Week 2 in Uganda. One thing that God has been placing on my heart this week is the concept of dependence upon him. In my day to day life in America it can be easy to forget that I need God. As I go to work or school I feel well equipped to handle the challenges that I face – it seems that I could get by on my own talent or resourcefulness. As I go throughout my day I may be conscious of God, but sometimes I treat him more as an accessory than a necessity. In Uganda,, however, I am realizing how truly dependent upon God I am. Earlier this week our team had a few discouraging days – some team members were pretty sick, and we were feeling disconnected from the people to which we were ministering. We would head out to schools to teach and play with the kids there and receive blank stares; we would be walking around town to talk with beggars near the church and run into a language barrier because they didn't speak any english (English is taught in schools, but most of the uneducated people don't speak it, and even those who do may only have a rough understanding of the language); we would have a meeting or activity scheduled, but it would fall through because we couldn't get a ride into town on time (transportation here can be a little iffy). As our team was running into all of these frustrations, we realized that this is really all we can expect if we are acting only on our own strength. John 15 reminds us that Christ is the vine and we are the branches and apart from him we can bear no fruit – if I'm relying on my own resourcefulness to help people here I'm not going to see many results – with this in mind we have renewed our focus on praying to God each morning before we go out and throughout the day and asking him to open doors for us, to get over the language barrier, to find ways to connect with people on a deeper level here, to encourage them and help them in a tangible way. I want to tell you about two ways in which God has specifically responded to our prayers. First, I was praying with the group in the morning and asked for ways to get over the language barrier – that God would bring people who speak English into our path. That day as 3 of us were handing out food and praying with some of the beggars on the street (who don't speak any English) a local man we'd never met before just came up to us, introduced himself as Pastor Michael, and said he would translate for us so we were able to hear their stories and they were able to understand what we were praying for them – Decent! The next day we had some down time waiting for our vehicle to pick us up from the church so a few of us walked around to talk with people. We were talking with some women and kids near a well when I noticed a group of guys (ages 10-18ish) who called me over to talk with them. I couldn't understand most of them, but one kid, Steven, spoke perfect English. I found out that these were street kids – orphans for various reasons (rebels killed their family, accidents, ran from family abuse) from all around Lira, who now stick together. They have no homes, sleep on the street or in the grass down by this river, beg, steal, or sell whatever they can make to get food. These are rough kids, they have to be, but that doesn't mean they are bad kids. Some of them have been on the street too long to want any other life, but many of them would love to go back to school, they just have no money. I've been able to meet with them a few more times and some are interested in coming to Victory Outreach Church with us or at least trying to find a program that can get them off the street. I'm so thankful for the way God put them in my path, and specifically Steven – who could tell me their story and told me he wants to keep meeting with me so they can learn more about God- I continue to pray that God would open doors for them, to help me find ways to improve their situation and that God would use us to bring them closer to him.
this picture is just me hanging out with some kids near the church – they're great.
random highlights: I did laundry by hand this week, which was surprisingly fun – soaked all my clothes in a big bucket with laundry detergent, scrubbed 'em, rinsed 'em and put 'em on the line to dry – now I'm smelling fresh and clean again.
-john
