Outreach

 

Our church denomination in Uganda does a yearly outreach in December or January, when kids are on school break. Of course, no one seems to consider this is also the hottest time of year :)  Four years ago, the outreach was to a village two and a half hours away, on the border of Karamoja region. This village, Moruisiru, proved ready for harvesters to spiritually gather the crop. A sister church was born! This year, our church leaders decided to do another outreach in Moruisiru. The outreach was from Thursday to Sunday; Dad, my teenage siblings, some friends and I came for Friday and Saturday.

Our passengers. We got lost on the way to Moruisiru and had to stop six times to ask for directions. It certainly made for a (hot) adventure!

Finally arriving to an enthusiastic greeting.

The makeshift kitchen. Trees big enough to provide shade were scarce in Moruisiru, so the only two shade tree near church were claimed for the kitchen and outdoor sitting area.

As the only mzungus in the village, we were constantly followed by a crowd of children.

Dad began greeting the kids, counting each child until he reached fifty. Even then, he hadn't counted them all!

The beauty of art meets necessity of survival

Shoes get caked in dust soon after putting them on in the morning. Some men faithfully polished their shoes each night and set them out to dry in the morning sun.

Stunning!

Setting up our tent was a heavily attended event :)

In the dry season, the ground become hard as a rock. Instead of tent stakes, we made do with bricks to keep our tent from flying away in the wind.

Friends who slept in the tent with us!

The boys camped out in our van for the night. Gideon (right) didn't know what to make of Luka's sleeping bag, so he called it a sleeping dress. :)  The kids also thought it was hilarious that Luka slept in an "L" shape.

Warming up to sing for crusade Friday night. In Uganda, a crusade means setting up loud speakers to proclaim the gospel through singing, testimonies, a sermon and altar call. In true Ugandan style, the singing often goes on for a long time before and after the sermon. My mom appropriately calls it a Jesus party.

Waiting for crusade to start. Everyone crowded on benches, about seven chairs, and a tarp laid on the ground.

Luka and some of his best friends, Gideon and Nathan.

The local kids thought the truck which transported the UCFM church members to Moruisiru made a great jungle gym.

Side note: it was difficult finding enough room for everyone to sleep. There were two tents besides ours, a house where ladies and girls slept, the church floor (but no doors on the church!) and the hard bed of the truck. I'm humbled by the thriftiness and willingness of my Christian brothers and sisters to go where Christ calls despite challenges. I pray that the Lord teaches me to have this same humility.

Dancing during praise and worship...

For hours into the night!

A large group of children gave their lives to Christ. Two adults who had received Christ during the door-to-door evangelism that morning (we missed it, sadly) came forward so the leaders could pray over them.

Grace and I marveled at the ability of cows to survive in such an arid place. The family whose compound we camped in had a whole herd of cows!

Beautiful blessings!

We did our best to stay hydrated, but still often found ourselves parched. With the intense sun, one sweats off any water he/she drinks. We quickly diminished our supply from home and then had to make trips to the borehole down the road to top up our water supply. The locals thought it was funny that mzungus could fetch their own water :)

Saturday started with a church service before heading to the swamp for baptism. Everyone crowded in the church, taking up every possible space on benches and the floor.

Hard to stay focused when such a cutie is sitting in front of you!

Seven people memorized verses from the book of John to get a Bible. Dad was able to pick up five of the seven Bibles on our way to Moruisiru and hand them out.

The church service was interrupted when an elderly lady sitting next to the door scurried to her feet in panic. A long snake was slithering right outside the door! Thankfully, some boys quickly began stoning it with chunks of brick and the wife to one of the FIC leaders got a pole to smash the snake's head. She was the one who walked away with the snake to burry it. Brave woman!

The mile long walk to the swamp for baptism. So interesting to see a new type of landscape. Moruisiru is flat, covered with scrubby, short trees and brown grass.  In the distance, we could faintly see mountains that are in Moroto.

I didn't see the swamp 'til we had walked up to it! It was a beautiful body of water, with purple water lilies standing out against the dark blue liquid. There was even a community of fisher people- men, women and children- who passed us on their way to fish. They each held a net to catch mud fish. 

I always admire Dad for getting into swamps to baptize. I've seen many a leech from the shore. The Moruisiru kids even showed me some leeches near my feat, making me quickly scramble farther from the water :) 

The baptisms were touching! Thirty-seven people were baptized. Two of the men who were baptized were former inmates. One man, Eddie, was a Muslim before he came to Christ. Eddie's father had 12 wives and 105 children! Out of the entire family, only Eddie, his wife and children have accepted Christ. It's beautiful to watch Eddie join the church outreach, him and his wife take active roles in the church, and his children sing a choir almost every Sunday.

The other former convict, David, was a witchdoctor when he was arrested. His father and brothers are also witchdoctors. In fact, they didn't believe David's conversion was sincere until he sent them his certificate for completing the FIC Grace Course my Dad taught in the Soroti Prison. David's family was on the run from possible arrest while he joined us in Moruisiru. Despite this struggle, he was joyfully participant the entire weekend.

Their baptisms are true testimonies to God's power and grace!

Mudfish one of our pastors bought for his lunch.

Bathing after baptisms.

It's not easy keeping cool during dry season...

The locals burn grass during the dry season so they have room to plant and new grass can grow when rains resume.

Saturday afternoon we walked to the trading center (an hour's walk away) for another crusade. Luka and his friends left late and took the wrong turn. They ended up walking the scenic route, leaving us thinking they had gotten lost in the Ugandan bush!

Waiting for the loudspeakers to be set up.

Praise and worship to attract attention and set the mood.

Everyone joins in!

This is Denis, another former inmate who now serves God outside the prison.

Sadly, our van and passengers left before crusade was done. Grace and I were attracting the unwanted attention of drunkards and young men. Luka, Dad and our friend Gideon were doing everything they could to keep us guarded. But we were becoming such a distraction that Dad decided to leave. My heart breaks for girls who face this ugly attention when mzungu girls aren't present. Do those girls have brothers or fathers to stand up for them? I pray the Lord will be their protector!