JOHN WILLIAMS AND CHARLIE BRAKE

Friday/Saturday October 19,20 2007

Canberra

Nola and I visited John Williams (and Faye) in Canberra hospital. John has had a brain tumour removed during the past week or so and is recovering well from a very significant instrusive surgery. The tests showed that this is a virulent form of cancer and it was a bit of a blow for them and their family.

It was Faye's birthday this week and John was allowed home for a birthday party. He has to re-learn all kinds of skills and is giving it his best shot and doing well.

Pray for him. Let's get the better of this stuff in the mighty name of Jesus.

Jonathan and Rebecca Brake had a birthday party and dedication service for their young son Charlie. Charlie has had some big stuggles in his first year with food digestion and a few other things. It has been a challenge for the whole family but they have and are doing really well. He has just started to sleep a whole lot better. It was great to be together with all their family and friends and to commit this little one to Jesus for every day of his life.

ANOTHER PRECIOUS BROTHER AND SISTER FROM AFRICA

Thursday October 18th

Canberra

the evening of my first day back Nola and I were invited to a dinner to recognize the visit of Casten's pastor from Zimbabwe. Casten and Rumiko were married there in August. The meal was held in the home of Ben and Linda Milbourne. Ben travelled to Zimbabwe to represent all of us at the wedding. All of these guys are building church down at the ANU and have been reaching oversease students. They are all doing a great job and have seen some wonderful things accomplished.

These two wonderful servants of God from Zimbabwe combine pastoring a local congregation with itinerant evangelistic crusades. They have a audio tape ministry and also videos that have had great impact over a wide part of this very troubled nation. Of course the inflation rate makes it the next thing to impossible to get resources and to make them available at a price people can afford.

They also need sound gear for using in their crusades. We have just had experience of how a good sound system makes all the difference in these meetings. Thousands of people show up and you either have to be another George Whitefield or John Wesley OR have a decent sound system.

It was a joy for me to have breakfast with them before they returned to Sydney to preach there over the weekend and then back home to Zimbabwe on Monday.

SUNDAY FINALE AND HOME

Sunday October 14th - Wednesday October 16th

Sorry to have taken this long. I did this in the Johannesberg airport and just as I was about to post, my time was up and it was all lost.

As we arose on Sunday morning for the first time we were sent in four different directions. Jaemin had to travel for two and a bit hours to preach in Soroti, Ashley and Julie went back to Malaba, I preached in the morning meeting in Mbale and the other members of the team did ministry with the kids at Mbale.

I preached a message about the lifestyle of the cross. Even in the morning meeting at the church more people gave their hearts to Christ. I am beginning to understand more about the experience of the cross and how this has become a religious icon for us rather than the place of our core identity and the source from which our life in Christ must flow.

I discovered some time ago that the message of the cross for the first three hundred years of Christian history was basically a message of the fact that Christian victory is characterized by the fact that glory and victory come through the embrace of the cross. The cross is the place where the nobodies become somebodies and the sombodies become nobodies. The early Christians were proud to suffer for Christ and serve in his name. Ever thought that the word for witness was taken from the experience of people who gave their lives for the cause of Christ, not just from someone asking someone else if they have heard about Jesus of Nazareth.

After the time of Constantine and the establishment of the church at the political and power centre of the empire this aspect of Christian testimony changed and the cross became a symbol of power and rule. Not so much a symbol of the righteous taking the rap for the unrighteous. The emphasis was on the spoils of victory much more than the opportunity to lay down your life.

Anyway, it was a great meeting.

After the morning meeting, the Aussies had been working on a little special project. One of the guys decided that instead of purchasing some trinket as a gift to Patrick and Christine, we would build them a genuine Aussie barbecue and cook them an Aussie BBQ meal. One of the guys spent the whole day on Saturday working hard in Mbale while we were in Malaba. He produced a wonderful gas powered hotplate and purchased a quarter of beef and they got to work. Everyone pitched in and we had two or three different kinds of meat and onions and coleslaw and all the other bits and pieces. The members of the Mbale church team came with their wives and the house was full of a lot of noise and some really great food. We have left the aussie icon on the back patio of the house and told them that they must practice for when we return.

Final meeting in Mbale

At five o'clock we all went to the church for the closing meeting. There were some terrific testimonies and a lot of gratitude to God and to people. Shannon gave a powerful testimony of an experience she had had in Malaba when she was told of a woman in Malaba who was very short as she is. They looked for this woman and found her. When she saw Shannon she was amazed. They spoke together and a bit later she became a believer. It was such a sovereign thing and very powerful. Good on you Shannon and good on you, Lord. A great testimony to the fact that God has special tasks for all of us in different ways. We are truly his workmanship.

