A Post From Brad

Sorry friends for not posting sooner, but finding time to be on the internet has been a challenge. Things are going incredibly well here, and our team has been blessed tremendously by good health, much laughter and spectacular views of God's creation. There are many tiny discomforts that take some getting used to here, like only a few hours of electricity a day (which for a night hawk like me is tough since it means always brushing my teeth before bed in complete darkness), but, all the minor discomforts aside, I would not want to be accussed of whining when the entire time here has been very rewarding and a blessing.

I just wanted to share with you all a few accounts of our time here. The first would be the theological training we are providing for village pastors. I spent two days with these pastors observing and participating in the discussions led by one of our elders, Bob MacGregor. I was thrilled to be a part of these theological reflections and all the pastors seemed very appreciative of the training they were receiving. The two highlights of the training for me was meeting and spending time with Pastor Cedric, who is a 27 year old associate pastor. Because we are both young pastors, we had much to talk about and share with each other and I felt Cedric to be a bit of kindred spirit.

The other highlight was the music. Everyday the men (27 pastors in all) would worship acappella with their distinctive African voices. The experience of hearing these men sing like this was so moving, it actually makes the hair on your skin stand up. On the final day of training, I had our cameraman Josh try to record it so that I can share it with you all. I hope the quality of the recording will do justice to how beautiful their voices really are.

Distributing family kits is always a highlight for me as we have local pastors and people from the churches scout out ahead of time who is the most needy people in the community to help this way. When distributing family kits I am amazed by the people we meet. Family kit distribution for me has always been one of the best ways to minister to orphans and widows. I am truly convinced that family kit distrubtion is such an effective way to fulfill what James calls "true religion."

Yesterday I preached at Good Shepherd Fold Church. I always get nervous about preaching in Africa. It is tough to know what translates well and speaking through an interpreter is difficult for your flow while speaking. But yesterdays something unique happened. I planned to speak on Ephesians 3, which is one of my favourite passages, particularly the last verse which tells us that our God is capable of doing more than we can ask or imagine.

Right before preaching, I was asked to step outside with Carolyn, who helps run the orphanage. She was with a young mother and her baby and she cried as she told me that this young baby would die soon if God did not perform a miracle. Apparently this young mother had come to her when her baby seemed ill. They performed as many tests as they could here in Jinja, and sent the results back to doctors in the US. The diagnosis was that the baby has a hole in her heart along with other complications and given what treatments are available in rural Uganda, the baby will certainly die not long from now. Both Carolyn and the mother cried and said only a miracle could save the baby now.

This put a new spin on teaching that God is capable of more than we can ask or imagine. It was one of the most difficult sermons I have ever had to preach. One the one hand I know we serve a God who is capable of the impossible, on the other hand, I am preaching while looking down at a baby who is going to die unless God does the impossible. We had a moving prayer service for baby Catherine after I had finished preaching,and together, our team, along with the people from the church, boldly asked God to do what only he can do. We know that God can do more than we can imagine, we are still praying that he will. Only time will tell, but in rural Uganda, without the benefits of many medical technologies we have, the only hope one has is to believe God will show up and do the impossible. As Carolyn, the organizer of the orphanage told me, "God does miracles in Africa."

We do not see miracles in North America, or maybe we just don't have the eyes to see them. But here, things are different, baby Catherine needs a miracle to save her life, and for me, all I can do is cling to Paul's words, our God is capable of oing more than we can ask or imagine.