Uganda

Mission Trip To Uganda 2008

Yesu mulungi! That is Jesus/God is good in Luganda, one of the dialectics of Uganda. Returning to Uganda for me personally is never just another trip and I never think, Well I've been before that's enough for me. Returning to Uganda is like coming home after a hard day at work and to be able to return to that great nation under the banner of Christ is even more of a privilege.

In 2008, a group of eleven boarded the plan for an adventure with God, and an adventure it was! We had seven first timers who were excited but unsure about what was to take place. We arrived in Entebbe with the singing of praises to the Lord from the mouths of our brothers and sisters of Bethel Healing Center. We ministered daily at the Bethel Healing Center noon day service at the Pride Theater in the heart of Kampala; where Pastor Peyton shared the pulpit and Minister Kenny Wallace and Minister Marvin Griffin preached the gospel. We traveled to the Goma District with Member of Parliament Rose where Pastor Peyton did a session with pastors from the area villages and then we did a one day crusade in the village there as well. Members of the team were anointed by Pastor Peyton and then sent forth to pray over the crowds of people. We traveled to the home village of our host, Pastor Irene Manjeri where we did an all night service. To see the hundreds of people standing in the dark waiting for a Word from God gripped the hearts of those who had never traveled to Uganda. Pastor Lynette Orr from Minnesota shared her testimony as did Lucretia Church from Montrose, CO; and the entire team prayed for hundreds that night. Pastor Irene also asked me to share for a few minutes how God is able to keep me satisfied as a single woman of God.

So much took place during our time there that it is hard to pick out what to share but some of the highlights were the crusade of the stadium in Kampala. We met at Pride Theater and then after having service there, walked the streets of Kampala to the stadium where local choirs and singers ministered in song and then Sister Lucrettia Church ministered in song to the glory of God and then Pastor Peyton preached the Word of God and hundred came forth to give their lives to Christ. Then members of the team went onto the stadium grounds and prayed over hundreds! It always amazes me to see men, women, and children wait patiently for the man or woman of God to speak healing over their bodies and lives.

I have a love and passion for Uganda (only second to my calling here in VA) that words can't describe. I simply want everyone to travel there at least once in a life time for the cause of Christ. My 'babies' at the Bethel Healing Kids in Need Home and Orphanage are growing and well. That did my heart good to see their faces and for them to remember me. I was not a part of the 2007 trip and had not since them since 2006 but they loved and welcomed me back as if it had been yesterday. Pastor Irene's daughter, Nissi hugged me so very tight when we went to Pastor Irene's home and she whispered in my ear, "Auntie you did not come last time." She was making reference to the 2007 trip. That broke my heart and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and trying to find words to explain, when she quickly said,
"But it's ok you are here now."

Ahh!!! Uganda! I love the nation, the people, my children that are there. I could go on and go but I will end now with a prayer that if the Lord prompts you, comes to Uganda!! Our 2009 trip is Sept. 8-21 (I and an advance team of 5 others will leave on the 1st) we have close to 60 people going not just from Virginia but from Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Louisiana . . . so pray about 2010, 2011, because if the Lord tarries we shall return!!!

Weeraba! Carol Powell

Background Information on Uganda

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a country in East Africa, bordered in the east by Kenya, in the north by Sudan, by the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Rwanda in the southwest and Tanzania in the south. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, within which it shares borders with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala.

The earliest human inhabitants in contemporary Uganda were hunter-gatherers. Remains of these people are today to be found among the pygmies in western Uganda. Between approximately 2000 to 1500 years ago, Bantu speaking populations from central and western Africa migrated and occupied most of the southern parts of the country.[1][2] The migrants brought with them agriculture, iron-working skills and new ideas of social and political organization, that by the 15th or 16th century resulted in the development of centralized kingdoms, including the kingdoms of Buganda, Bunyoro-Kitara and Ankole. Kingdoms that developed later include Toro and a large fiefdom of clans in Busoga
Muslim traders and Christian missionaries first arrived in the 1860s, attempting to convert the Bugandan king.

The National Census of October 2002 resulted in the clearest and most detailed information yet gathered on the religious composition of Uganda. According to the Census, Christians of all denominations made up 85.1% of Uganda's Population. The Catholic Church has the largest number of adherents (41.9%), followed by the Church of Ugandaóa local Anglican denomination(31.9%). Minor Christian groups include Pentecostals (4.6%) and Seventh-Day Adventists (1.5%), while 1.0% were grouped under the category 'Other Christians'.

The second most popular religion of Uganda is Islam, with Muslims representing 12.1% of the population, according to the Census. The CIA Factbook estimate for the number of Muslims is 16%. While Muslims today appear to be experiencing some degree of discrimination, they were, in the seventies, the most favored group under the rule of President Idi Amin, himself a Muslim, under whose Government the number of Muslims had significantly grown.

Judaism is also practiced in Uganda by a small number of native Ugandans known to most people as the Abayudaya. However, their population, estimated at 750 is insignificant and many Ugandans are not aware of the presence of this Jewish community in the country. Initially numbering as many as 3,000 individuals, the community drastically shrunk in size to 275 when Idi Amin came to power and outlawed Judaism, destroying all the synagogues in the country. Since then, the community has established links to Jews worldwide and has grown in size and strength. They operate several schools which enroll Muslim, Jewish and Christian students.