Uganda 2019: Miriam's View

Pearl Church and School is located in southeastern Uganda in the remote village of Nanjeho near the border of Kenya. The landscape surrounding it is lush farmland and a network of red dirt trails leading to mud hut homes. Children from infants to age 13 come to this school, some from an hour's walk away. They are taught in English, their second language, and are fed breakfast and lunch here.

It's hard to condense our experience at Pearl into one page. Incredible. A taste of heaven amongst deep

heartache and need.

The school administrator, Derek Ochim, is the oldest son of Pastor Hummer, a man who works tirelessly to bring about change in Jesus's name in his community and beyond, and now Derek, faithful to do the same in Nanjeho.

The head mistress Karen leads the school well with a firm but fun-loving hand. They welcomed us with song and dance so authentic that it speaks to your soul. And then...Karen called us muzungus up on stage to see if we could dance- there may or may not be video of this floating around, if you need a good laugh...

We then held a medical/health Q&A with the women of the church, shared scripture and were honored to be able to pray one on one with those who asked for it. How do you pray out loud for someone you just met when tears are streaming down your face from hearing a request that breaks your heart?  By knowing it also breaks the heart of Jesus, knowing the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, and knowing that the God we serve is mighty to save. 

We ate a generous lunch in Derek's home, complete with cassava, metoke (boiled plantain), G-nuts (peanut soup) and melt in your mouth papaya and avocado picked right off the trees outside.

Afterwards some of the team went to join a local home cell (small group) meeting to give testimony and encouragement to the growing church. The rest of us stayed at the school and played soccer with the older teens, hung out with the younger kids and taught them duck-duck-goose (so.much.fun), and got some dance lessons (again, hilarious). It's a beautiful thing to see them run over to a deep well to drink clean water whenever they're thirsty. Living water flowing in hearts and onto hands.

These precious children, most of them orphans, have so little, yet they laugh and smile so easily, and the poems

and songs that come from their lips are of thanksgiving and praise to their Heavenly Father. I am humbled, blown away. 

As the day came to a close the children were prayed for and dismissed to walk home. It was time for us to go too, and unexpectedly difficult to drive away from this special place. 

Uganda 2019: Sue's View

In January of last year (2018) I was in Uganda with Lisa DeCourcey. We spent a day in Kampala with 6 women from the church getting to know them, their daily patterns and how they do church. 

We studied the Bible together and Lisa and I introduced the model of ‘Life Transformation Groups’ (LTG).

Briefly, an LTG is a group of 2-3 believers who commit to meet weekly. During the week they all read the same bible passage daily and pray for specific people to be saved. At the meetings they pray, worship, confess their failures and share their struggles. 

We also travelled to rural Busia and spent 2 days with another precious group of ladies from scattered churches doing the same model. Just hearing what these women accomplish to keep food on the table and how much time they spend daily in prayer and bible study humbled me. My quiet time seemed paltry in comparison.  I felt totally unqualified to be offering advice. I remember saying to Lisa “If this sticks it’s nothing but the Holy Spirit’s doing”.

So returning in January this year why was I bowled over that it had taken over and multiplied?? Their groups were large... like our small groups... but people were getting saved and the churches were growing and lives were being transformed. I challenged the women’s leader (Grace) to make the groups smaller... loving accountability and deep sharing is hard for large groups. 

So this trip I spent time with individual groups (cell groups) in Kampala and Busia villages. 

My best day this trip? Aunt Betty’s cell group. 

We arrived late as the sun set and sat outside with the goats and chickens. The slum area in Kampala was

sacred ground. It was a group of 10... some had to leave earlier so it was about half of the regular crowd. There was a lady from another church, a man and a woman who had given birth only yesterday. After the Bible study I heard how AS WELL AS meeting as a group, they meet as 2-3 for sharing and praying. They decided to fast and pray as a group for their community for 15 days. A marriage was restored (she delivered the baby to prove it!!). School fees were provided. A son’s failing grades at university turned into good grades and graduating well. The man in the group stopped drinking and womanizing and became a believer. The local witch doctor who owned a drinking bar and shrine turned his space into a rental room so now the community is rid of such things. Sick children healed, kids stayed in school, and a phone was acquired... which she uses to call for prayers at 2am and to rally support!Truly the Holy Spirit is moving. 

