As Cold Water to a Thirsty Soul

Friends, I have good news from a far country!  Our team has traveled the last two days through the mountain districts near Mbale.  We’ve met with two dozen pastors and their congregations all over this beautiful countryside.  We’ve worshiped and prayed with them and encouraged them with gifts and shared meals.  Along the way we have met men who serve with Operation Christmas Child and Gideons International.  We’ve visited church plants of churches that were started by the Foreign Mission Board decades ago.  And we’ve listened as pastors have expressed the joy that was brought to children of the village with OCC shoeboxes.  Friends, we have seen the fruits of your labor and your faithful giving!  We have seen God’s work in full circle.  Truly, the Lord is doing a great and mighty work in even some of the most remote places of Uganda, and we are just beginning to get a glimpse of a full picture of the family of God.  We ask you to continue to pray—just as you did when you gave your Lottie Moon offering, or donated to the Gideons, or packed a shoebox—pray for the pastors and for the people on the other side, that they will be encouraged in their faith, that they will continue making disciples, and reaching new places and new people with the Greatest News of all.  Praise God.

I See the Stars

We’ve had another wonderful day of celebration here in Mbale.  We spent the day at Ebenezer Baptist Church, worshiping and praising God with His people.  We are a world away from the beautifully renovated sanctuary of First Baptist Newnan, and yet we encounter our Lord in such a different and exciting service.  All of Ebenezer’s choirs led us in a time of singing, members shared personal testimonies of the work God is doing in their lives, and Pastor Mike preached a message of salvation and friendship with Jesus.  As we stood to sing How Great Thou Art, I looked up and saw them.  As the words “I see the stars” came out of my mouth, I realized what they were--dozens of gold stars strung up as a decoration in our beautiful tent church, made from plastic drinking straws stapled together and painted gold.  Frugal and humble in their design, but no doubt cherished by the Heavenly Father for whom they were made to honor.  Many times I get so caught up the daily tasks and movement of life, I fail to recognize the ‘stars’ all around me.  Let me not forget to take all my pain, my concerns, and my problems to the Lord in prayer and He will bear my burdens.  Then I will be free to offer up stars of my own to praise Him, for He is good.  I am so thankful for this loving and gentle reminder.  At the end of the service, we sang No, Not One.  The chorus says, “Jesus knows all about our struggles.  He will guide till the day is done.  There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, No not one.  No not one.”  This is the testimony of Ebenezer.  This is the testimony my heart.  Is it yours?  Do you see the stars?

PS.  Today we had an incredible rain storm and the dust has been washed away!  Praise God!

For a Dry and Weary Land

Oh, Mission Mbale Friends, we’re here!  We finally made it!  We praise God for blessing us with a safe journey to Uganda, and we’ve spent the day getting settled in.  Our friends at Ebenezer Baptist Church have welcomed us with great enthusiasm--today has been a celebration!  In the coming days, I will update this blog with posts on all that we have witnessed, but as you can easily see from today’s photos, God is doing a great thing here among the people of the Namatala slum.  The children have grown since we saw them last, and they are excited to begin another school year in the coming days.  We had so much fun catching up with them and introducing them to Matt and Hannah.  We visited a storefront where women from the church are sewing and selling adult and children’s clothes and teaching the children to sew.  We visited Ebenezer's farmland and prayed as we walked this property.  Growing season has not begun and Uganda is very dry.  As we stood in the middle of the land, I looked out across the vast dusty field, only to turn around and find a dozen dusty, hungry children had gathered out of curiosity, following close behind us.  In that moment the Holy Spirit was quick to remind me:  in a dry and weary desert, we can come to the Savior, our Living Water, the Bread of Life, a well that will never run dry.  He is our message, He is the reason for our journey, and He is the source of strength and joy that has carried us this far.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings...

Sherri