In Kampala, Uganda there was quite a stirring January 3rd to January 7th as over 70 gathered at the mission house to meet God. The Reaching Beyond Words team in Uganda had a vision to reach out to not only the young people in the program at the mission house but the community. Before the meetings began there were heavy rains every day, so the team went to God in prayer, (like Joshua prayed in Joshua 10:12-15) asking for the rains to stop during the meetings. PRAISE GOD the rain stopped the day before the camp meetings started and stayed dry during every day of the camp meetings, one day after the camp meetings ended it started to rain again.
There was a plan but there was also a desire to let God have his way in each meeting. THE THEME OF THE MEETINGS WAS BUILDING AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD GOD! There were four groups of young people ranging in age from 3 to 23 years old, one group was Love, another Perseverance, Faith and then Hope. All participants stayed at the mission house. The good news is there are two houses, so girls on one side and boys on the other side. One chaperone said in her room of girls immediately when they woke up someone always had a question about the word.
Wake up time was 5:30am, the night before each person was given a scripture and in the morning they would look at the scripture in their Bible and think of 5 questions they had and then look to find the answers in the Bible. One young person said they had not been reading the word but through the camp they began to enjoy reading God’s word again. 5:45am-6:30am shower time, at 6:30 am each team would have some responsibilities to be actively involved, such as tiding up the meeting area, or doing some dishes, cleaning bathrooms etc. 7:30-8:30 was a favorite, breakfast time. During this time the Team would gather for prayer and seek God’s presence for the day. 9am was the start of the meetings with sharing God’s word and questions. The teaching of the tabernacle of Moses was ministered in a way that even those that have never heard the word before could understand. 12:30 was lunch time and at 3:30-4pm they gathered again for a time in the word. They would also divide into groups where Sister Margaret would take the 3-11 years old, Sister Donna and Sister Concy took ages 12-15 and Brother Ronald and Brother Godfrey met with the 16 and older group. This was a great time to recount the teachings of the day and ask more questions if needed. 5:30 pm was dinner time. In the evening skits and a puppet show depicting Pilgrims Progress and all along the way introducing Moses tabernacle and it’s meaning. By 8:30pm to 9pm time for bed and lights out. :):)
There are so many wonderful testimonies how God moved amongst the young people, some receiving Jesus as their savior. Another testimony, with so many mouths to feed they had to hire a cook and at first she was not happy, but the team prayed and by the next day the cook was smiling and even said I need to hurry and get my work done so I can join the meetings too. Praise God!
Let’s allow some of the attendees now to share in their own words what they experienced:
Omara Aaron’s Testimony
Aaron Okech’s Testimony
Salome’s Testimony
Akena Arnold Labeja’s Camp Testimony
Daphine’s Testimony
…and there are many more we will share too, but we ran out of room, so they will continue another time!