Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Outreach; More than numbers!

17     16      20    5   29   35
4        8        2       15     19

Here's to the most challenging, most fulfilling and most God-filled two weeks of my life. These numbers above are more than just numbers; they stand for the number of souls won to Jesus in the days of our outreach. They stand for the lives that have chosen to live for him. They stand for human beings that chose a life of DAILY supernatural joy, divine love and a sureness of an incredible purpose instead of an unfulfilled confused life of hurt, darkness and ultimately suffering that would have lasted an eternity.
I praise God with the heavens for every soul won to Him, and every life touched by his love in these short two weeks that I was blessed to experience. There were days of no one being led to Christ; and then there was the days of over 30 people being led to Christ. Either kind of day, I laid my head to sleep at night in a room packed with 9 girls in a partially built house, but with the abundant joy and peace of the Lord in my heart that increased with each new day.
I thank him for being so faithful to hear our little prayers, and for constantly amazing us with how he moves in response to them. I thank him for meeting us and proving himself to have gone before us in steps of boldness and love that we'd take as a group, and individually.

For the first week of our mini outreach, we were in Mpumodde. The place we stayed in was named as "the bomb shelter", because if one were to describe it, that's exactly how it looked like. Our main ministry, along with the crusades, was door to door evangelism. In groups of 3, we'd separate and walk both near and far going door to door preaching the gospel to the people of Mpumodde. This was something so strange and foreign to me, because American door to door would look much, much different than African door to door! In the States the chances that you'd walk right up to a strangers home, say you want to talk, and then have them proceed to invite you into their home openly to just talk or hear about Jesus is quite unprobable. I believe this type of evangelism works great for Africa, because their culture is so friendly, open and inviting... But nevertheless it was difficult for me to get into! At first i walked up to every door expecting we were going to get a door slammed on our faces or get completely ignored. But door to door was very effective in this village... Many were saved and we built great relationships with them throughout the week with following up. The crusades were fantastic; many were saved and many were touched by the love of God! The people of our group rotated each crusade to get a chance preaching to the people. I preached on Easter, and it was an incredible experience; all of the glory to God for that one. I couldn't possibly describe the feeling of completely surrendering yourself to God in front of a group of people, and feeling his incredible sweet love and his spirit so openly and powerfully pouring out of you to this body of people. It was a beautiful experience.
Mbikko, I believe, was the incredible, exciting and spirit-filled week I'd been expecting! Arriving there the first night to find that our equipment and 15 person group would be squeezing into an unfinished house of two 10x10ft square rooms was a bit of a shock. The fact that this house was in the ghetto of prostitution, rape, drug, alcohol, false religion and dark spirit filled Mbikko was pretty unsettling. And let me say that it was no secret that we were settled in this area for the people of Mbikko as an unashamed spirit filled group, and of course a group with .. Uh, white people. Big deal apparently. Mbikko doesn't exactly attract any tourists so I understand that one.
Though those were small factors that made heads turn in that village, there was one... ONE on our side that was lifted high and exalted in our group that caught more attention than we'll know. He honored and he loved our prayers that in this darkness-filled village, we'd lift him high in our prayers that He'd be the first people would see when they look at us. It's the only thing we wanted and desired after hearing the spiritual state Mbikko was in.
Mbikko is a small village that is tangled in much more darkness beneath the surface of the prostitution it's known for. This village is entangled in the false religion of Muslim, suffers rape and fear, and its people are chained to all sorts of addictions like gambling, drinking, drugs, and sex. Above all, the enemy thinks he has a grip on this place through the many witch doctors, demon possession and curses that defile its people. We also learned that salvation was not taken seriously in this village, and there had been multiple recent crusades in which not one person got saved. We knew that we were stepping into a battle that surely was not of flesh and blood, and we took those steps in confidence and fearlessness that this wasn't our battle, but Gods. Finishing up these two weeks, I can't possibly sit still with the excitement and praise inside of me that God has proved himself VICTORIOUS, as always, in this city of Mbikko!

"But do not overlook this one fact, dear ones, that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day." 1 Peter 3:8

Praise him that within the short one week we were in the sin entangled village of Mbikko, the Lord did incredible and miraculous things that will stand for an eternity! Here's some highlights.

A woman we met and ministered to in door-to-door evangelism, experienced the love of God, committed her life to Christ that evening, was set free of a demon inside of her, and was filled with the joy of the Lord like I've never seen. She immediately was taken in and connected with a church. This was all within 1 day, and she continued to connect and fellowship with us all week long.

An elderly women we met as well through door-to-door ministry was curious, yet at first skeptical and hesitant about following Christ when we first met her. However as we took on the person of Jesus Christ and unrelentingly and lovingly pursued her in gentleness and love, she became saved 3 days later! I believe and am confident that her needs are met, her business is blessed and her soul is at rest in the arms of her Savior where she belongs.

If anyone has ever been to Uganda, you will believe me and know exactly
what I'm talking about when I say that the trash cans are actually the streets.  It is dirty... Very dirty! The Lord inspired an idea in our group to take action in a prophetic act in the village to cleanse it and purify it. On went the plastic gloves, and we began the very next morning our regular "mercy ministry" for the week! Our team filled the streets with prayerful and whole hearted action in serving the people of Mbikko as we cleaned their streets of all the rubbish. I am confident that the people of that village did not necessarily see a group of young people cleansing their streets and shops, but I believe they were touched by the very spirit that led and inspired this act. I believe they were touched by the love of the Lord that inspired and was the leader of this act of cleansing in their village. I could list the comments of the people that confirmed God gaining favor and glory abundantly through this act he asked of us, but it'd be far to much to remember. Glory be to him that love covers all sin, and through this act of love we willingly took on their burdens to cover their sin with the act of love. I am convinced that this simple act was more powerful than we know. They needed to see the real Jesus, and that's just how God showed them.
A barren woman was prophesied over that she was pregnant, babies were healed of sicknesses, deep strongholds of the enemy were broken, weather was miraculously changed, so many incredible things that I don't even have time to write!

Thank you for all your prayers and love sent my way. We truly received it!