Dave and Janna and their three young children moved to Uganda less than a year before Kinsey and Jordan arrived at Restoration Gateway. They were worship leaders at a church in Canada when God called them to serve in Africa. Dave is a hockey-playing, Jesus-loving father and husband while Janna is a God-centered mother and wife. Their journey to a distant land became even more of a faith walk when they learned Janna was pregnant shortly before the move. In prayer, the word the Lord gave them is a word He really gives all His children: surrender.
As much as Kinsey and Jordan were encouraged by stories of miracles and healings that some of the missionaries had experienced, they were most inspired by Dave’s and Janna’s life story. Though the pregnancy went well and their ‘home delivery’ was smooth, after a few days Janna felt something was just not right with their baby girl. Doctors at the base advised them to go for tests at the modern hospital in Kampala, the capitol of Uganda.
The condition worsened in Kampala and it was determined that there was a problem with the baby’s heart. Quickly, arrangements were made to fly back to Canada where a world renowned pediatric heart surgeon would operate, but before the scheduled flight, the little girl died.
Kinsey spent a lot of time with Janna during their month in Uganda. It had only been about three months since their loss and the young family was looking to God for help. Janna’s goal was to be grateful for the thirty-four days she got to be with her baby. Dave’s focus was on the Scripture copied below from I Peter. “We will see our child again; this is God’s promise.”
God has the power to heal and restore… no doubt. But God also has the power to help us endure difficult and painful times. We have a ‘living hope.’
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” I Peter 1:3-6