The Chapter is Over… The Next is Beginning!

[Flyer for the Denver Show!!!]

It has been two+ weeks since the last blog update, and less than a week since I have been home. I wanted to be sure that told everyone about the conference the last week in Uganda and some of my experience in being back home in the Western World.

A quick update from St. America’s before I continue. Someone, who will remain anonymous, has agreed to pay 1500 US Dollars for the children at the orphanage to get bunk beds! This is such an answer to prayer because previously they had all been sleeping on thin straw mats on the floor, practically and literally on top of each other. God is so good, and it is such an honor to be a part of it! Mark visited one last time before he came back to the states and discovered that they had named the three houses after him (Mark Weaver), Alex, and I. My eyes welled up with tears after I heard the news.
Their international account is also set up, which is a huge blessing from God. We are using a YWAM account set up by John Bills to enable people to get tax-deductable receipts. If you want to donate, make checks payable to YWAM (or Youth with a Mission) and don’t make any indications of St. Amerias on the check. Put a note that says, “African Orphans Fund, St. Ameria’s Orphanage” on it, and send the envelope to
YWAM Los Angeles
11141 Osborne Street
Lake View Terrave, CA 91342

The conference was powerful to say the least. Some of the days were spent without power, some were spent without water, but the fellowship evident among the attendees was powerful. Even people with no background in HIV/AIDS work came to the conference to get a better understanding. They left with so much more; a deep understanding of the daunting task, and even a deeper appreciation for those who have been involved with this fight for so long.

One of the most powerful sessions was the day the First Lady of Uganda spoke, although it wasn’t her speech that was so necessarily powerful. After all the Ugandan dignitaries and officers had gone, we were left without power yet again, but this time was different. It was a Wednesday night and on the schedule was a memorial for those who had lost their lives to HIV related illness that had been a part of YWAM. Attendees were asked to bring a ribbon, a foot in length, to the conference for this memorial service. We tied the ribbons together to get an idea of how HIV was affecting the YWAM community. This helped all of us realize the importance of HIV/AIDS work in all of the world. Staring at the countless strands of ribbon, many couldn’t handle the emotions of remembering those that they had lost. Some had been small babies and children, some had been friends and mentors of many years. I am not sure there was a dry eye in the entire place. We are all affected.

The week finished off great! Everyone I talked to said that it was one of the best conferences that they had been to despite the power and water outages. It wasn’t anything that the preparation team did though, it was all about God bringing together people who have a passion for the same thing, seeing Gods heart in this world. It was encouraging for them to be there and see that they really aren’t alone in this fight. Please don’t let this blog be the end of your experience with HIV/AIDS. Take measures to educate yourself and those around you to what is going on in the world. Investigate different areas where you can be personally involved in this mission that is so close to God’s heart.

As for me? This may be the last blog update for a while. It has been a great journey is sharing my thoughts and experiences with you, and a great blessing to receive the encouragement and prayers that we did from you.
I am already over my head in work trying to set up these Benefit Photography Galleries across the States. Please continue to pray that I will get everything done that is on my heart and that God will provide for the overwhelming expense that it is going to be. I really know that God wants to do a lot for these different ministries that will benefit. If you would like to be involved in anyway, please let me know!
The set-up for the benefit has changed slightly. Instead of dealing with percentages of donations and all of that, there will be different tables set up highlighting the different ministries. People will be able to write checks and give cash to the ministries of their choice. My images will be available to be purchased and donations will be accepted for me and the needs of the Tour as well.
The benefit tour will be called “Not Alone” and will be in the following cities on the following dates.

Denver, Colorado: July 12th
Chicago, Illinois: July 19th and 20th (20th Lord Willing!)
Toronto, Ontario Canada: July 21st
Ellensburg, Washington: July 31st
Seattle Washington: August 3rd
Santa Barbara, California: August 22nd and 25th
Visalia, California: September 1st

There are also bookmarks with one of my pictures available from Halfway There Water Project. Click on the bookmark to go to the site where they are all available!

Go to the Bookmark Section

Okay, so that is it from me, at least for now. I would just like to encourage you all to look into the issues that are going on all over the world. There is more to life than meets the eye, especially in the Western World. It is part of our responsibility to take action, changing our world even if it means one person at a time. This can mean supporting someone who is in missions, getting involved in community based ministry, or getting out there into the world yourself! I guarantee that you will find unparalleled fulfillment in it.

