How are we supposed to answer these...

So we're off to Jinja, the source of the Nile River today. But here are some of our favorite questions about America that we have heard since we have been here... Does America have dirt? Who is moses's father in law? What kind of fruit did Adam and Eve eat in the garden? (perfect.. That's exactly the question we were expecting during purity talks...) What are those big shoes you wear in the snow (skis)? Is it true that y'all have machines that turn people's skin from black to white? Why do muzungus (white people) always carry water bottles and bananas?  Is it true that there is really water In the toilets? There is a machine that tells you where to go? (gps)  Is it true when someone dies you just leave them on the side of the road? Is it true people eat each other? Is it true you use machines to wash your clothes? How can Obama be black & white? These are only a few......

The Village of Mwaalo: Ciara

The Village of Mwaalo, a place that I have honestly been dreading to visit for the last five days. According to pastor Benjamin this is a very dark village. Riddled with witchcraft and evil, the pastor from this small town has been unable to successfully build her church as the constant threat of local witchdoctors prevents any light from entering the present darkness.  AS a team, we joked about how Mwaalo was our Superbowl. We  had felt that this whole trip was building up to this crescendo, and so we decided to cover it in prayer. One of the biggest lessons I have learned from this trip, is that all God desires is our obedience. When He calls us to a place, no matter how dark it may be, we must prayerfully accept his beckoning and boldly go. So this is what we did.  Unfortunately, this trip has proved very taxing on most of us, both spiritually and physically. So yesterday, there were only 6 of us that went. Myself, Molly, Courtney, Robert, ryan, and Harrison loaded the bus at 8 am and 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived in Mwaalo.  Honestly, I was very nervous about yesterday. I had NO CLUE what to expect,  but our team decided to devote the day to fasting and praying against anything that would threaten our safety and the ministry we were wanting to complete. And let me tell you, there is POWER in prayer!  When we walked up to the church, it was half the size of the one we visited in Bikoko. There were branches, tied together with leaves and the whole thing was draped in bed sheets and dresses. It was the most simplistic yet beautiful church I had ever set foot in. You see, the thing about these village churches is that the Spirit moves. As soon as each person steps foot inside the "tent of God" they worship. There are no announcements, no congregating. They simply show up, and  fall to their knees before an Almighty God.  As Courtney and Ryan shared, the Spirit was clearly moving. After 30 minutes of being there Pastor Ben waved me over so I snuck to the side of the church. As I made it over to him, he was standing with a woman who was around 70 years old. She reeked of alcohol and collapsed in my arms. Considering she spoke no English I relied on Ben to tell me what she wanted. He simply said, "She wants to be saved... she's done with alcohol, she just wants to surrender." As I looked at her, her eyes lacked any life, she was certainly a woman with no hope. So I held her in my arms, prayed over her, and with that, I gained a sister. It was humbling and moving, and after that moment worship was SO much sweeter! Seeing her rejoicing in the back of the church, knowing that her chains had been broken and her burden lifted, I could not help but cry.  AS the day went on, everyone spoke and we then continued into a time of prayer. Many people came forward asking for healing. That is the beautiful thing about Christians here. They have faith! What we would regard as issues for a learned physician, they see as simple remedies for God. As they made their way to the front of the church, we laid hands on dozens of people. Male female, elderly, and infants, all desiring the healing power of Jesus. What unworthy vessels we were to pray the mighty name of Jesus over the faithful. But what a gift to see the power of Christ descend upon his children!  The day continued and we broke for "lunch", but since we were fasting it was more like a quick nap/prayer time. We were hungry, weary, and dirty, and yet we knew that the crusade needed to happen.  At around 4 we left the church and began to walk to the center of the village. Everyone was outside of their homes and shops, wondering what the heck these white people were doing there, with speakers. TO be honest, I was kind of wondering what the heck I was doing there too haha But before I could settle into my self-doubt, Benjamin handed me a mic, asked me to sing a Lugandan song, and preach the gospel. I'm telling you, the Ugandans don't mess around.  As I stood there in front of this village, Bible in hand, I simply spoke on the love of Jesus. I acknowledged that many of them were living in fear of the witchdoctors but told them there was no reason for them to live in fear of their bewitching. To be honest, I was uncomfortable being so bold in front of an audience of purely muslims and those practicing witchcraft, but the presence of God was so apparent, I felt completely under His providence.  At the conclusion of my talk on the unyielding love of Christ, Benjamin stood up and made an alter call. I can humbly say that around 20 people committed their lives to Christ, including both of our Muslim bus drivers (whom we had been praying for since we got here).  Let's just say that the dance party in the middle of town after these commitments was UNREAL. Praise Jesus!  At the conclusion of our day, during our 3 hour drive back to the hotel, it dawned on us. In the  last week and a half, we had seen over 80 people commit their lives to Christ (that's those we know of) and 63 people had been baptized. God has clearly taken this ragammuffin group of jacked up, broken people and through simple obedience, prayer, and fasting, used us as vessels to bring Him Glory.  Tumutende!!! (praise Him) 

