Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
BIG NEWS!!
Dear Family and Friends,
f you are led to join Caleb and Alair in ministry with New Hope Uganda, please complete the following:
“Never a dull moment,” recently I’ve seen this phrase with hash tags as people twitter about their lives, and I can’t think of a more appropriate saying to describe the past year of our lives… an unknown sickness, malaria, flying to the States unexpectedly, seeing doctors and specialists, leaving California for Indiana, the boys adoption finalized, dealing with their immigration process, not knowing until the last minute if we were high tailing it back to Uganda or not at the end of May, and Nate’s surgery. Well true to form there’s more…
“Never a dull moment” because our God is Provider and He often brings us to the point of need so that we can clearly see His hand acting on our behalf!
“Never a dull moment” because our God is a Healer and He only shows his healing power through sickness whether physical or spiritual!
“Never a dull moment” because we are on this adventure with a God who is all about His own glory and He has allowed us to be a canvas so to speak, on which He has chosen show off. And show off He is, like fireworks in a black sky.
Over the past few months God has laid a very specific prayer on Caleb’s heart and the hearts of several other people (6 and counting… please let us know if the number is higher). The day before we celebrated our sixteenth wedding anniversary God revealed His answer to those prayers. It was a prayer that I had not been able to pray myself because of some significant boulders that served as road blocks in my heart as it pertained to communicating openly and intimately with my Father God. These boulders begged me to believe the lies written on them rather than the truth God says about who I am. But praise be to God who is a Father who knows the desires of our hearts whether we ask or not, a Father who will not give a stone when His child asks for bread, a Father who beckons us to allow Him to remove all obstacles so that we can clearly hear Him speak truth over us, the truth that we are loved daughters and sons of the King, and that He desires for us to have joy and gladness in His presence, and a Father who did all of that in my heart only one day before the BIG reveal!
Now for BIG news! After sixteen years of marriage, and being graced with the gifts of two beautiful, adopted sons, God has begun another life, a “magnum opus” (great work) that will take over nine months to complete. He is fearfully and wonderfully (Ps. 139:16) knitting together a baby inside me. Yes, I am pregnant! And we will, as the prophet Isaiah said, “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;” we will “make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.” We will “Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;” we will “let this be known to all the world.” We will “Shout aloud and sing for joy… for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”(Isaiah 12:3)
As for now, the Immigration department has granted the boys extension and we have purchased plane tickets back to Uganda for September 18th. We look forward to the next two months chalked full of family, friends, New Hope projects, and telling God’s story of His mighty deeds in us, both great and small!
With our monthly support down a bit and our adjusted planning for a family of five, we would love for you to consider joining us as monthly financial partners for His glory and for His kingdom as we serve Him in Uganda. Our current committed monthly support is $2525 and our budget is $3300. We still need $775 in monthly support. http://newhopeuganda.org/donate/
The Mitchell’s,
Caleb, Alair, Nico, and Nate
f you are led to join Caleb and Alair in ministry with New Hope Uganda, please complete the following:
I/We would like to commit to being a prayer partner: c daily c weekly
I/We would like to commit to supporting Caleb and Alair monthly with the following amount*:
c $25 c $50 c $75 c $100 c $200 c Other: $_________
I/We would like to give a one-time gift of $____________.
Name:______________________________________________ Phone number: _________________
Address:_____________________________ City :___________________ State
Email address:________________________________________________
* New Hope Uganda Ministries—PO Box 154— Belle Fourche, SD 57717 — 800.611.6486 — www.newhopeuganda.org
*New Hope Uganda Ministries is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Update
As always we hope this finds you well,
that you are reminded as we have been by our little guy Nate singing one of his
favorite Seeds song, that all things work together for the good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 &
29). Our God is so faithful to remind us by the Holy Spirit and even through
his little ones, all of the things that Christ taught. And the truth that
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8) brings
comfort and confidence in the midst of changing situations.
