Paradise Lost

Today we went with the orphans to a park called "Paradise Lost," a spectacular place outside Nairobi, in the midst of a huge coffee plantation. The orphans were able to ride horses and camels (I tried the latter). They were able to paddle around the lake and hike to a waterfall and caves. We hosted a Texas party with stick horse races and pinatas, and the children led a presentation for us. It was a great end to our time with them.

Thursday, August 14

Today was our last day of VBS and medical clinic. Closing the medical clinic is always difficult to do, as there is always one more person with a real need who is next in line. We were able to maintain order through the end much more effectively than last year. All told we saw 665 people at the clinic since Sunday!

We had another good day with the children. Mike has been working on teaching them kickball, but the “force out” has been a difficult concept! Listening to these kids sing has been one of the best parts of working with them. Their version of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands,” is incredible.

Day 4 at the BCC

Wednesday was another great day at the BCC. The medical clinic had a very full day, and, as usual, the most time-consuming was at the end. A man came in with as severely broken finger. Richard and Susan had to remove the nail and set it. We again saw close to 200 people today.

Carter and Sue had a huge wave of people in the spiritual care room. About 33 showed up at once, so Pastor Mambo, their translator, preached, and the Kelly's shared their testimony.

There was a great moment this morning with the orphans. Cliff started to share the memory verse for the day. He had barely gotten out, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." and all the orphans finished in unison, "Again I say rejoice!"

Please pray for endurance tomorrow as we are getting a little tired. Pray that the right people will be seen in the clinic. And please pray that the orphans will see Christ's love in us even as we are seeing it in them!

Jeff

A Great Tuesday

Tuesday, August 12
Things are really humming along here. Along with the staff of the BCC, we’ve really ironed out some of the process for the medical clinic. We’re seeing just as many people, but thankfully we have not had the sustained, frantic pace of last year. Carter and Sue had a remarkable conversation with a young man, Shadrach, who leads a gang in the area and who was recently released from prison for murder! The pastor at the BCC church had previously told the story of Paul to this man, and Carter was able to share the story of David. They had Shadrach read Psalm 51, and he paused after every verse, eyes wide, seeing himself in those verses. Please pray that his commitment made to Christ will finally change his life and help to change his neighborhood!

The VBS is going very well as these are truly remarkable children. Please pray for our continued effectiveness. Pray for Shadrach and his girlfriend, Sonya, who seemed less than enthusiastic about what happened today. Please pray for those we are seeing at the clinic for physical health and that they might experience the touch of our great Healer!

Day 2 at the BCC

Today was the first day to really dive into our work at the BCC, and the day seemed to go remarkably smoothly.  On the medical side, we were told to expect about 300 orphans from other orphanages coming for checkups.  We were a little concerned about that number, but we instead had a much more manageable 35 or so.  One group of kids walked with their one staff member 24 kilometers each way!   Since there were not as many children, we were able to open up to the community a day early.  We say around 140 people.  

Carter and Sue were able to start their work with spiritual care and met with 54 people, 20 of whom prayed to accept Christ!  We hope to have Bibles tomorrow for them to use in their work.

The VBS folks also had a good day.  As we learned last year these children have a great deal of Bible knowledge!  They also led the singing with great gusto.  

All are feeling well, and we're excited about tomorrow!

Jeff 

Kenya, Day 1

Sunday, August 11
The Kenya team arrived safe and sound, though for some reason they seem a little sleepy. We worshipped with the orphans this morning, and got things set up for our work in the afternoon. We learned that tomorrow they are bringing in 300 children for us to do check-ups!

The Company of the Uncompromised

In summing up our Uganda experience, I feel that we were in the presence of giants. I use this term not in the negative sense of forces set again us, but we were in the presence of great Christians. In many of the pastors and church members, we were encountering believers who are pressing through obstacles, who have suffering through ordeals too terrible to recount in this space, and who have made tremendous sacrifices for the sake of the gospel. It is as if we were walking among Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy in the nature of their ministries.

So many of their pastors have made substantial compromises in their personal lives. Yet they are, I believe, uncompromised at their core—and in the faith. I fear the reverse may be true for us. We try to have it all, and we refuse to compromise when it comes to our comfort, our security, and our family. In the process we may become compromised in our obedience and dedication in following Christ and pursuing God’s mission. More than once through this experience, I wondered if in heaven we would be peering over the shoulders of these uncompromised giants in the faith as we look at Christ. May we strive to join the company of the uncompromised!

