News From The Pearl of Africa (originally published 1/15/07)

1. Africans Coming To Christ in the Hospital Wards
2. Meeting Villagers Dying of AIDS
3. Photography, Filming, and Dramas

1. Africans Coming to Christ in the Hospital Wards

We've been visiting the wards of the Mulago Hospital in Kampala where we have been given free access to approach the beds of any patients and share the gospel and pray for them. We were accompanied by our friends from MCC who acted as our translators as most of the patients only spoke the local dialect of Luganda. Each one of us on the team encouraged the believers there and shared the Good News of Jesus with Muslims, Catholics, and people of other faiths who are afflicted with HIV/AIDS and other diseases and illnesses. We all have testimonies from these visits but one of the best examples is Katrina's story of leading someone to Christ for the second time in her life. Once we entered the ward Katrina made a beeline for the bed of an elderly woman whom she engaged in conversation for the better part of an hour. When they reached the topic of faith the old woman told her that she was Catholic. This didn't deter Katrina who told the woman that when we enter into a relationship with Christ we are reborn. The old woman was incredulous and countered that she was too old to be born again so Katrina proceeded to tell her the story of Nicodemus who had raised this same issue with Jesus. After listening to this story the old woman said that she would love to be Born Again and committed her life to Christ right there on her hospital bed.

2. Meeting Villagers Dying of AIDS

Our team traveled to the village of Bombo earlier this week and we spent time visiting their Health Clinic which has doctors but no medicine. This impoverished village is characteristic of the majority of Africa: the place is remote and whenever there is an emergency the ambulances never show up. We visited with two middle-age sisters who are little by little dying of AIDS who described the suffering of their day-to-day living as they wait for the end. The older sister unceremoniously opened her shirt to show us a long infected gash across her midsection where she had had her appendix removed years before; the wound had never fully healed. Juliana was given a little broken piece of God's heart for these two sisters and asked if she could share with the women about how God had changed her life. As mascara streamed down her face she told her story of inviting Jesus to come and live inside of her and how He had utterly healed and restored her life.

While the women politely listened to Juliana my focus was pulled to a small boy and a woman who had inconspicuously approached our group and sat down off to my right side. The boy appeared to be about four or five but the woman he was with explained through Anne, one of our Ugandan ministry partners that, unbelievably, he is actually nine years old. She revealed that Kaye and his two siblings had contracted HIV from their parents who passed away and now she is looking after Kaye and his siblings together with four other children who are also HIV positive. All I could do was smile at Kaye and squeeze his hand as I gazed steadily at his sweet face spotted with lesions. Jessie came over to where we were sitting and as she held this frail boy on her lap she was undone and cried softly. I just kept tickling him and attempted to conceal the tears welling in my eyes behind a warm grin. We're never really prepared to know how to respond when coming face-to-face with a child who doesn't have long for this earth. Jessie and I were both shattered as we considered the fate of this boy and his remaining family. After Anne led the boy's caretaker to the Lord the three of us laid hands on Kaye and asked God to heal him. We're hoping to see Kaye again.

3. Photography, Filming, and Dramas

At the Uganda Jesus Village our team has been painting and cleaning a new wing for the Gulu orphans to move into. While half the team paints the others teach the children worship songs and tell them Bible stories. For Primetime, the weekly campus gathering, Jean-Michael and Katrina were the MCs along with our fearless African guide and cultural relations expert Daniel. Abby Jaillet gave spoke on the topic of sexual abstinence and shared out of her own experience. The whole team performed a Passion skit to a Jars of Clay song which was a big hit with the university crowd. This week we will begin working with an HIV/AIDS care facility in Kampala that is one of the best in the nation. We are also going to be teaching HIV/AIDS prevention in Bombo beginning tomorrow. Furthermore, our team is taking pictures and filming to support a photography exhibit of a local Christian artist with a focus on bringing awareness to the plight of street children affected by HIV/AIDS. There are many more exciting things that God is brewing for our team and we will continue to keep you abreast of our plans. Please continue interceding for our team!