MOR in Entebbe, Uganda February 2017

On January 27th, 2017 eleven of us were prepared to embark on a trip to Entebbe, Uganda.  We were supposed to be flying on Qatar Airlines leaving out of Philadelphia at 9:30am.  But after we had checked in all of our bags and got to the plane there was a problem with the engine.  After a two-hour delay they decided to cancel the flight for today and book us on the same flight that left the following day.  So we missed a whole day in Uganda.  We ended up leaving on July 28th.  We left at 9:30am and arrived in Uganda 21 hours later.  On the way the plane stopped in Doha, Qatar.  The flight was a little turbulent, but we made it safely.  God be the glory.  There were 16 of us from the U.S. and we stayed in a little cabin owned by the church.  There was no refrigerator, no television, no toilet, no internet, and no washer and dryer.  But we managed well.  In our group of sixteen there were three black people and the rest were white but we all got along really well.  Our group had a couple ministers, a few dentist, nurses, and a few doctors.    One of the ministers from Uganda had his wife prepare our food so we had food.  To use the bathroom we had to go outside to this little room that had a hole in the ground.  They didn’t have toilet paper but we brought our own.  To shower we heated up a bucket of water on the stove and went to an outdoor shower and washed off with a rag and some soap.  So we were ruffing it by American standards.  But the word went forth my brother.  Each day we went to a different village nearby.  We had about 15 volunteers from Uganda that came with us each day.  In their group there were also ministers, interpreters, dentist, nurses, and doctors. So when the 31 of us arrived in a village for the day we would set up a little clinic.  We had tarps and tables and chairs and bags and bags and bags of medical supplies.  We usually set up right outside on like a clear patch either near the local school or near the church.  One time we were right on the banks of a lake.  But we would set up and hundreds of people would come from the villages.  As the people came they first met with a minister, which I was a part of, and we would talk to them about Jesus.  After the gospel was delivered to them whether they accepted Jesus or not we offered to pray with them and then they moved on to the nurse who took their vitals and then on to the doctor and/or dentist.  They were blessed spiritually and physically.  In meeting with people I heard and saw all types of things.  I saw people who had been burned or injured and had tried to “fix it” themselves and it got all infected.  I had people tell me they were “protestant but not Christian” which was confusing but interesting.  I met people who wanted me to interpret their dreams, which was powerful because I prayed and was able to by the power of the Holy Spirit.  I heard a lot of marital problems and realized that is a problem everywhere.  I saw the poorest of the poor and yet I saw joy when they heard about Jesus.  There were also a lot of people who already knew Jesus and it was great just to pray with them and to celebrate.  I met people who lived in one room mud huts and I met people who had never met a black man from America…some of them thought only white people lived in America.  But above all I prayed with so many people and read so many scriptures.  Finally for one week in my life I believe I spent more time in prayer and reading the Bible then I did doing or saying anything else and it was powerful.  Islam is big there and I prayed with numerous Muslims who saw the love of Jesus in us and wanted something different.  I rarely go up to Muslims and tell them that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life in America, but being strengthened in the Lord I felt able to do it.  I felt stronger in the Lord during that week then almost at any other time in my life.  I was not afraid or ashamed to tell anyone about Jesus.  I also learned some Christian Ugandan songs and we all sung together and danced together…it was fun.  I met some really great people and really got to see God at work.  I saw someone get healed by prayer alone.  God is good and this trip really strengthened my own faith.  A funny thing happened.  There was a black woman on our trip and one of the men we met decided to propose to her.  They don’t believe in dating for years as we do over here.  He met her the first day and proposed to her five days later.  He was a volunteer from the church.  She did not accept, but it was precious.  There was a scary moment on the way home we were 45 minutes into the flight and the plane started to have problems.  We could hear some unusual sounds and something just didn’t seem right.  The flight attendants ran through the plane hurrying everyone to put their seatbelts on which was a shock to see.  The pilot had to turn the plane around and head back to the airport.  That was a scary moment and usually I would have been sweating and freaking out but I felt like Peter walking on the water but instead of thinking I was going to drown I just prayed and trusted in the Lord.  The Scriptures came to life from Psalms 71…”Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right.  Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free.  Be my rock of safety where I can always hide.  Give the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”  Needless to say we landed safely, they fixed the plane, we took off again and made it safely home to Philadelphia by the grace of God.