Its so late and I miss you! I’ll try to be somewhat brief since it’s after midnight here. We are going nonstop, but loving every minute. I’m putting two days worth of events.It’s all been pretty wonderful to travel with this small group and visit and encourage and love on people here in Africa.
We started our day at Invisible Children. He met with the leaders here in Gulu, and out of respect for all they’ve been through, we put our cameras up. They have always said it wasn’t about them. It still isn’t. It’s about the children of Africa and trying to stop a great injustice. All I can really say is they are amazing, beautiful hearts and they love Jesus. We got to speak into them, telling them we still believed in them and to stay the course. Then we put them in the middle and prayed for them. It was powerful. Pray for these people and their families.We then headed to Sister Rosemary’s where we learned about all their mission there. I took photos, and a great portrait os Sister Rosemary, which I’ll post at some point. – travels and power outages make it difficult to write/post.
Sadly, due to the death of a teacher, we went to her funeral. It was quite heartbreaking to watch the kids grieve. Kids were bent over crying, and it was so raw and we were all crying with them and among them. They do the burial there and it’s much different than the US. They have men digging, and when it’s time for the burial, they lower the casket down two by fours into a hole in the ground on her property, and the cover with tin (like we use on roofs) and cement. While that’s happening, they begin setting the tables to share a meal. During the time we were there, they asked us to stand up and walked around thanking us for supporting Restore. They offered us all sodas. Only us.
Dinner was wonderful and we heard wonderful stories and got to know each other better.
Today was also very powerful. And there’s so many details I can’t put in this note…
After coffee and some eggs at The Coffee Hut (our daily stop) we headed over to the school, Restore Academy. As we were pulling out, two girls were there getting coffee, and Bob told them to hop in the truck and come with us. So they did, and now we have their contact info and new friends living in Kenya right now. (they are from Oklahoma and Missouri) They just left a little while ago. 🙂 As we pulled up to the school, the kids had arranged a welcoming parade of sorts, with dancing, drums, and it was incredible. We walked along the red dirt roads down the long driveway of the school and looked into the faces of the students, teachers, and kept hearing “you are welcome”, meaning we are welcome there. Shaking hands, hugs, and the kids danced for us for a while and I took shots of them. We had a few girls read a poem to us, We heard from the headmaster, and from some teachers and administrators. They had a goal to be the best school in their district, but are the best school in Northern Uganda regarding academics and sports (football that we call soccer).
We brought up the Sr. 6 kids, that are kids ready to go to University and we prayed for them. We welcomed new kids in Sr. 1 and prayed for them, too. We lined up with new bibles for them, and we handed them bibles, hugged them, and spoke a few words of blessing to each kid. It was wonderful and so genuine how these kids truly are so thankful and happy you are there.
After many blessings and prayers, Bob talked to them about how he brought kites for everyone. As he was putting one together he talked about how we were made to run. How as you put the two sticks that hold the kite together, the sticks represented the equipping you need to fly. And then he encouraged them to run, really run to Jesus b/c there’s a great wind coming in Uganda, and that Jesus provides the wind.
After the welcome and program ended, a lot of girls approached me and we had a great time talking, asking them about the school, teachers, families, and then a girl walked up to me and said, “I’m Patricia.” She is the sweet girl Jimmy and I sponsor and we hugged and talked and hugged some more. I’ll write more about her later.
It was lunchtime, so we ate lunch with the teachers and staff and encouraged them. The leader at the school was overwhelmed as Bob handed him the keys to a motorcycle they’d gotten for him. It was so great.
We sat under a tree with the Sr. 6 kids, and Bob kept telling them how we will all work together to get them to University and how we wanted to hear their dreams, and we want to help make them happen. They all want to desperately and b/c of their grades, some will qualify for scholarships. Others will raise part of it, and some will need more help. We then handed out kites, and I took hundreds of pictures of kids. Then we headed to watch part of the football game.
