WOW!!!!!! Let me just start by saying we serve the most AMAZING GOD!!!
I'm pretty positive I'm speaking for the entire team when I say that the last 8 days have been the CRAZIEST of any of our lives! We are all completely exhausted, but it was well worth every ounce of energy we spent and every hour that we did not sleep : )
We were so privleged to be a part of God's story of GLORY in Northern Uganda! Our eyes and ears were blessed to witness a woman who had been deaf and mute since birth hear and speak for the first time, a blind man see, a mad man become sane, and several lame people walk!!!!!! The BIGGEST miracle of all is the incredibly ridiculous number of people who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior for the first time and whose names are now forever burned into the Book of Life! None of us can even try to count the number of people we got to individually pray with to receive salvation, let alone the masses who gave their lives at various altar calls each day.
In case you're wondering about follow-up, we did a leadership conference with all of the local pastors from all over the northern part of the country, and information was collected from each person who recieved Christ and given to the pastors.
Merlyn and Ashley were magnificent in an all-day medical clinic, where they treated hundreds of patients, and Ben and Sara had a blast with loads of kids when they put on a Kids' Camp. The girls and the guys all got dominated by the Ugandans in soccer tournaments, and Brian victoriously completed a 14 mile marathon along-side the locals! A few of us were given the opportunity to visit the local prison, where we were moved by their joy and where we saw about 55 prisoners accept Jesus as their Lord!
God never stopped moving in crazy ways and we saw his glory SWELL in Pader! Praise the Lord!
We're staying the night at Commission International Headquarters tonight, and in the morning we leave for Jinja for some de-briefing, rest, and a little souvenier shopping. We'll have our last hoorah with our friends from Come Let's Dance on Tuesday for "linner" and then we'll head to the airport! Our flight is scheduled to arrive in OKC at 4:45 pm on Wednesday. Parents, feel free to meet us at the airport or back at Journey afterward, whichever you prefer. You'll probably get a phone call from Detroit on Wednesday afternoon :)
Thank you SO MUCH for covering this trip in prayer. We believe with all our hearts that PRAYER is the GREATER WORK so THANK YOU for interceding and being an integral part of everything the Lord did in Pader! We love you all so much! See you soon!
Nkwagala,
Zac and Kristin
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
PADER OR BUST!!!!!!!!!
The Lord has been totally rocking our world this last week! We have seen several healings in the slum and at the hospital, built relationships, and allowed the Lord to use us to encourage some amazing Ugandans who we know he is raising up as his anointed ones here. We've played soccer with street kids, fixed up the sewing shop, hoe'd and weeded a field at the farm, and learned how to love the untouchable. We feel so blessed to be here and we're loving every second of this great adventure the Lord has chosen to take us on!
Today has been a crazy day of transitions for our team. This morning, we had to say goodbye to most of our friends at Come Let's Dance, and I'm sure you all know how hard it can be to say goodbye to friends when you don't know when you're going to see them next. We're now in Narkolabia at Commission International headquarters preparing to embark upon our next adventure! We're all trying to rest up and re-fuel....some of the team is hanging out with Jesus, others are napping, and Scott just attempted to teach some random kiddos who came in off the street how to play duck duck goose, ring around the rosey and red rover. It was pretty fun to watch :)
Tonight, we're leaving to head to prayer mountain where we will spend the entire night with just our team, the Commission team, and the Lord. Pray for this time that the Lord would break in us whatever needs to be broken, fill us up with more and more of himself, unite our team with the Commission team, and prepare us fully for what's to come! We'll leave tomorrow morning from prayer mountain and drive 6 hours north to Pader! Let me tell you, we are all super PUMPED for this coming week, but also, we really have no idea what we're doing. We keep looking at each other saying, this is so CRAZY! but the Lord is so cool and we know he's going to do incredible things! It's all him, not us! We learned this morning what it means to put on the FULL armor of Christ, so pray that we would each have the spirit of a warrior for Jesus, with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, readiness given by the Gospel of peace for shoes, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit!
