Judy’s Africa Journal 2008
UGANDA
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
William Smith (known fondly by his family and friends as “Bill”) and I, (Judy, his wife) our son, Derick, and Cap and LaVerne Marks from Salem, Oregon, arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, Wednesday night after several long airline flights from our Oregon and Washington homes. We were greeted warmly by our good friend and Christian brother, Drake Kanaabo, from Kampala, who is our Ugandan Worldwide Crusades director, and several other pastors and special friends, including Uganda Member of Parliament, Dr./Hon. Sam Lyomoki, who was traveling with us to Arua, in the northern part of the country where our first WWC crusade was to be held. After traveling from the airport to our hotel in Kampala, we spent the night getting some much needed rest.
Thursday , January 10, 2008
We loaded up the rigs and headed for Arua, in Northern Uganda. It was a very long, beaten up road and we were all very relieved to finally get there. One of us was sick from the car weaving around pot holes and badly broken pavement at high speeds and then hitting deep holes anyway. We were all shaken up and very tired from the pounding. My eyes flashed bright lights in the total darkness of our hotel room that night, as a result of the difficult road.
We met some Christian fellows at a gas station on the way that were hauling a truckload of heavy-horned Watusi cattle to the Sudan. One man knew Drake, so they begged us to bring the gospel through a large crusade to their people in the Sudan. Their hunger to share the Gospel with their countrymen was compelling and amazing.
As we drove by village after village and passed hundreds of people walking beside the busy road, we learned more about what the local believers and preachers need to reach their own people in the thousands of villages that have never heard the Gospel. Most do not have a road to them, just a well worn foot trail. If they were supplied with a bicycle costing about $100.00 US, a battery powered megaphone costing about $50.00 US, and a Bible in their language, with teaching helps that costs around $70.00 US, a pastor can get to and reach effectively the villages near his own. These pastors are eager and passionate about winning souls to Christ, in places that no one else can effectively go. The pastors that we gave megaphones to last year have been very busy using them and have won many to the Lord with this tool. There are many more begging for them, but money was not budgeted for it this time. There are too many villages that still wait for the Word.We tossed gospel tracts and handbills to people walking by the road, many with heavy and cumbersome loads balanced on their head. Without fail, they always ran to pick them up and we never saw any thrown back on the ground as we watched in the rear view mirror. Kids raced along side to get their own. There was never enough to fill every hand that sought one. Drake told us that these would be treasured and saved. Many would end up hung on the wall. All would be read and reread, and that by many eyes.
We were greeted at the city’s edge by a throng of people who led us up and around the city, through the market area, and then on to the crusade grounds. With music blaring from a very loud speaker system on a truck, they danced in the street while we slowly made our way through town. Local leaders preached and invited all to come to the crusade. Many Muslims were in the crowds that smiled and waved as we passed slowly by. Thousands of posters were plastered everywhere, huge banners were strung, and billboards announced the coming crusade, so this was not a surprise. The Uganda crusade team, led by Drake Kanaabo, had been working hard to promote this event. Folks from Paidha, Uganda, and Aru and Mahagi, Democratic Republic of Congo, where we held crusades a year ago were arriving, also. Our eyes searched for familiar faces, hoping to see our friends once more.
Friday, January 11, 2008
We are staying in a quiet hotel outside of town that seems to have pretty good security. It has some nice landscaping with lots of flowers and even some water features. They are struggling with a low water situation, so we haven’t been able to have showers yet. It is abnormally dry here, and many people are struggling with the water shortage. We have also been without power most of the day. I guess it is on for a couple of hours in the morning and again for a few hours in the evening. The hotel runs a diesel generator and fuel is extremely high. We had to buy black market fuel to get here at $10.00 per gallon because of the bad situation in Kenya. Not many trucks (including those carrying fuel) are willing to pass through Kenya to get here at this time because of the killing going on there. A decision will be made tomorrow about whether we go to Kenya or not. As bad as we want to carry through with the plans, it is unthinkable to risk the lives of so many people if the authorities decide it is unsafe.We had a great time at the crusade tonight. We haven’t heard an estimate yet on how many came, but it was a lot of people! We will probably hear testimonies tomorrow of people that were saved, healed, and delivered from demon possession. There were many demon possessed people that were hauled up on the platform and prayed for. I watched several girls writhing in agony as the spirits were cast from them and watched as their countenance switched from ugly contortions to bliss as they were released. The local pastors are so happy to have the encouragement and blessing of seeing their people touched by the Lord in such awesome, meaningful ways.
Derick had his hands full trying to manage four video cameras, but he was in his element, doing what he does so well. He has some local guys giving him some help getting all the shots he needs. Some even on roof tops! It is so wonderful to have him along on this trip.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Cap taught his first Pastor’s Seminar today. As recently retired District Superintendent of the Oregon Ministry Network (Assemblies of God), he has had many years of experience in working with pastors and their wives, overseeing the churches and district functions. We are confident he will do a great job here. We are looking forward to spending this month with him and his wife, LaVerne, as we minister together in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Already the stories and jokes we swap as the team members gather for meals each day are bringing both blessing and laughter to our days. We are enjoying the fellowship with everyone on the team, American, and African. It is awesome to come from such widely differing cultural backgrounds and yet be so “on the same page” in our life purpose, and commitment to winning the African people to the Lord and seeing the transformation to people’s hearts that He brings.
