A mission trip on the mission field

Last Tuesday, in the wee small hours of the morning, a team of six of us set out for Pajule in northern Uganda to do evangelism where our old teaching pastor, JB, has just moved to start a church. (Oh and of course part of an added bonus was to see some people who had become like family to me)This trip was definitely one striking out on new frontiers for all of us both personally and for the ministry as a whole. We've never sent out a team to do evangelism that came solely from our church. Our team consisted of Jess, Apollo (one of our village pastors and a really awesome guy), Mukisa (one of our church elders), Opio (the youngin' of the team who's really involved in ministry here), Anne Rose (a young lady who's desiring to be used by God in new ways), and myself. None of us had ever been up that far north (except I think Jess), and none of us had really ever done the type of ministry we were about to embark upon in the capacity we were going to do it. I've been on several mission's trips before, but this one was just different. I didn't lead it, and I was getting stretched just as much as everyone else.

We did two forms of ministry: two outreaches at schools and then just going to different homes and sharing the Gospel with whoever would give us the time to do so. Now, I know this sounds ironic, but I would be the first to admit that I lack the "gift of evangelism" like none other. Give me 1,000 people to teach to, give me a youth group, small group, anything, but put me one-on-one with someone to try and witness to them... well, that's another story. This trip definitely pushed me to be more bold in my sharing of the full on Gospel in personal situations. God is so good because He knows our weaknesses and what it takes to encourage us, and the morning we left, I read this verse in my quiet time, "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." (Philemon 6) It was exactly what I needed to hear to give me that right push to do this thing that God was calling us to over the next 5 days.



The ministry was sweet! We all broke up into groups and every time we met back together, we had reports of people coming to faith in Christ. Our group alone was able to pray with several people, and they even came to church on Sunday which I hope indicates some sincerity with those prayers. Some of the people's stories really do break your heart to hear them as the North has really seen so much suffering in the past with the war that had been up there until about 5 years ago. We even stayed in what used to be an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp. Everyone there had religion, but no one really knew Jesus. It just goes to show that following rules isn't enough, Jesus wants you...period. The "rules" and the obedience to them is an expression of our love to him, but His love for us isn't dependent on how many times we go to church or whatever ideas of men we try to weigh people down with.

We had our share of adventure in the heat of Northern Uganda, with nights where you couldn't sleep with any covers and it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The toilets were "squatty potties", the showers were basins, no electricity, and getting water was definitely not as easy as turning a knob. We got to see places that not too many people get to see and we were able to get a little peek into the potential work that can be done for Christ as I don't know if I've ever seen such a strong example of "the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few". Oh, and one other little adventure was we were able to visit JB's mom and while we were there we met his relative who just had a baby girl three days before and she didn't have a name, and so they asked if I could name her my name... so yeah, that was kind of cool too.

God definitely did teach me a lot on this trip, again both in ministry and how I need to be more bold in sharing with the lost, and then also personally how I need to submit and not always take control and also how I need to show grace to people even when they rub me the wrong way. The bottom line is that God did some awesome work while we were up there, and I'm just humbled that we were able to be a part of it and get a glimpse of what He has in store for the town of Pajule. I just now ask that you would please life up JB in prayer as he leads this new church filled with very blank canvases of people who are hungry and know nothing about who their God really is as well as pray for all of those who prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior.


If I have one thing to leave you all with, it would be this... the Gospel isn't culture nor is it religion, it's Truth. Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, it doesn't matter if you live in New York City, Phoenix, Albuquerque, or even a little village in the middle of Africa... we all need Jesus and the life that we have through Him and Him alone.