God Has Been Faithful

Hello everyone,

Firstly I want to thank all of you for your many prayers and petitions in the Spirit for our safety and success in accomplishing the work of the ministry. Truly we were well covered by your prayers. I can happily say with the exception of some, how shall I say—"gastrointestinal irregularities" that resulted from eating lunch in the village of Iguilibi at a youth conference we put on—we have been in good health for the entire trip.

Truly this has been for us a time to use our gifts and abilities to encourage and strengthen the work God has been doing here for some time now. There was a lot more teaching to youths, adults and prisoners than I had anticipated. Personally I prepared and delivered at least seven 25-40 minute talks from the scriptures. But some of the best times were when I got a chance to share one-on-one. People here are genuinely hungry for change and for God. Since this was the case ministering was, though tiring, easy; their hearts were already prepared. We look forward to sharing with you more upon return.

There is something captivating looking into the eyes of this people. Maybe in part it is the strangeness of the sometimes brilliant white which is planted between the deep brown of their pupils and skin. But it was more than this, for the eyes are the lamp of the body. And in their eyes I could see the hope of the promises that had been made to them and the expectancy of their fulfillment. They seemed to ask me "will you be the one to help us?” Being here has made me realize the depth of the riches in America, not only of money but of talent, skilled labor and industrious mindsets. These are the things which truly propel our civilization forward and the very things which are lacking in such great capacity. The conditions in surrounding countries are so much better that people with training leave for a better life somewhere where the conditions permit. But it’s time for a new generation of leaders to rise up and the only thing that will make this possible is the power of Jesus and the willingness of His followers to sacrifice and move somewhere uncomfortable to help teach and raise up these leaders to change the face of an entire civilization.

Anyway, we ask for your prayers to cover our travels home. We leave tomorrow morning and have a 12 hour layover in Kenya. After this we fly to London where we have a 6 hour layover and then we head to Denver with a short layover before flying to Seattle. We will be picked up from the airport and expect to arrive in Corvallis around 1 or 2 in the morning on Wednesday.

Thank you again and bless you,

Lee

Hello! We apologize for not posting a blog since last Monday! I will try my best to catch you up to speed. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Ryan (the youth pastor of Calvary Jinja) blessed us by taking our team on a “road trip” to the other side of Uganda (the Western side bordering Congo), to go on a big-game safari drive in the National Park. It was such a wonderful two-day break from intensive ministry, and for me it was the fulfillment of a dream I have had since I was a little boy to go on an African safari. The eight-hour drive to the game park was an adventure in and of itself, bumping up and down on African dirt roads with pot holes and speed bumps even on the highways—not to mention, the way that most Ugandans drive is enough to get your blood flowing!

On the safari we were able to see so much of God’s beautiful creation and creatures during our boat ride of the Nile and drive through the Savannah. Elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, antelopes, water buffalo, warthogs, baboons, and many others—all in their natural environment. Being the animal-lover that I am, my eyes were as wide as a little kid on Christmas. The trip was such a blessing to our team.

We hit it hard coming back to Jinja, putting on our last all-day youth conference for the village of Lumuli. Ryan, Lee, and myself taught the sessions and Erin taught classes for the smaller children. The conference was out of Ephesians 4 and 5, about walking in a way that is worthy of your calling and being imitators of God. We spent all afternoon playing soccer with some of the older boys/young men of the village. They were all very serious and skilled at the game, so they were practically running circles around Lee and I on the field. It was a fun game, but also proved to be a lesson in atheletic humility : )

On Friday we were able to get some good shopping done in the markets and then we greeted some missionaries who were returning from their furlough in the states. Friday afternoon we went with Pastor JB (the native Acholie pastor I wrote about in an earlier blog) to be a part of a ministry that Calvary Jinja has in one of the neighborhoods/slums. We played with countless children in tattered dirty clothes, trying to control their violently joyful attempts to pop the bubbles we were blowing as a form of entertainment. A woman from the church sang with the children and taught them a lesson from the life of Sampson. After the children left, Lee and I shared from the scriptures for an adult Bible study in that neighborhood. As Lee and I taught, it felt as if we were speaking to family members who cherished our every word. As we all sat huddled in the dirt rode of a slum, I explained through an interpreter that God does not dwell in a building made with hands, but in the hearts of His people—and I went on to give examples from scripture of God using ordinary every-day people for extraordinary things. Lee shared on the power of our words to build or break a brother, and an encouragement to build up the body of Christ. I really felt the Lord’s presence and the power of the Holy Spirit during the whole time in that slum.

