Mission Moroto Stories: Achia Ayelen
Last month, we were incredibly blessed to have a team of 28 precious people—many of them family members and church friends—from Oklahoma come to serve for three weeks at Mission Moroto. They were a tremendous blessing to us and to Karamoja. They prepared exceptionally well and arrived ready to work hard and bless many people.
They loved on our children, painted Mission Moroto houses, sorted several footlockers of the children’s clothing, and led a wonderful Vacation Bible School for our kids. They hand-cleared and partially built a road to a remote village and hired a company to drill a well there, overcoming incredible obstacles that are too numerous to list here! They taught in our villages and at our Bible college. They baptized 72 new believers—and so much more.
In one of the villages where we ministered together, Christy Brown, one of the team members, noticed a little five-year-old girl named Angella carrying what appeared to be a newborn infant tied to her back. Christie said to her daughter, Ayelen, “Something is not right with that baby.” Upon closer inspection, the “newborn” turned out to be Angella’s severely malnourished two-year-old little sister Achia, who weighed not quite 10 pounds. Her breathing was very shallow, and one side of her face appeared to be paralyzed. Ayelen took the little girl into her arms. Rubi and Papa Matthew saw her, and Papa Matthew took a photo to send to Rebekah to alert her that this near-death child needed Mission Moroto. The team began asking the villagers about the little girl, and they said, “The mother is in the bush running mad.” Papa Matthew explained, “She’s demon-possessed. That’s how they describe it here.” We asked the villagers, “Can you bring the mother to us?” They replied, “Twelve strong men couldn’t bring her from the bush. She is too strong.” When Ayelen’s dad (Christie’s husband), Tye, heard that, he became angry at Satan and said, “We will go into the bush, get the mother, and lay hands on her for deliverance.” But no one knew where she was at that moment.
We couldn’t legally take the little girl back to the mission that day. We told our Jesus & Porridge teacher in the village what documents we would need to legally receive the child, and then we continued ministering in other villages. When we returned to the mission, we shared everything with Rebekah. All that night we prayed, “God, please let that baby live one more night!” Tye Brown and the team planned to go into the bush the next day to find the mother. But Papa Matthew told Rebekah, “Jesus didn’t go into the tombs to get the demoniac of Gadara; the demoniac came to Jesus. Let’s pray that the mother comes out of the bush to the team.”
The next morning, we sent two of our indigenous pastors, Benard and Teddi, along with two motorcycles carrying Rubi, Ella, Titus Brown, and Ayelen Brown to the village. They obtained the legal documents, received little Achia and her five-year-old sister, Angella, and then asked about the mother. The villagers said, “It’s daylight so surely she has already ran to the bush. Rubi said, “Well, we aren’t leaving without praying over the mother.” The team felt that God wanted to do more than just save Achia. He wanted to redeem her family as well. As God would have it, the team found the mother sitting beneath a tree in the village center, waiting for them. Rubi asked her, “Can we pray for you?” The mother jumped back and said, “No!” So the team began to sing:
“I surrender, I surrender,
I surrender, I surrender,
Unto You, O Lord,
I surrender, I surrender.”
Suddenly, the mother stepped into the circle of singers and fell to her knees in surrender and worship. The team prayed over her and shared the gospel with her. Suddenly, the baby’s father and two other villagers arrived, knelt down, and listened. When the team asked if they wanted to give their whole lives to Jesus, all four answered, “Yes!” They all prayed and received Christ. Hallelujah!
The team brought little Achia Ayelen back to the mission. During her first two weeks, she battled pneumonia, malaria, sepsis, and severe malnutrition before she eventually had to be admitted to the hospital. Ayelen Brown extended her trip through the end of the year to help at the mission and visited Achia Ayelen often. Last week, Achia Ayelen came home—and she is thriving! She now weighs 13 pounds. She is eating, sleeping, playing, and teasing everyone around her! She can now roll from her back to her stomach and sit up on her own. Her mother and father have cleaned up and have visited the mission at least once each week. And precious little Angella Bella is now attending school at Mission Moroto.
Only Jesus… www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories
