My plans vs. God's plans

You would think that I would have learned by now...

When our team started this blog way back when, we anticipated that this would be a record of our mission trip to Uganda and a way to keep people connected to what we were doing while we were there.  That part, from all reports, was successful.  I felt like I wanted to put a big "period" at the end of the blog at some point and wrap it up.  But there is more going on that just needs to be told and as I was looking at the name of the blog - CCC-Uganda-2012 - I realized that it wasn't CCC-Uganda-February-2012, it was much more than that.

God has much bigger plans that I do, and I seem to be continually reminded of that.  The work that He has for us goes well beyond the 2 week trip that we took to Uganda.  It happened after we returned and we saw all of the children we had needing sponsorship get sponsored - and more are coming.

It happened when we learned that God has placed it on somebody's heart to provide the money to purchase the ground-nut husking machine for the village of Kachungwa.  There are more, but let me get to the point...

Back in June or July of last year when we very first started planning for the mission trip, we were dreaming about all of what God may be doing in Kachungwa.  We discussed the possibility of helping build a medical clinic there.  As we struggled to raise money for the trip, the thought that we could raise $50,000 - $100,000 to build a medical clinic seemed out of reach. 

When we were in Kachungwa and saw the tremendous need for a medical clinic and talked with Dr. Martin, the ARM leadership and the medical team from Oklahoma, it became obvious to all that God is involving us in His plan to do just that.  All of the sudden, when the Creator of the universe gets involved, those numbers don't seem so big and we are confident that He will make it happen through His body (the church).

Here is a comment from the Oklahoma medical team's blog regarding their arrival at Kachungwa and later a medical facility in Mubende where they took the sick child who died of malaria:

There is not a medical facility close to this village.  The last time that Africa Renewal Ministries operated a clinic in [Kachungwa], they took 14 doctors and 20 nurses and saw 700+ people in one day.  We had some worries as we thought that after it was announced that a medical team was coming, that they would anticipate the same big team, and we did not have near that many.  When we finally bumped our way across the dirt roads to reach Kachungwa, there was a line of people waiting on us, as expected. 

Our driver, David, obtained info from the father that she had been sick for 2 weeks and had not gone for care because of lack of money and no way for transportation.  After a long day of clinic and seeing around 475 people, we headed  back to Mubende and our hotel.  We stopped by the regional hospital to check on the little girl, on our way home.

The “ward” in this regional hospital reminded me of barns that we showed pigs in when I was in high school.  Not the fancy ones like the one in Duncan, but the cruddy ones like in smaller towns.  There were probably 50 kids stacked in beds closer together than bunks at Falls Creek cabins.  All of these kids with IVs, and looking quite ill.  That shocked me.  Honestly, this is now my 6^th week (total) in Uganda in the past 13 months, and I was not ready for it.  This whole scene was not OK with me!

Actually, let me include a more lengthy description of a "hospital" that Neal recorded in the last team's blog.  For the record, it is exactly the words that you will read next that God used to reach into my heart and lead me to Uganda!  Read on.......

To explain what we experienced at the hospital, I would like you to take your thoughts about what a hospital looks like and throw it away. This hospital was one floor, and had many wings with courtyards in the middle. The buildings were not well maintained and it was common to see ants, cockroaches, and other crawly things in the buildings. What surprised me immediately was the amount of people who were "camping" out in the dirt and grass of the hospital. What we learned was that many of these people came from long distances and going home each day was not an option. The other sad fact was that the hospital provided no food, lodging, or basic supplies to the families OR the patients. So basically if you brought your sick child to the hospital, it was still your responsibility to feed them, bath them, and take care of them. The reality was that the hospital was over extended beyond imagine. We estimated that the hospital had 3 times the amount of patients that it could handle. This meant sick children were outside, on the concrete floor, laying in feces and many dying before our eyes. Let me tell you about a couple instances.

Our first stop at the hospital was in the area where malnourished children were. Of the 40 mothers who held their sick babies, roughly 15 were found outside, sitting in the heat. As we met with them and explained why we were there, my eyes could not budge from a mother who held in her arms a baby, skin and bones on the verge of death. The mom's face told me everything. The child had a bilateral cleft lip, which made it impossible for the baby latch and nurse. The reality was that this baby needed sever and immediate medical attention, most likely a feeding tube and then surgery. But none of these things were offered or available. I pray that God would take care of that child, but I fear that in time it will die. This is life in Uganda, and it is a hard reality.

After visiting the malnourished children, we moved to a section of the building where children were sick or suffering from a variety of problems. Malaria, sickle cell, impoverishment, worms, and other serious problems. As we walk toward the 30ftx30ft room which has about 25 beds in it, I am overwhelmed by the mass of parents and sick children who poured into the room from the outside courtyard. We waited a few minutes to allow them to make it into the room before our team would head in. We go in without medicine, medical knowledge, food or answers. What we did have in materials was small. About 20 quilts and willing hearts. The room was between 90-100 degrees and the humidity was unbelievably heavy. Although there were only 25 beds, there were easily 75 children along with their parents piled in. On the floor. Along the wall. Wherever there was room. We shared the gospel message of hope and salvation, and then proceeded to go and pray with each family member. I realized quickly that I was going to need a deep faith to meet with these people because I had no food or medicine or solutions, but what I did have was the power of Christ in me. But believe me, although I KNEW this I still felt terrible coming with empty hands. So I prayed for healing, for salvation, and for hope when all things look so hopeless. If someone was going to help, it was going to have to be God. What a humbling experience. While we were there, one child died even as we prayed. Our time at the hospital shook us all pretty deeply. The ride home was a very quiet one.

"So I prayed for healing, for salvation, and for hope when all things look so hopeless."

I believe that God is answering this prayer and is using us in His work to heal the sick, bring salvation and offer hope to the hopeless!  We have the chance to be part of a great work of God to bring a medical clinic to Kachungwa.  It was, and is, still shocking to me that people in Uganda still turn to witch doctors for healing.  Let's be part of winning many away from the darkness and into the Light!

My natural tendency is to jump right in, [try to] raise a bunch of money and get this thing going!  But, those are my plans and not God's.  Our pastor Ken is working with the ARM leadership on timing, needs and we will be hearing more from him on the future plans for the clinic in Kachungwa.

I would like to ask everybody reading this to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY for what God is doing for this medical clinic, for the leadership of the Uganda doctors, for the ARM leadership and for everybody that God will at some time and in some way be included in His work.  If we don't pray, we are just spectators - if we do pray we are participants and our prayers WILL move God.

It is in the name of Jesus that we pray and believe that He will answer our prayers,

Dave

 

Oklahoma Medical Team Blog

This is way overdue, but I did want to get this link posted for the blog of the medical team from Oklahoma that we met in Kachungwa.  They are doing amazing work and I've read a few of their blog posts and it is a must read!

We had the privilege to break bread (actually it was Matoke and yams) with the Due Unto team

Bryan working alongside with the ARM, Kachungwa and Due Unto medical team

The link to the Due Unto blog is: http://dueunto.blogspot.com/

The post that they had from the day we were with them in Kachungwa is in February and titled "Our toughest day yet!"  You need to read this - and the whole blog as well!!!  There are some amazing stories there of the work this family is doing.

Please continue to pray for these dedicated people serving God and the people of Uganda!

Dave

Little Pencil - by Dave Howard

This past weekend, I was catching up on some work around the house and needed to clean up my office.  As I was clearing off my desk, I found a little red pencil.  Well, it wasn't so much found, as saw it sitting where I had left it when I had taken it out of my bag when I returned from Uganda.

The pencil is about 4 inches long, is red and has the words "Charbonneau Golf Club" written on the side.  This little red pencil was one that I had used during our fund-raising golf marathon back in September of last year - that seems so long ago now.  I really just kept it as a memory of the event, but there was something else about it - I just couldn't quite put my finger on it (sorry, the influence of Ken's puns hasn't completely worn off yet).

When I was packing my bags to go to Uganda, I was surprised to see that little pencil sitting near my bag and I thought I'd just throw it in because it had become kind of an important keepsake and I thought it was worth just carrying it with me.  After all, it had been part of starting the trip, why shouldn't it go along for the ride?

Back to cleaning my office...

Near where my pencil was laying, I found a piece of paper that was neatly folded.  As I opened it, I remembered why I had kept this particular piece of paper.  On it, I had written a couple of quotes I found that seemed appropriate for the little pencil.

The first one was one from Mother Theresa:

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

I thought that was REALLY cool when I first saw it.  It was hard to imagine that little pencil in the hand of God writing a love letter to the world - it was even harder to imagine ME being a little pencil that God would use.

The second quote was by Richard Sterns, President of World Vision, in his book "The Hole In Our Gospel" (I highly recommend this book):

"We are not authors, any of us.  We are just the pencils.  Once we understand that, we might actually become useful to God."

Again, what an amazing quote about a pencil.  I was beginning to think God was trying to tell me something...

Little did I realize how true these quotes would be of me as I was blessed by God to be able to be His little pencil in writing His love letter to the world about His work in Uganda on this blog! 

In all of my life, I have never done anything that this many people have read.  To date, we are at almost 4900 views on the blog!  I was curious about where the viewers were coming from, so I went out to the statistics page for the blog and had to look several times to be sure of what I was seeing.  I had expected to see the US and Uganda, but was amazed to see that in addition, there were people who have viewed this blog from the following countries:

United Kingdom, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea, Canada, India, Senegal, South Africa

There is nothing that I have to offer by myself that could have this result.  This can only be from God and for His glory!!!  I am honored to have been His pencil to write His words and convey His message to the people He has brought to this blog and to bless the wonderful people we served in Uganda.  Already, we have seen many more children sponsored as God has used these words and pictures to awaken hearts.  But there is much yet to do.

Each of the team members who went to Uganda were God's little pencil  -  He chose to use use each one of us in a unique and special way.  While we went to give out mosquito nets, distribute food to the poorest of the poor and love the children, we also went to show and to share His love with people who desperately need Him.

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever  believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life!  This is the message of hope that God used us to write into the hearts of 153 high school students, an alcoholic man walking the streets of the slums, a woman with only one dress to wear, one who thought she just needed a house that didn't flood when it rained and many more! 

My prayer is that God has touched your heart, not just in an emotional way, but in a way that will draw you closer to Him.  If you don't know Jesus as your personal savior, then this may be your call. Jesus knocks at the door wanting in - all you have to do is ask!  (Don't know how?  Just ask.)

If you do know Jesus as your savior and feel God awakening something in you that you can't quite put your finger on, spend time in prayer and in His love letter to us (the bible) to find out what it is that He wants of you.

Ephesians 2:4-10 says:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are his worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I pray that you will find peace in Christ and that you will find (and do) the work that God has prepared for you from the beginning of time!

It is in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ our Savior that we pray and we believe...

Dave

ARM Report about Canby Team

Below is a weekly report that the ARM Communications office published following Canby Christian Church team's visit to the slums in Kampala.  (NOTE:  In Uganda, dates are written in dd/mm/yyyy format).

Our opportunity to distribute food and visit families in the slum near Kampala was one of the most difficult AND rewarding times we spent while in Uganda.  To see the conditions that people live in daily made us all realize that there is an inherent unfairness in the world.  One of the things that has been difficult for me, personally, since coming home is seeing the bounty that we have and the realization that I have not truly appreciated what God has given me.

A long time ago, I underlined a verse in my bible and it has never seemed as pertinent to my life as now.  Let me share my conviction with you:

Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Ezekiel 16:49 

After a short visit to Uganda and truly seeing the poor and the needy, I feel like I have the breath knocked out of me as I re-read this verse.  