Thursday-Saturday in Uganda

Thursday, August 7
After a long Wednesday, I was feeling a little sorry for myself this morning when the alarm went off at 5:20 am for my second session preaching the radio. I found Jimmy, one of the pastors, waiting for me in the foyer. I had last seen him the night before, working on the cow that was to be lunch. I asked him when he went to bed, and he responded that he had not gone to bed. He’d worked all night!

The celebration with True Love started with a parade through town, led by a small marching band. The service followed, which ended up being more than four hours long. One of our friends from previous visits, P.P. Anyon-Anyon arrived with some gifts for Nancy George and for Darcie and me. Nancy and I received G-nuts (their term for peanuts.) Darcie received a live chicken! (It became part of our lunch, as we couldn’t figure out if we should check it or carry it on.) That night we had a nice ceremony of goodbyes, and it ended up being a very late night.

Friday, August 8
We took a different route back. It was much longer, but quicker given the better quality of roads. The other nice thing was arriving back in Kampala much less shaken! Dinner was at the Shelton’s, and it was great! We watched part of the opening ceremonies and enjoyed our time with Misti and Anthony.

Saturday, August 9
We started the day visiting one of the house churches Misti and Anthony have worked with. Its in the midst of the largest slum in Kampala and was an experience for all of us, wandering through the tight passages and stepping over the streams of open sewage. In a situation beyond comprehension, the Christians were radiant!
We spent the afternoon going to the market and heading to the airport for Nairobi. Once we landed our group parted, and Mike, Joel, and I headed to baggage claim while the rest waited for their flight to England. They had the nice surprise of running into the Kenya team who arrived right on our heels—a meeting of FBC missions coming and going.

Teaching Apac

Wednesday, August 6

Though we were not driving anywhere on Wednesday, the day was very long. We walked to True Love Baptist, Apac, at 8:30 and did not arrive back until after 9 that evening. Much of the morning was dedicated to showing us the Child Development Center. This is a new ministry started over the last year that now involves 230 children! These children are sponsored through Compassion International in partnership with the church. A poster on the wall outside the office detailed statistics about the children. Many are total orphans—often living with extended family members. Four were a part of “child-headed” families. This means that both parents had died, and the oldest child (maybe 9-12 years old) is taking care of siblings. True Love Baptist has a remarkable ministry to these children.

That afternoon we did our teaching. The Cannon family surely set a record for adult/child ratio with the children. Jon and Jan had their two boys and about 400 Ugandan children! To say that this bordered on chaos would be an understatement.

The youth group, taught by Mike and Joel, were meeting under a mango tree nearest the road. At the end of their session, they noticed a group of people running toward another part of town. They inquired and heard that a leopard had been captured in town! This was HIGHLY unusual as leopards are so secretive that people hardly see them and because the animals are generally confined to game parks. When they arrived at the spot, the game wardens had shot it. We heard today that another was still loose in the area, but don’t worry, we’re on the road tomorrow.

Teaching in Aduku

Back into the van we piled for a quick, one hour drive to Aduku. We were warned, however, that this was bad road, which was somewhat disconcerting after the other roads we had encountered. After some lengthy introductions (2 ½ hours), we went into our teaching.

In Aduku, Donny met a young woman with one half of her face completely scarred. When he met her, she had a simply radiant smile, and made the comment, “God is good.” Donny responded, “God is good?” And she said, “Yes! God is good. That is His nature!”

This evening, some friends of the church were already starting to gather for Thursday’s anniversary celebration. One man arrived from Kenya, the academic dean of Kenya Baptist Seminary. His president recently charged him with the task of finding a PhD. in education for the school. When he met Gary Angell he started the hard sell, sure that Gary was the one (Martha, you might start working on your Swahili).