We're starting to feel a little more prepared in the sense that we sort of have a rough schedule of what's gonna go down while we're there. Monday - Thursday we'll be taking about 5 people at a time and driving all around the district with a truck and a PA system putting on 10 of what Bishop calls "pitch crusades," sharing testimonies, preaching the gospel, and inviting people to come to our big crusade nights on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Also, each of those days, Merlyn and Ashley will be setting up a medical tent for about two hours at a time, and Sara and Ben will be putting on a kids camp. We'll also be sending a few of us to visit 6 different "schools" (they each are held under a different tree) to speak, as well as to the prison to visit the prisoners. On Wednesday, we're having a sports day, which could get a little crazy! There's gonna be a 7k and a soccer tournament! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are the main event and it would be awesome if you would cover those in prayer! Those will start around 4:00 our time, so that's 8 am your time. We need all the prayer we can get! We never thought the Lord would ask us crazy college kids to preach in front of 60,000 people at a time! It's gotta be all Him because we sure can't do it ourselves!
We are also truly amazed by the work the Lord has been doing in each one of us on this team. We were going crazy a few nights ago when we had to spontaneously "share a word" in front of a group of Ugandan leaders and Crystal just grabbed the mike and began preaching boldly with so much authority! Don't worry, she'll be preaching at one of our pitch crusades! Sara had been praying before the trip that when things became overwhelming, she would not ask for the situation to be changed, but for the Lord to use the situation to change her, and Praise God, because he has totally answered her prayer! She is so ready to go to Pader with no fear! Ben has been speaking with authority and is ready to rebuke anything the Lord throws his way. Even though he couldn't speak the language, Grant sat with a sick boy in the hospital for over an hour just holding his hand, and later went back to give him his dad's air force jacket because the little boy's dream is to be a pilot. Ashley's faith never fails to grow bigger every day, and just this morning, Merlyn taught us all about walking humbly in the Lord's authority. Brian has learned what true patience is and has been using each and every one of his talents to bless people. Scott has fallen in love with the people and has put in an insane amount of effort to learn as much of their language as he can and to communicate with people despite the language barrier.
We probably won't be able to update this again until next Sunday, so don't worry if you don't hear from us before then Pray for safe travels, all the other things we listed above, and more! Thanks to you all for being so wonderful. We love you a lot!
Love,
Zac and Kristin
Today has been a crazy day of transitions for our team. This morning, we had to say goodbye to most of our friends at Come Let's Dance, and I'm sure you all know how hard it can be to say goodbye to friends when you don't know when you're going to see them next. We're now in Narkolabia at Commission International headquarters preparing to embark upon our next adventure! We're all trying to rest up and re-fuel....some of the team is hanging out with Jesus, others are napping, and Scott just attempted to teach some random kiddos who came in off the street how to play duck duck goose, ring around the rosey and red rover. It was pretty fun to watch :)
Tonight, we're leaving to head to prayer mountain where we will spend the entire night with just our team, the Commission team, and the Lord. Pray for this time that the Lord would break in us whatever needs to be broken, fill us up with more and more of himself, unite our team with the Commission team, and prepare us fully for what's to come! We'll leave tomorrow morning from prayer mountain and drive 6 hours north to Pader! Let me tell you, we are all super PUMPED for this coming week, but also, we really have no idea what we're doing. We keep looking at each other saying, this is so CRAZY! but the Lord is so cool and we know he's going to do incredible things! It's all him, not us! We learned this morning what it means to put on the FULL armor of Christ, so pray that we would each have the spirit of a warrior for Jesus, with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, readiness given by the Gospel of peace for shoes, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit!
