Word in Deed Ministries

Action in Missions – Loving Out Loud

Praising God & Thanks Be To You!  A note of thanks to all those to helped make this trip a reality.

We have returned from our medical mission trip with the Palm Beach Atlantic University pharmacy school students; the Ugandan dust has settled, but will forever be indwelled in us.  You have been instrumental in supporting the Word In Deed Ministry we have been partnering with, and we wanted to share some stories with you.  A picture is worth 1,000 words, so hopefully these photos can give you a flavor of what we got to experience airblown inflatables canada.

Our team of 15 was certainly hand picked by God, because we had such a great flow of teamwork and the spirit of the Lord was upon us.  Over the course of 3-1/2 days, we saw 439 patients.  We arranged to have 2 Ugandan doctors assist us in the two remote villages (Ntenjeru and Mpunge) during these clinic days.  Most of the people in these areas do not get any medical attention for 2 basic reasons. They cannot afford medical care and the clinics or hospitals are too far away.  Our goal was to be the hands and feet of Jesus by serving them and bringing medical care to them.

Part of the philosophy of Word In Deed Ministries is first attending to the apparent felt needs of the people in the Mukono District of Uganda, we are doing ministry.  When you meet a ‘felt need’, then their hearts are more open to listening and receiving the gospel message. It’s like building a relationship and trust first. Once they see that you care about them by helping with their health and the education of their children, they are willing to listen to what you want to share about God.

Meeting Moses - We first went to the school Word In Deed has been building to meet the children, and even though they were on vacation, they came to school and had prepared a wonderful presentation of songs and dances.  Our PBAU students also did a small skit for them about Noah.  It was great fun.

 

As we toured land, having Pastor Edward Kasaija guide us through where the new dormitories are being built and the soccer field (which will be a great outreach tool for the community), we met a little 6-year old boy named Moses, who lived in the Mpunge community.  Professor Sourial initially picked him up to say hello and noticed a really bad odor and that Moses had a cloth wrapped around his belly.  Moses’ dad was also with him and told us that Moses was very sick and really needed our help.  We were not prepared for anything that day, as our scheduled clinic day with the doctors was on the following Monday.

We took Moses back to the church and upon examination, it was determined that after a previous surgery, the incision had not healed properly and his intestines were protruding from his little tummy and excrement was draining out.  They had tried to take him to a hospital months before, but were told it was not a life-threatening emergency, and he was sent home.  This poor little boy was living like this and would surely die if his stomach wasn’t surgically restored.

After evaluation by one of our doctors, who also happened to be named Moses, we agreed that he needed to go into the city of Mukono (where we were staying) and get admitted to the hospital.  As a team, we collectively put in $20 each and for $300 Moses had his surgery and within 2-days was smiling (he’s the one smiling in the pictures) and he could look forward to being a playful little boy again.  We have since heard that this ‘deed’ has been talked about throughout the Mpunge village. Through the love and caring for the least of these, a little boy was saved.  We want to give God all the glory and feel that we are the ones who have been blessed by being a small part of a life-transformation for one little person.

Sharing God’s Word

One of our goals for this mission trip was to fundraise to purchase Bibles for the 2-village churches we would be visiting. For $10 we could purchase Bibles in Kampala in the native Lugandan language and share God’s truth with people who did not own a Bible.  Our hope was to raise $1,000 so we could purchase 100 Bibles.  Between the PBAU students and Word In Deed fundraising we did, God graced us with the joy of providing 160 Bibles.  We give out some of the Bibles during church the on Sunday we attended service in Ntenjeru and left extra Bibles for the church library, so that they can be used during Sunday service.  The Elders also agreed that they would ‘sign out’ Bibles to anyone who wanted to borrow a Bible, if the need should arise.   This is a testimony that when we ask, God provides immeasurably more than what we ask or imagine possible.

