Uganda Week 5

Our next location was Arua. While we worked with a different contact this week, ministry looked similar. Another week of conferences and campaigns.

Due to a lack of space on the bus, only half of our team was on the bus on Saturday. I was a part of the team that was on the Saturday bus. We had a very long travel day to Arua. Along the way, we saw elephants, antelope, hippos, and a lot of baboons. I am pretty sure all the locals on the bus thought we were crazy, as we would freak out every time we saw another animal.

Not only were the animals an enjoyable part of the long trip, I also had a lot of time to process through outreach so far. One thing I was confronted with was the pain of all the goodbyes. Coming into outreach, I had not even considered the pain of build relationships with the inevitability of saying goodbye. Especially after all the goodbyes in Mbarara, building relationships with the people in Arua just seemed to be exposing myself to even more hurt. After spending much of the ride deciding it would be easier to not get attached or give my whole heart to people, I knew that to love like Jesus is to give your whole heart even when it hurts because you can trust that God will refill you. To love like Jesus is to love even when it is hard or it hurts. To love like Jesus is to pour yourself out without expecting anything in return. To love like Jesus is to risk your heart being broken to help mend someone else’s.

The following day we split up into three groups to speak at various churches. I loved the church my group attended. The people were so light-hearted and genuine. Everyone was interactive, engaged, and so unified. After church, the second half of our team got there and we had the rest of the day to rest.

I took advantage of the free time to get my laundry done. A few minutes after I started, a few girls peeked around the corner of the house and then timidly walked over. They were so sweet and offered to help me. Despite my attempts to reassure them, I was totally fine doing it myself, they still began helping. They kindly taught me the best way to bucket wash your clothes, but I was not very good at it. Then some younger girls came over too and were braiding my hair and asking me questions. Once we had finished the laundry, we played jump rope, and then I painted their nails. This was one of my favorite memories from the whole trip. This moment was not planned or organized in advance, but there was no better way for me to have spent my day than laughing and hanging out with those girls. Getting to know them even further throughout our time there was definitely the highlight of my week.

The next day we just had hospital ministry in the morning, then the day after that the conference and campaign began. I was feeling really weak that whole day, so I just sat in the back for the most part. Then we had lunch and team worship. Early afternoon the campaign started. The campaigns this week were slightly different from the previous weeks. While there was still worship, a time of sharing the gospel, and an altar call/prayer call, they also had a dance team of teens from the local church and a time of prayer and worship specifically targeting spiritual warfare, which was so powerful and just cool to be a part of. At the end of the crusade, the stage was open to whoever had testimonies to share from the night and one after another people were coming up and sharing testimonies of healing.

The next day I was still feeling really weak and sick and my leaders thought it would be best for me to stay back for the day and rest, which I am thankful for because while I was sad to miss out on a day of ministry I definitely needed the break. I took advantage of the extra time to spend time with God. One of the challenges from this week for most of the team was how many expectations were placed on us culturally for this location. While Mbarara was not very different culturally than what most of us are used to, Arua was on the opposite side of the spectrum. The people here, especially the Christians, were very reserved and particular, not in a bad way just different, but in a way that required adjustment. Because of this I find that much of my exhaustion was not even due to physical tiredness but actually mental and emotional exhaustion from trying to make myself be someone I was not to fit with the culture and even my team at times. I had completely exhausted myself pretending to be someone I was not. So I took some time to process through what it looked like to respect the culture, participate in ministry, and be a part of my team while still being the person that God created me to be. God used my need to adjust to a new culture to teach me a lesson that holds true beyond cross-cultural trips or outreach teams. He taught me that pretending to be someone you are not is exhausting. How true is that? Containing the person God created you to be will wear you out. Continually suppressing your gifts and personality leaves you tired and empty. After working through this with God, I committed to being more vulnerable and just generally being my true self. 

The next day was a fresh start for me, but sadly our last day in Arua. Upon arriving at the conference, I felt convicted to speak. I had not spoken at any of the conferences or campaigns in two weeks and I had allowed fear to cause me to shy away from speaking. We ended up performing an extra skit and they needed someone to explain it, so despite my hesitation, I volunteered. While I had no plan for what I was going to say, God continued to give me the words as I went and what I said ended up lining up perfectly with what everyone else shared after me that day. Going into ministry that day I was still slightly exhausted, but after the conference I was so full of energy and excited for the campaign, which just reaffirmed what God taught me yesterday. I decided to be myself, use my gifts, and obey God’s voice and I was immediately filled with so much joy and freedom. During the campaign that night, two people were delivered from demons. One woman who was blind due to the demon possession even received her sight back! Another man who was suffering from blindness came up for prayer. He went from being completely blind to seeing light and outlines of things. As with other villages, I am sure this is only the beginning of all that God is going to do in this place. I am still standing in faith that this village is still deepening their relationship with God and experiencing freedom from all realms of darkness.

As we drove away, I was filled with thankfulness for this day. As I continued stepping into what God was calling me to do throughout the day, he filled me with joy and energy and redeemed what had started as a hard week. while watching the church where the conference was held slowly disappear from sight, I realized how much I was going to miss this place and how in the end these people managed to steal my heart.