At the same meeting pastor Patrick Ollala, the administrative pastor of Impact Ministries told how there had been a death threat letter sent to the Bishop the night before we went there to the Crusade. He warned that if we came, the Bishop would be killed. Not only was he not killed but many people were saved and healed and the church was built up and equipped. At the end of this story and as he spoke a prophetic word over the Aussie team about taking the fire back to Australia, there was a huge time of celebrating the victory of God. We all danced around the church with the plastic chairs we were sitting on raised above our heads as a testimony to God's might and power.


MONDAY - Seven hours in the bus: Mbale to Kampala and Kampala to Entebbe.

We left at 10:30 to drive to Entebbe. We stopped off at Kampala. People needed to get money changed and then there was some shopping to do in a centre there were there are cultural things to buy. Then we had to travel along some very crowded and washed out roads to drop Edgar (youngest Okabe boy) back at his boarding school. Honestly, one of the roads would have doubled as a very challenging motocross track.

We arrived at our motel in Entebbe by a bit after 7:00. Eating is always a slow process but we were in bed by around ten o'clock ready for an early rise to catch our plane.

TUESDAY - A long walk to get out of Africa: Entebbe - Johannesberg - SAA flight to Perth

Up at 5:00am
Breakfast
To the airport by a bit after 6:00am
A short time for goodbyes to our wonderful Ugandan hosts. Bishop Patrick, Christine, Emmanuel, Sam (fanstastic but driver). Ugandans are not good on saying goodbye. It doesn't seem as much a part of their culture. It seemed strange to be parting when we had spent most of the previous fourteen or fifteen days together for most of the day. Janelle was staying in Uganda to be taken by Compassion staff to see a child she had been sponsoring who lived about four hours from Kampala somewhere to the south west. Troy (from Adeliade was staying on in Mbale)

Johannesberg by 11:00 am.
This was a time for some more partings. Only six of us were going on to Perth on this day. Some were staying in South Africa to do some touring. Jaemin was wait listed on a plane for the next day and was going to visit some connections in Jo-berg. Five of the six were going to go into town and look around.

Me, I decided to stay put and stay focused. We had an eleven hour wait till our flight left for Perth. South African Airways and Qantas have a code sharing arrangement but SAA doesn't fly in to Sydney. So from a bit after 11:00 in the morning until 10:00 pm at night I decided to find a comfortable spot in the airport and work with the help of my computer.

By about 6:00 pm I discovered that the other five people had not gone into town after all. I don't know how we didn't see each other in the departures area but we missed each other all day. Turns out that we were just beyond a divider from each other for a fair bit of the time.

I forgot to mention that Tuija was also travelling from Uganda on the same flight (from Grace working short term in Uganda). She was on her way to do a few more weeks in Mozambique. We had time to talk and pray together before she left after lunch.

There's not much to say about the trip across the Indian Ocean. It started at 10:00 pm and we flew through a short night which was lengthened by the cabin crew who asked everyone to keep the blinds on the windows down. We didn't get cranked up till about 11:00 am Perth time.

We thought we were going to transit at the International terminal, but we had to go through customs and transfer to the domestic. That was a better idea because it meant no long delays in Sydney. We took off again and arrived at Sydney by 10:30 pm. Nick and Ben (my two terrific sons) were there to pick me up and Warwick came back with us. We dropped him off at Goulburn at around 1:15 am and then were in Canberra an hour or so later.

Surreal being in my own house. Thank you Jesus. You are a great, great Saviour. We love you, we love what you do, we thank you for what you did. And we thank you that we are safe, well, and delivered home. Thank you for wonderful, welcoming, hard working Ugandans and their faith to see people come to Christ and their communities rebuilt through the glory of God.

Will this be the last post? Wait and see. There are some photographs coming, but I will wait till I get into our office where we have fastest upload of any network I have ever been connected with.

Thank you for being interested and even more for praying for us. This was a team effort. We felt your prayers, we felt the power of God in so many ways. We felt connected to you in the Spirit. Thanks team.

Brian

FINAL MEETING MALABA

Saturday October 14th

We were off to Malaba on our own this morning. The Bishop had something to do with his car. There were the regulation two conference sessions. The team went out on the streets with Pastor David (who will be the pastor of the new church there). He is a young man with great potential but he and his wife are living in a single room of a building where the small hall for meetings is in the next room. They have very little money and the rents are high there. Malaba is a very dark town. Being a border town there are the usual excesses related to a moving population and a very high through put of human and vehicle traffic (mainly trucks). The church in Mbale will support them for three months but they are convinced that they will be okay by then. If a quarter of the people who came to Christ show up they will be in good shape for numbers.

We met a great pastor here called Patrick Mabala (from Malaba ??!!). He has been in the twon for fifteen years and has been pastoring a church for a bit more than five. He was my interpreter and has such a beautiful heart for God's kingdom. There is a lot of division and competition in the town, but with blokes like him around there is great hope. My hope is that we can support and encourage these guys. They have so few resources and such poor conditions.

The end of the conference went on and on. One of the pastors from Mbale who works with Patrick wanted each member of the team to say something and then it went on some more. We had lunch by about 3:30 or so.

