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

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Hayley, Ralph, Nathan, Tim, Amy and Kaity flew out of the Kilgali airport in Rwanda today and are heading home. Tomorrow, Keith and Max will fly to Tanzania to serve alongside of our missionaries Phil & Sara Nickels - and their girls for next five days (Tanzania boarders Uganda to the south). Linda and Lisa will remain in Uganda until August 5.

We have reached the final day of our time in Uganda. I am so thankful that God brought this ministry together because its impact has been great and numerous.

We are nearing the end of our time in Uganda. I am so thankful that God brought this ministry together because its impact has been great and numerous.

We debriefed as a team last night and it is very clear that the individuals on our team return home from Uganda different people from when they arrived. God has grown us all in significant ways. He has stretched us way out of our comfort zone. He has given us opportunities to proclaim the gospel – and pushed us to do it. He has challenged us to consider our own lives back home – and to reconsider the time we waste on leisure, the money we waste on self and our Laissez-faire approach to evangelism and outreach. We leave convicted by the $50 we spend to take our family out for one meal that could also be used to provide food, education and spiritual formation for an orphan in Uganda for a whole month… Or the $100 spent on cable that could buy a case of Bibles for children hungry to receive and read one… We considered ways to get serious about discipling others and about sharing the gospel with a true fervor. We leave with a love for the people of Uganda, a great appreciation for the ministry of Juna Amagara, a heart for the orphans, a longing for the children who are hungry for the word of God and a great blessing from the love, kindness, excitement and warm welcome we experienced from all we encountered (even those we just drove past on the road!). We have been blessed.

It is also clear that God used us to accomplish much ministry that simply would not have been possible otherwise. It was amazing to see how incredibly thankful and excited the children were to have us visit and share God’s Word with them. The children in the orphanage were hungry for our time and interaction. Our presence and ability to cover our own costs of ministry made it possible to proclaim the gospel and love of Jesus Christ in 7 schools to thousands of children that would not have otherwise happened – and resulted in hundreds of primary and secondary age students making public professions that we hope will be the beginning of lifelong commitments to follow Jesus Christ as their Savior and their Lord and opened doors for local churches and believers we partnered with to begin the discipleship process with these students.

We came wondering exactly how God was going to use us – but I don’t think any of us expected to end our days nearly as exhausted as we did – but neither did we expect that God would open nearly as many opportunities to serve as He did – nor did we expect half as many blessings out of it all as we received.

We leave with a heart to return. We leave with many new friendship.