A VERY IMPORTANT MEETING

Elephants, giraffes, antelope, gazelles, hippos, monkeys, water buffaloes and many other exciting animals joined us for our very important GRI meeting two weeks ago. Our Ugandan staff members who have worked with us for a year now showed up to the office on a Sunday morning at 7 am only knowing we were having an important meeting. No one complained or questioned why we were having a meeting on a Sunday. We all loaded into the vehicle as they laughed and tried to guess where we were going. Murchison Falls wildlife park is only about a 2.5 hour drive from Lira where we live. Only two of the staff members had ever seen animals like this. It was such an exciting surprise and a wonderful opportunity to see God's amazing creation. None of us will soon forget that day!

Shaunessy

So much to say...

I am back from Uganda! What a trip! In the 24+ hr journey home I tried to package everything that I've experienced and learned into a neat format that I can share with all of you but even now I am not sure that I fully have wrapped my mind around these last two weeks. So many lessons. So many blessings. More than the setting, more than the activities, the people of Uganda made the trip wonderful. They are such a friendly, loving, content people who live with attitudes totally contraindicated by their circumstances. I will try to pass on what they taught me.
(1) They do not hold others at arms length but completely open up their hearts and invest in your life. Everywhere that we went we were greeted with smiles and waves. Here in the states, both outside and inside the church, we shun vulnerability and let only a select few into the deep recesses of who we are. Most relationships do not pass beyond acquaintances. We do the least amount for one another. Our smiles are hollow because while we are glad to fill seats in our church we don't really want to sacrifice and lay down our lives for each other. Jesus said, "They will know you are my disciples by your love." Ugandans have grasped this. We still have far to go. I pray for God's grace to embrace others, to go the extra mile. (2) They are extremely giving. Americans give out of their abundance but Ugandans give out of their poverty. It was so eye opening to realize that people do still live in dirt huts dressed in rags. My definition of poverty was completely inaccurate; for the poor that we live with are rich compared with the average northern Ugandan. My eyes were open to my selfishness. I usually only give when it is convenient, when I can spare it. Westerners are selfish with their money, their time, the gospel. We lose the attitude of gratefulness to God and claim ownership of the resources which we have been given. This is why church budgets are behind, church staffs are burnt out, and the message of hope is not being spread. We are too busy buying into the world's ambitions and pursuing what we think is the definition of success. (3)They are content. They have little. They work hard, they suffer, they are persecuted, disease is rampant, but yet they face everything with a peaceful smile and rarely is a complaint vocalized. How different from our culture where we demand our way and the slightest inconvenience throws our day off track! Perhaps if everything that we place such importance in were stripped away and all that was left was our relationship with Jesus; perhaps then we would remember that true contentment comes only when we are not self-sufficient, when our lives are hidden in Christ. I think that we have a skewed view of what being a disciple means. Many times we view ourselves as reservists who sign up for weekend duty. We can claim partnership with Christ and receive all of His benefits but if the call to go to war is given we are caught off guard and surprised. We never intended to actually have to fight. We are called to suffer! Jesus said that if the world hated Him they will surely hate His disciples. How we shy away from active duty. We are on this planet to bring glory to God. A natural response of this is to share the Gospel. I am learning that the reason there are so many discontented, unhappy believers is that we are neglecting our purpose in life and forfeiting all of the joy and peace and spiritual blessings that can only be experienced when we are in the center of God's will. (4) I have learned to cherish my spiritual equipping. The lack of Bibles and Christian literature, the inaccessibility of seminary and cultural misconceptions combine to create a very weak understanding of God's Word. In many churches only the pastor owns a Bible which means he has no accountability and many fallacies are taught. In one camp this man sitting next to me (he could speak English) was so enamored with the sermon notes I had stuck in my Bible. He wanted to read every one that I had. How I take for granted the preaching and teaching that I have received since I was a small child! I was struck by how adequately the Ugandan church practices prayer. It's an amazing experience to have a whole congregation praying LOUDLY all at once. Jim Cymbala wrote that "the prayer meeting is the thermometer of the spiritual life of the church." (that wasn't word for word but close) We put so much emphasis on salvation that we forget the other amazing gift purchased on the cross-free access into the holy presence of our God. How often do we pass up this priceless commodity! Prayer is powerful. It binds believers together. Our eyes are blind in this area. Wow! This is getting really long and I have only skimmed the surface! I haven't even told you of the 9 hour journey from Kampala to Lira, being bug splattered and knee deep in mud, the ice cold showers, not having toilets, hanging on for dear life in the back of a truck while bouncing over crazy dirt roads and getting stuck in the mud, interacting with those suffering from AIDS and the challenge of sharing hope from God's Word and the message of salvation. There is so much to tell! Thank you once again for all of your prayers and support and encouragement! I could not have made the trip without God working through each of you. I am challenged to continue walking in the lessons that I have learned. It's easy to depend upon events and organizations to foster environments in which we can proclaim Jesus as Lord and neglect the dying around us. Oh that His name may be exalted in our land! Your servant, Sara

What a Difference a Year Makes!

