Life Through Light

Life Through Light

Each month of ministry proves how amazing the love of the father is for his children. This month has been one of amazing triumphs, trials, and victories. In the last blog I mentioned the Shelter of United Love had 13 children who returned off the streets and in the follow up program since the ministry started this past summer. Up to this point in December there are now 21 children off the streets and enrolled in the follow up program.

                  The more these kids can trust, the more they can receive love. The more they can receive love the more they can receive God. In the book of John chapter one it states, “In him was life and that life was the light of men”. God’s life is the light that we shine. When thinking about that light we tend to refer to it as love. Love is God and God is love. When we shine out the life of God into these children they feel God because God is love. When you feel the light of the Lord it shines out the darkness, it breaks chains, it destroys walls, and it restores freedom.

                  In a place like Kenya, Africa the child care system that does exist needs a lot of helping hands to aid it in accomplishing its goals. There has been a very strong bond built between the Shelter of United Love and the Children’s Department in Busia Kenya, because we are both working towards the same goal of improving the overall welfare of children in the county. Working alongside them has been so great for us when it comes to dealing with problems we really do not have legal authority over. For example if a child’s parents reject him and kick him out on the street we now can inform the Children’s Department and they can resolve the problem. It is such a blessing.

                  In terms of legitimacy and organization we have improved substantially. We have learned what it is going to take if this is going to be a successful ministry, and that is being good stewards of what we are blessed with. 21 children is an extremely amazing victory but also an extremely great responsibility.  It is our job to ensure every child taken home is cared for, their needs met and their dreams accomplished. In order for this to grow to life we had to form a database of all the children that we have taken home. This database that we created includes a picture wall with photos of all the children and when each was last checked on. It also includes what we call safe return forms. These forms are lengthy forms that describe in detail the history of the child, why he or she ended up on the street, and all the basic information needed to insure the child is being well taken care of. 

                  There is a parable Jesus tells in the bible. In this parable he describes a story of some servants who’s master left them with different sums of money. One of the servants was granted with 5 coins and when the master returned the servant showed him that he had made 5 more on top of the 5 he had been given. Another servant was given 2 coins, when the master returned he found that this servant had made 2 more. And then the last servant was given only 1 small coin. He went and berried the coin so when the master returned and asked him what he had done with the money he reached in his pocket and pulled out the same coin the master had given him.  The master grew angry with the man and part of what he says is “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30.

                  The reason I mention this story is because its referring to what we do with the things we are given. If God gives us something, it is important that we take what we are given and bring God glory through it. In this ministry we have been blessed with a platform to speak to these children, a platform that not many people get. It is important that we take advantage of that and make every effort to bring glory to the father. We have also been blessed with material things such as an office, house, motorcycle, and laptop and it is important that we are faithful with those things. When we are faithful in the small things we are given, it is easier to be responsible when we are blessed with even bigger things.

                  After six months my duration in Kenya has ended and I have returned back to the United States. The six months in Busia were some of the best months of my life. I feel the main reason God had me journey to Busia was to ensure that a chance giving program existed for the street children living homeless lives there. After realizing there was no program Cornel and I together formed what is now the Shelter of United Love. Before leaving we had another dedicated man join the crew in helping the children. Dan is now taking Cornel’s position as Cornel takes mine; we are very excited for what the future holds. I will be in the states raising support and returning to the school of social work at the University of Alabama. If by this coming June we have land I will be returning with a team in order to start the construction a home for these children. Please keep the issue of land in your prayer as well as the work that continues in Busia. I will ensure that pictures, blogs and updates are always posted informing everyone on what our great God is doing. As always, please like our facebook group (The Shelter of United Love) or join the group The Shelter of United Love S.O.U.L Ministries.

Jesus is Awesome

Haden

Belief

 

            When I was a kid I had parents that believed in me. They always told me I could do anything I set my mind to, but they didn’t stop there. They showed me I could accomplish anything in this world and they did so by putting their belief into action. I wanted to be a skateboarder in the X-Games, so we saved lunch money and my family built a half pipe together in our back yard. I thought I would give class president a shot my senior year of high school, so I took the money I had  and my family collected  hundreds of white shirts and spent the whole night with spray-paint and stencils making hilarious shirts and posters for the campaign. After high school I felt called to take an unusual route. I wanted to go on a yearlong mission trip before college. My parents believed, and on the trip I fell in love with a group of homeless children in Busia, Kenya. When I got back and told my family I wanted to move to Kenya and help my friend Cornel start an organization and open a rehabilitation center for the kids, well, they believed and here I am.

