What do you expect to do?

When we think about going on short term international mission trips we typically think, how can I go and make a big difference? How can I change an entire country in two weeks? When you really think about it, these are not realistic expectations. However, this was the perspective I boarded the plane with in December to go back to Uganda for a visit. I had felt God leading me back to the country and people group that I spent a year working with, but I wasn’t really sure why He was giving me this urge to go. So, I began to ask myself, what is the purpose of this trip? I began to draw up in my mind what would make this trip a success. I made a list of some tangible things I could accomplish in Uganda. I set these goals in my mind and began praying about them.

I arrived in Uganda on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Day service in a local church. It was a true celebration of the gift of Jesus. It didn’t get lost in Santa, lights, or tacky sweaters. It was solely focused on Emmanuel, God with us! The savior has come that cleanses us from sin! This was a Christmas day I’ll never forget.

The rest of the trip, I intended on working with teenage orphans whom I had gotten close with during my initial stay there. It is a law in Uganda that when an orphan reaches the age of 18 they must go out on their own. This can be an extremely challenging time in a kid’s life. They have no family, but are forced to go out and create a life for themselves in a culture that is centered around family heritage and village community. While in Uganda in 2009 it was my focus to equip teenagers for this transition. I tought them skills that would help them fit in to society, and be successful in earning a living. Also, and more importantly it was my focus to teach them what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. There were 10 students who had turned 18 and gone out of the orphanage since 2009. It was my goal to hunt them down and make sure they were doing okay. So I got them all together and we spent 5 days catching up with one another. During these 5 days we did many things. We worked around the orphanage compound, we studied the Word, we had a ping-pong tournament, and really just enjoyed spending time together. Through this time I found out how all of the guys were doing. Most of them were doing very well. One was training to become an electrician, another leading worship at a local church, but a couple of them were still searching for a purpose in life. The last two days we decided to go into local villages and do evangelism. We had been studying 1 John, and the fact that how we come to understand love and how to love others is by knowing Jesus. During one of our Bible studies one of the guys spoke up and said, “well if we really love our people, the people of our villages, we have to take this Word to them.” The two days in the village were amazing. The guys did an incredible job sharing the Gospel with people, and it was evident that the Spirit was working in their lives. We met with and gave Bibles to many families, and several people came to know the Lord. All of those things were great to see, but the thing I was most blessed by occurred on the last day of my trip. One of the guys who seemed to still be searching for a purpose in life looked over to me and said, “Uncle Ben, through this week I’ve seen great need, and I feel that God has called me to be a pastor, and take this Word to the people of Uganda.”

God answered all the prayers I had for Uganda and exceeded all my goals for the trip, but I don’t think that was his reasoning for calling me to go. I think he was seeking to increase my faith in Him. In the beginning I wanted to have a plan for the trip. I wanted to have everything laid out in black and white. I wanted to bless the people of Uganda. I wanted to know what God was going to do, but God just wanted me to go. He wanted me take a step in faith. Oswald Chambers says it like this in My Upmost for His Highest, “one of the difficulties in Christian work is the question, what do you expect to do? You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. We continue to ask God, what are you going to do? God does not tell us what He is going to do, He reveals to us who He is.” Through this short trip God revealed to me that He is provider of all things. He increased my faith in great measures. He assured me that if I take a step in the dark, He will be the light, and he will guide my steps through all circumstances.

Experiencing the Fruit of Uganda a Year Removed, and Tying Everything Together

Honestly, when I decided to spend a year in Uganda after I finished my senior year of college I had no clue what I was doing!! I knew that I wanted to see the world, help people in need, and share God’s word, but that’s it. Why Uganda? Why a year? Why an orphanage ministry? I had no clue. There was no rhyme or reason to any of those decisions. I wanted to set aside some time to serve God, but also set aside some time for myself as well. I really just wanted to delay going into the “real world” for another year. Little did I know, the effect on my life these decisions would have was vast. I’ve now been back from Uganda for a whole year. It is now extremely clear to me why God placed me there. It is also very evident that God was 100% sovereign over that whole experience.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book The Call to Discipleship: “If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps. The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence. To stay in the old situation makes discipleship impossible… The call to follow implies that there is only one way of believing on Jesus Christ, and that is by leaving all, and going with the incarnate Son. The first step places the disciple in a situation where faith is possible.” The following chapters of the book go on to talk about when we take this first step in obedience God enables us to grow and mature in Him, just as Levi and several of the disciples did in the Gospels.

