MISSION: UGANDA
July 2010
Quick Thought: : You don’t have to board a plane for 30 hours to reach someone in need. Mission work can be a few hours away by car or next door. God will use you…if you let Him!
Uganda is such a wonderful place. It’s so weird how God led me, my wife, and 14 year old daughter to a place that was once so unfamiliar to us and now is such a desire to our hearts. This was our first mission trip outside the states, and there were so many questions and unknowns to us.
We spent months asking those questions and several hours reading, researching by internet, and picking the thoughts of those much more knowledgeable than us. We finally felt that God wanted us in Uganda, and found an organization called Empower-A-Child. EAC is a group of young men and women who have dedicated their lives to helping the children in Uganda in every way imaginable. Our research and efforts went into learning everything we could about the country and organization that would be responsible for our family. Well actually, my wife did most of the reading and research (she loves to read, I’ve always enjoyed the cliffs notes) As time passed, we became more comfortable about what would be before us, and more importantly that God had given us this opportunity, so trusting in Him became the most direct comfort.
We left the United States on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. After so many months of planning, it was exciting to finally be headed toward our destination. We landed in Entebbe, Uganda about 9:30pm the next night, (My family and I watched more movies on those plane flights than we had watched in the past year) but we still had one final leg of the trip…an hour drive north, to Kampala, the home of EAC.
We wasted no time in getting started. The next morning at 7:00am we headed outside the city to a village where EAC has begun its mission to build and entrust itself to the people who live there. Our goal: build a squatty, also known as an outdoor restroom. Funny thing about the work in the village; every task is made as physically hard as possible. From shoveling the dirt, to mixing the mud, to laying the brick, to fetching the water (which was only a quarter of a mile away) to delivering the mud, it was hard labor. There was one man that made sure it was done the village way, his name was Francis. Francis always saw a way to improve the way the mzungus (white people) were doing a task and was quick to point it out. We love Francis. Afterward, I began to think if there would have been a harder way to achieve each of the tasks, and the answer was a definite, NO, but yet there was still a blessing in how God used each of the team members. Whether it was in the hard labor, or just hugging one of the many village children and putting a smile on their face, God uses us all. One of the biggest smiles I would see from the children would be when my wife would pull out her tangled mess of brightly colored cross necklaces. Before she could get them untangled, there would be a hoard of children trying not to be left out. I bet she handed out five hundred of those bright plastic crosses with colored yarn string, and she also handed out five hundred smiles. The point is this. Most of us in the United States wouldn’t wear such an inexpensive little necklace, but the children and even some adults in Uganda wore them with pride because the value to them wasn’t how much it cost to produce, but rather the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice that made it invaluable.
We continued to dive head first into our mission work. The next day we headed to the slums of Kampala to check on the many children that are sponsored through EAC (EAC works in this area just like Compassion International…if you are familiar with that organization) I have never experienced the kind of living conditions that were found there. Sewer running in streams between each of the houses, trash under each step, smoke and horrible smells throughout, and children were everywhere. They were running and playing in conditions that many of us would not allow our pets to run through. Most of these families had nothing in terms of material possessions. Each day was a fight to find food in order to survive. After each exhausting day, it was time to go to sleep, then wake up and find enough strength to do it again. If the children we met had not been sponsored by a family or individual, there would be no hope for them other than the circumstances I just described. Only through the grace of God and the undeserving blessings that he gives most of us, do these children have a chance. Remember that point the next time you head out to a restaurant with your family and spend $50 on a meal that you could have cooked at home for $15. Remember that it only takes $30 a month to sponsor a child. Just think…you still saved $5.
Sundays were some of our favorite days. On Sundays we visited local churches and found it such a blessing the way people in Uganda worship the Lord. They really worship the Lord. They have so little, their greatest gift comes from the grace of God. Kim’s (Kim is my wife) first update on facebook highlighted this fact…she said, “it is hard to describe in words the extreme poverty of this beautiful country, but the joy of the people is amazing.”
Our first Monday in Kampala was spent at an orphanage. We played with the children, scrubbed floors and sidewalks, and played with the children again. I believe my wife would have grabbed one under each arm and brought them back to our home immediately if she could. There was one slight disagreement. She wanted to bring back girls. We have two girls. What is she trying to do to me? I already live in a sea of estrogen. (By the way, honey when you read this, I’m just kidding. I love my three ladies!)