            God lavished me with this amazing realization of how important belief is in all of our lives. It is so awesome to think God believes in us. He believed that with his guidance we had the potential to show amazing love. He believed so much, he died for what he believed in. I say all this about belief to recognize a major focus we have here at the Shelter of United Love. We believe. It is our goal to make every child feel their life is important, they have worth, and they are capable of doing anything they set their mind to. We had an interview with a boy named Saban. We asked Saban if he wanted to go to school. Saban frowned and said in a ashamed voice “I am not smart enough to go to school”. We told him not only was he smart enough to go to school, but he could accomplish more than he could imagine. He just had to believe in himself and that with God all things are possible. It was probably one of the only times Saban had ever been told that in his life. We want to look at these kids and pour so much encouragement and belief in them that they realize how loved they are and that they are capable of accomplishing so much more than digging through trash, killing themselves with toxic inhalants and begging for money.

I don’t know anyone who does not like to be encouraged. In the bible in the book of Ephesians 4:29 Paul writes “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”. I like to imagine an environment where everyone’s words are uplifting to one another. That is what we want for these kids. We want to create an environment around them full of smiles and positive energy in hopes that by doing so we are essentially bringing the Kingdom to earth and claiming victory over the defeated enemy.

             It’s been quite an amazing 5 moths here in Busia. We have accomplished more than we could ever dream of. It is so amazing how God works. The past couple of weeks we have had two more kids return home off the streets increasing our total to 13 children returned and in our follow up program! Jesus is awesome. One of the kids, Herman, was picking through a small pile of rice when Cornel bent down to talk to him. Cornel was encouraging him and he looked at Cornel and just said “Teacher I am ready” The next day Herman was returned safely back to his aunt. Herman’s father was an abusive alcoholic and his mother left him when he was very young. He went to live with his mother’s sister but the dad reported the child stolen and had the women arrested, this resulted in Herman going to the streets. I remember having to make Herman leave several of our meetings because he always tried to give inhalants to the other kids and was always very disruptive. I recall seeing his picture on our board and telling Cornel that it would be a miracle for this kid to go home. Well, glad I serve the king of miracles!

            Another story is a boy named Kevin. We noticed Kevin coming to our soccer meetings and we were able to pull him aside and talk to him. Kevin told us that he was not smart enough to go to school so he left home and ended up on the streets in debt to employers, who made him work long hard hours for little money if any money. It’s called human trafficking. These children are told they have a job and then they end up being a labor slave. We asked him if he would like to go home. He gave the worried, confused look and asked when? Cornel simply smiled. The next day he was reunited with his mother and little brothers and sisters.

            There are plenty of other stories just like Hermans and Kevins but there are also the stories of those children still on the street that do not yet have happy endings. That is what we are here to fix. With outreach and one on one sit downs with the kids we will be able to continue to build these relationships which build trust leading the kids to be open and truthful with us. Our dream is to not just take the children straight home, but to one day have a center where they can come and receive love and care until they are ready to go back to the normal life like the one every child deserves. 

 

 

 

A quick update. The search for such land to build a rehabilitation center has been quite strenuous. We know that God has the perfect land waiting for us we just need to keep planting the seeds and watering them in belief that our God is going to allow one of the seeds we plant to grow. The office is coming along great, we feel more legit everyday. The motorcycle is a stallion of Justice taking kids back home all over Kenya and Uganda!

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dennis is a boy that went home last month. He is doing great in school and is in such a warm loving home with his beautiful mother!

 

           

            Benja is also one of the boys who came off the streets last month. He is improving rapidly in school and enjoying being back home.

 

            Immanuel is the youngest boy we took home. He was 7 years old. Very soon we will be at his kindergarten graduation ceremony!

           

Sharron is the only street girl we have ever seen. Thankfully she  is in school and living at a host home currently.

 

            Andrew has been living with us. He saved up enough money to buy his own bicycle for his taxi business and no longer needs ours. At the end of this month he moves into his own apartment.

           

Michael is now a man. He is raising big, healthy, strong goats!

 

 

 

Stanly suffered a leg injury from a car accident but is healing well and in school!