Let me make this clear; I had no clue when deciding to go abroad that I was taking this first step in obedience. Also, in no way am I saying that everyone needs to drop what they are doing and travel to the other side of the world to be obedient. I’m also not saying that my old situation was bad. What I am saying, is that this makes perfect since to me now. I’m very stubborn, and it took me going to the other side of the world, leaving my family, friends, and old situation behind, for me to realize that I hadn’t been a true disciple. He opened my eyes by showing me the suffering, and the harsh realities of existence and persecution in a third-world country. He showed me how selfish I had been.

So you’re probably thinking, “Dude, you’ve been back from Uganda for a year. Get over it. Move on. We’ve heard you blabber about it enough!” Touché! But these aren’t things that I initially realized. God continues to show me things through my experience, and that is the reason it has taken me a year to write this blog. I went to Uganda thinking I would make an impact on people’s lives, but came home realizing God used that experience to mold me into the person he intended me to be.

Short recap on how things played out when I got home. I moved to Birmingham because a couple of my friends were living here. I touched base with another missionary whom I had met in Uganda that was now also living in Birmingham. He invited me to attend his small group through his church here. I got active in that church and small group. Through that small group I heard about a youth pastor position, with a like-minded, gospel preaching church with a passion for missions. I’ve been the youth pastor at Christ Church in Birmingham for a month now, and have been amazed at the sovereignty of God. He was sovereign over Uganda. He was sovereign over me working in an orphanage, with students who had nothing. He was sovereign over my decision to come to Birmingham. I am constantly amazed by his perfect will!!

So my reason for writing this is only to boast on the sovereignty of God. To give him the glory for everything he has blessed me with. The purpose is also to thank everyone who supported me, and made that opportunity possible. And lastly the reason I am writing this is to encourage others to take that first step in obedience. Make yourself available to God, and he will do things through your life that you never imagined possible.

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you...

That is the way we keep going in our personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings.

"None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself...


I got an email yesterday that put a huge smile on my face. Matthew, whom I worked a lot with, is now walking on a walker. Glory to God!!

Here is a picture of a portion of my awesome youth group.

Mom and Medical

Being in a country where hand washing the clothes and dishes, and cooking everything from scratch is the norm, has forced me to really appreciate and miss my mother. Being a single male, who growing up was absolutely spoiled by my mother (I’m not ashamed to admit it), I don’t cook much, I don’t clean well, and I definitely don’t wash clothes by hand. As a result, I’ve eaten out a whole lot, picked up a broom for the first time in my life, and hired a girl named Faith to come once a week and wash my clothes. On Mother’s Day weekend my mom was able to come and visit me in Uganda, and it was an experience that we’ll never forget. Something about mom being around just made me feel at home (maybe it was the biscuits and chocolate gravy she cooked me). Just being able to share what my life has been like for the last year with someone close to me was very meaningful. We had a great time together and I’m very thankful to her for coming, because I know it wasn’t easy for her. In Uganda in most cases, a mother and child relationship doesn’t look anything like that of one in the States. Yes they care for the children when they are young, but as the child gets older he goes off and doesn’t stay in close contact with the mother. The emotional aspect of the relationship, from what I’ve seen, is non-existent. After my mom left I had numerous people come up to me in amazement and jealousy of how close a relationship my mother and I have. They told me that they had never witnessed any relationship like ours. So not only am I thankful for all the things my mom did for me growing up, but I’m thankful for the close relationship that we have, and that she is someone I can consider a close friend!

