8 months later . . .

It is hard to imagine that it has been almost 8 months since Canby Christian Church's mission team left Kacungwa.  So much happened in the time we were there, and God continues to do so much in the small village that is not even on a map - but is certainly close to His heart!

I've told myself that I was going to quit blogging here, but it's a habit that is hard to break - particularly when there is so much happening!  Let me share a few things that have really been on my heart recently...

First off, most of you who have kept up with the mission trip and have read the blog, are familiar with our visit to the high school near Kacungwa (see the post titled 153 and Everything ).  While we were there, 153 of the students (see John 21:11) accepted Christ and as a result a new church was started there that very day.  Renee received the following update from Yoram, the project manager at the Child Development Project at Kacungwa about that new church that I want to share with you:

Renee thank you too for being such a blessing unto us-the people of Kacungwa.

The church was really started and its in high gear and so far we are having sunday morning fellowships with the boarding students as the majority were day students. we are also having lunch hour meetings every Wednesday as it was crowned the day of prayer and fasting at school by the Born again students.

What you witnessed among the children on that day is now the reality as the Demons do manifest among the students in different sicknesses but the students from Kacungwa have been able to stand to overcome that. Amen, The school is now free.

Oh Renee, may God bless you and your family and the whole church family at large.

Yoram

It could be easy to walk away feeling content that God had done a good thing with us in the time we were there, but God used Canby Christian Church and the team who went to truly change lives and is continuing His good work there through the local church in Kacungwa!  Praise God for His great love.

Something else that continues to haunt all of us who went, as well as those of you who have read the blog, is the young girl who died of Malaria while were there.


In this picture, Dr. Martin from ARM's medical ministry is examining the young girl who was carried into the 1-day clinic by her father.  She had been getting progressively worse over several weeks and her father had no options for medical care for his beautiful young daughter.  She died of Malaria later that day, leaving us all heart-broken and her father in agonizing grief.  But the story doesn't end there (thank You God!!!)  In working with ARM, Dr. Martin and the village of Kacungwa, we are on our way to getting a medical clinic established in the village that will be able to provide medical care to help prevent treatable tragedies like this from happening in the future.  You cannot truly know the need until you see something like this personally.  Canby Christian Church has been put in a position to change people's lives in this small village and the surrounding area.  We are truly being used by God to impact lives - how can we do anything but respond as God calls?

Something else that just continues to amaze me is that it wasn't just a 2-week trip to Uganda that our team went on - it is a lifetime of impact and change.  Let me share something that happened with me personally that I am just now coming to know the details about...

When we were leaving the village of Kacungwa, it was a tearful goodbye.  We had a parting ceremony with the entire village showing up to see us off.  Finally, we loaded into the van and started to drive away.  As we were just starting to move, a woman ran up to me with tears in her eyes and reached her hands out towards me.  I put my hand out to shake her hand and instead of shaking it, she put a rolled up piece of paper in it.  When she did, she gave me a smile like she had accomplished what she set out to do.  It wasn't until several miles down the road when the raw emotions of the departure had subsided a bit that I was able to open my hand and see what she had given me.  It was this picture of herself and  her 4 children. 

I was not entirely sure why she had run up to give us a picture of her family, but I have kept that picture close and hoped to find out one day.  I thought that maybe she wanted us to have a picture of her children so they  might be sponsored.  Well, through the miracle of technology and Facebook, I was finally realized that I could scan a copy of the picture and send to Rose (the AMAZING social worker in Kacungwa) and ask her if she knew the family and why the woman wanted us to have the picture of her family.  Here is Rose's reply:

Dave that is Ms. Muhairwe and her family she had missed u praying for her during the home visits as u had prayed for her neighbour, she requests to pray for her family.

I recall that there were several families not home as we delivered mosquito nets in the village and how powerful the time of prayer was with the families (I am forever changed by being blessed to pray for the woman's sick baby).  To think that having our prayers was so important to her that she would make this last effort to get her family's pictures into my hands still has me humbled.  God has also reminded me that every person has hopes and dreams and that He calls us to love, not judge them.

I keep this picture close by as a reminder of the impact that we can have, through God, in the lives of the people in the village of Kacungwa, half a world away.

All of us who represented Canby Christian Church in Uganda, have begun to understand the needs there and the value of our presence.  We also are all continually drawn to pray for and love the people we met there, and, as the experience with Ms Muhairwe has shown me, even the people we didn't get a chance to meet. 

There are a village of children and adults who need and rely on our love and prayers.  Please take this as a reminder to keep that fresh in your minds and love as God has called us to love!  Never doubt for a second the impact that your prayers have in the lives of the small village of Kacungwa.  

Mukama Yebazibwe!!!

Dave