Hello from Gulu!

Hi girls! I actually had time this morning to be able to read all of your awesome comments and prayers that you have left for me! I can't tell you how appreciated you all are! I feel like you are all here with me and I can't tell you how grateful and filled up that makes me feel!

It is 9am on Saturday here in Uganda, 10pm Friday night for you all. I am in downtown Gulu at an internet cafe and the sun is shining down. What's awesome, is that the Son is also shining down in all His glory!

Jesus is doing a mighty work here! The people are so thirsty for the Living Water. It is awesome to be able to dig a well for them to fulfill their physical thirst, while at the same time fulfilling their spiritual thirst.

They are a joyful people. They have nothing, yet beam with joy because of what Jesus has done for them. And those that have not yet heard about the Good News are so eager and receptive to it. I've never seen anything like it. The villages that we travel to each day are so remote, literally in the middle of the deep bush, these words are brand-new to them.

We have festivals (crusades) every night at different locations. They are quite an undertaking. Usually we start with a puppet show which the kids just love! We have a full puppet team and they have a set that they construct every day. Then the African choir sings for about 45 minutes. They are phenomenal! That draws people in from all over the village. I, then, take the stage with my worship band and sing some American worship songs. In the camps with lots of children~which is really all of them~I've taught them some interactive kids songs like, "If you're happy and you know it clap you hands." They've really liked that. Then we've sung other songs like "Trading my Sorrows"~they love the "Yes Lord Yes Lord" part and we just jump up and down during that~and "Shout to the Lord" and "Everlasting God" and many more. I usually have the African choir stay up on stage behind me because they know many of our songs and they can dance and really help the atmosphere.

After my worship time, we have someone from our team share their testimony, then we always have a very powerful drama. Those are just awesome. They're set to music and use no words~all pantomime. They're very moving and the people are just glued to them. That sets the stage for Reid to come and preach the word. At his altar calls, I am under the stage playing "Come Just as You Are" on the keyboard as hundreds are praying to accept Christ for the first time. The rest of the team is out praying with the people. It is the most powerful thing I have ever experienced.

The kids at these displacement camps (an effect of the years of war) are just eager to be touched and smiled at. They hover around you and just hold out their hand for me to touch them. Their clothes hang on their bodies like ripped rags. I grab their hand, offer a smile and a hello and they smile and look down at the ground, so shyly. They are simply beautiful.

There are so many stories to tell that I will have to save for my return, like of my new friend Tony, a Ugandan social worker who helps us each day, who was captured by cannibals and was "almost served as a dish," when he was eleven, and Agnus, a member of the African choir, who has virtually nothing, yet bought me a necklace as a gift to bless me.

The love and generosity of these people is amazing and inspiring. I will never forget my time here. My favorite Echoli song that I have learned is "Wa bi ne no deyo pa Rot" which means "We shall see the glory of God!" It is just awesome to hear it sung by crowds of hundreds!

Thanks for your prayers~keep them coming so that our team can finish strong!