Calvary Chapel Entebbe

Day 14 - Thursday

We woke up in Entebbe realizing that this would be our last day in Uganda. Jess and I flew back into Uganda late last night after spending the day in Rwanda with Gedeon. Our first mission this day was to re-connect with Mark and Shai who were staying in the same hotel. They arrived last night and checked in earlier than we did. We had breakfast together; then Jess and I took a walk down to Lake Victoria (30 minute walk), which is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world. (Lake Superior is the biggest.) As you look out over the water, you feel like you're standing on the shore of an ocean because there is no visible shoreline on the other side. It is big, and it is very beautiful.

After our walk we met with Pastor Craig Lindquist of Calvary Chapel Entebbe. Several months before our trip, I contacted Pastor Craig through Potter's Field Ministries, asking to visit CC Entebbe so that I could see what the Lord is doing there. We had a full day of visiting classrooms, making house visitations, and taking a boat ride across Lake Victoria to the church's farm.

The church and school sit on about 3 acres (of what used to be a garbage dump) that extends all the way down to the lake. They purchased the property about 7 years ago, and after clearing it of all the debris, they met in tents for a season. Within the last few years they have constructed a chapel and several classroom buildings. The school grows as the number of kids grows. Right now they have preschool through P3 (3rd grade) classes. The classroom sizes are small with about 12 children at each grade. Next year they will bring more children in at the lower level and add a P4 class for those who are moving up from P3. The buildings, with pillars added for support, are probably  the best constructed school buildings that we have seen in Uganda. Most buildings are constructed using bricks without any of these support pillars; bricks are just stacked one atop another, and these structures look like they would collapse very easily if there was an earthquake or high winds. These classrooms at CC Entebbe look much like a classroom you would see in America with maps, pictures, alphabet letters on the walls, etc. The P3 classroom has several computers in it that are old but operational. The classrooms also have white boards in them! I say this because most of the classrooms we have seen have makeshift cardboard or plywood chalkboards in them. I can see that it's been Pastor Craig's heart to lean on God's wisdom, wait on Him, and build well as resources have been made available. Nothing looks thrown together here; it is very evident that they have waited patiently for the Lord to act and provide the funding for this endeavor.

The latest project is the completion of a new latrine for the boys and girls. What is really cool about this is how the sewage system is a one-of-a-kind system in Uganda. There are several filtration holding tanks down in the lower field that will flow into each other with the last tank set to leach out into the lower field (which will become a soccer field). City officials are very interested how this system works because it could be utilized in other areas of Uganda.

After visiting the classrooms, we went with Pastor Julius into the village on home visitations. We met with four families in their homes to encourage them by reading scriptures and praying for them. What a blessing!! Then we took a 30 minute boat ride across Lake Victoria to CC Entebbe's working farm which is on an island. We were met by Peter and Deus who gave us a tour of the gardens and piggery. There are probably 6 to 8 acres of land with fruit trees and vegetable gardens. We tasted some of the bananas which are sooo sweet!! The produce is used to supplement the children's diet; some of it is sold also at the market to help the school become self-sustainable.

 Before going to the airport, we went with Pastor Craig and his wife, Loren, to a restaurant for dinner. They shared their calling to Uganda and vision for their church/ministry.  You can read about them on the website I've linked to this page.  The pictures are great, too. Then it was time to head to the airport for our long journey home.

Safely Home

Friday evening we arrived safely home after 32 hours of travel (22 hours in flight). It felt so good to be home!! I remember placing my head on the pillow, then waking up Saturday morning at 7:45am thinking "Were we really in Uganda or was it just a dream?"

We had an amazing time; we are filled with so many precious memories, and we miss the people so much! I last wrote on Tuesday morning before giving away the laptop that I had been using while in Uganda. My company, Samaritan Health Services, blessed us with two laptops to be donated to various ministries there. Once I gave away the last one, I had no way to update the blog. Now that I'm home, I would like to catch you up on those last few days.

Days 12 and 13 - Tuesday and Wednesday
The team drove back from Tororo to Kampala. We brought Pastor Moses and Betty along with us. They have two daughters who attend boarding schools along the way to Kampala, so we made several stops in the towns of Iganga and Jinga to visit them. Our team arrived in Kampala around 3pm, which gave Jessica and me a few hours to relax and have some dinner before we had to head to the airport for an 11pm flight to Kigali, Rwanda.

