Uganda, East Africa Rural Ministries & Rain March 2012 I was recently invited to speak at a village conference with several Ugandan pastors who, as

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Uganda, East Africa

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Rural Ministries & Rain March 2012

I was recently invited to speak at a village conference with several Ugandan pastors who, as I do, have a burden to reach rural Uganda in ministry. Eighty-five percent of Uganda is rural but few ministries venture out of the cities and towns to these neglected, difficult to reach people who exist on subsistence farming or cattle rearing. The lack of ministry support to rural churches leads to discouraged pastors, and strange doctrines due to lack of education.

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A typical village mud church

All the speakers were asked to speak for one hour only. I was surprised with a new bit of cultural insight at the end of the day when I was commended for having spoken the entire hour – apparently white guests often speak for only 20 minutes and then leave (rather rude when you think about it). But I had not only spoken long enough, but I had stayed the entire day and had not fallen asleep.

About half an hour before I was called upon to speak, I felt the Lord impressing me to change my topic. I had notes for 2 messages in my Bible and the one I’d planned to use somehow seemed too anemic. So I spoke on “Someone worth losing everything for,” defining how Jesus told us in the gospels what it really means to be radically sold out to Him. I could tell by the high level of interest and facial expressions that I was connecting with the people.

But little did I know…

The pastor who spoke after me shared how God had given him a particular spiritual gift, but he had refused it. He did not like how so many people abuse that gift and he didn’t want to be associated with them. Recently another pastor had taken him to task about it, but he still paid no mind. But when he heard me speak, he was astounded to hear me saying the same things the other pastor had said, and even using some of the identical scriptures! So he was now surrendering himself to serve Jesus in this fuller capacity!

Another remarkable occurrence in the conference was after an intense time of intercession on behalf of this tiny church and region, it began to rain. To the non-African, rain is often a source of irritation and inconvenience. But to the African, whose very existence depends on faithful rainy seasons, a rain on any event is a sign of God’s blessing on that event. This rain was even more remarkable in the fact it had not rained in Uganda for 2 months. Already over 10,000 cattle had died of thirst in one of the marginal, arid districts. In my 12 years in Africa, I have never seen it go longer than 2 weeks between rains, even in the dry season (December to March).

As we drove home in the dark that evening, in the rain, with lightning playing across the black sky, and thunder audible even inside our vehicle, everyone was rejoicing that our prayers that day had broken the drought! We had prayed for more than just God’s blessings, we had prayed for relief of the effects of curses on the land brought by rampant witchcraft. And the most visible result of those prayers was the rain on the whole nation!

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Ministry Contributions

I would like to take time here to openly thank all of you who so faithfully support this faith-based ministry in both prayer and in contributions. It would not be possible without either of those and I pray God’s blessings on you for your involvement with me and this African ministry.

Please note a change in address and instructions that should make it easier for you to give your tax deductible donations.

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MARGARET NELSON

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