Please continue to pray for me and for the rest of the team as they readjust to the places that they left 9 months ago. Its not as easy as it seems for us. The difference between these two worlds is staggering. Continue to provide feedback as well; I would love to hear your thoughts!

Take care, and God Bless
A servant of Christ,
John Paul

New Life at Hopeland

What a week of changes; not only for our team, but for the base in general. Honestly, this last week was the best week I have had in a while. We were extremely busy, but focused on the issues and tasks at hand. It brought us together as a team.

It was Tara’s Birthday on Monday as well, so we got together and watched Sleepless in Seattle (I couldn’t make it through the whole thing) and ate bananas roasted with chocolate. It was so good! We were even able to use a projector for the film, so we didn’t have to huddle around a laptop.

We went to Sam Kisolo’s house this week for a time of fellowship. Sam has 15 children… That’s right, 15. Four of the kids are his by birth, the others have been adopted by Sam in response to the tremendous need for parental care in Uganda. In some ways, Uganda is extremely blessed with resources, fresh water, and help from many international NGO’s. Uganda also has some tremendously complicated problems. So many parents have died from the AIDS pandemic and many also from the war areas. It is also very common for me to have more than one wife. They also value having many children. So, the end result is so many children, and not enough people to take care of them. Even, Job, a member of our team from Gulu, has four children of his own and takes care of his niece as well. The story is the same all over Uganda. On one hand, it is sad that children aren’t getting taken care of by their parents, on the other, it’s a miracle that they are cared for by family or people like Sam.

There was a new addition to the team this week as well. P’toni and Lupe, a Tongan married couple that are leaders of the Frontier Missions Outreach, had a baby girl on Thursday night! They had been planning on going to Kampala on Thursday for a couple of weeks because the baby wasn’t actually due for another 2 weeks. They ended up leaving on Wednesday and it is a good thing. Both mother and child came back to the base on Friday and are both doing extremely well.

Like I said, it has been a very busy week. We have all been working everyday and then occasionally relaxing during the evening. Many times there are things to do during these times as well. Since the DTS left for outreach, there hasn’t been as much help in the kitchen so we have all had to take double shifts in order to get all of the food out on time. It takes away from the conference work, but it enables us to build relationships with others on the base as well. I was able to spend a considerable amount of time in conversation with the men from Sudan who are doing their SBS here. I am still blown away by their stories. I appreciate those who have been looking into what is happening all over the world as far as oppression goes. The more that we know, the more we can do to help!

I have to make an apology to the readers of this blog. There have been so many times when I wanted to share what I had been thinking, but was afraid. Afraid of people and what they might think of me. During the course of this week, though, I have been discovering that it doesn’t matter what I am thought of as long as I am being obedient to God in what I say in the blog, no matter if only my mom and dad read it. There is so much that I have been wanting to say, but have been disobedient is saying it. Because of this I am sorry.

One of the reasons that I started this blog is to encourage people to take action. When we live our lives in a way that resembles Christ, we have no other options. Christ himself stated his mission when he was back in Nazareth at the start of his ministry. He was in the temple as he often was. When he went up to read the scripture, the book of Isaiah was handed to him. This is what he said (from Luke 4:18-19)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

As this was his call, it is ours as well. Does this in any way do any damage to the world? Of course it doesn’t, but there are so many people that aren’t doing anything about it. In the US and Western we can be so comfortable with life. Many of us want our children to get the best education that they can get so that they can life a “comfortable and satisfying” life, free from worry. In reality, we should be sending them to school to be witnesse
s to Christ and to discover ways to help God’s creation (humans especially). The rich young ruler followed all of the laws, he loved God and loved his neighbor, but was unwilling to sell what he had to give to the poor, the last request that Jesus had for him to be called a disciple. Are we willing to pick up the Bible and follow Christ’s teaching and his life, no matter what actions that we have to take?