 

Daniel is farming and is about to start his own barber business! 

 

Immanuel is going to school in Uganda and living with a host family!

 

These are just some of the amazing stories of what our lord is doing!

Thank you for all the support!

Jesus is Awesome,

Haden Hallman

 Relentless

                It doesn’t take long to find out how awesome Jesus is. All it takes is responding to the voice of the relentless God. Relentless is a deep word, and I have added it to my vocabulary when describing God’s love for his children. I know this because I feel this relentless love every day. When I am on the street and see children that have lost their innocence I feel a burning passion, a fire ball of love that consumes my soul and says “Haden these are my children, they are lost in a world of sin, but I am a Relentless God that has already won them, go and take back what is rightfully mine.”  That’s what we do here in Busia. We seek after his lost children with the burning relentless love he has put in our hearts. We run through walls of fear that have stood for long enough. And we are vessels to carry his banner of victory reminding the innocent of their freedom in Christ.

                Since my arrival in Busia we have had 3 man goals as far as getting the ministry going. Start a local based organization and train the local Kenyans to run it, buy transportation, and find land to begin growing crops and building a Shelter for United Love.  Since June 3^rd we have accomplished 2 out of 3! Jesus is awesome. We are a registered Community Based Organization, we just received our first ministry motorcycle, and we have the finances to purchase land.

When we get time off from working with the street kids we use it to accomplish these things. Much time has been spent finding the perfect land to host a bunch of kids that need lots of love. After a number of tries we found a lot of land but none of it felt like “The Land”. So what do you do? Well Cornel and I knew of a ministry in Kitale, and from the children’s home there is a massive mountain by the name of Mount Elgon (sounds like Lord of the Rings). It catches your eye every time you look it’s direction. Of course the answer is going and climbing the mountain and build a raging fire at the top and cry out to God right? We thought so. This awesome Kenyan and I did our prep packing and took off the next free time we had. We arrived at the amazing ministry Challenge Farm and were greeted with a lot of other guest already there. We had a great dinner and updated Momma Cheri (the founder) on the amazing work God had been doing in Busia. That’s when she gave us the statement “Wow that’s amazing well I am so glad you came because we have our friend Stewart her from North Carolina representing Hand up Africa and he has brought his brick machine along with him. He has and will be making 17,000 bricks for our girl’s dormitory being built. I am sure he would love to have you guys stay and help work considering the lack of helping hands he has.” Boom, just like that Cornel and I looked at each other and realized we would not be scaling a large chunk of earth anymore, we would be building bricks…..lots of bricks. Over the next couple of days we helped build bricks and it was amazing but we left Stewart with about 15,000 left to build. So we got back to Busia with sore muscles and I just kept feeling that I needed to go back and help this guy Stewart. Something about his amazing energy and fatherly love made me want to help and learn from him. So after our weekly activates had finished myself I paid 3 dollars and headed toward Kitale riding in a dirty matatu made for 14 but sitting about 30 people (awesomeness).

                Upon arrival it was super late I had just walked about a mile alone with no one with me except a couple of cows, the beautiful Kenyan stars, and my best friend Jesus. I made it to the gate an was greeted by a man with a bow and arrow which was comforting to say the least. Stewart was waiting for me and greeted me with a big Roll Tide! as I entered the house.  The next morning before dawn we were up, and eating the amazing breakfast Momma Cheri had prepared for us. I know building bricks sounds like a simple task right? Wrong! We had a big pile of dirt, a big pile of sand, a whole room of cement, a mixing and pressing machine, and a 55 year old North Carolinian that was like a high school football coach making sure we made at least 1,000 bricks a day, and that we did. We worked from sun up to sun down and did not stop until we hit our mark. At night, our bodies felt like we just got through getting stampeded by Japanese sumo wrestlers, we had calluses in places I didn’t know existed but one thing rested ashore; we always had full stomachs of amazing food. Momma Cheri’s cooking was so good it reminded me of back home. After two weeks we had finished all 17,000 bricks, and I had made two lifelong friends and brothers.  Stewart and I had a talk at the end of the trip that left me realizing why God had me help him. He had heard the stories of The Shelter of United love, seen the pictures, and knew the dreams. Stewart told me if all possible he is going to bring his ministry Hand up Africa to Busia to help us build bricks for our future rehabilitation center! Jesus is awesome.

