One day in 2017, I received a message from my American mom about her, dad, and a group that is joining them them for their next mission trip. I was glad that they were coming again, most importantly, a lot of things were going to happen. Dad carried an acoustic guitar all the way from America to Africa. He had got it from Teresa Schweitzer , a good friend of my American family, who had traveled to Uganda and met me, on a previous trip with my American mom. The first day of meeting, on that trip, was in the community where I grew up from. I had organized a group to come and entertain them and they carried a lot of stuff for the children and the community. There was much joy and excitement in the village on the arrival of the servants of God. A lot was shared among the congregation. Being amidst God’s presence is the best feeling somone could ever get. The group shared what God had placed on their hearts to the village and it was all good. We all should be doing things that glorify God. Be part of the joyous celebrations, there is much joy in knowing and serving the lord. The greatest joy I saw on this major trip was knowing Jesus and making him known. I saw kids using their gifts and talents to serve God, to see that the name of Jesus is glorified. Kids that are not asking for anything, kids that are only hoping in the glory of the lord. They didnt have the best but they did what they could. *This day of meeting Teresa was life changing and a ministry, Joyful Hearts of Hope, was birthed from this day.*
Sing Like A Frog
‘’God doesn’t mind about the voice you have; sing like a frog, or mosquito so long as it’s for God’s glory,’’ as Pastor Tucker from Christ Santuary International puts it. I really do not have passion for a lot of things. I only have passion for serving the Lord. When you see such people getting their bags and travelling from far areas, they do not do it because they have the money, or the means. They do it to serve the Lord. They come to share the love that the Lord has given them. God gives us something that you can give to someone out there. As ministers carry their luggage to Africa, they have no pride or ego but they are just responding to God’s call. I saw them putting aside who they are, and serving others. For even Jesus didn’t come to be served but to serve. We all should be willing to leave our comfort zones and go serve others. To lend a helping hand, to share, to encourage and to lift up. As a saying goes, “If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller wall.” After seeing all that was done that day, I was asked to join this team as they were going to doBministry in the rest of the areas they had planned. I was a little nervous since i wasnt sure about what was going to happen. But it was a good cause and a for a good reason. I learnt a lot. We took on the next day, and travelled to Jinja from the CSI Guest House in Kireka. The journey was so enjoyable . I sat in a van occupied by about six members of the tearm. And trust me , I ate almost every after 30min. Every time you felt like dosing, someone passes something edible, I ate everything apart from nothing.
Be Thankful
One of the things I learnt was that we should always be thankful for little things someone does to us. I remember our driver was Pastor Brian who did a great job driving. Along the way, you would hear one of the members from the back seat, “Brian thank you for driving us, your doing a good job.” This is not common in Uganda , we take everything for granted. Being thankful isn’t just for the Thanksgiving holiday. Scripture tells us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Learning New Things At A Kindergarten Graduation
After the long drive, we reached our destination. Little did I know that we were attending a Kindergarten Graduation at Sanju Junior School in Buroba. Then as I write this, the words I heard still come in my mind, “We will go where God sends us to Go, because he’s already ahead of us and provided us with all we need.” We ought to do this to see that GOD RECEIVES THE GLORY. It’s was a nice and lively graduation of kids singing , dancing and doing poetry. It was all joy . I love smiling because of a smile of kid. They are humble humans . Along the presentations , of dances and songs I can quote one of the words the kids used, “There are a lot of jobs in Uganda like teachers, doctors, policeman and many others, but if you are not educated, Uganda is very hard to live in. So, parents take children to school.”
I loved that presentation.
It was a long day of sitting and getting lost through the congregation. I remember my mom telling me, “Patrick, I spent half an hour trying to look for you all in vain.” I was only seated in a group of kids who were telling me about the village life they have lived in.
Then one of the speakers came and gave a speech and I I could quote one line he said, “You cannot tie a chicken in the morning, and untie a cow in the evening.” This quote was funny, but it had great lessons. What you teach your children, is what they become, the Bible also instructs us to train up a child.
Proverbs 22:6
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
What you teach your children is what they become, a very funny quote from someone goes, “You cannot fatten a cow on the market day.” Laying a foundation is important.
The second message that the speaker said was for the parents, “Preparte your child for the future rather thank preparing the future for you child.”
The day was ended with giving out all that God had given to the mission trip members to give out to the kids in the village. There was joy and jubilation.
“Whoever has two shirts, let him to one who has none. Let the one who has food do the same,” says the Bible.
Mosquito Nets Are Ministry
We spent our the following day doing ministry again. We were joined by a group from Redeemer House and a ministry who was giving out mosquito nets to one village. We prayed and asked God to lead us to the right people who needed the most help. I am always a silent observant and listening person who always takes in every detail of every situation happening. Lessons kept on coming in my mind. I got to see how people serve the Lord wholeheartedly. I got to learn a lesson from Mom Jenay Brewer that day.