We're starting to feel a little more prepared in the sense that we sort of have a rough schedule of what's gonna go down while we're there. Monday - Thursday we'll be taking about 5 people at a time and driving all around the district with a truck and a PA system putting on 10 of what Bishop calls "pitch crusades," sharing testimonies, preaching the gospel, and inviting people to come to our big crusade nights on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Also, each of those days, Merlyn and Ashley will be setting up a medical tent for about two hours at a time, and Sara and Ben will be putting on a kids camp. We'll also be sending a few of us to visit 6 different "schools" (they each are held under a different tree) to speak, as well as to the prison to visit the prisoners. On Wednesday, we're having a sports day, which could get a little crazy! There's gonna be a 7k and a soccer tournament! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are the main event and it would be awesome if you would cover those in prayer! Those will start around 4:00 our time, so that's 8 am your time. We need all the prayer we can get! We never thought the Lord would ask us crazy college kids to preach in front of 60,000 people at a time! It's gotta be all Him because we sure can't do it ourselves!
We are also truly amazed by the work the Lord has been doing in each one of us on this team. We were going crazy a few nights ago when we had to spontaneously "share a word" in front of a group of Ugandan leaders and Crystal just grabbed the mike and began preaching boldly with so much authority! Don't worry, she'll be preaching at one of our pitch crusades! Sara had been praying before the trip that when things became overwhelming, she would not ask for the situation to be changed, but for the Lord to use the situation to change her, and Praise God, because he has totally answered her prayer! She is so ready to go to Pader with no fear! Ben has been speaking with authority and is ready to rebuke anything the Lord throws his way. Even though he couldn't speak the language, Grant sat with a sick boy in the hospital for over an hour just holding his hand, and later went back to give him his dad's air force jacket because the little boy's dream is to be a pilot. Ashley's faith never fails to grow bigger every day, and just this morning, Merlyn taught us all about walking humbly in the Lord's authority. Brian has learned what true patience is and has been using each and every one of his talents to bless people. Scott has fallen in love with the people and has put in an insane amount of effort to learn as much of their language as he can and to communicate with people despite the language barrier.
We probably won't be able to update this again until next Sunday, so don't worry if you don't hear from us before then Pray for safe travels, all the other things we listed above, and more! Thanks to you all for being so wonderful. We love you a lot!
Love,
Zac and Kristin
Monday, May 25, 2009
VIEW DIRT DIFFERENTLY
WOW!! Let me tell you, these Ugandans get crazy for JESUS!! It is so Awesome! We just met with the ministry we are working with in Pader and they were getting us pumped for JESUS! We just watched the movie, "War Dance" about the people of Patongo (that's where we're going!) You should watch it too. Please be in prayer for our work there and pray the Spirit will give us guidance and favor with the people. We are going to fast during our dinner tomorrow the 26th to pray over our mission to Pader. This will be around your lunch time, and we ask you to fast with us! Check the prayer requests at the end of the blog! We really just want to pour blessing over our time there! The team is getting SUPER PUMPED for the trip there and are ready to be totally pushed out of our comfort zone!
While Pader is definitely on our hearts, we are so thankful for the work the LORD is doing in Nansana! We are so encouraged everyday as we grow in the LORD and as our team bond gets stronger and stronger! Everyone is doing fine and we are so blessed by the LORD'S guidance and protection! Here is a little encouragement for loved ones and friends. Ladies:
Ashley: Ashley has so much energy for the Lord and it's contagious! Her heart is so WILLING to serve and it's a blessing to all of us! Thanks to her energy and love, all of the kids just adore her and she loves on them with genuine affection.
Crystal: Crystal has such a beautiful spirit and she serves our team so much by constantly praying for each one of us in SECRET. Nobody is fully aware of how much she covers each one of us in prayer, and I am humbled and so thankful for that gift the Lord has given her and that she gives right back to us. Just this morning during our team devotion, she shared individual messages the Lord had given her for each of us and I know that she touched everyone's heart.