Today (Saturday morning) we are preparing for youth group this afternoon and practicing the worship set for tomorrow morning’s services. Erin spent the morning volunteering again at the orphanage. After church tomorrow we will begin packing and getting ready to leave on Monday morning.

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for any last-minute divine opportunities to encourage the missionaries/pastors here.
Please pray for the Sunday services.
Please pray for safe travels as we head home.
Also, I sprained my ankle right before the trip and I have not given it enough time to rest and recover. The last few days it has been very painful.

Thank you all so much,

Ian

update 21st-24th from Lee

Hello everyone,

This is an update of the events of Thursday the 21st – Sunday the 24th. Having finished repairing the volleyball court on Wednesday, on Thursday morning we built and installed futbol goal posts in the field adjacent to the volleyball court for the youth to use as well as finished preparations for the youth conference we put on at the church on Friday and Saturday.

In the afternoon Ian and I went to the condemned section of the main prison here in Jinja and shared our testimonies with the fellowship there and Ian taught from the scriptures. Our aim was to encourage them to increase in faith and love and hope that they might come closer to God. Meanwhile, Erin spent the afternoon at Amani Baby Cottage teaching and caring for the young ones.

Roughly 100 kids between the ages of 11-18 showed up for the two day conference. The cost was around two American dollars and if they didn’t want to eat it was free. The “theme” of the conference was “get active”. The intent was to equip and encourage kids in discovering, developing and using their gifts to serve the body and reach out to the lost. During the mornings there was worship and presentations and three teaching sessions. Each of us taught from the scriptures at one of the sessions. In the afternoons we spent time playing volleyball and futbol among other things with the youth as well as observed their dance and drama presentations they had put together to encourage one another. Overall the conference was a success and the youth were genuinely encouraged and strengthened in their understanding of who they are in Christ. I was able to spend some good one-on-one time with a few of the youth teaching them from the scriptures.

Sunday we helped lead worship for two services held here at CCJinja. After the fellowship meetings Ian and I headed to the prisons and Erin headed out for Amani to spend the afternoon loving the toddlers. At main prison Ian and I met with the fellowship which has formed within the general convict section which is directly above where we were on Tuesday. This time Ian shared his testimony along with some other things on his heart first and then I spoke next. I shared my testimony and then taught the prisoners from the scriptures about God’s love for them and how much He’s thinking good things about them about how they’re His poem. As a result of this God wants to love other people through them. This was the main thrust and it had a good response from the prisoners. I think the count by the prison officials was 109 prisoners crammed into narrow dirty hallways worshiped and meet with the living God.

I’ve been praying to learn from the poor and the children while on this trip. And this day I felt as if God answered as I watched one of the prisoners during a time of greeting and announcements; which I explain in the following poem. First I would like to say how strange the prisons are here. In America visiting prisoners is a heavily regulated and monitored. In Uganda at the maximum security prison we entered without any identification without any check, except for asking if we carried phones or money, and proceeded unsupervised into the very quarters of inmates and worshiped the living God with them, our brothers. It was unnerving at first but the Spirit brought us power in the midst of offensive smells and sights. Now the poem…


Main Prison Teaching (08.24.08)
Inspired by seeing Stephen give some used clothing to an impoverished prisoner at the bible study at main prison

Today these prisoners
are my teachers
their simple complex faces
are painted with a mixture of colors
hues of curiosity and pensive moods
testing my words for black or white
they listen with open ears
and I with open eyes
that see the poor
come low even bowing
to receive wrinkled, mismatched
used clothing no one would buy
in better lands

Pleated khaki pants with cuffs
white undershirt with mysterious red stain
he grabs them firmly
with brown sandpaper hands
still dirty from digging in the garden
my eyes trace up along
his stringy insect-like arms
whose fat has been chiseled away
by disease or too little food
and seeing his face
I find the richest
expressions of humility and gratefulness
in a smile, in the joy
beaming through his eyes
which peer through layers
of tears that could pour
endlessly from the well spring of his soul

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
theirs is the kingdom
and heaven came to him
there in the prison
and the brown man silent
spoke to me “do you see
what I receive
or only pants and shirt?”
as if in a single sentence
to expose the delusion,
the convulsive addiction,
the pedestal of wealth
I look out from
as if to spot the smoke
of fires that threaten
the framework below me
He calls me to climb down
and cross through
the needle’s eye
no matter what the cost


Prayer requests:

Today we attempted to hold a youth conference and time of encouragement and gift giving to the kids at the village of Lumuli but due to a scheduling conflict we were forced to move it to Thursday. Of course we had to first drive all the way to the village to find out. Please pray for God to move in power and fill the youth with His Spirit.

