We pray that we do not let our experience fade.........................

Greetings! It has been nearly four days since our return from our ACF summer mission trip. In these last four days, we have definitely returned to our normal rhythms of life, full of family, relationships, jobs, school, etc., requiring significant attention. Yet, we pray that we do not let our experience fade too far into the past and that we remain permanently changed by our involvement in this mission trip. Our hope is to frequently reflect on our time in Uganda, not superficially, but with the intentionality of pondering our encounters and situations; to consider with awareness God’s work in each of us, the missionary community in Africa, and the people and country of Uganda and to contemplate how that translates back into our normal rhythms of life, here in America.

We treated and God is healed.

Kategaya met his sponsor. It was all hugs and smiles.

With a dedicated team of medical stuff, we were able to treat 1,850 throughout our missions.

The people of Africa are in great need. Everywhere heads turned, gazes held, and people stopped to look. Expressions often looked strained, maybe disgruntled or even occasionally downright hostile. I learned, however, that my perceptions can be wrong. For sometimes when I smiled, they smiled back. And I learned that this too is a gift from God – whenever a frown transforms into a sincere smile.

So, as so often happens in short term mission trips, I went away from this experience receiving far more than I ever contributed: gifts of beauty, gifts of nature, gifts of community and the ever precious gift of being made more aware of, and participating a little more in, God’s true kingdom.

Again, we are deeply grateful for your prayers and interest as you took this journey with us. Looking back on our specific prayer requests as we prepared over the weeks preceding our trip, it is unmistakably clear that God took care of those particular requests, among so many other things. God is good!

ACF missionary based in USA.

..............through this journey!!!!!

The ACF Missions Team is back, and evidently, most of us are still trying to adjust our bodies! We had an amazing journey filled with tremendous experiences, sights, people and an abundance of God’s blessings. Each day seemed to be full of life, which will make it difficult putting the entirety of our experiences in words. Our internet capabilities were very limited and we were only able to post a few things on the blog during the last few days of our journey. However, we hope to post more of our experience and many more pictures in the coming weeks. Please feel free to read through the previous posts of some of the team members to catch a glimpse of some individual perspectives!

Natives received us with joy and excitments.

Patients who came to get medical treatment from our medical missions showing their cards.

A young boy after receiving medication.

One of the Medical Team Member handing over drugs to a patient. Dr. Odwar Lazarous is a product of ACF child Education sponsorship. He is in his last stages of graduating out of a medical school. I believe his sponsors are proud to see him deliver. You can also change someone's story today.

A patient after receiving Medication. We shall continue to be God's hands and feet extended to reach the unreached people.......

Sister Grace in the pharmacy. She worked very heard along with Sharon, Karla, Florence and others.

 God had definitely gone before us and was with us in every detail of our trip. He blessed us through all of the people we encountered and in each engaging experience. We hope to intentionally take some time to continue to process how God has transformed each one of us and we pray that God would clarify our next steps of obedience.

Thank you again and again for your prayers, thoughts and care for us through this journey!

Meet my new found friend.......

Wednesday and Thursday were probably two of our most powerful days on mission so far. We had medical missions, feeding, played with the kids and all the kids had so much fun with it that they all came back yesterday if they could. I got a split lip from it but it was so worth it. Yesterday a little boy named Okol (in the picture), who is two years old, came up to me and said carry me, I carried him around in my arms for almost 45 minutes chasing around a ball but after that we had to go to piggy back rides because carrying him in my arms was too much. He wouldn’t go to anyone else, Eddie tried to take him away from me and he started screaming and crying no! When we were all hanging out in a group he leaned over my shoulder and whispered in my ear, Papa (Meaning Dad), it was so sweet that that was how he thought of me. It is going to be so hard having to say goodbye to him and all the other kids today.

Ivan and Akol

I can easily say that today was the toughest day of the week for me, and I would bet most others who worked in the medical department this week would agree. Saying goodbye to these love-hungry kids we’ve carried, chased, spun, rocked, and fell in love with all week was extremely difficult. However, it was an amazing ending to an amazingly God-filled week. Going into the day, we knew that today was it–the day to pour out everything we had left. At one point, a group member asked “What was yesterday, Thursday?” Without missing a beat, George, a 16 year old who came out every single day this week, 

answered “No, yesterday was Wednesday!” Eddy corrected “No, yesterday was Wednesday, man.” Corbin laughed and said, “Yeah, I know… I was just trying to get you guys to stay longer!”