Such amazing joy at the school and game. I was taken with the men and boys of the school. They serve and lead and if any one of us walked up to a circle of people sitting, they would get up to give us their seat. Such gentlemen.From there, we went to one of the most powerful parts of the day. We headed to the traditional healers meeting, some of which may be practicing or dabbling in darker things. I don’t know what I was expecting but we were very welcome there, and we were there to encourage them to make good choices, and to make sure they understood the law regarding some of the trafficking of human body parts and child sacrifices. Sometimes kids will just go missing there. We heard from the leaders of their group, and the entire mtg was translated. Bob talked about how there are good lawyers and bad lawyers. And he said a lot of other amazing things, but for purposes of this note, I’ll summarize. He said also that just like there were good healers, there were bad ones too. And so that if we could all just work together, we could stop what the bad healers are doing, hurting people, etc. (we might refer to bad healers as witch doctors) He knew there were some good healers in the room and some that were not, but you would have never known that. In the midst of conveying that there was a new law out that he wanted them to know about, he did it all with such grace and peace, wanting them to be aware, and to help them be aware that the penalty for such crime is life in prison or death, hoping to discourage those in the room considering or already doing such horrible things.
In being there, and seeing these people, I felt compassion for them, being in such poverty, and the temptation of money, how they might do things they would rather not do, how some are greatly deceived. For some of you I know this is a crazy topic, but the honest discussion at this meeting was an incredibly loving and graceful exchange with these people about Jesus and the Enemy. I prayed through the entire mtg. There’s a mountain more on this subject, but you Austinites, let’s just grab coffee and talk this one over! I hesitate to say more on email.
Toward the end of the mtg, we handed out metals to them with something significant on them about the man in Acts, Sceva. And we all put them around their necks and gave hugs to each person again, knowing some are good, and some are bad. Some are herbalists, and some have a gift of healing while some have found themselves deceived or are hurting people. Some of them are saving people’s lives, but for the ones that are doing the wrong thing, we know that the people aren’t bad, just lost, and we have to love them too. Justice has to be done, but in the course of that, we can love them, pray for them, and in our heart hope they will open their heart again or maybe for the first time to Jesus. I heard this today: We have to get to a place where we hate our own sin more than anyone else’s.
At the end of the meeting, Bob asked one of the ladies on the front to remove her shoes. She did. And he talked about what Jesus did when he washed the disciples feet. And he knelt down with a bottle of water and washed her feet. In this, he showed her respect, and in that moment we all prayed. And he talked about the real power of Jesus. And said, “If we can all just agree to tap into the power that Jesus has….. “ and none other, and there’s so much on this I can’t write… but you get the picture.
I have struggled every day on this trip, and in a deeper way than on any other mission I’ve experienced. I walk in every day covered in dirt, and changed a bit more from the day before. I’m in love with the people here. Many are amazing examples to us in living out joyful, honest, lives. Some are living great victory despite having nothing but injustice, death, and fear in their lives. And I watch them love each other well, smile bigger than anyone I’ve ever met, and I have so many new friends. The stories of the kids at Restore, at Sister Rosemary’s place make you want to think that Africa is a dark, sad place. It’s a place where lights shine brighter b/c of so much injustice, violence, despair and poverty, and b/c of that, and the work of Restore, even those lost people causing great sadness, are being loved back into the Kingdom. It’s happening. We are hearing amazing stories of redemption and restoration all around. We head to Paraa tomorrow to rest and download and process all we’ve seen and done. I’m so thankful for you all. I’m so sorry this is so long and yet still I’ve left so much out. I love you guys.. And I read this today, “When grace happens, we receive not a nice compliment from God but a new heart. Give your heart to Christ, and he returns the favor.” Ezek. 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
“He moves in and commandeers our hands and feet, requisitions our minds and tongues. He repurposes bad decisions and poor choices.” Max Lucado ( GRACE) Little by little a new image emerges. Thankful for his Mercy tonight. LOVE YOU.