The crusade meeting was amazing tonight. There was a wealth of worship and dancing talent and it was all given a slot. A local teen challenge ministry have a wonderful group of kids that have been saved off the streets. The pastor is about 24 and the associate pastor is still in year five of high school. Their church meeting on Sunday starts at 5:00am and finishes at 9:00 am. How about that for raising up world changers.

I had my last fling tonight and it was a bit like the first night. There was a huge resopnse and one guy was demonized and had a wonderful deliverence. He had no shirt and no shoes. When they had prayed for him one of the guys in the worship team gave him his shirt and shoes and then when the celebration began he was dancing with an old shirt and no shoes. Powerful.

Tomorrow we have people preaching in Soroti (Jaemin) and Malaba (Ashley) and myself in Mbale. Then we have a closing meeting with all the team at 5:00 pm.

One of the guys from the team stayed back in Mbale today. We all chipped in and he bought the pieces to build Patrick and Christine and Aussie BBQ. He is a butcher and went out to buy a quarter of beef and will cut the steaks for tomorrow's Aussie lunch. Should be good.

Bye for now.

Brian

MALABA - Day Two

Friday October 12th

These are long days for the team. As was the case in Soroti the ministry in Malaba has us leaving our accommodation in Mbale by 8:00 in the morning and we don’t get back till around nine at night. We have breakfast before we leave and then we mightn’t get lunch till around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. The crusade starts at around 5:00 and the preaching at about 6:30pm We are usually finished by 8:00.

Today we had teaching sessions at the conference in the morning. This time the conference sessions are under a marquee right behind the stage for the crusade. It is an area that is girded by shops and is a market area. It’s a great place to have the meetings. There is a natural amphitheatre feeling about it and people sit along the shop fronts as well as gather for the meetings.

Yesterday at the first meeting it was spotting rain the whole time of the crusade and the people in the worship team were pretty cold by the end of the meeting. Once again I had the opportunity to preach in the rain. I think it’s my specialty here after last year when it poured in Soroti and everyone headed for cover and I kept on preaching. I had the same interpreter this year when we were there and he reminded me that we had shared a very wet platform and he told me he was more than willing to do the same again.

The people in the crowd at Malaba were amazing. Everyone stayed and listened to the message. When it came time to invite people to come to Christ I think two thirds of the crowd came forward. The atmosphere was amazing. It just looked like there was no crowd, only those seeking to come to Christ.

Today we travelled the forty five or fifty minutes to this border town and were engaged in the same program. It seemed that there was no one coming to the conference meetings, but when the worship started up people began to gather and by the time Jaemin started teaching the place was full. Those of you who know this part of the world would know that there is a language change in this short distance. Malaba is on the border of Uganda and Kenya and they speak Swahili here like the rest of Kenya and Tanzania.

And today they arranged for us to go across the border just to say we had visited Kenya. The border crossing is filled with trucks coming from Mombasa (Kenyan sea port) and going to Kenya and to the DRC (Congo) as well as Sudan. Endless trucks. We had to get clearance for our vehicles and for those who had Aussie passports, but we entered and returned on a letter that had been signed by the Police Superintendant in Ugandan Malaba. Both towns are called Malaba, a Kenyan version and a Ugandan version.

It rained again tonight at the Crusade. It looked to be going around but then came in with a vengeance. Before the rain a larger crowd had gathered than yesterday. When our team got up to do a song, two of the girls, Janelle and Shannon had learned some things in Swahili and they spoke to each other on the stage using the mics. People were thrilled to hear white people from Australia speaking words from their language.

When the rain came everyone scattered for cover. Amazingly the people headed for cover and when the rain stopped they returned. More worship and then Jaemin preached. Once more people came to Christ and were counselled for salvation and had their details recorded.

DANCING AND INTERCEDING TILL THE RAIN WENT AWAY

Soroti: Tuesday October9th

We were just boarding the bus to head to the crusade ground when the wind picked up and a huge storm came heading our way. it was so strong that it blew one of the wipers off the front of the bus. The gear at the ground was all covered and people were sheltering fromthe huge wind and driving rain. The power went out as well and the worship team with help from a few of the Aussie team kept dancing and worshipping in the rain and praying that God would take the storm away. He did. It literally turned back and the ground became calm and still. People came back in droves and got fully involved in the worship.

Jaemin preached tonight. He did a great job and there was a wonderful response. Best response we have had in Soroti for sure and equal to anything we had in Mbale.

Tonight was our last trip to the village where we have been staying. Tomorrow night we go back to Mbale and then next day to Malaba on the Kenyan border.

Sorry if this is too short. I am going hop on the back of a bota bota and get myself to the conference to give my session.

Love to you all. Keep praying for us.


Brian

Conference Wrap Up and Soroti Day 1

Sunday October 7 and Monday October 8

The sunday services at the church were terrific. The platform was filled with new converts from the Crusade and we found some Bibles to purchase and give them a copy each.

The service went from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm.

No meetings on Sunday night so it was good to catch up a bit.

