As we finish our last 11 days of the World Race, I will be posting a recaps with some of my favorite memories from this year and a couple of the long, lost blogs that disappeared in the abyss of my hard drive. Here is a blog I wrote on the way to Rwanda for month 1 debrief:
After a rough first week in Uganda, our new host, Pastor Vianney, Mama Lucy, their family, and Jesus Celebration Church were a God sent. Adventures In Missions contacted them, and three days later, they readily welcomed us into their home. I didn’t realize it until our last week in Neteete, but our month was full of perfectly timed moments and situations that only God could orchestrate.
A month before we even left America, Pastor announced they would tear down the church on September 21th, the day we arrived. I asked what the church was planning to do before they knew we’d come, and he just smiled. He said they didn’t have a plan, and that’s why it was an act of faith. The church needed to be rebuilt, so they set the date to tear it down. Sometimes we have to act before God reveals all of the details. We arrived just as workers were pulling down the walls and trusses of the building. Had we not spent a week in Mmanze, we would have been too early.
Every morning at 6:30 am, I would roll out of bed, find a skirt, grab my bible, and head to the front yard, or living room if it was raining, for morning devotions. We would pray, read a proverb, and sometimes sing a chorus or song. We had personal quiet times or naps until breakfast at 8 am, and we usually headed to ministry around 9 or 9:30 am. Our last morning devotion was different though. We gathered for devotions, and Pastor Vianney looked very excited and had good news. His friend from Houston wanted to reimburse ALL of our food and lodging funds!! His friend said people doing God’s work should not be the ones paying their way, and he wanted to bless us. He had no idea how much his generosity truly meant to us. After the chaos in Mmanze, we only stayed for one week when we’d already paid for two. When we moved to Natetee, we paid Pastor Vianney as well, and we were significantly over budget. We counted it as a loss and assumed we couldn’t get our money back, but God is so much bigger than that.
On our last Sunday, God answered one of my prayers from door-to-door ministry, and a woman we visited came to church with her children. I was so excited to see her. At our last dinner, Mama Lucy said she has done door to door evangelism for years, and this was the first time someone had come to church. The first time! I remember standing outside that woman’s home debating if we should go in or call it a day. I remember looking at my watch because we were late to meet up with the other group, but we went in anyway. The woman was born again, but she stopped going to church. Her and her husband had been hurt by the church. He didn’t want to go back because the church was full of hypocrites. She was pregnant and said she couldn’t go to church because of pain in her leg. I prayed over her. I prayed God would heal her leg. I prayed she would come back to church when she was ready. Mama Lucy said she would come if her leg didn’t hurt on Sunday. Maybe God healed her leg or maybe God healed something in her heart. Either way, I felt like God showing me the fruit of our door-to-door ministry. Even though we were late, we were movable, and He used us.
In Uganda God showed up and blew me away with His faithfulness and work behind the scenes, and I saw Him come through for my team and me again and again. When we weren’t clearing out rubble from the old church, building new walls, and leveling the floor, we were preaching, teaching, or doing door-to-door evangelism. One day I even got to be part of a miracle and pray healing over a Muslim man, but that story can fill a blog of its own. Outside of ministry, I learned to dance and shake my hips at church. I made chipati using a bottle as a rolling pin and rode a boda boda (motorcycle) for the first time. As we listened to God and stepped forwards in faith, our plans seamlessly fell into place. God went before us and provided for us. I received confirmation in big and small things, and I learned to trust God’s voice more. This was a month of seeing miracles and growing in trust and faith.
This is my first team, Kingdom217, on our first adventure day after we rafted the Nile! As it says in Acts 2:17, the verse that inspired our name, we came to prophesy, have Kingdom dreams, and see the Spirit move. We left our jobs to see the Kingdom here on earth, and in Uganda, I definitely saw God’s power come alive!
