Heart of God East Africa: Ye shall be Free indeed

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36

Today we would yet again visit prisoners. As we make our way through the morning routine of breakfast and our daily number, one can't help but imagine what the number would be of those locked in Ugandan prisons. It also gives us pause to think about how one can have freedom and still be a prisoner of sin, while those in prison who know Christ can be more free than his jailers. Glory to God!
Today, would probably be one of the most spiritual days that we would witness so far. Not only in the earthly realm, but the spiritual as well. Be sure to note "so far", we are by no means at a stand still in spiritual days.

We all loaded in our taxi's and headed out to the prison. It was quite a long journey. The prison was much smaller in comparison to that of Luzira. It was also a mixed prison. Men and women resided here. While I had somewhat anticipated speaking again to another group of women, I hadn't anticipated that men would be included.
Would the message I gave previously in Luzira be effective with a mixed group? It would have to be. God inspired that message, and I felt pretty good about giving it again. There would also be an invitation/salvation message given. Aaron was asked if he felt comfortable giving this, and while he wasn't prepared, he was willing to do whatever God would have him do.

Saphan letting Aaron know that he would give a salvation message.

We asked if we could take photos inside the prison, and as expected we were turned down. There is a real fear that photos taken inside prisons, or slums, and anywhere you would see injustice or poverty in extreme degree's would be used or exploited for the gain of those taking them. It's obviously been done in the past.
While our intent is not to exploit, we still must abide by the rules.

The huts you see below are where the prison guards and their families live. We were told that more than one family can live inside each hut. You can imagine if these are the guards quarters, what the prisoners live like.

Living quarters of Prison Guards

We entered inside the prison and were escorted into a small area. There was a table and 4 chairs on a lifted area and chairs that lined the sides of the room. I'm not comfortable sitting up front, and yet as director I know this is where I go. Never gets easy!
Saphan and Aaron sat up front with me and the rest of the team lined the walls. The women were brought in and sat up near the front. There were six women, two were visibly pregnant. One was who we came to minister to specifically, and would visit her family afterwards.
The story is she had been near the scene of a crime. When they had gone hut to hut looking for the suspects she made a comment that she hoped they would find who ever committed the crime. That night they stormed her house and took her from her mother and children and charged her with the crime. She had twins, another child and was pregnant. Her family had no means of getting her counsel or paying to have her released. She's been in prison ever since.
The men were escorted in, probably about seventy of them. Their physical conditions were not good. Many of them were very thin, clothes torn and not in good health. There was a marked difference in how these prisoners looked, compared to those at Luzira.
I gave a message to the prisoners, very similar to the one I gave in Luzira. I was a little more comfortable this time around, even having men in the group. I'm not sure why, but God really pressed on me to share that even though they are in prison, God is still with them. He still shows favor on those who believe and can use their captivity for good, just as He did with Joseph. I went on to tell them that Joseph became second in command of Egypt when he was finally released. While they may never become second in command of their nation, they have something much greater! Many of them feel like they are looked upon as garbage, but those that know Christ are so much more...they are sons and daughters of the King and there is NO higher calling anywhere, even inside a prison.
Aaron was next and gave a wonderful message of salvation. He is such a powerful and yet gentle speaker. Once the messages were over, the prisoners were asked if they would like to receive Christ and if so, would they stand. Twelve men and women stood! They made professions of faith right then. One of the women in front accepted Christ, she was pregnant. God, please touch her life!
A sheet was passed around and the prisoners were asked to put their names on so that follow up discipleship could be done. There were sixteen names on the list, seven of them were Muslim. While we didn't see them all stand, we know that hearts were changed, and professions were made. Glory to God!!

We handed out some baby clothes to the pregnant women. They were so excited. We had extra new Testaments to give to the prisoners, but they would be delivered another day.

As we exited the area a prison guard approached me. She asked me to pray for her grandson who was struggling with illnesses. We prayed together. My eyes closed, hers open for obvious reasons. But what a wonderful moment!