I just returned from my second trip to Uganda. My first trip was just last summer when we made our initial visit to four camps. The progress that has been made in these past fifteen months has been amazing! During the first trip it seemed like all of the kids there had large stomachs due to the worms in their systems which was causing malnutrition. Now a little more than a year later, there was a significant decrease in the number of children with this condition. They seemed healthy and happy. The albendazole tablets work! Obanga Tek! (God is Good!)

In going from camp to camp I was amazed at how the Global Refuge Team had become incorporated into the communities. Our team from the U.S. is known on a first-name basis and warmly welcomed. We have Ugandans who are working with us and can be spotted by their GRI shirts and big smiles. They are becoming the leaders for their people.

Several programs have been developed and are running successfully in the camps. I was able to watch a girls graduating class of Priceless, our abstinence program that has graduated several hundred girls so far and is now in place for boys. Bethany and Marianne have done an amazing job of building that program and training the Ugandans to be the teachers. Seth is now working with the Priceless boys and that program is also growing. Shaunessy and Becky developed the HIV/Aids clinics and have had over 500 people in attendance. At first it was mainly women who attended, but now the men are coming around also. And Wes is doing an outstanding job as the country coordinator in making these programs come together.

Our team of six was an amazing group of people and it was a real pleasure working with them. Jolene, Jason, Sara, Jacque, Maria and I were all able to jump in and become a part of the ministry, working hand-in-hand with the permanent staff. Jolene has committed to work with GRI long-term and will begin in January.

One of the pleasures I had was to work with the albendazole/worm tablet distribution. The Vacation Bible School at my church, Arvada Covenant Church, adopted GRI as their summer project and raised over $5,700 for medicine for the Ugandan children. They also wrote letters to the Ugandan kids. The Ugandan kids were very happy to know that the children in America cared for them, loved looking at pictures of the ACC kids and several have even written letters back to the Arvada kids.

While most of the trip was positive and up-beat, we also visited young men and women who had been captured by the LRA rebels and were forced to serve as their soldiers. Sitting face-to-face with those people and reading the pain in their eyes as they told their stories was very difficult. What they had to endure was very hard to comprehend.

On a final note, it looks like we are going to be able to establish a medical clinic which will provide western-style medical care. We met with the District Chairman/Governor, Colonel Macodwego. The meeting went very well and the clinic will be a partnership between GRI and the district, and will be run by Dr. Tom, our own Ugandan doctor.

God is doing great and marvelous things in Uganda! Obanga Tek!

Tom

Blessed

It’s slowly sinking in… my home is almost no longer my home. It hurts to think about leaving and sometimes it’s easier to bury myself in the busyness of preparing to leave the program rather than preparing myself mentally and emotionally to leave Uganda and return the United States.
When I do think about it, the resounding theme is Blessed. The simplicity, the smiles, the laughter, the sunrises, the heat, the suffering, the strength, the relationships, the struggles, the spiritual warfare, the fertile soil, the joy, the heartbreak, the successes, the failures, the abundant life. I realize this land is not a cursed land as these people tend to believe. How joyful it is to live in such close communion with the earth, God’s beautiful creation, as these people do… to live in straw huts built from the dirt with their own hands; to work and sweat each day in their fields for their food, as our bodies were created to do; to walk miles from place to place as our feet were created to do; to live in community and cook for each other and care for each other’s kids-to love one another as we are commanded to do; to revere the elderly and respect the parents and take responsibility of younger siblings; to have nothing, fully reliant on God, and therefore have everything. In the midst of suffering and disease and war, God is still lavishing his blessings on these people. It’s amazing to speak to those few who recognize the blessings and who give God thanks.
As I reflect on this past year, I also think of how God has blessed me beyond measure. Our Ugandan Pastor recently came and ate dinner with us and before he left he prayed for us. As his wife was so sick that she was hooked up to an IV, as he was leaving early the next morning for a mission trip, as two new missionaries had come that he still needed to meet with that night, and as he was visibly exhausted, he praised God with passion saying “My God, we are happy to be serving you!”
That prayer spoke volumes to me. As I return to the United States tired, probably confused, and with no clear direction for what’s next, I pray that my words and conversation with family and friends reflect that He has made me glad and that it’s not a sacrifice, but a joy to serve Him.