Our driver Moses took Jess and I to the airport which is about 30 miles from Kampala. Moses is a delightful man and a really good driver. Traffic at this time of day, 5pm, can be a bumper to bumper nightmare, but Moses somehow managed to avoid it all as he navigated side streets through the city and got us to the airport in plenty of time. Our flight to Kigali was on time, but when we arrived there was no one there to greet us. We didn't know what to do. We waited for about an hour to see if the hotel van would come for us as had been the arrangement, but we finally decided to take a taxi to a hotel. It was then that I realized in my haste to get things packed that morning, I had forgotten to write down the name of the hotel I had booked for us in Kigali. I began feeling out of control being in a foreign country and not knowing where to find rest for the night. We were to meet the Compassion representative in the hotel lobby at 9:30am and I had no idea where that was! I asked a taxi driver to get us to a hotel close to the Compassion office, so he brought us to this really nice resort hotel and pointed towards the parking lot, assuring us that the Compassion office was right there. We stayed at a hotel down the street from there (which was a little less expensive), waking up Wednesday morning for breakfast and hoping to just walk down the street and find the Compassion office around 8am. However, when we got to the resort hotel and looked where the taxi driver had pointed, there was no office!!!!  Nothing was there.  We are at a complete loss.

I began feeling out of control again, beating myself up for not writing down the contact info. There was nothing I could do about that now; I had to just pray and ask the Lord for help. All of a sudden a Jeep belonging to an Aids/HIV organization pulled into the hotel parking lot, and I felt led to approach the driver and ask about the Compassion office. He said the Compassion office used to be here, but they relocated a few years ago. He did not have a contact number, but he thought there might be someone in his office who did. He called and left a message, telling us that once he heard back, he would come find us in the lobby. Well, I was thankful for his help, but I still felt anxious because our meeting with the Compassion representative was to be in one hour. Then the Lord told me to go and speak with a lady at the reception desk of the hotel. She simply made a phone call and handed me the phone. It was Eugene, the Compassion Representative!! He told me that he called the hotel this morning (the hotel we were supposed to stay in), and hearing that we had not stayed there last night, he was getting ready to contact the man who was bringing Gedeon and tell him we would not be coming! 

You know, I praise the Lord! Everything worked out in just the nick of time. We do not always see His hand moving on our behalf. There are times I get in these situations and feel like I'm all alone with no one to help me, but the Lord is so faithful! He is always right there with us. He led us directly to the person who could help us. He is so faithful!! He is just so faithful. We met Eugene in the hotel lobby at 10am, and he brought us to the Compassion office to meet Gedeon. When Gedeon saw us he sprang up out of his chair and came right to us. (We had been warned that he might feel really shy.) He greeted us with huge bear hugs, and we just embraced and loved each other. There was such joy in his face when he saw us. Our time together went by very quickly as we talked, played some soccer, and ate lunch together. Before we knew it the 4 hours went by, and we were saying goodbye for now. None of us wanted to say goodbye. As we drove away from the bus depot, we kept looking back at Gedeon, and he kept looking at us in our car. We waved until we could no longer see each other. I know in my heart that one day I will see this precious young man again. How soon I do not know, but we will meet again. His desire is to become an evangelist and pastor. I encouraged him to do all that is in his heart for the Lord. His favorite verse is Isaiah 59:1 - "Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear".

What a fun day! Thank You, Lord, for bringing us together despite all the obstacles. Thank You for the work You have begun in Your son Gedeon! Thank You for placing him in our lives these past 10 years. Use him mightily for Your Name's sake!!

"If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." - 2 Timothy 2:13

GEDEON

I am now sitting at my home computer. It is so good to be home! It felt so good to take an ACTUAL WARM shower last night and to sleep in my own bed! The airplane trip was really long, but it was so worth it!

