At 8:30 AM, we headed over to Independent Baptist Church for Sunday School and church service. Bro. Robert Mwijuka taught a wonderful lesson from Romans chapter 8. After Sunday School, Mike Moyer, Trevor Gilreath and Jordan Gilreath went to Ruti Rehabilitation Center with Missionary Tom Tracht, while the rest of our group stayed at Independent Baptist Church for the morning service.
Bro. Moyer preached to a group of about 100 people, many of which had physical handicaps. One lady crawled to the service due to her handicap. A boy walked 3 miles whose mother has AIDS. Many of the 120 were suffering from AIDS. It was a great service with about 15 people trusting Christ as their Savior.
Bro. Apusen preached from Acts 26 on the subject of being "Almost Persuaded". [No, he did not turn contemporary. If you recall from earlier blogs that one luggage was lost. It was his luggage so he is somewhat limited in his choice of clothing. There were decisions made and one person baptized.]
The group met for lunch at McDonald's – well not really – but the workers were wearing McDonald's shirts. It is common for Ugandan people to purchase used clothing. The owner of the restaurant in which we ate most likely bought a bundle of used McDonald's shirts and gave them to his workers for uniforms. The poverty level is such that there is a thriving market for used shoes, hats, shirts.
After lunch our group went with Bro. Tom Tracht and headed to Western College. Western College is a boarding school where students live on campus. Ugandan culture is such that many parents have no problem sending their children away at an early age for months at a time to these schools.
Although this is a Muslim run school, God has allowed Bro. Tracht to have a ministry to the students there with the approval of the Muslim principal. After a few songs, sung like only Ugandans can sing, Bro. Trevor Gilreath taught a Bible lesson then we were free to mingle with the students to try to win them to Christ. Our group was able to witness to several Muslims. Though none of them got saved, one said that he was closer to getting saved after talking to our group. We are finding the Muslims open to hearing the Gospel but reluctant to get saved. Converting to Christianity will cause the former Muslim to suffer severe persecution from his family and community.
We then headed over to the Tracht home for a time of food and fellowship. Then once again, Mrs. Stensaas provided us with a wonderful dinner. It has been a wonderful day learning about the many different ministries of Independent Baptist Church.
Until next time…