The Gang's All Here!!

The entire team arrived safely in Gulu yesterday afternoon.  Praise God!!  We are ready to attend worship services with our National brothers and sisters this morning.  Then we will be training and preparing the for distribution.  To close the day we will have our team commissioning service.  We appreciate your prayers.  God is good!!

Here I am, about to go on my first mission trip! Wow this is exciting!  I am at the airport in New York about to board for Brussels, Belgium and then to Entebbe, Uganda.  I am serving with Joni and Friends Wheels for the World.  We will distribute wheel chairs, Bibles and Joni books.  I am so humbled that God has allowed me to serve these precious people.  Please pray for our team.  When your heart and life has the presence of God in it and your willingness to follow His direction, this is what can happen!  To Him be the glory!

Advance Team Arrived in Uganda

The advance team has safely arrived in Uganda.  God was very merciful in all our travels.  We arrived on time, were permitted an extra bag of luggage without any fees, had no difficulty through immigration/customs and had no delays in receiving our luggage even though we had some close connections.

We are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to meet and work with our in-country partners and prepare for the team's arrival Friday evening.

Please pray for:

• the rest of the team as they travel all day Thursday and Friday
• strength, health and energy for the work ahead
• wisdom in organizing the distribution site and obtaining supplies
• team members to have a clear message from the Lord to encourage the Body of Christ in church on Sunday morning
• effective team orientation and training of many National volunteers

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 14:15

In preparation, the WFTW Uganda 2012 team has been encouraged to read a daily devotional titled Before You Go. Each of these readings have challenged me. One reading, in particular, caused me to consider a familiar concept in a new way. Using Mark 16:14-20 as the text, the devotional is called “Signs and Wonders are Following You”. As Christians, we are called to follow Jesus’ example and His commands. In our relationships, we are to love one another as Jesus loved us. Our purpose in going to Uganda as members of the WFTW team is to just that: to demonstrate the love of Jesus and in obedience to His commissioning words. But I had not considered that as we go proclaiming the gospel in word and deed, something would be following us. When we share the love of Jesus with one another, the presence of God and the power of the Holy Spirit follows us! Perhaps God may even open a door of faith as He did for Paul and Barnabas. As we leave for Uganda, please pray that the people we meet will know that we are Jesus’ disciples by the love we have for one another. Then, watch with us for the presence of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that follows... And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27

Sent Out in Jesus' Name

This morning at church we were asked to share a few words before being sent on our way to Uganda.  Please click on this link and join our pastor in praying for God's hand of blessing to be upon the Wheels for the World-Uganda team and outreach.  J&R at Calvary Chapel-Truckee  Thank you!

Be Kind to One Another

......Recovery from Prosopagnosia

In the book of Proverbs, a woman clothed with strength and dignity is described.  It says, "she openeth her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness."  As we leave for Africa, I have been thinking about this "one another" and have been wondering just exactly what does it mean to live by the law of kindness?  By definition, kindness is affectionate, loving; a sympathetic or helpful nature.   We are going to a part of the world where the disabled are treated very unkindly and yet we know in our innermost part, that kindness is a language the dumb can speak, the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  And aren't all of us as sinners  saved because of  His kindness?  Our incurable disease called sin, was taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ and in Roman 3 it says, "that His kindness leadeth to repentance."  Christ looked past our sin and saw our need for His mercy.  When you are "kind to one another" you are willing to look in the face of the hurting.  We are living in a culture of faceblindness, prosopagnosia.  The term prosopagnosia is derived from Greek: prosop meaning “face”, and agnosi meaning “without knowledge”. Accordingly, those affected with the disorder lack the ability to recognize distinguishable facial features in humans.  So often I find myself suffering from this disorder;  I don't want to look in the face of the homeless, the hungry, the needy.  I don't want to look at suffering.   As we leave for Uganda, I pray for Dove's Eyes, that as Job 6:28 says,  "I will be so kind as to look"  at the suffering, the hurting, the needy and be healed of my faceblindness.

Vessels to be poured out...

In about two weeks our team will be heading to Uganda coming from many different places, backgrounds, occupations and histories with one common goal:  to leave an indelible fingerprint in the hearts of the people of Uganda!  Our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would find willing vessels that would be poured out to effect change!  I am always encouraged when I read history that it only takes one person to bring about change, may we be the vessels of change!  Follow us as we travel the world to share the Love of Jesus...