Hope

One of the hardest things to process about being here is the previous activity of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and the impact that this group has had on Gulu. The village we work in, Tegot Atoo, actually means “place of death”.

There is not a single family in that village that we have met who are not directly affected by LRA activity. Hearing stories about this is unavoidable, and especially at first I found it incredibly upsetting to watch as people brought up how the LRA affected them. They visibly change when talking about their stories. Many cover their pain with alcohol, abuse or various other coping activities.

I won’t go into specific stories, both because that is not the purpose of my post and I don’t want to write what I’ve heard over a public forum, but you can almost definitely find something about this group on the internet if you are interested. “Invisible Children” has some good videos that actually center around the place we are right now.

More importantly than what happened, what I’ve found that is so incredible about all of this is the amount of hope and change that Jesus provides to His people today.

Richard, his eyes actually seem to glow. I’ve read this in books, but don’t know that until now I’ve really seen someone that I feel this is true of, but I can see it in him. He is filled with joy and peace. As he abused her continually, his wife Evelyn prayed 10 years for Richard to come to know Jesus. About one year ago he did, and he is a wholly changed man.

He, despite cultural norms, helps his wife in the garden, goes out to dig for her in the community if she cannot and interacts with people with a great humility, something rarely seen here in men (this was not an insult to men, culturally here men have absolute dominance over women and oftentimes treat them mainly as property, not people, this is very different from western culture : ) ).

Another cultural difference is that parents don’t really interact with their children. There are not really hugs or kisses given to any of them. Richard and Evelyn LOVE their children and that love is returned. They hug, kiss, talk with and interact with them. In a very real way, they show the life changing power that Christ has over the lives of His children.

In addition to this, they also display hope and assurance in their future; not that they know exactly what will happen to them, but they know that what matters is they will one day spend eternity actually being able to see their Savior with their own eyes. Richard and Evelyn were weighed down with sins, the actions of the LRA, culture and many other things, and Christ freed them from all of that. And hundreds of other people in this community as well. People are undeniably changed and freed through Christ. “For by grace we have been saved through faith.”

This is actually one of my favorite things to talk about with people. Email me if you have any questions or want to know more, I would love to hear your input! I love you and am praying!

“And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.””
-Mark 2:17