Lord of the Flies

Feeling a bit guilty about our events today as we did nothing but pleasure activities. We started our day heading to Murchison Falls with a Nile River Safari ride on a double decker pontoon boat called the African Queen (a sister boat to the Winner Queen) It was a beautiful river excursion as we continued to see God’s interesting and mighty creation. Arriving at the bottom of the falls, we hiked a couple of miles on steep and treacherous terrain, but worth all the pain and agony to see the breathtaking views. The falls are unbelievable with a description of a narrow Niagara with the exception that no one has survived going down these falls. It was a great time with pain, awe and laughter that all enjoyed. There were even a couple of pranks gripping fear and “pain” as Tim hid in the brush acting like a wild boar scaring any potential prey. Apparently Laurie, CC and Kelly had to change clothes and did not need a short call for another few hours. Also there was a pesky fly bothering David for over a mile. He never caught on and the back of the group got a lot of laughs as McKinley was using a reed to tickle his neck and legs. Instead of a tickle, David perceived a pesky biting bug and was swatting and dancing along the trail. We look forward to the reading of the blog tonight to see his reaction to what it really was.

We believe God wanted to get into the “fly joke” as well. At the end of our hike we hopped on the bus. It was roasting (and that is an understatement) so we opened the windows to cool off when a swarm of horse flies surrounded and entered the bus. We quickly closed all windows and began the slaughter of flies. Most of them congregated at the back of the bus where Todd, Tim and McKinley happened to be. Todd and McKinley declared war on these flies which would not die. It was a sight to see. With the windows now shut and 18 people on board, the God-made sauna/bus was heating up and the sweat was building. This went on even after we started driving as the flies followed us for miles, so we continued roasting and killing for 15-20 minutes.  Like the entire trip, it was an experience that quickly got us to appreciate the comforts we have each day.

Our 4 hour drive to Kampala ended with a surprise. Robert made reservations at an authentic 3 hour dinner show. It was a representation of 5 different tribes with their African style of entertainment. The food was great and the show was fantastic.

Tomorrow is our last day. We start with a devotion with the local Sports Outreach team and head to the slums shortly after.

 In case we cannot update the blog again prior to our flights, we all thank you with all of our hearts for supporting us through this trip.              It could not have been done without you and we are all confident it was well worth everything. We are all greatly affected and plan to impact others upon our return. We love you, miss you and look forward to seeing you late tomorrow afternoon (flight lands at 5:40pm in Wilm.) and telling you the details of our trip. Just don’t forget, we may be exhausted and might need some time to recover, but we promise not to milk the time for anything more than some needed rest.

God's Majestic Creation

We had a relaxing day today with 30 minutes extra sleep and a 4 hour drive to Paraa Safari Lodge in Kampala. Arriving at lunch to be greeted with a buffet fit for royalty, we ate with gratefulness since we are children of the King. We then hit the safari and it was amazing. Our guide began the tour with a list of animals we will see and ended with "...and hopefully we will get a chance to see a lion" with a response from us "...we WILL see a lion".  Donti replied "we will try" with one more response from us "Donti, you don't understand, we WILL see a lion and you will take us!" We all laughed with Donti wondering if we were serious or not...and we were.
Well we saw every wild creature they said we would... plus sighted a record 10 lions. (Don't underestimate  children of the King). We also saw many Ground Hornbills which are huge birds that once a mate is found they couple for life. When one dies, the other commits suicide by flying very high and taking a nose dive into the ground to their death. Now that's commitment. The safari was over 3 hours with a never-ending breathtaking view of God's majestic creation. To God be the glory.
We ended with a testimony from one of our drivers who has served us tirelessly since we have been here. His story was remarkable and a great surprise after seeing his extreme humility of servanthood throughout the week. Trying to rewrite it on the blog would not serve well at all, but a great story to ask about Robert's life on our return, especially since ESPN has recently reported about it, a book is being written and Disney just visited to make a movie about it as well.
Well, many are falling asleep in the lobby trying to get Internet to talk to all of our loved ones back home, but apparently the Internet is turned off at 11:00 and emotions are stirring.  If any are wondering if you are missed, even as much fun we are having experiencing God's amazing glory, we certainly miss you greatly, but will see you soon...and certainly have much to talk about.
Tomorrow is Murchison falls (check it out on the Internet) and then a drive for one more servant opportunity that we will write about tomorrow. To God be the glory. We love you all.

