the uttermost parts of Africa

On Friday afternoon we went to visit a Congolese refugee family (1 mom, 3 daughters, 1 son) that was chased out of Congo a year ago. When they moved here the mom was prostituting herself to get money, but has since given that up. They live in a place worse than the slums, but better than the refugee camp they were in. There are refugees from Rwanda and many other places that live by them. One of the guys who lives by them called the 7 year old daughter into his house and raped her only a month ago. She not only has to get tested because she could be HIV positive, but she has flashbacks every night when she’s trying to sleep. The lady’s son got ran over by a car and is in the hospital right now. All of this started happening after she gave her life to the Lord, and she now wants to commit suicide. Things affect me here, but this is one of the only things that has brought me to tears. Our hearts were broken for this family. We are in trying to find them new living arrangements right now, but it’s not easy. Please keep them in your prayers.

Friday night my bus left for what some would call one of “the uttermost parts of Africa”-Paidha Village in West Nile. It was the longest, most uncomfortable, claustrophobic bus ride of my life! But I’m not complaining…Praise the Lord we made it there safe. There were a couple times I was sure we were going to die. We arrived at the home we stayed at, at 4:30 AM, and because it’s a legit village there’s absolutely NO electricity, so it was pitch black, except for the small light coming out of the lantern.

Did I mention it was a LEGIT village?! I was so stoked! There were huts everywhere! They go gather water, the bathroom is a whole in the ground outside, and you bathe in a basin. The huts were surrounded by beautiful green grass, there were children playing everywhere, and the people were so sweet.

Our purpose in going there was to help the children’s ministry at the church and to do door to door evangelism. There are hundreds of kids there and they all love to come to church! We made bracelets and played games with them, and helped the leaders of the ministry. Then we did door to door evangelism where we got to encourage a lot of believers and share the gospel with the unsaved. Although we didn’t see anyone give their lives to the Lord as we went door to door, it was still such a blessing.

There’s a lot of spiritual warfare that goes on in that village, a lot of witchcraft. If you ask a lot of the people how they sleep at night, they’ll tell you not very well. There are many stories about witches bothering certain homes at night. Some of the parents who are into witchcraft or believe in it but don’t want to be bewitched will wear charms and have their children wear charms for protection. Many of the kids we saw came from homes like that, or homes where their parents just get drunk all the time. They were normally running around by themselves, or following us from hut to hut because their parents don’t take care of them.

Praise the Lord witches are threatened by Jesus and don’t bother believers. They just want Christians to leave them alone. So we didn’t really have to experience any spiritual warfare in that sense. The only thing I really experienced externally, was that I got really sick the second night we were there. To be sick in a village is not fun. I lost my appetite for the rest of the time, so I was feeling pretty weak for the last three days we were there.

I met a madman the last night we were there. He tried to steal something from someone and they bewitched him three months ago. Just a month ago he was trying to kill children. He was standing just outside the home I was staying at because he knew the family that lived there and was good friends with them before he went crazy. My friend talked to him and prayed for him, and then he wanted to talk to me and started walking towards me, so I made a b-line into the house. He wanted to come inside! We told him no, so he hung out outside for a while and eventually left.

We arrived back yesterday (Wednesday) to a warm “welcome back”. I love the church family here! This trip was amazing and one I will never forget. It taught me a lot about being grateful for what I have, (i.e. running water, electricity) and about my lack of patience and compassion; I'm praying the Lord works on those areas of my heart.

Some of the things the Lord showed me in His Word while I was there:

Hosea 10:12, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

Luke 5:16, “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

Hebrews 11:25-26- Moses took the best the world had to offer and compared it to the worst the Lord had to offer and chose to follow the Lord, suffering affliction with the people of God rather than enjoying the passing pleasures of sin; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of this world.

Hebrews 12:28, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

The Lord is great and greatly to be praised! He is doing a great work in that village and I feel so blessed to have been able to be there, and to just be able to experience everything here. Like… white water rafting down the Nile in Jinja this weekend?! Ummm yes, please!