Left for Soroti at about 9:30. It is usually a 1.2 hour drive but because the floods have washed the bridge away we had to take a long route and even then we had to drive through some water covered roads around another bridge that was still standing. Its like northern Aust.

Started straight in at Soroti with the conference and the first night of the crusade saw a smaller crowd but just as large a response. It was amazing. We had been moving around the crowd talking to people about Jesus while the worship was going on and everyone there seemed to be a Christian, but they came forward quickly and there was a large number who were counselled and whose details were recorded.

Jaemin is preaching tonight. It will be a terrific experience for him and when I suggested it he was keen and the Bishop thought it was a good idea.

Sorry for a shortened report. I have to rush for a meeting and the internet cafes (and generally are so slow.

Talk to you soon

Keep praying for us. One more day in Soroti and then Malaba (east of Mbale toward Kenya)

Brian

THE MASTERS OF IMPROVISATION

Mbale: Saturday October 7th
Last Day of the Conference and Crusade


It doesn’t seem a lot like Saturday when you are in the throws of a program like this. Today was like the four days before it. Jaemin and I went to the Conference to teach our sessions and the rest of the team went to spend some time in the slum areas of Mbale and pray for people there. Seems a little trite I guess, and that doesn’t minimize the value of prayer. But it was a confronting experience for them like so many in Africa.

I preached for nearly two hours today. Jaemin seemed to finish early and they only had a short worship break and then I was on. As I mentioned yesterday, by this time there is a very good connection with the people and we have a greater understanding of each other. I wanted to finish teaching my material on “Finishing the Race,” from 2 Timothy 4 and on a few occasions I felt that they might want to finish up, but no way. This is Africa. These people have travelled for days to be here.

I was talking about one precious young pastor from a town north of Gulu. He is only 50 km. from the Sudanese border and has been there right though the Kony terrorist wars. Many in his family have been killed. Even despite all of this he wanted to give me his email address so we could communicate. Those of you who have worked in African nations would understand the fuller context of this. We have had to hate ourselves so that we won’t get involved in creating false or unrealistic expectations. We made the hard rule that we would say to everyone that we are working through Bishop Patrick and Impact Ministries and that we would channel all the resources we could send through him. I know it doesn’t seem fair but it is the reality. There was some talk of a team coming next year to do crusades in Gulu. That would be something.

At the end of the session we prayed for all the pastors and got the people to pray for them and then we asked people to come to have their needs prayed for and the front was packed as usual. I really felt that we connected better with the pastors this year and I hope we can do something to encourage pastors closer to their own villages and areas. It may be a pipe dream, but I thought if we brought twenty pastors and sent them out to key regional areas with some Bibles and a few other teaching resources it would mean so much more. I’ll be talking with Patrick about it. The needs here are so powerfully enticing and its easy to make promises that can’t be kept. But it is important to provide encouragement. These guys have incredible faith. I said to the pastors that if all pastors in Africa could come to Australia for part of their training we could teach them good Bible teaching practices and if all the Australian pastors could come to Africa the African pastors could teach them to have faith in God.

I was totally emptied by the time the session finished. It was 1:00 pm and I thought that was the end of it, but even though we wandered out to the bus thinking we would be going back to the house, there were more presentations from children and other groups and finally Patrick arrived back and closed the conference officially. I came home and died.

The Crusdade meeting was perhaps the best one of all. There were some wonderful performances by worship and dance groups, so much so that our guys didn’t get a go tonight. We had the biggest response and the presence of God was very noticeable.

They were going to show a DVD (“The Passion of the Christ”). I have brought the video projector with me and Emmanuel thought everyone would like to see it on a big screen once it was dark. I said that I thought we should do a trial run to make sure it worked, but that doesn’t seem to exist in the local language. Emmanuel and his partners in multi-media crime were convinced they could do it on the spot. As usual there were wires patched from here to there and cords that were supposed to do what it took. But when we had to leave I could still see the blue screen with “no signal” up in large letters. Guess what – the masters of improvisation got the movie going and soon the High School ground was packed with people.

We got home by about 8:30pm and Patrick and Christine were planning to go to a restaurant for tea. I was so emptied I asked if I could be excused. I talked with Patrick and said I would be willing to come if it was important to him, but he was gracious and so I read for half an hour and went directly to bed. Having a meal was not on the radar anywhere for me.

A WONDERFUL BUT DISTURBING MEETING WITH PASTORS

We left for the Conference at around 9:00am as usual. The team were going to the hospital today. It was a very moving experience. When they returned and we were still at the conference, Pastor Peter (Patrick’s associate) asked Shannon to share her experiences and she talked about the fact that the hospital was such a mixture of feelings for her. She was overcome by the conditions and the diseases (they had been to an HIV AIDS ward as part of the visit). She said she was also profoundly impacted by the faith of the patients and many of the staff. The team members had the opportunity to greet the patients and give them some small gifts (like soaps) and pray for them.