                We said our difficult goodbyes and I headed back to the children I had missed so much. When I returned Cornel as usual had done an amazing job with the ministry and had seen to it that three children were home and off the streets. We were able to right away get two of the boys Benjamin and Dennis back in school, and Laban is in the process of going to an orphanage in his home district.  Not only that but Jesus blessed us with our first ministry transportation. A brand new Yamaha Street and trail motorcycle that we paid for in cash with the money rose from the amazing supporters back home. With this motorcycle it has made our ministry two times faster, the search

for land a lot easier, and the process for getting children home/ visiting kids who are home a simple crank and ride away. With all the work going on and the amazing things God has been doing one of the big things with running an organization dealing with children is to work together with the children’s department on every level.  Jesus has not only given us amazing favor with the children’s department but also with all the officers in the county. It is great knowing the government around you is on

your side. The only issue we had to fix was the matter of having an office for our Organization. Not even 4 days after the issue arose; we had an office in our favorite building in Busia.

The Shelter of United Love has been blessed with its first successful rehabilitation. A boy named Andrew. Until we are able to get a children’s home we do not allow street children in our house, due to the Kenyan laws. But for the teenage boys over 18 we are able to help them in the ways we can. Andrew had been on the street since his father died and his mother was left with more children than she could care for. She left him with his elderly grandmother that could not even take care of herself. After visiting his home and seeing what he was telling us was true we allowed him to stay with us in our small home. Now after 3 months of teaching, training, and discipline Andrew is an amazing man of God with an identification car, a bright smile and bicycle taxi business.

                I can’t possible write this blog without stopping to recognize the impact an individual has made on this ministry. Her name is Olivia Mill’s and though she was not on this earth long enough to see the impact she has made I know she is seeing right now from the amazing paradise of Glory where all of our souls long to be.  Olivia was an amazing woman of God that was in a car accident last week leaving her with a critical brain injury. What happened in the week following can only be described as a miracle at work by a powerful God through an amazing girl. Over 40,000 people had join Olivia facebook page Pray for Olivia Mills. Entire student bodies gathered to pray and worship God together and thousands of lives were touched by the amazing love of Jesus Christ including my own. Olivia was a missionary everywhere she went and she wanted to join her radical sister and brother in law last summer in coming to helo The Shelter of United Love. The impact she has made on my life gives me the inspiration and strength to push through the hard times, when the darkness is relevant and things seem impossible. I look at the children and now not only do I think about how my father Jesus would love them, but I also think about how my sister Olivia would love them had she been able to hold them and cover their pain with his love. Olivia’s legacy lives on through her fruits. And if good tree bears many fruits you can call Olivia an orchard.  Olivia was an angel that came to this earth and reminded us how Jesus loved people and then went to be with him forever. I am beyond blessed to have been able to call her my friend and I only hope to meet another woman as amazing as she was. Olivia I know your spirit is still with us and I praise Jesus you are healed, just know I will live everyday her in Africa remembering the amazing impact you left on this world and the amazing impact your still making in Kenya Africa. I will end this blog with a message I received form Olivia Mills right before her accident.

“Haden!! This is random but I have recently gotten caught up of what all has been happening over there and how much god is working and putting all his plans into action and its just so encouraging! It's so awesome! I really felt like i needed to tell you about this dream I had a couple of weeks ago before i knew of your organization that god has started. But the dream had a lot of power behind it. I didn't wanna bother you but It was so random and spirit filled that I really feel like I should tell you about it. In the dream I first saw this building that was under construction. I knew I was somewhere in Africa and I remember seeing all these glowing kids running around filled with Gods love and they were painting the walls of this place. Then I remember seeing you and some others working on constructing this home. At that point i knew that this building was going to be an orphanage for these awesome kids and you and whoever else that was willing was going to run it! It was so incredible. This may not be on y'all's hearts right now but I feel like it needed to be said! I am praying for y'all and cannot wait to see how Jesus is just going to turn people's lives upside down with his love through what he is doing through you”

Thank You for Always Believing Olivia, I know you will be with us while this dream is fulfilled.

Jesus is awesome

When Giving Becomes Receiving

Not long after or ministry became an official organization we had a very special visitor come and stay at our small home in Busia. His name is Marshal Foster. Imagine former middle linebacker in high school, a Marine shortly after, knows like 20 different fighting styles, and has the kindest heart in the world, boom you have Marshal. Did I mention the man travels all across east Africa helping ministries and NGO’s by shooting amazing pictures and videos and composing them into pieces of art that will bring tears to the eyes of Chuck Norris with ease? This dud is the real deal, nuff said.