While mom was visiting we also had a visiting medical team from North Carolina. The team consisted of three nurses, three doctors, and three others who ran the pharmacy. We held a medical clinic in our chapel and invited all the people from local villages to come for free health care and medication. Mom and I took vital signs, pricked fingers, and prepared malaria slides for the pathologist. In the four-day clinic we treated over 1000 patients. It was truly a work of the Lord. We saw broken bones, a lot of malaria, malnutrition, rashes, and everything else you can imagine. People walked for up to seven miles one way to reach our clinic, and in some cases it saved their lives. The most important part of the clinic was not the number of patients seen, or the amount of medication prescribed, but rather the opportunity we had to plant a seed in the lives of lost people. I’m not big on boasting a number of professions of faith made, but we were able to sit down with all 1000+ patients and explain the gospel to them, and invite them to church. God will do the rest!

A Call to Prayer

Quite a lot has happened since I last blogged. In late November I took a two-week trip to The States. While it was great to see family and friends, by the end of the trip I was extremely anxious to get back to Uganda. I returned to the orphanage to find only about half of the children that were here when I left. During the holidays GSF tries to put as many kids back into the villages as we can, with any family that they might have remaining. This is done because we feel that is important that the kids keep any ties that they have in the place that they come from, because at the age of 18 the government forces them out of the orphanage. So with the 50 kids that remained at GSF these last two months have been a great opportunity to spend quality time and pour into the lives of children who have absolutely no one. Thanks to donations and people from back home putting gifts together these 50 kids were able to have an awesome Christmas! Christmas in Uganda is vastly different than Christmas in America, and to be honest it was nice to enjoy Christmas without all of the hustle and bustle that it is accompanied by in the states. There was no Santa Clause, extravagant decorations, or tacky Christmas sweaters, but simply a day that we celebrated the birth of our Savior, and it was a day I’ll never forget. We had a big church service, a huge lunch, and then the kids opened their gifts. The kids loved and were truly thankful for everything they were given, so thank you to all of you who made this possible.
Also since I returned from my visit to The States, I’ve had a change in my living situation. Before I was living at the orphanage in a duplex right in the middle of all the children, but there is a new family coming to GSF next week and they’ll be moving into the duplex I was in. GSF is located 30 km from a town called Jinja where many of the GSF staff members live, so we have a van that commutes from town to GSF every day. I thought it would be quite an adventure and new experience to live in town, so that’s what I’m now doing. This has been a great change. My whole opportunity to minister to others has changed in that now I live and interact with people of all ages everyday. One interesting thing about my small one bedroom apartment in town is that it’s located next door to a Muslim Mosque. When I say next door I mean literally next door, like my bed is 30ft away from the mosque. If you know anything about Muslims, you know about their call to prayer. It starts at five thirty in the morning, then again at noon, three, five, and seven. This consists of obnoxious whaling over an intercom really loudly for about ten minutes saying who knows what. For the first few weeks I was there I found this to be very annoying, but the more I thought about it, it started to become encouraging. I started thinking to myself if these people are praying at five thirty in the morning to Allah and four other times throughout the day, then how often should I be praying to my God, The Creator of the universe. Well funny thing because the Bible gives us the answer to that question, when it says pray continuously without ceasing. The great part about our faith though is that we don’t have to go to a mosque or a chapel five times a day and face a certain direction, all we have to do is talk to our Creator. So I use that five-thirty alarm clock to remind me to pray continuously, and it’s actually pretty convenient.
I have so much more to talk about but I know this is getting long, but also recently have started a discipleship group with the teenagers and got to take them on a weekend retreat to a mountainous area with beautiful waterfalls. It was a great testimony to the beauty of God’s creation. The teens loved it, and he is doing so much in their lives right now.
Also recently got to go on an African safari. Seeing lions, zebras, giraffes, and elephants in the wild was pretty sweet.

Malaria Strikes

There are many great things about living in Uganda: the beautiful landscape, the gorgeous weather, and the extremely nice people, but there is one thing that is not so nice about this and other East African nations, and that is that they are infested with mosquitoes. During the day they aren’t bad at all, but around six o’clock at night they come out in swarms. The bad thing about these mosquitoes is not the itchy bite marks they leave or the annoyance at an afternoon picnic, but rather the lethal infectious disease that some of them carry. They bite you and then 10-14 days later you start to feel like seven shades of death.

