I cannot actually believe where I am right now… a place I never even thought about or could have imagined so beautiful! From my perch here I am looking over the powerfully rumbling Nile River – pushing steadily through this valley north towards Sudan and eventually Egypt. We decided to meet as a squad in Jinja, Uganda before heading to our next ministry site and have a bit of an adventure with our squad leaders before they go home and turn us loose as a squad to fly on our own! Jinja is home to the source of the Nile, flowing out of Lake Victoria. On Saturday we dared the river to a duel and I’m happy to say we all made it out alive! We found ourselves maneuvering class five rapids in a raft with a force of water that cannot be accurately described. All I can say is I found myself turning round in the washing machine of the Nile River – feeling as though I was exploring the depths and waiting to be spit out on top. It was an epic all day exploration of this ancient and marvelous river and I will never forget it!
To reflect quickly on our time in Busia, Kenya, it was simply challenging and wonderful all wrapped into one. We did a lot of what they call “hut to hut” ministry which is always challenging but many wonderful things came of it. I believe all of us were a bit timid about the thought of knocking on doors cold to talk with people and share the gospel. Africa is a very different place and the issues affecting the people here are very different and in many cases more apparent and more intense than what we see in the western world. Truthfully they are the same forces and spirits, we just don’t let on about them and prefer to keep them internal until they begin to kill us. In Africa though we learned quickly that spirits are allowed to manifest themselves for what they are and people don’t hide much here. When walking through a door you are never quite sure what you might find. Our fears however were relieved as most people were happy to speak with us and the encounters were challenging but rewarding. We were usually able to meet people wherever they were and the Lord gave us many fresh words for them. Our team saw people delivered from years of spiritual torture, religiosity, and many allowed us to pray for healing, provision, and deliverance from many things.
The last part of the month was spent in the community hospital in Busia were we went bed to bed encouraging and praying over people. For any of you that know me, I really hate hospitals! I freak out at the site of a needle and so this was quite a challenging situation. But it went really well and each day when we went back we found previously ill people being healed and some already discharged home. To say the least it was a great experience but maybe one of my most challenging ministry experiences to date.
Busia was hard to leave because of the people. We seemed to bond almost immediately upon arrival and by the end we were just living life together with the people from the church. They saw us off at the bus station and we rocked on to Uganda. Everyday I wonder who on Earth I am that I get to have these experiences, see these places, and live this life. I can’t quite answer that question right now, but I feel every day I am growing in understanding of who I am, why I’ve been given this opportunity and what God has in store for me afterwards. In the meantime I think I’ll just enjoy the ride!
-Jeremiah