Ivan

We got fired up.

We started the morning we praised and worshipped. We were given the Word for the day that our hands are to be used to touch the lives of people. That a Christian fights with hands together praying to the Lord Jesus. It was a powerful time of worship.

But God always comes out victorious because of the obedience of His servant’s heart and purpose is one with Him. We had teenagers just coming to be prayed for their finals and their registration for next school year and they were able to be encouraged and empowered by Brother Joshia Agbo, being prayed over to do great things as they are the next generation. Then at lunch we were rushed by the multitude of people to be seen by our doctors.

However, our team was so united and powered by the morning worship. We were able to treat a total of 718 and 60 gave their lives to the Lord and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. What a powerful time. That evening we were able to praise with power and outpouring of the Holy Spirit has energized each team member to include the leadership team. Everyone was fired up to even continue seeing people that evening.
Blessings to you all and thank you all for your prayers. Home here we come!!!.

It is Great to be used by God!

Wow!!!!! what an incredible feeling that overcomes anyone in the presence of the Lord God. Joy, Peace, Strength, and Love just a mixture of emotions is indescribable. The team have departed back into their own city and community probably trying to give an account of what they experienced in their two week outreached in Uganda. With everyone back home, each one is sharing an excitement of what happened within their own life as well as the people they touched.

It started before the mission in the Uganda, as each team member was given a seed of compassion by God towards His people. Then watered by God when we all reached out to a person in our own community. Then it grew outside each community towards the nations. The result of that seed grew to treating medically to over 3,000 people both in Fortportal and Kumi with about 200 receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior.

It is only with the power of the Holy Spirit that we were able to do this within the two weeks. How awesome is our Lord God Almighty!

Brother Raymond preaching to the people who came.

We were blessed to use one of the newest structure built to serve as the ACF medical centre for Kigarama, Kabarole district in Uganda. This was the first site of the mission. The team was excited and pumped to do all they can do. Again many miracles happened and many ask for prayer for personal issues with themselves and family.

One lady asked for prayer for her because her husband left her more when she was pregnant with other fives your children and she is raising her kids with her mother. The team prayed and led her to a prayer of forgiveness and giving her burden to God. She walked out later with the weight on her shoulder lifted. The team experienced not only super natural healing but also gave healing to heart issues. That is what our purpose for this mission is to touch each person for God and at the same time empowering and increasing each team members walk of faith. I believe the team experienced a blessed and empowering time together with their God and each other. We saw over 800 people again. This year is a little different with a closer walk having to listen to what people who are hurting inside. We tended to people with unforgiveness and listening to issues of the heart and Jesus healed them of their sickness. We learned a valuable lesson of walking not as sinner that is forgiven but a saint walking doing good works for our God.

Amazing experience!!

We did not have stable internet the past two days, so blog updates were impossible. We are now back in our Hotel Rooms after a busy day with the ACF sponsored children at Nyero Rock High School....so here is an overview of our Mission. Words or pictures do not do justice for what our time with the children today has meant to all of us. We have touched by God often; we saw His hands at work with our team and with the people at the mission field. We have our individual stories....and there are many of them. Following is an overview of our mission. We look forward to sharing more of our story with you when we come back home!
We headed out to Nyero Rock High school this morning. It took about 30 minutes to get there through scenic towns, winding rocks roads and lush green fields planted on steep mountain slopes.

Cathy shaving children's hair. All our clippers broke down because because of high voltage set yet they use 120V and we resorted to use scissors.

Our Team shared with ACF Sponsored children. Brother Raymond, Sister Grace who is mother on our team and the rest of our Team members poured out her heart to the children and we were able to have one on one counseling before we served them with a meal prepared by Sarah and Cathy Opio.
The afternoon was spent hearing poems from children. There were 51 children and we all fell in love with them. It was extremely hard to say goodbye this evening as we left as we all had developed deep relationships with these beautiful engels.