So I guess 10-14 days before two Fridays ago, one of the little infectious critters bit me in the night, and that little fella brought havoc to my body. Since the mosquitoes are the worst at night they advise you to sleep under a mosquito net, and some people even take preventative medications every day for precautionary purposes. Well I tried the mosquito net the first month or two, but the thing is extremely uncomfortable, especially for me, a six foot four inch person sleeping in a six foot long bed. So I said to myself, “Malaria can’t be that bad.” Well I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was “that bad,” and even worse than I could have ever imagined. The first four days were the worst days of my life. I had 103 fever along with aches, pains, and nausea. During these days I couldn’t even get out of bed, or sit up and get on my computer. I would have chills followed by extreme sweating. I got very little sleep, and had to force myself to drinks lots of water. After 4 days the fever went away but a parasite remains in your spleen for 7 days (this is what the nurse told me anyway). So the next three days were filled with stomach pains, vomiting, and disambiguation. After 7 exhausting days I started to feel better. My body was completely drained, and I was very weak, but I began to recover. Now all I have left to show of malaria is a couple of cold soars and 10 pounds less on the scales. Needless to say, I will never sleep another night in Africa without a mosquito net.

So after 7 days I was over malaria, and this was because I had the very best medication and knowledge of how to treat the sickness. Malaria is a huge problem in Uganda. People get it, and can’t afford a medication that is strong enough to cure it. The malaria can move to you brain, i.e. cerebral malaria, and at that point it becomes lethal. Yeah malaria was bad and all, but while I was sick I couldn’t help but to think of all the kids who get this virus and can’t afford to treat it. I had all the water and juice that I needed and a fan at my side. I’ve heard horror stories and seen the results of kids getting malaria and then getting abandoned by their parents with nothing and the infection lingers on for months. I had it for seven days and I was almost wanting to die, I can’t imagine having this thing linger on for weeks and even months with nothing to treat it. It just reminds me of how fortunate I am. The government is making strives to distribute malaria medications but they have a long way to go. We are fortunate at GSF to have a clinic stocked with malaria testing equipment and the best malaria medication available. Our clinic and our meds are free to anyone who walks up from a surrounding village.

Quite an Introduction

Due to a broken internet modem, seeing a missionary family off on furlough, and a very busy schedule it has been quite a while since I last blogged and for that I apologize. I’ve replaced the modem and things around here have slowed down a bit so I’ll be making a few post the next few days as an update that is long overdue.