Anyway, I wanted to tell you all about the amazing day my dad and I spent with my brother Gedeon in Rwanda. When we arrived at the Compassion office, we waited around for him to arrive. (He had been traveling for 3 1/2 hours to come meet us!) When he arrived, my dad and I walked down the stairs to greet him. Now there were three men sitting on a bench at the bottom of the stairs, and I couldn't pick out which one was Gedeon. I was expecting him to be at least 6ft. tall; however, the boy that jumped up and ran to greet us was only like 2in. taller than ME! (I am only 5ft.2in.) When he ran to greet us, he gave both my dad and me huge bear hugs! Then we exchanged gifts. We gave him a soccer ball and a string backpack full of little goodies. He gave us a basket woven by his mother; it is beautiful! After talking for a few minutes, we all climbed into a car to drive to a hotel that had some grass so we could play soccer together. When we got into the car, Gedeon turned to me and told me he was so glad to see me (in English!). Then he shook my hand and never let go. So we held hands all the way to the hotel- so sweet.

 At the hotel, he and my dad played soccer; then we all sat on lawn chairs (well I was on a lawn ottoman) and talked. Gedeon shared about his life as we asked questions. Later he shared about the effect that the genocide had on his family. His family fled Rwanda during that time, so he was born in Uganda. After talking for probably more than an hour, we all "piled" into the car and drove to a restaurant for lunch. During lunch we showed him the pictures we brought of our family and all the letters that he had written to us in the past. He was so amazed that we had kept all of his letters!

After lunch, we took him to a store and bought him a Bible and some ice cream. He is almost 17 years old and he has never eaten ice cream before! When we gave him the ice cream, he didn't know what to do with it, so he stuck it in his backpack. While in the car on the way to the taxi lot, we finally told him it would melt if he didn't eat it. So he slowly opened it and tasted it. The first feedback he gave us concerning the ice cream was that it was really sweet. Then he turned to me and handed me the ice cream; he wanted me to taste it! I did (it was really sweet ice cream!), but I still laughed at the thought of how surprised he looked when he tasted it. When we arrived at the taxi lot, we had to say goodbye. It was one of the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to say. We hugged over and over and shook hands over and over. None of us wanted to leave. Even as he walked away, towards the taxi, he kept turning around and waving to us. My dad and I did the same. We never wanted our time with Gedeon to end.

My dad and I arrived back in Entebbe that night with dazed looks on our faces. The time with Gedeon had gone by so fast that we couldn't believe we had actually met him. (We have been dreaming of this day for over 10 years!) I miss Gedeon so much, and I hope to visit him again - maybe next year when I'm in Uganda. (I'm already signed up to return to Uganda next year! But that will be in another letter....)

Well, I had to share a memory I am savoring and savoring.... Thank you all for praying for us! We were blown away by God's goodness and love.
Sincerely,
Jessica

Rwanda

Day 12 - Tuesday

Today we leave Tororo and drive back to Kampala. Jessica and I will continue on to Entebbe and fly into Rwanda tonight. We will be staying overnight in a hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. Tomorrow we will meet a representative from Compassion International who will bring us to meet our sponsored son, Gedeon. I cannot express the joy and excitement that is in my heart as I think of meeting young Gedeon face to face for the first time. After ten years of letter writing back and forth, we will finally meet. I brought with me a stack of about 30 letters that he has written to us over the years. I was reading through them the other day and came across one that he wrote towards the end of last year. At the close of the letter he wrote, "Please forgive me, I love you so much; if possible, please come and visit me." I never imagined that it would happen this year!

We will spend the day with Gedeon, then fly back into Uganda tomorrow night. Thursday we will spend the day with Pastor Craig Lindquist of Calvary Chapel Entebbe. Pastor Craig will meet us at our hotel in Entebbe and bring us to the church to see all that the Lord is doing there through their outreach to the children. That night we will begin our long trek home to Oregon. Please pray for His protection as we travel these next few days.

Team Picture Ivory Hotel in Kampala

Note: I'm not sure how much time I'll have to update the blog, because I'll be leaving this laptop with Pastor Moses. Please check Mark's blog for updates on our exploits for today and Thursday. If you have not visited his blog yet, you should. He has lots of pictures and video clips on it. The link is over to the lower right on this page under 'My Blog List.' Just click on 'Walk by Faith,' and it will take you right to it. God bless!!!

