Some of the testimonies we witnessed during our stay:
"We worked primarily in two slums in the city: Sabina and Kimombasa. It is impossible to describe the poverty in these slums. You have to be there. Many pictures will end up on facebook, but none of them tell the real story. Like Myles Teems said, pictures don't come in scratch and sniff. The sights, smells, feels, and sounds of these places are unforgettable. Thousands of people live in these slums, and there are twenty-three similar slums in Kampala. IMFC has worked in eight.
I met a woman named Teresa who was blind and going deaf. She sat on the floor of a tiny hut by herself. Every time it rains the house floods up to her chest and she has nowhere else to go. International Missionaries For Christ's Manna program gives her a bag of food every month, but people will walk into her home and take food from her because she can do nothing about it. Both of her children are dead, and she is left with ten grandchildren who cram into the hut to sleep every night. She is four months behind on her rent and her landlord comes often to threaten her. Her main concern was that she wanted to be able to pay school fees so that her grandchildren could go to school. For herself she only wanted a blanket so she could be warmer when it flooded.
I also saw a church planted in a bar. It's called telefono. Though I don't know if that is how it is spelled. Men sit in this bar and drink through long straws from a pot that sits in the middle of the floor. Telefono is like a religion. Groups of drunks meet without fail at the same time every day and pitch in together to buy their drink. They have a close-knit bond of trust within their group. They are truly slaves to their drunkenness. But God is mighty to save from any kind of bondage. We walked by the bar for the first time last Sunday as we were leaving a house church service, and were mocked but also invited in. We shared the gospel that first night, seeing no conversion, but we left Deo's phone number. During the middle of the night Deo started receiving calls from the men saying that God would not let them sleep, that He was convicting them of their sin. They begged for us to come back and share with them, that they might be saved. Jimmy returned Monday and saw several of the men converted, one of them named Ambassador. Our group met at the bar for the next several nights. Ambassador brought many people to hear the gospel and many were saved. God planted a house church among former drunks in a bar in a slum in Kampala, Uganda.
God also planted a church in the house of a former witch doctor. I saw many Muslims come to be born again. Three Muslim women changed their names when they were born again. We were told they were signing their own death sentence by doing so.
I witnessed what happens when the Holy Spirit moves among people. People are desperate to hear the gospel of Christ. Believers are desperate for the Word of God. God will draw His people to Himself."
I led a girl named Carolyn to the Lord. She was eightteen and attended hair school. After praying the prayer of salvation with her I asked what she needed me to pray for her about. Anything she was going through or needed strength for, provision. Her response was this, "That I get everything I like in life." Confused, I asked her to explain. She wanted God to bless her hair business when she gets out of school so that she can support herself and be strong. And she wanted the wisdom to find a Godly husband. A man that would treat her like she should be treated and a man that would love Jesus with her in such hard surroundings. This just tore me up. I guess because we were the same age. I jokingly talk about marriage and how excited I am to find that "perfect guy" and here that is one of Carolyn's only requests of prayer. That she would find a Godly man and be taken care of. It breaks my heart that I may never see her again. I will pray for her everytime I think of her. I pray that God blesses her. I want her to be protected and not harmed. I want her to find a man that will treat her like the precious girl that she is. I love Carolyn.
One day, we were witnessing to a couple women. Two granddaughters of this grandmother who was sitting in the doorway of thier hut. She was holding one of her grandchildren and folding sheets. She was elder which is very rare in Uganda and she had been struck with multiple sicknesses to where she couldn't walk, hardly get up from the dirt. She asked us to pray healing over her body and so we knelt down to pray with her. As we were kneeling she stopped us and started talking to our translator. We couldn't understand so we asked our translator what she was saying. He told us to stand up for a minute. It was at that time I saw the grandmother having to practically lay down to get a fresh, white sheet. She placed it under our knees so they wouldn't touch the dirt. Seriously? These people have nothing, yet they offer everything. Their finest possessions. Breaks my heart. America, you are selfish and have everything so backwards.
Another day, we shared with a woman named Joyce during manna ministry. She had 5 kids, one who appeared very sick. Her husband was killed 3 years ago on the battlefield. After sharing the gospel with her, we thanked her for her time. Then she said, "Who am I that you are thanking? Who am I that you came all the way from America to see? You are not used to these living conditions at all. You sacrificed your life just to come and see me. Who am I? I should be thanking YOU." broken heart once more.
I could go on with stories forever but these were a few that just changed me and touched my heart forever. I left my heart in Africa. I am so homesick. I can't stand being back home. Everything seems so insignificant and ignorant. America has everything so wrong and you won't get it unless you see what my eyes have just seen. We are so selfish, wasteful, rude, unthankful.... but the funny thing, is that Americans are probably even more HUNGRY than Africans. The problem with us is that we have so many "fillers" that replace God that it's easy to ignore Him and "shoo off" the gospel. It's so easy. When things seem to go wrong in our lives we tend to say, "God, why would you do this to me? Where are you, God?" In Africa, they choose to say, "Oh God, please help me get through this. You're my hope and my strength. All I have is You."
Africa changed my life. I've never felt more joy and happiness than I did over there. In my heart, I've always had something missing. Satan allowed voids to come up and make me feel empty. Jesus wasn't enough. There, my heart was completely full. I had no more longings for anything else. All I needed was Jesus and this joy that I had found. God is doing a lot of things within me and I know that I am going to end up back in Africa for more than the next couple summers. Everything is just right there, I just fit. I always talk about how I can't wait to find the perfect guy and before I left I had such a void, an emptiness that I wanted to be filled by a dating relationship. In Africa, that void was demolished and filled by those precious children and people. When I'm there a "significant other" is the last thing I could care about. I was so perfectly content with my life. And I just miss it more than anything. Africa changed me. I am so ready to get back and see God move even more. "I have a new glowingness about me and it is so Heavenly. What used to be earthly joy, is now Heavenly joy. Everything I do has more meaning and purpose. Even my worship has changed dramatically.
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