Unexpected Blessings

It seems that since Laura’s arrival there have been a multitude of different reasons why trips to the village have been canceled. This has been discouraging on one hand but very exciting on the other – discouraging because I love the village and encouraging because I equally love the town of Gulu and the people that live here!

The Foresters (the family I met in the airport when I first arrived) had a team come in this week and yesterday we had the opportunity to spend the day sharing the Gospel with them. What a blessing that was! The team is 10 college students or new graduates and they LOVE Jesus. It was a huge honor to be able to work alongside them and have no other goal for the day but to talk to people about Jesus.

The morning began with a time of praise and worship, reading Scripture, and praying. I felt so filled and realized how deep my longing for community has been over the last few months. And that was just the start to the day.

We split into groups of 3-4 and spent the rest of the day walking around Gulu and sharing the love of Jesus. I don’t know what happened in most of the other groups, but in my group we saw one person accept Jesus. We also met a man who is already following Jesus but has been longing for a solid church and community.

Finally, we met Mary and Martin and their four children. Martin is a prison guard/chaplain and Mary works at one of the little shops in town. They love Jesus like crazy and we spent the afternoon encouraging one another. The family spends much of their time and money ministering to others and they are just a huge blessing to the people around them. So cool!

As we were preparing to leave, Mary said she wanted to wash our feet. So she brought us inside her home and prayed over us as she washed our feet. I somehow managed to hold back tears, but I’ve never been more humbled in all of my life.

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” – Isaiah 58:10-11