Our Team has been separated into two Teams. Team 1 shall have gospel outreach (Door to Door) Evangelism through the streets of Kumi. Team Two shall be meeting with local leaders to inform them of our presence and chat more of our programs with them. we leave Nyero, we reflect back on our week here with mixed emotions: sadness at saying good bye to our many new friends, joyfulness at having met and played with these precious children, and hope that we have planted seeds and showed them God’s love through our actions. No doubt we all will return home changed individuals having seen the hands of God so many times, felt His presence continuously and were blessed beyond our imagination.

As mentioned before, the team is doing so well. Everyone is growing through their various ministries, and even beginning to cross over to check out and experiencing the other ministries. This is being done, not because we are overloaded or under staffed, it is because everything has fallen into line so perfectly that we are able to breathe easy resting in the fact that it is not because of anything we can do, but because of what Christ is doing in and through us. If anything, the entire team would probably say that next Friday's return will be entirely too soon.
Thank you again for your prayers. Continue to pray for those whom we will reach, also for our medical missions which are starting this wednesday. It is an awesome opportunity to enjoy God's service as we continue to serve and to grow as a team in our service to our Lord!

Rejoice in the lord.........!!!

Hey Everyone,
"Rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice!" If there's anything that can be said as we end a Friday night, our first week of ministry, is this exact phrase. The Lord has richly and specifically answered our's and your prayers. He has totally moved in our hearts and in the hearts of those whom He has prepared for a long time. We just finished our evening devotion time and it was such a wonderful time of sharing. We dedicated this evening to encouragement of one another by individuals sharing about other people on the team who have encouraged them through their service this week. Everyone jumped right in and began to share how others had ministered to their spirits. Everyone kept sharing and sharing. For an hour we edified each other (the body) as we talked how the Lord has used others to teach us new lessons. It was truly a blessed time of fellowship and team bonding.

ACF Medical missions site.

Passion for Christ and compassion for Souls.

ACF is committed to meet the need for medical care among the world's poor with lasting solutions through excellence in medicine, patient care, and health education. We do this by mobilizing volunteers on one and two-week medical projects and by establishing and equipping permanent medical centers. It has been succeful this year because we have been able to treat over 800 patients in fortportal.

Pharmarcy department

Today sums up the entire week well. God has brought our team through a lot this week that has really stretched us and allowed us to see the heaviness that fortportal contains, but through it brought our lives close together and to Him through joyful praise and laughter. Jessica, Grace and Cathy continue to bring the humor, in very unique ways...as only Eddie senior and our driver can do.
We have been truly blessed by the hearts of the people of fortportal. They have taught us so much. We have been encouraged by the words and service of our team members. God has been the center of all we do, and He has shown Himself faithful by keeping us healthy and allowing us private time to journal and study His word. So our quiet times have been preserved for His glory, which is a huge answer to prayer. It is becoming very clear that our quiet times are directly proportional to how much we are able to pour out to the people to whom we speak.

Part of our medical Team.

God has been wonderful!!!!

Our Team visited the prison on the second day of our missions. I believe all of are us are not the same as we left. This is the only picture which was taken because government here doest not allow people to enter prison cells with cameras. Our Team prayed, worshiped and shared with the jolly inmates and i was persornally touched when i saw inmates worshiping without any worries but it was visible that some of them had grief in their hearts. As we leave fortportal, we will back on your to pray for them and for the people down here who are going to follow up of them (ACF Fortportal Program Implmentation Committee).

Part of Our medical mission team getting ready for the day's work.

We are now safely through the very first (and easiest) leg of our trip. We are eagerly waiting to return to Kampala for the second leg of our mission trip to Kumi (Northeastern Uganda). Two members of our team (Brother Festus and Sister Joy) will be going back to the USA this Saturday, keep them in your prayers. Everyone is doing well and in good spirits. Traveling is stressful at times, but everyone seems to be in eager anticipation of returning to friends and family. From a few conversations it appears that closure and contentment are surrounding us as a team. We are excited about what the Lord has done, but are content with where He now has us.