We have been in Indiana just over two weeks
now and are thankful for both an uneventful flight from California and for a
pretty seamless transition. Thank you for your continual prayers on our behalf…
we are full of praise reports this month! One is that for almost a month now
Caleb has not had a flare up. In fact aside from fatigue, he feels great! He
has been on a steady level of prednisone for two months and he began taking
methatrexate a month ago. Please continue to pray as he begins making the
transition off of prednisone. Our hope is that he will be able to maintain the
quality of life he has been experiencing while solely on methatrexate. Because
Caleb is in a transitional stage of his treatment, his rheumatologist has
recommended that we remain here in the States for a few more months so that he
can manage Caleb on his medication until he is confident that the transition has
been successful.In our last update we informed you that the boys’ visitor visas expire at the end of May. We have applied for extensions and will have a clear answer on our leave date when we hear back from USCIS. For now we have tickets to Uganda on hold for May 18th. Please continue to pray as we have not heard from the attorney in Uganda regarding the Judge’s decision on the boys final adoption which was supposed to be given on April 15th.
Many
of you have regularly supported through prayer or financially be it monthly
donations or occasional one time gifts, and for that we are eternally grateful.
As we have said before, our service to the Lord in Uganda would not be possible
without your partnerships. Thank you! If you sense God leading you to join in
His work through these “broken” Mitchell “vessels,” by either joining our team
of prayer partners or financial partners please indicate and mail in the
enclosed card. Your timely financial contributions whether ongoing-monthly financial
gifts or through very appreciated one time gifts, will help us with the
upcoming costs of airline tickets ($3,500)
for our return to Uganda and our work permits ($1,500) upon arrival. For online donations go to www.newhopeuganda.org. In our next newsletter we will let you know how God
answers prayer concerning the boys visa status, the adoption and we will give
you an idea about the exciting area of ministry Caleb will be involved in with
New Hope.
Thank
you for your continued prayers,
Caleb,
Alair, Nico and Nate
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
November News
Written November 23, 2012
(See bottom of the post for update)
We are specifically writing
to inform some of you and to catch others of you up to speed on Caleb, his health, our family and
decisions we are in the process of making concerning all three…
Over the past several months we have had serious concerns
about Caleb’s health over the past several months. In May just before we were Stateside for the
weddings Caleb had what we thought was a reoccurrence of Bilharzia symptoms- rash,
high fevers and joint pain. He was given the treatment and we left for
California. He felt better for a few weeks but in June the symptoms were back.
After visits to more than 1 doctor he was treated for “tick fever” and then loosely
diagnosed with Reiter’s Syndrome or Reactive Arthritis brought on by an
infection either viral or bacterial. The treatment for this was a high and long
regimen of prednisolone. Over the past several months he has tapered off of the
steroid three times only to have a relapse or “flare up” of the symptoms again
and again.
The most recent flare up with symptoms including fevers,
(reaching 104.9), severe joint and muscle pain (to the point that several times he was unable
to walk), brought concern that perhaps
this was not the right diagnosis and so he was tested for another suspected
cause… brucellosis (bacteria acquired from cattle, beef or milk). The initial test
came back negative but the doctor sent his blood to a lab in S. Africa to be
tested again with more sophisticated equipment. Not wanting Caleb’s condition to worsen while waiting
for the test results, he started Caleb on the treatment anyway. After three
days of treatment Caleb was in fact getting worse rather than better and so he went
back to the doctor (Monday). Another practicing physician at the medical center
checked Caleb out and believes that he has Still’s Disease. A diagnostic type
test was done on Caleb’s blood and there is ample evidence to diagnose him with
Still’s Disease.
Caleb has been taken off of the medications for treating
brucellosis and is back on a high dose of prednisolone. However this past week has
still been rough. Caleb had not been able to sleep for six nights straight because
the fevers and joint pains were so intense. Thankfully last night he was able
to get almost four hours of sleep! The diagnosing doctors have recommended and
the leaders here at New Hope as well as our family in the States agree that it
is in Caleb’s best interest to return to the States in order to get treatment,
learn to manage his disease and to fully recover. We are praying that fevers
will subside in the next few days so that he will be able to travel. Please
pray with us. Plane tickets for the entire family to go to California are on
hold for Wednesday the 28th and will be purchased on Monday if Caleb
is feeling well enough to fly.
Our adoption process
(the timing of finalizing the adoption and pursuing immigrant visas for Nico
and Nate)…
We spoke with our attorney who informed us that the judge
that heard our case and who would grant the adoption order has extended his two
week leave to four weeks. In actuality his leave will extend through January
because the court system in Uganda recesses for holiday (mid Dec. - mid Jan.).
