Ancient ultrasound...

On Thursday and Friday of this last week, I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer some time at Wentz Medical Center doing ultrasounds! (This is Lena in case that didn’t give it away…) I have been excited about the possibility of this opportunity for a long time, so the fact that it actually happened is still incredible to me! Wentz is a pretty remarkable place too. It was started 5 years ago (to the day last Friday!) by Africa Renewal Ministries. It’s a small clinic, but they do so much for the community. Like I told you all in the first post we made, they have decreased the number of malaria patients that the clinic sees from 80% to 30% since they opened. But even more impressive than that is the attitude of everyone around the clinic. We started both mornings out with worship and prayer, and everyone who works there just radiates the love of the Lord.
I really wish I could put a picture of the ultrasound machine/room at Wentz and at home on here so you could all see the shocking difference between them. But let me just tell you, this machine is ancient. It was a little bit hard for me to figure it out at first since I didn’t have anyone there who had ever used it before, but luckily, ancient also means simple. Phew!
The majority of the exams I did were obstetrics, but there were some interesting ones: one lady didn’t know she was pregnant, but was feeling strange movements. She was 6 ½ months along with a healthy baby boy. There were a few other exams that I did as well, but there was one in particular that really impressed me.
One woman came in because she had noticed a lump in her breast, and she had a history of uterine fibroids and was wondering if they were causing her not to conceive. I scanned both areas to the best of my ability, (and the best of the ultrasound machine’s as well) and I was able to give her some follow-up advice while we waited for the doctor to be free. Several times while we talked she told me how much she loved the way I talked. She said she had been so worried about these things, and nearly felt like she wouldn’t be able to keep living. She said I gave her hope that even if it did turn out that she had cancer or would never be able to conceive she could keep living her life because God is in control. After just a few minutes of talking, Dr. Andrew came out and invited us into his office. It was completely unreal to sit with a doctor and a patient and talk about Matthew 6:25-34; if the Lord takes care of the birds and the lilies how much more would he take care of this woman. She left with relief and hope for tomorrow. I was so blessed by this experience. God is so good!

Watching Hope Grow

Each afternoon this week, we have visited a high school to offer and celebrate the story of Christ. Our time together begins as Elena leads our voices in worship. A collection of American and East African team members present a drama, to depict God’s reckless love for humanity. We share personal testimonies and prayer. A few days ago at a Muslim all-girls’ school, I sat in the back of the room, listening and praying. As the assembly wrapped up, a student came to sit at my feet and whisper in my ear. Her name was Hope, and she used to have a relationship with Jesus. Hope’s mother is Christian, but she has not seen her mother since leaving the Congo to come to school in Uganda. She missed knowing Jesus as a best friend, she whispered. We bent our heads together and thanked God that there is nothing we can do to make him love us less. Like many stories that our team has already been a part of, Hope now has hope. While preparing for this trip, God has been teaching me about the value of hope in our world. We are suffering a global shortage of hope. For without hope, there cannot be healing, and even the deepest love cannot be felt. Praise God, we are watching him grow hope in Uganda.

-Erika

Ants in the bread...

It has been a great week of ministry here in Uganda, and I am so proud of the way our team has come together and shown willingness to be adaptable and flexible in new and different situations.

Our first full day in Kampala we went to the store to pick up bread, cereal, milk, yogurt, fruit and other supplies so that we can fix our own breakfast this week. Halfway through breakfast the following morning, Kennedy and I were in the kitchen preparing more toast. We had already realized the kitchen was easily accessible to many tiny light colored ants, so I wasn't surprised when Kennedy pointed and brushed off an ant from the piece of bread he was preparing. As I picked up the bag for closer inspection however we were shocked to find that there were many ants in the bread that the whole team was already enjoying. Evidently the little guys were small enough to sneak in through the sealed bag overnight.

Not wanting to cause unnecessary alarm over a little extra protein, Kennedy and I laughed and quietly conspired to dispose of and replace the bread with no one noticing. We returned to the table to finish our ants and toast. A few minutes later our plot was foiled as Elena discovered our tiny friends in the bread. We told the team we would plan to get rid of the ant bread and pick up new ant-free bread for the following morning. I had imagined disgust from the team (especially the girls) at the realization that we had all eaten ants for breakfast. So I was pleasantly surprised when the teams communal response was, “well, we don’t want to be wasteful, can’t we just save it for tomorrow.”

I know this is an odd story to pick out and share as I reflect on a week of ministry. But it captures our team members’ willingness to be adaptable and try new things as they have all been stretched in their own ways over the last week. I am praying for more “ants in the bread” moments that will require us to choose to be adaptable, get outside our comfort zone, and maybe even get a little dirty or gross as we serve in many different situations.

