Photos from Uganda

Brooke's Uganda Ministry Update #11

Brooke’s Uganda Ministry Update #11 Thursday, October 26, 2006

Dear Loved Ones,

Greetings from the west coast of the good ole’ USA as I write my final Uganda ministry update. I have returned from my 39-day trip to Uganda and with a brief 5 days in Washington, DC I have been out in California now for 8 days. My life has been all over the place and yet I sense a certain destiny about it all that I am excited about. I must first of all say THANK YOU for all of your prayers. Truly God met us mightily in Uganda and I am so glad to share good report with you.

Ephesians 3:20 & 21
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Even as I began my journey in Uganda I felt a lifting of my spirits and I realized that I had been spiritually heavy the latter part of the summer. I recognized that a spirit of fear and striving had been weighing down on me and as I pressed on through the difficult things I knew I would face in Uganda and yet, I still went, I found that the Lord gave me rest and freedom in my heart. I felt empowered by His strength in my weakness and I found a sweet release of all this disappointment and fear I had been carrying. The Lord met me in such a very personal way even as I worked harder and harder to prepare for the almost 100 American guests that came to Uganda to do short-term mission work and participate in our 50,000 person annual conference. I worked very hard and often felt like Paul did (as had been my prayer) when he said in 2nd Timothy 4:6 & 7 “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” I was amazed that the more I gave, the more I was filled up and there was not an end to the Lord supplying the energy needed to accomplish the work that was set before me. I found that as I pressed into the Lord with my lack that His provision would come.

Being back in Uganda was like a mini-homecoming for me. I have been to many nations – but there are few nations that I have been to more than once and so it was a sweet time of renewing relationships by being able to go back. It was a joy this time around to be hosted by the Senyonga family and to get to know the children as well as the pastor and his wife that I have been working with so closely (yet at a physical distance) this year and a half. Elizabeth (13 years old), Joshua (11 years old) and Jackie (9 years old) were actually a huge part of my heart resting and being able to play a little even as I prepared for the work at hand. It was a seemingly daunting task as I returned back to this nation I had been praying for so much and that I had left part of my heart in a year prior. I was so glad to go over a good 3 weeks before any guests arrived and I found my courage revived and sense of adventure restored as I used the boda boda (motorcycles) to be my transportation and enjoyed solitude as a traveler that I haven’t had for almost a year. I was reminded in Uganda that I am created for this – cross cultural ministry is in my blood and being over in another nation gives me a different adrenaline and energy than I have in America – even serving cross-culturally with the poor in America. I obviously loved my time at the Southeast White House – but there’s a different calling that awakens and I can’t help but be reminded of the vision planted in my heart as a 13 year old girl to go… I have taken and now helped to coordinate the Perspectives course on the World Christian movement the past two years and I know that there are all sorts of roles you can play that support the Great Commission – that of mobilizer, financial sender, prayer support, etc… but what does get me most excited (although I have played a part of all of these other roles) is that of the person on the ground. I must say the Lord uniquely gave me a wonderful opportunity to use my gifts very effectively this year in Uganda. I was able to plan schedules for 14 different visions for what a week in Uganda would look like, organize (or try to as much as one can in Uganda) logistics including transportation, accommodation, banquets, etc. and be the liaison between the Ugandan church and the American church. It was a very fun role and I was humbled that the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve in such a way.

1st Corinthians 2:9
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Altogether we (Christian Life Ministries) were blessed to host teams and individuals from the following churches: Adventure Christian Fellowship, Lamb of God Bible Church, Harbor Light First Assembly of God, Freemont Community Church, McLean Bible Church – Global Impact Ministry, New Life Church, Calvary Christian Center, East Valley Church, Arcade Church, New Way Church, Bayside Church, Summit Christian Center and several others. The teams and individuals also were so diverse and came from over a dozen states stretching from Alaska to Florida. Their skills and interests were likewise different – thus the reason behind 14 different schedules! We had a social worker come and help put on a Social Worker Forum for social workers from the church and to encourage others in Kampala. We had a team of 20 compose a medical team – a podiatrist, OB/GYN, nurse practitioner, photographer and other folks of other disciplines – head north to Lira to serve at our Christian Life Ministries Orphan Homes and care for not only the children in our homes, but children and adults alike in the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps. Back in Kampala other teams and individuals helped put on a business leaders conference, evangelistic crusades, completed construction projects for the ministry, learned about prayer, and visited the different ministry projects Christian Life Ministries is involved in. It was tiring I have to admit – I made 15 different airport pick-ups alone (1 hour each way down a bumpy road), yet again I have to bear witness to the power of Christ to give the energy needed and each one of these precious American friends was part of that joy burst that encouraged me that this mission is much greater than any one of us can complete on our own. The physical need is so great in Uganda and when you first go there and look only on the natural it can be a place of overwhelming odds in relation to poverty and this paralyzing question – what can I, one person do to help? Yet, we had 100 – individual people – some in teams of up to 30 that showed that even if it is only a few days – the ministry of presence – just showing up and using what the Lord has given your hands to give can be amazingly healing. I know the men and women who participated in the different events from Uganda were encouraged and I believe also that those that came received a special grace from the Father for their obedience to coming and seeing – tasting that the Lord is good.

