Having arrived in Nairobi and bought several dozen bibles locally in the Maa language, we went to a church not far from the capitol. To my surprise, when asked: “Who among you can read?”, Only a few out of a hundred people raised their hands. When asked: “Do you want to receive the Bible as a gift?” Everybody raised their hands! I promised to give the Bible to each of them if they learn how to read! After encouraging them with an example from my personal life, and telling them how I learned English, we left. In July of this year, we started literacy lessons and we had 25 students. We hired teachers for this and the first lessons are were held in the recently constructed building! Thank God for that!
Arriving in the north of Uganda, I couldn’t wait to give Wiki the help collected for her. On April 21, after dinner, we finally found a car and went with the pastor and his assistants to the Bidi-Bidi camp. This camp holds 270,000 people and they are all refugees from Southern Sudan. When we were approaching the camp the sky became dark and thick clouds formed. Shortly after, the rain started to pour! I was lucky to sit in the cab of the truck but my friends with pastor Alfred sat in the back of the truck and got all wet.
Vicki happily greeted us and invited us to her shack and she had water standing in her entrance. In a small, dark room, we sat down, and Vicki began to tell her story.
“I grew up with four brothers and sisters in Loa, in Southern Sudan. My parents live in Juba with my brothers. My sisters fled to Uganda, just like I did. Unfortunately, none of them know God! At the age of 18, I got married and gave birth to 4 children, three boys and one girl. After 12 years of marriage, my husband left me. In 2017 he was killed by rebels, unfortunately he didn’t know Christ.
In 2010, after our divorce, I began to seek God and accepted Jesus as my Savior. In 2013, after the outbreak of the civil war and the bombing of Juba, my children and I fled to the south of the country in Nimule. I had to leave my home and my work as a hairdresser. When the war reached Nimule, we fled to the Bidi Bidi camp in northern Uganda!”
The life of the widow, especially with the amputated hand is very complicated. Today, she cuts grass in the camp and tries to sell it to earn something. Her eldest son, who is 19, helps her when he can. He built two houses for his family. We were glad to hear that at least the UN doubled the food ratio per person and again gives out 12kg (26lb) of beans and people no longer starve as they did before.
When we asked how we can help her, Vicki replied: “I want to go to the hospital to get a prosthesis for my arm. With a prosthesis it will be easier for me to learn how to sew. If I had a mechanical sewing machine, I could sew things and sell them! ”
I handed her an envelope with the words: “This is from your brothers and sisters in the United States. They care about you and they wanted to help somehow. ” She modestly took the envelope, put it on the bed and said: “I thought that God left me behind and forgot about me.”
Ministry in Uganda – President of New Fields Ministries Willi Dick
The news has repeatedly reported that South Sudanese are starving. Every person I’ve met desperately needs food, medicine, and security. Desperate people who heard about the food delivery to the churches were ready to attack us! The number of those in need exceeded all our capabilities. As usual, we loaded 12.5 tons of food products. Many from the crowd testified that they had not eaten for the last several days. We could not feed everyone, and therefore the help was designated for the members of the church only. The rest of the crowd of ca 1500 people did not disperse and demanded to help them even though their names were not on the registration lists! This was a difficult test for me and the church’s help committee. God gave us wisdom, and we announced that the food delivery was exclusively for vulnerable people, such as widows, disabled, elderly and schoolchildren. Thus, we distributed food and non-food products to people in need. And thanked God that everything went well.
The church in Southern Sudan in the state of Nimule was founded in 2000. Now Pastor Lozo Jofri is working here, he is a citizen of Nimule. About two years ago, he fled to the Ajumani refugee camp in northern Uganda. Not so long ago, he was asked to return to reopen the church. We thank God that he is doing well, and the church in Nimule is growing. Pastor Lozo is doing his best to reestablish other churches that were abandoned because of the conflict. To date, four Baptist churches are open again. Despite the economic difficulties, the number of returning believers is growing daily. Pastor Lozo, in a private conversation, shared with me that his family had not eaten for two days. He planned to send his family back to Uganda to feed his wife and children. I told the relief committee about the request of Pastor Lozo, and they unanimously decided, to include him and his family in the food distribution.
Our brothers and sisters were touched to tears and we thank everyone from the heart for the food delivery to the needy churches in Nimula. Please extend our gratitude to all the churches in the US for the timely assistance to feed thousands of South Sudanese refugees. We sincerely love you!
Agnes Wilson lives with her husband and four children in Kenya. A few weeks ago, she was admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital! She waited a long time for this opportunity to remove the tumor of the lower jaw. The surgery started immediately after the doctors conducted an analysis of the situation. Since the tumor has destroyed the bone tissue, she probably needs several surgeries to remove the right side of the lower jaw and get an artificial replacement.
After this, a long healing process and repeated interventions are required. Being on this survey, Agnes worried and hoping if the finances would arrive on time.
Now the first surgery is already over! And we thank everyone who helped this mother of four. The tumor of the lower, right jaw was successfully removed. Despite the fact that it is difficult for her to speak, she is very happy. Please continue to pray for Agnes and her family!
Viki is 40 years old and a widow. The Lord blessed her with 4 children. Her husband was serving in the army and later was found drunk and dead in his home in 2017. After that they weren’t able to afford to live in Juba, the capitol of South Sudan, they moved to Nimule which is located in the Southern part of the country. She bought food in Loa and brought it to the market in Juba in order to sell it. On the way home, the truck that she was driving in turned over and several passengers were injured while others were killed. Viki was badly injured, and her right arm needed to be amputated.
The Civil war reached the Loa area in July 2017. Viki and her children fled to the border of Uganda and were hiding in the woods. They crossed the White Nile on a boat and were left without food and water and they were forced to drink dirty flowing water. Now they are living in a refugee camp in Bidi bidi, Uganda. Here she turned her heart to the Lord and joined the church. She is trying to earn money, so she could buy food for her children. Viki is thankful for God for His mercy and asks for prayers for her family.
The ministry of the first five evangelists began in September 2017. They traveled 60 miles to the Olosaruni region in southern Kenya. Without the motorcycles that they received thanks to all the supporters, this wouldn’t be possible. In Olosaruni they spent 7 days, living in tents and preaching the gospel to the local people.
Neighboring villages were reached by foot and the Word of God was preached everywhere. Whenever they met people on the street they testified about God to them and they walked from house to house, talking with families about the Gospel.
Our brothers in Christ are very thankful for the motorcycles that help not only to evangelize, but they are also able to earn money by using it as a taxi and transport people to the market in the city.
In some villages, not many have the possibility to drive. Some food products are sold only on the market in the cities. As of right now the evangelists visited more than 30 villages in the Olosaruni area and opened a new church called “Enkoro Empuan Church”.
One local resident in the area, named Mulata, donated 2 acres of land designated to the church for free to use. We plan to build a canopy with a roof so that the Sunday service can take place in any weather. Currently, we have 17 members worshipping God and we are sending out teams from other churches to support our brothers and sisters with the development of the church ministry.
Thank you very much to everyone for the prayers and participation in spreading the Gospel among the Masaai tribe.
