I have no greater joy to share that in Christ Jesus the beneficiaries from the BeFriend Project our church sponsored in Adjumani, Uganda 5 years ago is doing very well! I had the honor and privilege in October of 2019 to go to Uganda and work alongside LIA in Adjumani. It was Phase 2 of the project and we got to see the work of their hands up close and personally. We saw "Seeds of Generosity" Savings Groups and bible studies being formed in the Refugee Settlements and in the communities outside of Adjumani along the Nile River basin. We got to encourage churches there through prayer, worship and vision planning and in the Settlements as they launched partnerships with LIA's leadership. We supported beneficiaries with school fee assistance in several of the Adjumani districts while visiting the schools in which beneficiaries were going. We helped set up a pharmacy and mercantile store in the refugee settlement camps using Lifeline's Shipping Containers that Crestwood Southeast packed with food. We made home visits where we listened to the widows, refugees and various other fragmented family units share the struggles, burdens and needs that were pressing in on them. We shared the gospel and got to see several lives transformed by it's power of hope and restoration. This was 5 years ago when 1st generations of the BeFriend Project were being established and poured into through LIA's wholistic model.
5 years later on July 10th we embarked on the return to the communities in Adjumani. Before going there, we were asked by LIA's Uganda leader, Samuel Kibi to go with him into Buikwe, a district outside of Jinga where they had begun 1st generational engagement and empowerment. We met with Savings Groups and listened to their vision and dreams. We heard success stories already from several of their members and how God was using their faithfulness in working and saving to bless others outside the church and in the church. We assisted with an all day medical clinic and prayed with those who came from all over to receive medical treatments. During this time two Muslim women who were separated from their husbands asked how do they become Christians. Keri and I led them through prayer and they said they were going back into their communities to be baptized by the pastor of the church there. Unspeakable JOY! We met with pastors and listened to their concerns and various needs. Lee and I shared at KoKo Church as husband and wife. Pastor Joseph celebrated marriages within his church, praised his wife and modeled how a godly man should cherish his wife. It made sense afterward why Samuel had asked us to share that morning. We encouraged the parishioners to persevere in spite of the obstacles ahead using the story of Caleb the spy who only saw what God could do and was not afraid to go up against giants ahead of them. In spite of popular opinion, we encouraged them to press on and do what God has commanded them to do. We danced with the church, sang, prayed and fellowshipped around a meal. The prayer for this community and for LIA would be centered around generational empowerment up to 2nd and 3rd generations within the groups they are establishing and training. The LIA model goes through 5 stages and they need the man power and the resources to train and make relationships that will carry on the training. Entrusting the community with the sustaining model of wholistic transformation is our end goal prayer for Buikwe. Our prayer is for more church participation, medical clinics to be run by the communities, bible studies and saving groups extending their arm of fellowship and forming new groups and for pastors to plant more churches meeting the needs of the communities spiritually and educationally involving all the community in generational transformation.
The following day we left for Adjumani on a small MAF plane out of Kajjanzi with Samuel Kibi leading us. Upon arrival, we who had been there before realized there had been quite the transformation. Physically dirt roads were paved or being paved in main areas. The main town area wasn't just bars and liquor stores. There were businesses, market places, shops, hotels and resturaunts. The hurt and disillusionment in the eyes of the people we had seen before wasn't as prevalent. We checked into a new hotel that was more than adequate for our needs during the week. In fact God provided an extra interpreter through the driver of our vehicle. The original driver deserted us and the hotel supplied a man named Ben. He was a born again believer who once seeing what we were doing after visiting a team of pastors that shared God Stories with us about their communities, their church visions and dreams, joined in introductions, prayers, encouraging with scripture and interpreting for us. Only God can do this. We went back to most all the places we served 5 years ago. We participated in a Medical Clinic providing assistance and prayer/counseling sessions. We saw that the Pharmacy and Mercantile store in the Refugee camp was well established and run by the community. We met with Pastor Savior and his wife Florence who live and oversee a church in the refugee settlement area. They took us out into the communities to celebrate 3rd generational groups that had been birthed by the 1st generational groups. It was beyond our expectations. We got to listen to their visions and dreams pray alongside them and encourage them. We saw Pastors mentoring other pastors and their wives, we heard testimonies from Savings Groups about the businesses they had started and that now were able to make loans to others in their communities who wanted to start their own businesses. We went to Pastor James' school, Christian Academy that was bringing together waring tribes children that hated one another but in school their children were learning how to be missionaries within the settlement because all children in the settlement were invited to come. We watched Samuel Kibi admonish the groups with encouragement and motivation to continue on and not to ask others to do things for them that they can do for themselves. I'm thankful to get to share this with you. The Befriend Project that God entrusted on our hearts at Crestwood Southeast Campus 5 years ago accomplished more than we could have imagined. It would be pure joy to return to serve once again in Uganda and participate in God's wholistic transformative work through LIA . Please pray for them to be able to continue to do this work. Pray for God to show our church how to support them in all that God has called them to do.
