“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”
John 15:12

I have used this verse in every talk I have given to the churches in Uganda.  For love is the greatest weapon we have against the darkness and spiritual forces that attack all of us every day.  No matter if you’re in the bush of Africa or downtown Los Angeles, love conquers all. 

Yesterday we completed our tour of Eastern Uganda by visiting the church in Ndolwa that was started about three years ago.  The church is alive and well and welcomed us with music, fellowship, and open arms.  Only three kilometers away from the church in Bulangira, the two sister churches support each other and the pastors often work together.  I learned today that in their language they do not have a similar word to pastor but rather use the word Shepherd – so Pastor Robert to us is actually Shepherd Robert in his language.  After the service the women stayed in the church to worship with the ladies of our mission team and receive hygiene kits while the men gathered outside under the mango tree.  Miles shared a Bible study with the men under the mango tree – a classic African experience.  We left rice, beans, and outreach items with Pastor Godfrey to continue to bless those in need and drove back to Jinja exhausted after three very full days.  Everything you do in Africa just seems to take so much more effort, so much more time, and so much more emotion.  The return on your investment is wonderful and worth the effort but I have to admit I need a rest after two weeks of non-stop activity.

Before the majority of the team leaves today we had one more church service to attend to and our last morning devotion.  As it was my turn for devotion, I choose 1^st John 3:16-18.

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

This is not an easy verse to live up to but I wanted the team to know that we were examples of this passage and the love of Jesus for the past two weeks.  We partnered with the local churches and added credibility to their ministry.  We used our resources to give food to those in need.  We prayed with those who were sick.  We shared the gospel, prayed with those who desired to accept Jesus as their Savior, baptized them in their faith, prayed to cast out demons, and prayed for physical healings.  We laughed, sang, danced, and befriended those we came into contact with.  We tried our best to be the love of Christ.

This year was my fifth time to Uganda and probably the 7^th GGI Mission Team to come to Uganda.  For whatever reason, this trip was the most fruitful of all in terms of people coming to Jesus during our ministry outreach.  I have never experienced or seen so many people ask us to pray with them to accept Jesus.  Multiple times one of us would gift someone or a family with food and prayer and they would tell us they wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior.  As soon as we finished praying with them another person would come and say they too wanted to become a Christian.  We seldom get to have the joy of reaping the harvest as most of our time is spent planting the seeds of salvation and encouraging members of the church.  This trip was awesome in terms of being present when so many people dedicated their lives to Christ.

After our devotion, our team split up to visit two different churches for Sunday services.  Half the team went to one church where Pastor Ken preached and Miles, myself, and Pastor Robert went to the small church in Buloba to encourage them as they attempt to reach others in their village.  Last week, we had participated in the three day village crusade in Buloba and had seen people come to Christ.  Our team blessed families and widows with food, prayers, and bed bug exterminations and had people give their life to Christ.  We were privileged to baptize many of those same people last weekend in the Nile River.  Today, we were happy to see some of those same people come to church.  Pastor Robert introduced me to the small Buloba church as the Son of Encouragement – I like that and I prayed that I’d live up to the billing as I encouraged my brothers and sisters in Christ.

My encouragement centered on loving others.  I used the metaphor of a corn stalk and that as a church they were only two feet tall but if they loved others the church would grow tall and produce many ears of corn.  Of course, I explained that they weren’t really going to produce corn but rather the fruit of the spirit which is love, happiness, joy, and the result would be more people coming to church and believing in Jesus.  As we now have seven churches in Uganda, I drew a comparison to the book of Revelation where Jesus addressed seven Christian churches with words of encouragement and admonishment.   I challenged Buloba to think for 30 seconds what Jesus would say to them today if He were present.  After a period of silence, I spoke of the love of Jesus and that those whom He loves He also disciplines - Revelation 3:19.  So what would Buloba’s discipline be?  Simply to love one another.  Why – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.  You see, love is the greatest weapon we have to defeat Satan but we must actually demonstrate it for it to work.  Actions not words make a difference.

After talking about how to love one another using 1^st Peter 4:8-11 as the example text I summarized the results by returning to John 15:8 where Jesus explains what the results will be if we abide in Him and love others.  “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”  Love glorifies God – don’t do it to so how good you are but that God first loved you.  Love bears much fruit – we can’t really bear fruit on our own but only by living in Christ will our love truly multiply and bear fruit.  Love proves we are His disciples.  I told Buloba that Jesus is giving them a challenge now – to prove they are His disciples by loving others.

To finish, the entire congregation stood up and raised their arms in the air and repeated loudly the following.

“I will love myself because God created my in His image.”

“I will love my parents.”

“I will love my children.”

“I will love the people in church.”

“I will love the people in Buloba.”

“I will love those who do not come to church.”

“I will love those who hate me.”

“I will love anyone that God brings into my life.”
“I will love God and Jesus with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind.”

“Amen.”

All of this, in English and translated to Lugandan – preaching takes twice as long J

The majority of the team has left for Entebbe Airport and only Miles and I remain at Pastor Robert’s house for two more days until we too depart.  I came to Uganda to accomplish many things but one thing I definitely desired; to re-energize myself.  To be covered in the Holy Spirit, to have it fill me to the brim and restore my energy and love for God, to wash away my worries of this world and focus on the matters of eternity.  You see, I needed God to fill me with His love just as much as I desired to be used by Him to share His love with others.  I came to Uganda, spiritually drained and worn out by the worries of work, paying the bills, and living life at 100 miles per hour in our typical American fashion.  Amazingly, God has given me everything and more as I served others in His name.  While the memories I have of the all the “good” we’ve done here and the people who accepted Jesus as their Savior will forever make me feel good about what I’ve done, I am most thankful for Jesus coming to me personally and restoring my faith, my energy, my commitment, and my love for Him during these two weeks.  This is what a mission trip often does.  Not only do we bless others but in return we are blessed ourselves.

If you’re still reading this blog, thank you and may God bless you.  It’s often hard to explain the experiences via words on an internet page but I pray that I will be able to talk to you personally when I return or even better you may someday come to Uganda yourself to bless and to be blessed.

I'll post photos next in a separate blog.

Blessings, John