Brother Festus (Team Leader) sharing with the people who came for medical missions. Five people gave their love to Jesus there. In the bcakground are  Grace, Mama Grace, Florence, Cathy, Irene and Phiona.

As a quick update if no word has already been passed along, Jessica, Joy, & Joan are all doing well. Henry has a bit of a sore throat and has some sinus stuff but they were in great spirits when we left today. It was bittersweet saying "see you later" to them this morning, but we are so comforted knowing that there is someone to carry on for us as we come home. Please continue to pray for them as they will be staying long term and this coming week looks to be very busy with a lot of strategic planning. Brother Raymond has several meetings Monday and then on Tuesday he'll be meeting with the principals of our schools and ACF sponsored children in Kumi and government officials, where he'll discuss how we can continue to partner with them and see further people reached with the love of Christ.
That about does it from here...thank you all for your prayers.

Medical missions team doing their Job.

Our Sharon was very instrumental in the pharmarcy. She has power, unity and zeal to serve.

We distributed over 600 reading glasses.

Some of the desperate faces that we met.

.............and we continue to pray for more journey mercies as we travel for our second leg to Kumi.

Day two of our missions.

We are now just rounding out Day 2 of our ministries here in Fortportal, Uganda. It has been such a huge blessing to each one of us to experience the great things God is doing. When we last communicated, we mentioned that we would be having our devotion and debrief time. That evening turned into a wonderful and very special time of worship before God. Brother Festus, who is the head of our team, a...ddressed us on how to handle the needs of counseling that we find in the community, from students, adults, etc. It was much more than a lecture on the proper procedures and methods. It became very clear to us all that our hearts must demonstrate Christ. Our actions must be as though Christ Himself was performing them. Living as Christ is how the hurt and dying (spiritually) of Uganda, will begin to open up, sharing those difficult things to us. Following this we had a time of sharing one word adjectives that described how each of us was feeling.
Edward Junior. - Eddie has taught me what it means to be passionate about the presentation of the Word. His desire for worship through music, which is huge, is superceded on every account by his longing to see lives changed through hearing and understanding the Bible.

Grace Owane. – Mama Grace has been a constant support, a point of encouragement, balance and sensitivity. She has been invaluable in leading the ladies on this trip through her strength and quiet diligence. She was truly an asset in helping to resolve problems in a caring way that only she can.
Henry. - His heart for serving without complaining and without request has been unmatched. Henry has a heart of gold and yet he rarely demonstrates it through words. His actions speak much louder than words, and I am so blessed to have watched this man of God in action as he led his family to a foreign country based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Cathy Mukisa. - She loves kids! There's not much else that I can say. She has shown a love and compassion for kids whom the world has forgotten, always with a smile and a heart of joy.
Eddie Senior. - This guy has is one of a kind. He is so passionate about everything he does, but when it's time to focus on a specific task or ministry, 120% is poured out with the enthusiasm of about 10 or more people. He has demonstrated Christ's compassion and yet been someone who I could lean on to take the initiative and run with it from start to finish.
Cathy Mugaga. - Cathy has been a source of laughter. She brings joy to any room where she spends time. What Cathy has meant to this trip is unspeakable. Her testimony, her honesty, and her sincerity have gone far beyond what most people show their entire lives. Students connected with her in a real way, because she was real with them.
There you have it. These are some of the people that are living examples of Christ in action. I am truly blessed. These words do not begin describe the ministry they unknowingly had towards me.
Thank you all for your prayers, and we continue to ask for more as we travel.

Tomorrow is a very busy day for us as a team. Medical missions. Please don’t forget to keep us in your prayers.

Our First day at the mission field.

Yesterday was our excursion day. We started the day off with a wonderful worship, led by Pastor Brother Festus and music led by Grace. We had praise and worship. Headed for school visits to see ACF sponsored children.We are blessed to have a 7 man team from the USA who proud to give back to Africa through missions and support towards the children's education.

Brother Festus Preaching to the students of Nyakasula primary school.

