June 30

Nick’s Comments.
This last two weeks and a have been amazing. Aside from being sick the first four days and visiting the hospital in Kampala due to the wonderful Malaria pills which I stopped taking shortly thereafter. On a more positive note the culture is amazing and I have really enjoyed it so far and the food is amazing. I have been impacted in many ways that I never thought I would. Everything from distributing food in the IDP camps, to sharing the gospel with kids in the schools has been a real eye opener. The first few days we went to a bunch of schools in and around Kampala. It was a great experience, for the most part the kids seemed genuinely excited and thrilled to hear what we had for them. At first giving my testimony and talking in front of many people was a little frightening , but after the first couple schools it seemed like no big deal and almost felt natural. One of the most impactful things for me has been seeing the living conditions of the people in the slums and IDP camps. Its one thing to see something like that on tv or in a movie, but when you see it in person it suddenly becomes much more real and shocking. Overall everyone in our group is having an incredible experience and cannot wait to share it with everybody back in the States.
--Nick

I’m trying to round up the others to get their thoughts on here, but I did want to catch everyone up on our activities over the past couple of days.

Yesterday (Monday) we left the Transa Rock Hotel and drove out to the Dream Center Gulu. Like the IDP camp, it was quite a ways out of town on a dirt road, and when we first drove in, it looked completely and totally unremarkable. Basically a squared off area next to a village, around 15,000 sq ft, surrounded by barbed wire and had a couple of huts on it. In the far corner was a group of young men working on something.

Pastor Robert, the man in charge of the place, explained what exactly it was. During the civil war, the rebels made a horrid habit of abducting young boys – as young as 7-8 years old – and training them to become soldiers. They are young men now, but since they did not get to complete their schooling they are not trained to do anything. It is difficult enough to have their villages accept them back in, and being unemployed and untrained on top of it makes it an enormous challenge to get them assimilated.

The Dream Center takes the young men in, trains them in such skills as sewing, carpentry and brick making, and then places them into communities upon graduating. It is helping to build the future, one small step at a time. I find the concept very encouraging.

We all got the chance to get our hands dirty since there was a large pile of bricks that hadn’t been baked properly that they needed to move to a pit. We formed a couple of chains and passed most of the pile into the pit for them.

As we were filtering back to the bus, the children from the village had formed up as an audience for us. Erika noticed a girl that had an open wound on her leg, so she got out the First Aid kit and started bandaging her up. Soon Lance and Aaron had joined in, and by the time we left several children had nice white bandages on their bodies. It was rather poetic since this was all going on about 15 feet away from the foundation that has been laid for a clinic on the property.

From there we went back to Gulu and dropped off everyone from KIU except Kennedy & Aaron. We then made the trip to Murcheson Falls National Park for the safari.

The lodge here is fantastic, and the safaris – by Land Cruiser in the morning and a boat trip down up the Nile in the afternoon – was simply incredible. We were able to see all sorts of wildlife, including elephants, 2 different prides of lions, many different species of antelope, warthogs, water buffalo, baboons, and several others that slip my mind right now. Oh, and on the boat trip we saw at least 100 hippos and several crocodiles. God’s creation is incredible!

The plan is that tomorrow morning we’ll take a bus ride up to the top of Murcheson Falls, then wander back towards Kampala. Thursday morning will be shopping, followed by a going away party with the KIU students at The Palace in the afternoon. The next day is off to London!

And now for some more comments from the other folks.

Erika’s Comments
Praise God! I’m here to write a general recap of my experience in Uganda, and Pastor Kennedy is here laughing at my blank face and screen, cause I really can’t find the words. Not because the trip wasn’t overwhelmed with Jesus’ teaching, the building of valuable relationships, and confusingly simultaneous joy and heartache, but I guess because, it was. My highlights include community work in Nabutiti (Texas City) on Monday and Tuesday and in another community near Omega on Thursday, where we distributed food and shared God’s story in words. At first for me, it was daunting to think of just sharing the Gospel with a Muslim woman on her knees before me in the dirt of a Kampala slum, or praying for another burdened by HIV, but if I’ve learned anything on this trip it’s been the actual power of the Holy Spirit if we are just willing. As we first starting walking around on Tuesday, giving nothing but truth, I felt torn by a desire to come back with more physically recognizable help: more food, shoes, health care. But as the day went on, and we prayed for healing or whatever else, I believed more each time that God would provide, and the gift of hope is the ultimate assistance. Jesus has moved in amazing ways in every person on our team and I think we’ve all learned so much. I’m so grateful for having been a part of the trip