I’ll start by telling the story of a unique cultural experience that I had about a month ago. I was invited to an “Introduction” and having no clue what I was getting myself into I accepted the invitation and went on, thinking nothing about it. To fill you in, The Introduction is a traditional ceremony in East African culture in which the two families of a wedding party are introduced in a very formal way. For different areas and tribes the ceremony varies in importance, length, and meaning, but for the tribe of this girl, Buganda, the ceremony is actually more important than the wedding, and little did I know it is an all day affair. This was a very peculiar situation, because the man that the girl was marrying was a white man, and interracial marriage is extremely odd here. The man has visited the orphanage several times and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. So the day of the Introduction rolled around and I was informed on how to dress and how the day might unfold. I found the way of dress to be a bit weird, as I had some of the Ugandan staff here fix me up in the introduction garb. I wore black pants and a white button up shirt with a blazer, but between the shirt and the blazer was a long white gown called a conzu.(I’ll try to get my hands on some pictures and get them posted.) I looked smart, as they would say here, and we caravaned our way to where the ceremony was being held. When we arrived we were escorted into the courtyard behind the house each by a bridesmaid (not sure what they call them here), where there were two huge tents facing each other decked out in linens, flowers, and nice seating. The family and friends of the bride, about 150 people, were there waiting on us seated in one tent while the other was arranged for us. Much to my surprise I had been chosen as the proxy groom, so to speak, and I was arranged to sit in the seat of honor, where the groom would later sit. The groom was to be hidden in the crowd until later in the ceremony. So here I was seated on a couch with about 175 people, dressed in their finest clothing, with their eyes glued to me as if i were some sort of alien, in the midst of something in which I knew nothing about, when they handed me the microphone. The woman beside me whispered in my ear, “You are to say the opening prayer.” A million things were running through my head, and they all were related to how badly I was going to screw this up. Am I supposed to act as the groom? Do these people know that I am not the one marrying this girl? What have I gotten myself into? My heart was racing, so I said the simplest prayer imaginable and got the mic out of my hand as quick as possible. The events that proceeded in the next four hours were very confusing and I’m still not very sure what all went down, but meanwhile I was being brought all sorts of drinks and food so I was entertained to say the least. Sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, nephews, nieces, and cousins were all introduced and came out dancing to music played by a DJ individually and gave the permission for the man to take the woman. Each side had a hired speaker who did all the communicating for the family, and the ceremony appeared to be a running conversation between the two families through these two men. I say appeared because everything was in a different language of which I am struggling to pick up. A couple hours into the ceremony, much to my dismay, I was removed from my throne and the real groom was brought in. I had kind of gotten used to being the center of attention, but my time in the limelight was not over. After all the introductions had been made it was time to present the materials of the dowry, also known as the bride price. In this culture the family of the girl always presents a price to be paid for the girl. Its usually simple like a couple of cows and maybe a few chickens, but in this case we presented a smorgasbord of things to the brides family. I think he was charged what we like to call here the “mzungu price.” We presented margarine, cooking oil, milk, bathing soap, detergent, toilet paper, pineapples, bananas, sodas, gift baskets, meat, eggs, etc..I’m telling you these people pretty much got a lifetime gift card to Wal Mart. After all that was over it was time for the main event. They called me and the other two white men back behind the tent and handed us two live chickens each. So I walked in and presented two live chickens to the father of the bride. I’ve had some interesting experiences with chickens here, yesterday I ran over one on accident, oops, there is probably someone out looking for me. But after the chicken I walked in a live goat, followed by a live cow. It was one crazy, long, but intriguing day. I learned so much about the culture of Uganda. The whole day I was treated with so much respect and gratitude. It was if I were a king to these people. I was honored, but at the same time felt really weird and undeserving. I just didn’t understand why they were so grateful to me. The night concluded with an amazing dinner, through which I was filmed eating my entire meal. Can’t say that’s ever happened before, and I’m not sure why it did, but this is Africa, and sometimes you just have to accept that fact.

Thanks for all the prayers for my dad by the way. It was tough to be away from the family during a scary moment such as this. I just had to remember that everything is in God’s hands and His will will be done. Dad seems to be recovering well and they think the damage to his heart was minimal. Praise God!

There should be further updates to come in the next few days.
GOD IS GOOD!

Focusing on Special Kids

For the first 7 weeks of my stay in Uganda I was a part of an intern team, made up of five interns. The responsibilities of the interns consisted of just about anything and everything. We were runners for visiting medical teams, we held special activities for the kids in the afternoons, and we were responsible for teaching Sunday school and midweek devotions. Now that the interns have left, my focus is now a bit more concentrated. In this country children who are born with physical or mental defects are considered to be the least of the least. In most cases the guardian(s) just aren’t willing or capable of caring for these children who require so much care. So, the majority of children with these types of disabilities is abandoned and ends up in orphanages such as this one.

Of the 90 children here at GSF, 11 of them are special needs children. For the past 3 months GSF has been very blessed to have a very gifted Ugandan physical/occupational therapist named Moses who comes once a week to work with these 11 children. My responsibility is to work alongside Moses to carry out the exercises and tasks that he does every Monday, throughout the week. Some of the children’s disabilities are more severe than others so they require more time, but I typically work with each kid for about thirty minutes every other day. It is a very difficult task because several of the kids have not even been diagnosed with a specific disorder, but the work is also very rewarding to see the improvements that they are accomplishing. I am going to give you a brief profile of a few of the most severely disabled children, and hope that these children will be in your prayers. Also if anyone has experience in this area and has some suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.