Also, we are taking a two-day break on Tuesday and Wednesday to go on a safari on the northwest side of the country. Please ask for God to keep His hand over us.

Lastly the youth assistant has come down with a bad case of malaria. The medicine he’s taking seems not to be working. Please ask God to accelerate his recovery.

Additional praise report:

I’ve been able to speak encouragement to and share visions and pictures with 6 people so far who are on staff here or, in one case, here from another country for a few weeks. Pray God continues to refresh the staff here.

Your brother,
Lee

Today (08.20.08) the sand volleyball court repairs were completed in the morning time. The tools we had to work with were, how shall I say, pre-historic and made it very difficult compared to what we would encounter in the states. However, I was grateful to have done this labor in place of the members of this fellowship knowing they would have had to use the same tools to do the same job. It is good to sweat for the Lord among the other ways we serve Him.

After the morning labor was finished Ian and I went to Remand Prison. This is a prison where men are held after being arrested while awaiting trial. Men can be incarcerated 2,3,4 years without receiving trial. Innocent men can be held captive for exceptionally long periods of time due to the fact in Uganda you are guilty before being found innocent.

After meeting with some of the inmates we worshiped in the traditional Ugandan style of hand drums and voices unplugged, unhindered and passionate. I wasn't able to understand the words they were saying but I sang in the Spirit and this is a language common to God's family.

After worship Stephen, the pastor of the prisons, introduced Ian and I and had each of us share our testimonies. It's hard to express in this micro clip the movement of the Spirit as we shared but He was there. Each of us shared aspects of our testimonies as the Spirit led.

After testimonies I shared from the scriptures about the victory Christ has won for us, that we are being led in victory, we are free from condemnation and as a result we are free to love courageously and serve God and one another. I shared from a number of passages most notably Colossians 2:14-16 and 2 Corinthians 2:13-15. I told them I wasn’t qualified to speak to them but I came in the love of God and that by His grace I am what I am. It was really awesome. I spoke for maybe 40 minutes. Afterwards we worshipped again and then Ian and I prayed over the prisoners (somewhere between 60 and 80 men) and then took time to greet and encourage them.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to take any pictures to show you, so instead we put a picture of the African sunrise that Ian took. After the prison ministry we helped lead worship for the Wednesday evening bible study. Erin spent most of the day serving at Amani Baby Cottage about which she will tell you more later.

Thursday 08.21.08 we are going to construct some futbol goal posts for the youth. In the afternoon Ian will teach the condemned men at the prison after we share our testimonies. Please pray for the Spirit to fall.

Lee

Hello again! It is Tuesday night here in Jinja, Uganda and I wanted to share with you what happened earlier today. I was able to go with the women of this church to a women's prison called Kirinya. We are able to visit these women for two hours once a week. I had never experienced anything like this before, and it definitely impacted me greatly. When we arrived, the women started coming in, and I saw how loving and friendly these Ugandan women truly are. They all greeted us very kindly with a handshake or a huge hug.
A woman named Danielle heads up this ministry, and before we got started she was explaining to me about how these women ended up in Kirinya. The one story that impacted me the most was that of a girl, who was declared "half mad" by her village. They did not want to put up with her, and so when she stole two pieces of fruit they sent her to this prison because they simply did not want her. Having heard this, I did not know what to think. Could people really do that to another human being? Our culture is such a dark place. And so our goal with this ministry is to share with these women about the Light that can be found amongst all of this darkness.
Today we finished the movie "The Passion" by Mel Gibson. They had started it last week, and we started it up again with the scene of Jesus carrying His cross to be crucified. As I was sitting among all of these women, I was noticing some were crying and some were just staring at the TV. wondering if this story had actually happened. After it had finished, Danielle and her interpreter began sharing the Gospel with these women. God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for us. And since He rose again, He is now knocking on the door of our hearts wanting to be invited in. After Danielle had finished her message, we prayed together and asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ into their life. One woman raised her hand, and wanted Jesus to come into her life! Praise God! We told her the angels in heaven were rejoicing because of her decision. One woman left today anew in Christ, and I cannot begin to share how much joy that brought me! My prayer is for her to stay strong in her new faith and not let her environment bring her down. That she would continue to grow and seek counsel as a new believer.
I left the prison today feeling a since of sorrow for these women because of the environment they are in, but I also was feeling overjoyed because Jesus' love overpowered that dark place and another daughter has returned home to her heavenly Father. I ask for prayer for these women in Kirinya and that they find their hope in Jesus Christ.
I hope everyone is well and I look forward to sharing more with you very soon!