I don’t say all of these things because I am mad or disappointed. I say them because I have discovered the fulfillment that comes from following his command to GO! (Luke 10:3). I am not perfect or “there” or anything like that, but these aren’t my words; Jesus is the one that spoke them. I need them just as much as anyone. There is no doubt; I am a sinner, truly unworthy of salvation or any blessings that I have. But, God is good, and he is faithful when we are not. I say this not to condemn, but to encourage you. If we get (understand) what is in the Bible, we will understand that we are called to live in a completely different way from the world. Not only will we understand it, we will do everything we can to live the life that Christ wants us to live.

I have heard some people saying that they don’t feel like God has called them to anything, when the New Testament, especially the Gospels, is full of Jesus’ “calling”. When we step out and try some of the things that he wants us to do we have nothing at all to lose! In fact, Jeremiah 29:11 says that he has plans for wholeness, not for harm; and a hope for the future, that we will one day be united with Christ. We really have nothing to lose, plus, when we are helping others we open doors for them to share in salvation. When you have next to nothing here on earth, and dying seems better than living, a hope for a future is something to get excited about. I know that hope is something I take for granted in the midst of all of this “stuff” on earth that distracts me.

Anyway, the point is, that we all need to be doing something! James talks about how faith without obedience to the works that Christ called us to is dead! I thought that by coming to Africa, I could get away from this because I was going to Africa, but it has been especially hard here in Uganda to do those things that God wants; to give even a glass of water or a little cookie to someone in His name. We can all be getting involved. Pick up your Bible and discover for yourself what he asks you to do.

Thank you for reading another entry. Please continue to pray for us in this remaining week until the conference. The conference begins next Sunday, but I will try to upload a new entry before all of the activities start. Please pray that this conference will be a success, not it terms of how many people show up, but in the amount of fruit that comes from it. We know God has great plans!

Also pray that the team will be able to stay focused on what God has us here for and not to look forward to the time we leave in a way that distracts us from the present.

In Christ

John Paul

May 6th, Uganda… Take a Minute

5-6-07

With only a few weeks left until the conference, we are in need of much prayer. It’s crunch time and there is so much to do here. Another person has left the team. Gina left Wednesday to spend some time at home. We will miss her, but now are even more focused than ever. We are down to a solid crew who are very hard-working. The Frontier Missions group from Tonga have also been such a vital part of our team. The common room is in its final stages of remodeling and the grounds are looking good. There is even a ping-pong table (a board with a net) in the common room now which “Pila Ping-Pong” is usually dominating.

Jessie’s parents arrived in Uganda this week to spend some time with us. Her Aunt, Kim, who was also staff on our DTS came as well. It was so good to see Kim again and to meet a part of Jessie’s family. They didn’t come empty handed either. They gave us some much needed relief in the form of food and games. They also brought some much needed tools that will benefit the conference preparations greatly. It will also be a big blessing for the base after we leave too. They have been such a blessing to me and the whole team. Jessie’s father, Robin, is a pastor (and a member of the SWAT team) in the city where Jessie is from. His church surprised him by sending him and his wife all the way out here to be a blessing to us. Not only did they buy the plane tickets, but they provided all the money for the tools, food, and even electric/gas powered grass-cutters. It will reduce our slashing time and effort to a great extent.

[I will include a picture of Jessie's parents and Kim in next week's update]

Personally, it hasn’t been the greatest week for me. I have spent a lot of time looking at past journals to see where I have come from. That is the whole purpose of journaling, but I didn’t realize what the effect was. When we look at where we have come, we are left guessing where we are going. I had some choices to make inside myself of who I am and who I am becoming. I feel like I have been called to be a missionary; which is great, but it comes with some consequences. A few examples: time with my family and friends, financial burdens, potential health hazards, and bodily harm; even death. Am I willing to evaluate the risk and follow what I believe that I am supposed to do? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this type of life is the way that all Christians are supposed to live. Not that everyone is supposed to be a missionary in foreign countries, but we are all supposed to be missionaries in our world. The cost of discipleship is not a topic that is covered in many churches, but it is one that should be looked at regardless. Being a Christian shouldn’t be easy; we are called to give out entire lives to Christ. Its not like we are just inviting him in to be a friend, we are inviting him to be in control of our lives, it is the basics of salvation. Making Jesus Lord comes with all the costs that I mentioned before and even more. I know that it should be an easy decision, but to be honest, it’s not that easy. When I have the choice of saying yes and giving all of those things up or living a comfortable life with a comfortable job, not having to worry about my very life, I get caught up thinking, “what if?” But then I try to get eternal perspective, but my mind is too weak to comprehend eternity. It all comes down to faith. Faith that if I do the right thing now and surrender my life to Christ, then there is hope for the brightest future imaginable – Eternal Life.