Merlyn: Merlyn is a truly anointed woman of God, and she is so consumed with PASSION for the Lord and for his glory! Her faith never fails to amaze me, and we always know we can count on her to speak truth into us and to inspire us more and more to finish the race!
Sara: Sara epitomizes COMPASSION. I took her with me to the hospital on Saturday and I could literally see her heart breaking for every disturbing scene we witnessed. Still, she trusts the Lord for strength, and he gave it to her to pray over and with so many people. As she prayed for one little girl, she got to watch her go from being in intense pain to being in no pain at all! Praise the Lord!
Let me tell you, these ladies love the LORD so much! They had "girl time" one night and it was so beautiful! All the fellas could hear them singing to the LORD and it was TOTALLY AWESOME! Beautiful voices and hearts....nothing greater than listening to some women totally worshiping and laying everything down to the LORD!
Fellas:
Ben: Ben, by definition, means "kid magnet." Let me tell you, this kids heart is incredible and i haven't seen a kid that doesn't love Ben. One morning i walked into the church in the slums and Ben had about 30 kids on him, it was so AWESOME! He is also filled with incredible faith! When in the hospital, Ben prayed over a child with a fever and the fever went away. What faith...PRAISE GOD!
Brian: Brian, aka "stinky teets," aka "mustache man," has done an incredible job and his willingness to serve is AWESOME! One of our goals as a team is to encourage the "Come Lets Dance" team. Brian went to the sewing shop ministry run through "Come Lets Dance" and totally encourage the only male worker there, Solomon. Brian has done such an awesome job encouraging him and giving him some male bonding time.
Grant: Grant, also translated in Lugandan "great" is such an encouragement to the team. This guy is so filled with wisdom, its ridiculous! His faithfulness is astounding and GOD is totally using grant for the glory of HIS MAME! Every guy on the team looks up to grant and learns so much from him each and every day. By the way Katie, he doesn't stop talking about you! :)
Scott: Scott is the CRAZIEST man i have ever met! He definitely keeps all of us on our toes! He is working so hard to learn the language and is so interactive with the Ugandans! They all love him so much and he has such a passion for the people! Scott is so in LOVE with the people in how they worship. He had the opportunity to say a little something at the worship service on Sunday. He was brought to tears at how the people worship and totally give everything to the LORD! It was AWESOME!!
These guys are all incredible! They're such strong men of God and they're always so thoughtful to look after us girls and keep us safe. It's so comforting for us to know that we can fully trust them! They also do an amazing job of setting a godly example for the men in the Ugandan community....they've been discipling them and they don't even know it!
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for us! Know that your prayers are making a difference, for "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective!" Here are some of our more recent prayer requests:
1. Pray for even stronger UNITY among our team - we want the bonds of Christ to be so strong that absolutely NOTHING can get in the way of us completing the work the Lord has set before us!
2. Pray for GREATER THINGS!!! The Lord promises in John 14 that we will do even greater things and that anything we ask in the name of Jesus, he will do! We have already seen several healings take place at Mulago Hospital and we are excited to see the Lord display his glory even more!
3. Pray for every Ugandan the Lord has ordained for us to encounter. It has been such a blessing for me to see women who I met last year in the slums and hear them tell me how the Lord has redeemed their lives and answered all of our prayers from last summer! We know the Lord has his hand in every relationship that we build and we pray that each person would encounter our sweet Jesus!
4. Building off of that, pray that we would be intentional with every relationship we build, with every person we meet. We don't want to be viewed as "mzungus (white people) who just come and leave" like so many other people, but we want the Ugandans to see Jesus and to experience his love through us, so that even when we have to leave, the Lord remains in their hearts and they know that they are still being loved and prayed for.
5. Pray for ENERGY!!! We've been staying up late and waking up early, but the Lord is faithful! Pray that he would multiply the hours of sleep we get!
6. Pray for the people of Pader! Sometimes we think about the fact that we're leaving Saturday and we really have no idea what we're doing, but we do know that the Lord is sending us, that we are his vessels, and that he WILL accomplish his purpose there. These people in Pader WILL be witnesses to his glory and encounter the perfect love of Jesus!