The next day we headed back to the village for four days of camping in the jungle. It’s very hard to rank how important each mission was, but I think this would be the work that would become the most satisfying and rewarding of the entire trip. We would spend the next few nights under stars illuminated the way God had intended them to be. You could never imagine the beauty of a night sky as it is viewed from an African village. Our mission was to build goat sheds during the day and deliver God’s word at night, where at least 7 people accepted Christ as their savior. Again, the building of the goat sheds was the exact copy of the outdoor restroom…as hard as possible. From digging 1 1/2 foot deep holes (12 of them) with a spear, yes a spear, to chopping down a six foot high ant hill to make mud for the sides of the shed. It was not an easy task, but I guess that’s what makes it so special and so meaningful to the people that received the shed and the goats. All I can think is wow, God has blessed us so much. I could say that a 1000 times a day and still not say it enough. I know I’m getting away from the shed building, but this was a learning point. God blesses us with so much, which means we must share what we have. "For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." -- Luke 12:48. That’s straight from the mouth of our Savior! Alright, back to the sheds. I forgot to mention that “Francis” was there again showing us the correct way. Somehow the ladies, including my wife, were not throwing the mud on the side walls the way it should have been thrown. Who knew there are ways to gather mud in your hand and splatter it against a wall, but I guess it must be in the bend of the wrist. We love Francis!
By the way, I’ll jump ahead a little, and tell you that the day we left the village, I gave Francis the pair of work gloves I had used while building the projects. Ladies and gentlemen, you would have thought I had given him a complete set of craftsmen tools, along with the tool box, and the workshop to use them in. The look on his face was priceless and his gratitude was amazing to me. That’s just the way these people accept things. They are so grateful for everything you do. Alright, now back to the order of things.
During the second day at the village I became very sick with diarrhea and vomiting, so my wife was constantly running back and forth from the project to take care of me. I think she was more exhausted than anyone, because the next day my daughter, Kaylee, became ill. Mine only lasted one day, hers lasted four. The physical stress in the village was enough, but place on my wife the stress of her husband and 14 year old daughter being sick, and I know she was worn out by the time we returned to the city. I am so proud of her and her compassion for people. Believe me when I say, I have so much to learn from her.
The day we returned from the village, Kaylee started feeling better. It’s amazing what a sprite will do for a 14 year old stomach. I don’t have enough space to write everything about the village. Just know that God is there and wants to be there. The need is endless and the only way it will ever change is if God’s people help to change it. It’s in motion, but an object in motion will not stay in motion without a form of energy. Which one of you will become that energy?
There are a lot of other things I could talk about, and there are so many stories about the people there, but I just don’t have the room to write it all. Instead of an article, it would be a book. I could talk about other small missions we performed while there or about the feelings of fright and anger the night of the bombings at the World Cup Watch Parties, but I think I will just tell you…
What I won’t miss:
- the unbelievable rough roads
- the smell of smoke constantly
- the red clay dirt that stuck to you and is still a part of our shoes to this day
- the cold showers; although I didn’t hate them as much as my wife…she still insist that the water got colder every day
- the rice and potatoes….EVERYDAY…twice a day
- the look of children starving….but on the other hand that’s what will send me back
What I will Miss:
- the people of Empower-A-Child
- how Ivan wanted to learn about American football
- all the college kids that made me feel a little older than I thought I was
- the smile on my wife and daughters faces as they brought smiles to so many children
- the true joy of the Lord that came from the people of Uganda
- the need of the people and the children
- how the will of God brought so many people from all over the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Uganda to work so well together for Him. Just ordinary people who had been directed by an extraordinary God
Did this experience change me, my family? Yes, in ways and feelings that can’t be described. Was I changed while I was there? No! I was changed the day I got back. The moment I realized that so many people, including myself, strive for the wrong things. We have to much “
stuff” in our lives, so what space is there left for God? We each need to have a garage sell and empty out areas in our heart for God to purchase. That’s why the people of Uganda are so joyful in the Lord. They have given Him first choice of their heart’s property.
You can learn a lot more about Empower-A-Child and the Ministry by visiting the following web site: WWW.EMPOWER-A-CHILD.ORG.
There are so many ways you can help. Please visit the web page, and don’t leave it without first praying to God about what you can do to change the world of a child in desperate need of your love.
Also, feel free to contact me. I would be more than happy to talk to you more about this experience and maybe include you in a trip and mission for God. Remember, it could be in your neighborhood.Mark Laster: 479-903-1801 or
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Missions