Tag Archives: uganda

An African Adventure

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I’ve traveled internationally on several occasions, but this trip put new meaning to international travel! On the way over, we traveled for forty-two hours before we reached our destination. We left Saturday, May 26th and got to Mbira, Uganda at 3:00 am on Monday, May 28th. Uganda is eight hours ahead of Nashville time, so needless to say it took our body clock awhile to catch up!

After arriving at the Mbira orphanage, you can only imagine how tired we were, but there was work to do before we slept! It took about an hour to get our cots set up and our living quarters in order before we were able to lay down for some rest. The following is a day-by-day journal of what we experienced:

Monday:

Spent the day getting acclimated. We slept in Monday morning and had an orientation that afternoon with Tony Applegate, the missionary who was our host for the week. We ate all of our evening meals with the Applegates. After dinner each evening, the ladies went to the girl’s home for devotions, and the guys went to the boy’s home. We all sat on the floor with a small lantern in the middle that provided light. My favorite part of devotion was hearing them sing! I could listen to them all night.

Tuesday:

We had the world’s longest VBS at Mbira. It lasted seven hours and was such a fun day! There was laughter and smiles everywhere. We did crafts, recreation and worship. The girls were extremely competitive! They also picked up the games faster!

Wednesday:

We loaded into two vans and went off-roading! The goal was to visit ten Jajas, the name affectionately given to widows. At each stop we gave them bags with sugar and soap. The joy and excitement on their faces was worth the effort. Some shouted, some danced but all were thrilled with the gift. Continue reading →

Update from Julie!

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Women's Team in Uganda

Our Uganda team is in Entebbe about to head home. Next week I will post about our trip. Internet access is not readily available and we only have a short time. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for us this week. We have all been healthy and at full strength all week!

God is truly at work in Uganda! We’ve played with children and loved on babies at the orphanage, visited widows in their homes, and had an afternoon of fellowship, worship, and the Word with the women of Mbira Baptist Church! Our hearts are full and we are still processing all that we have seen and experienced. However, this one thing I know, we serve an awesome God who is doing mighty things around the world!

I look forward to sharing more next week. We board a plane in a few hours and will be traveling for the next twenty-four hours! Please pray for our safety and continued health! Much love!

 

Julie with some of the orphans.

The Freeset bags they gave to the widows!

Giving the widows Freeset bags!

Uganda team

Til He Shouts,

Julie Woodruff
Women’s Minister
Long Hollow Baptist Church

Missionary Partners

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“Love is a verb.”  -John Mayer

As I am writing this, Long Hollow has two mission teams in the air.  One is in Haiti, and the other is in Uganda.  Both will be the hands and feet of Jesus, loving on our beautiful children in the orphanages.

Photo by Gretchen Jones in Jeremie, Haiti

They won’t be building impressive buildings or feeding thousands, not that those are unimportant things.  But, they will be spending time and loving precious children.  Soaking children in their smiles and kind touches.  Letting them smell their shirts and rub their faces on them tenderly.  Joking with them and being a “bright spot” in an otherwise ordinary day as an orphan.  Do you sometimes wonder what memories our children of the nations will have as adults—will they think back on when “those people” came and treated them kindly and told them over and over that Jesus saves and God loves them?

Oh, Lord, I pray that they will!  I pray that these efforts will deposit in their emotional “banks” so the spiritual deposits can fall on good soil as they mature and grow!  I pray that they will be manifested in life-change and nation-change for the purposes of His plan!

Photo by Gretchen Jones, Haiti- November 2011

Also, Long Hollow’s leadership is listening to God’s calling concerning an unreached people group in North Africa.  Unreached.  People. Group.  Let that sink in—UNREACHED.  Where tribal languages and Muslim culture are obstacles.

Wikipedia, May 2012 (dark green= UN subregion of North Africa, all green areas=geographic region of North Africa

I was telling our eight-year-old about UNREACHED groups, and she was surprised.  She is a relatively new Christian, and watching her makes me realize how “churched” we can become, where we hear and intellectually know things without allowing them to influence our hearts with a holy burden for the lost and dying world.  Seeing her face as she pondered a life without hearing the name Jesus and understanding what that means, I could see that she was truly, authentically touched.  It was convicting.

So, today, let’s all partner with the Long Hollow mission projects.  Let our hearts be united in prayer for our church’s teams who are going to the nations.  If you don’t know what to pray, consider these verses:

  • Colossians 4:3, 5- Pray “that God will open to [them] a door for the word, that [they] may declare the mystery of Christ…” and that they will “conduct [themselves] wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time.” Continue reading →

Uganda

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Uganda Team May 2012

By the time you read this, our Uganda team will be well into our first
day across the world. Right now we are sitting at the Detroit airport
for six hours before we depart! I’ve been asking around and here are some
words that describe what team members are feeling: excited, anxious,
blessed with the opportunity to go, tired, ready to get there, wondering what
God is going to do, and longing to see His face in a different place.

It is our privilege to go and minister in two different orphanages
that Long Hollow has helped to build in Mbira and Kyotera. We will be
doing VBS, serving the elderly in the village church, and ministering to
the women in the village. Tony and Kristi Applegate and their five
children will be our host for the week and we hope to provide them
encouragement and help.

Uganda has a population of 35,873,253. The life expectancy is 53. 49%
of the population is under the age of 15. The orphan population in
this country alone is 2,500,000.

Please pray for us.  Our team is 15 strong and we are excited about
all that God has in store for us. If you want to be specific, please
pray for:

Our health and safety
Unity among team members
More than anything, pray that we make much of Jesus!

We will try to keep you updated through the week. Check Facebook or back
here on our blog!

Til He Shouts,

Julie Woodruff
Women’s Minister
Long Hollow Baptist Church