This means that we will not have a ruling until sometime in Jan. or possibly
Feb. Our lawyer reassured us that we do not need to be present for the ruling
and that he will file all necessary finalization papers with the ministries we
are required to here in Uganda to do so with and then will send the final court
orders to us in the U.S. We also spoke with the U.S. embassy in Kampala and
were told that we are able to file for immigrant visas while the boys are in
the U.S. on visitors visa’s (which expire in June 2013) as soon as we have our
adoption finalized.
We have been continually reminded by many of you and by the
Spirit of the living God himself that there is joy in His presence and it is His
presence that we are seeking!
Celebrating Nathaniel Mitchell
Thank you for your prayers, counsel, encouraging texts,
phone calls, meals, and for watching our kids while we’ve been ferrying to and
from the doctor!
The
Mitchell’s
Update November 27,
2012
This is just
a quick update on Caleb and what has been planned for our departure.
We have not
tried yet to board any flights to America as we had initially planned because
Caleb was not feeling up to making the trip.
After a
conversation with a pharmacist in the States, Caleb began raising his
prednisone dose from 90 mg to 110 mg on Monday morning after a long night of
high fevers (40.8 C/ 105.5 F). Last night (Monday) Caleb's fever came again reaching
the same temperature and he therefore increased his dose of prednisone to 130
mg this morning. We hope that he will not have to up the dose again, but if the
fever persists he will taper up to 150 mg then consult the pharmacist about how
to proceed from there. We are now awaiting confirmation on tickets to fly out
of Entebbe on a commercial airline flight on Friday. This morning we received
word that in addition to purchasing the tickets for our family's flight, one of
our supporting churches, is sending Caleb's cousin J.T. King and possibly their
Global Ministries pastor, to Uganda to assist us with the trip to the US. This
decision was one the church made in efforts to fully support us and we receive
it a blessing and tangible provision from our Father God.
I (Alair) am
on day two of malaria treatment and should be feeling better soon. The boys are
doing well and as of now are viewing all of this as a great adventure- which is
probably a very good way to walk through life with our God isn't it!?!
Please
continue to pray…
That “he will
have no fear of bad news; that his heart is steadfast, trusting in God.” Psalm
112:7
That we will
“… fix our thoughts on Jesus…” Hebrews 3:1
That we will
“Hope in God” and “praise Him for the help of His presence.” Psalm 42:5
That we will
cling to the truth that…
“The Lord is
near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
“For He
Himself is our peace…” Ephesians 2:14
“He is
Immanuel…” “God with us” Matthew 1:23
Thank you for praying,
Alair for the Mitchell family
November News
Written November 23, 2012
(See bottom of the post for update)
We are specifically writing
to inform some of you and to catch others of you up to speed on Caleb, his health, our family and
decisions we are in the process of making concerning all three…
Over the past several months we have had serious concerns
about Caleb’s health over the past several months. In May just before we were Stateside for the
weddings Caleb had what we thought was a reoccurrence of Bilharzia symptoms- rash,
high fevers and joint pain. He was given the treatment and we left for
California. He felt better for a few weeks but in June the symptoms were back.
After visits to more than 1 doctor he was treated for “tick fever” and then loosely
diagnosed with Reiter’s Syndrome or Reactive Arthritis brought on by an
infection either viral or bacterial. The treatment for this was a high and long
regimen of prednisolone. Over the past several months he has tapered off of the
steroid three times only to have a relapse or “flare up” of the symptoms again
and again.
The most recent flare up with symptoms including fevers,
(reaching 104.9), severe joint and muscle pain (to the point that several times he was unable
to walk), brought concern that perhaps
this was not the right diagnosis and so he was tested for another suspected
cause… brucellosis (bacteria acquired from cattle, beef or milk). The initial test
came back negative but the doctor sent his blood to a lab in S. Africa to be
tested again with more sophisticated equipment. Not wanting Caleb’s condition to worsen while waiting
for the test results, he started Caleb on the treatment anyway. After three
days of treatment Caleb was in fact getting worse rather than better and so he went
back to the doctor (Monday). Another practicing physician at the medical center
checked Caleb out and believes that he has Still’s Disease. A diagnostic type
test was done on Caleb’s blood and there is ample evidence to diagnose him with
Still’s Disease.
