Whoa, how time flies when you don’t have internet access and very little electricity for charging your electronics! So, I’m going to finish this blog that was intended for 3 parts in only 1 more part. Yay!
After the crazy rapid ride, we went to a seminar the next night about demon possession and spiritual warfare. One of the teams had been working within a school and had come across demon possessed girls on 2 separate accounts. They stayed for several hours, casting out demons and praying for the girls. If you read one of my squad mates’ blogs (Samara and Kelsie), you can read more about what led to this seminar.
So a few of us arrived to this Ugandan “seminar,” which was pretty much just a Q & A session. The woman who hosted the seminar was working with one of the teams and wanted to give us all an opportunity to ask about anything having to do with demon possession and spiritual warfare. As people were asking questions and the pastor was answering, 2 women kept trying to get up and leave. Apparently, the pastor knew something was up because she would command them “sit back down, I’ll get to you soon,” and they would sit back again.
At the end, everyone began to disperse and go home. I suddenly heard a scream and looked over to one of the two women manifesting a demon right before us. She had walked up to the pastor to ask for prayer and the demon began to scream and get very physical. They got her to the ground and I don’t even know how to describe it. A few people went over to help hold her down as she was trying to bite, kick and punch anything around her. I stayed back with a few of the other people on the squad to watch and worship. I figured I’d be safe on the outside of the action.
Suddenly, my squad leader yelled to me to come move a bag out of the way of another girl, the second girl who’d wanted to leave, as she was manifesting. I grabbed the bag and my immediate reaction was to get away. I didn’t wanna get involved. I had never witnessed for myself how demons manifested and I just wasn’t sure what to expect. But just as I decided to run back to my worship circle, Tricia called me back and asked me to help hold her down. So I grabbed her arm, pinned it down and began praying. It was super intense. She was screaming, her eyes kept rolling back into her head and she kept squirming. At one point, 5 people were trying to hold her down and she was still moving. After some time, she came to and a few of the squad people stayed with her to minister to her and pray with her.
The original girl continued to manifest and it got more and more intense. Each time they brought the Bibles out, the demons would scream and beg us not to use them. It was an intense battle that took several hours of intercession, warfare and worship. At one point, the demon even pointed up and said “No, not you!! Why did they send you??” We asked her who she was talking about and she responded with Michael. It was crazy.
After getting over my initial fear, I ended up resting in the holy presence that filled the room. The Holy Spirit was definitely there with us! We continued to worship as a select few spoke directly to the demons. When they brought out the annointing oil, the demon finally left and the entire demeanor of the girl changed.
She sat up slowly and realized that she had oil all over her face. She had no idea what it was, where she was or what had just happened over the last 3 hours. She immediately began to cry and praise God for setting her free.
There’s a long story that goes into why she was being possessed and it was linked closely with the school that the girls had been working with. The kicker was that she was a Christian…but I won’t go into debate here. 🙂
So, that ended our 2nd day of our World Race Spring Break!
The next day, we got up early to meet the rest of the squad and headed back out to the Nile to bungee jump! I had committed to myself to jump alone and dive off. As I climbed the tower, I was actually fine. I went up with the first group and coached 2 of the girls as we waited for our turns. When I was next, I walked out, got my ankles tied up, chatted with the guys up there and walked to the ledge. Up until this point, I was perfectly content. I could feel my adrenaline pumping, but I was ready to jump and super excited.
I had my eyes as they inched me towards the ledge because they tell everyone not to look down. The instance I touched the end of the ledge, I flipped out. I don’t know what happened, but fear overwhelmed me which was super crappy. They sat me back down and my teammate, Amy, offered to jump with me.
So we went together. I didn’t get to go alone and I didn’t dive off…BUT I bungee jumped over the Nile. It’s one thing that I’ve always said I would never do, so in that, I’m stinkin’ proud of myself! If I get the chance to do it again, I may do it since I know what to expect…but I wouldn’t count on it. 🙂
So, that wrapped our 3 days of craziness in Uganda! It was a weekend that completely defined the randomness of the World Race…spontaneity, conquering fears and taking risks.
