Archives October 2026

Mission Moroto Stories: Disabled Adorables

We are highly blessed by God to have 12 adorable children with disabilities at Mission Moroto. We wanted to take a moment to highlight each one just a little.

Moru Michael came to us as a very malnourished and seriously ill 5-year-old who was too weak even to hold his head up. He couldn’t speak, stand, walk, or feed himself. Our team has lovingly worked with him for about two years now, and today he can stand and walk behind his wheelchair, using it like a walker. He still doesn’t speak and may never, but he is loving and deeply loved.

Keem Veronica came to us about five years ago. She was 12 years old and had never walked. She could only crawl. After multiple surgeries and much physical therapy, she can now walk with crutches. We and the doctors believe she will continue to grow stronger and walk even better. She is a sweetheart and loves the mission.

Moru Esther came to us a few years ago. She had tuberculosis of the spine (Pott’s disease), which left her rib cage severely deformed. She is always smiling, is a good singer, and absolutely loves hugs!

Lowal Nicolas has multiple birth defects. He is in a wheelchair, doesn’t speak, and has trouble eating, but he LOVES to worship! He dances in that wheelchair during worship and beams with the biggest smile when Papa Matthew is preaching. What a blessing!

Opio and Ochen are blind twins. They have intellectual disabilities and some other birth defects as well, but these two guys are a happy part of our big Mission Moroto family. They love to be carried around by everyone!

Keem Teresa is a sweet teenage girl whose tuberculosis of the spine (Pott’s disease) left her paralyzed from the waist down. She was brought to us years ago on the back of a relative who was carrying her. Today, she has a hand-powered wheelchair that she can pedal to get around, but invariably, she always has two or three friends who love to push her wherever they go.

Sagal Patience is a lovely girl who is deaf and unable to speak. She knows that Papa Matthew is visually impaired, so somehow, every time he leaves the house, she shows up to guide him around the mission. She grunts and points out tripping hazards along the way. It certainly doesn’t hurt that she has the best smile and gives amazing hugs. We all love Patience!

Lomongin Mercy was born without feet and is paralyzed from the waist down. She used to sit in the dirt all day beside the road, smiling and waving at Rebekah as she drove by. Rebekah would often say, “I wish we could help that little cutie.” One day, her relatives came asking if we could take her in, and we did! The children love to push her around in her wheelchair. She has one of the best smiles ever!

Teko Moses is a little deaf boy whom we rescued six years ago. He loves school and loves to write, even though he cannot hear what the teachers are saying. We are blessed with loving and patient teachers who work tirelessly to help all of our children with disabilities.

Nakiru Hellen is our precious autistic girl who has been with us for three or four years. She can say a few words. She is always smiling and cheerful and loves everyone. She struggles with walking and requires constant care, but Mission Moroto is the best family ever when it comes to caring for one another. Early on, Papa Matthew would put up his “dukes,” pretending he was ready to box whenever he saw Nakiru. She would laugh, take a fighter’s stance, trade a few pretend punches with him, and then they would hug!

Achia Ayelen is our little angel with Down syndrome. She came to us this summer in terrible shape, but praise God, she is doing so much better! Today, she is in India undergoing major heart surgery.

“The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved—they are Jesus in disguise.” — Mother Teresa

We are humbled that God has entrusted these precious children to us, many of them for the rest of their lives.

We are their family. This is their home.

www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories

Mission Moroto Stories: Hope Telo

At Mission Moroto, we have a delightful child named Hope Telo. When she first came to us years ago, she was always falling down face-first and scratching up her face on the ground. She was forever going about with scabs on her face from healing wounds. Finally, we figured out that she had severe epilepsy, which caused her to regularly lose consciousness and fall face-first to the ground. After multiple hospital visits and various medications, she is finally doing much better.

But let me tell you, this girl is a character! She says the funniest things and keeps us laughing all the time.