I had a huge wake-up call and example this week. I was forwarded an email by my uncle about persecution in the modern world. The article was from Resurrection (Easter) Sunday and highlighted the death of 3 Christians in Turkey (Smyrna specifically, the first place where believers were called “Christians”). These men were not only killed, they were tortured gruesomely because they were Christians. I will not go into details here, but knowing them made me picture them in my mind to this day. Not only did I picture them, but I tried to put myself in the position of those being tortured. Am I willing to take my faith to that level? Am I willing to go through what those men went through because of a belief? I can only hope that I would be able to. I can only pray that God would draw me so close to him; that it wouldn’t even have to be a decision. That I would be so Kingdom obsessed, that I would go to the places where the light of Christ is needed the most no matter what could happen. That I would be obedient even in the face of death… or worse… torture. [Email me if you would like a copy of the article]

One Thursday we also had a day of prayer and fasting for YWAM as a whole, but focused on the “Hot-Spots” where there is persecution going on, or where the Good News is being rejected. There is a list of countries that I could provide for you who are interested, please let me know. Some of the big ones are Brazil, Iran (the Middle East in general), and many African countries. We learned that last week in Sudan a DTS outreach team from Egypt was fired upon while driving out of a church compound. 3 people were killed (local Sudanese) and a few of the students were injured. The driver had the wit to keep driving out of danger and to a hospital. A couple of years ago, 9 people were killed in Nigeria in a bus accident. A base in Tanzania keeps promoting base leaders who die soon after they are established. Some YWAM staff in India have been suddenly getting sick and dying within minutes with no cause. There are events like this happening all over the world, but many more in these “hot-spot” areas. Please pray for determination for missionaries everywhere, and that we would not have a spirit of fear in any situation.

[map from Release International click the map to find more info!]

The base also experienced power surges that took out some computers the internet, and my external hard drive with all of my pictures from Ethiopia and many from Uganda as well. I am praying that it only took out the power supply and that all of the information is safe on the drive itself. I thank God that my computer is still safe. But it has made my job a lot more difficult seeing as most of the work I do is over the internet. I guess until the problem is fixed, I will be making many more trips into Jinja town to use the internet. Hopefully by midweek, the internet will be fixed and we will have a better idea of how many office computers we do and do not have. Pray for patience; that all of us will keep a level head and Christ-like attitude when things aren’t working out.

Tara,
Alex, and I visited St. America’s again yesterday. It was to visit the children, but also to tell the headmasters of the orphanage that international transfers aren’t available with the type of account that they have. It was bad news to deliver, but I know that the Lord works everything out to those who love him. I trust him, but will continue to pray that the door will be open to get the home some much needed help. They are so grateful for prayers and the love that we have shown them, but we can only explain that it’s nothing we can do, but Christ through us. We are grateful for the opportunity to share our lives and what time we have with them.

We haven’t really had any team building experiences with our new, larger team yet since things have been so busy. Last night (Saturday), we decided to have a feast with meat! The Tongans have cooking pigs down to an art, so they displayed their workmanship by roasting a pig while others made potato salad, cooked Talapia (a native fish from Lake Victoria), sweet potatoes, cassava (an edible root), and curried meat topped off with ice cream and fruit salad. I am sure that we have never eaten better on base. It was so good and the fellowship was even better. Jessie’s parents brought a few baseball gloves so a few of us played catch, while others sat around the roasting pig and talked. At the end of the night, everyone was satisfied, what a blessing. A few of us non-Tongans also tried some parts from the pig that we had never had before like the tongue, ear, nose, brain, and Tara and I partook of the eye ball as well.

I guess that brings this blog to a close. Please continue to pray for us out here and be sure to let me know if we can pray for any of you about anything. We know from experience the power of prayer. If you want to discuss anything, please let me know, I am more than willing to engage in a conversation, even if it is over text. If I don’t get back to you right away, I will eventually.

As far as the benefit art gallery goes, I have conformation for a venue in Visalia, California. If you have any information or know any venues where I could hold the show and you live in Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Las Vegas, or Santa Barbara/Los Angeles I could definitely benefit from it. If you want any more information on the benefit art show, please contact me.