Humbled: Dominique

Hey y'all! The fact that we are blogging from Africa, still blows my mind. God has done and continues to do amazing things over here and we are left in awe more and more each day. After a much needed afternoon of rest yesterday, we definitely hit the ground running today. We drove two hours to a village called Bikoko. The people there were SO hospitable and welcoming. The church was made out of sticks and cloth but was completely packed. Ryan, Robert, Riley, Melissa, and Harrison spoke...and oh my goodness they did an awesome job! Well...they did an awesome job at being available because God spoke the TRUTH out of their mouths. Their worship is indescribable. It's like one big dance party for Jesus. The place is filled with joy, to say the least. Compared to how we worship back home...it was convicting. Everyone worshipping was doing so with such a surrendering character and rawness. We can all easily say that being a part of this worship is one of the best experiences of our lives. Towards the end, pastor Benjamin asked us to pray over the sick. Mothers were bringing their children, and children were bringing themselves to be prayed over. It was so humbling and we were reminded what child like faith we are called to have. The power that RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD LIVES IN THOSE WHOM LIVE IN HIM. Just...wow. Speechless. Praying over those sick and malnourished today knowing that promise is SO comforting and powerful. We are fsho not worthy enough to be used as his vessels, yet here we are sitting at our hotel in Uganda reflecting on it. So unreal. Go Jesus. Okay, then the crew set up the sound system to get ready for the Jesus Film and the Altar Call. The minute we moved out there and started the music the kids of the village busted it out! Stomp the Yard:Uganda Version! Seriously these kids had the moves! They put Americans to shame. Don't worry, we got it all on film! Ciara then got on the mic. Christians on one side of her, non-believers on the other. I know she brewed up a little speech in her mind earlier but you could tell the Lord had something different planned. Explaining the beauty of the Gospel and how true it is, we could all tell the Holy Spirit was moving. Side note: our bus drivers are Muslim, but came to the church with us today and were also dancing in worship! Praise God! Needless to say, today was so so so humbling. An eye opener. It is only by God's grace that we could even be there. A blog post doesn't do it justice! Whew, okay I'm done. Sorry for the novel friends! Ps-please be in prayer about tomorrow as part of the team heads to a very spiritually dark village and for health of the team. Thank you!