-Lance

We started ministry this week! We have spent the last two days in a slum called Nabutiti and in a couple different local high schools. It has been amazing to see God working through us and in us. In Nabutiti, we were able to lead several people to Christ and give food to some of the more needy families. It’s easy with the kids. They are immediately best friends with us “mzungus” just because of our white skin. The adults are obviously a little more difficult to talk to. Most of them speak Luganda and very little English, so even with an interpreter, the language barrier makes it difficult. We’ve had the opportunity to talk and pray with many people sharing the gospel. I’ve had some great conversations.
Today, Erika, Sheri, and I were with a few of the university students and Pastor Ronald from the church in Nabutiti as our interpreter. We talked to a Muslim woman named Miriam who was busy peeling bananas with an impressively large knife in preparation for her family’s lunch. We talked to her for a few minutes about our personal experiences of Jesus’ love, and she was very receptive and interested. We stayed and talked with her for around 10 or 15 minutes and the whole time you could see the wheels turning. By the time we left, she was still feeling that she needed more time in making this huge, life-changing decision. Even still, we walked away knowing that God is working in her heart. She graciously and sincerely thanked us for coming and talking to her, and Pastor Ronald will follow up with her in the coming days and weeks.
The last couple days of ministry have been packed full of good stories that we look forward to sharing with you all when we get home, but for now it’s definitely time for sleep. We love and miss you all!

-Lena

Reflections from Mark

We went to church today at United Faith Church with the students that we are going to be serving alongside. We had a service on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Pastor Kennedy was speaking on being a people that go and do his work. At first I was like “well I don’t need to hear this I am already out doing his work.” But he also spoke about that we need to include God on what we are doing. This convicted me. I was so overwhelmed with how God got me here and how blessed I am and how we will do great things that I forgot to ask God what he wants us to be doing and how we are supposed to do it.

Pastor also shared with us a prayer that I am going to pray over the team every day and I ask that everyone a home dose the same. The pray is short but powerful, it is “Lord do thing that we are not use to.” This is a dangerous thing to ask because he might answer it. This will pull us out of our boxes and cause us to do thing that we have never done before. Pastor also said, “that if you want what you have never had then you must do what you have never done” please pray for us as we head out to a slum not too far from our homes and spend time with the people and pray that the Lord would go before us and prepare the way and to bless our conversation.

-Mark

Our First Day

Hello friends and family!
We just ended our first full day in Uganda! The trip here went very well. I think we are acclimating well to the time change so far. Hopefully tomorrow we will be even more energized. We are so excited to be here.
We took today to rest and adjust more to the time change and to check out our surroundings. We met Kennedy, the pastor at United Faith Church, and several students who work with him. We all went to Africa Renewal Ministries and visited a few of their ministry projects including Loving Hearts Babies Home, Wentz Medical Center, and their high school. Loving Hearts was amazing. It has been open since January and they already have 14 babies ranging from newborn to 2 years old. It was such a beautiful environment with some very loving care givers. We hope to be able to go back for at least an afternoon later during the next couple weeks. Wentz is also pretty incredible. They minister to up to 50 people every day for any number of medical issues and do extensive work with preventing malaria. They have seen the percentage of people they treat who have malaria go from 80% to 30% in the last 5 years!
In the evening, we had the pleasure of relaxing at Krunchy Bites (finest kwality food --yes, kwality) with our African teammates to get acquainted and watch the USA vs Slovenia world cup game. After that, we all went to dinner at Mama Mombasa’s, the eatery beneath the main hostel for Kampala International University. We stuffed ourselves with a spread of chapatti (closest compares to thick delicious tortillas), pilau (seasoned rice), beef or peas, and our choice of mango, pineapple, or avocado juice. Amazing food.
It is now just after 9pm, and we are all ready and willing to collapse into our beds. Can’t wait to see what God has for us tomorrow!
-Lena

Who's going?

This year's impact team is made up of 6 young adults.
Thanks to blogger, you can meet them!



Name: Lance
Age: 26
Occupation: East Africa Area Director for Eternal Impact
Missions history: 4th time to East Africa, went to Uganda for the 1st time in 2008 with Eternal Impact.
Favorite kind of ice cream: Rocky Road
Most looking forward to in East Africa: Seeing the relationships develop between our team members and the East African team members we'll be serving with.


Name: Mark
Age: 26
Occupation: retail supervisor
Missions history: Spent 2 years serving as a missionary in Nepal with YWAM
Favorite kind of ice cream: MCC (this is believed to stand for mint chocolate chip. :)
Most looking forward to in East Africa:







Name: Sheri
Age: 24
Occupation: X-Ray technologist
Missions history: First time to Uganda!
Favorite kind of ice cream: anything with chocolate
Most looking forward to in East Africa: meeting the people in Uganda and developing relationships with them.






Name: Erika
Age: 18
Occupation: Student at University of Portland, majoring in Nursing
Missions history: missions trips both in Nicaragua and last year in Uganda
Favorite kind of ice cream: Chocolate
Most looking forward to in East Africa: growing relationships with the Kampala International University students and the people of Uganda
and witnessing God's glory.



Name: Adri
Age: 18
Occupation: Student. Plans to attend Multnomah Bible College
Missions history: Mexico in the 8th grade
Favorite kind of ice cream: Chocolate Brownie Thunder
Most looking forward to in East Africa: Working with the babies and kids in the orphanages














Name: Lena
Age: 23
Occupation: Ultrasound technologist
Missions history: went to Mexico in high school
Favorite kind of ice cream: Tillamook's Mountain Huckleberry
Most looking forward to in East Africa: the chance to experience another culture and show God's love to the people there.