A long story leads up to Marshal coming. I met a group of ladies on the plane ride into Uganda back in June. We talked about what Jesus was doing in each of our lives and I gave them some cross anklets my Grandmother made me to give to people. Well I get a message from my Grandmother telling me about a guy named Marshal who does photography and I needed to contact him. When he came he told me he met the girls I met on the plane in Uganda and they also directed him to our street kid ministry in Busia town.  Jesus is awesome I know. So from what we talked about I thought maybe Marshal would drop by for a day or two before his next big project to help a super big NGO that was changing millions of lives. Turns out this amazing man of God was taking his valuable time to help out a ministry that involves two grown men riding together on one bicycle to show some street kids some warm love.  Jesus is awesome I know. We went straight to the grind. Marshal told me he wanted to see the real face of what we work with. The next day at our meeting with the kids Cornel told them that today they would be allowed to do the drugs they brought to the meeting. Let’s just say Marshal doesn’t cry a lot because his job is basically an emotional roller-coaster where he sees a lot of difficult things, but that day he cried as he interviewed the boys telling their stories of why they we on the street and what happens to them on the street.  After the interviews Marshal boomed us with some amazing ideas such as splitting the boys into two groups; the older boys, and the younger boys. We tried it and it was so effective. The kids were a lot more open, more of them came and we were able to share a more specific message for each group.  Unfortunately marshal had to go continue saving the word but we were so blessed by his visit and we are looking forward to seeing his videos of The Shelter of United Love when he finishes it!

Jesus tells us in the book of John he will send our counselor the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us. Cornel and I felt this helper and did something that seems hard but is really easy, we listened. We felt Holy Spirit telling us to go to the streets and one by one take kids and just spend individual quality time with each. Some of the kids had never told their stories and some just wanted to feel warm affectionate love. What I learned is that through the past year of working with these kids Cornel is the only person in the world they trust. He is the only man they can come to at any time and they know he will be there for them, kind of like Jesus I think. We saw this pay off big time the past couple of weeks. A kid living on the street doesn’t have to tell you where he lived, why he left and what you can do to help. The only way to get this information is through building a genuine relationship. One by one the boys started opening up telling us everything. One boy Dennis told Cornel he wanted to go home and he gave Cornel his dad’s phone number. After connecting with the district children’s officer and Dennis’s father we figured out the father was not such a good parent and has never had much to do with his son. The father risked doing jail time because he had not reported his own son missing. So out of desperation the father gave us the Dennis’s mothers contact information. With that we called he and found out the real story. The mother was so happy to here we found her son and instantly made an overnight trip to take what was rightfully hers back (mothers you can imagine the intensity). It makes it all worth it to see a mother hugging her son again and witness the two crying together. It’s a chain breaking joy from a victorious God. Jesus is so very good and to him all the glory honor and praise. Dennis is now back in school and living with his mother, we visit Dennis every week and do follow up calls almost every day in order to insure Dennis will never return to the streets.

He is the God of the Redeemed. To me that word is so powerful, Redemption. God seeks after us, calling our names and wanting to know us. He desires to have a relationship with us if only we would take the time to open our hearts to let his love invade our preoccupied lives. What do we get when we seek after God as he seeks after us? It’s called joy. I am a firm believer in happiness; God wants us to be happy. To me though happiness is a temporary emotion and joy is an eternal establishment in one’s heart. We can have joy in hard times, sad times, painful times, we can have joy when we are crying with street kids, or watching them do drugs in front of us. Joy is always there because it’s the scent that the presence of God leaves. Jesus never saw a prostitute, a drug addict, a screw up, because Jesus always saw people for what they truly were. A loved son or daughter of the most high king that has been lavished by his amazing love. Jesus won the war and thats what mindset he looks at things through. A victories mindset. Should we not do the same? When we see someone; a friend, family member, co-worker, celebrity, or crippled street kid that we think is lost and has no hope should we also view them with a victorious mindset. Should we proclaim victory even through it feels useless? Absolutely, a quote many friends have always encouraged me with is “We don’t fight for victory we fight from it” bam! One of the amazing things about being a Christian is the belief in the finished work of the cross where Jesus won. We stand in victory. How good does that feel when you think about it? Right now we sit in an ocean of victorious love because of an amazing love story about a God that sent himself to die for his children who could never repay him. One of our jobs as disciples of Jesus is to proclaim victory over every situation that feels unredeemable until it’s redeemed. In a nutshell that is what The Shelter of United Love is all about. Just a couple of guys empowered by the Holy Spirit, that look at something someone has given up on and declaring it beautiful until it grows wings and flies to where it belongs, in the presence of a divine creator.  

