Uganda

            Well I have gotten lazy on the blogs again, so I am just going to give a quick update on what our month in Uganda looked like.

            We lived in a place called Kishanje, which is in the most beautiful, hilly place I have ever seen in my life. It is 2 hours from electricity/Internet (so we are going to pretend like that is why I didn't post any blogs this month). At the top of the hill is a ministry call Juna Amargara, and they run a primary school, secondary school, orphanage, clinic, and vocational school. Our main ministry this month was supposed to be to disciple some of the secondary students, but they happened to be on break while we were there, so as usual our ministry changed a little bit.

            We ended up doing a wide variety of things. We moved massive piles of bricks to help with construction of the school. We played games and songs with some of the primary school students who were around. We did door-to-door ministry and prayed with sick people at the hospital. The guys were able to get some pretty steady discipleship going, and the 6 of us girls all did a Bible study with one girl who was left there.

            The last day of ministry, we drove 9 hours to another place called Fort Portal, and attended/spoke at a conference. Who would have thought that when we left 8 months ago we would be key speakers at a conference. Which the conference was a very humbling experience for me. I was the last person from our group to speak, and I was giving a testimony on fear. But, as it turns out, either the translator didn't understand me, or she translated it wrong, because the entire room full of people laughed the entire time I was talking.... And I wasn't saying anything funny. What was really funny about it was I was talking about Fear of People, and then I get laughed at by about 200 Africans. But, it ended ok, and I just have to trust that maybe the people who spoke English in the room needed to hear what I was saying. (I think the translator might have translated my fear of what people think as being literally afraid of people, which might explain all the laughter).

            I know this blog doesn't give much detail from the month, but this was one of my favorite months on the race. I'm excited to go to Europe, but I'm not really ready to leave Africa yet. Hopefully God will send me back sometime.

Hey everybody! Well, were are headed into the final stretch of the mission trip. On the 26^th we will be in Ireland for The Awakening and then headed to our last 3 countries which are Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. It's hard to believe that we are about to hit our last continent. Europe seemed so far away when we started the Race 8 months ago.

            I am writing this blog to ask for your help. My teammate Kristi is not fully funded for this mission trip yet. She has been posting blogs and sending emails home, working really hard at trying to raise the money, but there hasn't been much change.

            Kristi is a very important part of our team. We haven't been apart for more than 24 hours in 8 months, and I am really not ready to say goodbye to her yet. I've gotten to watch Kristi grow in some amazing ways this year. When we started the race, she was super quiet, and it was honestly a little hard to get to know her. Now, she is leading the group when we play with children, she is preaching and giving her testimony everywhere we go, and just growing into who God made her.

            So, if you are looking for somewhere to donate, or have the ability to donate, please do so to Kristi Kaeli. The donation is tax deductible which we all know is a plus.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE PLEASE GO TO www.kristikaeli.theworldrace.org and on the left hand side click 'Support Me'.

THANKS!!!!

6/16/10

            Today we went on an "African Safari". The Bishop found out that we like animals and that we have never seen animals like zebras and giraffes in the wild, so he had his friend who owns a big truck come pick us up today and take us on a safari.

            The scenery on the way to see the animals was gorgeous.

We even got to see a hippo, zebras, antelopes, and many different kinds of birds.

Then we crossed the water hoping to find giraffes.

And that is when something went wrong with the truck, overheating the engine multiple times, and ending our safari with about 2 hour, 5 mile hike back to the church. Understanding more and more how you really can't have any expectations, especially in Africa. When we first arrived in Africa, Kathryn told me that one of her friends who went on a previous race had told her that if you don't laugh while you are in Africa you will die. It is very true. Even with the break down of the truck though, the day was still amazing and we got a beautiful walk back with a great breeze.

6/16/10

            Two days ago, Sahid came to us as a demon-possessed young man. He has lived here at the church with us for the past 2 days. While there is definitely still something going on with him, he is like a completely different person than when he first arrived. Today Bishop took him to the bus stop so he could go home. The town where he is from, he will be living with a Christian family, and it also so happens that our Bishop has another church in that town, so the church and the preacher in charge of the church are going to take care of him and help him continue to recover. Praise the Lord for that!!!!

6/14/10

            Today, we were all hanging out at Christ the King Pentecostal Church, when two of our teammates, Emily and Emily, who had been on a walk, came walking up telling us there was a boy they had meant who needed prayer. The rest of us walked into the church, and found Bishop standing with a little boy who appeared to be about 12 years old.

            Bishop began telling us what the little boy had told him about himself. He is actually 22 years old. His name is Sahid, and he is from a Muslim family. We were told by the Bishop, that in Islamic beliefs (in Africa, I don't know if world wide), if a man wants to get rich, he is allowed to offer his child to Satan in return for wealth. The two ways of doing this are 1.) by offering your child has a home for demon's, so they become possessed, usually by more that one spirit. 2.) sometimes they are called to kill the child and drink the blood. Sahid's father believed in this and when his son was 2 years old, he offered him to Satan, and since then, Sahid has basically been a house for demons. Bishop said that the Sahid had told him the demons that were currently in him wouldn't allow him to rest, so all he does is walk from town to town, not able to stop. The town he is from is about a 6 hour drive from where we are, and he had walked all the way here with no shoes on.

            Our team with Bishop and a few of the church members surrounded Sahid and started singing a worship song. Sahid reached up and grabbed Bishops hands to hold them. We all began praying. It was all very intense. All of us who pray and tongues began praying in the Spirit, everyone else prayed either out loud or to themselves. We all had our hands on Sahid. At one point while we were praying, Sahid began speaking, but his voice had drastically changed, and at that point Bishop began to call the demonic spirits within him out. I couldn't understand what Sahid was saying, but for a little while there seemed to be a power struggle, and then after some more intense praying, Sahid relaxed. We continued to pray over him for a little while, and then Bishop said that Sahid needed to rest. So he laid down on the mats we have in the church and took a nap.

            When we stopped praying for Sahid he looked like a completely different person. His face looked different, but the place I saw a huge difference was in his eyes. When he came in, his eyes were brown, but they had a gloss over them and the shape of his eyes were completely different after we prayed. After he slept he woke up looking even more different.

            I've always known demon-possession is very real, but it was still strange to me to be sitting in a church praying over this boy. After 20 years of being possessed and living under demonic control, I'm afraid that Sahid still has a long road ahead. He accepted Christ today, Praise the Lord, but I also believe that Satan will be attacking him like crazy now. Please keep Sahid in your prayers. Pray for strength and discernment on his part so that he does not go places or do things that will give Satan a footstool back into his life.