Thanks for reading and may God richly bless you!

A servant of Christ,

John Paul

Less than 2 months until the conference.

Happy April! I can’t believe the year is ¼ over already… and that there is less than two months until the conference.

This week we have experienced a range of emotions. I went with Lucy to pick Ruth up from the airport last Tuesday. It is really great to have her back. She adds a lot to our team and I guess I might not have realized it until she was gone for the 10 days. She was able to share about her time in London and was really blessed by God for the entirety of her trip.

Other than that, it has been a busy and hectic week. We all really feel that there is some kind of block on our work; like we are fighting against something. There is so much going on here at the base that isn’t really related to the conference, but affects it and our progress greatly. Please pray that we will be able to stay focused on the Word of God, His promises, and our personal relationships with him. It’s hard to explain such things…

The preschool was broken into by little girls this week and the managed to take off with a lot of equipment, lesson plans, books, and toys. They also bit Job’s wife as she was trying to stop them. It was in the middle of the day and they were the same girls that took some dog shampoo from our girl’s room earlier this week. Since the base is so large and spread out, its hard to keep tabs on everyone that is on base. The grass was long around the school building, so our team spent some time slashing at it on Friday…

Like most weeks, we had a team dinner on Thursday night thanks to Rachel and Rob. It was vegetarian spaghetti and garlic toast topped off with chocolate pudding (don’t ask me where they got it)… So Good. I haven’t had garlic toast since Ethiopia when Anna made it weekly. The team dinner is starting to become a bit of a competition, so I am eager to see who raises the bar next week.

We also went out to a place called “2 Friends” in Jinja-Town on Friday night as a team. It was a great time of fellowship and a great time to get to know each other better. We all shared about some embarrassing moments from our lives, some movies that we felt embarrassed about tearing up over, and other random things. We all needed that time to get a fresh breath of air. It was amazing (and so was the Jack’s Chicken Tikka pizza that Alex and I split).

Since there wasn’t too much that happened this week because of all the craziness, I will tell you what I am doing, thinking, praying about, and reading.

This last week I finally turned in my application for a YWAM program coming up in September of this year. I have been taking pictures for a while, but have received no formal training; everything has been picked up along the way. A ministry within YWAM called PhotogenX is starting a photography DTS. This DTS is about to start this April and will run the normal length of a DTS. After that session is finished they are starting another session called “round the world”. It’s a track that starts off in India in September of 07’ and continues around the world, going to every inhabitable continent. From India, the tour goes to Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Chad, Southern Africa, Germany, Venezuela, then to Kona, Hawaii. We will stay there for a few months and then go on outreach again. Throughout the course of the tour, we will be learning many things. We will be taking photography classes, a school of biblical studies, graphic communications courses, as well as learning about the cultures that we are immersed in. Since we are going to a wide array of places, the program is lengthy; it doesn’t end until April of 09’. This may seem like a long time, but when I was hearing about the program back in Hawaii, it seemed to be perfect for me. I love to travel, take pictures, help people, and learn about different cultures and traditions. I will also get an associates degree in Photography and have a published work at the end.

I know that this is the next step that God wants me to pursue. With the hope of going on this track comes a dream for this coming summer. I have been thinking about setting up some benefit photography shows in a few cities across the states. This is all tentative right now, but I have been thinking about setting one up in Denver, Las Vegas (Alex is going to help me with that one since he lives there), Santa Barbara/Ventura/Los Angeles (somewhere in that area), and Chicago (Ruth is also a photographer/painter so it would be a joint showing). I would be going to all of these cities to share about my trip and raise money for some of the orphanages that we have been working with in Ethiopia and Uganda.

What do you think?

Also, let me know if you would like to be involved in the process. Please pray for clear direction and guidance.

Click for PhotogenX Track Outline

Click for PhotogenX Track Overview (places and dates)

In Christ Alone

John Paul

And We're Off!!! 3-11-07

(The football (soccer) field that some of us run around some mornings)

It kind of seems like it has been a long week, but when I look back, it flew by. We were assigned what we would be doing in preparation for the upcoming conference so we just started with our tasks. The responsibilities are broken down into three major areas: Communication, Program, and Logistics. I am on the Communications team with Jonathan and Gina. I am also going to working with Microsoft Access to database all of the people that register. Although we all were assigned to different aspects of the conference, we will all need to be working together closely to accomplish this task. Please pray that we will be unified and that we will not become easily overwhelmed by what lies ahead of us.