I had to change some money. Its not a simple task up country. The first bank I went to had a line with twenty people in it that didn’t move for the first twenty minutes I was there. So I went to three other banks all of whom said they didn’t change USD into USH (Uganda shillings). I finally found another one and there was no cue, but I still had to wait nearly half an hour for the process to engage. Then the problem was the date on my notes. They don’t like USD dated before 2001. I am not sure exactly why that is. I have been told but have not understood. They agreed to change a small amount. That was okay by me. Then I went looking for the dry cleaning shop and was given about four or five directions that proved to be fruitless(probably a lack of adequate communication rather than anything else). Just to give some idea of compartive values – at present one US dollar is worth about 1700 Uganda Shillings which makes the Aussie dollar worth about 1500 USH. When I went to get a coat and two pairs of trousers dry cleaned it cost me about $9 AU. To get a ride on the back of a bike from the town down to the church cost 30 cents. They told me that it costs 30 cents for an ordinary sized person with no load and could cost 40 or 50 cents if you happened to be a large person or a smaller person with a large load. Those of you who have been to Africa would have seen what is possible to be carried on a bike. It is much more than anyone from Oz would think.

I loved doing the session with the people at the conference. It takes a few days for us to get each other’s measure and then we can have a lot of fun together. There is a connection between Aussie humour and Ugandan, I am sure. I have been teaching messages in a series about the things that enable you or hinder you from finishing the race based on 2 Timothy 4. There have been the odd diversions that those of you who know me would understand and this was the second last day, but God gave me some great ways of connecting the message with people and they responded very well.

We had some workshop sessions today. I took one with the pastors who were there. Many of them were there last year as well. We went into a school room and the room was totally packed. I can’t say how many but there were many. I basically introduced the time by explaining a few things about churches in Australia and our own church in Canberra but opened it up as soon as possible for questions. Here is a sample of the questions the asked:

I am looking after many orphans and we only have enough money to put half the roof on the building. How can I get the resources to finish it? The orphans expect something from us and we are so frustrated when we can only give them half a roof.
What do we do when we can’t get Bibles even as pastors? You came last year and said you would send us Bibles, but we never got them? (actually we had sent money for Bibles but there were not enough for everyone – ongoing problem)
We have many women whose husbands are not believers and who mistreat them. What should be do to help them?
You have come to us with teaching from the Bible that we do not receive in this nation. I would love to be able to get more of this teaching and be able to give it to the pastors in churches that we have planted. How can we get access to it?
Even though there are many things being done with aids and health, we need more people to teach the groups in our villages and towns how to guard against aids and other diseases. The government programs have done good but they are so hampered by corruption that so little gets to the rural areas and the people in the villages. Can you help us?

I gave honest and straightforward answers to these questions but the possiblity of true partnerships still remains the greatest opportunity and the greatest challenge. I felt very empty but strongly connected to these precious men and women of God.


The rain stayed away for the crusade today. There were thousands of people there. We had all of the worship and preliminary activities and then I preached on the three fathers: the one in the story of the prodigal son, my own experience and the father heart of God. There was a great response and then we prayed for very many healings and there was some of the very domonstrative deliverences from demons.

Then the celebration began and there was a lot of reason for celebration.

A GREAT TURNOUT AND THEN A COMPLETE WASH OUT

The sun was shining and it was a beautiful afternoon as the crusade program began. When we arrived the worship team were leading and the whole crowd was moving and the dust flying. I don’t know when they started that song, but we were there more than twenty minutes and they were still singing the same song and with as much energy as the moment we arrived.

Some of the young guys from our team joined with the dancing in the front. There were some really young boys who were just amazing in the way they moved to the music and sang the songs. Our guys matched in with them for a while, but by the end it was Uganda 1, Australia 0. There was a very large crowd today, much more than yesterday. At the same time a heavy cloud was sitting on top of the mountain to the east of us. I asked a couple of the guys whether it would come down to where we were. The common opinion seemed to be that if it didn’t cover the top of the mountain it would probably stay alone the mountain range. The worship went on and then our guys did their songs and drama. Like last year, the mime dramas go down really well. Everyone claps and cheers and laughs pretty much on cue. The communication level is quite amazing. They are simple themes but do a great job.

Then two things happened. They had trouble with the generators and some lights went out and then the sound for the microphones disappeared. Poor Pastor Peter was stuggling to know what to do next. He called the people to come close to the stage (as if they need encouragement – different to Oz) and began to speak to them without the sound. I thought about the crowds that Wesley and Whitefield used to speak to without sound equipment and yet were able to be clearly heard. Pretty amazing stuff. But Peter’s concern was soon irrelevent because the cloud that was supposed to stay on the mountain had decided to visit the crusade ground. It pelted down and everyone rushed for cover. I reckon within a max. of two minutes the ground was empty – and I’m talking about four thousand people or so. Some were huddled under the few trees around the perimeter but they soon saw that the rain was getting heavier and wasn’t going away. The rest of us were under the tarpaulens covering the speaker stands or under the stage.