5 years later on July 10th we embarked on the return to the communities in Adjumani. Before going there, we were asked by LIA's Uganda leader, Samuel Kibi to go with him into Buikwe, a district outside of Jinga where they had begun 1st generational engagement and empowerment. We met with Savings Groups and listened to their vision and dreams. We heard success stories already from several of their members and how God was using their faithfulness in working and saving to bless others outside the church and in the church. We assisted with an all day medical clinic and prayed with those who came from all over to receive medical treatments. During this time two Muslim women who were separated from their husbands asked how do they become Christians. Keri and I led them through prayer and they said they were going back into their communities to be baptized by the pastor of the church there. Unspeakable JOY! We met with pastors and listened to their concerns and various needs. Lee and I shared at KoKo Church as husband and wife. Pastor Joseph celebrated marriages within his church, praised his wife and modeled how a godly man should cherish his wife. It made sense afterward why Samuel had asked us to share that morning. We encouraged the parishioners to persevere in spite of the obstacles ahead using the story of Caleb the spy who only saw what God could do and was not afraid to go up against giants ahead of them. In spite of popular opinion, we encouraged them to press on and do what God has commanded them to do. We danced with the church, sang, prayed and fellowshipped around a meal. The prayer for this community and for LIA would be centered around generational empowerment up to 2nd and 3rd generations within the groups they are establishing and training. The LIA model goes through 5 stages and they need the man power and the resources to train and make relationships that will carry on the training. Entrusting the community with the sustaining model of wholistic transformation is our end goal prayer for Buikwe. Our prayer is for more church participation, medical clinics to be run by the communities, bible studies and saving groups extending their arm of fellowship and forming new groups and for pastors to plant more churches meeting the needs of the communities spiritually and educationally involving all the community in generational transformation.
The following day we left for Adjumani on a small MAF plane out of Kajjanzi with Samuel Kibi leading us. Upon arrival, we who had been there before realized there had been quite the transformation. Physically dirt roads were paved or being paved in main areas. The main town area wasn't just bars and liquor stores. There were businesses, market places, shops, hotels and resturaunts. The hurt and disillusionment in the eyes of the people we had seen before wasn't as prevalent. We checked into a new hotel that was more than adequate for our needs during the week. In fact God provided an extra interpreter through the driver of our vehicle. The original driver deserted us and the hotel supplied a man named Ben. He was a born again believer who once seeing what we were doing after visiting a team of pastors that shared God Stories with us about their communities, their church visions and dreams, joined in introductions, prayers, encouraging with scripture and interpreting for us. Only God can do this. We went back to most all the places we served 5 years ago. We participated in a Medical Clinic providing assistance and prayer/counseling sessions. We saw that the Pharmacy and Mercantile store in the Refugee camp was well established and run by the community. We met with Pastor Savior and his wife Florence who live and oversee a church in the refugee settlement area. They took us out into the communities to celebrate 3rd generational groups that had been birthed by the 1st generational groups. It was beyond our expectations. We got to listen to their visions and dreams pray alongside them and encourage them. We saw Pastors mentoring other pastors and their wives, we heard testimonies from Savings Groups about the businesses they had started and that now were able to make loans to others in their communities who wanted to start their own businesses. We went to Pastor James' school, Christian Academy that was bringing together waring tribes children that hated one another but in school their children were learning how to be missionaries within the settlement because all children in the settlement were invited to come. We watched Samuel Kibi admonish the groups with encouragement and motivation to continue on and not to ask others to do things for them that they can do for themselves. I'm thankful to get to share this with you. The Befriend Project that God entrusted on our hearts at Crestwood Southeast Campus 5 years ago accomplished more than we could have imagined. It would be pure joy to return to serve once again in Uganda and participate in God's wholistic transformative work through LIA . Please pray for them to be able to continue to do this work. Pray for God to show our church how to support them in all that God has called them to do.