My second favorite day... praying for individual women with Casey and Miriam after the women’s health

gathering. 

My privilege... to see each team members’ obedience to GO grow their faith and love. Uganda changes you and makes it real. 

Uganda 2019: Casey's View

Today we traveled many hours to visit a remote village on the bank of Lake Victoria named Namayingo. The path to get there is miles of narrow red clay roads, the clay is so powerful that all the plants are painted red from its dusting.

The children called out "mazungu mazungu " which means white people! They chased after us as we drove up,

and surrounded the bus as we got off shrieking with excitement, some never having seen a white person before!

We walked to the shoreline of the beautiful lake and watched as the local livestock drank from the river.  We found out that this water is used for many things, human and animal waste, bathing, fishing, and the it is the only source of water for their homes as well.

God presented us with an amazing opportunity to discuss sanitation and hygiene with these women and we be praying for them as well. They were very receptive to our discussion. They sang for us on arrival and departure. We crossed language barriers and held each other up in prayer, it was beautiful.

These women love God, and God is all powerful and loves them to. We would welcome our family and friends at home to pray for our Ugandan friends as well. Pray they get clean water and medical care, as they are dying from illness that is 100% curable.  Pray with us that they opened their ears and hearts to receive the love Jesus is pouring into them.

Uganda June 2019: Michelle's View

Michelle's View:

I want to start off by thanking God, my family, church family and friends for making this opportunity possible to serve those in Uganda and grow in my spiritual journey. Our trip just started but it is already a blessing.

We started out today with a team devotional and after breakfast we went to Ray of Hope, a local orphanage/school that has about 280 children. There we were welcomed by the most warm and loving people. First, they danced and sang for us and it was just beautiful. Then we did an eye glasses clinic and gave out many reading glasses. Now hopefully their Bibles will be easier to read. Afterward, we shared some scripture and talked to the young women in one of the classrooms. God showed up! He always does. Later, we painted the nails of girls of all ages. We were able to meet a lot of new friends. This was a fun experience. I was able to share some personal stories and hear theirs. In the afternoon, we visited with the children and made paper airplanes. They were flying all over!

At the end of the day, my new friend Patricia gave me a gift. It's a dress that she made herself. Not

only is it beautiful but it is mind blowing how giving and selfless they all are. It was such a wonderful experience to see them take care of each other and take us in too. They only have love to offer. They have the biggest smiles and sweetest hearts. I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings!

From one of our mission partners

Iran and beyond. The prayer letter of Elam Ministries

I want to encourage you with a modern-day Zacchaeus story. As a gang lord, Arash controlled his local community through violence. Arash had seized the properties of five prominent families in the town. They had fled, empty-handed and terrified. Everyone feared Arash and his men. But then Arash began an online conversation with Ali, who kept talking about Jesus. Curiosity piqued, Arash demanded a New Testament. Through God's Word, the Spirit convicted Arash's heart: he was a sinner who needed Jesus. As Ali began discipling him, Arash soon realized his life had to change. Arash left his violent, criminal lifestyle behind, telling his gang he was retiring. Then, one day, Arash read Zacchaeus's story in Luke 19, and he felt the Lord speak to him. The five properties had to be returned. Arash searched tirelessly until he found the five families. They were bewildered when he told them he would return their properties. Arash even took out a loan to reimburse them for the furnishings he had damaged or sold. Three members of Arash’s immediate family have since become Christians. Please pray for the impact of the Gospel in Arash's wider community. As Arash's story shows, God is powerfully at work in the heart of the Muslim world, changing the most unlikely of hearts. Please join us in praying for:  Arash and his family's continued growth in the Lord Others with hardened hearts to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel Ali, and others like him, who bravely share the Gospel and give out the Scriptures, despite the risks. Grace and peace, David Yeghnazar Executive Director