The vessel: Robert

God is really funny sometimes, last week I thought I knew I was going to speak because right when we got to church pastor Benjamin told me that I was going to speak at a different church. then as Harrison so capably described earlier, God had a different plan. This week again I thought I was going to speak but I thought I was going to go to church early and just talk to the leadership before Church. So that would have to be pretty early in the morning, around 8 am. So when I woke up at 7:30 got out of bed and dressed and started getting prepared. But then 8 rolled around and we were just starting breakfast. Another thing that was weird was that we hadn't heard from Benjamin all morning so we thought that he had taken care of the leadership team prep and I was no longer needed to talk.  It was really confirmed in my mind when Ciara told us right as we were getting on the bus at around 9:15 that Benjamin had sent her a text asking us where we were. So I was walking into church pretty relaxed although kinda tired but not really worrying about anything. I thought God was teaching me not to have expectations and to just be ready to see what he has in store for me. He was, just not in the way that I was expecting. So we walk into church and worship has already started so we set our things down and started dancing to the music. Then we sit down for a bit to listen to a pastor talk for a bit. While he is talking I decide to journal a  bit because I have just recently finished a book called "The Transforming Power of the Gospel" and there was a really deep part in the book that I was really needing to wrap my head around. So I open up my journal and start to really try and remember the application of the chapter when Ciara walks back to our row and says "By the way you are about to preach so just fyi..." and walks off. Immediately my stomach like turns and I begin to worry and get nervous because I had already concluded that I wasn't speaking today but like I said earlier God had a different plan.  But the funny part about it was that in the book I was reading 2 of the sins that it tries to highlight because in our lives we don't really see them as that terrible of sins which makes them incredibly dangerous as disguised pride. So right as I am about to preach God's word he decides to convict my heart so clearly that I know it was his purpose for this set of events to happen from the very beginning. He wanted me to see how pervasive anxiety and worry had become in my life even without me realizing it. So at this point I wasn't even thinking about what I was going to say in the sermon anymore. So I just sit there and say "You know what God, despite my best efforts, I am totally unprepared and forced to rely on you for this talk, take this anxiety and worry from me and speak your word." Then they called me up and I totally forgot to check all of the notes that I had prepared a week earlier and just read the scriptures and said what was on my heart but the really good part was that the scripture was the story of Gideon and my sermon was on how God uses imperfect servants to accomplish his will. I told you God was funny.

Lake Nabugabo: Ryan

What's up! It's RC on tha track! It's a beautiful morning here in Uganda, and we are getting ready  to head over and worship with the Lugandan congregation! Buuuuuut before that lets look at a recap from yesterday. Can anyone guess who the star attraction was? Yep you guessed it, Jesus! At least 20 students names were written in the book of life and all of heaven was rejoicing! Praise him!  God also allowed us to baptize 63 students in lake Nabugabu! It is only because of His grace and His glory that were are able to come here and do these things! How great it is that the creator of the universe and all things in it allows us to be apart of His perfect plan! 

