Uganda day 2

Today we continued to do rallies in the small village of Masese. The team has gotten very familiar with the flow of the rallies and did a tremendous job getting right to work and driving a lot of the action. The Rally Team here started incorporating the Sanctuary team members into the skits, and eventually, they were the majority of the actors.

I had to separate from the group for some time to spend time with Ken looking at some of the ministry needs in the country. When I got back together with the team, the overwhelming consensus was that I had “really missed out…”. I was dissapointed, but at the same time I was so happy to hear the stories from the team. They saw great success in the rallies that they participated in after I left. Each one of them talked about how they got to spend time ministering one on one to some of the people that wanted to accept Christ. They watched as children, adolescents, and adults came forward to know more about Jesus. Without exception, they all said that there was one spot that was more intimidating than the others. They went to a fishing camp where there were very few children. It must have been a sight to see a bunch of Christians doing a puppet show, skits, and testimonies in front of a large group of hardened fishermen… But they saw the Lord break through to some of the people there. They talked about being amazed as they witnessed the Lord saving people and delivering them from their chains that they carried.

Meanwhile, I was blessed with the opportunity of visiting Pastor Henry’s church and the school that is nestled right behind it. Many of our church members and visitors have seen pictures of what the school building looked like at one time, but now, you would not believe your eyes. It has been transformed into a building that is suitable to hold children. Currently, 260 children are being educated at this school. Many of them are given two meals a day, and are very well taken care of. It is not a boarding school, but these kids are treated very well and were very happy.

I am excited to take the team back to Henry’s church on Thursday to show them what is happening there. We will be doing a VBS for the younger ones, and for the older ones, we will conduct a hygiene class and hand out soap. We will also be looking for a few of them that have no shoes or severely worn out shoes. For those, we are going to wash their feet and put some shoes on them. We only have twenty pairs of shoes that Cammy’s class collected last school year, but we are going to trust that the Lord will point us to those in most need.

When we got back to the hotel, we spent a good deal of time talking about where certain ministry items would be given out. Collectively, the team decided what we would do with the supplies that we collected. The toothbrushes and toothpaste will be given to a local prison ministry so that the inmates can care for their teeth. The track jerseys that LOGOS provided will be given to the rally team so that they can look more like a team (Ken tells us that they will be VERY excited to receive these). The toys and candy will be distributed in part at the VBS. The extra clothes that we end up with will be given to pastor Henry to provide to people in need, as well as another pastor in the area.

Tomorrow, we will go witness the baptisms of more than 40 new believers. I am personally excited because I am privileged to participate in the baptisms. This is also very exciting for our team, because James has decided to get baptized as well. We will be sure to capture these on film, and I am looking forward to sharing it with the church.

Keep us in prayer for the journey to the village where we will be baptizing. Also pray against the enemies schemes.

In HIM,

pastor matt