My time here in Uganda is drawing to a close and in a couple of weeks I'll be back in Tanzania teaching at Waama. My summer break has been wonderful with six weeks in Brazil with my parents and little brother and now five weeks in Uganda with my brother Nate and his family. Though it has been a great time to rest and recharge, a lot of work has also been done. I helped install solar water heaters in both my parents' new house and Nate and Rhoda's, fix a bunch of odds and ends, and put in some time in Nate's yard and garden. On the spiritual side of things I was privileged to lead the Wycliffe missionaries in Brazil through six Bible Studies on the book of Daniel. Here in Uganda the main ministry has been showing the Jesus Film. We showed the Jesus Film in 7 different villages and once in a prison for a total of about 3300 people! We got rained out of a 9th showing.
I've heard it said that when people pray, coincidences happen. During our Film showings, we definitely saw a lot of "coincidences". During the rainy season in Uganda it rains almost every day. During almost all of our showings there were huge rain clouds and lightning, but only once did we get rained out... and that was the only place where the local believers had not been notified and therefore were not praying for the showing. In every other case God answered our prayers and kept the rain away (even though we had more than a couple sprinkles). In many cases we had strange things happen like the generator cutting out mysteriously, a flat tire that delayed our departure to one showing, abnormally strong winds, and the projector going on the blitz. All of these can be explained by natural causes, but we were sure that there was a battle going on and through prayer, "coincidences" happened and we were able to keep showing.
Let me tell you about when we showed at Namagera on August 31. Chris, one of the Ugandan pastors Nate works with, is from that area. He told us before we left that a couple different groups had tried to show the film in that area but all had failed. Some due to technical problems, some due to the weather. Chris understood these as spiritual attacks and did not take our attempt lightly. The week prior to our scheduled showing, Chris organized all the pastors of the area to pray for the showing (this is no small feat). When the day finally came, Chris decided to show it right in the center of the village beside the main road. After arriving and starting to set up, we noticed a huge storm brewing and heading our way. We set up the equipment and had a quick word of prayer before we fired up the generator. Everything started just fine and we started with some local music videos to draw a crowd. The crowd came and so did the storm. We prayed hard that the rain would leave and we kept showing. Then someone tripped on a power cord and unplugged everything. I quickly ran over to the generator and plugged everything back in and went to turn on the projector. Our projector has three little green lights to indicate that when the machine, bulb, and fan are on. When I got to the projector only the power light and the bulb light were on... and they were red. I have never seen that before but when the machine didn't start up I knew something was wrong. I indicated to Nate that we had a problem and he and Chris started praying. I said a quick prayer myself and turned in on again and it fired right up! Even though the storm threatened the whole time, we were able to show the entire Film to about 900 people without further problems. Since that time Chris has reported leading a number of people to the Lord and another one of the pastors has commented on better attended Sunday services since that time. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness!
On Sunday I will jump on the overnight bus through Kenya to Arusha, Tanzania. On Tuesday Jesse arrives from the US. We will spend a few days in Arusha and then head back to Waama for the start of our third year there. We recently found out that we have a new dean at Waama! His name is Pastor Zakaria Dallei. He is a solid Christian man who was actually the one who first invited me to go to Tanzania. Pray for him as he leads the school during some tough times for the school (all the staff are owed about one year's salary but there is no evidence that they will receive it any time soon). We are excited to start another school year and look forward to see the ministry God has in store for us.
Praise the Lord for...
...the many successful Jesus Film showings in Uganda! Our God is Great!
...summer vacation - a time of much needed recharging.
...calling Jesse and I to Tanzania for another year.
Please pray for...
...the many people who saw the Jesus Film and the many Christians who are doing follow-up work.
...Pastor Dallei as the new dean of Waama and the rest of the staff as well.
...the upcoming teaching and Jesus Film ministry before Jesse and I as we return to Tanzania.
A heart-felt thanks to all of you who intercede for us and the ministry.
I trust the story above has encouraged you to prayer. We can't do it without you. May God bless you,
Ben