A few days at Jireh: Ciara

Ciaras Note Prewarning: THis is long! IT covers two days so that I can catch y'all up on what God is doing here in Masaka. I know we are a few days behind on the blog, so I will briefly go over Wednesday and then talk more about the AMAZING things God did yesterday (Thursday).  On Wednesday, I was set to talk about the end of Ephesians chapter 3 (Paul's prayer to the Ephesians) and the beginning of Chapter 4. Mitchell was going to finish up chapter 4 when I was done.   If I were to write and say that I was so excited to speak that morning, I would be lying. I woke up with a horrifically sore throat and a terrible attitude. I had NO desire to speak, and felt on the verge of tears all morning. This was totally Satan. I felt like I had nothing good to say, and that my time speaking was a waste of time. As I was walking up to our classroom I just surrendered. "Lord, I am not in the mood, I have no words to say, so you are going to have to take the lead on this one. I am SO unworthy of being your mouthpiece, but use me as you will." And boy did he take over! The Holy Spirit was so evident in that room and praise God for His sovereignty! The talk was so powerful and  I give Him the glory for the truth He poured out.  Mitchell was also SO powerful and I am going to get him to tell you about that later to tonight when we get back to the hotel :) At the end of the day, I told all of the children that I had been fasting and praying for them every monday for 6 months. They all began to cheer and shout "Amena". I was filled up with tears, and it made any "hangry" (hungry-angry) fast day that I might have had, completely worth it.  I then told them about the vision the Lord gave me, of us baptizing them, and that He confirmed that vision by giving Dom a similar one. I felt that this might be way too complicated to actually do. Organize 80 students, plus us, and lunches and transportation to a lake 45 minutes away, but before I left Fort Worth, God once again showed me that this was His desire. So I told the students and they screamed with excitement. I could not help but be overcome by tears as I looked at all their faces, knowing how much it meant to them that their "muzungu" brothers and sisters loved them so much and wanted to be with them during this special moment. So we told them to fast and pray about their decision, and that on Saturday, we would head out to the lake!  Now moving on to yesterday. Where do I begin?? We all decided to fast as a team yesterday, since the children at Jireh fast every Wednesday and Friday (so convicting). We covered out morning and prayer and soon began our day. Dominique spoke on Ephesians 5 part 1. She did AMAZING. Her testimony was so powerful and it was clear that her words were not her own. We then spent time in our small groups, we have been calling them families. In my family, my girls really opened up. Come to find out, 8 of my 9 girls wanted to be baptized, including sweet Fatumah.  Fatumah came to Jireh last year. Pastor Benjamin found her begging on the streets of kampala (the capital city). She was born with no limbs and had been living life with her aunt who abused her and used her disability to make money. However; she was rescued and now lives up at Jireh. She has a small wheel chair that she can move herself, but the children at Jireh are ALWAYS helping her, and care for her very much. When Fatumah asked to be baptized, her biggest fear was that her physical situation would not allow her to be properly baptized. When Ritah asked me,"yes but how will you baptize Fatumah?" I answered, just like I will baptize the rest of you". I looked at Fatumah and she had the biggest smile on her face. I had no words.  As we left family time, we all gathered to listen to Robert speak. To say that this time was powerful would be an understatement. He covered the last part of 5, and spoke on the importance of biblical manhood. He told the boys the importance of being respectful to women, a concept they have most likely never heard in this culture. You see, in Uganda, like most places of the world, society is extremely patriarchal. Women have little, if any rights, and are seen as simply vessels for reproduction. (Nothing makes me more frustrated!) Robert continued to talk about how, in marriage, men are to love and respect their wives. They are called to make them Holy, and in doing so, the women will be submissive to the decisions of the husband. He stressed that men cannot expect women to follow their decisions, if the women are being mistreated and feel unimportant. Thank God for the wisdom  that he spoke through our brother!  After this, we broke up into two groups, guys and girls. We spent time with them talking about purity, how to develop character, etc. I won't get into details, but I will tell you that, it was amazing to see our team bounce answers off of one another. One of us might remember the jist of a verse and another would know the reference. The spirit was moving, and there was clear unity in the body.  We spent about an hour in our groups. While we were encouraging the girls to be strong women in Christ and to desire good jobs and educations, the boys were dealing alot with more "sex" based questions... go figure haha  But when this time had ended we came together as a body one more time. It was here that I began to speak to the students about the importance and meaning of baptism. I told them this is a duty as Christians, but not something I wanted them to feel forced or obligated to do. I wanted them to take it seriously. Once I had covered it and given them some verses to read after we left, I began to be a little bit more serious.  I told them that this week had been Amazing. That we had gone over some serious questions and topics with them, and that I wanted them to feel comfortable coming to us with anything that may remain a bit confusing. I then said, " I also know that there are some of you in this room that do not know Christ. You may think that the things in your past are too dirty for Jesus. You may think that God could never love you or save you. But that is wrong. There is nothing that can ever separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. If you are willing. If you are ready to accept a life in accordance with God's promises, you can do that." I then asked them to close their eyes and picture Christ on the cross. I told them, "As he was hanging there, he was not thinking of humans in general, but individually. He was thinking of William, Kokoza, Fatumah, Florence, Irene, Happy... all of you! He knew the hurt and pain in your life, and took that ALL upon himself so that you would never have to live without Him. " "But he did not remain on this cross. He rose again and ascended into heaven, fulfilling the prophesies of the Bible, and He left us with a gift, the Holy Spirit. It is this Spirit, that when you put your trust in Christ will live with you for the rest of your days, until you leave to spend eternity in heaven. However, I do not want you to think that once you believe in jesus life gets easy. In fact, sometimes it gets harder. You see, satan does not want you to live in Christ. He will often tempt you and try to drag you away from Jesus. But, even when we face trials, God is with us. The power that parted the Red Sea is the same power that dwells within us. We can be hurt, we can be sad, but we can NEVER be removed from the love and blood of Jesus." They shouted "Amena!"  With our eyes closed I then lead them in a prayer, confessing their sin, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord, and admitting that even when the troubles of life pursue, they will still press on towards the goal. We also talked about the Glorious day on which we will be reunited with our Savior. I told them that, in Heaven, there are no orphans. There is no pain or abuse. There are no tears, no hunger, no thirst. You should have heard there cheers! WE closed with how much we loved them, and together said, "Amena"  So powerful.  Based on the video Riley  took, over 20 students came to Christ yesterday. Praise God!  Heaven is rejoicing!!  So this morning we are about to leave to go to the lake. To join with these brothers and Sisters in baptism. What a mighty God we serve.  I am SO humbled to be considered worthy to be a mouthpiece for the King. I am blown away by the willingness of this team to serve the Lord, and empty themselves out to be His vessels.  Please be praying that the Lord would grant us protection today as again we fast, and that the Holy Spirit would be present in the lives of these children  Tumutende! (Praise Him!) 

