This month we had the honor to serve alongside Lightforce Ministries in Lira, Uganda. Our host, George O’Riley from the UK, invited us into the busy atmosphere that is Lightforce by sending our team of 21 out as teachers, evangelists and handing us shovels to work in the garden. We worked hard this month. For those of us who were assigned manual labor, we started at 8am sharp with open hands to move bags of charcoal, harvest maize, clean a warehouse, and much more. It was a beautifully exhausting month. George taught us about the importance of working hard as a volunteer. “As you are working, ask yourself if you would pay someone minimum wage to work as hard as you are,” he would remind us. We left Lightforce with sore and blistered hands, full hearts and a love for the incredible work George does.
Due to the lack of available WiFi, on an off day, we traveled in town. While at the Mexican restaurant in town, we overheard another person speaking English with an American accent. This occurrence is hard to ignore and exciting to pursue. My friends and I were pleased to meet David Ochoa from Texas. He shared that he too was a missionary, living with his family in Lira, and was so excited our squad of 45 was serving in Uganda. After casual conversation, he invited us over to his house to meet his family and share testimonies of what the Lord has done in our ministries.
Upon arriving on the Ochoa’s property, we were greeted by two smiling young men, David’s sons, Gabriel and Josiah. We met Rhonda, his beautiful and courageous wife, and the exotic animals they are raising. Soon, we sat down and heard their powerful story.
The Ochoa’s moved to Uganda in the early 2000’s as a family serving among the Bologna people in Jinja, Uganda. During their time in Uganda, their eldest daughter, Talitha, contracted cerebral malari, also known as the 48 hour malaria.
Talitha received her name from Mark 5, Jesus’ words “Talitha cumi” which means “little girl, arise!” She was the eldest child of the Ochoa family, with 2 sisters and 2 brothers to follow. Talitha had big dreams and big passions. Upon arriving in Uganda, she saw the poverty in the health clinic and had a heart to open a burn/sickness educational clinic in the village Lawanyama where her parents were working at the time. On the morning of January 15th, 2007, Rhonda found her daughter very sick and the Lord immediately spoke to her “this is why I named her Talitha.” Her sickness quickly escalated and she tested positive for malaria. Because the malaria went cerebral, she slipped into a coma a few days later and was no longer able to see, hear or receive touch because her brain needed to rest and heal. Rhonda, Talitha’s mother, writes, “I had to be near her; I had to touch her, but touch her gently I must for event the softest touch brought pain and she needed absolute brain rest for her brain to heal. The nurses were asking me to leave, but I pleaded with the convincing them I would not disturb her. ‘I’ll just sit at her feet! She’s my baby!’ I begged.” As Rhonda told us this story, she explained the pain of not being able to even touch her baby girl and let her know that her mama was there. My eyes were wet, my heart broken. Talitha died the next morning.
Now, let us remember her name: “Talitha” from the story where Jesus commands that a young girl who has recently passed away would arise. So the Ochoa family began to pray fiercely, believing the Lord wanted to do the same for their daughter. Even days later, the family held onto faith knowing Jesus raised Lazarus 4 days after his death. But soon the Lord gave Rhonda hope knowing… “I did raise her to life. She’s safe with me.” Rhonda writes, “God shared with me that He didn’t raise her to this imperfect, material, partial life that we have here on earth, but He raised her to complete life, whole and perfect where nothing is lacking. He did heal Talitha, but it was a perfect healing.”
The story of Talitha is a powerful story that displays so much of the Lord’s faithfulness amidst our confusion and grief. As we heard the story, I couldn’t help but notice… “Wait, this family, who lost a precious daughter here in Uganda, is STILL HERE in Uganda serving, almost 15 years later!” Woah. The Lord is in all things and uses everything, even the heaviest heartbreak, to be a seed.
Today, the Ochoa tribe is still serving in Lira, Uganda. Partnering with 27 local churches, doing outreach to Leperous tribes, writing a children’s Bible in the local language and improving literacy programs, they are busy and powerful ministers of the Gospel. They do what they do to “inspire and facilitate the family and church in their role of discipling the next generation with the truth of God’s perfect love and that through Christ they have life, new identity and freedom.” It was such a blessing to experience the hospitality, faith and courage of this amazing family. They are fearless in all they do, and faithful in accepting the Lord’s bold call of their family. To read the full story of Talitha and learn more about what their family is doing, click here.
