Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
- 1 John 4:7-12




“Its times like these you learn to live again
Its times like these you give and give again
Its times like these you learn to love again
Its times like these, time, and time again”
- “Times Like These” The Foo Fighters




There are mornings like Saturday when i wake up and am completely “vexed” – frustrated, confused, and angry with some situations and issues that are going on here that i don’t need to, nor am i going to talk about but will simply say they are not being handled in the right way…and i need to give my feelings up to God, and know that He has His reasons and He is in control. After all, i should just be thankful that He is there to be with me through them…haha… or that i am able to feel at all…So Thank God:)



So yea…everyone has those days like i had on Saturday morning…
But then there are also those days that are so beautifully wonderful that problems seem to fade somewhere in-between myth and nonexistence.



Sunday, April 12…yesterday…Easter…was probably one of the best days of my life…definitely the best Easter.
i honestly can’t explain it, but can only say that everything was beautiful.
First of all…haha… i don’t know how, but i managed to sleep in until 8:15.
i first woke up at 5:45 and thought I’d drift off for another couple minutes and then - almost as if under anesthesia - i awoke up from a heavy slumber, panicked (because i thought i’d be late for Easter Mass) and honestly confused as to how i managed to sleep that long.
Anyways, i guess the sleep did me some good or i was just in an attitude close to ecstasy simply because of gift of life…either way i was set for the day in a joyous mood i could neither fake nor alter.



This Easter, there were no chocolate rabbits. There were no flamboyant Polo’s or sun dresses. There were no Easter eggs stuffed with little candies (honestly i have to admit my mind wandered to jellybeans for a moment)…
…There was, however, Love, comraderie, joy, and celebration…
This Easter, i was fortunate enough to be apart of the baptism of 50 of our children and our wonderful cook, Marta.

The kids walking in for Easter Mass/getting baptized

Now i’ve been to all sorts of services in the states…beautiful services, dull services, reverent services, joyous services, celebratory services, long services, and short services (haha i just sounded like Dr. Suess)… But none compare to the one i attended this Easter.



The celebration was composed of spontaneous, unrestrained joy and a reverence of the truest meaning. The voices of the children were chilling as usual - gloriously triumphant with Christ’s victory over the grave. Their faces were joyous with the new burst of life from the children so eager to take the next step in their spiritual journey. As i stood there, all i could do was smile and thank God for the opportunity to witness such an event…
It was a bonfire of Love.



"Brothers and Sisters: Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
- 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8




“Bartender please
Fill my glass for me
With the wine you gave Jesus that set him free after 3 days in the ground.
I’m on bended knee, I pray. Bartender please
When I was young I never thought about it
And now I can’t get it out of my mind
I’m on bended knee – Father please”
- “Bartender” The Dave Matthew’s Band



So a little less than half of our kids were baptized, and Jerome, Clarissa, John and I became the proud Godparents of all of them

Two proud Godfathers with Zinnah Sackie as he's getting baptized

John and Clarissa during the ceremony

Teddy, myself, and one of my favorite new Godsons - Sam Sumo


After Mass we went back for our Easter dinner. It was plain, yet unforgettable. The friendship and spirit in that room will stay with me for a long time – we truly felt that we were not alone. It was an Easter to be cherished.

We weren’t celebrating our Easter with the normalcy of our families back at home. We didn’t have a ham or sweet potatoes or a table of deserts – no fine wines or cider.
We had bottled water, chicken breasts (a real treat), and rice with a wonderful cup of instant Nescafe Coffee coupled with conversation for desert. This was probably one of the most enjoyable meals i will ever have.

We sat around the table, and all of us were more than overjoyed for what we had. We were all just so happy to be a part of this place – to share this experience – to witness the love that is here.
As my grandmother would say… “if only the table could talk”, my would it have a story to tell.
Whatever you would think of as a “normal Easter” – we did not have it. We had something better. This Easter there was no need to look in my closest for my brightest shirt. There was no need to give up chocolate for lent so i wouldn’t feel bad stuffing my face Easter morning. There was no need to preheat the oven for the ham (probably because we don’t have an oven).
But we had much more than what we needed. We had people we love. We had happiness. We had a celebration of our Savior dying for our sins and then conquering the grave. We had a celebration of the children being baptized. We had a testimony to love.

Brothers and Sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

"For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus."
- Romans 6:3-11

God is Good – All the time. All the time – God is good.
Feelings are temporary. And it seems that i’m always having to remind myself that.
Feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, happiness and joy.
Feelings change with the wind, but God is fixed. God is Good, All the time.
He is our true north, from which all other latitudes and longitudes are determined

Sometimes i get down…for all different kinds of reasons…
And i can mope, or stay down, or sulk…but the only thing that ever gets me out of my funk is giving it up to God…And knowing that He is always with me. He is always good, and He always has me right where i need to be - learning the lesson i need to be learning. But i need those little reminders like Saturday and then Sunday - i need to remember to not be distracted or tormented by my feelings. i need to remember that my feelings are like a small piece of grass blowing in the wind – so quickly will they pass. i need to remember that maybe today i’m angry, tomorrow i might be sad, the next day i might be fearful and afterwards rejoiceful – but none of that matters if i can remember and hold on to the thought that God is with me. i know that the monologue of my frustration or depression gets me no where, and the only way for this blind man to move is to open up into dialogue, shut my own yapper and listen for a little bit to whatever God has is say… i just have to be still and know that He is God…and He leads me where i need to be.

"A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, bu the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Next came a blazing fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. But after the fire came a gentle whisper and thus the Lord spoke. "
- 1 Kings 19:11-13

…We hear those whispers in the people and places we least expect it…
I want to be a part of the new world that’s whispering. I want to be an instrument of peace in the choir that sings softly the songs of love, compassion and generosity with their lives.
I want to be a part of the movement that teaches how to survive blindness. That invokes the spirit to wrestle with its issues - To challenge, to question – to seek the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Musu right after she was baptized...hah you can tell a kid took the picture because of the finger in the way


"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn; To place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of listless spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, plated by the Lord to show his glory. "
- Isaiah 61:1-3

I’m trying not to think of the kids telling me I’m not allowed to leave on May 20th, or the fact that Momma (the girl’s house mother) told me how much she’s going to miss me last night…haha i’m trying to listen to myself and not let these feelings get too deep…

i’m going to miss the feelings, emotions and truths these children and people give off…there is something special about them…something real…something you can’t fake. But i’m going to be glad i got to experience them at all, and that i still have 37 more days:)

Thank you for all of you who support and pray for us! You really do make an impact. i hope all of you are doing well as always, and know that you are all in my prayers. Pray for peace, for understanding, patience, compassion, generosity and Love…for all of us!

Life, Love, and Peace
uncle matthew