2 weeks in, goodbyes, and getting into the thick of things

Heyo Americans!

My team has just finished our second full week in Lira, Uganda! We are tonight enjoying our last meal with the Kotel Conference team, which consists of Derek, Jamin, Liz, Luiken, Katie, Erin, Hanna, Ron, and Tobias.

This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we assisted in leading a leadership conference sponsored by COTN Director Pastor James’s church. The objective of the conference is to equip the church leaders of Lira District with the skills to raise up and restore the church of Uganda by raising up new leaders and addressing both the problems and the people who have been affected by the rebel war that has plagued Northern Uganda for the past 22 years, but is finally seemingly diffusing.

The conference was a great success, with 15 groups making up a number of 154 Ugandan participants, not including our staff working at the Lira Hotel. We saw a lot of new ideas and new growth beginning in our participants, and I am excited to hear of new church leadership growing and flourishing.

All last week, I was able to tag along with a group focused on counseling for traumatized students at the Almond College. My task was undefined, so I decided to introduce myself to a few boys that hung out after our introduction to the school. I met a boy named Isaac who I saw for the next 2 days as well, and he loved taking pictures. I missed coming on Thursday, but every other day I took pictures with the kids and had talks about their hopes and dreams, as well as sharing stories about Uganda and America. My possibly favorite part of our trips to Almond was playing volleyball with eleven other boys, and truly feeling at home.

Church this past Sunday was once again a wonderful experience, with passionate dancing and singing praise to God. In the afternoon, we were invited to join Joyce and Lucy, two elderly women who are involved in prison ministry to reach out to multiple prisons located in Lira. Our group split up in 3 prisons, one for the convicted criminals, one for male prisoners awaiting trial, and one for female prisoners. I joined the group that went to those men awaiting trial. Our entry into the prison was colorful, as there was a group of well over 100 inmates dressed in their yellow prison uniforms, and many of them were dancing and singing praises as we entered. We were ushered into some chairs at the front and center of the group, and introduced ourselves.

For our ministry, we took turns speaking the word of God and sharing God’s amazing work being done in our lives. This is by far the largest group I’ve ever addressed regarding the Gospel, and I was nervous but I felt completely secure that God would bless me with words to speak. The verse I shared was Jeremiah 17 verses 5 thru 8, explaining the difference between trusting in flesh and in man, and trusting in God. This has been the theme of my life for the past year, in my struggles with friendships, with school, with preparations for this trip. I always had the opportunity to doubt, but also the opportunity to truly give my life up and surrender to Christ. I can say that when I followed through with the latter, I was filled with even more reasons to trust, and to fall even more deeply in love with God. I saw 2 men from the crowd of many believers come to Christ for the first time, and I was able to pray for them. Praise God for that opportunity!

We went on to the women’s prison to meet up with the second group directly and heard Richelle share a word of truth to the women incarcerated there, some still raising their children in captivity with them. We were able to give them soap, a commodity not commonly given to the prisoners, and they were so grateful for the words of encouragement and the soap, so they sang us a wonderfully beautiful song as we departed from the prison. Meanwhile, the third group was evangelizing at the sentenced prison, and I heard word that at least 20 men came to Christ that day. Once again, praise God!

One more evangelizing opportunity I had was explaining how I had to leave the boys at Almond College. I met with two boys, named Emmanuel and Angara, and I told them that all I could do was encourage them, and give them the hope of God, which they have been relying on this whole time through every hard time. I am so deeply encouraged by their faith despite, or because of, the necessity of His hope.

On Monday, I was honored to have a sabbatical day with my fellow interns, and I hung out at the house most of the day. We went over to the COTN orphan’s home to visit the kids, and I got a kick out of playing soccer and Frisbee with the kids, as well as assisting the jump rope games.

Yesterday, Tuesday June 30^th, we set out for Gulu to visit the very much anticipated Invisible Children office and Sacred Heart Secondary School, which is a school that our Schools for Schools club at UCSD that I helped start, fundraises for. The drive was only a few hours, and only interrupted for random photoshoots roadside and bathroom breaks (aka frantically running into the bushes). Gulu looks much like Lira, excepting the much larger older trees and more greenery that seems to have shaped the development of the city. The Invisible Children offices were very cool, and we met Joli Okot, the country director, as well as Martin, one of the Ugandan representatives of Gulu, and the speaker for the Lobby Days event that Invisible Children initiated in Washington DC this June 22 and 23^rd. We were given a tour of every office, and I was stoked to see the mentor’s open offices for kids in the Visible Child program, and especially the Schools for Schools wing. I was so overjoyed to see the ground zero and staging point for all the projects that our school helps fund. One of the engineers who organizes the projects at Sacred Heart Secondary escorted us to the school, and we got to see all the new innovations being funded by American high school and college students, as well as the hardworking girls who make up 1200 students strong who attend the school. Words can’t cut what I want to express for my excitement about finally seeing it firsthand.

On the way back from Gulu, our van experienced some fairly intense knocking noises coming from the drivetrain, so we pulled over in the grass and red dirt to wait for a mechanic. While we waited, the sun set and the moon and stars began to shine through the clouds, and lightning flashed on the horizon. I climbed onto the roof to get a better view, and I have never been so happy to be broken down on the side of the road, experiencing the moon, stars, and lightning across the Ugandan landscape. We finally were picked up by our ever so wonderful driver, Jimmy, and we drove back to Lira, and into the massive rainstorm we saw in the distance. Turns out our windows were not completely sealed by the manufacturer, and we had minor waterfalls spurting out of most of the tops of the windows, which was yet another inconvenience that I loved to be a part of.

When we arrived, I quickly changed to my trunks and ran around outside in the rain to celebrate and get soaked, and dance, etc. Today, We had another low-action day to relax as the Conference team enjoyed their last day in Lira before they go on safari. The interns went into town to get some dresses tailored, and I decided to order an African styled shirt, which is going to be awesome. We also got some snacks, and celebrated with the COTN orphans one last time before I got to typing this up. Since I started, a huge rainstorm with thunder and lightning washed over Lira and the rain was such a beautiful sound, I wish you could have seen and heard, and felt the rain here.

Well, I’m going to be a groomsman in my first wedding experience in a short 10 days, when our friend Edward, a Ugandan, marries his Oregonite wife, Caitlin. Be excited! Our ministries will continue to change, so prayer requests are:

· please pray for our planning process for our continuing ministries

· please pray for the safe travel of the Conference team as they safari, and return to America this Sunday

· please pray for each of our hearts as we encounter joy and tragedy, tests of patience and rapid change

Thank you all for your prayers and support, and I’ll shoot you another update soon!

Love,

Scott