April 28, 2009
Our evangelist in Uganda, Raphael, has sent us the following report of his work thus far in 2009:
A Brief summary of Crusades
Since the beginning of the year we have conducted several gospel crusades aimed at reaching several slum areas of Kampala. These areas are mainly full of the poor and the hurting of the society. They constitute people of all walks of life including Muslims and traditional religions and Christians. In all our crusades we have had to work with the nearest church in order to ensure follow-up of those who give their lives to the Lord.
Most of these churches are so poor that they cannot afford to organize crusades. The first one this year was in lower Kyebando in Kamokya and then followed by Kisarosaro in Kisenyi and later followed buy the one of upper Kyebando. Lastly we had one church planting crusade in Kasubi we were helping one of our friends who needed our help to start. In this region there are a few mosques and it needed a strong church in order to contend with the growing surge of Islam in the region.
In all these we have seen the Lord heal the sick restore broken families, and above all seen people come to the Lord in numbers. In the last crusade for example one man came who had a dying child. She was in such a terrible condition from what he described as an unknown condition she was so emaciated she could not eat or drink. Previously he had taken her to the hospital and later to both the mosque and the local witch doctor but she got worse. He had already finished all the money he had from all medical bills. He was in tears, as he did not know what to do next.
When he heard us preaching Christ and his ability to restore and heal, it caught his attention. It was quite a sight to see such a man as he in tears of desperation as he was. He was quite a huge man but he wept like a child. We told him not to fear and that Jesus was for sure going to help him. We told him that there was no distance so long that the Lord could not reach. That He was able to reach his home and heal that little girl.
He believed.
We prayed for him and he later left for home. The next day we could not believe our eyes as he came to the crusade with both his wife and the mother-in-law and the little baby girl about a year old. The Lord had touched her and she now was eating and drinking and you could see that though when still frail life had entered her. The family gave their lives to the Lord. There was a tear in the eyes of the man and he lifted his voice to worship the living God who had done good to him.
Early in this month, I also went to the prison called Koggo here in Uganda. It was such a time while we ministered to the prisoners convicts from various backgrounds. You can see the power of the Christ as you see this hardened men listen in hope to the words of Jesus. Several gave their lives to Christ. We promised to organize a football tournament for them. The Authorities told us that if we liked, we were free to do so. They too acknowledge that those prisoners who get saved do not trouble them. We gave them a few toiletries and eatables such as sugar which we had taken for them. Later we went to the ladies section in which we also ministered the word of the Lord with a few coming to Christ.
Starting from the coming month we plan to visit the Islands of Sesse and reach them for Christ. Kindly pray for our outreaches. This year we go to deep towns where the gospel has not reached.
Pastor Raphael