We love you all so much and are so grateful for you! Thank you for being such awesome, faithful prayer warriors! Hopefully, we'll be able to update you again soon!
Peace and love from Kampala,
Zac and Kristin
P.S. The boys' room smells AWFUL.
While Pader is definitely on our hearts, we are so thankful for the work the LORD is doing in Nansana! We are so encouraged everyday as we grow in the LORD and as our team bond gets stronger and stronger! Everyone is doing fine and we are so blessed by the LORD'S guidance and protection! Here is a little encouragement for loved ones and friends. Ladies:
Ashley: Ashley has so much energy for the Lord and it's contagious! Her heart is so WILLING to serve and it's a blessing to all of us! Thanks to her energy and love, all of the kids just adore her and she loves on them with genuine affection.
Crystal: Crystal has such a beautiful spirit and she serves our team so much by constantly praying for each one of us in SECRET. Nobody is fully aware of how much she covers each one of us in prayer, and I am humbled and so thankful for that gift the Lord has given her and that she gives right back to us. Just this morning during our team devotion, she shared individual messages the Lord had given her for each of us and I know that she touched everyone's heart.
Merlyn: Merlyn is a truly anointed woman of God, and she is so consumed with PASSION for the Lord and for his glory! Her faith never fails to amaze me, and we always know we can count on her to speak truth into us and to inspire us more and more to finish the race!
Sara: Sara epitomizes COMPASSION. I took her with me to the hospital on Saturday and I could literally see her heart breaking for every disturbing scene we witnessed. Still, she trusts the Lord for strength, and he gave it to her to pray over and with so many people. As she prayed for one little girl, she got to watch her go from being in intense pain to being in no pain at all! Praise the Lord!
Let me tell you, these ladies love the LORD so much! They had "girl time" one night and it was so beautiful! All the fellas could hear them singing to the LORD and it was TOTALLY AWESOME! Beautiful voices and hearts....nothing greater than listening to some women totally worshiping and laying everything down to the LORD!
Fellas:
Ben: Ben, by definition, means "kid magnet." Let me tell you, this kids heart is incredible and i haven't seen a kid that doesn't love Ben. One morning i walked into the church in the slums and Ben had about 30 kids on him, it was so AWESOME! He is also filled with incredible faith! When in the hospital, Ben prayed over a child with a fever and the fever went away. What faith...PRAISE GOD!
Brian: Brian, aka "stinky teets," aka "mustache man," has done an incredible job and his willingness to serve is AWESOME! One of our goals as a team is to encourage the "Come Lets Dance" team. Brian went to the sewing shop ministry run through "Come Lets Dance" and totally encourage the only male worker there, Solomon. Brian has done such an awesome job encouraging him and giving him some male bonding time.
Grant: Grant, also translated in Lugandan "great" is such an encouragement to the team. This guy is so filled with wisdom, its ridiculous! His faithfulness is astounding and GOD is totally using grant for the glory of HIS MAME! Every guy on the team looks up to grant and learns so much from him each and every day. By the way Katie, he doesn't stop talking about you! :)
Scott: Scott is the CRAZIEST man i have ever met! He definitely keeps all of us on our toes! He is working so hard to learn the language and is so interactive with the Ugandans! They all love him so much and he has such a passion for the people! Scott is so in LOVE with the people in how they worship. He had the opportunity to say a little something at the worship service on Sunday. He was brought to tears at how the people worship and totally give everything to the LORD! It was AWESOME!!
These guys are all incredible! They're such strong men of God and they're always so thoughtful to look after us girls and keep us safe. It's so comforting for us to know that we can fully trust them! They also do an amazing job of setting a godly example for the men in the Ugandan community....they've been discipling them and they don't even know it!