Echoes of Atrocity

Back into the tenderizer we went, for a 4 ½ hour journey to Oyam District to teach. We stopped along the way to visit with the district supervisor, a government official somewhere between our mayor and governor. The church in the town of Oyam does not have land, and our presence allowed the Baptist leaders to get a few minutes with this official. He was very receptive to our visit, and the Ugandan Baptists made a compelling case for him to donate land for the church. He went so far as to say that if the district did not give them land, he would give them some of his own! We were thrilled and asked Jackson (the main leader for the Apac Baptists) if this official would follow through. Jackson’s response was, “He is a good politician—telling people what they want to hear!” They were hopeful, though, and should they get land, that might be the most important result of our trip. From there we continued on our journey on ever smaller roads, getting stuck in the mud three times. Our arrival was less than grand as we could see the church gathered ahead in the road, singing and clapping for our arrival, and about 50 yards away we got stuck again! The reason, I believe, we made the trip to teach at this church is in the area’s history. This was an area deeply affected by the insurgents of the Lord’s Resistance Army—surely one of the most vile and depraved groups on earth. Over the last 10 years they have terrorized northern Uganda, killing, raping, burning, and kidnapping children to serve as child soldiers. While the Ugandan army and mediators have calmed the situation and pushed the LRA into hiding, this area bears the scars. We drove past one of the refugee camps, and many of these pastors and leaders had lived for years in the camps, in constant fear of attack. Jan Cannon, who worked with the children, noticed a sadness in their demeanor. Many had been born in the camps and really hadn’t known peace until now.

One of the great blessings of the day came at the end, as several pastors from the association who had lived in the camps, stood and thanked First Baptist for helping pay their seminary tuition. They will be instrumental in helping this area back to some kind of normalcy.

Donny Mason taught the men today about obstacles to following God. Our group was certainly taken about by their response to his opening question: “What keeps you from being able to serve God.” The answers included:

• Poverty of pastors—pastors must stop working in ministry to go and plant fields so that their children can eat.
• Illiteracy of pastors
• Land—when leaders go to plant churches in another place, their relatives take their land from them!
• Insurgents—The LRA had burned several churches which had been constructed over time and through the sacrifices of members.

When we got back in the van, Donny commented that our problems at church—like do-nuts brought late to Sunday School or coffee not ready—don’t quite measure up!

Please pray for energy for us, as this was a very long day. And please pray for healing in the lives of those in Northern Uganda!

Unexpected Opportunities

The recurring theme in preparing for missions experiences is “flexibility.” Such repetition can never adequately prepare, however, for the surprises that come. For example, my first came in the van on Saturday when Jackson shared that one of us would have the opportunity to lead a bible study over the local radio station—at 6 am. The group quickly conveyed that they’d be praying for me (from their beds), so my alarm went off on Sunday at 5:15am (9:15pm, Amarillo time), and I was able to share about salvation from 1 Peter. The surprise for the rest of our group came at 8:30 when we arrived at the church for Bible study. The pastor mentioned that we would be teaching, so Nancy and Darcie formulated an off-the-cuff lesson for at least fifty women. Mike and Joel led the fourteen youth. The Cannon family took the task of working with the 200+ children! After Bible study, True Love Baptist was filled to overflowing with people and praise with their unforgettable singing, clapping, and jumping in worship. For the next several hours we ate together, caught up on relationships, and entertained large groups of children who have much lower personal-space needs than the typical American. In the course interacting with other children, Ian Cannon and one of the pastors were able to share their faith with some of the children, and two girls accepted Christ! Several of the pastors wanted to convey their gratitude to FBC Amarillo for our support through their seminary educations. That investment from our church has paid incredible dividends in leadership for the Apac association.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

After 50 hours of travel we arrived in Apac. Our flights were remarkably smooth—in fact each flight was a few minutes early! It was wonderful seeing Anthony, Misti, Karis, and Sophia Shelton at the airport. After a night at a guest house in Kampala, we set off for Apac. While the flights were smooth, the drive was anything but. Every time we’ve been to Apac, the number “5-8 hours” has been tossed about for the length of the drive. We’ve never made it in anything close to 5, and Saturday was no different. I never remember the drive being a pleasant one, but this time we felt as if we were being tenderized for seven hours! (Donny likened it to riding The Corkscrew at Wonderland for 7 hours). As we were approaching (or surpassing) our limit with the van, we arrived at True Love Baptist. Nothing could revive our spirits like the welcome of those believers. I think I’d travel another 50 hours for a reunion like that one. Nancy, Jan, and Darcie were literally picked up by one of the women before their feet hit the ground! We had a great time catching up, followed by dinner of roasted bananas and goat ka-bobs roasted around the fire. It was a beautiful night, shared with beautiful people, and a blessing for all of us.