otherwise it is not valid.

Their walls are covered with their favorite verses or with the ones they are memorizing. Their home is full of the words of God.

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Elizabeth lives with her two granddaughters, Amakor and Mana, in a house very close to the Lord’s Pentecostal Church in Kwashieman, Ghana. The compound of houses where they live is known in the community as the idol worshippers’ house or, for short, idol house.

The most conspicuous thing one sees upon entering this compound is an idol in the middle of the compound. Everyone living there worships the idol – everyone but Elizabeth. Without any reason, she never took part in the idol rituals.

“I do not know why, but I have never been interested in what they do. Sometimes they offer sacrifices. They slaughter animals and cook meals and share with everybody in the house, but I never wanted any and never ate any food they prepared.

“I don’t know why, but it never agreed with my spirit.”

One evening Elizabeth attended a church service where she encountered Jesus Christ. Since then, life has not been the same for her and her grandchildren. Jesus is making the difference in her family.

Elizabeth’s daughter, Adzoa, has five children. Amakor and Mana are the youngest. Their father was Adzoa’s second husband, but he died mysteriously as did Adzoa’s first husband.

Things became difficult for Adzoa and she could no longer care for her five children. So Elizabeth decided to bring granddaughters Amakor and Mana from their village in the Volta region to live with her in Accra.

She hoped to help ease the burden from her daughter’s shoulders and give the girls a better life. But things did not turn out as Elizabeth had hoped.

Elizabeth is a petty trader. She has a stall in a market where she sells her wares. The market is about 15 kilometers from her house. Sometimes Elizabeth spends nearly two weeks at the market without coming home.

During these days Amakor and Mana were left on their own with no parental control or guidance. Their grandmother did not have the financial means to put them in school.

For the most of each day the girls loitered about in the community, getting involved in fights and other unwanted behaviors. To make matters worse, Amakor and Mana were exposed to idols every day.

Since their grandmother did not practice any form of worship and was rarely around to direct them, the idol worship where they lived was the only type of worship they knew.

The Lord’s Pentecostal Church in Kwashieman runs a child development center located in the community where Elizabeth and her grandchildren live. The center’s workers observed Amakor and Mana and decided to find out more about these children who were always rambling about while other children were in school.

Once the staff got all the facts, they decided to watch for the grandmother and have a chat with her. When they finally got the opportunity to meet with Elizabeth, the workers sought her permission to allow the girls to attend the center with other children on Saturdays, even though the girls were not registered in the program.

Our staff also offered to care for the girls during the day on other days of the week.

Elizabeth was overwhelmed. She jumped at the offer and disclosed that she had planned to send her granddaughters back to their mother. She had felt that the girls would be better off with their mother since Elizabeth could not be with them much of the time.

Soon after Amakor and Mana began attending the child development center on Saturdays, the workers realized that they had bitten off more than they could chew. The girls did not understand any other language apart from Ewe — the language spoken in their home region – which made communication with them difficult.

The girls were also hard to control and would fight with other children at the slightest provocation. But our staff were not deterred. They continued to pray for Amakor, Mana and their grandmother. Our staff showed the girls love and care.

Within a short time, the staff began to see encouraging changes in Amakor and Mana. The sisters were better behaved and were friendlier with the other children. Amakor and Mana started speaking the local languages and were even learning to understand and speak English.

Alfred, the development center account clerk, shares,

“We knew that trying to help Amakor and Mana to transform was not going to be easy; but we also knew that we could not do it on our own – we needed Jesus. We relied on Him and He did not disappoint us.”

After a number of interactions with the center workers, Elizabeth began to return home from the market more often to give her grandchildren more attention and care. She also started attending church services.

When the Lord’s Pentecostal Child Development Center in Kwashieman received the go-ahead to take on more children, Amakor and Mana were registered. Soon they were both sponsored, and the sisters are now enrolled in school.

Their school fees are paid. They receive everything they need for school. They receive regular medical checkups and any medical bills are taken care of. They are provided with life’s everyday essentials.

There was more to come for Elizabeth and her grandchildren. One Friday night the church held a watch-night (all-night) church service. Elizabeth remembers returning home from the market that evening, exhausted from her long day:

“I was so tired that day that all I wanted to do was to bathe and go to bed. But I could not sleep, so I dressed up and walked to the church where they were having an all-night prayer service. That night I responded to an altar call and received Jesus into my life.”

Not long after this, Mana also confessed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Amakor soon followed.

The programs conducted by our child development centers are meant to develop children holistically in four areas, one of which is spiritual development.

Development centers take spiritual development seriously because we believe that if children are aware of their status with God and know the place they hold in the eyes of Jesus, this marks the beginning of the solution to the many negative things the children face.

We have found that children who trust in Jesus become more receptive and cooperative in the other areas of their development. This is why the once-misbehaving Amakor and Mana have become so obedient: Jesus has made the difference in their lives.

Amakor and Mana have learned to live in harmony with other people. Saying “I’m sorry” or “Thank you” comes more easily for them. They no longer take part in eating foods involved in idol worship. Reading their Bible stories is what they do now in place of loitering about and fighting other children.

Mana tells us,

“I do not fight and insult people anymore because I know that it is bad and Jesus does not like that.”

Amakor also shares,

“I like the child development center because all the children are kind. They do not fight with me and they share their things with me. The teachers at the center tell me every day we go there that Jesus loves me and it makes me happy.”

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Dan Trumble

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