I continue to be challenged with the thought "What now"?  I have re-read our blog entries and marvel at the work that we did while we were there, yet in the same amount of time since I have returned, what have I done?  I would have to confess that "fullness of food and abundance of idleness" would be a good description of at least a good part of my time.  I have been back at work, but work for what end? 

Still - what now?  There are people daily living in the slums, hungry and getting flooded by the rains.  There are people sick and hungry in the village of Kachungwa.  There are people who do not have the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.  There is much that God wants me - us - to do to help His children.  

Enough from me, please read the report from ARM and join us in thanking God for what He is doing in Uganda!!! 

Info@africarenewal.org
Head Office: Off Kawuku Rd,200m from Ggaba Trading Centre|P.O. Box 26083, Kampala (U)

Office: +256-414 267 916|My Cell: +256 701 946 480

Website: www.africarenewal.org | Blog: http://africarenewalministries.blogspot.com

Big Faith - by Pastor Ken Harvey

A couple years ago I preached through a sermon series of Andy Stanley's about 

how God builds faith in our lives. The basic idea was that there were five ways 

that God usually uses to build our faith.

 

The first  way was through practical teaching, the second providential relationships,

the third was through private disciplines, the fourth personal ministry and the 

fifth was pivotal circumstances.

 

On this mission trip I experienced all fives ways. I marveled at the way the pastors 

responded to the practical ideas I shared with them in preparing sermons. They 

saw a new way of preparing that made total sense to them. They were fun to share 

with and were so appreciative.

 

Our entire relationship with ARM was set up by God. I've shared before how Pastor 

Peter (the founder of ARM) and I met at a conference in 2006 and prayed for each 

other and exchanged business cards. Three years later we would meet Alex and I

 learned he had practically been raised by Pastor Peter. Out of the 33 million people

in Uganda I had met two - 3 years and 1000 miles apart. They not only knew each

other, but Alex had served as Pastor Peter's personal assistant before coming to 

Portland to attend Multnomah University. Was it coincidence? Only God.

 

On this journey our entire team witnessed the power of prayer over and over again.

We saw it in the lives of those we met and in our own when God would be our strength.

All of us were stretched to new limits and God proved faithful.

 

Each of us experienced God working in us as we served Him. Our desire was to love

God by serving others. God continually showed us an outpouring of love from 

those we wished to serve.

 

All of us were moved when we learned the young girl brought to the medical clinic

had died later in the day. We saw the huge difference it made for children to be

sponsored and to receive regular medical care as a result. Malaria can be controlled,

but without resources families are at great risk. We all will push to see that  more children

are sponsored and given a chance to flourish in life. 

 

I pray that somehow, someway, God will use us to establish better medical care in

Kachungwa. We watched him draw many (over 160) to salvation as we served him. 

 

The good work He has begun in us He will bring to completion.

 

Our faith will be big!

 

Ken

Some video clips

Here are just a couple of short video clips that I have posted that give a little better idea of what our Uganda experience was like.




Video of Judah learning to play new song on guitar with Isaac.  Judah was a fun and gifted young man that spent time with us in the Ggaba guest house and was one of the ARM people who met us at the airport when we arrived.




J-Force is a youth dance group from Luzira Community Church and they performed a dance number while we were there.  I captured a little bit of it - they were amazing.  By the way, if you hadn't guessed already, J stands for Jesus!



Ashley playing with the kids - or vice versa




Ashley dancing with the worshippers at the church plant we visited.  Fortunately the video of me dancing seems to have been accidentally deleted.





Isaac and Ralph leading worship in the mud hut church we visited.




More time playing with the kids.  Ralph, Bryan and Ashley were making noises that the children were imitating.  They loved us playing with them!




