Blog 11 - Faith Project

Today was a day full of surprises and a day to rely on God to guide us and pull through. It was also a day of growth and a day of revelation for the whole team. And it was also a nice rest day for Geerte and Jonathan.
So to start off with, on Tuesday the students were surprised in the morning by their leaders and were told they were doing a faith project the whole day. Basically they would be sent off in the morning and weren’t allowed to come back until late that evening and had to rely on God for where to go, what ministries to do, and for food and water throughout the day. Originally they were supposed to find a way to stay the night somewhere but after consulting with the locals they realized it is not the safest thing to do in Africa. The team prayed in the morning and felt like they were supposed to head off to town. So at 9:00 with 25,000 UGX (which they couldn’t use for transportation, 6 euros) and a couple water bottles they headed off for the day. We walked down to the main road and decided to pray for how to get into town with no money and there was no way we could walk as it is over 10km into town. As we were praying a taxi pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride into town and we explained our situation and a young local decided that he would pay our fare for us. Now this isn’t a traditional taxi you all are thinking of, this is a Ugandan taxi. The floor is so rusted that there are holes in it and you can see the road passing by underneath your feet from inside the van and we managed to fit 21 people inside of this average-sized van! It was quite the experience and it was a great start to the day to see how God pulled through.

In town we prayed and Josh got the word angel but didn’t know what it meant and we felt like we were supposed to go to the Nile. On the way to the Nile we stopped in a couple shops and shared what we were doing in Uganda and encouraged them and shared the gospel. Sarah and John also stopped and talked with a man called Uncle Sebowa who used to live in Seattle, Washington (across the border near John’s place) and studied Chemical Engineering in the States and had been around John’s area numerous times. He seemed like a really awesome guy and invited us for dinner later that day once we explained our situation and we were all very excited for this as we headed on our way. Once we got through town, we prayed again and confirmed our idea of the Nile. We began the short trek to the source of the Nile when we were passing by a Hindu Temple which caught our eye. As we entered into the Hindu Temple it was cool to be able to pray in the middle of it and experience another culture/religion but it was super heavy spiritually. Josh decided to take a step outside and a local came up to him and asked for help and explained his problem to Josh. He had a daughter in the Hospital and was recently laid-off ad couldn’t find a job anywhere or find any source of income and his family was starving and his kids didn’t have enough food, so Josh encouraged him to bring his problems to God and also prayed for him. Once the rest of the team came out of the temple, Josh explained the situation and without discussing it, Josh and John both immediately got the idea to give 5000 UGX to the man.
But the man had disappeared and we weren’t sure which direction he had gone. We prayed about it and got the idea to keep following the road to the Nile and low and behold, we caught up the man just as he was entering into his home right beside the Nile and we were able to call him over to give the money to him and pray for him as a team. When we gave him the money, tears began to form in his eyes and he clutched the money tight in his hands and held it close to his heart and we could really tell that God had used us to reach out to the man. As Stevie said, it was the most meaningful experience for such a small amount of money (1,25 euros) that he had ever seen. After that we continued down the road to the source of the Nile to see if there was anything else for us to do and if anything just to get a photo with the team and the Nile. We were walking down the road and as we stepped off to the side on to some grass to take a photo and rest, two policemen came by and told us that we were trespassing and told us we were supposed to pay a fine. And if we didn’t comply they would bring us to the office and arrest us. Now there were no signs, no wall, nothing to indicate we couldn’t be walking where we were, it was literally 10 m off the side of the road in a grassy field and we explained our situation to them and gave them the rest of the money we had and eventually they let us go. It was definitely a strange and slightly scary encounter dealing with the Ugandan authorities.

We decided to head back in towards town to a football field that Josh noticed and when we got there Sarah got the idea to do a house visits. As we were praying about where to go next, a little boy came up to us and wanted us to follow him and we met his sister whose name was Angel! The same name which Josh received earlier in town! So we followed her to a big catholic church where she attended with her family and then we went and visited with her family. Her house was just a tarp held up by some sticks in the middle of a field and it didn’t really have any proper walls. Her newborn baby sister was sleeping in a cardboard box outside! Angel’s family was super happy to see us and her grandfather started to get very emotional. We were able to bless the family by praying for them and providing a few devotions for them which Sarah led and they were just so appreciative of us being there. It was super cool to be used by God in that way again. After that we returned to town and had a rest as we were super tired and hadn’t eaten all day and it was already 3:00.

We did some more ministries in the shops and talked to people around town and then at 4:15 without any food or water and with it starting to POUR rain we decided just to wait for Uncle Sebowa. But after an hour and a half of being hungry and frustrated and phoning him and waiting for him, we decided to leave and make the trek back to Suubi house. We had a gnarly time trying to get somebody to take us back to the base for free and after 45 min we finally got a taxi to bring us back. We arrived at the Suubi house to Jonah and Geerte and explained our day to them and honestly, it was a very positive experience despite not having food or water since 9 that morning. There was no food at the base so Josh and John headed down the road to get chapatis and then everyone was happy.

All things considered it was definitely a cool experience to fully trust on God and follow his lead for the whole day and have the freedom to go where we choose. It was one of the most memorable experiences of the outreach so far and it was incredible how God was able to use us.