Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

Well, we have had quite a busy day today here in Kapchorwa, Uganda.   We arrived last night and were welcomed by Reverend Fred, a youth minister in the area.  He had made arrangements for us to visit six different schools over the next two days (we actually visited 7).  He spent some time with us, explaining some of the big issues the youth are facing in this area.  Among the problems he brought up are drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, poverty, and HIV.  One really heartbreaking reality is with the teenage girls specifically.  If girls are pregnant, they are not allowed to go to school.  As a result, often times pregnant girls abort their babies.  But these abortions do not happen in clinics, they happen in the villages, performed by local women.  So, not only is the baby killed, but also the young girl often does not survive either.

After hearing this, and having my heart broken over it, I sensed that we needed to adjust our plans for presenting in these schools.  Since we would be going to five schools, usually with three people sharing at a school, I decided to encourage everyone to be ready to share at least once.  So, everyone took time throughout the evening to prepare a message that would address Reverend Fred’s concern for the youth in eastern Uganda.  In the morning, over breakfast, we did our daily devotional reading.  Today we read Matthew 10:11-20, which focuses on how God will speak through us.  God has not ceased to amaze us every day, when the Scripture we are scheduled to read is perfect for either what we have just experienced, or what is in the day’s plan.  Everyone shared what God had put on their heart and mind for their messages and we made a plan for each school.

The first school we ministered at had about 1,300 students, sitting under large trees.  Here Natalie, Dave, & Keith all shared different messages from Scripture and their lives.  It was a good time and the Gospel was proclaimed, with students responding.  As we were sitting on the chairs students brought out for us, I couldn’t help but notice that no adults from the school came to listen. 

The second school was a vocational school with about 100 students crammed tightly in one room.  Each time we enter a school, we take a few minutes to visit with the Headmaster in his office & sign the school’s guest book.  Immediately when we entered this man’s office (Johnson is his name), I sensed something different compared to where we had just been.  Johnson clearly loves the Lord and has a heavy burden for his students.  He shared with us many of the same things Reverend Fred had shared the night before, especially concerning sexual immorality and abortions.  Before leaving his office, I sensed the need for us to pray for him and his school, so I asked Keith to do that before moving on.  It was a good start to the program there.  In that small room, not only were the students jammed together, but the teachers and headmaster attended as well.  This was very different from the previous school.  Here I shared a message based on John 8:1-11 where the adulterous woman is brought before Jesus.  Can you imagine being brought before your entire community by the religious leaders and having your darkest sin exposed?  How humiliating….But Jesus showed her such love.  He loved her when others judged her.  And he loved her so much he didn’t want her to remain in her sin, so he charged her to go and sin no more.  Deb & Linda also shared, and it was incredible to see how God really orchestrated what he had put on each of our hearts to flow so perfectly together.  God was certainly at work.  One way that was apparent was through all the distractions that came at a critical time during the testimonies.  You would not believe how many cell phones rang within the pockets of students, teachers, and pastors during those few minutes!  Yet, God undoubtedly was at work and used us as his tools to penetrate many hearts.  When we were leaving, Patrick (an ABIDE staff manner traveling with us) took the words out of my heart when he said, “wow, that was a really powerful time.”

Then Fred took us to the school he had attended when he was younger.  Here Michael, Molly (one of our team members from West Chicago), & Keith spoke to about 800 students.  Again we enjoyed sitting outside under enormous trees as we shared the Gospel.  Before leaving we were treated to biscuits (cookies) & soda.

We ended our day of ministry at a girls’ school.  Unfortunately we were running a bit behind scheduled, and only about 50 of the 150 students stayed after school was over to receive us.  Yet, we were not disappointed because we were confident that these were the girls who God wanted to hear his message.  It was nice to have such a small group lounging, yet very attentive, in the grass in front of us.  Since it was an all girls’ school, we decided only girls should share while the men of our team listened.  Arianna (our other West Chicago teammate) shared her testimony, then Deb, Linda, & Lisa shared again.

Several weeks before returning to Uganda, God put a simple song on my heart that was often sung during chapel when I was in college.  The words are very simple (see Hayley's blog on 7/4).

I had been thinking that this would be a good way to end our program when we visited schools, but I didn’t know if anyone else on the team would know the song.  So, a few days ago I asked the team if they knew it, and no one did…..I decided I couldn’t ignore that God had put it on my heart, so the team quickly learned the song and we have left every school by singing that song at the end of our program, and asking the students to join us.  I have looked forward to that every time.  At the girls’ school, since it was a smaller group, I had all of the students get in circle. We spread ourselves out, taking the hands of our new friends and sang together.  It was a good visit, even if we did have a small herd of goats run through when Linda was sharing…