Since Dennis we had a couple of more kids return to their homes or to a safe place of refuge. We are praising Jesus for all he is doing and all that he has done. Ministry transportation is coming soon and land will be the next thing on the list. Please keep those things as well as the kids in your prayers, the ones who are on the streets and the ones who have returned home. Amen.

Love Always,

Haden Hallman

Co- Founder s.o.u.l ministries

hfhallman@crimson.ue.edu

Facebook- Haden Hallman /

The Shelter of United Love

U.S # 205-657-0068

1012 50400 Busia, Kenya

The Trip of a Lifetime

I had been working in Busia for a little under two months and I began to see myself becoming impatient with the progress of the ministry. I would go to hang out with the kids on the street with my spare time. As I approached them I would find them there in a landfill type area huddled in a circle inhaling airplane fuel that has been dumped days earlier. After weeks of seeing the same thing it’s hard to continue to visit because it just breaks your heart. The kids come to our meetings we love on them, play with them, they are able to feel like a kid for maybe two hours. Then they go back to the streets and its right back to the street life. I deeply desired an answer. I knew God was with us but I was waiting on the next move

. It was after a meeting one Saturday that I received a text from my grandmother (MeMe) that was just encouraging and insisted that I needed to rest. For the first time in a long time I sat on the couch in our little apartment and I thought how rest sounds very good. I began to think about how as Christians our first job is the just simply receive the love of the father and become overjoyed with his amazing glory and grace. We are to let our cups overflow with his Holy Spirit, love, and joy. Out of the overflow of our cups we are to poor out the amazing blend of acceptance onto everyone we meet and it’s out of that that people wonder what it is that we contain and we can explain how to receive the joy of Jesus Christ.

 For me I had been trying to love these boys with a dry cup. I was trying to be a daddy for these boys and love without first letting my daddy love me. It’s easy to do not just in Busia but anywhere. We have to let Jesus lavish his love on us and when we know that love, and walk with that love then we are capable of spreading it in a loving way. If you read the book of 1^st Corinthians Ch.13 it states very clearly “If I speak in tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing.” That hit me hard. I was striving to be a light but I was not doing it out of the Love of Jesus but my own love. And what is going to change the hearts of these boys I cannot offer. Not with all the money or strategic plans in the world.

So I took my grandmother up on the offer I wanted to enter a time a rest and restoration with God. I told her I would keep her updated. It was later that night when I received a text from a friend of mine who was attending a ministry school ran by a women named Hydi Baker in Pemba, Mozambique. My friend told me I needed to come, it was a great place to rest and grow with God. I looked on the map and it would take traveling by bus across Kenya, through Tanzania and into Mozambique. I wanted to go but I had a couple of issues. The first being money. I knew I would never spend ministry money on a personal trip to see a friend in Mozambique even if I was going to rest. Second how can the director of a ministry that’s not even off the ground leave on a short notice? I began to pray and it clicked I called my Grandmother and told here my situation and like all amazing Grandmothers do she decided to help me and cover my trip cost in full! (gotta love em). Then I remember how I was not the only one in charge of the ministry my best friend and founder of the ministry itself Cornel was with me and it would make since to ease off and see how Cornel does on his own for a couple of weeks. After all I have to return home at some point and it will be up to Cornel, so it was time to show some trust and faith.

