We're Home

We're back and it's great to be home. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support while we were gone. We had an amazing trip and can't wait to share with you in person when we get a chance. Below are some of our team's initial thoughts upon arriving home.

Bryan


I woke up this morning and looked around. The mosquito net over my bed was gone. The room was not warm and stuffy. In fact, I was shivering in the coolness. The dark faces with the bright eyes and smiles were gone and were replaced with light faces. My body was here in this room but my heart and soul were still in Uganda.

I wondered – Did the food shipment that was late in being delivered make it to the hungry people in Nakayot Peace Village? Did the water pipes get extended to reach down to the water table which had lowered because of the drought? Are the crops dying from lack of water? And, above all, what about the children? Has Douglas gone back to sobbing instead of continuing to smile? Have all the scrapes, boo boos, and infections that were cleaned, treated and bandaged healed nicely – including Simon Peter’s eye infections? Is Ken, who wanted so desperately to “go with the white people to America” still wearing the same tie-dye shirt he wore every day?

With all these questions – and more – I realize there is so much more work to be done in Uganda and ask myself how I could leave. The answer comes to me. God is moving in Uganda. HE is in charge and HIS work will go on with or without me. God is in control and as much as I love these people, HE loves them even more! The CLIDE team is made up of various instruments each having their own special part. God joined them and together they play a beautiful symphony orchestrated by HIM. I am privileged to be used as HIS hands and feet.

These things and more come to my mind as I try to process the events of the three weeks in Uganda. My heart aches for the difficult lives these people live. My prayer is that God will continue to cause my heart to ache. With a heart that remains broken there is little chance that it will become de-sensitized to what it has seen, heard, felt, breathed and tasted. Only then can it remain effective.

Love in Christ, Arlene


I woke up this morning in a queen-sized bed with white sheets. In a room filled with clothes… and pictures… and stuff. A far cry from the dirt floor huts of Africa. I am so privileged. I don’t know what it is like to live with nothing, just like they don’t know what it is like to live with everything. We are content with what we know – that is, until our reality is shaken, our world changed. On this trip to Uganda my world was shaken. I knew I would see children with ripped and torn clothing, sick children with no medicine or medical care, and people who have no access to what we consider basic necessities (water, food, electricity, etc). What I didn’t expect was to be so touched by the Karamojong people – by their love, their faith, their determination, their strength. I didn’t expect the children to be forever burned into my heart. I feel like I got so much more than I gave. I was going to inspire, but I was the one that was inspired. I hope you will join with me in continuing to pray for the Karamojong people and Timothy Project children. God is healing a nation, one heart at a time.

Michaella


Journal Reflections on Uganda
My highest Lord, we've been home from Uganda now for four days and I still wake up at night or in the morning thinking I'm still there. We saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt some amazing things.

The best thing You showed us was Your overwhelming faithfulness and loving kindness. You provided guidance when we were uncertain, strength when we were weary, patience when we had to wait, cohesiveness as a team and with the CLIDE team, and abundant love in our hearts, more than enough to share with everyone we met.

Lord, You also showed us how rich and materially and spiritually blessed we are. We have everything and more than we could ever ask. Yet I also saw how difficult it is for many Americans to realize their need for a personal, intimate relationship with You. Without all these things in Uganda, needs are beyond what can be attained on your own, leading to a softness in hearts toward You. Lord, you broke my heart especially when the first small group of children responded to the call to give their lives to You at the primary spiritual retreat. If nothing else had happened in Uganda while we were there but this, it would have all been worth it. Thanks You, Jesus (Yesu)!

Lord, we immediately fell in love with the CLIDE Consultancy team, not just the three we already knew personally from contact in the United States, but also the others we met in Uganda, beginning as soon as we met James. Lord, you have woven together an incredible team of talented, multi-faceted men and women who work effectively together to reach out to and serve their fellow countrymen. I am proud and blessed to have ministered alongside them. The young people we met were amazing as well. Their friendliness and awareness of You stood out strongly. Their spontaneous worship in song deeply touched our hearts.

Now my Lord, I commit these people to the care of Your loving hand and pure heart to meet their daily needs, which are many, and to prompt them to live in peace with each other and with You, and to reach out to others around them with the truth of Your word and the gospel of peace found only in personal relationship with You. Amen!

Steve



The people of Uganda have captured my heart. When I hear anything about Uganda now (and it seems so much more often than before we went), I am immediately drawn to listen and to learn more. Their challenges are continually in my thoughts, and I am prompted to pray for them. The homes, the roads, the mountains, the boreholes, the plains...but especially the people, the children, their smiles...together they are painted on the canvas of my mind.

What a joy it is to have had the privilege to meet them, and to still grow in our friendship even when we are separated by miles. It is wonderful that we can bless one another as we each seek to bring glory to our Heavenly Father.

Laurie