We have spent much of the last week in meetings, but also in prayer. We really want this time to be dedicated to the Lord. Even though we have the conference ahead of us, we all want to keep in mind the most important thing in life, our relationship with the Lord. It will be very easy to become distracted and even complacent in our relationship with God because of the busyness associated with the conference.

(The building where the conference will be held [not quite finished yet])

I have been reading this little book called “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer this last week. Even though I am only half way through it right now, I strongly recommend that everyone read it. It was written a long while ago, but the descriptions of the church and the body of believers as a whole still rings true. It’s a very short book and an easy read, but I’m sure that it will change your life, just like it has changed mine. Here are a couple of paragraphs that have impacted me so far…

“When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the ‘and’ lies our great woe. If we would omit the ‘and’ we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing” (p.21)

“God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything over than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is” (p.43)

We also went to the Kingfisher again this weekend. It was a chance for us to spend some time beside Lake Victoria, but also a time where the Program team could plan something and work together to accomplish the goal. It was a huge success (even though the meat was extremely tough and sinewy). After we had all had our fill of beef, coleslaw, fruit salad, and chipote (pronounce chi-pot-ie) we gathered together and prayed for each team member individually. A few of us stayed behind until dark to have some quite time with the Lord before going back to the base.

(Rob and Ruth getting ready for the Bar-b-Que)

(Fishermen on Lake Victoria, and children commissioned by their parents and communities to carry water for long distances back to their homes) [check out Halfway There Water Project ]

There are some other team members which I don’t think I have announced yet. Their pictures will be posted later, but here are their names for your prayer lists and your thoughts:

Tom: from South Africa, he has been on base here at Hopeland for the last 2 years.

Job: a native Ugandan who spent a considerable time in Northern Uganda at a base in Soroti.

Lucy Burrows: the conference coordinator (our boss) from the U.K. who has been involved in the international HIV/AIDS crisis for some time now.

There is a website for the conference if anyone is interested in checking it out.

YWAM Global HIV/AIDS Conference

or, Click on the Image Below!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support, they are definitely felt and appreciated by all of us. Keep then coming!

Also, if you have any words of encouragement for the team, please feel free to leave a comment on the bottom of this blog and I will be sure to pass the word along to the individual or the whole team.
Thanks again!

Grace and Peace through Christ our Lord,

John Paul Vicory

1 Corinthians 15:58

With Blistered Fingers!

Our first week at the Hopeland Base in Jinja is almost over. It is much different than I had originally expected. Before we got here I thought that it would be a lot like the base in Ethiopia, which had only 2 people living on base (besides our team). There are three schools running here and over 50 people on base.

(Jonathan, Jack, and Rob before going into Jinja, Jonathan and Tara walking down a local road)

The base here is so beautiful. It is so lush and green. The campus is pretty big, but reminds me of where we were during lecture phase in Hawaii; Makapala. Its kind of outside of towns and cities and has a lot of open land. Many places on campus have a view of Lake Victoria…. One of the most spectacular views on base is from the soccer field at the bottom of campus. One of the first mornings we were here, a few of us went down there to jog and I was blown away by the beauty. The sun had just risen and was the biggest I had ever seen it. I will try to get a picture of the view for next weeks blog update, so hang tight.

For the community base clean up on Friday, we spent the morning with these tools called “slashers” slashing one of the fields of grass. All of us have blisters now because we aren’t used to that kind of work, but I’m sure that our hands will toughen up because we will probably doing the slashing every Friday. It was a great workout, however, and my muscles are still a little bit sore.

(Slashing Day… it was a little rough for us)

We haven’t been too busy this last week because we only had orientation to do. So we spent our time in various ways: going into Jinja (we are a few minutes outside of it), working out in the mornings, having brief meetings in the evenings, one-on-ones with Lucy, a bit of base management as a community, and yesterday (Saturday) we went to a resort on the shores of Lake Victoria called Kingfisher for a day by the pool.