Thank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for us! Know that your prayers are making a difference, for "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective!" Here are some of our more recent prayer requests:
1. Pray for even stronger UNITY among our team - we want the bonds of Christ to be so strong that absolutely NOTHING can get in the way of us completing the work the Lord has set before us!
2. Pray for GREATER THINGS!!! The Lord promises in John 14 that we will do even greater things and that anything we ask in the name of Jesus, he will do! We have already seen several healings take place at Mulago Hospital and we are excited to see the Lord display his glory even more!
3. Pray for every Ugandan the Lord has ordained for us to encounter. It has been such a blessing for me to see women who I met last year in the slums and hear them tell me how the Lord has redeemed their lives and answered all of our prayers from last summer! We know the Lord has his hand in every relationship that we build and we pray that each person would encounter our sweet Jesus!
4. Building off of that, pray that we would be intentional with every relationship we build, with every person we meet. We don't want to be viewed as "mzungus (white people) who just come and leave" like so many other people, but we want the Ugandans to see Jesus and to experience his love through us, so that even when we have to leave, the Lord remains in their hearts and they know that they are still being loved and prayed for.
5. Pray for ENERGY!!! We've been staying up late and waking up early, but the Lord is faithful! Pray that he would multiply the hours of sleep we get!
6. Pray for the people of Pader! Sometimes we think about the fact that we're leaving Saturday and we really have no idea what we're doing, but we do know that the Lord is sending us, that we are his vessels, and that he WILL accomplish his purpose there. These people in Pader WILL be witnesses to his glory and encounter the perfect love of Jesus!
We love you all so much and are so grateful for you! Thank you for being such awesome, faithful prayer warriors! Hopefully, we'll be able to update you again soon!
Peace and love from Kampala,
Zac and Kristin
P.S. The boys' room smells AWFUL.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Mukama Ye Bazibwe!!
Praise the Lord! We're just finishing our 2nd day in Kampala and GOD IS GOOD!!!!!
Our flights were all flawless and we arrived in Uganda with no trouble. We all loved the "videos on demand" on the plane. After 2 days of travel and adjusting to an 8 hour time change, we are all still feeling pretty exhausted, so please pray that we would get some good rest and that the Lord would multiply our hours of sleep!
These last two days, Come Let's Dance has been showing us around, introducing us to each of their programs, and starting tomorrow, our team will be all over the place serving in so many different ways! We'll be serving widows and their children in the Katunga Slum, praying for the sick in Mulago Hospital, loving on the abandoned children at the Kids' House, pouring into women as we help them make necklaces and aprons in the sew shop, working on the farm, and sharing the love of Jesus right and left!
We have learned so much about Come Let's Dance and are so honored to be working with an organization that truly wants to not just feed the poor, but EMPOWER the people to become self-sustainable. CLD lives out the verse, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life." 0ther than young children, CLD does not feed anyone who does not work for it, even if it's the strangest most ridiculous job they can come up with. Each of their programs, the farm, the sew shop, their taxi cabs, the kids' house, every thing they do, employs Ugandans and teaches them how to get up off their rear ends and take care of themselves, while at the same time, discipling them and sharing the love of Jesus.
A few hours ago, we met with Bishop Mawa and his team of Ugandans who we are going with to Patongo IDP camp in the district of Pader in Northern Uganda. It is a forgotten camp in the worst part of Uganda that holds over 60,000 refugees leftover from the war, many of whom have never ever heard the name of Jesus. Bishop thinks that we will be the first missionaries to ever go to this camp, because most missionaries head to Gulu, which was the heart of the War and receives all the publicity. No one really goes to Pader because it is hard to reach and out of the limelight.
