I hope you are doing well! I have an incredible story to share from last week that still causes me to rejoice in the spontaneity, faithfulness, and leadership of God!
This past Sunday (Sept. 16) I went to church with several of the interns and staff to a town just outside Kampala called Gaba. On the way back Daniel and I put our Bibles and journals into David’s backpack (Daniel and David are other interns) and proceeded to pile into one of the staff’s CRV (5 seats but 8 people…do the math!). We stopped at a supermarket and headed to a local, and favorite, coffee shop, called Café Kawa. We spent about an hour at Café Kawa before heading back to our house where we realized David’s backpack was missing (and hence our Bibles and journals). We concluded that it seemed like there was more room in the car after Café Kawa, and we thought that we saw the backpack in the car after the supermarket. David and a couple others drove back to Café Kawa to look for it, but to no avail. Somehow, while the car was in the walled compound at the café, and while we were sitting outside no more than 25ft from the car, someone popped the lock and took the backpack, along with another Bible that was out. I remember being pretty fine about the whole thing…maybe it just hasn’t sunk in, I do miss “my” Bible and journal, but in the end I can just get new ones and move on – Jesus doesn’t change J! Talking with the other guys, we decided we should pray about it, mainly because anxieties were a little high. So we prayed according to Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” But after praying, I knew that we needed to include verses 4-5 as well, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice! Let your reasonableness be known to all. The Lord is at hand;” after rejoicing in the Lord we knew it would all be fine!
Later in the afternoon the three of us decided to go into Kampala to look for a new backpack for David and pick up a few additional items. We started in Owino Market (the crazy open market I mentioned in my first update) because the prices are generally lower. After purchasing the backpack, we wandered around the market for a while, until a couple shoe salesmen stopped us to talk (they both had booths set up and I would guess are in their mid-late twenties) and try to sell us shoes. While I was trying on a couple pairs of boots, David struck up a conversation with a guy named Ramadan. Ramadan accepted the Lord about a year ago during a period of time that he was partying a lot. One morning he found himself in church (he has no idea how) and accepted Jesus there! He told us that he preaches on Sunday evenings around town, and wants to start preaching in the market soon. Before we left I knew we needed to pray for him (I wasn’t positive, but I realized if we left without praying something would be missing), so when we asked he called over about 6-7 guys from other booths to pray with us. Also, and this is important, two girls came out of nowhere to join us, their names are Florence and Irene, they are 9 and 5 years old respectively. After praying for Ramadan, a guy from another shop asked us to come pray for him. So we went to his shop and prayed for him and his business, Ramadan came along and the girls joined us too. At first this guy tried to shoo the girls away, but they joined us anyway. After praying for him, I felt the words Jesus said very strongly, “let the little children come to me!” The girls told us that their parents had passed away and they were living with their grandmother (later we found out they lived in a slum and had come to the market to scrounge for any food they could find, presumably spoiled fruit people tossed out). So we prayed for them, and I remember encouraging them with the loved Jesus has for them, that he said, “Let the little children come to me,” and that God is the best Father we could ever have and loves them very much! After we prayed for them, they asked us to come visit their grandmother – I was really hesitant to go and almost said we couldn’t make it, but Ramadan said he could pack up his booth and come with us, and I remembered Jesus saying to “give to those who ask” – so I knew we should go. Up to that point nothing seemed to out of the ordinary, but we have been praying for God to use us, and this was more than we expected!
It was a big deal for Ramadan to close up shop and accompany us, so we really appreciated his willingness, but we all knew the Lord was directing our paths. We followed the girls out of the market and through various shortcuts until we reached the area they lived. For a mental picture, Florence and Irene were each holding our hands while we walked, and Florence’s sandal had broken in the market, so she was barefoot. Most of the shortcuts were dirt paths through slum-like areas, over open storm (and maybe waste) sewers, and weaving between buildings. On the way there, it was really sad seeing some of the place people were living, and seeing how far, and through what territory these girls were walking to get to the market (it was probably ¾ mile to the market). At one point a man walked passed us that had somewhat long hair and multiple piercings, Florence quickly hid behind Daniel and said something fearfully as he had passed. It made me wonder what reputation this guy has and if there is anything Florence had seen or experienced related to him.
As we arrived at the girls’ house, we discovered that the two of them, their grandmother, a young woman (about 16?) and her baby, all live in a shack about 4 feet wide by maybe 12 feet long. It slopes off the wall of another building, has metal roofing pieced together, and cardboard walls with wood supports. Inside, there is a twin mattress at one end and dirt floor at the other; it was pretty messy but I think a lot of that is not having places to put things. It was apparent that there was no food in the house, and the girls mentioned in the market they had not eaten that day. So we sat down (all of us) inside, David and I had the girls on our laps, and talked with them for a while. The grandmother asked if we could give them anything to help them, we said we would but first we wanted to pray for them. We started by praying for the family (Ramadan translated most of the time), just thanking the Lord that He is good, that loves them very much, desires to provide for them, and praying about their situation. After praying for a while, we knew it wasn’t time to leave, so we asked if anyone needed healing for anything. The grandmother showed us her medical card and told us she had aids, so we prayed for her. Then they mentioned that Irene wakes up in the night and murmurs for “mommy” and maybe sees things – they said it was demons waking her up, and I know that’s a possibility, but I didn’t get a strong impression that is the case. They also said that the young woman’s baby is actually two years old (I would have guessed one) and hasn’t walked yet – I think it’s due to malnutrition. So we prayed for Irene and the baby! After that, we prayed one more time, just blessing them and their house. On the way out, I gave them the equivalent of $20, which is probably more than they get in a month, and about 2 pounds of gnuts (peanuts) I bought in the market – they were incredibly grateful! I don’t really like handing out money, but in that situation I knew it was the right thing to do. James 2:15-16 says, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?” While we went to pray for them, meeting a tangible need also demonstrates the love of Jesus and often opens people’s hearts to receive spiritual ministry.
As we left, the grandmother asked if we could take her to church on Sunday, and asked if we could take a picture with them. We said yes to both. I’m learning a lot about what it means to deny yourself… in order to love the people around me it’s usually not easy or convenient.
Walking away from the slum, the four of us just laughed/rejoiced as we thought about the events of the last few hours: we would never have come to town if the backpack wasn’t stolen; if we didn’t wander around and talk to Ramadan, we would have never prayed for him; if we didn’t pray for Ramadan, we would have never ended up in the slum praying for an entire family who just needed to be reassured that their Father is looking down on them, sees their need, and loves them more than anyone has ever loved them before! I can’t tell you how great a blessing it is to show just a small part of the enormous love of our God to someone who needs to be reassured that His love really is this big!
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:4-7
Florence and Irene at Ramadan’s booth
This is a common scene on a lot of streets, but especially in the slums
David, Ramadan (far right) and I with Florence, Irene, and the others…Daniel’s taking the pictures
paulinuganda 