One of the best weeks yet!

Welcome back to Uganda! It has been a busy week, but it’s nice to have this day of rest, even though it involves walking long distances to go to church in the morning. It has been a fulfilling but difficult week for most of us out here, but God is still faithful and so good!

The bugs at the Hopeland Base are getting out of control. Its season for lake flies to be around and they are annoying. They get into everything and through the screens in doors. They fly all around any lights and then they die. The next morning we have piles and piles of them everywhere. It’s unlike anything I have ever seen! They also have this type of flying ant or something that the locals love to eat (especially fried!). They will pick them up off of the ground at dusk when they take to the air. They lose their wings very quickly and then they crawl around on the ground, lay eggs and die. By the way; Alex, Mark, and I also tried them…

The communications team spent the week creating response letters to all of the classes of registration. Gina and Jonathan are very proficient at proof reading and coming up with creative ideas that get points across in clear and concise ways. The letters are still awaiting the final say by our team leader, Lucy. They will hopefully be sent out starting this next week. We also worked on a brochure that will be presented by the national leader of YWAM Uganda to some government representatives that will be invited to the conference. The brochure explains YWAM as a whole and what the conference is aiming to do. Pray that it is received well and that the government officials will participate in the event. Another object we worked on all week was revising the website. We went through and proof-read most of the pages.

The event team organized the team meal on Wednesday night and it was delicious. We don’t get to eat much meat on base, so Wednesday night team dinner is a highlighted meal. The program team also took a trip into Jinja to get a tour of the hotel that some of the guests will be staying in. I had the opportunity to go as well to take photographs for the website. They will be posted shortly. Rob has also been working hard trying to get most of the finances sorted out for the conference.

I have been in Uganda for a month now and I was beginning to feel a little bit down. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful here and setting up the conference is great, but I felt like my faith was failing me. I realized that I was having the kind of faith that James warns us about in his Epistle. He says that faith without works is dead, exactly how I was feeling. I desperately needed the Lord’s refreshing peace again so I asked him to do something powerful in my life this week. On Wednesday afternoon after taking photos at the hotel, I went to a favorite coffee shop in Jinja called The Source Café. This is where God decided to answer my prayer. I met a man named Mark Weaver. He has been in Uganda for a couple of months now and actually did a Snowboarders DTS in Colorado. We started talking and he told me his story of how he came to Uganda. It involves winning the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right that included 2 cars. He sold both and looked up orphanages in Uganda on the popular search engine, Google… I asked him if Alex and I could meet up with him on Saturday and go to some orphanages with him. He is actually living at one called Canaan Children’s Home (www.canaanchildrenshome.org) and does evangelism in the surrounding community. Alex and I went with him on Saturday to an orphanage outside of Jinja called St. Ameria’s that completely took me by surprise and broke my heart at the same time. Many of you may have heard of “Invisible Children”, a documentary focusing on the displaced children due to a constant war in Northern Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) abducts children and forces them to be child soldiers and teaches them to kill. The children are completely brainwashed. The orphanage that we went to on Saturday had many children from Gulu in the North where much of the fighting and abductions take place (Gulu was the main town featured in “Invisible Children”). These children don’t have parents because the LRA killed them. They fled to surrounding cities, even Jinja. A woman set up the orphanage in 1994 with 4 children and now has over 300. These children sleep like sardines packed in a can wherever there is room. The orphanage doubles as a school but the buildings are unfinished and falling apart because they have practically no funding. Hardly anyone knows about this place.

[The boy's room with all the boys in it]

One of the most powerful and sad times in my entire life came on Saturday when some of the children started singing a song about AIDS had killed their parents. This little girl, Helen soloed and had a voice like an angel but had tears running down her face. I felt so bad because they were singing the song for us but could hardly get the words out of their mouths because they were all weeping. The last line of the song; “Where are you God, I did not choose this kind of life”. It was heart-wrenching. This is only 1 orphanage among countless others in Africa. So many stories… so many hurting children who need the love of the Father.

Later that evening as the sun was setting, Mark took us to Canaan Children’s Home for a few minutes before heading up to the hills to do some door-to-door evangelism. The contrast between Canaan and Santa Maria’s was so vast I could hardly believe it. We went from those having no beds even to those who had complete buildings, running water, a medical clinic, mosquito nets, and even pet dogs. It was a great example of how an orphanage should be funded. It gave me hope for St. Ameria’s.

The evangelism in the hills was amazing as well. A few Muslim people and some others as well came to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They were so open to the Gospel. They had never heard it before and they were about 20 minutes walking/hiking from where the Canaan Children’s Home was (which is about 30 minutes outside of Jinja; not on the main road). He is so faithful and Alex and I were so honored that He would speak through us that day. We were completely strengthened by exercising our faith and we felt empowered to do more with our “free time”.

Please pray for the ministries we visited on Saturday, especially St. Ameria’s. I can see the desperation in their eyes as they shared with us. I could see the need when I walked past their buildings that looked like they were going to fall over at a moment’s notice.

My uncle Forest is visiting Rwanda this week as well. Please pray for safety for him as well as favor with those he is going to work with. He has been on my heart for a while now and I am sure that he would appreciate your prayers of support as well.

Continue to pray for unity on our team, we have met opposition on every side this last week from people getting sick, to computers crashing (not mine praise God), to mis communications. These are all things that can tear us apart and get our eyes off of the Lord and His plans for us. We need strength and rest. Ruth also left for England late on Saturday for 10 days to attend a family wedding. Pray that the Lord gives her back to us soon and safely.

My prayers go out to you as well, that our God will strengthen you and be your peace this week. God Bless!

His Servant,

John Paul

(All images captured by John Paul and are not edited in anyway)