We have already seen that we are in an immense spiritual battle in getting there because Satan absolutely does not want the Word of Life to reach these broken and hopeless people. They are truly an unreached people group that he does not want to lose to our Mighty Jesus! The two of us and Grant just finished recording a 30 minute radio session to send to Pader with Mona and Yusef who are leaving tomorrow to do the grunt work and get everything set up. For hours, the recording system wouldn't work and when they finally fixed it the power went out. Once we recognized that it was a spiritual battle, we began praying and worshiping our King and of course, he instantly showed up, turned the power on and we began recording! It was crazy because none of us knew what we were going to say, since no one prepared us that we were going to have to do this, but the Lord gave his words to each of us and spoke powerfully to invite the people to come and hear more about him!
We ask that you do NOT fear for us in going, because fear only gives a foothold to the devil, but instead, PRAY!! Whenever you begin to feel anxious or fearful, PRAY and PRAY HARD because the Lord deserves GLORY from these people! The most redundant command in the Bible is, "Do not fear," "Do not be afraid!" We are not going to fear, but walk confidently in the anointing of the Lord and we ask that you do the same!
We are leaving for Pader on May 31st, and we return to Kampala on June 7th. Please pray for our health and safety, and more importantly, pray for God's glory to swell across that district!!
Also pray for the next 10 days in Kampala, that we would be the Lord's vessels so the people can encounter the one, true God, and that we would truly be the hands and feet of Jesus!
LOVE HARD!!!!!!!!
Zac and Kristin
Our flights were all flawless and we arrived in Uganda with no trouble. We all loved the "videos on demand" on the plane. After 2 days of travel and adjusting to an 8 hour time change, we are all still feeling pretty exhausted, so please pray that we would get some good rest and that the Lord would multiply our hours of sleep!
These last two days, Come Let's Dance has been showing us around, introducing us to each of their programs, and starting tomorrow, our team will be all over the place serving in so many different ways! We'll be serving widows and their children in the Katunga Slum, praying for the sick in Mulago Hospital, loving on the abandoned children at the Kids' House, pouring into women as we help them make necklaces and aprons in the sew shop, working on the farm, and sharing the love of Jesus right and left!
We have learned so much about Come Let's Dance and are so honored to be working with an organization that truly wants to not just feed the poor, but EMPOWER the people to become self-sustainable. CLD lives out the verse, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life." 0ther than young children, CLD does not feed anyone who does not work for it, even if it's the strangest most ridiculous job they can come up with. Each of their programs, the farm, the sew shop, their taxi cabs, the kids' house, every thing they do, employs Ugandans and teaches them how to get up off their rear ends and take care of themselves, while at the same time, discipling them and sharing the love of Jesus.
A few hours ago, we met with Bishop Mawa and his team of Ugandans who we are going with to Patongo IDP camp in the district of Pader in Northern Uganda. It is a forgotten camp in the worst part of Uganda that holds over 60,000 refugees leftover from the war, many of whom have never ever heard the name of Jesus. Bishop thinks that we will be the first missionaries to ever go to this camp, because most missionaries head to Gulu, which was the heart of the War and receives all the publicity. No one really goes to Pader because it is hard to reach and out of the limelight.
We have already seen that we are in an immense spiritual battle in getting there because Satan absolutely does not want the Word of Life to reach these broken and hopeless people. They are truly an unreached people group that he does not want to lose to our Mighty Jesus! The two of us and Grant just finished recording a 30 minute radio session to send to Pader with Mona and Yusef who are leaving tomorrow to do the grunt work and get everything set up. For hours, the recording system wouldn't work and when they finally fixed it the power went out. Once we recognized that it was a spiritual battle, we began praying and worshiping our King and of course, he instantly showed up, turned the power on and we began recording! It was crazy because none of us knew what we were going to say, since no one prepared us that we were going to have to do this, but the Lord gave his words to each of us and spoke powerfully to invite the people to come and hear more about him!
We ask that you do NOT fear for us in going, because fear only gives a foothold to the devil, but instead, PRAY!! Whenever you begin to feel anxious or fearful, PRAY and PRAY HARD because the Lord deserves GLORY from these people! The most redundant command in the Bible is, "Do not fear," "Do not be afraid!" We are not going to fear, but walk confidently in the anointing of the Lord and we ask that you do the same!
