In December of 1975, while man-
aging a restaurant, a girl walked in
though the glass doors and I thought to
myself, “ My, my, my, that is the pretti-
est little girl I’ve ever seen. I’m going
to marry her.” At that moment, love
re-entered my life. It only took me five
years to convince her she loved me as
much as I loved her. We married and
started a family. I felt loved and capa-
ble to give love for the first time since I
was a young child.
The hole in my heart was being re-
paired, but I was still left with a haunt-
ing emptiness. Without God in my
heart I drifted from the goodness in my
life and attempted to fill the emptiness
myself. I used every worldly escape
available. Spiraling downward, I hit
the bottom, hard.
My lovely wife had accepted Je-
sus into her heart years before but I
held onto my independence and sepa-
ration from God. She prayed inces-
santly on my behalf. She never gave
up on me, even when I had given up on
myself.
After realizing death wasn’t the an-
swer, I knew the true answer had been
there all along. I asked my wife to pray
over me and ask Jesus for new life. She
said He had been waiting all along and
I just needed to ask. In one brilliant mo-
ment the hole in my heart was filled
and the pain was gone. I was able to
look back at my life and see that God
had been there all along. He was
grooming me for what lay ahead.
I no longer run my own life. God
has asked me to give myself to Him
without asking why. My answer is yes,
and so I am leaving for Kenya with His
presence inside of me. I wish I could
take you all with me.
The dreams of a little boy are being
lived out in the least of men—just how
Jesus would have it be.
I’ll see you on the top of the world!
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[Brian Hester is leaving for Africa
on May 1. Please keep him and his mis-
sion in your prayers, and watch for
“Brian’s Journal” from Africa as a regu-
lar feature of this publication.]
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IMPORTANT WARNING
TO ALL SPONSORS/DONORS
This past week we had another drastic reminder of
what can happen when our sponsors or donors send money
or checks directly to our orphanage Post Office boxes.
One of our new sponsors sent a small check ($10) in a
card for her little orphans in December. The check has
just come back to her bank and the amount had been
changed to over $4,000! The payee had been changed
from Pastor Maurice to a corporation name, and the
check had been routed through the International Bank of
Taipei, which has several branches in Africa. Of course,
this check never reached our box in Oyugis. It could have
been stolen anywhere along the way, in Nairobi or else-
where along its route.
Our sponsor learned about the situation with her
check when four police officers showed up at her door.
They were met by one of her children who called her
home from work. Thankfully, this sponsor will not be re-
sponsible for covering this check, but she has been
charged some fees in connection with it, and has been
subjected to much stress over what was supposed to be a
loving gift. There is no guarantee that another person
would be so fortunate.
Please do not ever send checks or cash directly to
your child or to the administrators of our projects. The
safest way to make sure your gift is going directly where
you want it is to send it to your project treasurer. She will
then send it with her next bank wire, along with a note to
Maurice, Moses, orone of the Ugandan “Freds” about the
special gift you have sent. They will then make sure the
child gets the money, or purchases whatever you have
earmarked it for.
We have no way of knowing if this is an isolated inci-
dent, or if it has happened many times. If the letter disap-
pears along with the money or check, the child or
administrator would not know of its existence. If you de-
sire to send a special money gift, please, please put it
through the proper channels. It is for your own protec-
tion. It also assures that your child gets the full benefit of
whatever amount you send. A small check cannot be
cashed in a bank in Africa and have anything left of the
money. Even small bills lose much value when ex-
changed for African currencies (the smaller the bill, the
higher the exchange rate). Your child will get a much
better return on your gift if it is a part of a large amount of
money to be exchanged rather than the child trying to
exchange a small bill.
We want your experience with this ministry to be a
positive one. Please keep in mind that in countries of such
extreme poverty as those we are working with, there is
also very much fraud and often little recourse.
If you have any questions as to where your donation
or gift should be sent, please refer to the inside back page
of Spotlight, where you will find a list of all treasurers.
Feel free to call them for further information. Thank you
for your continued support of this ministry.
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