When the rain started to taper off we headed for the bus and home - when everyone got back to Patrick and Christine’s house there was a great time of prayer and worship that went on for quite some time, just calling on God to not let heaven be denied on account of the weather.

Earlier in the day the other members of the team went back to the very large primary school with bags containing over 2000 sweets, enough to give one to every student they were going to be spending time with. The guys on our team have done a great job connecting with the schools, staff members and kids. There hasn’t been the same opportunity to preach as there was last year because the time frame seems to make it difficult and there has seemed to be more interaction with the head teachers and the students have done musical items for the team to listen to. All of that is good, but the approach is different.

LOSING EMMANUEL IN JO’BERG
Sunday October 30, 2007


We finally landed in Johannes berg after a long thriteen hour (or so flight from Sydney. It was sunshine all the way as we tried to outrun the sun, leaveing Sydney at 10:00 am and arriving at 4:30 pm local time. We hit the cues waiting for Immigration clearance and saw Emmanuel go through the section for people with African passports while we were in the much longer “others” cue. That was the last we saw of him – when Jaemin and I finally dragged ourselves to bed at 9:30 pm local time (it was about twenty four hours since we had started the day) we had still not set eyes on the only Ugandan member of our team.

Arrival in Jo’berg
We all got through the Immigration and Customs without incident. We had to check to make sure our bags were checked through to Entebbe and then wandered through customs and waited to see Emmanual. …… but no Emmanuel. We decided he must have gone ahead of us but when we got to the hotel but when we arrived there was no sign of him. We checked in and had a short meeting to bring everyone of the fifteen people in the team onto the same page and then they all went to their rooms. It was about 7:30 p.m. Three hours since the plane landed and still no sign of Emmanuel. We tried to survey all the known preferredoptions without satisfaction. We didn’t really have any idea what “other” options may have existed.

Back to the Airport
Jaemin and I got the shuttle back to the airport and looked in every place we could think of, but without success. We talked to the police and the airport administration but to no avail. We even looked in the Muslim prayer room. No Emmanuel. It was about 9:30 and we had no idea where he could be. I went into the customs area and a lady there let me look through the customs declarations to make sure he had actually cleared the customs (I don’t even want to think of why he mightn’t have done that. – we were just covering every single base we could think of.). No Emmanuel.

A more senior Customs lady came over while I was going through the last of the three boxes of customs declarations and told me that I was not really supposed to be looking at other people’s information. She was really nice about it and then read the writing on my t-shirt about taking the gospel into the whole world and just said to me, “The Lord will take care of him. You know that don’t you.” I assured her that she was right and I would transfer my trust to the Customs department of heaven rather than South Africa. I joined Jaemin back in the main area feeling challenged and encouraged.


So we caught the shuttle back and checked with the reception (we had done that three or four times already). The words of the Customs department prophet were fulfilled. To our great relief, five hours after the plane had landed, we were told he had checked in. We went to his room and banged on his door, but no matter how much we banged we could get no response. So we both went to bed assuming he was temporarily “dead to the world” and we will look forward to seeing him in the morning. Not just seeing him but hearing the story.

Tomorrow: Johannesberg to Mbale Uganda
Tomorrow we have a 2:00 pm (local time) flight to Entebbe and a five hour plus drive to Mbale. Tuesday the conference and crusade program begins at Mbale.

Tune in tomorrow to hear Emmanuel’s story.
Emmanuel Discovered in Transit
Monday October 1st

With body clocks all out of kilter many of the team woke at around two or three and tried to reprogram for a bit more sleep. I got up at 4:00 and went downstairs to pray and read and dosome preparation. We didn’t have any of our main bags so things were a bit sparse in the clothing and personal department. But we all covenanted together not to think about it. Good showers and some sleep are a very worthy substitute. I was more interested in finding out what happened to Emmanuel. When I went to the reception yet again to double check that he had come the night before I was told he had not checked in. Jaemin even rang the room number they had given us the night before and a girl answered. No wonder she didn’t answer the door the previous night with a couple of strange guys knocking and calling for Emmanuel. So more drama.

We left for the airport at around 11:00 am. And the search was on yet again. We sat together and retraced our steps. I decided that I would go back to Customs and Immigration and double check to make sure he really had come through the passport control. By the time I talked to three or four different people we worked out that it was more than likely that he had not been allowed entry into South Africa because he was travelling on a Ugandan passport. People on Australian passports don’t need a visa to enter South Africa but Ugandans do. So this poor man with a limp walked me all the way to the transit lounge and when we talked with the transit officer he remembered that Emmanuel had come through the afternoon before, and when he had presented a voucher for our hotel, the man had put him in touch with a hotel in the airport for transiting passengers, imaginatively called the Transit Hotel.