Next thing I knew I packed lightly and efficiently only carrying what I needed for I was traveling almost 2,000 miles by road to Pemba. Price was awesome because bus tickets were dirt cheap and the long rides would give me time to think, read, and write our constitution for our community based organization application. So off I went an overnight bus across Kenya to Mombasa (14 hours). I caught a straight bus across the border, down the coast and into the capital city of Tanzania. I stayed a night at a five dollar hotel and then boogied on down to Mozambique. Luckily for me it was Ramadan and all the coast is predominantly Islamic so I was able to experience loud prayers and Arabic sermons. I didn’t mind, in fact it gave me a great gateway to share my faith with a lot of my Islamic brothers and sisters. I made it the boarder after a 2 hour motorcycle ride, and a couple of broken down buses upon arrival was informed that as of two weeks before no one can get a Mozambique visa at the boarder anymore. I researched and nothing was on the internet any warning but tuff luck. I looked at my options and found that the best thing would be to travel back to Der Salam the capital of Tanzania (which I just traveled a 12 hour bus ride) and get the visa from the Mozambique embassy. So I was kind of enjoying the bus rides I had read more of the bible and listened to more worship music than I had in the past couple of months combined. So the next morning I left and after meeting, riding, sharing, herring and more ridding I had made the trip to and from Der Salaam and was back at the same border. The man asked me “Are you not tired?” I just said I feel more rested than I have ever felt in my life! 2 days later I was in Pemba and I found my friend Mary Catherine and we celebrated.

Pemba left me in states of aw I was surrounded by a community of 400 radical believers from all around the world who all had come from different walks of life. Each person had a unique amazing testimony about Christ and what he had done in their life. It was a great experience. I was able to here many encouraging messages and meet many encouraging people. Jesus helped me find other people who also worked with street children and had ministries of their own. Herring their stories made me feel so at home and blessed and really made me miss the Busia Boyz! So I stayed for a week that felt like a day and I left back for Busia. To see Iris Ministry and where faith took a women like Hydi Baker made me so encouraged and I knew Jesus could do the same things he had done with Hydi in me as well. I made it back safe and sound to my home and new it was time to get back to work. I wanted this time no to go, go, go until I was burnt out and then seek God to repair my damaged soul. I had learned to make that restoration process a daily task. The first thing we should do as Christians is wake up, use the bathroom, and then start receiving the love of Christ through the supernatural nature of Holy Spirit manifested on an earthly realm. As a matter of fact why stop letting God love us. Let us just continue receiving all day even in our sleep. I hope that daily we can see the fruits of the spirit being displayed in our own lives. Imagine a life lived with Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness Faithfulness Gentleness and Self-control. It sounds heavenly, true. That’s because when you live life as it says in Galatians 5:22, you are in fact bringing heaven to this earth. A heaven people are dying to feel a heaven that will wreck someone’s persona of a life lived in the comfort of self-interest and self-investment. When the purpose of life shifts away from us and we humble ourselves to see how small we are and how big our God is its simple to see that the purpose of life is to spend these 80 years (if you’re lucky) just receiving Gods love he has stored for use since the beginning of time. As Daniel writes in Psalms 139 “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God knows us, he loves us, he just desires for us to know him, to understand he is not a distant God that just sits on his thrown and observes but that he is love, he is alive and he is here.

When I started living with that mentality it made life, ministry, and my relationship with God a lot easier and more fulfilling. On the many bus rides I was able to finish the constitution. We gathered the selected committee members together and had our first meeting for the community based organization. I traveled to Kisumu for a hopeful visa renewal and on the same day Cornel traveled to the Kenyan Government office to submit the lengthy application we worked a month to complete. With some smooth talk and an abundance of favor I was able to get three more months added to my visa. With a divine miracle and Jesus present in the room Cornel walked in the office of the Director of Gender, Children, and Social Development and without hesitation the man smiled and asked what took us so long. We did not wait for two weeks like we were supposed to but Cornel left that day with a certificate of registration in his hand. Jesus.

 

To continue to follow our journeys please join our facebook group at The Shelter of United Love (S.O.U.L) Ministries and friend request Haden Hallman and Cornel Ojwang. Thank you for your support and prayers!

Believe Always,

              Haden Hallman

Falling in Love with this Never-ending Joy

July 4-July 30

I have come to the conclusion that faith and joy go hand in hand. The more joy you experience the more faith seems to follow and vice versa.