As I finish up my assignment as it were – I am winding down and by this time next week I will no longer be an employee of Christian Life Ministries – I have to say I am so grateful to have been a co-laborer in what the Lord is doing in Uganda and through this ministry specifically. Just being able to worship so freely – with 20,000 of my brothers and sisters on any given Sunday in the church there again refreshed me. The African church dance like it is their job and even though they might be physically hungry or hot (as I often was) they dance for joy and worship is seen as a great celebration, their spiritual hunger is more important to them and it convicts me very much. I was reminded that I have had the opportunity to work on behalf of an African church that is part of the greater body of Christ and that this work between continents, ministries and people is just a glimpse of what heaven will be. This work is of eternal value… every orphan that is rescued matters, every tear that is wiped away from a widow’s cheek is important to the Lord. I was again confronted with the reality of the need and yet, the largeness of the God we serve. As my former roommate Anita who also recently returned from East Africa (Rwanda) reminded me – the boy in the story of the feeding of 5,000 just gave what was in his hand to give – five small barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:9), yet given to Jesus it was able to be multiplied and there was even leftovers after 5,000 had eaten their fill. I love this truth about God! He is more than enough! His flesh is bread for the world and I have had the opportunity to partner with a ministry that walks by faith and not by sight in seeking to accomplish what He asks us to do – in one case to care for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:27).

John 6:27
“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

One of the greatest pleasures I had during my five and a half weeks in Uganda – besides re-connecting with dear friends in Uganda (shout out to Caleb, Peter, Eddie, Margaret, Emily, Emmanuel, Pastor Ronnie, Pastor Godfrey, Deborah, Agnes & more) was to actually participate in one group’s schedule and lead them to Northern Uganda. This group’s schedule was particularly in line with my heart for a few reasons. One was that this groups’ agenda was to follow the Lord’s leading and really just pray each day for His will to be revealed as to what the time was to look like. The vision was that simple, to listen and follow. It was also special in that the group was lead by my dear friend from Washington – Moses Kim and it was a group also of my peers – all singles in their 20s and 30s and from a great church in the DC metro area – McLean Bible Church. I had also been able to meet this group in the summer and prepare them a little for what they were to encounter. Everyone in the group in addition to desiring to learn about prayer from the Ugandan prayer movement was also interested in being on the ground in Northern Uganda – an area that has been facing rebel violence for the past 20 years and that was exposed through the documentary shown at McLean and in many other venues earlier this spring by the Invisible Children film. So, the week after our groups had come in and served and the National Celebration Bible Believers Convention had happened (yes, there really were around 50,000 people in a stadium worshipping, praying & hearing preaching for 20 hours), we had participated in the National Prayer Breakfast in Kampala (where Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spoke as did President Pierre Nkurunzizi from Burundi), an international guest banquet at the Sheraton Kampala, most other guests flew back to the US and then we traveled to northern Uganda. This trip was a wonderful way for me to end my time in Uganda – as a host to folks I care about into an area of the nation that I know needs the most prayer. Our first stop was to Lira where Christian Life Ministries has 107 orphans in an orphan village – there are 13 homes there each with a capacity of 12 children each plus housemothers – so we are almost up to capacity. At this facility we were toured by the children and welcomed by their singing. We were able to pray for them and the next day for the house moms in their essential role (many of these women are widows who would be unable to care financially for their own children and this position helps them to be able to do this, as well as care for others children). We were also able to visit and pray over the Cornerstone Youth Corps house in Lira that currently has 13 girls living in it. This ministry takes in street children and offers them schooling, housing and discipleship in the principles of Jesus and the young women mentoring the girls were actually former Cornerstone Girls School alumni and former pupils to my friend Courtney Lancaster. One last stop we had in Lira was to an IDP camp in which we prayer walked in groups of 3 and just took in what it looks like to see a few hundred of the 1.8 million people in northern Uganda living in shacks and waiting for a war to end… From Lira we traveled to Gulu – the heart of Acholiland and it was my first time in this place I had heard so much about and I was so surprised by what we found. For starters, we were staying in the Invisible Children guesthouse and hosted by a bubbly Southern California girl – Katie Bradel – the volunteer coordinator with long blonde braids who speaks some Lua (the native Acholi language). The guesthouse was so much like Balmmer’s Hostel that I had stayed in during my European travels in Switzerland that I could not believe we weren’t in Europe or an American dorm! It was refreshing after 5 weeks in Uganda to have a taste of home… and the sense of home didn’t end there. I was surprised to find that since the peace talks were well under way by this time (October 11-13) that there was a spirit of optimism surrounding this town as well as hope. Following Katie’s great leadership we were able to visit Heals – an after-school center run by Mama Jolly of the IC film (Invisible Children Country Director) and participate in an Acholi courtship dance, visit a Night Commuter Shelter (only 150 children currently sleep there rather than the thousands who had once come nightly because of a returned sense of peace in the area) – some in our group even slept at the shelter and participate in an open-air worship service at the market. Besides these unique opportunities, we were able to pair up with World Vision to see and pray over their Child Soldier Rehabilitation Center and again visit Cornerstone’s Youth Corps Projects thanks to Lakers… I was so grateful to be able to share this trip with the 10 that came from Northern Virginia, as well as with Alycia Blair – a volunteer with CLM in Lira and Matthew See who came from the Adventure Christian church group in California. I believe God is at work in mighty ways in Uganda – all over and I would encourage you to continue to pray for those in the IDP camps as they begin to disperse and go back to their land especially. Continue to pray for the peace talks and for the peace that is being experienced in Gulu to continue and for reconciliation to truly occur between tribe and individual as child soldiers and child brides (and their children) would need to be re-integrated into society. Pray for all the organizations I mentioned for the resources needed, for laborers, for the Acholi themselves to be empowered and for continued economic opportunities.

