August 2, 2012

The Uganda Mission team has arrived Dubai an hour ahead of schedule.  The flight was good and most of us had some rest.  Guoping observed and commented that the only empty seat on the plane was between Wendy and I - the Lord even reserved more room for us to rest.  Another comment was that the Emirate Airline fed us abundantly.  On the way to the hotel Emirate Airline arranged, Guoping asked if we have any UAE money that we may buy dinner - we don't.  When we arrived at the hotel, the hotel was unexpectedly well.  To our surprise, they even offered us buffet dinner and breakfast (for tomorrow morning) for free - the dinner was a good meal.

I booked an extra room for those who joined the mission team later.  At the hotel, It did not take long to find out it was a different hotel with similar name.  When we found that out, the hotel manager voluntarily offered to take me to the other hotel; now I am staying at a different place alone from all others with free internet.  Furthermore, the hotel manager agreed to pick me up in the morning and 

send me back to the hotel to reunite with the rest of the team.  Whenever we turned around the corner, we met God - He has been so good to us.

The Mission team will stay overnight at Dubai and then leave for Uganda directly early in the morning.  We will be heading to the education center directly from the Uganda airport.  Thanks so much for all of you who saw us off at TCBC and also those who have been praying for us.  Please remember us in your prayers in particularly as we are arriving Uganda which has the Ebola outbreak 3 weeks ago.

Stay tune for more news and awesome blessings we experience the Almighty God who is so good and faithful to us.  May the Lord richly bless all of you as He blesses us abundantly on this journey!

God bless,

Peter and the Uganda Mission team

August 4, 2012

Hello All!

Yesterday our Mission Team arrived at Entebbe Airport of Uganda. When
we landed, we were stopped by customs because our boxes of medicine
and shoes did not pass regulations. The team prayed hard together, and
the Lord answered our prayers because, after half an hour, we were
allowed to pass through without inspection.
        As soon as we stepped out into the clear Ugandan air, we were
welcomed with flowers and warm hugs from Doctor Jolly, and other
members from Action for Children. The team took a bus ride through the
beautiful African countryside and then through the bustling city of
Kampala, and thanks to the grace of God, we learned that the village
we are staying at is very far from the Ebola site.
        The team finally arrived at the Action for Children village around 7
PM. We were welcomed by the most exhilarating sight! As we pulled into
the village, crowds of small children poured from their homes along
the road, screaming and jumping, and ran alongside our bus until we
came to a stop. As our members stepped off the bus, the children began
clapping and singing the songs they had learned from VBS last year at
the top of their lungs. What a miracle it was to experience such love
and welcoming from children who were thankful to the bottom of their
hearts for the Jesus, God’s message, and the mission team.
        Later that night, we received a great introduction from the Action
for Children staff. They served us a delicious meal of organic
vegetables and warm, local bread. For the rest of the night, the team
set up their tents, unloaded some boxes, and enjoyed a refreshing
night of rest in the newly built classrooms.

        Early this morning, the team gathered for an energizing hour of
devotion, followed by a simple, but delicious breakfast. The team has
just finished a long meeting with the Action for Children staff. The
meeting was very productive and we have smoothed out many of the items
on the program. We have decided to spend Sunday afternoon distributing
shoes to the children after the morning service.

        This morning during our devotion, Timothy Lee led our team through
Genesis 12:1-9, the topic of the blessings that Abram brought to the
world by following God. Yesterday, we found that we have brought a
similar joy to all the children in this village. Like Abram, we have
brought blessing to all of them just by coming here and sharing the
message of God. A member of our team, Elizabeth Huang, confirmed just
what a blessing the children view our arrival as. We are coming back
for them. Many of these orphans feel that no one cares for them. To
know that our group from TCBC is coming back from for them is a very
important feeling for them. To a child who feels that there is no one
to love them, and no one to care for them, our presence is an immense
blessing.

Thank you, members of TCBC who are following our journey and mission
in Uganda, here are a few items on our prayer request list;

1.      Please pray for the 40 patients who are already waiting to be
treated at the village Clinic by our mission team Doctors, Tina and
Gou Ping. These patients were unexpected and our team is already
getting down to work!
2.      Pray for our team member Allison Dai, who is feeling slightly
unwell due to the warm weather, and tiring travels.
3.      Pray for the health of all the members of the team;  to get enough
sleep, avoid sickness, and stay nourished and energized.
4.      Pray for tomorrow morning’s Sunday service and worship.


-Uganda Mission Team

August 6, 2012

Hello TCBC members,

Yesterday morning was our first Sunday Sermon with the locals. In the morning before the service, the youth woke up early and bathed all the babies in the orphanage. The children had lots of fun and the babies were all smiling from ear to ear. The adults from our mission team also joined in on the fun by taking tons of pictures which we will send to all of you soon. 

We joined the locals in their Sunday service and experienced a rich cultural combination of the local culture and our own style of Christian worship. Some of the children from the Action for Children school performed a short skit and a dance about God’s Grace. They prayed in a powerful style using the local Lugandan language. Their gospel choir was accompanied by African drums played by some of the small children. Everybody was clapping and moving to the music. Uncle Peter delivered a great message about God as a provider.

