Jenna - Update 7: Debrief Blog 1

Journal prompt: What is one lesson I’ve learned from my East African friends that I will never forget?

Something that changed my life this summer was the Lord’s redemption and restoration and healing of an entire community in Eastern Uganda. When we were there on the second night, we put on a banqueting table for the church and the surrounding community, as that is one of the values we are trying to teach. We had no idea about the past issues between a particular pastor and his church and the community, but we found out after dinner that the community had heavily persecuted the church, so far as letting the pastor and several others being wrongfully arrested and throwing stones at them because of an evangelistic effort that went wrong due to the anti-Christian presence in the area. 

The pastor told us about the bad light that put the church in and how even the members had begun to develop hatred for some of them. But the Lord worked through us, even unbeknownst to us, and we gave them an experience of unity with the same people who threw rocks at them. We got to see incredible healing, people sitting, eating, talking, being redeemed, reputations being restored. Right before the dinner, a guest pastor had gone over the verse in Psalm 23 about the Lord preparing a table in the presence of our enemies and we were totally unaware that was the situation the Lord had put these church congregants in. But they took the experience by the hand and allowed the healing to take place, they didn’t kick them out or ridicule them. This was an incredibly tangible experience of the Lord’s redemptive power for me. It truly showed me how the Lord cares so deeply for his kids and hears their cries and wants to see communities built up.