            It was just a typical day of outreach in the border town of Busia Kenya. Cornel and I had finished our twenty million daily tasks early and we decided to pay a visit to the greatest kids in the world who also happen to be our street kids. We walked up and after hiding the paint thinner drenched rags they had been getting high on all day the boys ran into our arms and we squeezed them releasing the abundance fumes from the drugs into our cloths. We invited them to soccer the following Saturday and did our handshakes and made funny faces. Then God really put a boy on my heart, his name is Edwin. Edwin is 11 years old, covered with a skin disease and lice, and has no plans to go home anytime soon. Cornel and I took Edwin to the side of the boarder and we sat in a ditch if sewage (because that was the only place where we could get some privacy). We were followed by my favorite boy in the world Aruna Ogogo. Aruna is around 11 year old, his growth has been stunted by years of Drugs making him look a lot younger, he doesn’t know how old he is, he can’t count to ten, but he has a smile that will light up anybody’s world any day. It was in this gutter in the middle of nowhere Kenya with a couple of kids the world doesn’t even know exist that I experienced the most amazing, overwhelming, catastrophic, sensation of joy that I had every felt in my whole life. I had Aruna in my arms while talking to Edwin about how awesome he is and the answer hit me. It was not at a football game with 100,000 people, not at a church with the best worship band on the planet (though that’s awesome and highly recommended), not with the best looking women in the world, or best car, cloths, house, it was there in the simplicity of Gods excellence that I experienced what Jesus had been trying to tell me for years. Joy is simple. Simple doesn’t always mean easy. It took me selling everything I had, giving up my future in athletics, college, and any chance of a girlfriend I had to find joy like Jesus talks about all in the gospels. But the awesome thing was it didn’t stop there. Along with this overwhelming joy I was also ravished by overwhelming faith (Awesome). This divine faith in this God that has given me such joy left me in states of wonder that carried me through my days. We finished our talk with Edwin and Aruna and said by to the boys.

            To catch everyone up one the past couple of weeks of ministry and not leave anyone hanging. We had our meeting with the District Children’s Officers of Busia regarding the initiation of us begging the process to becoming a Faith Based Organization with the Kenyan Government. The meeting went absolutely amazing and we had so much favor. We talked and discussed the issue with the head honcho and he gave us great advice. Instead of becoming a Faith Based Organization which would take months and a trip to Nairobi to register first as a N.G.O he recommended us taking the path of becoming a Community Based Organization. The process would not be hard and we could work our way up to one day becoming a children’s home (Sounded easy until he handed us the paper work haha). First step form a committee, next write constitution. So we began right away. Luckily I listened in English enough in High school and did a couple of English classes in college so I had a pretty good mind set to what a constitution should look like. So for the past couple of weeks even up till now we have been getting everything in order covering every inch of what will be the foundations to this organization. Once we have installed the nitty-gritties it’s going to be fun watching Jesus blast us with his beams of joy, prosperity, and growth.

            I cannot talk about the past couple of weeks without displaying my gratitude for the Adventures in Missions team that has been working in Busia with the Church we had worked with previously. This team has been such a blessing for our ministry and they have literally been there for us every step of the way. They were able to poor into us so much but the best part about this team is the way they encouraged us unconditionally and relentlessly. I like to picture life as a colossal slip in slide and encouragement it the baby oil that makes that slip in slide even better. (Jesus

is the boogie board used to shred down it). Unfortunately for us but awesome for a lot of happy friends and family in the U.S/Canada this team returned home this week but because of their willingness and servants hearts a group of street children along with a small dusty town in east Africa will never be the same.  

We always made a joke that we as Christians travel to third world countries all across the globe thinking we are going to radically rock people’s worlds (which is very true) and then when we ourselves get radically rocked, it’s always an adventure. It’s pretty funny to think that God sends us places not as missionaries but to become missionaries to come back to places like America and awaken the thirsty lost soul’s trapped in complacency and obligation. This reminds me of another pretty cool heavy revy (Super Life Changing Revelation) I had when in a bible study with a couple of the girls in the group. We make jokes about Kenyan time and Mazungu time (white person time). Kenyans are always late, but what I have come to learn from Cornel (worlds latest person) it’s not because they are lazy or irresponsible it’s because the leave room to let Holy Spirit control their days and not a peace of technology on their wrist or  in their pocket. When you read the New Testament when Jesus was praying and getting personal time with daddy his boat left him. No big deal for Jesus he hops on the water with full faith that God is in control. I want to live life like that. Set aside all the daily obligations and set schedule and just live by the spirit and if your boat of daily responsibilities leaves you just have enough faith from the joy in your heart to simple walk on the water we call life. Thank you everyone for all of your support it truly is working and its such a blessing to be a part of!

 

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