Day 3 at Jireh: Courtney

Last night while debriefing on stories of the day and making a game plan for the days to come, we talked about how this trip is shaping into more than we could have hoped for. We came to find out that in general Americans tend to be success driven, wanting to see visible progress on these kinds of trips. I can absolutely be categorized as such a person. It is almost as if somewhere along the way a wall having a coat of paint or a building being completed (all of which are necessary and good things!) somehow take precedence over a child's heart and if we are attending to the aches they hold inside that can't be seen. Praise God that he put this specific purpose of our trip on Ciara's heart. Yes, we are answering questions as Melissa previously wrote and hopefully bringing a bit of healing and joy. . The truth is though, they are doing everybit of the same for us. We are being stretched and challenged. These questions are becoming a bit more complicated as the kids are opening up to us more and more and a level of trust is built.  We all see why it is important to be close at heart with God's word so that we have a solid basis to build our answers on.  Usually when America comes to antoher country and brings its ethnocentrism (anthropology jargon Ciara would appreciate, thank you TCU education :) we can quickly mess things up with our forceful cultural superiority. However, taking a typical Texas christian summer camp setting into Jireh with our smallgroups/familes, coucilor type roles, song time, and playing games and sports is just what is needed here. Attention and fun has seemed to do the trick to bring these 14 + age students from the outskirts of the school grounds to closely huddled around us to learn cords on a guitar (Riley) or pray tightly shoulder to shoulder.  Now I would like to spend some time describing to you what Jireh is like. I know if I were a reader I would like to know details to get the full picture. Plus, it is hard to understand the magnitude of what is going on here without knowing the beauty that we are surrounded by. This beauty can be both seen and felt. Frist with the tangible- I am sure this next part will be quite "flowery", but it is sort of hard to not be if I want to give an acurate description. Jireh has been built on top of a hill with a view over the countryside of Masaka that has "God made all of this and said it was good" written all over it. There is a building for primary school (3 years old up to 12 I believe) and secondary school (13-20), a small nurses quarters, small dormatories where the students sleep, the guest house where we eat lunch and keep our supplies, and a new teacher's building that is still under construction, but will soon house 11 teachers that Jireh is in desperate need of.  It is true that these buildings are in a condition you could find no where in the States, but we have forgotten their lack of perfection according to the eye because we find so much joy from the peeople who occupy them. I have to mention also that the climate of Uganda is best put as what Texans dream about escaping to on those hot summer days when we are melting. A cool 70 degrees almost always and if it is slightly warmer you can always count on a cool breeze. Hard to complain. Jireh is a safe place. It seems so much of this coutnry is full of evil like abuse and neglect, but Jireh is a safe haven. Those in charge here are people who love the Lord above all and have created a firm foundation for the way things operate here. They have so little, yet they manage everything strategically and wisely. As a former business student I admire it very much. Thank you gracious God for the gift of technology so that we can share our experiences with those we love half way around the world. Matthew 18:4- (verse on the shirts we made)  "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." PS- the pinapple and avocado alone are worth making the trip here :) Love, Courtney