Name: Matthew
Diagnosis: Cerebral Palsy
Age: 4
Matthew is a joy to work with! He is always smiling, and extremely motivated to improve. He also has a sharp mind. He is unable to speak, walk, or stand on his own, but we are working and seeing improvements in these areas. Matthew was abandoned at birth, and someone found him when he was three days old in a banana plantation and brought him to GSF. His umbilical cord was still attached and he was in very poor condition. They began to notice that there were problems with him when his developing was delayed around age two. We are unaware if he was born with this condition or if it was result of his poor care shortly after birth.

Name: Sam
Diagnosis: Spina bifita
Age: 7
Due to his condition Sam is paralyzed from the waste down. I am unaware of Sam’s story and how he arrived at GSF. He’s a very bright kid who loves life. He was brought here only a few months ago and doesn’t speak English. We are working on teaching him English, and several other tasks that he can do with his arms.

Name: Gloria
Diagnosis: Unknown
Age: 7
Gloria is a young girl who has really stolen my heart. She is severely mentally and physically handicapped. It is believed that her mother had the measles during childbirth, which resulted in her disabilities. Her parents abandoned her leaving her with the grandmother and an uncle who were unable to care for her. She has deformities at her wrists, knees, and ankles that enable her to walk or support herself in any way. When I arrived her legs had been casted for several months. I didn’t think that this was a good way to fix her problem, so I began doing some research. I visited the doctor with her about a month back and had some questions for him and left with still a bad feeling. This orthopedic doctor is the nearest one located in the area and had some questionable tactics. So, I contacted a orthopedic doctor in Kampala, who I had heard good things about, and set up an appointment for Gloria. Yesterday I took Gloria to see this doctor, and am very glad I did. He was very intelligent and well informed. He immediately removed the casts and took x-rays of Gloria’s legs. He agreed with me that casts were definitely not the solution to Gloria’s problem. Looking at the x-rays he determined that Gloria was not going to be a candidate for surgery due to the poor condition of her bones, but he had a plan that will hopefully have Gloria walking one day. He fitted her, and is now in the process of making metal braces, or calipers as he called them, for her legs. I will now be working with her everyday to try to strengthen her legs and core muscles so that when we get the braces she may be able to support herself in some way. Today Gloria is crying a lot, I think because her legs are very sore. Pray that this soreness will soon subside so that we can began doing exercises with her.

Name: Rose
Diagnosis: Mental and Physical Retardation resulting from cerebral malaria and malnourishment
Age: 7
Rose’s case and condition is a very sad one. Rose was a perfectly healthy girl until she was about three years old and she contracted cerebral malaria. This is a very dangerous sickness if you aren’t careful and her parents were not willing to care for her. She was later found by our social worker curled up naked in the corner of a hut. If we wouldn’t have found her when we did she would have died soon after. She was extremely malnourished. Though she was seven years old she still appeared to be about four. In the four months that she has been here she has began to grow again but her condition is still very very poor. She is extremely brain damaged and doesn’t respond to much. We think that she is probably blind. She has a lot of trouble taking in food, aspirating after every meal. Pretty much all she can do is lay in the bed or on the couch curled up. She always appears to be very scared, and her muscles are very tense. So I go in every day and just stretch her out. This is a very difficult task because it is very painful for her. We aren’t sure what Rose’s future will look like, but we are really thankful that she is now in better hands.

There are several others who have milder cases of mental and physical disabilities. Caleb is a twelve year old boy with TB of the spine. This has lead to extreme scoliosis, and Caleb is also mentally retarted. Moses is a nine year old boy who is mentally retarded, and Lily is a fifteen year old girl who is mentally disabled. Cathy and Elijah are two teenagers we have here who are mute. So as we work with these kids I again ask that you pray for them and for us. That God will give us the wisdom of what to do in each and every case.