We finally got real showers in our room today. The hotel manager also cooperated to leave their generator on most of the day so Derick could load his video tapes into the computer and charge all the camera batteries he required. He will do most of the editing when he gets back home to his office.
There is a large frog that lives in the hotel fountain. It makes a lot of loud noise a couple of times a day. We haven’t seen any snakes. There are many kinds of lizards and skinks here in the hotel gardens. Hundreds of them skitter around the grounds, up the trees, and on the walls. Some are quite colorful. All are fast! A wild colony of African bees live in the attic space of our cottage and their honey has bled through the ceiling. During the day I get nervous walking in and out of our door as the entrance to the hive is directly above it. The hum of this huge colony is very loud in the evening as they settle in for the night. Guinea hens wander in off the bush next to the hotel grounds and we hear the calls of birds, goats, cattle and other animals and critters that are off in the bush. Goats and cattle wander everywhere throughout the city and country. The goats are very colorful with a wide array of coat patterns and colors. In the twilight each evening as the towering racks of mammoth speakers pound out the music and the preaching, many thousands of large fruit bats wing their way through the darkening sky, all flowing the same direction, like a overhead river of bats.
Tonight in the crusade, Drake prayed for rain. It hasn’t rained for a long time. It is extremely dry. Before the equipment was all put away for the night it started to rain! The local people are really abuzz about it! We gave Drake a hard time about praying for rain in the middle of an outdoor crusade. All in fun, of course. We are thankful for rain if it blesses the people and points their hearts to the Rain-giver.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Tonight the crowds were even larger, with a local estimate of around 70,000 or more. After the preaching there were many people that had demons cast out of them. It isn’t a pretty sight. One lady had a small daughter with her and the poor child was terrified by what was happening to her mother. I had been seated on the platform for the evening, so when this little girl was removed from her mother and stood there sobbing and looking pretty shell shocked, I got up and walked over and picked her up. She clung to me like it was life itself while we waited for her mom. Eventually her mother came around and got up smiling. This is Africa. There is a lot of demon possession. When the pastors helping with the alter call ask for the spirits to call out, they do, often shrieking and screaming, and people bring/carry/drag those folks up to the platform to be delivered. Many are being thrown about very violently by the demons within them, just like it is written about in the Bible. Some even were tied up and held down to prevent them from hurting themselves or others, or fall off the high platform as they flop and flail from the force within them. The heartbreak of this is that many were children. Just like in the Bible, when the demons are told to leave, in Jesus Name, they have to. The peace that comes over those folks is beautiful. We are told that most of these grateful people become very powerful witnesses to the saving grace and authority of the Lord.
Two Sudanese pastors arrived today and we had a meeting with them. They shared their life stories which Derick video taped. Like the cattle haulers, these men were desperately wanting to have crusades in the Sudan. The country is in a state of peace right now after thirty-eight years of war. In the city of Wao, we were told there are over one million people and only about thirty Christians. The plans are now underway for the preliminary steps for crusades in Wao and Gubal.
Monday, January 14, 2008
We left Arua this morning and traveled back to Kampala. We all are tired and beaten up by the hundreds of miles we just reversed, hammering our way down the same broken highway, repeating the experience we had on the trip up. We hear that the road to Kenya is more of the same.Tuesday, January 15, 2008
After resting this morning, Drake took us to two orphanages here in the Kampala area. It was such a blessing to see these happy children, their faces beaming in spite of the circumstances of their meager existence. A meal was ready for the kids at one orphanage. Just removed from the small wood fire on the ground, was a simple pot of ground maize. I couldn’t help but think about the nice restaurant meal we had just enjoyed, with local foods prepared and served in abundance, (our second meal of the day), and an evening meal scheduled for later. I thought about many picky kids back home that would often refuse nutritious meals, demanding, and getting, certain favorite items instead. And the bountiful church pot lucks that we enjoy on a regular basis. At the next place, the children gathered to sing for us and then we walked down the hill to see the new well that WWC had arranged for them to have drilled, thanks to money donated for this purpose. It was evident that this abundant clean water was blessing them all. The other orphanage’s well had been turned off by the authorities because of bad water so they were buying water from the city, which was expensive and money to pay for it very hard to come by. Taking care of so many kids is a huge undertaking, but God has raised up loving Godly people to give these kids a home. We must figure out a way to help them with life’s basic needs. It must be very hard to work in these places when there isn’t enough money to take care of needs adequately.
We have the permits to hold the crusade in Eldoret! The police are promising to provide security for the crusade there. We are praying for God’s hand to cover the situation.
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