Emmanuel –tired but safe
So I went back to the arrivals area where Jaemin was waiting and we checked in and went into the transit area. We had Emmanuel’s ticket for the Jo’berg to Entebbe leg and he needed it to check in himself. We were told at the reception desk of the hotel that he had checked out. Wen returned to wander around the transit area and to our great joy, Emmanuel was there. The story was that he had asked for a room at the hotel but they told him it was booked out. After going back a few time he settled for a sleep on one of the bench seats in the transit area.

Out flight to Entebbe took five hours and with one hour time difference we landed just before 7:00 pm. We had trolleys full of our own gear but all the stuff that Emmanuel had brought. I was thinking of the things I might say to the customs agents to let us through without paying import duty but when we arrived to that area we were allowed to go straight out the door. Amazing and very welcome. We think it was the fact that later in the day the staff aren’t as prolific.

It was great to meet up with Patrick and Christine and Sam and a few of the other young men from Mbale. They only brought one vehicle this time, so around twenty two people squashed into the bus loaded with all of our gear and we set off for the six hour drive to Mbale. With a pit stop and a stretch legs stop we arrived at around 2:30 am. Patrick and Christine welcomed everyone and outlined the program.

We will be meeting at 7:45 am. for breakfast and some prayer and will leave for the church at 9:00 am. Teaching will happen until 2:00 pm Teams will be going to schools from around 11:00 am until 1:00 pm. We will have a break for an hour and then there will be a “Jesus March” through the streets of Mbale from the church facility to the crusade grounds. The crusade program will begin at 4:00 or 4:30.

We will be doing this program in Mbale till Sunday morning and then drive to Soroti on Sunday night for three days of the same program there. On Thursday we will drive to the other (new) town where we will do much the same program and where we will help plant another church.

There was a bit of drizzle around and plenty of evidence of where the flood waters had been, but otherwise it was reasonably free from difficulty. We will be praying for the hours between 4:00 and 8:00 pm so that there will be no rain during the crusade. Please join us for this. We are also holding one hour prayer meetings in a hall in the centre of town and doing radio programs each afternoon. That will keep us busy.

Stay in touch for a report on the first day of ministry in Mbale. This is a hard town that has begun to crack open for the gospel like never before. It is the chief learning centre for Islam in all of Africa
BACK IN THE FLOW A WONDERFUL AFRICAN ENTERPRISE
Tuesday October 2nd Ministry in Mbale Begins

I couldn’t help noticing a twelve year old boy when the worship began in the first session of the leadership conference and marvelled again at how Africans employ every part of their bodies when they worship. This boy was amazing. The fact that hundreds of others of all ages were similarly engaged made my modest 60 year old movments look pretty tame. The worship team was there again. There are twenty or so men and women who dance and sing the worship. But they do this for a few hours during the conference sessions and then back up again in the afternoon for at least another couple of hours at the beginning and the end of the crusade program. Our team thought they would double well as fitness trainers for all the energy they use. We also figured that if some of us got the anointing we wouldn’t ever need to go to the gym. The other thought was to start a spiritual gym based on African style worship.

Numbers at the morning conference started a little lower than last year, but as people arrived from other places it was filling up more by the time we finished. The Conference goes from 9:00am. till around 1:00 pm. It involves two main teaching sessions, one by Jaemin and the other by myself. Today there were the welcomes and a few other bits and pieces. Lots of ministry at the end of the second session. God was amazing. Jaemin and I did not prepare anything together, but what he taught about fitted so well with what I ended up saying. In my session I gave a whole teaching that I have never prepared. I started at the planned point but that was as far as it got. This happens with me from time to time, but the Holy Spirit gave me things to say that I have never throught of and it just kept going. At the end of that I realized that we were coming coming back to the original challenge that Jaemin had given. The ministry flowing from that was very significant.

The guys in the team went off to a school at 11:00 and Jaemin went to a lunch time meeting up in the middle of town at around 12:30 pm. I had my first experience at driving because Emmanuel was working hard to get the sound gear up to the crusade ground. So I drove myself home and then went to pick up Jaemin and the guys from their session. Its interesting driving here. Basically the whole of the road is available to whoever needs it. It doesn’t really matter if you drive on the wrong side to allow pedestrians and push bikes to have their space, but the cars just weave in and out of all this, generally with great understanding and quite a measure of grace. I don’t think I have seen anything close to road rage or any of the stuff that you and I might experience on a daily basis driving in Australia. This is a side to African nature that I admire greatly, its part of their very laid back way of approaching life.

On that note I was speaking from Acts 7 where the text says that the Jewish religious leaders gnashed their teeth in anger at what Stephen had been saying. So I asked if anyone had ever been that angry themselves. Only two people out of the whole crowd acknowledge such a level of anger. Anyway, the driving was great fun. One hand on the wheel, foot poised over the brake and the other hand poised over the horn.