One day, she was sitting next to Rebekah, rubbing Rebekah’s arm so hard that it began to hurt. Rebekah said, “Ouch, Telo! What are you doing?”

Telo replied, “I’m trying to find your color. Where is the black?”

Another time, we were all sitting on Rebekah’s front porch when we suddenly heard Telo’s voice shouting, “STOP FIGHTING! GO TO BED!”

We looked around and discovered that she was lecturing a group of rocks she had lined up on the ground!

On another occasion, Papa Matthew thought he would make her laugh, so he took her toy baby doll, held it to his chest, and said gently, “Keliling, baby, keliling,” which means, “Quiet, baby, quiet.”

Then he patted the baby’s back and said a little more firmly, “Keliling, baby, keliling.”

He continued with increasing sternness and more vigorous patting of the baby’s back until he finally yelled, “I SAID, KELILING, BABY!!!” and threw the baby doll up into the air.

By this time, a large crowd of little ones had gathered, and they fell over laughing, rolling on the ground and holding their bellies.

Telo ran laughing to pick up the baby, brought it back to Papa Matthew, and said, “Again, Papa Matthew! Again!”

No matter how many times he did it, they laughed, clapped, and begged for more.

For the next several weeks, every time Papa Matthew came out of Rebekah’s house, someone would come running up, holding out a doll and shouting, “Papa Matthew! Keliling, baby, keliling!”

Papa Matthew would just sigh and say, “Well, I did this to myself,” and then repeat the performance to great laughter and cheers.

Once in a while, there would be a real little child crying, and Papa Matthew would gently pat the child’s back and say, “Keliling, baby, keliling.”

The child’s eyes would get big, the crying would immediately stop, and everyone would burst out laughing!

It’s impossible to describe all the joy Hope Telo brings to Mission Moroto, but it is immense.

www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories

Mission Moroto Stories: Off to India

Rebekah saw her team off to the airport and they flew out of Uganda today, headed to Southern India for major heart surgery for our little angel, Achia.

One of the team members going is Ayelen Brown, a 19-year-old from Oklahoma. We tell the story of how Ayelen met Achia HERE. Ayelen graduated from high school at age 16 and has worked in missions in Indonesia and other places around the world. She visited Mission Moroto with her family two years ago and then came back this past June. After rescuing Achia, she realized she needed to stay and help, so she extended her trip through the end of this year.

Rebekah, Rubi, and Ayelen set their hearts on getting Achia the help she needed. Soon, they realized that she needed to go to India for major heart surgery, but this was a nearly impossible task.

First, the baby would need a birth certificate. She was born in a mud hut in the bush country of Karamoja, and sometimes it takes months or even years to get one.

BUT GOD!

Soon, the team had the birth certificate.

Then they set out to get passports for the baby, her father (she can’t legally leave or return to Uganda without a parent), and Rebekah’s Karamojong caretaker, Sylvia.

BUT GOD!

After trips to other cities and paperwork galore, the passports were acquired.

Then they set out to get medical visas, arrange the surgery, raise and transfer significant funds, complete tons more paperwork, make more trips hours and hours on the bus, get immunizations, attend multiple hospital visits, and pray—tons of prayer.

BUT GOD!

The visas were approved, and the flights were booked.

All this time, Ayelen was working on her own to get the funds, visa, and everything else she needed so she could go with Achia and care for her throughout the entire process.

Ayelen has severe Type 1 diabetes and is on an insulin pump. Her mother and friends flew all the way from Oklahoma again to bring her the things she needed so she could stay by this little baby’s side.

Ayelen and Achia and the rest of the team are on the plane now, and we will update you all as more miracles transpire.

The fact that a Karamojong bushman, his baby daughter (who has gone from 3 kilos to 8 kilos in four months), a Karamojong caretaker—all of whom have never flown before—and a 19-year-old missionary from Oklahoma are headed to Bengaluru, India, a city of 8 million people, is a BUT GOD story all its own.

Only Jesus… www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories