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

Greetings from Uganda!

After long hours of air travel, Ralph, Theresa, Emily and I have arrived in Uganda. We arrived around 11pm in Entebbe, but one piece of lost luggage lengthened our stay at the airport until 1am. The piece of lost luggage contains ministry supplies for the ministry to street children in Kabale We were met at the airport by Godfrey, Roland, and Isaac, three ministry partners with Juna Amagara. We then all drove to the hotel in Kampala for a short night of rest. One major praise concerning our travel is that God again allowed the fee for our extra luggage to be waived by the airline. Our team had prayed that God would allow the $200 for that expense to instead be used for ministry. He saw fit to answer that prayer, so praise the Lord!

On Sunday, August 7, we were able to worship the Lord with Godfrey at his church in Kampala. We attended the second service at 9:30am, but the church holds four services of about 500 people each throughout each Sunday. We were thrilled to sing along with some of the worship songs we already knew, including, “Everyday” (Everyday, it’s You I live for; Everyday, I’ll follow after You; Everyday, I’ll walk with You, my Lord).

The sermon at the church was the first sermon in their new series on cults. Unfortunately, many churches in Uganda have begun to preach a “prosperity gospel.” In these churches, the pastors teach that God wants Christians to experience much health and wealth. The pastor in the church on Sunday wanted to show that the cost of discipleship is high and that Christians shouldn’t be in it for money or physical comfort. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (John 14:33 ESV)

After leaving the church, we travelled for 4 or 5 hours to Mbarara. Here we met up at a hotel with Lisa O’brien, Hayley Roberts, Linda Mallette, and some more friends from Juna Amagara. We all enjoyed dinner together, prayed, and then returned to our rooms to sleep. Please pray for the team to adjust well with sleep patterns, as well as for our stomachs to normalize and feel comfortable with new foods and malaria pills.

On Monday, we travelled 5 minutes to Matt and Crystal Kehn’s home in Mbarara. Lisa, Hayley, and Linda enjoyed tea with us all, and then said goodbye to the Kehns and to our team. Emily and I were able to connect with Matt and Crystal, as well as Shane and Katie, their friends from California who are finishing up a 6 month stay here in Uganda. Shane helped with the 6 month ABIDE program and has enjoyed discipling young men through that ministry venue. I really enjoyed talking with them both about discipleship strategy. I learned that almost all of the orphans and children who graduate from the children’s ministry will go through the ABIDE program and be trained to in turn make disciples of other Christians.

We are excited to begin ministry and continue to build relationships. Thanks for your prayers and support! Look for pictures soon!