The rain in Africa.  It is the start of the rainy season there and as we watched this ,  rain, we had just left the slums of Kampala where most people asked that we pray for them to have a house that would not flood when the rain came.  Had this rain come earlier in the day, we would not have been able to distribute food since we would not have been able to get in to the slum area.  What a vivid reminder of the reality of what people there live with.  I watched the flood waters and imagined them flowing through the slum, picking up the horrible water we had seen standing in places there and then washing that through peoples homes.  It made me sick to think of.

My body is still having trouble adjusting to the time and my mind pis still trying to process everything (just the way my brain works I guess).  I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up just after midnight and had to get up and pray for our friends in Uganda. 


Well, it is late (or early depending on your schedule), so I'd better try to get some sleep.  Hope you enjoy these videos.

Dave

Now what?

That seems to be the question on my mind, and I am sure that of all of us who went to Uganda.  We saw God do some amazing things and there is much more that He is doing there.  One of my greatest fears is that I will come back home and get back to life as usual.  Quite honestly, after being that close to God and being involved in His work in Uganda, I don't want to get back to "usual". 

It was truly a blessing to get back home, see my wonderful wife, children and grandkids.  To get the hug in the parking lot of the church that I'd been longing for was as good as I had imagined. Walking back into my house was a bit of a shock though.  After what we had seen and done, I felt like I was walking into a palace.  I had available to me all of the food I could want, fresh/clean water just by turning on the faucet, fresh milk in the refrigerator, several kinds of bread, heat, a stove to cook on, a warm shower - basically more luxuries than I had seen in my entire time in Uganda.

I'm not sure that God wants me to pick up and move to Uganda.  I won't rule it out, because I found that my plans are not necessarily God's plans, but I really don't feel that's the path he has for me.  Rather, there is a lot of work I can do from here to help the people in Uganda and regular visits will be a must.

There were some amazing relationships built in a short time down there.  I have talked in previous posts about the growing bond between Ken and Pastor Sylver of the church in Kachungwa.  Most of us have been friended by several new friends from Uganda on Facebook.  I even had one young Sunday school leader from Uganda ask me to be his spiritual father.  This is a relationship that I envision continuing for a long time.

We all had some deep relationships develop with our own sponsored children.  We loved them not just with a few gifts, but we are investing in their lives by paying for their education, meals, clothing and other benefits that REALLY improve their quality of life.  Not only that, we were able to hug them, see their homes, meet their parent/parents and spend some good quality time with them.  While writing letters has been a joy, it will be much more meaningful now that we have had that personal contact.  Many of the children cried at our departure - just ask Isaac about the mixed feelings that come with the love and tears of a child.

Above all things that I learned down there is that I need to seek God first in all things.  Probably the hardest thing about coming back is that in my home and in the US in general, we really don't need to in order to get by.  I read a little of this in the book "Kisses from Katie" (which if you haven't read, you should).  She related a story of a time when she had been in Uganda for some time and came home to go to college and she really missed the dependence on God.  I really didn't understand it at the time, and probably still don't fully, but have a much better idea of what that means.  I loved being dependent on Him and seeing God answer prayers in a very real way.

While we were in Uganda, there was a noticible shift in our thinking and our actions.  Prayer came first in everything.  God's will was the one that we answered to, not our own.  Prayer was sweet and God answered.

I've taken a few extra days off work to process what has happened and recover from the travel.  Next Monday, I will go back into the office and read through many hundreds of e-mail messages, then start back to the grind.  How am I going to be different?  What is going to change?  I pray that God will  never let me be the same as I was before this trip and that I will remain in His will.  I also pray that I will pray like I never have before and that He will make His will known to me.

One of the recurring thoughts that nagged me throughout the time in Uganda was the story of the rich young ruler.  What was he willing to give up, or not, to follow Christ?  What would he do or not do to gain everything?  I have had a taste of what God will do with those who serve Him and now need to figure out the answer to the question "Now what?"

It truly is in the powerful and holy name of Jesus that we pray and believe!

Dave