Births and rebirths (20220601 Newsletter)

May 28, 2022

Births and rebirths (20220601 Newsletter)

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from wet and humid Uganda. Thank you for reading my newsletters and supporting me all the ways that you do!

Personal News:

Even though the rains have come to Jinja, harvest season has arrived.

At the end of last month, a local Christian organization held a children’s conference in the village. Missionary friends of mine invited me to come and share the Gospel. They expected and planned a meal for 100 children but over 200 came. As usual, God provided when there was a need. The food was enough, and everyone was fed. The exciting news is that 30-40 kids committed their lives to Jesus Christ, mostly teens. The leaders of the conference were so encouraged by the response and will provide follow-up classes for the new believers.

I met with Liz (the young woman I led to the Lord in April and was baptized on Easter). She asked me to train her for evangelism. After about an hour of teaching and training, we went together to practice sharing the Gospel and spoke with a young man.

Simon was a Christian but his relationship with Christ was broken. He saw his family slaughtered by “The Lord’s Resistance Army” when he was very young and had many questions about God: “Why did God allow…” ”Why didn’t God stop…” Liz and I both spoke with him and watched as God softened his heart and tears welled up in his eyes. He told us he would get things right with the Lord and thanked us for talking with him.

After a short debrief, we talked with Mike who was also a believer. When he realized that we were in evangelistic training he asked if he could be trained as well. I sat back in surprise and watched as Liz took the initiative and trained him. Since he was new to Jinja, she invited him to church, and he agreed to go.

On the way home I talked with my boda driver about the Lord. He told me he was a Moslem, but the Osama Bin Laden sticker on his bike did not keep him from wanting to hear more about Jesus. He asked good questions and told me he would consider giving his life to Jesus. I made myself available to answer any questions he may have and invited him to our Bible study.

I’ve been asked to present the Gospel at a crusade in Lwambogo next month. We are expecting around 700 young people to attend. (We are training Sunday school teachers to follow-up new believers from the crusade.) These are exciting times. God is growing His church here in Uganda!

Welcome Home News:

Lots of new babies! Here’s a few:

· A little girl came to us destitute: her father is 81 years old, and the mother is mentally ill.

· A young mother was in labor by the side of the road in a village. A kind neighbor took her to the hospital where she gave birth, then abandoned her child. The father is unknown.

· Another young boy came to us having a mother with mental illness and a father who deserted them both.

Many times, mental illness in Africa is caused by satanic oppression. Thank you for your continued prayers for our children as we have many challenges.