We loaded back in the van and then headed to home of the woman I first spoke about.
First off we would stop and pick up Saphan and Alex's daughter Hannah. Then we would stop and purchase corn meal, beans and rice to take to the grandmother. The team jumped out at the market and while they were out someone bought a bag of chipatti, wonderful, yummy chipatti!

Alex and Hannah

We started back off on a regular road, then split off onto an off road, and ended up so far back in the jungle that the van was actually on a path made for motorbikes or foot. The villagers had actually taken machete's and cleared much of the brush so we could reach the home we were searching for.

deep in the jungle....

We found the home and "jaja" (grandma) was so happy to see us. We were able to give her food for the family, toys and clothes for the children. Some of them had probably never seen a "mzungu" (white person) before and so they hid off under a hut. When they were approached with gifts, they bowed down to accept them. This is a very humbling experience... no one should bow to anyone but God!

We spent quite awhile with the family. The grandmother was so overwhelmed by our visit that she knelt down on the ground and gave her testimony. She told us that her life has been in turmoil since her daughters imprisonment. That she felt like waves were tossing her to and fro and that she felt lost. But, today she knows that only God has shown favor on her. It could only be God, that would bring Americans this far and so deep into the jungle to witness to her. She asked for God to forgive her sins and to come into her life at that moment! It was incredible!

I am feeling so blessed on this trip and so grateful for the team that God has chosen to be here!

We actually had another family that we were to visit. Saphan had come to me and said, "my sister, it's getting late and we shall just pass by the next family, is that ok?" Well, it was late and we had been driving for so long, that I felt it was ok to pass by this family. Maybe could visit another day. So, we passed out the rest of the items we had to this family and loaded back inside the vans. It was at that moment that Saphan told me it would only be a short distance to the next family. Uh, what? I thought we were passing by it. Well, little did I know that "passing by" meant we were going to stop there. We now had no gifts to bring, we just passed them all out. A great example of language barriers and communication problems.

We ended up not stopping at the next house. Those people were waiting for us.. praying that God would comfort them.

The video below is our trip out of the jungle. You can see spirits are high!

Our next stop was to Abby's house. She is the older sister of Alex, and helps out with the prison ministry. We stopped for a "by the way" at her house (a snack and refreshment). Her home was very nice and she treated the team to a wonderful, refreshing, "by the way". Lot's of fresh fruit, and roasted corn, and the coveted bottle of soda.

refreshments at Abby's

In Uganda it's expected to have certain formalities at gatherings. Usually the host or hostess gives a testimony and the guests give a blessing to the home. Abby gave her testimony and told us when she became a believer, and welcomed us to her home. Her husband was also present and greeted us as well. He however is not "yet" a believer, but supports his wife in her efforts.

The team started noticing little faces near the gates. Children wanting to see the "mzungu's". Sean and some others went outside the gates and began passing out candy to the kids. Needless to say, there was soon a great gathering of children outside the gates!

children outside Abby's gate

We had a long day! After our refreshments we loaded back in the vans and headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we would have a day of travel to Tororo, so that meant packing tonight!

Sommer had asked about riding a boda (motorbike) from about the first day we arrived. Saphan kept insisting each day that I allow her to experience this. My answer was always, NO. The boda drivers are crazy! They drive so close to other vehicles that they are nearly hit all the time.

Tonight, Saphan told me, "I must let her ride." He would take full responsibility for her, and to let it be a surprise. So, as we neared the hotel there was a road that would be "safe" for her to ride on. I don't know why I said yes..but I did.

We stopped the van. Saphan went to her van and told her that she was going to ride the boda. She was shocked, surprised, and a little scared. She asked if Bobby could ride with her, and Saphan said, "yes". Pretty soon, almost every person was out of the vehicle and on a boda! They would all ride doubles up the hill to the hotel. It was priceless to see all their faces. It had been an emotional day for everyone, and this was sure to bring their "highs" up at dinner!