Hello Everyone,
I arrived about 2 weeks ago, and it has been a crazy two weeks.
Last week Calvary Chapel Jinja had it’s first ever open-air crusade. It has kept us so busy, planning for it and then actually doing it. We didn’t have a great turn out, but those who came were able to hear the truth of the gospel.
The week before our crusade Jinja had a crusade lead by a lady called “Pastor Emelda”. She is a classic example of the bad teaching that goes on in Uganda. Pastor Emelda owns 5 Hummers. She has divorced her husband and stole her best friend’s husband and claims that God told her to do it. At one point in her crusade, she told all the people in the audience to hold up all of their money from their pockets so that she could bless them. Then when they did she said “Now I put a curse on your money. If you put your money back in your pocket you will be cursed. The only way you can be blessed from that money is if you put it in the offering that is being passed around.” Every one in the audience give her their money, but they came away later saying that “she robbed us.” This is a country that very much believes in the power in witchcraft and curses, and they really felt there was no way that they could keep their money after she cursed it. On one night she took seven offerings!
Pastor Emelda’s crusade is very typical of a crusade in Uganda, the theme is give to God and God is REQUIRED to give to you. Lots of people in Uganda have just traded their witchcraft for a form Christianity, but haven’t really changed. You go to the witch doctor and give him money and he does what you want, you to Jesus and give Him your money and He does what you want. That is the general thinking; there are a lot of people that profess to be Christians but haven’t changed at all.
Pastor Jessie (the pastor of Calvary Jinja), was able to pull lots of great material from Pastor Emelda and use it to show the truth. He talked about how Jesus said to give to the poor, and if you are giving to a pastor who owns 5 Hummers you are not giving to the poor. He talked a lot about the attitude we should have towards giving and how to give in a Godly manner. Our crusade did verse by verse Bible studies and taught straight from the Word. We have already seen fruit from it and I think that seeds have been planted and more fruit is to come.
This e-mail has already gotten really long so I will just do some quick updates on the other things going on.
I haven’t gotten too involved in the things that will normally be my ministry yet as everything was pretty much on hold while we were preparing and putting on the crusade. We teach 2 Bible studies a week at the women’s prison which I have been able to be involved in. I have really enjoyed going to the prison and getting to know the ladies. They are much more happy and cheerful then I expected. Most of the women in the prison are there for murder, it is sometimes hard to connect what they have done with their smiling faces. I am hoping that their smiles are a reflection of a change they have made because of the gospel being preached to them in prison.
As I am getting to know the girls I will be working with I am learning that relationships with them will be a bigger challenge then I originally thought. Most of the staff here describes the girls as snotty arrogant pre-madonnas. They have been exposed to the gospel and good teaching for several years as they have been living here at the church, so I am not sure what more I can do to help change them. We are all praying about the best choices to make to help them.
I have malaria again. It is much better then last time, partly because I caught it right away. As soon as I started showing signs of it Beverly (the pastor’s wife) made me go to the clinic to get tested, so I am already on medicine and should be on the mend.
The week before I arrived in Uganda, Jinja lost 2 missionaries. One was the 16 year old daughter of the Ochoa family; a missionary family who had been here a little over a year but had been called to Uganda and felt it was their home. The Ochoa family had their own ministries they were involved in but also helped run the Sunday school program here at Calvary. Everyone here was very close to them. Talitha Ochoa was very much in love with God and we are all comforted to know that she is in Heaven. The other missionary was a 20-something man named Adam who worked with a church and a Christian owned café that helped raise money for the church. Aaron was killed in a car accident along with a Ugandan man named Moses who was the manager of the Christian café. George who works with us here at Calvary was best fiends with Moses. Needless to say I arrived at a time of great sadness for Calvary Chapel and for the missionary community in Jinja. If you could be keeping everyone in your prayers that would be wonderful.
It has been great to return to Jinja. I always feel so welcome when I come back. Shop owners who I hardly know have seen me in the last couple weeks and had warm welcome backs for me. I love returning to Jinja because it has such a small town feel to it and I am becoming less and less of an outsider. So many of the locals know me and treat me like a local now too. In a lot of ways it has become like home.
Thanks for all your prayers!!
Megan
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