Here we are, our second month in Africa in the “pearl of Africa”
Uganda.
A country most recently recognized for the travesty and destruction due to Joseph Kony.
A country populated by 33,640,833 people within 40 different tribes.
With different peoples come different traditions, different dialects, different appearances and different religions.
Christianity
Islam
traditional
witchcraft.
Ministry for this month involves door-to-door evangelism in the morning, then in the afternoon we invite the people we spoke with in the morning to come to the church for discipleship and any further questions. My teammate Rebekah runs children’s ministry in the afternoon for over 45 little ones, and my teammate Angie and I also do sports outreach to nearby teens. But our main objective for the month is praying with members of the community and offering people the gift of salvation in Christ.
Within the first two weeks we talked with so many people and at least 10 people accepted Christ as their Savior!
this is our friend Melissa after accepting Christ!
“Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘one sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
–John 4:35-38
Not only have many come to Christ but also many people we spoke with were already born-again Christians. After three days of nothing but fruit, it really had me burdened for my own friends and family in the United States. Here I am in Africa, giving people hope in Jesus while so many of my friends and family whom I love in America are completely unaware that Jesus wants a relationship with them. My respect for churches and ministries on mission in the United States has gone up tremendously.
black and white:
In Uganda, people recognize their need for God; just the ways of seeking Him are different. Some try Islam, some try witchcraft, some mix more than one religion, whatever. Once people hear the truth though, the answers they are looking for, to most we have spoken with it is as if it would be foolish not to accept Christ.
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.”
–Jesus
In America, most people trust that they can survive without God in their life. This is evident in the amount of time people spend (better yet, don’t spend) searching for Him. In America people have what they need so what do they need God for? In America the biggest obstacle to accepting Jesus as a personal Savior is the fact that people are blinded that they need to be saved in the first place! With endless possibilities to satisfy our desires, I believe that most Americans quench their thirst for something more, something greater than this earth and the things on it… …but as followers of Jesus we understand that one day the world will fade away and everything in it
Universally we all will live and all will die.
God created the universe
the galaxies, the sun, the moon, the earth, the mountains, the forests, and us human beings.
"I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” –Leviticus 26:11-12
If God didn’t want to relate to us then He wouldn’t have sent his Son to us
But God sent Jesus
To be born on earth
To be tempted on earth
To live and work on earth
To relate to us
Jesus wasn’t just a good person
Jesus came to die for our sins.
We all sin.
God doesn’t.
Jesus didn’t.
(because Jesus is God)
We can’t spend eternity with God in heaven if He is perfect and we are imperfect.
It just doesn’t work like that
We need a way to be made right with God.
A sacrifice.
Jesus was that all-sufficient sacrifice, so that we may have a way to be with God
Jesus loves us so much we can’t even fathom it.
Can you imagine loving someone who is constantly betraying you?
We constantly turn our back on Jesus, and on God. We act like we don’t need Him.
Jesus’ love for us is so great anyway
He died for me
He died for you
& because He died for me, I choose to live for Him.
That’s the news we came to tell.
To bring hope, that Jesus is always there for us, we just have to
accept Him
God brought me to Africa
& returned to me a heart for America.
Thank you for all your continued support and prayers, I love miss and pray for you all!
<3 Kristy
