Salvation is Here!

Uganda is interesting. Actually, Uganda is crazy! The traffic here is insane and there are soooo many people here. Something like 4 million people here in the area of the Kampala. Our contacts, Pastor Joseph and his wife Beatrice, are amazing! They are such wonderful people. They have 4 beautiful children. The church we are working with is called Ambassadors of Life.

 

Pastor Joseph

 

Sandra…she is the 7 and the 3rd born

 

We have been doing door to door ministry (imagine that! lol). Africa does a lot of door to door ministry. It has been going really well though. The first day we went out there were the 6 of us and only a few members from the church. We all split up and one American went with one or two Ugandans. The second day there were twice as many church members. They told us they were inspired to go after the good reports from the first day.

 

my translator Sarah

The first day I had the privilege of leading 5 people to Christ! That means the angels in heaven rejoiced at least 5 times that day! All together our team saw about 18 people come to Christ that first day. Praise the Lord! I was talking with a Muslim man that day and he mostly just wanted to debate theology with me. God still managed to show up and show off though…no, the Muslim did not convert, but young man next to him decided to accept Christ! The second day I got to lead another 3 people. Many of them came to church on Sunday and Jenny and I got to share a word of encouragement with them. I shared a verse from 1 Peter: “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you…However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” I told them that many will not undestand their decision to follow Christ and that their will be times when they will be insulted and mocked for their faith…but the word of God tells us that we will be blessed! Today I saw another 6 people give their lives to Christ!

 

One of the women who were saved

We are mostly going door to door here in the community that surrounds the church. This part of Africa is not what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting Kampala to be something like Nairobi. Nairobi is pretty clean for the most part. The parts of Uganda I have seen have been nothing like Nairobi. Do you remember seeing the infomercials on tv for the organizations like Feed the Children? I remember them. I remember the president of the organization or whoever does the commercial…they are usually holding a child who is wearing little to nothing. Anything the child might be wearing is usually torn and tattered as well as filthy. The background usually displays filth, garbage, and waste. Poverty at its worst. I never thought I would visit a place that looked as bad as what they showed on tv. Last week I did. Actually, I’ve been there everyday since being in Uganda. It’s everywhere. The pastor of the church we are working with lives there.

 

Children run around barefoot. They stomp through garbage filled mounds. They play in streams of water not fit for an American dog to drink from. Yet this is their life. This is their reality. This is their home. This is where we evangelize everyday. Day after day my team and I have the privilege of sharing the Gospel with these wonderful people. They are so loving and so receptive. I consider it such an honor to be here to live life with them. We have so much in America. We live in abundance and I’m not sure we always realize it. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to have what we have. But I truly believe that I will walk away from this country forever changed.

 

Never will I take for granted the water that runs through my house. Never will I take for granted the fact that I have indoor plumbing. Never will I again take for granted that I have a house with more than just the one room to live and sleep in. Never will I take for granted the closet full of clothes and shoes. There are so many more things I could list off…you’d probably stop reading before I ever finished. America is a blessed nation. Even what we consider poverty in America doesn’t even come close to what I have seen. I’m not trying to say that we don’t have poverty in America. I realize we do. But it’s a different kind of poverty. You may or may not agree with me…that’s okay. I thank God for what He has shown me and what He has taught me in this one week.