God bless!
~Erin

Wow! God is working mightily on the other side of the world!!! It has been a couple days since we have posted a blog, so I will try to catch you up to speed. The Sunday Morning services for Calvary Chapel Jinja were such a blessing. The pastor who speaks on Sunday mornings is an Acholi local of Uganda named JB. It has been amazing to here some of his story as we have spent time serving with him at the church. When JB was about 20 years old, his sister was murdered right in front of his eyes (this was back in the early 90’s when things were extremely ugly in Northern Uganda). JB was then kidnapped by the rebels who beat him repeatedly and took him into Sudan. By the grace of God, JB led seven other Ugandans in escaping and returning to Uganda. JB is now 37 years old with a wonderful wife and four kids, serving as a pastor at Calvary Jinja.

It was amazing to hear JB teach out of Colossians on Sunday morning. I could not believe as I was listening to the sermon that JB never made it past a 4th grade education level!!! The authority, power, and knowledge with which he spoke moved me to tears. It is so true what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 about God using the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. The wise were put to shame Sunday morning as JB taught the Word of God.

At the end of the service a 17-yr-old Muslim boy named Rasoul was saved! I got to counsel him for a while on salvation, basic Christian living, and growing in Jesus. Rasoul’s mother is dead and his father lives in Sudan, but he has not been able to find his father for six years. Rasoul has a twin sister who is still Muslim, so please pray for her salvation! The picture above is of me with Rasoul Sunday morning.

The last two mornings (Monday and Tuesday) we have been doing some grueling manual labor to try to restore the church’s sand volley ball court in time for the youth conference this weekend. Yesterday afternoon (Monday) we traveled to the village of Lumuli about an hour away from Jinja to encourage the women of the village at a women’s Bible study. The village was very poor, much like Igluibi. All three of us shared our testimonies and the Lord really blessed our time.

Today after working on the volleyball court, Erin went to help out in a women’s prison. Lee and I have been preparing sermons for later this week. Tomorrow (Wednesday) Lee is speaking in a men’s prison for about 80 convicts. On Thursday I will be preaching for the “condemned”—about 50 men on death-row. All three of us will be teaching at the Calvary youth conference this weekend. We would appreciate your prayers! Thank you

--Ian

Recap & Reflections From Lee

Hello everyone,

I hope this message finds you well. Yesterday (Saturday 08.16) Erin spent the morning at Amani Baby Cottage and loved the children while Ian and I practiced with the fledgling worship team here at CC Jinja. We have been encouraging them and instructing them on technical aspects of playing instruments and playing as a group but more importantly about our heart in worship and what worship means to us. In the afternoon and evening we spent time with the youth at the youth group and played games with them and encouraged them.

This morning we helped lead worship at two different services. It was shocking how many people thanked us for the beautiful music. I didn't really know how to react but was grateful none-the-less. It made me think of how blessed Calvary Corvallis is with talented and anointed musicians. Tomorrow we will have a meeting in the morning to plan out our ministry schedule at the prisons and the youth conference happening at CC Jinja later this week. In the afternoon we plan to spend time volunteering at Amani's.
Below is a poem I wrote trying to capture my sentiments at the youth conference we put on in Igluibi on Friday.

Two Spheres (08.16.08)

I am a world
trying to understand another
enclosed within the spheres
formed by our cultures
should we collide
there are the many layers
of inoculations and antibiotics
of hand sanitizer and bottled water
of deodorant and beautified skin
which insulates us one from another
even if I could understand
their words, their language
is still a mystery
when God confused Babel
more was lost than speech
one saw pink another blue
one said life another profit
one heard compassion another death

And so I sit
holding a toddler
whose cracked leathery chocolate
skin is encrusted with the dust
of a world millions of years old
the tattered rag of a dress
hanging from her body
is a mystery
as to its original colors
as much as how she got it
and when I speak
I feel like a man
visiting a prisoner
and the two speak
through telephones
separated by two inch thick
sterile polycarbonate window
even the fiercest bullet
could not penetrate

Jawm-bo (how are you)
boo-loon-goo (fine)
but as her smile expands
so large as to reveal
the beautiful brown hope
held captive in her eyes
I realize love
is the bridge, is the language
we were meant to cross
we were meant to speak
from the beginning, the Father spoke
saying I am the Love
what is my height and width and depth
an unending song
sung since the dawn
that brings light
to the smile of the poor
and shame to the boast of the rich
the Love that fell on us today
as we sat
together, and worshiped