Here are pictures of some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met! Also, I’m uploading other random photos from Kenya/Uganda, and some photos taken from Sara and Brenda from our partner team, Dunamis.
First, I want to introduce you to Agnes (right) and her mother, Jane (left). I partnered with Agnes often doing door-to-door evangelism. She is an incredible girl with a heart of gold! Her first prayer request for me was to pray for her mother’s salvation, and the very next week her mother came to church and dedicated her life to Christ! Praise God!
Below was taken during Agnes’ birthday. She claimed it was the best birthday she had ever had.
Below is Malinga. He is one of the coolest guys I know, mainly because he’s absolutely on fire for God… and it’s contagious! He led one of my favorite Bible studies of all time; the Bible study that inspired me to write
How Well Do You Know God?
The whole crew, minus a few.
Below is Frida. One day I had to stay home from ministry because my room decided to lock itself. No one had a key and so I had to wait for a maintenance guy to come break the lock. As I sat bored out of my mind at home locked out of my room (so I couldn’t even read my Bible), I was doing my best not to become irritated. Bev (my squadmate from Team Dunamis) was staying home to pray and she told me that there might be a reason why God kept me home. I told her that I’d keep my eyes open. And Bev was right…sure enough, that day I met Frida and spent the whole afternoon with her. One thing led to another, and she invited me and Bekah to visit her home the next day. We went to her place and met her whole family. It ended up being one of my fondest memories of Uganda. We learned more about Ugandan culture and history in that meeting than the whole rest of the month. They prepared for us traditional food and drinks and it was amazing. We were able to listen to their stories and heartaches and pray over each of the family members… and it all began with me upset at being locked out of my room.
This is Keno, the card shark. He and some of the other guys taught me how to play cards. Interestingly, in Uganda, they only know how to play one game using cards, thus it is called “cards.” It was a bit like Uno, but their company made it much better.
Below is Martin (left) and Peter (right). I really fell in love with these two. I felt like one of my biggest ministries for the month was my individual relationship with Martin. He struggles with some sort of mental disability or schizophrenia, but honestly, his heart is so gentle. He was very worried about his condition and how people viewed him. He once asked me if he was a bad boy. I spent a lot of my personal time encouraging and mentoring him. He came with me once during door-to-door evangelism, and at one of the homes, he shared his testimony and the things he had learned recently from God with a younger girl, and it really touched her. Seeing him glowing afterward as he realized that God could and would use him was one of the most rewarding moments of the month. It was a major breakthrough as he began to understand his own value in the eyes of God, despite any condition or disability he might struggle with.
I guess I need to describe the photo below. This was during our “Christmas/New Years” celebration with the squad in Kenya. We had a talent contest between the teams to come up with the best remake of a Christmas carol. We came up with a Beastie Boyish rap version of “I’m Gettin’ Nothin’ for Christmas.” (and brought home the gold, baby!)
UPDATE: I was astounded by how many parting gifts and personal letters of encouragement/thanks my Ugandan friends gave me, and I couldn’t begin to describe how fond we grew of each one of them. I just received a really inspirational note addressed to our two teams (Judah and Dunamis) from one of the guys of the Ugandan Church (Collins). I wanted to share this so you can see a bit of their incredibly kind nature and warm hearts. He writes,
“To You,
You arrived weary, tired, exhausted from your last trip, but guess what, you came through for each other. What you have accomplished is what many yearn for. Doing God’s work ordained by Him. Sometimes people unfortunately do good works not for the glory of our Lord but for their own or they do as they think right. This Jesus himself talked about, ‘Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father in Heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who breaks God’s laws.’ (NLT)
What is the challenge before us? It is simple and yet takes a lot from each individual, to totally give in to His will and not ours, to be obedient and willing to listen to Him.
You have blessed each one of us in a different way, from encouragement, sharing, dancing, singing, ministering, listening and many others. For all this we give glory to our lord for his constant love that he shows us. In fact we are told to welcome you. “For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.” 3 John: 7-8. (NLT)
Thank you for accepting God’s call to your lives and doing it with all your hearts.
May the Lord grant you journey mercies.“
END OF BLOG
