After a long journey, a team of our brothers and sisters in Christ - men, women and children from West Texas - have arrived in the east Africa nation of Uganda for Christian mission. The 2009 Uganda Mission Team from First Presbyterian Church of Midland will be sending back regular reports from Uganda, along with photos.
-----
Jerry led our morning devotional today. It was based on Psalm 131 and the title was “Humility”. Jerry has been such a wonderful spiritual leader for the team and we are so blessed to have him with us this year. This was are last day on the trail, at schools and at the prisons. It was also the last day of our Medical Outreach. At the crusade, Sharon Webb, Louisa Musselman and Ben Spinks shared their testimonies and Richard Coats preached to crowd of Ugandans eager to hear the Gospel. It was a great way to end our week on the trail.
On the Trail
On Thursday, Jeff and Ben had an hour before distributing nets so they went to some houses not too far from the church. At one house they spent some time talking to a Muslim woman named Zam-Zam. They told her about Jesus and God’s saving grace. Jeff asked her if there was anything that would keep her from accepting Jesus. Zam-Zam said that she would like to but her father was very harsh and could walk up and catch them talking at any moment. Jeff and Ben invited Zam-Zam to the crusade that afternoon, and she said she would come, but she didn’t. Early Friday morning Jeff was walking through a crowd of people at the church waiting in line for the clinic when someone grabbed him from behind and called him by name. He turned around and it was Zam-Zam. She was very excited and said “I am here.” Jeff asked her if she remembered what they had talked about and she said that she had thought about it a lot. In fact she couldn’t sleep, so she had lain in bed thinking about it. Jeff tried to go over salvation with her again and she stopped him and said, “No, I remember what you told me yesterday. I want to pray to accept Christ now.” And, so they did. Zam-Zam is working for the UN, in an unstable part of Uganda, in a city named Moroto. There is no Presbyterian church there because of the instability. Jeff introduced Zam-Zam to Aidah Ogenga (Pastor Morris’ wife) and Aidah got a phone number where Zam-Zam can be reached in Moroto, because she wants Zam-Zam to be a contact person for planting a church there. What a God moment. His divine plans are always such a joy to witness.
School Ministry
Robert Winkler, Sigrid and Adrienne Coats visited the schools today. As with all the other days this week, the schools were wonderful. The team visited one primary and two secondary schools, all of which were lead by true Christians. The first stop was at the Primary school where they preached the gospel to 900 students. At the end, the sixth and seventh graders were separated from the other classes, and 25 of these upper class students accepted Christ. The team’s experience at the next school was a little different. The 400 secondary students were very attentive and many were already Christian, but when the alter call music started playing one of the students became so filled with the Holy Spirit that she came out screaming and fell prostrate on the ground. Very different than what we experience at the end of our Sunday service. The final school was equally rewarding with 20 students accepting Christ. Truly amazing to preach and pray at schools.
Prison Ministry
Jerry Hilton, Ramon Billhimer and Kathryn Gates went to Mukuju Prison today. The prison was small, containing about 20 male inmates. Kathryn and Ramon gave their testimonies, both doing wonderful jobs. Then Jerry preached a very effective sermon, explaining to the inmates that salvation is God’s gift to all people. Many men were saved as they came forward and accepted Christ. The prison wardens were very hospitable, the inmates were very respectful, and the pastor that worked with our team was wonderful. Once again, we left Bibles, chickens, blankets and sleeping mats as a goodwill gesture. The prison trip was successful and God was good!
Medical Outreach
As we drove up to the church this morning a huge crowd waiting in line for the medical clinic greeted us. Obviously the word had spread overnight of the free care open to all at the new church. Despite the heat of the day and large crowds, the people were very orderly and patient, humbly waiting their turn. We had hundreds go through before lunch and it became obvious that we were going to run out of medicine before the end of the day. Cynthia went with one of the nurses into town to restock on the medicine and was shocked when checking out at the pharmacy how small the bill was compared to the US. It is amazing how far a dollar goes here. Thanks to your generous contributions we were able to make the decision to go into town and buy more medicine instead of turning away very needy people. We had our team members taking temperatures and blood pressures while the people were waiting to see the doctors. Others of the team were busy counting pills and filling prescriptions. The day was very hectic but so rewarding. Today we treated 818 people, 327 children de-wormed, gave out 3272 meds and distributed 1290 mosquito nets. What a blessing for the people of Sironko. God is so good!!
Tomorrow will be a fun day at the orphanage. This year will be holding a small VBS with the children and we are so excited to be able to do this. We also will get to sleep in for the first time since our journey began – YEA! The team has done so well this week and we have been blessed with good health. Keep praying – it’s working!