(Gina, Rob, Tara, and Scott [another staff member at Hopeland] at the Kingfisher pool)

Base life is different here than in Ethiopia as well. Since there are so many people, meals are prepared for everyone and served as soon as the bell rings. Alex and I learned pretty quickly that if you don’t heed the bell, you may not eat! Now every time we hear that bell, we run to the line. We have a cup of milk tea with 2 rolls every morning for breakfast (similar to what we fed the children at the feeding center for breakfast at Hope Enterprises in Ethiopia), but we have also bought some fruit, bread, peanut butter, and jelly to supplement our diet when we get hungry.

Alex, Jonathan, and I went to a church this morning called Abundant Life Church of Kikera (Kikera is the nearest town to the base; about 30 min. walk). We went with a staff member from Uganda in the DTS School whom Alex had met in Arusha, Tanzania. There weren’t many people who attended, and it was a bit hard to understand the pastor because the translation was pretty much sandwiched on top of the English, but it was still amazing to see how God works in the lives of the people here. It will never cease to amaze me. The minute I got there two kids came over and grabbed both of my free hands and held them through the whole worship service, testimonies, encouragement, and announcements.

During the last week, we have only begun to know our team leader, Lucy Burrows, in a better way. Like I mentioned, she had one-on-ones with all of us and found out about who we were and what God was doing in our lives. She found out that I was the only one with Microsoft Access experience (thank you, Mike at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History) and was pretty excited about that. She had convened with one of her good friends and intercessor back in the UK before she came out and also had stuff to share with us about what she had received from the Lord. Some of what she had received was precisely what I had communicated to her in my one-on-one (she shared at the end of it), so it was very encouraging to me because I had never met her before. God revealed to her exactly who I was and who I am wanting to become. God is so good!

This next week we will be going through some team building exercises and planning out what we will be doing for the next three months. It will be a key week in the grand scheme of our future at the Hopeland Base, so please pray for clarity of vision, teamwork, and unconditional love especially in this next week. Please continue to pray for our team members that have already gone home that they may continue to experience the Lord in new and powerful ways and that they may be witnesses to God’s glory! Thank you so much for your prayers, we see the effects of them in a powerful way at our end. I pray blessings over you for your faithfulness.

John Vicory

Kampala, Uganda 2-20-07 with Slideshow from Ethiopia

This is my first entry after arriving in Kampala from Ethiopia yesterday. It was so good to meet up with fellow members of the extended team and catch up on everything God was doing in Africa over the last 2 months.

During the last week in Ethiopia, God continued to work mightily. We were able to hold a party at the YWAM base for many of the people that we had been working with in appreciation for letting us be a part of their lives. It was an amazing time of fellowship and closure for our brief time there. God opened so many doors for future teams in Ethiopia that it blows my mind. Continue to pray for the ministries that we were a part of and that God would unleash the Holy Spirit over Ethiopia in a new and dynamic way.

I was able to put together a brief slide show together for review night back in Kona that will take place this Thursday. It is just a brief sample of the stories, places, and pictures but i hope that you like it. The music in the background is “You’re Not Alone” by an amazing band called Saosin.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvxvGtwKMHg]

Now, it is time for Uganda! I can’t wait to see what the Lord has for us here. Everyone on the team thinks and feels that it will be a powerful time and that God is doing something BIG in Uganda. Please pray for us, for protection and deliverance from the enemy. He has already started tactics to dissuade us from our mission and what the Lord wants
Here is a list of the members of the extended team:
Rachel Donnelly
Maleea Morelock
Rob Broening
Jonathan Stoner
Jessie Gear
Ruth Dodgson
Jack Klinhomsopol (can’t pronounce) (from Thailand)
Alex Fung
Gina Kim
Tara Naylor
and Me (John Vicory)

A picture of us will appear soon, but i haven’t had time to get one uploaded yet…
Until next time, Grace and Peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Intro and HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia

This is my first post and i wanted to give everyone an update.
I leave for Ethiopia in a week from today and it’ll take me three days to get there. The time at Makapala is winding down and i have been reflecting on how much i have learned here. It almost seems like i am a completely different person. During the next few months, i will be posting pictures and videos of the time in Ethiopia and Uganda.

Here is a little video that gives some staggering statistics for HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
None of these photos are my own, but soon i will have some of my own.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi5YK3QEnnk]