The doctors on our team led a medical training session. Thanks to the Lord, we have successfully purchased enough medications from the nearby Kampala to hopefully last us through the week. Tomorrow the medical ministry will be even busier, as it will be the first day of VBS, so please pray for the doctors and our team. Our unexpected shortage of medicine has been a great setback for the medical ministry, and we are lucky to have found a woman who will help us purchase the medicines in the nearby city.

Another great thing that happened was that Uncle Bing and Uncle Peter recruited some of our youth to save patients while they waited at the clinic. Allison, Hannah, and Angie all went to the clinic with the adults, and ended up helping two people accept Christ!

Some of the other youth spent part of the afternoon playing soccer with the school children. The children were still playing with soccer balls that last year’s mission team had given them. The youth observed how happy the children were to kick a worn down soccer ball around, on a small patch of brown dirt behind one of the classrooms. 

Tomorrow will be Monday, the first official day of Vacation Bible School. Please pray for our team as we will be working very hard and fulfilling task after task.

-Uganda Mission Team

If you want to contact our Uganda Team members, please contact Elizabeth, our friend who is bringing our blog posts to the city of Kampala and helping us send them to some of friends back at home.

August  11, 2012

Dear All,

Yesterday was the last day of vacation bible school. Our closing program went very smoothly and we had the chance to meet many of the children’s parents. We said our goodbye’s to all the children and they all received notebooks and pens. In the evening, we had a great feast of all the local specialties with the local teachers. The food was extremely delicious and we all had a great time.

Today we are attending a traditional Ugandan wedding. We realized that as of today we have evangelized a total of 140 children and adults during our mission. A child visited the clinic today with his mother. The child had a very large tumor that had been growing on his back for 8 months. The youth decided to each contribute $10 to help the child afford a biopsy. The child’s mother was a Muslim, and our mission team took the time to speak to her, helping her make the decision to accept Christ into her heart.

Another woman arrived at the clinic this morning. She was in labor and her child’s heartbeat could not be detected. Her blood pressure was unusually high, which meant that there was a high chance her child would be born a stillborn. Our youth stayed by her bedside and prayed for her to bring peace to her heart. She was just brought to another clinic a couple minutes ago. 

Don’t be worried if our blog is updated less frequently in the coming week as our team will be traveling to the Safari and soon to Dubai . Please continue to pray for us and all the people here in Uganda.

Uganda Mission Team

New updates: Summer 2012

Hello All!

Yesterday our Mission Team arrived at Entebbe Airport of Uganda. When we landed, we were stopped by customs because our boxes of medicine and shoes did not pass regulations. The team prayed hard together, and the Lord answered our prayers because, after half an hour, we were allowed to pass through without inspection.

As soon as we stepped out into the clear Ugandan air, we were welcomed with flowers and warm hugs from Doctor Jolly, and other members from Action for Children. The team took a bus ride through the beautiful African countryside and then through the bustling city of Kampala, and thanks to the grace of God, we learned that the village we are staying at is very far from the Ebola site.

The team finally arrived at the Action for Children village around 7 PM. We were welcomed by the most exhilarating sight! As we pulled into the village, crowds of small children poured from their homes along the road, screaming and jumping, and ran alongside our bus until we came to a stop. As our members stepped off the bus, the children began clapping and singing the songs they had learned from VBS last year at the top of their lungs. What a miracle it was to experience such love and welcoming from children who were thankful to the bottom of their hearts for the Jesus, God’s message, and the mission team.

Later that night, we received a great introduction from the Action for Children staff. They served us a delicious meal of organic vegetables and warm, local bread. For the rest of the night, the team set up their tents, unloaded some boxes, and enjoyed a refreshing night of rest in the newly built classrooms. 

Early this morning, the team gathered for an energizing hour of devotion, followed by a simple, but delicious breakfast. The team has just finished a long meeting with the Action for Children staff. The meeting was very productive and we have smoothed out many of the items on the program. We have decided to spend Sunday afternoon distributing shoes to the children after the morning service.

This morning during our devotion, Timothy Lee led our team through Genesis 12:1-9, the topic of the blessings that Abram brought to the world by following God. Yesterday, we found that we have brought a similar joy to all the children in this village. Like Abram, we have brought blessing to all of them just by coming here and sharing the message of God. A member of our team, Elizabeth Huang, confirmed just what a blessing the children view our arrival as. We are coming back for them. Many of these orphans feel that no one cares for them. To know that our group from TCBC is coming back from for them is a very important feeling for them. To a child who feels that there is no one to love them, and no one to care for them, our presence is an immense blessing.

Thank you, members of TCBC who are following our journey and mission in Uganda, here are a few items on our prayer request list;

• Please pray for the 40 patients who are already waiting to be treated at the village Clinic by our mission team Doctors, Tina and Gou Ping. These patients were unexpected and our team is already getting down to work!
• Pray for our team member Allison Dai, who is feeling slightly unwell due to the warm weather, and tiring travels. 
• Pray for the health of all the members of the team;  to get enough sleep, avoid sickness, and stay nourished and energized.
• Pray for tomorrow morning’s Sunday service and worship.

-Uganda Mission Team

week one in pictures!