August 14, 2009, Friday
This morning student Esther came and we waited for Peter to come for our conference. He didn’t come because he was meeting with parents at New Grace. When Ibra came to drive me in the truck we took Esther and went to New Grace first. Peter was still with parents so we agreed to meet tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.
We were late leaving but picked Godfrey up outside of Jinja, stopped to get chapatti for lunch and proceeded to the church for the day. On the way we picked up Pastor Richard. The drive was long because the church was very far. We were on paved roads until the last half hour, then we were on dirt roads in Kayunga District, which is north of Mokono District. Joy Baptist Church in Busaanna Village was built by SOK in 2003. Pastor didn’t know we were coming until about 10 p.m. last night so the people didn’t know we would be here. We arrived about 1 p.m. and visited with Pastor James for a while. I appreciate that he wanted to know who I was and what I wanted to teach and do at his church. By two o’clock we had set the equipment to start the music. Pastor suggested he have the village public address system announce the Jesus film so people would come. I gave him 6,000 shillings to have the announcement made twice and it was a great investment because we had about 200 people come for the film.
While the music was playing we were eating our lunch with the pastor who shared beans and posho with us. The music went off and when I checked the generator, it wasn’t showing any electrical charge although it was running properly. We couldn’t get it to work properly so we had no electricity. God did another miracle today. He knew we would have problems with the generator so he sent us to a church that has a generator! I paid for some fuel for it and we hooked it up to our cords and we had power! Thank you, Jesus! He literally goes before me to prepare for what ever I need for the day’s work.
Pastor James started this church about 6 years ago and now has a primary school with about 200 children. He has a program for the youth and older children. Today about 5 p.m. the group is scheduled to do evangelism in a village about 4 km away and they will be taking their generator, sound system, etc. I didn’t get to teach today because we needed to start the film by 3 p.m. to be finished with their generator by 5 p.m. so they could go do their outreach. During the film I sat outside in the shade and many small children came to interact with me. Ibra watched the film inside and Pastors Godfrey and Richard walked to the trading center at the center of the village.
Later they told me they found a place to do a crusade and plant another church. There are about 10,000 people in this village and Joy Baptist Church is the only Protestant Church. There are many Muslims in the area where they want to plant a church. I know Godfrey was a Muslim before he got saved and he is a great evangelist. During the film when Pastor James came outside, I explained the Book of Hope to him and gave him 1.5 boxes for his church and school. I also gave him Bibles. He was so appreciative and blessed. He said pastoring is hard but by the grace of God he and his wife and 6 children are still here, standing for Jesus. He showed me his youngest girl who is about 8 months old. She was born with a hair lip and missing the separation between her nose and mouth. She couldn’t even suck milk when she was born. By a miracle of God, the family learned about some missionary doctors from UK who have a hospital in Entebbe and the baby her first surgery free and will have the second surgery soon and it will also be free. Medical missionaries bring miracles from God to the people who have no funds for medical help.
After the film, when Godfrey took the microphone, about 6 adults came forward for salvation. Then about 16 children came forward and Pastor Richard prayed with them and they got saved. Glory! Hallelujah! One lady who got saved immediately broke out in loud praises/prayer. After taking down the equipment and putting it in the truck, I noticed one of the speaker stands was missing the top piece. Pastor James had put his larger speaker on the stand that was outside so the village people could hear it better. When they took it off the stand the top piece stuck inside their speaker. It took about 30 minutes for them to get it out. We needed a pair of pliers but no one had any. We left the church about 5:45 to start the two hour drive back to Iganga. On the way back we stopped in the village where Pastor David stays to give him the Book of Hope and the Ten Commandments posters. He was so happy. He is truly a man after God’s own heart.
This morning as we were driving I saw pineapples growing in the fields and I thought about the sweet pineapple I had eaten on the islands and I wanted some pineapple. Coming back the pastors had Ibra stop at a trading center and I asked why we were stopping. Pastor Godfrey said, we want to buy you some pineapple! God gave me the desire of my heart through these men. Thank you, Lord, for loving me. I shared with the men how they had been used by God. I was also thinking about the island team and considering calling Patrick to say hello to them. The two hour drive gave me plenty of time to think. We left Pastors Godfrey and Richard in Jinja and Ibra drove me to Phil’s house. It was almost 8 p.m. and had been dark for about an hour when we arrived. I have to close my eyes when we drive at night because I fear we will hit people who are walking and riding their bicycles beside the road and in the road. When we arrived at Phil’s house Patrick was sitting on the porch! I was just thinking of him and missing the team! He had come to pick up his children’s grades from New Grace. I was so happy to greet him and get to visit with him. Phil returned from Kampala and we all had supper of rice, spaghetti, meat, and cabbage. I was able to show Patrick all of the island pictures on my laptop, which he enjoyed. He spent the night in the bedroom with Kenneth and Phil. Susan’s sisters Beth and Beverly have arrived for the holidays, along with Faith, Susan’s daughter. All of the girls are staying in the room with Susan. I’m blessed to have a bedroom to myself. Phil got an air card to do internet here at the house. He couldn’t get it to work on my laptop, but I used his laptop to do emails. I didn’t go to bed until about 1 a.m. He bought the air card for about $100 US and there is no contract. He will buy 90,000 worth of air time or $45 US each month. This gives unlimited internet time for the month. I’m considering getting myself one next time I come. When I am in the US I don’t have to buy the air time. I can just buy it for the two months I’m here. The service is dependent on the cell phone service, so if the network is not available I won’t be able to do the internet. However, MTN is the company that has this program and they are the most widely used and cheapest of the cell phone services. I could use the air card on the islands where there is MTN service. The phone companies are busy putting towers on the major islands so the service is better each time I come. Phil said I could just use his air card instead of buying one for myself. I will do that for the next two weeks.
Thank you, Lord, for the salvation of souls and for providing the generator for us to use.
