0 comments Saturday, June 28, 2008

We held our last medical clinic yesterday in what is considered the "slum" area of Uganda. We saw about 250 patients in 4 hours. Amazingly, God gave me the strength to continue to see patients and give them medication. What was a four hour clinic quickly flew by and it only seemed like one or two hours.

One of the newer additions to our clinic has been "prayer huddles." Patients can go over to get prayer and ask questions. In the last clinic we had 6 people recieve Christ. Of the 6, one was a former Catholic and one was a former Muslim. Praise God.

Today we went to an Acholi "IDP (internally displaced people)" camp. Approximately 5,000 Acholi Ugandans live outside of Kampala on a piece of land that the king gave for the Northern Acholi people. We de-wormed about 2,000 children, gave them sweets and biscuits. It was amazing to have all the children singing together about baby Jesus, our Savior.

God Bless! Love Anita

1 comments Wednesday, June 25, 2008

One of my highlights have been playing with the children at the school, New Creation Centre. Many of them are Sudanese refugees and or children that can not afford schooling fees. Every Wednesday they have a Chapel time. They sing, dance and pray. During the two hours that they perform, it never ceases to amaze me the passion that is exhibited by these children. Each has a unique story to tell of there hardship, personal strife and life.

God is moving mightily in these children. It doesn't matter whether they are three or thirteen. When they praise and pray, they put me to shame. My prayers and praise are so timid and reserved. The love they have for God is very evident in there faces and movements.

It is inspiring to witness these children giving themselves to Christ. They are giving what matters the most, themselves.
My personal struggle is giving myself and my time for Christ, something I constantly struggle with and learn to do.

The next few days will be very busy. On Friday we will be conducting our final medical clinic in the "slum" area of Uganda. We will also be visitng a "IDP" camp on Saturday and will be conducting a deworming clinic there.

Please pray that I have enough energy, I am definitely fading a little as I have not gotten much good rest.

Love, a

0 comments Sunday, June 22, 2008

hello everyone!

joanna left yesterday morning for newark, it was a crazy transition for her, the flight leaving entebbe was delayed and she missed her connecting flight into newark, she stayed over in london.

today our team went to a village devastated by HIV/Aids, the village has many older individuals and very young children. the working class has been wiped out by disease.
we conducted a medical clinic, it was probably one of our most efficent and tame clinics. we saw about 150 patients in 3 hours and even had multiple chances to pray with people and share with them about Jesus.

i am excited to see what is in store for the last 10 days as God continues to work in me and through me.

one special prayer request is for this little boy named David. I met him on a de-worming clinic on Nakalanda Island. He was abandoned by his parents and a kind old woman has been taking care of him. Unfortunately, the lady can only feed him porridge and water, he is severely malnurished.

sherry really wanted to take him into her family home and was in the process of getting the correct documentation. the father of David suddenly appeared and wanted money for David if Sherry was going to take him. It really saddens me that the father would sell his own son. Please pray that the father would relinquish David into Sherry's care without asking for a price (it is also illegal to sell children) and think about the well-being of this very cute 3 year old child.

i am really praying that i can return to the island within the next 10 days to pick up David and bring him into the family home and give him the proper care, education and nutrition.

thank you everyone for your continued prayer and support...

love, a

2 comments Saturday, June 14, 2008

jay-ba-li!!!

we are in uganda for almost 2 weeks now. how crazy is that?? God has been blessing us so much this past week!!

Things are moving along since we came back from Apac. We visited Uganda Jesus Village and Mercy Home for Children. In addition, we have also spent a lot of time with the children from Sherry's orphanage (New Creation Family Home). Since Team 1 left Uganda on wednesday, there are only 5 of us left. We got to take the children from New Creation Center (sherry's school for sudanese refugee children) to swimming! We had so much fun teaching the kids how to swim!!! We also spent an afternoon with the school children AND the home children together!! it was such a blessed time. we spent time praying to our God and singing worship songs together. it was the first time that the children from both of Sherry's ministries come together. it brought tearful joy to all of us to be able to witness these children to worship our Lord Jesus Christ passionately!!!

We spent the rest of the week visiting our sponsored children. Thursday we visited Joanna's child, Annet, in Rakai (almost at the border with Tanzania!!!) And Friday we visited Anita's child, Emmanuel, in Kasangombe. It was amazing to see how World Vision operates here in Uganda. Under WV's care, each child is cared for by a helper. THey are the ones who lives in the community and care for each child's spiritual and physical health. They are also the ones who are responsible for the communication between each sponsored child and their sponsors.

We would love to tell you more about our trip. Internet has been erratic. but please continue to pray for our health and energy! we will be conducting more medical clinics next week as a new team arrived!!!

1 comments Sunday, June 8, 2008

Hello Everyone!

Sorry for not sending more frequent updates. It has been very, very, busy here in Uganda.


Over the past several days we have been up North in an area called Apache which is right beneath Gulu and Lira. Apache is an area that has been affected by the LRA. But, because most of the attention has been focused on Gulu and Lira, not much help has been given to Apache. The trip was incredibly tiring, long and very draining... but God is so amazing.

During our first full day in Apache, we distributed the supplies that we had obtained (hoes, seeds, flour etc.) About 5,000 Ugandans showed up and welcomed us. They had a ceremony to welcome us and we were able to sing for them and Pastor Butch was able to speak to them. It was amazing. We had dinner with a local pastor who had given up all his livestock to build the church, he told us there was a desperate need to get the translation of the Bible in LANGO... so many people are thirsty for the word. Please continue to pray for the North.

Joanna and I are doing well. It has been busy, waking up very early and getting back between 9-10PM every night. We have gotten into the swing of things and adjusting has not been bad at all. The local food here is delicious and we are amazed at how God has worked in Uganda in the last year.

So far we have conducted one medical clinic yesterday. We saw about 200 patients in about 3 hours.. whew... we have done multiple de-worming clinics and visited multiple orphanages and hospitals.

Tomorrow we go to Nakalanda Island. We will be visiting a school on the island with about 300-400 students. To get to the island we need to take a boat (the old rickety fishing boats... hehe) and something called a boda boda ( very fast all-terrain motorcycle). This week we will also make trips out to several World Vision sites to visit our sponsor children.

Please continue to pray for our physical healthy, spiritual health and safety. We miss you and love you. Thank you!

-Anita and Joanna

2 comments Monday, June 2, 2008

Just 3 hours ago, we have finally arrived in Uganda. We were greeted with some serious rain!!! but also many many beautiful and familiar faces!!!

But overall, our flights went on pretty smoothly. :) Praise God that we were able to check in all 6 pieces of our luggage. It was only back home in Newark that our flight was delayed for 2 hours due to the rainstorm. It wasn't a big deal since we have a 12 hour lay-over in London. We used the time to visit Hillsong Church in Central London. Even though we were tired from the lack of sleep, the lightings were CRAZY and the worship kept us very much awake!!!

to eric, diana and grace - everyone said hi! and wish you guys are here as well. both anita and i got the 5 pound fish and chips again :)

we will be heading up to GULU tomorrow. continue to pray for us that we'll keep safe. we were told that we will be visiting an IDP camp and also meeting with some former LRA rebels/child soldiers. Please pray that God will keep us safe and open doors for us to share the gospel!!!