Attacking demons, the dead walking

Our last day in Gulu, God continues to show his mighty work and truly stretched some past our comfort zones. We started the day with 2 teams. LIfe Community went to the juvenile prison and LifePoint went to Lagutu. Ashley opened the medical clinic at the prison with a powerful gospel message that was the most effective yet. There were close to 80 in attendance with half of them asking Christ into their hearts. We are not sure if it was Ashley's passion and their grasp of Christ's sacrifice or their desire to be white as snow since they have no idea what snow is. The interpreter let us know there is not even a word for snow in Acholi so he replaced with hail stones. Nevertheless, we have not had a 50% conversion rate yet, so we might use hail stones more often.

When the medical clinic started we were all able to have one on one time with each prisoner that made their decision earlier. We triaged their medical concerns and prayed for each one of them. Of all the medical clinics, this one by far had the least severe ailments, but the spiritual needs were greater and unexpected.

Tim and Sam both had prisoners request prayer for healing and God immediately answered the prayers. One felt instant relief from chronic pain in his ribs, another had is hearing restored and another was able to rotate his neck after an injury that previous to prayer was extremely limited in doing so.  Praise God!!! McKinley and Greg on separate occasions had requests for demonic deliverance. Both discussed after the clinic and found humor  in the fact of the first thoughts that came to mind, "WHERE's PASTOR TIM!!!???" however, the Holy Spirit provided the strength and confidence to both and those demons had no chance with God's presence in those prison walls.

While Life Community was at the prison touching lives, Lifepoint and Eric headed to Lagutu to do some home visits and see the people who's lives they are touching through their support. Upon arriving in Lagutu, we were rush by children who held our hands and walked with us. We saw one of the wells in Lagutu that is out of order and talked about what it would take to get it back up and running.  Of the 5 wells that serve to clean water to the residents  of Lagutu, 2 are not working as a result of minor problems that could be fixed with a little money to service them. Then we went to the school where patrick, a teacher there, brought us to each class where we were welcomed with joy and rejoicing by the children who sang songs for us and danced. We danced a little too, mazungu style. Patrick passed us off to Dennis for our journey deep into the bush. If ever we doubted the bush was deep and remote, any doubts were put out of mind as we made turn after turn on small path feeling ever more lost. But Dennis knew the way and we went to visit some  of the villagers. The stories were all so touching and each home  was so welcoming of our prayers. We were able to pray for Dennis and his grandfather and hear their stories. We also prayed for a broken home of a mother who takes care of her 3 children while her husband is overcoming alcoholism. Another touching moment was when Dennis took us to the home of 2 girls who were left to fend for themselves by their parents at just 15 and 18. We did laugh though in dennis' home which he had cleaned for our coming. After Aaron Talley and Eric each insisted on sitting on the floor, Eric got the honors and went to sit. But while doing so took note of the scrubbed floors, and He asked what was used to clean the floor. Dennis quickly stated cow dung just as eric's hand hit the floor. Upon hearing it, he busted out laughing and was unable to stop. Not to be outdone by the other team, we too tackled a spiritual warfare opportunity when  a mother asked us all to pray for her son who she believed was demon possessed Aaron, Laurie, Kelly and Flow (Chris) united together and RBR'd the demons (RBR-rebuked, bound and released).

It was a beautiful trip, getting to see the town that Lifepoint is sponsoring in such a light and putting a face to who we are helping out. After finding our way out of the brush, we headed back towards Gulu to meet up with the medical team for lunch.

So much that God Has blessed us to be a part of, it's hard to say something as a highlight, but we were all looking forward to this afternoon as we all went to Lajwatek to spend some time with Esther, the one who was dead for 3 days and God brought her back to life. Of course, it's not every day you get to speak to a former dead person that is not a zombie (apparently Chris and Joan are/were zombie movie watchers ).  Even though we have all heard Esther's story, hearing the details directly from her was incredible.