We are leaving for Pader on May 31st, and we return to Kampala on June 7th. Please pray for our health and safety, and more importantly, pray for God's glory to swell across that district!!
Also pray for the next 10 days in Kampala, that we would be the Lord's vessels so the people can encounter the one, true God, and that we would truly be the hands and feet of Jesus!
LOVE HARD!!!!!!!!
Zac and Kristin
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Uganda Check Up On Us?
Mukama Ye Bazibwe! (Praise the Lord!)
We are leaving for Uganda in 8 DAYS!! WOOT WOOT!
We are so thankful for all of you who are sharing in our "Journey" to Uganda through your prayer and support! We will try to update this blog every three days or so while we are there to share with you our stories, praises, struggles, and prayer needs.
As we are getting ready to leave, we have some prayer requests for you to throw up to our Saviour!
>The people of Uganda. That the Lord will already begin to prepare their hearts to receive more of him and they would recognize his words of TRUTH!
>Everything we do would reflect the Lord's glory and that his name would be lifted higher! (Let your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higheeeerrr.......!) and that our focus would never be on ourselves, but on the Lord and his people!
>For our safety, health, and protection....that nothing would slow us down and that we wouldn't run across any problems when we're traveling or entering or leaving the country (that everything would be smooth as a baby's bottom).
>That we would walk with NO FEAR whatsoever!!!
>That we would be filled in abundance with the Holy Spirit and that our hearts would continually be positioned in a way for us to hear from the Lord and receive his direction.
>Pray that the Lord would fill us with the energy of a five year old and we would not get tired or weary until we step on that plane coming home! That we can run, play, sing, dance, laugh with the beautiful people of Uganda : )
>That our team will remain UNITED in power and love. That our team would be united with Come Let's Dance and Commission International (the ministries we are working with). That we would all be of one mind, as the bonds of Christ hold us together as one body.
>That we wouldn't limit the Lord or what he can do, but that we would always be expecting GREATER THINGS and our faith would grow bigger daily!
>Anything else the Lord tells you to pray for ; )
Nkwagala nyo!
Zac and Kristin
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory." - Isaiah 61:1-3
We are leaving for Uganda in 8 DAYS!! WOOT WOOT!
We are so thankful for all of you who are sharing in our "Journey" to Uganda through your prayer and support! We will try to update this blog every three days or so while we are there to share with you our stories, praises, struggles, and prayer needs.
As we are getting ready to leave, we have some prayer requests for you to throw up to our Saviour!
>The people of Uganda. That the Lord will already begin to prepare their hearts to receive more of him and they would recognize his words of TRUTH!
>Everything we do would reflect the Lord's glory and that his name would be lifted higher! (Let your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higheeeerrr.......!) and that our focus would never be on ourselves, but on the Lord and his people!
>For our safety, health, and protection....that nothing would slow us down and that we wouldn't run across any problems when we're traveling or entering or leaving the country (that everything would be smooth as a baby's bottom).
>That we would walk with NO FEAR whatsoever!!!
>That we would be filled in abundance with the Holy Spirit and that our hearts would continually be positioned in a way for us to hear from the Lord and receive his direction.
>Pray that the Lord would fill us with the energy of a five year old and we would not get tired or weary until we step on that plane coming home! That we can run, play, sing, dance, laugh with the beautiful people of Uganda : )
>That our team will remain UNITED in power and love. That our team would be united with Come Let's Dance and Commission International (the ministries we are working with). That we would all be of one mind, as the bonds of Christ hold us together as one body.
>That we wouldn't limit the Lord or what he can do, but that we would always be expecting GREATER THINGS and our faith would grow bigger daily!
>Anything else the Lord tells you to pray for ; )
Nkwagala nyo!
Zac and Kristin
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory." - Isaiah 61:1-3
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