MariAnne

Testing my faith

This is Sharon. She is 8 years old and lives in a very remote area that used to be a camp. I was having an HIV vulnerable group meeting in her camp a few weeks ago when I met Sharon. It was towards the end of the meeting when I was praying with our clients and I opened my eyes saw Sharon sitting on the dirt in front of me. Her little body was so frail and emaciated and her eyes were sunken in and hopeless. My heart instantly broke for this girl. She waited patiently until we had distributed meds and then Bonnie, Tony and I took her to the corner of the church and began to find out her story. Her parents had both died a few years ago from HIV supposedly and left her and a younger brother living with her grandma. Her grandma is an alcoholic, as many people living in these camps, and forced Sharon to dig in her fields and prepare all of the food or she would beat her. I would think that day after day of hearing sad stories would harden my heart but once again I fought back tears. Her voice was so weak and hoarse it was obvious she had tuberculosis. The three of us drew close to her just to hear her as she whispered. Since she was born, everyone had told her she was HIV positive so when she heard we were in the camp and came wanting some medicine for HIV. Two women from the meeting then approached us to validate the girl's story and mention that they had tried to help in the past but the grandmother had refused to allow anyone to help Sharon. We then bought some food in the trading center area and asked one of the women to bicycle Sharon to another trading center the next day for HIV testing. We had to be sure she was positive to know the best way to move forward. As we left her camp on the motorcycle I couldn't hold back tears.

Surprisingly the next day we found her along the way with her grandmother. She said the person who does the testing was gone for 3 weeks. So we asked the grandmother if we could take her back with us to the town where we stay and get her properly tested. She agreed and this scared, frail little girl hopped in the truck with 3 white strangers and headed to town, where she had never been before. To make a very long story short, we spoiled this sweet girl rotten for 2 days and got her tested and SHE IS NEGATIVE!!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! It is only a bad case of TB that she is suffering from. So we registered her at a government health center and placed her on the 6 month schedule of TB meds. She was so thrilled to hear she was negative! There is HOPE! Please pray for Sharon as she is back staying with her grandma. I am seeking God's wisdom as I visit them this week and speak with the grandma and determine if we need to find Sharon another place to live. We cannot leave her in an abusive situation. Also many of you will remember Morris, another orphan who has AIDS that we are providing for. He is doing well and studying well in school.

Our Ugandan staff and I have talked much lately about what true Christianity is. James 1:27 says that, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

As God opens our eyes to the suffering of many orphans in this area, I am honored and humbled to be able to serve them practically and show them that they have an ALL LOVING FATHER IN HEAVEN who hasn't forgotten about them.

This is where the rubber meets the road. It is a constant test for me if I am actually living out what I say I believe. Whoa!

Please keep praying!

Shaunessy

APOYO TEACH!

(THANKS FOR YOUR WORK!)

We just said goodbye to our 4th and final team from America this year. Thanks to all of the teams for all your hard work, patience and willingness to serve here in Uganda! All of you were willing to get up close and personal and share your life with everyone here and because of that we know God will increase and grow the seeds you have sewn. The Ugandans will never forget you!

Here is a picture of the September team and then Walter and Sarah sharing at an HIV clinic.

Boys are PRICELESS

We were thrilled to graduate 50 boys between the ages of 9-19 a few weeks ago in the first boys PRICELESS class. The first classes were held in Opeta trading center. The boys were so proud and excited! Please pray that these young men will make wise, God-honoring decisions in the future.

Thanks!

Help and Hope

Praise the Lord that the HIV Vulnerable Groups are now running well in 9 camp areas. This last month we were excited to have over 500 people living with HIV/AIDS registered with us. Each month we conduct a meeting with HIV education, a word of encouragement from God's Word and medicine distribution. We are currently distributing Cotrimoxazole (an antibiotic helpful in fighting off secondary infections), Albendazole (a de-worming medication), Multivitamins and Folic Acid for women. I have loved getting to know many of these people suffering with this deadly disease and each month they bring hope and encourage to my heart even in the midst of their pain. It is amazing how that works! Many more who are questioning if they are positive are now encouraged to get tested as they see some help and hope being given. In the area we are working, there are no other groups serving those people living with HIV/AIDS so the people really are desperate for help. They have so many needs but are so grateful for each little thing we can assist them with. Through the education I see them becoming more empowered and knowledgable about thier illness, which is so hopeful. We want to aide them physically, mentally and spiritually. Please keep praying that God will bind these people together so they can truly be the body of Christ even in the midst of intense suffering. Please also pray that God will continue to open up more avenues for awareness, testing and crucial medicine. I continue to rest in El-Shaddai- Our God who is sufficient to meet all His peoples' needs. Thanks for your prayers and support. God is moving!!!

Blessings,

Shaunessy

(Bonnie and I loaded down with meds on our way to a clinic---mobile medicine at its best!!)