Our Mother (Grace Owane) also spoke to the students. She delivered a spirit filled message that led 10 young people to the lord. I was excited to see children running to the front to accept Jesus as their personal lord. Wow!

When poverty strikes! Pray for Africa.

Through the foothills of Rwenzori Mountain.

Sinners' Prayer. Brother Festus praying for the students who gave their lives to Jesus.

Today was our first day of ministry and we arrived at Nyakasura School at 9:00am sharp ready to serve. Wow! The kids were anxiously awaiting us and we all began loving on the kids. Today we are heading for a prisons visit but we have been restricted on using cameras and phone.

We have reached fortportal. Continue to pray for us.

Thanks to God for the safe travels, getting the entire luggage and providing a clean place to spend the night in Fort portal before heading to Kigarama Village where we are supposed to have our medical missions.

Our Van broke down on our way to the mission field but the team saw it as an advantage to reach out to the people in busy streets of Mityana town. Some people gave their lives to Christ, i'm yet to confirm  the actual number of people who gave their lives to Jesus. The team gave out four bibles to some of the people who accepted Jesus,

A big thank you to Abraham of Mityana who fixed our van and we were able to get back on the road. As i post this, i'm the last man standing on the Team. They are all asleep and i need to catch some sleep too. Don't forget to keep us in your prayers.

Mission report from Benin Republic Missions Team. Pray for the Us.

Hello,
Sorry that I have not been able to send you an email in the past few days. Internet access has been rather difficult and when we are able to get access, it is extremely slow. However, I give thanks to God for the opportunity to be here in the Republic of Benin as one of the armies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to let you know that you are an integral part of the mission work going on here in the Republic of Benin. Your love for Jesus that motivated you to support my missions work will never go unrewarded in Jesus name. Your prayers, financial, encouragement, and moral support are greatly appreciated.

We are here in a village called Ikpinle. It is about 55kilometers from Port-Novo, the second largest city in the Republic of Benin. We arrived on Sunday evening after a torturous 2-3 hours ordeal with the immigration officials at the Nigerian/Benin Republic border who were coming up with all types of excuses to extort money from our team members. To the glory of God, they did not succeed.
The past three days have been extra-ordinarily busy and exhausting. On Monday, we visited some of the businesses of recipients of the African Christian Fellowship (ACF) 2010 Economic Empowerment Program (EEP). The EEP was initiated to provide economic empowerment to pastors and missionaries wives in some of the most remote villages in Africa where ACF has a presence. In 2010, seven of such women received $300 each of no-interest revolving two year loan. Each of them came up with their own entrepreneurial ideas and what to invest the money in. To the glory of God, the three we visited are doing fairly well. Time and distance did not permit us to visit the rest of the recipients.

Tuesday and Wednesday were dedicated to medical missions. The medical missions have been the most exhausting part of the trip. Our day typically starts around 7:30am and we retire to rest around 10:30pm. I preached two messages on Tuesday and to the glory of God, when I gave alter calls, so many gave their lives to Jesus Christ. The same thing happened yesterday, our second day of the medical missions when we experienced the largest crowd of the medical missions. Pastor Sonny Ikotun, one of our team members preached with anointing and power. Several people answered the call to come to Jesus. By the way, idol worship is very prevalent in this part of the world. This is a very strong hold area of the enemy of our faith (Satan). However, we thank God for the opportunity to win souls to His kingdom. The battle is not over yet. Please continue to pray for us.
Today, Thursday and Friday have been dedicated to pastors training. The pastors training will run from 10am to 4pm and we will have open-air crusades from 6pm to 9pm. We need urgent prayers for the events of today and tomorrow. We are expecting about two hundred to three hundred pastors from several towns and villages. Our missionary team on the ground has done extremely well in organizing our programs. They had news of our programs on the radio and announcements in various churches. Please pray for them especially, Sister Emilia Ogigirigi who has worked so tirelessly to make our missions work to be successful.
Thank you for your time, your prayers, and partnership in building the kingdom of God. The lengthy email is to give you a detailed account of what we have been doing in the mission field.
May the Lord richly bless you, your family, and all that you do in Jesus name. Amen.
Yours in His royal service,
Hyacinth Ezeka.