Sunday, March 9 - Part 2

We made it to the church area and had a seat of prominance. There were a total of around 400 people - amazing! The governor of the Mbarara district was present, and he was sitting just down from us. I couldn't believe how many people were waiting to hear from us. In addition, the Ezra School of Ministry was graduating their 13 students. We were all on the present school/orphanage grounds and under a tarp ceiling with small trees supporting it. It kind of reminded me of Gilligan's Island. I kind of felt a little like Gilligan too amongst such powerful men of God.

Wow, 14,000 miles from home, and here we are. They had a huge sound system, and they gave us many greetings to start the service. There was such joy in the church like I had never seen. There is something just verybeautiful about a true African smile. WE SAW THEM ALL DAY FROM EVERYONE. That was all I needed from the Lord to thank us for the hardship in coming. Next we were blessed with some annointed praise and worship music. I don't know if I have ever heard the Lord praised with such genuine passion. At one point, the Nnyanzi choir, composed of Pastor Emmy's 5 kids and his 18+ orphans he currently keeps in his house in which I am now typing, got up and sang to the Lord. What a line up!!!

Then, it was time to preach. We stood up and presented Emmy with an amp that runs on batteries for him to use on his travels to the various districts. He was thrilled. We asked the crowd who they wanted to hear first, and of course they chose Monica. No-brainer. She got up and shared straight from her heart several verses about unity with no notes of preparation. The Lord spoke through her, and it was well received. I am so impressed with her ability to"hear the Spirit" and to be ready to share at a moment's notice. I was next and brought a message about friendship. It was kind of appropriate to share our story of Emmy. I had now known him for 36 hours, but the friendship has been much longer for sure. The Lord brought us together for a reason, and I was now standing on this ground with the nearly 100 orphans and the entire church, plus the governor. Eeek! I have never spoken to a governor. There were at least 10 other officials there, and I have no clue who they were. But, it was humbling to show such respect to a doctor trying to fill in as a preacher. All of the other graduating pastors were to my right, and I kept thinking I am not worthy to be on the same platform with them either. We were, of course, the only white people present. It made no difference to us. We have NEVER felt more love and appreciation for simply coming to visit them than anything we have ever experienced in our lives. We were the most under-dressed of the entire crowd, but it made no difference. I told the governor that I would have brought at least a tie if I knew he was coming. Somehow, I was able to make them laugh at some of the lines, startingwith the first one, "I am a doctor, not a preacher ... but I am here today because the Lord asked me to come visit you." I told them that I had been praying hard for some friends that would come alongside of me and help build me up spiritually. The Lord has now runneth my cup over. All you could see was literally "a sea of carmel faces". I spoke about the vertical relationship we need with Jesus and the horizontal relationships we need with each other. I touched on the ten characteristics of true friendship and ended with my verse of the day, John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus did it for us ... we are called to do it for each other. Two people came forward after the sermon: one lady named "Regine" came forward to give her life to Christ and another man named "Tovar" rededicated his life to Christ. I got to lead them in that prayer of salvation and rededication.

Then, it was Bailey and Libby's turn. They shared 10 verses and had a string trick to show for each one. The crowd loved it. We all sat down and then heard from the governor. He gave a history of Ugandan government and then said how proud he was to be a Christian and how much joy it was to work for a government that truly loved Jesus and was actively proclaiming it. As we in America are trying to remove God from our schools, courts, and government, some nations have truly got it right. He went on to talk about accountability for Emmy as the head of this school and church, and I knew then it was the Lord placing him in the church that day. He said, "We are behind this school and will do everything we can to support it." The Lord had him there to listen to this story of friendship and be there for Emmy for his visa application. He came up to me after the service, wanted a copy, and I told him only if he helps me get this mighty servant a visa. He said he would love to do that. What an answer to prayer!!!!!!!!!

After that, we handed out the diplomas for the Ezra School of Ministry. They only had one cap and gown, so each student put it on and posed for a picture with us. Amazing. On a day they are so honored ... Monica and I are there handing them a diploma. I think the Lord was smiling at that one, because I sure felt unworthy of that task. Kind of like Gilligan giving the Professor a Nobel prize.

Then, we all left the church after about five hours and headed for the meal they had prepared. They have astaple of bananas, potatoes, beans and several other veggies. Of course, they put us in the front of the line, and we actually got to sit down with a table and some silverware. The rest of the church members filled their plates as high as I have ever seen on a plate and sat and quietly ate it with their hands. Very blessed we people are. We eat 3 time a day without even a thought. Once a day is a new thought. We would all probably be better off not thinking so much about what we eat, but rather about being so incredibly thankful for what God has provided.

At about 7pm, we returned home to our hotel. I told my girls that they may never have a better day in their lives. I hope you enjoyed this one. We now knew why we had come.