Uganda Missions

PipesLine Email Update #22-09

I thought instead of sharing with you my own view of the ministry in Uganda, I will instead share a testimony with you from Sarah.  Sarah went with us on our Medical Outreach team this past August.  She is currently a student at Crown College in Minnesota.  If you would like to view the video of the medical outreach you will hear and see her sharing at the beginning and end of the video.  www.ugandamissions.com Testimony to be continued further down. 

Kostya, from Odessa, Ukraine, who was an intern in Uganda from January –June of this year, will be officially coming on staff with International Messengers and returning to Uganda.  There are a number of aspects to his return that are exciting for us

1.        God is providing more workers for the harvest in Uganda

2.       Our investment in discipleship/missions in other countries (Ukraine) are being blessed

3.       Nationalities other than Americans are stepping out to serve the Lord.

September 10-12; I will be in Montana to train a team headed over to Uganda for an English camp

September 13-17; I will spend the week at IM’s Mountainside Missionary
Training center in Libby, MT.  I will be teaching the interns on missions.

September 29-October 11; English camp in Kampala, Uganda with the Morris’ and then on to Busanna for a leadership/pastors conference.

In closing I leave you with Sarah’s testimony she shared with me during debriefing.  I asked her to write this out so I could share it with others:

The last day of medical camp I was worn out. I was exhausted and honestly ready for a break. Never would I have thought that sharing the Gospel could be so exhausting (rewarding of course, but exhausting none the less!) We were at our last medical camp (In Kasana I think?) and my heart was not honestly in it. I was becoming worn down, and I was losing my compassion for the people. I was ready to throw in the towel, but as I had that thought God made me realize that it was such a blessing that I got to share the Gospel with these people. While I was exhausted I needed to do it. So I proceeded to do the spiritual interviews. My heart was not fully in it, but I was pushing forward anyways. Little did I know that God was going to use that day, my attitude, and the African people for his full use whether I wanted to or not.

At the beginning of the trip I realized what a passion I have for Muslims. They ignited a passion in my heart and lead me on a path of excitement everything I come in contact with them, and get to love them. This day was no different. Every time that I would get to talk to a Muslim I would reignite. It was kind of a game between God and me by this day. I would begin to get drained and as soon as I felt I could not share one more time the next person I would interview would be a Muslim. Every time when I was coming to my wits end, a Muslim woman would come. :) It was such a blessing from God each time it happened because without it I do not think that I could have continued.

By the end of the interviewing process on this day I was beat. I did not want to do anymore interviews. I wanted to call it quits. But there was still one person left to see when I hit this point. So I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, went into it half heartedly and began to speak to the last woman who was going to be interviewed. Low and behold, she was, you guessed it, a Muslim. She had 3 darling children who sat down with her and were all under the age of 5 and were very sick. As I began to talk to her, my compassion for the people came back. As I heard her story my heart was torn. She wanted so badly to be able to follow Jesus Christ, but she married a devote Muslim man. Before she married him she attended a Christian church but since she was married she had to go to Mosque. My heart went out to her seeing that I understood her situation. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She could not attend Church or profess Christ because he would leave her and her small children to fend for themselves, which was not possible. Pastor Titus and I had the delight of being able to share the Gospel with her. I got to share a testimony of my life living with my Muslim father in America. I got to tell her that being a Christian doesn't mean you have to attend church to attain it, but rather it’s a change of the heart. I got to explain to her that I did not attend church for 2 years after I became a Christian because my father would not let me, but that I still had Christ in my heart. She ended up receiving Christ that day and it was amazing to witness. She was putting her whole life on the line for Jesus Christ, while I was about to give up and throw the towel in because of something petty like tiredness. She was such an encouragement to me! The length they will go for Jesus Christ is humbling!

Sarah