Day Six

This morning our devotion was from Galatians 6 on encouraging one another. We talked about how that godly encouragement is a double edged sword including both the willingness to not only speak positive words of encouragement that are sweet but careful words that can challenge each other in areas of need. This team has been the most encouraging team I have ever led and it has not gone unnoticed. We have a wonderful team of 20 African nationals from Ggaba Community church who are serving alongside us as evangelists and translators. Godwin is one of the most experienced translators who blessed us by telling us that we were the easiest, most encouraging group he has ever worked with.

Demonic Opposition

I hesitated to share this yesterday but after praying and considering it I think it would give the Father glory…I woke in the early hours of the morning yesterday from a horrible dream with the feeling of oppression in my room and had a sense that Satan had sent me a message that I was on his radar screen and that he had plans to destroy my ministry through a false accusation. In the dream I actually saw this happen and woke up very alarmed in my spirit. I am so thankful though that God immediately took me in the word to John 8 44 and surrounding verses which reminded me that he, Satan, is the father of lies and that I do not need to listen to or be afraid of this lie he had whispered to me in my sleep. It is very common for people to experience such attacks on the mission field and I found it interesting that the day before Bob King had specifically prayed that we would have spiritual protection as we entered the territory of Satan. I was reminded of this prayer request in the early hours of the morning. I had just finished reading the word when the Muslim prayers began to ring out over the city from the huge loud speakers at the top of the mosque near our guest house. It was an eerie sound that made me think I was hearing the voice of a demon. Surely they are behind this religion which oppresses millions. I knew God had given me my devotion topic for the morning and after teaching on this several confessed that Satan had also whispered lies to them as well. We prayed over each person and our team was strengthened and revived for our next adventure. To God alone be all glory and honor and power, Amen.
-Donnie


I’m In The Lord’s Army

Our first school presentation yesterday was a nursery school. These children were absolutely precious. They filed in high step marching then stopped in straight lines. Then later towards the end of our presentation they graced us with a song. Before they sang the head master said “at ease” they all stood at ease. Then she said “attention!” They all went and stood at attention. I was stunned thinking my husband would have loved this as he serves in the Army. This headmaster ran her school with much discipline and during playtime they did things like jumping jacks and other exercises that reminded me so much of exercises done in the military. Another moment that left all of us in awe and some in tears is when Donnie said to the children “let’s pray.” Before Donnie could begin to pray their small little voices rang out in prayer. We all looked up to see their little heads bowed and they were all lifting up a prayer to God.

There were many touching moments for me today. One occurred as we were doing door- to-door evangelism. My partner Tanya was sharing Christ with a group right outside a store. Before I go on I must say watching Tanya share Christ while dressed as a clown has been quite an experience. No lie, they always seem to take her very seriously and never once questioned her wild makeup and red yarn hair. As Tanya and Chance began to pray with a few outside I felt God’s urging to step into the very small shop. A lady named Grace was there along with another gentleman. Grace had been outside listening but quietly slipped away when Tanya gave an invitation to pray to receive Christ. I asked her if she understood what my friend had shared. She responded “I did not.” I asked her gently if I could explain it to her again. As I walked her through the “hand thingy” she began to shake her head in understanding. I also turned to address a man named Charles who had seemed very cold and intimidating when I walked in. I asked them if they understood and if they knew if they died today were they 100% sure they’d go to heaven. Grace responded with a soft “no.” Charles said “yes” with much confidence. I asked Charles why he knew, “he said my soul is a good soul, why are you telling me that this is the only way? I need to understand this.” I again talked about our sinning nature and that Jesus Christ was God’s perfect son. That is why he was the only one who could pay the price and close the gap between us and God” he said a bit more quietly “I understand this.” By this time two more had come in and heard the second presentation. All four prayed to receive Christ right there. What a precious moment in my life. Donnie has spoken of divine appointments many times and until that moment I had not personally experienced one.

It gets easier to share every time and I’ve gotten to the point where street evangelism is one of my favorite things to do!

The harvest for lost souls was so good today. We had twenty three decisions for Christ today during our door to door evangelism in our group alone. We spoke to a group of women in a home and I shared the gospel while holding a tiny infant, just one week old, in my arms, while Tanya shared Christ with another young woman in the home. By the time we left three had prayed to receive Christ including a Muslim named Sharon. I did not know she was a Muslim when I shared the gospel with her. Betty our translator told me as we left her home. In hindsight I’m glad I didn’t know it would have been much more intimidating. What a neat group of women, as I left their home the prayer in my heart was that they would grow in the Lord and that they would be followed up with and nurtured spiritually by our Ggaba team long after we are gone.
-Ginger Cunningham



When I think about what to write to tell you all, so many stories come to mind, stories of experiencing God’s sovereignty. I would love to tell all these stories, but that would take pages. As we were evangelizing door to door (or person to person) a young man walked up to me as I was wondering where the Spirit wanted me. We introduced ourselves, and I somehow came to ask him if he knew Jesus; he replied with saying he was born again but asked me what I could offer him, because he was an orphan. At that moment the Holy Spirit brought to my mind when Peter told someone “silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have you I give you.” I gave Dan (the orphan) info about how beautifully God put together his Church to build each other up and praise his name, and that we were planting one in Luzira. I told him to come that night to a Crusade. Later that night he came early to the church and he was sitting next to a new believer. After I was done dancing with the children, I decided to talk to the other man sitting down next to Dan, he looked lonely. He had a Bible and I asked if I could show him my favorite verses, I asked Dan to come listen. I walked these two young men reading verses from every book that came to my mind explaining the Love of Christ for us. We read numerous accounts of how God lavishes His love on us in different ways and how we can love others with His Love. All this time I was trying to strengthen the other man because I sensed he was “on the fence” of Christianity. It did not come to my mind that Dan needed these verses to confirm his worth as a beautiful child of God, even as an orphan, After the music and preaching was over Dan responded to the alter call and was saved. It was awesome to watch him surrender his whole heart to Christ’s life so that Christ can now live through us. After the service I hooked up Dan with Pastor Enoch and they established a connection. It’s amazing to know that Dan now has a new family, Praise God!
-Chance Pircher

