{"id":41223,"date":"2019-02-05T13:50:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T18:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=41223"},"modified":"2019-02-05T16:25:55","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T21:25:55","slug":"a-couple-from-pennsylvania-lost-their-baby-daughter-but-have-felt-the-power-of-god-to-redeem-through-the-aliyah-joy-house-building-project-in-uganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/a-couple-from-pennsylvania-lost-their-baby-daughter-but-have-felt-the-power-of-god-to-redeem-through-the-aliyah-joy-house-building-project-in-uganda\/","title":{"rendered":"A couple from Pennsylvania lost their baby daughter \u2013 but have felt the \u201cpower of God to redeem\u201d through the Aliyah Joy House building project in Uganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

An alumni couple who lost their newborn child more than eight years ago say the transformation of their grief into blessing is the result of one thing: \u201cThe power of God to redeem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Janae and Rodney Hostetter<\/strong>,\u00a0 a Pennsylvania-based couple who are both 2005 graduates of Eastern Mennonite University, traveled recently to Namulonge, Uganda, to celebrate the ribbon-cutting for the Aliyah Joy House. The six-apartment building named in their daughter\u2019s honor will house families and generate rent income for the Comforter\u2019s Center, a crisis pregnancy center in the capital city Kampala.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
At the dedication of the Aliyah Joy House in January 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou know, the enemy comes to kill steal and destroy, and we did lose our daughter,\u201d Rodney said recently. \u201cBut the Lord redeems everything for those who love Him, and so now, because of what\u2019s happened and in her name, there is new life, and babies are consistently being saved from abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Funded through the Aliyah Joy House project via Janae\u2019s aunt\u2019s and uncle\u2019s Ohio-based Konnection and Multiplying International (KAMI) ministr<\/a>y, the new $50,000 facility is expected to allow the center to be self supporting.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dedication \u2013 a \u201creally powerful time\u201d of worship and prayer, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the sharing of food \u2013 was attended by many neighbors and representatives of other local ministries as well as Faith Katana Mirembe, secretary to the president of Uganda, and center clients, who attended with their children. Accompanying the Hostetters were 17 others from the United States, who helped finish painting the Aliyah Joy House and visited the center.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opening of the house is \u201cdefinitely something we\u2019ve been believing and praying for, for more than eight years,\u201d Janae said. \u201cOf course you can imagine that this dedication service felt amazing, after such a long time of waiting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing for life \u2013 \u201cabsolutely\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n
\"\"
Janae and Rodney Hostetter with a sign that includes Isaiah 60:1-3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2010, just three months into their pregnancy, the Hostetters learned that their baby had brain abnormalities and would likely not live. Most people in their situation, medical providers told them, would opt for an abortion, but the Hostetters decided instead that they would \u201cstand for life absolutely,\u201d Rodney said. <\/span><\/p>\n

They turned to scripture, for Janae specifically Isaiah 60:1-3: \u201cArise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After Aliyah Joy died while being born, the Hostetters\u2019 family and friends contributed money for them to use in her honor, and they sought a cause to support.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the pregnancy,\u201d Janae said, \u201cwe really thought that we were supposed to stand for life.\u201d Through KAMI they learned of the Comforter\u2019s Center, which was founded by Veronica Nakyewe, a woman whose disabilities had been caused by her mother\u2019s abortion attempt and whose sister had died from abortion complications. They realized that \u201chere\u2019s a place that does this on a regular basis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Affirmation and redemption<\/b><\/h3>\n

Then and since, the Hostetters have believed that \u201cit\u2019s the power of Heaven, the power of Jesus Christ,\u201d that can change situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an easy thing to become bitter or become callous after pain and after trial,\u201d Rodney said, \u201cbut anything that is instead committed to the Lord will be redeemed it in a sweet way, one hundred percent of the time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They have felt \u201csupernatural\u201d affirmation of this, multiple times, including not long after Aliyah\u2019s birth, when Janae\u2019s aunt and uncle traveled to Uganda in part to surprise Nakyewe with the check honoring their niece. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A gathering in the Aliyah Joy House of Prayer in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There, Janae said, they had a surprise of their own: Nakyewe eagerly showed them a gazebo-like structure being built beside the center for a prayer house that \u2013 after reading about the Hostetters\u2019 story and commitment to life but before knowing about the Hostetters\u2019 financial gift \u2013 she had felt called to name the Aliyah Joy House of Prayer. The money, they realized, would pay for its roof.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another moment of affirmation came in 2013 at the groundbreaking for the Aliyah Joy House project. Janae had \u201cfelt God say, \u2018You should pray [the Isaiah] verses over the land,\u2019\u201d and so read them to Nakyewe, who began crying and then told Janae that they were \u201cthe very verses that God gave me when I started this center.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The verses are now inscribed on the Aliyah Joy House sign, and the Hostetters are clear: the house is the fruit of not their own good works, but of the loving kindness of a God who \u201creally does take the weak things of the world and makes them strong and shines his glory on it,\u201d Rodney said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we feel we\u2019re an example of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod seriously can redeem any situation, no matter how dark it is,\u201d Janae said. \u201cGod\u2019s redemption is always greater than the work of the enemy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The newly dedicated Aliyah Joy House is nearly finished \u2013 its remaining needs include plumbing fixtures and tiling \u2013 and then the apartments will be ready for tenants. <\/span><\/p>\n

Donations are received through the <\/span>KAMInternational<\/span><\/a> website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An alumni couple who lost their newborn child more than eight years ago say the transformation of their grief into blessing is the result of one thing: \u201cThe power of ... read more about A couple from Pennsylvania lost their baby daughter \u2013 but have felt the \u201cpower of God to redeem\u201d through the Aliyah Joy House building project in Uganda<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":41225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5589,17562,8845],"tags":[],"feature":[17426,17241],"class_list":["post-41223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-bible-and-religion","category-digest","category-emu-at-lancaster","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nA couple from Pennsylvania lost their baby daughter \u2013 but have felt the \u201cpower of God to redeem\u201d through the Aliyah Joy House building project in Uganda - 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