Romans 5:5
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Okay, so I know this is an extremely long e-mail, but I promise I am almost done. I just need to share with you what was confirmed in so many ways throughout the past two months… that I am to go to Australia as my next step. As I was in Uganda I was able to visit 4 Rotary clubs – 3 in Kampala and one in Gulu and in each I was so encouraged that although there are diverse people in the clubs – service is the foundation and motivation for coming together. I believe there are so many reasons I have to go to Australia – but one is to continue to discover this part of my DNA that feels alive when I am overseas and like I am living for the purpose I was created for when I am serving the poor. The Lord clearly spoke to my heart and freed my heart from the confusion I was feeling prior to leaving America regarding this decision and I left Africa feeling very strongly that the Lord was sending me to Australia and to not go would be an act of disobedience. This decision required a huge step of faith, because I was so afraid prior to going to Africa that if this would indeed be revealed it would mean that my relationship with Tom was not able to run the course towards marriage… yet in my time away, I felt very much that I needed to trust the Lord even more than I already was and that His purpose would prevail and if we were to be together – it could still happen. Well, it turns out that for Tom that decision did mean that we weren’t going any further – so the night I returned home from Africa our almost 6 month relationship ended. I was sad, I am sad, yet, as I stated earlier, I felt so strongly that this is the course that the Lord has been leading and directing (truly since I was 13) that I need to continue to walk this path and I was surprised this meant that for our relationship, but I accept it. So, that being said, I came to California a few days later to attend a women’s conference at Harbor Light First Assembly of God church in Freemont, CA where Pastor Terry & Mary Inman pastor. We had gotten to know one another first over the phone the past year and a half as I have served Pastor Jackson and Pastor Terry has been a huge support and now a board member to CLM. But, the Lord truly knit our hearts together in Uganda and they had invited me multiple times to come to a women’s conference at their church that occurred last weekend. I was able to come out for the conference and it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life. Again, and again the Lord spoke intimately to my heart and reminded me that He has seen me in my journey and that indeed He honors my journey. Although there have been rough patches, there has also been reconciliation – both between me and the Lord as I laid down my disappointments and between others and He instilled such a confidence in my heart that He is guiding my steps that I was so encouraged. I am staying out here in California and working from our Roseville office until I finish work on the 31st and I am so grateful for this time. So much of what has been difficult about my job for me is that my co-workers and those that I work on behalf of are far from me – but first being able to be in Uganda for five and a half weeks and not only be with the Ugandans – but the Americans I had been planning with for the past year was a blessing and now to be able to pass on all the work I’ve been doing in person to my co-workers is a true answer to prayer of being able to finish well! I feel that there is still some mourning in my heart and healing I know the Lord needs to do in my heart regarding the disappointment of the end of a very important relationship with Tom, yet I also am very hopeful about the future and the plans the Lord has for me and I am experiencing freedom as I prepare for the next step…
So, dear ones keep praying for healing for both Tom and my heart. These next few months before I leave for Australia I plan to work at my dear friend Lori’s new boutique – Redeem on 14th St. NW in Washington, DC – I plan to live with my dear friend’s Chris and Dani – worship at Church of the Rez, enjoy time with friends and make trips to be with family prior to what I do feel is my launching pad for this international ministry adventure the Lord has set me on… Please let me know if you’ll be in DC prior to February 2007 or in Australia after that and I’ll let you know if my travels take me to your neck of the woods before moving Down Under.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for praying. I was so seeking God’s voice as I left in the beginning of September and I believe He has answered… He gives and takes away – blessed be His name…

Your fellow sojourner,
Brooke

Please, keep up with me through my blog: brookesintladventures.blogspot.com