Your Ugandan journalists – Cynthia and Karen
-----
Jerry led our morning devotional today. It was based on Psalm 131 and the title was “Humility”. Jerry has been such a wonderful spiritual leader for the team and we are so blessed to have him with us this year. This was are last day on the trail, at schools and at the prisons. It was also the last day of our Medical Outreach. At the crusade, Sharon Webb, Louisa Musselman and Ben Spinks shared their testimonies and Richard Coats preached to crowd of Ugandans eager to hear the Gospel. It was a great way to end our week on the trail.
On the Trail
On Thursday, Jeff and Ben had an hour before distributing nets so they went to some houses not too far from the church. At one house they spent some time talking to a Muslim woman named Zam-Zam. They told her about Jesus and God’s saving grace. Jeff asked her if there was anything that would keep her from accepting Jesus. Zam-Zam said that she would like to but her father was very harsh and could walk up and catch them talking at any moment. Jeff and Ben invited Zam-Zam to the crusade that afternoon, and she said she would come, but she didn’t. Early Friday morning Jeff was walking through a crowd of people at the church waiting in line for the clinic when someone grabbed him from behind and called him by name. He turned around and it was Zam-Zam. She was very excited and said “I am here.” Jeff asked her if she remembered what they had talked about and she said that she had thought about it a lot. In fact she couldn’t sleep, so she had lain in bed thinking about it. Jeff tried to go over salvation with her again and she stopped him and said, “No, I remember what you told me yesterday. I want to pray to accept Christ now.” And, so they did. Zam-Zam is working for the UN, in an unstable part of Uganda, in a city named Moroto. There is no Presbyterian church there because of the instability. Jeff introduced Zam-Zam to Aidah Ogenga (Pastor Morris’ wife) and Aidah got a phone number where Zam-Zam can be reached in Moroto, because she wants Zam-Zam to be a contact person for planting a church there. What a God moment. His divine plans are always such a joy to witness.
School Ministry
Robert Winkler, Sigrid and Adrienne Coats visited the schools today. As with all the other days this week, the schools were wonderful. The team visited one primary and two secondary schools, all of which were lead by true Christians. The first stop was at the Primary school where they preached the gospel to 900 students. At the end, the sixth and seventh graders were separated from the other classes, and 25 of these upper class students accepted Christ. The team’s experience at the next school was a little different. The 400 secondary students were very attentive and many were already Christian, but when the alter call music started playing one of the students became so filled with the Holy Spirit that she came out screaming and fell prostrate on the ground. Very different than what we experience at the end of our Sunday service. The final school was equally rewarding with 20 students accepting Christ. Truly amazing to preach and pray at schools.
Prison Ministry
Jerry Hilton, Ramon Billhimer and Kathryn Gates went to Mukuju Prison today. The prison was small, containing about 20 male inmates. Kathryn and Ramon gave their testimonies, both doing wonderful jobs. Then Jerry preached a very effective sermon, explaining to the inmates that salvation is God’s gift to all people. Many men were saved as they came forward and accepted Christ. The prison wardens were very hospitable, the inmates were very respectful, and the pastor that worked with our team was wonderful. Once again, we left Bibles, chickens, blankets and sleeping mats as a goodwill gesture. The prison trip was successful and God was good!
Medical Outreach
As we drove up to the church this morning a huge crowd waiting in line for the medical clinic greeted us. Obviously the word had spread overnight of the free care open to all at the new church. Despite the heat of the day and large crowds, the people were very orderly and patient, humbly waiting their turn. We had hundreds go through before lunch and it became obvious that we were going to run out of medicine before the end of the day. Cynthia went with one of the nurses into town to restock on the medicine and was shocked when checking out at the pharmacy how small the bill was compared to the US. It is amazing how far a dollar goes here. Thanks to your generous contributions we were able to make the decision to go into town and buy more medicine instead of turning away very needy people. We had our team members taking temperatures and blood pressures while the people were waiting to see the doctors. Others of the team were busy counting pills and filling prescriptions. The day was very hectic but so rewarding. Today we treated 818 people, 327 children de-wormed, gave out 3272 meds and distributed 1290 mosquito nets. What a blessing for the people of Sironko. God is so good!!
Tomorrow will be a fun day at the orphanage. This year will be holding a small VBS with the children and we are so excited to be able to do this. We also will get to sleep in for the first time since our journey began – YEA! The team has done so well this week and we have been blessed with good health. Keep praying – it’s working!
Your Ugandan journalists – Cynthia and Karen
No comments:
Post a Comment