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Trip to Gulu

July 31, 2008 - Read all blogs

This past weekend we journeyed to Northern Uganda to Gulu to serve with Pastor John Bosco in his church on Sunday and a surrounding sub camp.  Bill informed me that Gulu means “heaven” in Lugandan, but needless to say Gulu is far from it. After twenty plus years of moving most of the rural population into refugee camps because of the terrorist acts of the LRA, despair and hopelessness seem to saturate the area.  At the peak, there were over 2 million people in the camps, but as tensions with the LRA have subsided recently the government is encouraging people to move back to their villages, but it is a slow process.  A generation has grown up not knowing anything else but refugee life. 

Fortunately in this area God has laid on the hearts of men, such as Pastor Bosco and Bill, to be a light of hope for hopeless, to encourage the discouraged through the Gospel.Sunday morning we attended Pastor Bosco’s Church as Pastor Bill gave a message focused on Matthew 9:37 - 38…”Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  How true it is that it is much easier to be a follower of Christ, than a worker.  In the context of when Jesus said it, he had multitude of people following him, listening to his teaching and getting healed.  The harvest is plenty in Uganda, but also in every place we live. 

The Church was at a main camp, but that evening we went to a smaller sub-camp that was established a couple of months ago as people start to move closer to their original homes.  Bill gave a message of hope from Acts 17:24-27 that regardless of the situation we are placed in and the hopelessness that it may appear, verse 26 “…he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”. 

It must be easy for the Ugandans that have been in these camps to feel like victims, an accident, or that no one, especially God, cares for them.  But nothing can be farther than the true as given by His Word.  After the message, Bill did three baby dedications, with the most recent baby being only two days old.  After the baby dedications, we showed “The Nativity” to about 150 villagers and ended the night late with no rain interruptions.

I had a chance to hear some of the future plans that Pastor Bosco and Bill have regarding their continued outreach to that vicinity that will be enhanced with the purchase of motorcycles to get to the remote villages and camps.  Words can not describe the conditions of the roads in this area, where it can easily take well over an hour to travel 12 miles, as you constantly have to maneuver the vehicle around bumps, potholes, and mud.  The path that we drove to the sub-camp was a single trail, so having motorcycles will greatly quicken their travels not only in the Gulu district, but also as they start to develop relationships in southern Sudan. 

The commitment, dedication, and passion I’ve witnessed by all the people involved with the Campbells here in Uganda is amazing.  I wish all of you could meet them here and see first hand the love the people have here for the Gospel and the children.  The picture to the right is of Pastor Bosco, Pastor Bill, Aloysious, and Mama Christine of the Hope Children Home in Seya.  The picture was taken in a hut that will house Bill while he is ministering in the Gulu district in the future.