Caleb has been taken off of the medications for treating
brucellosis and is back on a high dose of prednisolone. However this past week has
still been rough. Caleb had not been able to sleep for six nights straight because
the fevers and joint pains were so intense. Thankfully last night he was able
to get almost four hours of sleep! The diagnosing doctors have recommended and
the leaders here at New Hope as well as our family in the States agree that it
is in Caleb’s best interest to return to the States in order to get treatment,
learn to manage his disease and to fully recover. We are praying that fevers
will subside in the next few days so that he will be able to travel. Please
pray with us. Plane tickets for the entire family to go to California are on
hold for Wednesday the 28th and will be purchased on Monday if Caleb
is feeling well enough to fly.
Our adoption process
(the timing of finalizing the adoption and pursuing immigrant visas for Nico
and Nate)…
We spoke with our attorney who informed us that the judge
that heard our case and who would grant the adoption order has extended his two
week leave to four weeks. In actuality his leave will extend through January
because the court system in Uganda recesses for holiday (mid Dec. - mid Jan.).
This means that we will not have a ruling until sometime in Jan. or possibly
Feb. Our lawyer reassured us that we do not need to be present for the ruling
and that he will file all necessary finalization papers with the ministries we
are required to here in Uganda to do so with and then will send the final court
orders to us in the U.S. We also spoke with the U.S. embassy in Kampala and
were told that we are able to file for immigrant visas while the boys are in
the U.S. on visitors visa’s (which expire in June 2013) as soon as we have our
adoption finalized.
We have been continually reminded by many of you and by the
Spirit of the living God himself that there is joy in His presence and it is His
presence that we are seeking!
Celebrating Nathaniel Mitchell
Thank you for your prayers, counsel, encouraging texts,
phone calls, meals, and for watching our kids while we’ve been ferrying to and
from the doctor!
The
Mitchell’s
Update November 27,
2012
This is just
a quick update on Caleb and what has been planned for our departure.
We have not
tried yet to board any flights to America as we had initially planned because
Caleb was not feeling up to making the trip.
After a
conversation with a pharmacist in the States, Caleb began raising his
prednisone dose from 90 mg to 110 mg on Monday morning after a long night of
high fevers (40.8 C/ 105.5 F). Last night (Monday) Caleb's fever came again reaching
the same temperature and he therefore increased his dose of prednisone to 130
mg this morning. We hope that he will not have to up the dose again, but if the
fever persists he will taper up to 150 mg then consult the pharmacist about how
to proceed from there. We are now awaiting confirmation on tickets to fly out
of Entebbe on a commercial airline flight on Friday. This morning we received
word that in addition to purchasing the tickets for our family's flight, one of
our supporting churches, is sending Caleb's cousin J.T. King and possibly their
Global Ministries pastor, to Uganda to assist us with the trip to the US. This
decision was one the church made in efforts to fully support us and we receive
it a blessing and tangible provision from our Father God.
I (Alair) am
on day two of malaria treatment and should be feeling better soon. The boys are
doing well and as of now are viewing all of this as a great adventure- which is
probably a very good way to walk through life with our God isn't it!?!
Please
continue to pray…
That “he will
have no fear of bad news; that his heart is steadfast, trusting in God.” Psalm
112:7
That we will
“… fix our thoughts on Jesus…” Hebrews 3:1
That we will
“Hope in God” and “praise Him for the help of His presence.” Psalm 42:5
That we will
cling to the truth that…
“The Lord is
near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
“For He
Himself is our peace…” Ephesians 2:14
“He is
Immanuel…” “God with us” Matthew 1:23
Thank you for praying,
Alair for the Mitchell family
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thanksgiving Celebration
This year’s Thanksgiving we were blessed with
a visit from Uganda’s First Lady, Janet Museveni.
Interview with Tim Peterson, Staff Pastor and coordinator of 2012 Thanksgiving Celebration
I understand Thanksgiving is an annual event here. Can you tell us the purpose of New Hope Uganda’s Thanksgiving celebration?
