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I miss Africa terribly already. It is a beautiful land, with beautiful people, and sunrises that take your breath away. January is summer for them, so the days began and ended with a fleece jacket on, and 12-4 forming the hottest portion of the day. Being on the equator also meant 12 hour days, so we went to bed exhausted. Yet, it was a joy and privilege to be spent for the glory of God, doing His work and preaching the good news of Jesus Christ.
The people and villages of the Kiburara region in the Kamwenge District (west of Kampala) stole our teams’ hearts. Moses, the head pastor of the Kiburara Gospel Center, is a man of great faith and service. He and his wife Sarah faithfully served us all week, providing lunch for us every day. Throughout our time there, we helped served Moses by doing Prison Ministry, participating in their annual Youth Conference, leading discussion groups, doing dramas and worship times, sharing testimonies and the Gospel Message at evening crusades in town, and encouraging his church members through God’s Word.
One of my greatest joys was witnessing conversions and seeing children and adults enter the kingdom of God by turning from their sins and accepting Christ’s work on the Cross. I had the amazing privilege of sharing my testimony in front of 200+ people at the first evening crusade…to describe the gracious mercy of God in my life and then point hopeless individuals to the living water of Christ was a memory I will never forget. Another highlight was seeing the fruit of the practical application of the Gospel during our regional village outreach one day. Isaac Hydoski, Peter and I visited a small community made up of 20 huts, in order that we could meet with a few of the Christians there and fellowship with them. However, there really were only 3 who joined us at first. It was incredibly humorous—3 “muzoongu”s (Americans) singing Lord I Lift Your Name on High in English as 60+ villagers stared at us from a distance…they weren’t sure what to think of us, and we certainly didn’t know what to think of them! However, the heavens parted, rain began pouring down, and an ordinary opportunity presented itself to help the villagers: they all ran to gather and put away the harvested corn that had been laid out in the sun to dry…I suggested to Isaac and Peter that we go help them. So, under a stormy African sky, the 3 of us surprised the village by helping them pick up and gather all the corn! After the rain had let up, and the corn was put away, we were delighted to find the entire village gathering around us to come and listen to what we had to say. From there, Peter and I shared our testimonies, and then Isaac preached the Gospel to them. We spent an hour praying for various individuals, for mental and physical healing. At the end of our 2 hours there, we were hugging each other and thanking God for using that simple act of service to open their hearts towards us….many of them ended up coming out to the Youth Conference over the next 3 days.
One of our beloved team-members—Abe Groveman–got extremely ill with bronchial pneumonia on the last 2 days we were there, and is currently still in Kampala resting and healing. Drew Garfield stayed with him, and I just heard this afternoon that they are now out of the hospital and in a nearby hotel. Hopefully, they will fly home on Saturday. Please continue to lift Abe up in your prayers–specifically, that his oxygen levels would rise, his fever would be completely gone, and that he would be able to eat enough to strengthen his body before traveling. Despite this trial, and others (including a potential Lice scare among the girls, and another team-member, Michael Gruden, getting an extremely dangerous case of food-poisoning and over 24 hours of throwing up…), our team is sooo grateful to the Lord for meeting us and giving us a wonderful week of Gospel ministry and fellowship with the Kiburura Gospel Center. Moses has already requested that we send another team next year, and Lord willing, I would love to be on it! Although Kenya did not work out this time, I am also confident that if God wants me to go to Rift Valley Academy, He will provide the way at the right time in my life.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all who helped support me financially and in prayer. I was daily reminded while in Uganda of the blessing it was to be there…without your contributions, I simply could not have gone; without your prayers, I could not have been as strengthened in my faith and reliance on God’s grace on a daily and hourly basis. I hope you enjoy these pictures, and I hope to post more details of our trip soon!
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