This year the first meeting of the Crusade was much bigger than the first meeting last year. I don’t know just how many thousands but it must have been five or more. The stage was really well built this year and the equipment was under a roof that could be made rain proof. Everyone did their stuff. There was a great group from a school where the principal was the lead dancer and their music and dancing were terrific. You might remember from last year that when Africans perform like this, people who appreciate them come and put some money in the hands fo the lead performer. They don’t just come forward they groove forward. Wonderful. In this case another man from the school was going through the crowd selling a tape of their music. I couldn’t see all of what he did, but a few people bought tapes from him.

It was a powerful night. I preached a simple message and many people immediately came at the appeal and we prayed for them and their details were gathered for follow up. Then we prayed for all kinds of people to be healed. I love this work. It is as physically demanding as playing football but more useful beyond measure. There were storms all around us but not one came near us. Praise the Lord.

Since we had only a few hours sleep the night before, we came home to wonderful food prepared by Christine and her helpers but everyone was gratefull to eat and then head for bed.

Its great hanging out with Patrick again. His phone rings more times a day than anyone else I have ever known. He is the conductor of a very profound number of enterprises and is the lynch pin for the operation. He is always thinking about doing more and better and has a deep love for the people of this part of Uganda that is as obvious as it is practical and as detailed as it is spiritual.

We were talking about helping to set up a sponsorship link in Australia to provide people with a way to sponsor the number of thousands of orphans in their care each day. They are genuinely doing the work and the money would go directly and completely to the source of the need. There is a difficulty in arranging a program like this without some way of colllecting the money from Australia and wiring it in larger sums to Africa. We will see how this might work through our own office.

The fact that they take the street orphans from Mbale and other places is especially wonderful. Not only are they providing a chance in life for little ones who would otherwise have none, but they are solving a huge social problem for the city. The city leaders are aware of this and are grateful to the Christians for this work.

A JOKE THAT ENDS IN TEN PEOPLE COMING TO CHRIST

I finally got connected to the web today and worked here while the first session of the conference was happening. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to load stuff onto my blog page and what I am writing now will probably only be read by those wonderful people who are willing to keep clicking down the page.

Jaemin and I were in the conference together this morning and saw something really amazing. It happened when the Bishop Patrick was speaking at the start of the second session. He was talking about the fact that Christian believers were the ones who had the privilege of having discovered the way, the truth and the life (ref. John 14). He was half joking but making the point that some people had discovered the church but not the way, the Bible but not the truth and fellowship but not the life. While he was speaking a woman came out and stood to confess that she had not made that discovery and when a rather surprised Bishop realized what was going on he simply referred the people to what was happening and nine more people came to receive Christ. On our way back from the session we warned the Bishop that he might well be developing another method of evangelism. We have had power evangelism and prayer evangelism and friendship evangelism. And now out of Africa comes: joke evangelism. What do you think?

We continue to be amazed at the godly perseverence and joyful expression of these wonderful Ugandans. Jaemin made the observation to me that there was a much greater sense of depth and maturity in the core leaders of the church and in many of the people we meet and talk with. I am sure it is true. But the people who show up to the prayer times at 8:00 in the morning are still there at 8:00 in the evening dancing and worshipping the Lord. Whichever way you interpret that it comes out way ahead of much of what we experience in our complex heavily compartmentalized western lifestyles.

We have also been overjoyed as many of the people who came to Christ last year make themselves known to different members of the team. Just a strong reassurance that there is not only fruit from the ministry but fruit that lasts. This is wonderful.

We are getting into a bit of a routine now with Conference sessions beginning at 9:00 and then the rest of the team going off to the schools etc. Yesterday they did some work at the largest primary school in Uganda. There are 4,000 students. And they rate among the highest achievement levels in the nation as well. What an accomplishement. It is a state run school but has a strong representation of Christian teachers and other staff. There are classes in the school that are as large as 120. They work on a peer mentoring system and very strong discipline.

They also went to the orphanage run by Impact Ministries. There are 700 orphans here and they sleep in rooms where there may be even 50 or 60 crammed into bunks and sleeping on the floor. On the one hand the guys from the team were amazed at the poor conditions but incredibly heartened by the fact that the wonderful mothers and supervisors who ran the institution could offer these young people good food, a loving environment and a full education, therefore a chance at achieving something with their lives. When you think that these are kids off the streets, this is a major work. And with all of that they are led to Christ, filled with the Spirit and discipled in the Word of God.

Some of the team members went to the markets today and saw all the things you can buy for twenty cents (AU). They were suitablly impressed and managed to come back with some African shirts and various other items. The consumer bug hasn’t been satisfied with one visit and they are planning to attack it again before we leave for Soroti.

At the crusade tonight we saw the grace of God in action once again. I was having trouble with my voice again but manage to pump out a message based on the demonized man from Geraza. When I gave people to opportunity to respond about forty or so people came forward vowing to leave their witchcraft and other ways that bring darkness. I then handed over to Patrick and he continue very powerfully and by the time we had finished more than a hundred people had responded. All of them were counselled and had their details taken down for follow up.

By the end of the day I was very much run out of energy. Bed and immediate sleep were both welcome experiences.