The last day of the clinic at Mpunge School, I took with me several English versions of the Bible, hoping to find someone who could read English and would enjoy a new Bible.   I was sitting in the classroom we had set up the pharmacy because it had started to rain.  A young woman with a little baby sat next to me while she waited for her prescription to be filled (Steve was very busy).  She was so beautiful and had an amazing smile.  She spoke softly in a very low voice and asked me if I had extra Bibles.

I was so excited that she spoke English and told her “yes” that I was praying God would bring someone who could read English.  She was very grateful and I too was thanking God that we were able to provide for her little girl with some needed medicine, and for the Mom, with God’s word.  It was a double blessing.

Some More Stories

While at the Mpunge School, some of the PBAU students were doing VBS with the children while the clinic was in operation.  A young girl named Faustine Mamakula (in the blue & red stripped shirt), whom I met last year as she participated in a Ruth Bible study, was there again and we got to reunite.  It was during the kid’s fun time I heard some commotion and I popped into the classroom to see what was wrong. Faustine was lying on the ground with an apparent seizure.  As it turned out, she is epileptic and on medicine for this condition.  Unfortunately, in this part of the world, it is considered a devil’s curse to have these kinds of seizures and children are treated badly because of this condition.  We were able to have Faustine see the doctor and after a short while, she came out of her seizure, slowly getting her bearings back.  We had to fire one of our interpreters that day because of this incident.  He was trying to tell everyone that Faustine was filled with the devil because of the way she was acting.  We quickly told him how wrong he was and that the seizure we witnessed was a medical condition and was being properly treated with medicine.

Steve also met with some of the men he did a small group with last year.  One of them came and shared how thankful they were for all we were doing, bringing the mobile clinic to the Mpunge Village.  He and his wife wanted to show their gratitude and told us they were going to bring us some chicken the next day.  Of course we thought they were going to bring a couple of pieces of fried chicken for lunch – but much to our surprise, we received 2 live chickens as gifts.  And you cannot refuse a gift like that… so they were put on the bus with us and traveled back to Kampala in plastic bags.  We were able to bless 2 of our Ugandan helpers by passing on these live animals for them to have in their own yards to provide eggs for their families.

 

At the clinic, we did triage and one part of that was taking everyone’s weight.  Most people had never stepped on a scale before, so the reactions to being asked to do this were quite amusing.  Some of the little children were so fearful, they would cry when being asked to step on this flat box.

The Mpunge School Headmistress, Resty, was very thankful to receive some educational tools, school supplies and books for her students.  We are also in the process of providing a set of Encyclopedia Britannica for the Covenant School in Kampala where the children are more dominant in English.  We delivered the first 6-volumes to Pastor Edward.  This September a team of Word In Deed missionaries are traveling back to Uganda and will be bringing with them another 12-volumes.

During our clinic days, our team administered 200 HIV tests.  There are many stories that go along with this, but the hardest was having to tell a 13-year old girl she tested positive & a young woman who was concerned about passing the disease onto the baby in her belly.  But this is life in the rural villages of Uganda.  There is much need, little resources, but a hunger for God.

 

WATER-Next Steps

The Mpunge School is expanding; Word In Deed is building dormitories for the students to live and the teachers also have their own housing, so that this remote village can educate their children.  One of the goals for Word In Deed Ministries is to provide the school & surrounding community with a water source.  Currently there is a shallow borehole that is unreliable and very unclean water.  The Ntenjeru Clinic & Church have rain catchment barrels, which provides water for the community, and is the cheapest method (deep-bore wells can cost $12-25k to dig).  The rain-catchment method can be done for about $4,000.   We are asking for continued prayers for the resources to be in place by the time the September team arrives so that the men going on the trip can help with the construction of the system.

 

I could go on & on . . . as these are only a small flavor of the many wonderful things we experienced.  Steve & I are praying that with God’s favor and provision, PBAU will join us again next year for another mission trip.  But that of course, is in God’s hands.  Please know that your support is something we dearly cherish. Thank you so much for being part of this God-sized adventure. In awe & humbly grateful, Lisa Sorensen

This entry was posted on Monday, August 26th, 2013 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Project Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.