Tororo Prison Farm

This afternoon we broke into small groups again. Mark, Shai, Jessica, and Ashley went with Pastor James to another school. In the meantime, the rest of us accompanied Pastor Moses and Betty to the Tororo Prison Farm. The farm is located on the outskirts of Tororo. The ride was very scenic revealing beautiful countryside. When we got to the prison we were escorted by a guard who was awaiting us. They are very familiar with Pastor Moses and his wife. In fact there is a very large building that they have donated to Pastor Moses for church services. Moses is waiting on the Lord to raise someone up from within his body to pastor it.

We met outdoors with twelve inmates who were sick and needing prayer. Nine of the twelve are born again. Pastor Daniel shared a short salvation message, and the three who were not born again stepped forward to receive Christ as their personal Savior. After this we prayed over the twelve for God's healing; then we handed out Bibles (thanks to someone who donated funds to purchase Bibles :)) to each of them. We then moved over to the women's quarters to meet with 13 women. We took turns sharing short messages with the women. One woman raised her hand and stood to receive Christ. It turns out the other women are already born again. After this we handed out small gift packages to each of the women (soap, lotion, bread, hankies, underwear, and salt). We also handed out little cartons of milk for the children. There are five children (including 1 baby) living at the prison while their mothers serve sentences. The children stay for as long as the mother is in prison or until they turn 18. It's hard to imagine, but there is no where else for some of these children to go. It's heartbreaking to see these little children behind barbed wire fences.

After handing out the gifts, we took the next 45 minutes to worship the Lord with the prisoners. What a blessing for all of us! We exhorted the women that even though they are physically behind prison walls, their spirits are free to worship and serve the Lord!! We prayed that the Lord would ground them and root them in the love of Christ. We reminded them that nothing, including prison walls, can separate us from the love of Christ.

We finished the evening at Pastor Moses's home for dinner and cake. We celebrated all that the Lord has done during our time here in Tororo. We shall forever remember our time here and cherish the memories in our hearts! It was a tearful goodbye for all of us, for we will head back to Kampala in the morning.

Tororo Universal College

Day 11 - Monday

Today we broke into small teams. Sandy and Joy went to the hospital with Pastor Moses's wife Betty. Sandy is a nurse and would like to know more about the needs they have for future trips over here. Pastor Moses took Virgil and the girls (Jess and Shai) shopping!! We sent Pastor Daniel with them to keep an eye on things.

Mark, Ashley, and I went to Tororo Universal College and spoke to about 200 students. The school is like a private school with Christian, Catholic, and Muslim children from ages 12 to 22. We met outside in a grassy area and took about an hour to share with them about our lives in America and how Jesus has moved in our lives. We exhorted them to do diligence in their school work and most importantly, to know the One True Living God and His Son whom He sent. It was a wonderful time of being with these precious students. We are praying that the Lord will water the seeds sown into their lives today.

This afternoon some of us will go to a prison to share the gospel; others will go to another school. Please pray for the souls of those who will hear the good news of Jesus Christ...I'll report back later...

Time is flying WAY TOO FAST!!!!

I cannot believe that I will be in Africa for only four more days. It seems like just yesterday that we arrived at the airport and were greeted by almost thirty people. It seems like just yesterday that I was dancing and making faces with my buddy Sahara. Every single memory I have from Uganda seems like it happened yesterday (well, some were yesterday!). The church services here are so powerful and amazing. I keep asking myself, "What would the world be like if the churches in America followed the example of the churches in Uganda?" The people here dance and make noises of praise when they worship. Every Sunday, people come to the front and ask for healing- and they are healed! They are such a great example to the world of what it means to be on fire for the Lord. Here, where they have nothing, nothing(and I mean nothing) can separate them from their relationship with Jesus. There in America, many times it takes one thing (like a death in the family or some other tragedy) and people become bitter and turn away from God. (I'm not trying to offend anyone.) In Uganda they go through tragedies EVERY DAY, yet their relationship with God stays the same (if not becoming stronger). With the widows a few days ago, I wanted to cry. They were so joyful! They have been through SO MANY tragedies in their lives, yet they worship God with so much joy and thankfulness. (They are not called widows here, by the way. They are called "the wives of God."). Well, I must go now (it's breakfast time!), but I will try to be in touch. Bye!
Sincerely,
Jessica

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40