On November 11th a team of nine headed to the airport, bound for the refugee camps in Northern Uganda, seven from Nashville, one from Tampa and one from Orlando. The flight from Nashville was delayed for nearly 3 hours, which caused us to miss our flight in Washington, DC to Brussels. The two from Florida continued as scheduled, but the Nashville team members had to spend the night in Washington. Therefore, we were one day late arriving in Entebbe, Uganda. This resulted in our missing our chartered single engine plane into the refugee camps. We hired a driver and a van to travel to the camps by road, which takes 10-11 hours. Because it was after dark when we arrived at the ferry crossing of the Nile River, we had to spend the night in Adjumani, Uganda. Two additional teammates arrived a day before us, increasing our team to 11.
Despite months of tedious planning, we arrived two days late, a total of five days of travel to get to the refugee camps. Sadly, the delay was not the end of our woes. One of the doctors experienced an accident that resulted in a hip fracture. I was reminded of the spiritual battle described in Daniel 10:12 &13 and wondered if there was currently a war taking place in the unseen world.
Our mature team was able to “count it all joy” (James 1:2) and jump right into action. The praise reports are innumerable. Two of our men shared the Sunday morning message in two different refugee camp churches. We witnessed the baptism of 17 new believers.
One of our teammates attended a training, along with a large number of refugees, for new teachers for Community Bible Study, a worldwide Bible study for all ages.
Two other team members led a large meeting of all the Celebrate Recovery groups, along with the newly trained leaders for The Landing (CR for teenagers). The CR groups that began with 16 souls has grown to 123 in just three years. The change in the countenance of these individuals is amazing.
Two of our team members spent their time teaching the tailoring
classes to make many small items that could be sold in the market. The students were quick to learn each project.
One of our team is an experienced educator and spent quality time with the leadership of Living Water Primary and Preschool.
The major focus of our mission this time was medical. In four days, we treated at least 841 patients in our primary care clinics and had at lease 166 first time decisions for Christ. Three pastors each day shared evangelistic messages while the patients waited under very large tent, which served as the waiting room. After being examined and given medication, every patient spent individual time with a spiritual counselor. The spiritual counselors were charged with collecting the patient’s medical record, after recording their notes. Unfortunately, many patients left with their medical records in hand, which meant we are unable to have an accurate count of the total number of patients seen, or of the number of decisions made for Christ.
The need for medical care in the refugee camp has become tremendous. Because the food rations by the World Food Programs have ceased, people are desperate for food. In the past they could sell some of their food and use those funds for necessities such as medication. This is no longer an option. Therefore, medication are unattainable for the refugees. Living Water Community Transformation began in 2003 with medical clinics, and now we will focus more resources on medical care, going forward.
Please keep the ministry of LWCT in prayer. “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Blessings,
Ann Rao
