Ministry Newsletter

Dear Friends of the Mordecai Project:

I hope all of you are safe and healthy during this pandemic. Who would have ever imagined that an invisible virus would shut down the world? And yet the Lord is still on His throne and His peace and joy are available to all who call on Him. In this season of social distancing, I’m so glad God is not keeping His distance from us. He is so near!

I was supposed to travel to Pakistan during the month of April. Surprise! That didn’t happen because of the pandemic. But something beautiful happened instead—we were able to raise $2,500 over a 24-hour period so that we could provide enough food to 50 destitute Pakistani women and their families!

Below you can see the $25 food packets that we gave to each of these women at the beginning of April. We plan to distribute the same amount of food to the women at the beginning of May. I am so grateful for our Mordecai Project directors there, Susheel and Esther. They have been operating our women’s empowerment center there, and it was their burden to help the women with food because the quarantine forced everyone to stay home.

Our first food packets were delivered on Good Friday. Susheel told me that all the women were praising God for His goodness. They definitely had something to celebrate on Resurrection Day. These are the same women who have been making the handcrafted tote bags that we sold last year. Below you can see one of the women who received this gift of food with much gratitude.

Many of the women we are helping in Pakistan were abandoned by their husbands with no financial safety net. Our goal is to train these women in marketable skills so they can support their families properly. At his time we have had to suspend some of the sewing of bags because everyone is on lockdown—and there are many cases of coronavirus in Pakistan. Please pray that the virus crisis ends. The women are eager to get back to work!

All of us have been affected by the pandemic and the quarantine, but people in developing nations have suffered the most. In Africa, it has been especially difficult even though there are not many cases of the virus. The government of Kenya, for example, has enforced a total lockdown—and even local travel has been banned. This has created untold hardship for families that live day-to-day on what they can sell in the market. In Moi’s Bridge, Kenya, where we are beginning a project for underprivileged girls, many families are suffering from hunger. Below you can see our directors, Elijah and Rebekah Wafula. Thanks to a generous donation from First Baptist Church in LaGrange, Georgia, we are sending them a donation to help Pastor Elijah feed his own family and keep the ministry running during this critical time.

We recently sent funds to help Pastor Elijah and Rebekah build a girls’ dormitory at the school they operate on their church property. We are also helping to pay school fees for some of the girls, like the ones below. And we are protecting these girls from the horrible practice of female genital mutilation, which is very common in the villages near our ministry base. If you’d like to help us complete this project please designate your donation for Kenya.

Many of you have heard me talk about Robert and Doreen Kaahwa, our ministry directors in Masindi, Uganda (in the photo below). Last year we bought land and began our first women’s empowerment center in Masindi, and Robert and Doreen have been working so hard to get it running. The women there are learning various skills including sewing, pig-raising, bee-keeping and agriculture. However the quarantine has severely affected the project. Animal doctors could not check on the pigs, travel was halted and security was vulnerable. Thanks to some generous donors we were able to resolve the problems, and we sent extra funds to help Robert and Doreen manage during the crisis.

Please pray that the virus will end soon and that it will not spread in Uganda. The health care system there could not handle a huge number of patients. Below you can see our sewing classes that were going on before the pandemic. Please pray we can resume soon!

You may be wondering what I am doing with my time, since all my trips have been canceled in April and May. I have been busy! I’ve done some online events for churches and ministries, and I am working on my new book about discipleship. I have also been doing many Zoom video calls with pastors and disciples. (Below you can see a recent Zoom call with some of the young men I mentor.) This week I also had my first Zoom call with our ministry directors from all over the world. We had people from Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan, India, Guatemala, Peru and Puerto Rico for a glorious time of prayer! I am grateful for new forms of technology that keep us connected.

Speaking of connection, I’ve been very sad that I can’t connect with my mother during the pandemic. Her nursing home is on total lockdown. We are grateful that the staff of her facility is taking this virus seriously, since older people are the most vulnerable. Below you can see my mother with a hospice volunteer who visits here weekly. We know that my mom is doing okay, but we will be so glad when we can visit again. Please pray for her.

Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support during this trying time. We know that some of you may be going through economic hardship because of job loss or furlough. Please let us know how we can pray for you. Obviously we are trusting the Lord to provide for us financially in this lean time. If you are able to send an extra gift to help us with the shortfall we would be so grateful.

Thank you again for believing in this ministry. We are going to survive this crisis!

Lee and Deborah Grady

The Mordecai Project
P.O. Box 2781
LaGrange, GA 30241