She said that sometimes we do work that is supposed to be God’s. When God tells you , ‘Go to that village and share the love I have given you, it doesn’t mean he is leaving us. Unfortunately, we end up getting worried of how we are to do this, we worry about the protection, provisions ,and everything in that line. We end up doing God’s work, instead of doing our part. Little do we know that, when God sends you, he goes an extra mile of getting ahead of you and puts everything in place. He doesn’t necessarily put things in place, His presence goes with us as well. You are rest assured of His presence in your life wherever you go. The next hours of the day were spent in doing God’s work. We drove to REDEEMER HOUSE to join the MISSION BELL MUSIC members to go into the village of BUTIKI. There was a stop over for a milkshake at Java house , it was adventurous .
God’s Work
Redeemer House sited on a hill is a beautiful view of the beauty of God’s work in the village . It was my first time to that place. The love, passion for service, spirit of togetherness is a clear indication that God is at work; it’s all about God.
It was time to again, to give out what God had blessed the team with. In one team member’s own words, “God has given us to give to you.” This time, MISSION BELL MUSIC under Mulondo Patrick and Jared Morrison was giving back to the community what God had provided.
It was a fresh village campaign against malaria. Uganda is one of the African countries with high malaria related mortality cases and has one of the highest reported malaria transmission rates in the world. Thanks to Mulondo Patrick , Mission Bell Music, and Redeemer House, and all the team for this campaign. You did work for a good cause and effect. I got to learn this day that someone’s life is as important as my own life.
God is compassionate. He has sorrow for the suffering of people with the urge to help. (Psalms 86:15)
We moved through thick and thin, narrow and wide, in places to which we had no direction . One thing kept us, the love we shared . The love of God towards his children through his son Jesus Christ. I saw Redeemer House kids carrying nets wholeheartedly and this was all because they wanted to serve for Christ alone came to serve, but not to be served. The fact that we were in groups of about 5-6 eased the whole process. It wasn’t only about giving out the nets, but also sharing God’s love to whoever we met. Every village member was eager and you could find some who could confess and say, “Please, may you pray for me.” It was God doing all these things in a limited time.
God does a lot of things in a little time . I remember Bob Bevan , one of the group members saying, he got into a family of about 15 members and didn’t know how to distribute the nets. There was good news, they gave their life to Jesus after sharing with them the love of God through his Son. Thank you so much servant of God. That one good message was enough to know that we had done what God had called us to do. Bring His people closer to him. Through sharing the Gospel of love, the Lord has showed us through His own son, Jesus Christ.
A Weekend Full of Cake
We had a wonderful weekend full of cake . Eating and Dancing were a proper description on these two days(weekend). Then here comes Monday -we had to again get off our comfort zone and get to work. When I talk of work, someone reading must be knowing what we were to do, serving one another. No one among the group did this to feel sweet, we did this such that our God receives the glory. Ministry isn’t about making one famous, it’s all about making Jesus famous through depopulating hell. Through getting to know Jesus and making him known. Showing the gift that our Father God gave us, Jesus.
We were to go into one of the slums of Kireka . A place called Kiganda. One of the slums which is highly populated. We moved through all the straight roads and corners , navigating the places. We were being led by Pastor Irene who did a good job directing us. This area had many kids. The American had a simple task assigned to them. The Americans were to give out a candy and move on. Funny bit is that as kids, they can never get enough. He gets one and then runs ahead of us to get some more . One had to always know who gets a candy and who got which, was a bit not easy because there was a great deal of kids in the area.Then the men of the team; we had to be the body guards. Dad, Charlie Brewer is so protective, I had to learn that . He knows best how to do this. We had to always keep an eye on who remains behind and we had to make them move. It was a good work done, thanks Dad. You had that sound that everybody had to learn, the moment you made the sound (a simple whistle), it was a clear indication of ‘let’s go’. We moved seeing many people doing lots of work. It was a busy slum with busy people . These people needed God’s Love. We went there to BE LOVE. It was ALL FOR LOVE. They needed the love of God and someone has to always go and share with them. The world cannot change with you. Your area cannot change without you. The slums cannot change without you. You cannot change without Jesus. Let Jesus change you and then go change the world. Let’s commit to doing random acts of kindness. The world needs more of that. We reached at the CSI branch in Kiganda and we were given a warm welcome by the kids there through their singing. I love the lady in charge of that place. I loved her sense of humor and the way she was so humble towards everyone. The group handed the kids what they had carried and shared with them the love of Jesus.I learnt to serve the Lord with everything that we have. Then as I read some post a coupe of days back, the craziest part of the post that gave me lots of thoughts was that ‘poor people cannot serve God.’ Is this true? I believe power in the kingdom of God belongs not on ability or resources but availability. As long as your available to serve God, you can.
And as it is written: they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever (2 Corinthians 9:9).
We did serve others and served God in this ministry particularly. No looking at our abilities, but we looked at the fact that we should always be available to serve God and to reach out to the less privileged and share with them the gift of Love our Father in Heaven gave us through his Son Jesus Christ.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the Gospel of Christ , and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else ( 2 Corinthians 9:12-13).
