Uganda is one of the countries I’ve been the most excited about getting to come to on the Race. Because of the war I’ve heard a lot about life here, especially the lives of the children. There has been so much suffering here. I’ve been wanting to see how the Lord is bringing hope, restoration, healing and reconciliation to this nation, to hear what he is saying to this nation. He is always speaking life, and life has been violently stolen from many here. We’ve gotten to spend some time listening to our friend Jonathan talk about what life has been like here. He is 22, so there has been war for his entire life. From what I understand the war lasted for 22 years and has been officially over for the last 5. Jonathan told us that there has still been fighting throughout the last 5 years, and peace has really come about in the last year. When we’ve asked the children in the schools what to pray for, what they desire for their nation, the answer is often peace. Peace isn’t just an idea here, it’s not just a word on t-shirts or a sticker on a car. It’s something of high value, something Ugandans are desperate to keep. Horrific things have happened here, but I’ve seen more true joy and hope in the last week than in years of life at home. I want to share the stories of some of the people here, but I think I need to sit with them for a while before I do that.
This month we’re working with Victory Outreach Church (VOM) in Lira, Uganda. I am so encouraged by this church! It is truly a privilege to work along side of them. They are reaching out to the community around them in so many different ways. On Fridays we sit in on an AIDS outreach ministry. Sheesh, such a blessing to sit with these women! They have so much joy. They get together and talk about issues in their life. Last weeks discussion was about the plight of children in light of AIDS. They talked about the children who are kept home from school because of AIDS? At the end they sang and danced before the Lord. I have so much to learn from them. There were no men at the meeting. The woman in charge told us that a lot of the men are ashamed to publicly admit that they have AIDS, instead of going to the doctor and getting treatment they will often steal meds from the women. Lets pray that the Lord raises up men here to be leaders who show the character of Christ and live lives of honor, taking responsibility for themselves, and the least of these in their communities.
Some of the other ministries of VOM are an agriculture ministry, Fountain Primary School, Agape School, water ministry, lunch hour prayer,and radio ministry. Agape school was the highlight of my week last week. It started off kind of ridiculous. They filled a room with the students and sat us in a row at the front. We started telling them a little about why we were there, and how the Lord called us to the Race. So at first they weren’t listening which frustrated me. So I feel like in my frustration with the students not listening the Lord gently gave me a word for them. I felt impressed to tell them that they have voices that need to be heard, things to say that no one else can or will say, that their voices matter, there are uniquely made to bring things into the world that no one else can. I think until you understand the value of how you are made and the weight of your own words, you won’t respect the voices of others. We had a lot of fun talking to them.
This has been a long one! Thanks for reading. Please continue to pray for my funds! I need more monthly supporters for the next three months of fundraising. So far the Lord has provided 2 more monthly supporters! Yeah! Please pray for us here, that our words to the people here would be anointed, that they would see the Fathers heart in us, and find rest and shelter in His love. This is slightly ridiculous…… so the church gets 15 minutes on the radio every morning with an audience of 1.4 million. On Wednesday I’ll be the one talking for those 15 minutes. Hah! I think I’m going to talk about how the Lord delights in us, what that looks like and what it means in how we relate to Him. Please pray for me! Different people from my team will be talking in that slot throughout our time here, what an opportunity, we need prayer!
