July 16 - A crusade in Pastor Aaron's home village

Ministry Partners,

I woke this morning to rain outside my window but stopped shortly thereafter. I am going to miss the 8 or 9 am team breakfasts in the garden here where we are staying. It's hard to believe there are only 5 more mornings here, my time in Africa has gone far to quickly.

A noon, or as they would say here - at mid-day, we left to do a crusade at the church in the village where Pastor Aaron grew up. Depending on the traffic it would take from 1 1/2 to 2 hours but of course we stopped to buy another tasty pineapple to eat on the way. We traveled through the sugarcane fields to the top of a mountain and the view from the church was breathtaking to say the least.


We delayed the start of the actual crusade as some of the 7 pastors and other villagers were still making their way up the hill to the church.

 

Brothers in friendship. Alfred & Aaron worship with the congregation

During the delay they sang worship songs in my favorite manner, only their beautiful voices with the accompaniment of two drummers and their drums then Alfred preached a brief message, "Who are you?" Although he has told me he has preached at other times this was only the second time he has preached in my presence or given a talk. I teased him before he started and told him just to make sure and not preach my message to which we both laughed as did Pastor Aaron. Alfred has translated all of my messages so often that he could very well preach them himself.

The message the Holy Spirit gave me concerning "Fear" and about not just having head knowledge about God and Jesus but actually making a decision to receive the free gift of salvation that Jesus paid for on the cross continues to carry impact  but the whole "Forgiveness" message and challenge is a tool the Holy Spirit continues to use to touch the hearts of those are present.
The moving of the Spirit in their lives was evident as I spoke, watching both men and women wipe tears from their eyes and at the end of the crusade 8 or so came to the front of the church and testified as to how they had been unforgiving but during the crusade they had followed the prayer to forgive someone else or themselves. Then some of the women came to where I was seated and got on their knees in front of me to honor and thank me. I cannot tell you how HARD it is for me to be greeted in such a way!!!

We did not have nearly enough Bibles for everyone so the pastor divided what we had brought between the pastor/leaders that were there for their congregations ....... 3 Bibles/Discipleship Booklets each and they were so thankful for what they received.

Then we were served delicious African tea, roasted peanuts, roasted corn, bread and bananas, what a feast we enjoyed.

The pastors and villagers asked if I would come back again and my answer was the same, "We'll have to wait and see what God provides",  I told them that my pastor (Ron Swor) made the comment that he hoped I was doing this until I was 90 and they thought his words were a good idea ....... me too!

On the way back to Kampala we stopped by quickly just to say hello to Pastor Aaron's mom.

 

 Pastor Aaron's Mom, Aaron & Arlene

We were unable to stay but a few minutes and Alfred prayed before we left as it was already getting dark and the rabbit trail roads and the drive back would take two hours in the dark. The teasing, laughter and just fun being together made the trip not seem so long but in fact it was almost 9pm when we arrived back at the Hotel.

The team can sleep in tomorrow as breakfast will be at 9 but tomorrow is another full day as we will have lunch with the Commissioner of Prisons before heading out for another crusade, this one with Pastor Geoffrey.

 Love and blessing to each of you from Uganda.

Arlene

for the team