We're Almost Home

Yes, we’re packing up getting ready to head to the Airport later today and then- it’s only 32 hours of airports and airplanes ‘til we touch down in our beloved San Antonio. It’s been so wonderful to be used by God. With people being saved every day it’s like we’ve been transported into the book of Acts when the church was in its infancy. Our team has been woven together through many unexpected twists and turns on this mission adventure and they have stepped up to each challenge and some have led their first person ever to Christ. This morning in our devotion we talked about how to bring the fire of evangelism home so please pray that our transformed team will bring transformation back to Castle Hills and be used mightily by God.

We have a special prayer request this morning that I share with a heavy heart. I have not said much regarding this up to now but Luzira Community Church is really at a critical juncture in their short history of three years. The church has done well and has had phenomenal growth especially in the last few months as Helen Schaper has arrived on the scene. The children’s ministry has grown from 65 children to 150 per week in that four month period. However, the church has also experienced some growing pains and controversy. This has been an unusually hard trip for me in that much of my time in the evenings has been spent meeting with the church staff and the elders to work through some of the problems. I have never spent even one evening away from a team on a mission trip and it’s been difficult but very helpful to spend this time with church leaders. We also invited the entire church leadership team to our guest house last evening for a leadership workshop with the focus on Jesus as a Leader. Please join us in praying specifically that the will of God will prevail for this situation.

We are so grateful for your prayers and support. Without you not one of the souls that came to Christ would have been headed for heaven today.

Fun in the Son Club on Steroids

I have been doing Fun in the Son Bible Clubs for over 20 years and we've done them in many places in the world but Luzira's Club set a new record today. Helen Schaper estimated from the exit gate count today that we had over 600 children in attendance. It was truly an amazing sight...a sea of beautiful little black faces (only children were allowed in the compound.)

The key, I believe, to taking the club to a new level was following the prompting of the Holy Spirit to take a group of strolling minstrels with a battery powered public address system through the slums singing and announcing the club which was about to begin. This is when I am the happiest- on the streets with the guitar singing songs about Jesus as kids fall in behind walking with us all the way to the club site. It just doesn't get any better than this.

It was so good to watch our missionaries in action and to see them pouring themselves out for these sweet sweet children. It was one of the only really hot days and as the sun beat down we did have a few team members that got light headed and had to take shelter under the tent. We forced each other to drink water regularly but it was not only hot but the task was monumental.

The days activities included our full praise team performance, three different lesson segments on the fruit of the Spirit, serving 600+ cups of porridge for breakfast, serving 600+ meals of rice and beans, 2 appearances by Bible Man, skits and crafts.

This activity definitely put Luzira Community Church on the map which is important since we are now in a new location that is not as well known in the area.

So many of the children that came today were saved in our school assemblies and it was good to spend time with them and encourage them as they take their first steps with God.

They were encouraged to invite their parents to our services tomorrow and we are praying for a great harvest. Please join us in praying to reach these families.

God bless,

Donnie

Shopping Galore!

Today was our fun day…a day to relax after several grueling days of performing in schools and doing street evangelism. We began by going the Bargain Market located adjacent some railroad tracks. It was similar to a flee market with multiple little shops consisting of approx 6 X 6 foot squares with the merchandize laid out on tarps and the merchants sitting on the ground. Most were under tents but many were not. All the merchandize was hand crafted. Some of the merchants were making their goods on the spot. Several had a small child (most about one year old) with them. All the children were amazingly well behaved.



Next we went to the African Village which was more upscale. These shops were all indoors but tightly packed. The prices were about 50 to 75 percent higher than the first market. After spending a couple of hours there we went to a nice restaurant called “Good African Coffee”, ate lunch, and just “chilled’ for a while. After that went to a really upscale store called the Banana Boat. It was very expensive but had some really nice stuff. By popular demand, we then went back to where we started at the Bargain Market for a couple more hours of shopping. Some of our team (the veterans) really knew how to shop and loaded up on bargains. The Girls out performed the guys with Katrina and Crystal topping the list followed closely behind by Beth. Stephen and Ryan were the top shoppers among the guys. By the end the day most of the team had “shopped until they dropped”.

No Spirit of Fear

There are few experiences as exhilarating as leading someone to Christ for the first time. Today one of our youngest team members overcame her shyness and fear and led two Muslims to Christ. As we were talking about it later Melissa Slayden related just how it felt to overcome a fear that had hindered her for years. She said, "it was really, really scary but I was able to do it anyway." Melissa is 16 and hearing her say that reminded me of the very first person I ever led to Christ at age 18. It is so encouraging to see our young people have such a heart for the lost to come to Christ.

Another student on our team is Ryan Ramirez who is 17. Ryan was on Kat's evangelism team and began the day feeling tentative about speaking up. Later as Kat was already sharing Christ with a 50 year old man, two ladies approached Ryan and he began to boldly share the gospel. Kat shared with us that as she was finishing her witnessing encounter she thought that Ryan was simply waiting on her to return to home base but was excited to see that he was actually praying with these ladies to receive Christ and His free gift of eternal life.

Tonight was reunion night with several of the young translators from previous trips coming to our guest house for dinner. When dinner was over they wanted to hear some of our new songs and we ended up all singing and praising God together in a time of anointed worship. It reminded me of the scene described in Revelation 7:9 in which people from every tribe, tongue and nation gather around the throne of God to worship Him together.