Say "Baaa"

Very Relaxed day today…It’s Sunday!!!We traveled to Lajwatek for church this morning and words cannot express how incredible it was. The church service was 3 hours long and we could have easily kept going. We started with some expressive worship led by the children’s choir. They are an example of true authentic worship. Next came the devotion time with Greg, McKinley, and Aaron (not Tally) Leading 10 minute sermons each. Although they prepared separately without any guidance, it appeared they worked together as each of their messages built on each other. After the dynamic and persuasive devotions, the children started leading worship again. It did not seem possible after the initial worship time, but they kicked it up another notch with even a more powerfully passionate expression to God. Tim then wrapped up the service with a power punch message on the Holy Spirit. At least 25 came to the front wanting to be filled. It is exciting to see people so hungry for God…

After the service we were viewing a picture Ashley took of Tim. It was almost angelic with rays of light bursting from his heart. There is discussion of changing Life Community Church to the Supernatural Guiding Light Ministries with this picture as the backdrop. You have to admit it is catchy. After seeing the pic, you may see the potential for the new denomination…(actually, farther from the truth, but you will laugh when you see the pic as the overexposure makes Tim look very spiritual in a supernatural way)

We rested a bit prior to the soccer match with part of the group playing “Say Bah” (formerly called “Chase the Ace”) In this game the winner is the loser and has a predetermined consequence. Some of them were Kelly barking like a dog in the courtyard for a minute, Kelly high fiving the waitress and then doing the native Acholi call, Eric singing happy birthday to the first stranger he sees on the street and Laurie air-kissing Tim on the cheek and singing while on her Knees “did you ever know that you’re my hero”. In the last game, they decided on a grand finale. Kelly lost again and has to “bah” like a goat every time she hears a native say “goat” for the rest of the trip. It’s amazing how many times we can get them to say it. We even arranged to have goat again for dinner. The staff repeatedly told us what kind of meat it was. Kelly has just about perfected the call of the goats.

It was time for the soccer match and we had THE strategy in place. We started with a “psyching out” and intimidating entry from the bus onto the field. Stretching simultaneously with a few exercises as well, we finished with lunges across the field (that turned out to be a mistake) the game was evenly matched, but we definitely played the hardest. There were multiple MVP’s on our team with some footage we hope was captured on film. Sam got the Good Sportsmanship/MVP award as he helped an opponent to his feet while still dribbling the ball.  Aaron surprised us all with his tank like features, intimidating everyone, but handling the ball like he has played his entire life (he only played one time in college on an inter mural team, you would never know it). Greg began driving the ball one time and had the field mesmerized with some fancy footwork getting past defenders with tricks and twirls, but then tripped on the ball and did a face plant. The fans went from disbelief to historical laughter. In private, Greg later admitted the fancy footwork was not his ability. “I recall the ball hitting my heel behind me. It was at the same time my foot had a back stride and it just happened to put the ball in from of me. I then saw a defender and closed my eyes in fear. When I lost my footing. I then turned to not fall which resulted in a full twist. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ball in front with no defender and wondered what just happened. I realized a big play may have occurred as I could hear the fans. At that moment, I gained  a lot of confidence and was ready to kick the ball on my own with all that I had. However, I tripped and fell flat on my face. Hey, by the way,  you will keep this between you and me right?” I gave the thumbs up and quickly walked away. BTW, The message tomorrow will be “pride cometh before the fall” with a great analogy we can all enjoy. There are so many more highlights , but we want to save some stories for when we get home. The game was a blast and we played hard, but the victory belongs to Africa this time with a score of 3-1. The record is now tied USA 4 Africa 4.

