We have now been in Uganda for 12 days and this past week has been the best week in ministry. This month ministry is different everyday which is nice and it helps not get stuck in the motions.
We started ministry on Tuesday with house visits, where we split into two groups and ministered to different people at the homes that we visited. The first house my group visited was a home where many of the people living there were dealing with illness. We prayed for them and moved on to the next home.
The next house we visited was two young women and three children. Of course the children were wearing no clothes and were scared of the white people visiting their home. After talking with the two young women for a bit this little girl who was three and named Patience went running to a women walking by. We found out that the woman was Patience’s mom and she wanted us to pray for her daughter. Her mom told us that about once a month “something evil would pull on her daughter’s leg.” We prayed for them as a family and for the women in particular. I fell in love with Patience and have prayed for her since every day. I know Jesus loves that little girl and is going to protect her and be with her each month.
On Wednesday our ministry was street kid ministry. Our team showed up at the church where six boys from the ages of 12-16 were waiting to meet us. Ministry started by playing games with the boys such as look up look down, and ninja. After playing some ice breakers we sat down with the boys and had them share with us how they ended up on the streets. All the boys shared and all had similar stories of being abused, parents being divorced, and their step moms not wanting them or treating them right. It was heart breaking to hear these boys share stories that they had all gone through at such a young age. It truly put in to perspective what problems are really important and what are things that are not a big deal.
While spending time with these boys one boy named Don asked to be taken to the hospital for a disease. One of my teammates asked if he wanted to go to the doctor or let Jesus heal him. He surprised me when he said he wanted Jesus to heal him. We all gathered around and prayed for him believing that Jesus would heal him. A little bit later another child came up and wanted prayer for a headache, tooth pain, and bloody noses. We prayed over this child and when we were done I asked how he felt and he said the pain was all gone Jesus had healed him! I was so excited and amazed that God would use me to minister to these children.
Me and one of my teammates started singing Our God is Greater with this child to praise God for the healing. Before long the child was singing with us and rejoicing that the Lord had healed him.
We bought the boys lunch and while they were eating we just sat and talked with them getting to know them better. One boy had lots of questions about heaven and where he would go when he died.
Then while talking with Don who is 16 he told us he wanted Jesus as his savior. As a team we prayed with Don to accept Jesus as his savior and then our leader gave him a bible to read. Don was very excited to have a bible and luckily he can read English. I’m excited to see how our relationships with the boys will grow and what God will continue to do in their lives.
the boy healed from pain is holding the bible and Don is the one wearing black t-shirt in the front
I ask that as you spend time praying today that you take a few minutes and pray for Don and the others as they are living on the street and are in need of an encounter with the Lord.