We are truly feeling your prayers. Thank you for clearing the way for our mission.

God Bless You,

Pastah Don

My heart is so full. I am rejoicing with God my Savior for what He has done today! What an amazing time I had during our prayerwalk and street evangelism. God works through us when we allow Him! I led two 16 year old girls to the Lord today, Gladys and Caroline. They walked up during the Gospel presentation as I shared the Helping Hand with an older gentleman. Though he did not wish to pray @ that moment, he pointed to the 2 girls and said, “Why don’t you ask them if they are interested”. I shared the Gospel with them with the help of my interpreter, Christine. At the end when I said, “Do you have any questions?” they said “we want to pray and put our trust in Jesus”. So I led them in a prayer of salvation. With big smiles they thanked me. I invited them to Luzira Church and went on to the next divine appointment. We approached 3 women gathered together—a Catholic, a Muslim, and a Christian. By God’s grace, we made it through the presentation despite many interruptions including cell phones ringing, music blasting, and a seemingly disinterested group (at times the women would turn away and began talking and laughing amongst themselves). Christine began to speak to them very passionately about Yesu Cristo (Jesus). She was preaching ! Alice perked up and listened intently. By the time I reached the end of the Gospel presentation, Alice wanted to pray to receive Christ! She thanked us profusely for talking with her. She smiled for the first time since we had been together. She wanted us to go and tell many others the Truth. Wow!!! We made several other visits and prayed with many people bringing their needs and concerns before the Lord. We made many new friends and many said they would come to church on Sunday. I pray they will. This has been a great day!

-Blanca

Today was another amazing day. I love the school presentations more than I can say. Personally, as a teacher, these schools and the precious students have touched my heart more deeply than I can express in words. I am constantly amazed at how little these schools have and yet how much the children are learning. These children value the gift of education so much-I know that our sponsorships are literally changing lives. After lunch, we ate fried chicken and chips at Ms. Helen’s, then rested a bit before hitting the streets. I have been praying that the Lord would use me and make me bold to share his grace and truth. I have had many opportunities this week to do just that, as everyone we meet says “You are welcome here” and wants to hear what we came to say. Today, the Lord opened the door for Jackson, my translator, and I to share with a young shopkeeper about God’s gift to her. She came to know Christ today, and I can’t help but thank the Lord for the boldness he gave me. I know this trip is nearing its end, with Fun in the Son and Sunday service closing our journey out, but I truly do not know how to leave these people behind. I have lost my heart…to Uganda.

–Laura

Wednesday!

Although today is Wednesday, I must share one fabulous story about our prayer walking/street evangelism from yesterday. In the photo above, is a man named Alex. Brenda and I, along with two Ugandans, James and Ruth, walked together yesterday. As this is my first trip to Africa, and my first street evangelizing I was quite apprehensive. So, here’s how it began…James told us we were approaching an area which practiced witchcraft. We walked down through sugar cane fields, where witchcraft rituals are common. We prayed for the Holy Spirit to take back the land and rid the land of the evil and darkness. The walk was long and downhill and we ended at the location you see pictured of a beautiful river with two boats. Brenda then witnessed to Alex, who had been approached by Jehovah’s Witnesses before, and was confused. Alex recommitted his life to Jesus and it was an amazing way to begin our afternoon.

Now, what happened today:
Wednesday, July 21…we began at Bright Angels Junior School



where we met many precious children. We shared a much shorter program of our songs and our dramatic reading of John 3:16 due to the very young age of most of the children. They danced with us and we were able to interact more with these children than the day before. They screamed and cheered when we presented them with pencils, sharpeners and a soccer ball for their class.
We then visited the Rock Hill School – I bet you can see where it got its name! Donnie did a fabulous job with the team with music and sharing the gospel, as usual. We weren’t able to interact with the children unfortunately.



After Rock Hill School, we returned to Helen’s for lunch (delicious pizza) and rest. Then, we went to Luzira Community Church and played some very fun games with our new Ugandan friends. You’ll need to ask us about the “I Never” game. It was quite fun, and thankfully, nobody was hurt. I will mention, I was humiliated when my new Ugandan friend Kristine, showed how she calms a crying baby by picking me up and carrying me over her shoulder. YIKES!
I suppose I should say it was…GASP…Aggie day. All of those who went to Texas A&M wore their Aggie shirts today. (I am mentioning it, even though I am a Longhorn.) It was quite painful ;-)



Finally, it was a VERRRRRY long ride back to Adonai this afternoon with many traffic stops. Unfortunately a few of our gang very desperately needed to use the “SUSU” (aka bathroom). As you can see by the photo below, Ryan was particularly uncomfortable with each and every bump! I believe his phrase was “waves of mercy…”
Well, it was a very full and fulfilling day. Looking forward to sharing more of God’s love tomorrow.
Debi Watson

A note from Donnie

The Wall!

Any short term missionary knows what I mean. It’s something you hit midway through an overseas trip when jet lag has left you but a dulling haze hits you as you finally get still. You find yourself nodding off with you head bobbing even sometimes bouncing off whatever’s close frightening you back into reality.

This is the time group leaders dread. It’s the zone when some groups begin to devour each other as tired spirits spew emotion with little provocation.

But, I am so grateful that our group has not succumbed to this deadly disease. They have worked so hard and stayed on task without grumbling or snapping at each other.