Immediately after the game, we showed the Jesus movie one more time. Although it was our smallest crowd, it was the biggest success.  Around 100 people showed up and close to 40 committed their heart to God. One of the stories came from a student named Maurrish. He saw the film on day one and was greatly moved by it, “I knew the bible , but never saw anything like this. It made it real to me and I went back and told others.” He brought back 2 friends, Michael and Godwill, to this last showing (they walked a couple of miles to get to it). He was so excited, he grabbed a few of us to tell the story. At the end of the movie, Godwill was one of the 40. He came back and Laurie, McKinley and Greg got the opportunity to pray for the 3 and celebrate Godwill’s decision. God continues to move mightily on this trip.

Sugar Cane in the Raw

We knew today was going to be a good day when breakfast was moved back to 8:00 instead of 7:30. We rolled out of the hotel parking lot around 9:00 and were on our way to Lajewetek. We had two teams today: construction and medical clinic. But before we separated we had a few minutes when we were sitting on the side of the road. The entire trip we have all wanted to try some of the sugar cane, sugar water in a stalk pretty much. Robert allowed us to try some of his, and once we had some we had to get more. Some of the team went across the street to buy a whole stalk of sugar cane. Let’s just say, there is nothing ladylike about eating this native treat. We felt like barbarians, ripping part of the fibrous, juicy stalk off with gnashing of teeth. Barbra said she felt as though she was chewing splinters. Delicious splinters. You might be able to equate the sugar cane with very fibrous celery. Soon after we enjoyed the sugar cane we parted company, the construction crew to Lajwatek and the medical crew to Lapinyoloyo.

We thought going to Lagutu was an off-road jungle experience, but traveling to Lapinyoloyo was by far the most exciting. Rumor has it that the 18 passenger van got some nice air on the footpath which turned into a treacherous road less traveled. If you want to do some real mud bogging, come to Africa. The potholes and inclines looked suspiciously like mountains and gorges. We bottomed out at times, sliding through mud holes for about 20 kilometers on a barely used dirt road with overgrown trees and brush. At times we may have had moments of anxiety as fleeting thoughts of getting stuck with no life in sight crept into our minds, but prayer always brings comfort. Many were praying…hard. With 1 km to go we were forced to abandon the bus and take the rest of the trek on foot.

As we were arriving, we were passing all the children. Usually they are lined up waving at us, but this time they were walking by us rocks in their hands with smiles from ear to ear. We found out they were carrying rocks to drop in the mud holes so the bus could get through, which, eventually, it did. They continue to be the examples of serving with excellence even at a young age. Greg says he is going to move his family here so his kids will behave more like these children.

Over 300 adults and children came to the medical clinic today, with 13 receiving Christ. Praise God. The last two were sisters, both named Agnes. We expanded our treatment with Aaron finding his new calling. Apparently, Aaron is destined to change professions. If a new OB/GYN practice opens near Wilmington soon, don’t be surprised if it is his…



The construction crew had a busy day as well. Barbra and McKinley switched from the medical crew so they could make a few bricks. Sam took a video which accurately portrayed the intensity of brick making. It is not for the faint of heart. After making a batch of bricks we were called to tea: an absolute must in Northern Uganda. The team is planning on starting a new tea trend upon our return. Ashley and Eric were our masons today. The bricks have now been completed for the schoolhouse kitchen and the foundation has now been laid. After a few hours of strenuous labor we went to the well to clean off the grease and grime. The cool water was extremely refreshing after working in the hot African sun.



The sun turned into a downpour at the end of the day, postponing the Jesus film to be shown in Lajwatek today. This gave us an opportunity to fellowship with each other as a team, fellowshipping and catching up on the details of what God has done, which was awesome and inspiring. Ashley misses the late night Mirinda toast with Whitey, but this does not curb his obsession with the drink.

dinner at 11:00... "no kidding"

We forgot to mention how long (but enjoyable and amazing) our days have been. We begin each day by meeting for breakfast at 7:30am. The day is packed with events with us not returning to the hotel to eat dinner until 10:30-11:00pm. Last night was no exception, but we were happily presented with a huge meal even past the closing time of the restaurant. It consisted of pickled bologna salad, rice, beans, pizza, chicken and …roasted goat (sorry Rebecca).  It was all very good (even the pickled bologna). Stay tuned for another amazing day today.