This has been an amazing experience, and I am humbled that God has allowed me to be on this team. I am in Uganda…somebody pinch me! I have been Kippy the Clown for four days now. I do get opportunities to change and be Tanya…feeling a bit schitzoid. I get a kick out of the second-looks I get from people on the street when I sit by a window on the bus. All kidding aside, being a clown has opened up so many opportunities to talk to people. Our first day going “door-to-door” (I have yet to knock on a door…people are everywhere), the Uganda people had no problem with me coming up to them in a red wig and red nose. So far the people I have talked with do not know what a clown is and keep asking me why my nose is red. I shared the gospel two times that day, yet 10 people prayed with our team to accept Jesus! Praise God! The first time someone told me they wanted to pray, I was speechless. I had to grab Chance Pircher and ask him to lead the prayer. The second time I presented the gospel, six men accepted Jesus at one time. I am not used to this!

The next day was not as fruitful for our team, but was an interesting experience. Ginger, Chance, and I along with our interpreters kept bumping into Muslims. One invited me to his mosque, one debated with my interpreter, and another one scoffed when I showed the picture of Jesus on my Evangecube. The scoffer later offered to buy my Evangecube…I’m guessing to take my tool away.

Today has been my most spirit-filled day. Last night I could not go to sleep. My mind kept wandering on thoughts that should not be thought. I recognized immediately that I was being attacked by demonic forces. I prayed and confessed to God. Several hours later I finally fell asleep. This morning, I did not have my normal peppy and obnoxious energy. I had to force myself to be clowny for the precious preschoolers. During lunch, I confided with some team members that I have “hit the wall” that Brother Donnie had warned us about. When Brenda asked if I would like to be prayed for, I broke down. This amazing team covered me in prayer just in time. I could immediately feel the Holy Spirit take over. We then took off for “door-to-door”, my energy was back, and I was looking forward to sharing my Jesus. To make a long story short, in one hour and 45 minutes, Ginger, Chance, our interpreters, and I talked with 23 people who chose to accept Jesus. I am so overwhelmed and am a true believer of the power of prayer.

Please, pray for the Uganda team against the demonic forces all around us. Evidently, we are upsetting them….hee, hee!
-Tanya

SALVATION AND THE SQUATTY POTTY

Well, today was fun! We started in a primary school where we sang and had time to play with children. All of us had to dig deep to recall childhood games to keep the children happy. We did the hokey pokey, duck duck goose, roll the ball and more. It was hilarious to hear the kids say, “And me, And me” when they wanted the ball tossed to them.
After lunch, we went door to door again, or hut to hut, as one of our team members said. This is definitely a more appropriate description of what we are seeing here in terms of dwelling places. Donnie, Crystal, Dorothy (our amazing translator) and I walked down a road where we encountered many believers. I called it “Born Again Road.” Even still, we were able to share the gospel with some people who accepted Christ. I was very excited to pray with a sweet lady named Janet who became a believer. I have to admit it is overwhelming how many people so quickly say, “Yes, I want to do it. I will pray.” I’m thinking, “Are you sure? Don’t you have more questions? Do you really get it?” One thing Donnie said to us during training was not to complicate things or over-explain things. I think in America we are such a contemplative society and are in the habit of weighing pros and cons before doing anything. We really do have to make a case for Christ. Here, though, people are so hungry and thirsty for truth that they are confessing the Lord left and right.
So…on a funnier note…. You may have seen the picture of Laurie, Crystal and I with a caption saying we are trying to embrace the culture. Well, there’s one part of the culture I WILL NOT EMBRACE. I have been avoiding the squatty potties at all costs!! Seriously, I go in the morning and then not again until we get back to the guest house at night, sometimes a thirteen hour span. I just can’t do it. Until today, Ginger was my partner in this endeavor. She got on the bus today and said something like, “I should have stuck with the plan. My skirt just fell in the toilet!” I died laughing. There really is an art to using them correctly. Props to those who have done it.
-Katrina Simmons

Running List of all Prayer Requests:

Please pray for Krista Tope and Chance they have sore throats but are getting the proper medication

Pray for our team to have strength- the next three days will be very full with street evangelism in the mornings, school assemblies in the afternoon and open air meeting with the Jesus film in the evening.

Pray against dehydration- our team is provided water on a moment-by-moment basis.

Pray for traveling grace in and around Kampala- the traffic is unbelievable and we travel across town twice a day.

Pray that Satan would be bound from distracting or dividing our group- so far He has been defeated at every turn.

Please pray for Joy Martin and Adolph Ramirez, they are not feeling well.

Please pray for Tish Hicks, she has experienced both headaches and nausea.

Please pray for boldness as we face the enemy and spiritual protection as we enter his territory.

Please pray that we will allow God to lead us into any area of ministry He desires for us.

Please pray for Pastor Enoch's family, his infant daughter, Vickie, has had a fever.

Please pray for the volunteers/translators for Ggaba Community Church.

Please pray for Donnie for leadership and decisions for our team.

Please pray for our overall team health.

Please pray for Maureen, a new convert who is HIV positive.

Please keep Laurie in your prayers as she found out tonight her grandfather is very close to dying. It is difficult for her to be so far away from her family at a time like this.

Please pray for smooth arrangements tomorrow. Tish and Ginger are supposed to be able to see the children they sponsor. Pray transportation and timing work out perfectly.