Future // Now

This blog is exactly what the title says; this is the story of my future, and the story of life now.

My fiance Silvester lives in Uganda, East Africa, where I am serving too, and where God first brought our hearts together in 2013. We plan to continue the rest of our lives together and make it official on the 18th of July, 2015 in Uganda at a big wedding celebration with family and friends all around. We are so excited about the future that God has in store for us and we want to share our story with you.

Silvester currently serves at a vulnerable mothers ministry, Uniquely Woven, located in the southeast of Kampala. Uniquely Woven takes care of single mothers who are very desperate, who have lost their husbands while they are about to experience their labor, young teens who get pregnant at school and see no hope for their baby, and many more dark situations. He started out helping as a translator at the time Uniquely Woven was starting in May 2014, and now helps out as the Coordinator of Operations. His job is to find the right story of a mama the ministry is going to care for, figure out the best way to help her and her children (if any), find her a new home, locate a school for the mama’s children and attend their school events, deal with the local merchants that provide food and other services to the mamas. He is present at the hospital at the time of birth for the mama (even if it is an all night process), and responds to all the needs of the mama as long as they are still under the care of Uniquely Woven. He recruits and manages volunteers that help in the different activities held by Uniquely Woven, and translates at the pregnant mothers bible study in Namuwongo slums that is held every Tuesday.

I serve at a street children out-reach ministry, Raising Up Hope for Uganda, located West of Kampala in Bulenga. Raising Up Hope has several different programs including a Boys and Girls Home, a Safe House, slum outreach every Tuesday and Thursday, Village of Hope, and a Day Care education program for kids in the community who’s families can’t afford the school fees of a private school. Every day is different for me as some days I can find myself teaching English at the school, or cooking rice for a group of kids in the slums, or visiting the Safe House and the two young mamas and their beautiful babies there, or traveling to the Village of Hope and even helping plant beans, potatoes, and other foods, or photographing the day with the other volunteers and kids, typing up contracts, reviewing the website, and editing photos.

“Together, we want to love and serve the children in every way possible and in any time we have, there is nothing as fulfilling as serving others.”

Although we are both serving at these two different ministries, God has placed a different call for the future on our lives. If you know Silvester personally, you would know that he has always had a heart for children and knows that God placed that on his life for a reason and he can’t ignore it. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27. Silvester has always had a vision to live out this verse in his life and has started it by serving at Uniquely Woven. Our ultimate vision, dream, and goal as a couple that God has called to Uganda, is to start a home for homeless children and welcome them into our lives and into God’s love through the ministry. Our purpose is to be “Father” and “Mother” to them and erase the word and feeling of “orphan” and “orphanage” from them. We are in the beginning steps of writing out the vision and goals of this new ministry. We believe that every child is perfectly made in God’s eyes and that He has a plan for each and every one of them. We know that this will be a big and hard step to take but we believe that with God’s help nothing is impossible. We plan on starting our own ministry when we are settled into marriage after some time and when God says the time is right.

We can’t do this without your help. Right now we need about 17 faithful  and committed sponsors giving $50 per month, or 35 sponsors giving $25 or their own desired amount per month, or even just a one time donation, our monthly budget would be covered and drive us to serve God faithfully. If you have interest in supporting, please message me on Facebook or email katelyn_yoder@yahoo.com to get more details on our budget plan. We hope that you are able to share this with your friends and family as well, and are extremely thankful for you taking your time to listen to me as I share our future story with you. Your prayers are the most needed thing of all. Please pray for us as we embark on a life of missions together and that God would meet every one of our needs right where we are.

We need your help.

 God Bless You.