The purpose is to remind us to give thanksgiving about what God has brought about here, and the amazing works He’s doing in this place – not to take the credit for anything we’ve done, but to give Him the glory.
How was this year’s Thanksgiving similar and different to past years’ Thanksgivings?
[It was] similar in that we bring the whole community – not only the Kasana
community, but the surrounding community, to join us in giving thanks. We
represented many different languages in our singing, and we celebrated what God
has done in the last year, not only in Kasana but in Kobwin and Musana camps as
well. It was different in the fact that we didn’t have a processional, mostly
due to the security issues, but also due to changing the way we do things. But
unlike most years, we had the First Lady [of Uganda] here and although she was a
guest at our very first Thanksgiving, it isn’t a regular occurrence at Kasana.
The other thing is that we had a lot more children involved with what was going
on than in previous years.
Can you describe the First Lady’s participation in this year’s Thanksgiving?
She had two separate roles – one was to see our Special Needs program and the children that were involved in the program, and to open the Hope Family House by cutting the ribbon, placing her handprint on the wall, and planting a citrus tree. The second part was taking part in the actual Thanksgiving service and giving the keynote address. We also appreciated the words from her daughter, Patience, and appreciated her words of challenge about building a legacy for those who come after.
What role did the children play in the celebration?
The biggest roles that they had were singing, ushering, security, and serving food… but all the children were valuable in giving testimonies,
singing, and making this a place of welcoming community
for all the guests who came outside.
In what specific ways did you see God working?
That all the pieces came together, for one thing! But many people were blessed by the children who were helping them, ushering them, caring for them… and many, including Mrs. Museveni, were impacted by the heartfelt thanksgiving. As she came tired and left refreshed, many others did as well. We appreciated the deaf ministry that came and cared for us by dancing and worshipping God with us. Others were blessed by the testimonies, both verbal and the card testimonies telling what God has done in their lives in the past year. And finally, many were surprised and pleased by the food that was served and how it was served.
As overall coordinator of the event, are there any specific success stories you’d like to share?
The biggest success story was the children showing responsibility. They really showed themselves far beyond their age in maturity. Theyblessed others and blessed God by the way they cared for others without thought for their own comfort, even to the point of missing some of the service because they themselves were serving.
Interview by Harrison Scott
Interview with Tim Peterson, Staff Pastor and coordinator of 2012 Thanksgiving Celebration
I understand Thanksgiving is an annual event here. Can you tell us the purpose of New Hope Uganda’s Thanksgiving celebration?
The purpose is to remind us to give thanksgiving about what God has brought about here, and the amazing works He’s doing in this place – not to take the credit for anything we’ve done, but to give Him the glory.
How was this year’s Thanksgiving similar and different to past years’ Thanksgivings?
Ugandan First Lady Janet Museveni being welcomed at New
Hope's Thanksgiving celebration.
Can you describe the First Lady’s participation in this year’s Thanksgiving?
She had two separate roles – one was to see our Special Needs program and the children that were involved in the program, and to open the Hope Family House by cutting the ribbon, placing her handprint on the wall, and planting a citrus tree. The second part was taking part in the actual Thanksgiving service and giving the keynote address. We also appreciated the words from her daughter, Patience, and appreciated her words of challenge about building a legacy for those who come after.
What role did the children play in the celebration?
The biggest roles that they had were singing, ushering, security, and serving food… but all the children were valuable in giving testimonies,
singing, and making this a place of welcoming community
for all the guests who came outside.In what specific ways did you see God working?
That all the pieces came together, for one thing! But many people were blessed by the children who were helping them, ushering them, caring for them… and many, including Mrs. Museveni, were impacted by the heartfelt thanksgiving. As she came tired and left refreshed, many others did as well. We appreciated the deaf ministry that came and cared for us by dancing and worshipping God with us. Others were blessed by the testimonies, both verbal and the card testimonies telling what God has done in their lives in the past year. And finally, many were surprised and pleased by the food that was served and how it was served.
As overall coordinator of the event, are there any specific success stories you’d like to share?
The biggest success story was the children showing responsibility. They really showed themselves far beyond their age in maturity. Theyblessed others and blessed God by the way they cared for others without thought for their own comfort, even to the point of missing some of the service because they themselves were serving.
Interview by Harrison Scott
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