315

It is hard to adequately describe today.  Canby Christian Church took up a special Christmas offering to provide a 2-day medical outreach clinic to the village of Kacungwa while we are here.  We know the need is great and we, as a church, responded in a great way to provide much needed care to so many in Kacungwa and the surrounding area who do not have access to medical care.  That is why building and staffing the clinic is so vital to the area.

When we drove in to the church area this morning, there were already hundreds of people gathered waiting for the medical clinic.  They clustered under the shade of trees waiting for treatment.  Local pastors came to share the gospel with people as they waited.

Last evening, the medical team from Renewal Health Network arrived at our hotel about 9pm in time to eat supper with us.  Faith, the leader of the team, introduced the RHN staff and we likewise introduced ourselves.  Faith told us that they would need help in the following areas:

• * Pharmacy (counting and dispensing medication)
• * Laboratory (conducting tests on urine and blood samples)
• * Dentist (dental assistant while the dentist pulled teeth)
• * Registration (checking people in, weighing, etc)
• * Spiritual counseling & prayer

Gary volunteered to help in the lab, Mariah, Geri & Pat helped out in the pharmacy, Michelle was the dental assistant and Ken, Renee and I offered to be part of the prayer team. 

Talking with people outside of the clinic to pray for them was one of the more challenging things I think I’ve done.  It was very rewarding, but a stretch of faith like I’ve not experienced before.  First off, I’m  not experienced in this AT ALL – praying for people to be healed is a daunting responsibility.  Secondly, communication is interesting to say the least.  Many of the people there speak Luganda so were fairly easy for the translators, but there are so many different languages spoken in this area of Uganda, it is a challenge to find somebody who can translate so many languages.  I was fortunate, in that a lady sitting next to me (orange shirt in the picture above) spoke Luganda and all of the other languages we heard.  However, she did not speak English so my interpreter, Dalton, had to translate English to Luganda and then this woman would translate Luganda to the other language.  Fortunately God provided!

We shared to gospel with each person and told them of God’s love for them.  Many accepted Christ as we prayed with them.  One man I prayed with to be saved had such a dramatic change in his countenance, I just had to let out a VERY loud “WOO-HOO” to the delight of everyone around us.  After sharing the gospel, we would ask. how we could pray for them.  Many complained of painful legs, headaches, stomach pains, back pain and the like.  One woman was obviously pregnant and having severe stomach problems and was afraid of losing here baby.  Several women, barely skin and bones, were dying of AIDS. 

Then a woman sat down in front of me with her hand wrapped in a scarf.  She unwrapped it revealing one of the most horrible wounds I have seen in my life.  The skin was completely gone from the knuckle of her thumb to  her wrist, the bone showing and decayed and infection very obvious throughout her thumb.  She told us that a witch doctor had poisoned her teeth and bit the woman and the extreme wound was a result of that bite.  She also told us that the witch doctor continued to do this to control and make people afraid of her.  I’ve said before that there are things that a middle-aged  white guy from Oregon just doesn’t understand – and this situation certainly falls into that category.

All I could do was to hold the woman’s hand in my hands and pray that God would heal her.  I later learned that the doctors there could do nothing for her and that she would be referred to the Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala (largest referral hospital in Uganda).  The problem is that it will cost more than she can possibly afford just to get there and stay until she can get in to have the thumb amputated.  Please join me in praying for God’s miraculous healing for her and the money to be able to travel (though I have a feeling that will be arranged for through the local church here).

She is the woman in the picture below seated in the middle with her hand wrapped.  I won’t put up a picture of her thumb…of course.  I just am amazed that she could go so long without any kind of treatment for her hand – except that there is currently no treatment other than the clinic CCC arranged for and the Medical Centre which is coming soon.  The pain had to be incredible and just watching this happen to your hand…

By about 2pm when we were wrapped up to get some lunch, a young girl was walked into the clinic area and taken directly into an office and laid on the floor.  She had an operation several years ago and the incisions on her stomach did not heal.  There was an open wound that her intestines were bulging out of.  She was in such intense pain. Five of us prayed for her including Pastor Sylver and it was decided to take the medical team’s van to transport her back to Wentz Clinic in Ggaba.  She was stood up and attempted to walk out to the van, but she could barely stand.  I picked her up to carry her to the waiting van and she held my kneck tightly and groaned in pain – my heart just broke for this young girl.  We learned this evening that she made it to Wentz Clinic where Dr. Martin and a doctor from the Mulago Referral Hospital met her and started treatment -  however it is uncertain yet what will happen to her.  Please, again, pray for her.  Thanks to God for having the medical team and this van  here when she arrived – otherwise she would have had no chance.

The combined efforts from the medical professionals with Renewal Health Network and your team from Canby Christian Church performed a difficult, yet amazing work today.  315 people were treated who would otherwise not have had to any medical care.  Lives were saved, diseases treated, pain relieved and best of all, people were saved.  I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this team and to be part of Canby Christian Church – know that what you have done and continue to do makes a huge difference.  Mukama mulungi!

This is barely a sampling of what happened today, but we wanted to let you know how to pray for us and for the people being treated here at the clinic in Kacungwa.  Tomorrow, we will have day two of the clinic and pray God strengthens us all again.

Thank you!

PS  If you remember the 2012 trip, you might remember a trip to a high school that resulted in 153 students accepting Christ.  If you take the 3 from the end and put at the beginning, you end up with 315.  Maybe if we put God/Jesus/Spirit (3) in front of everything, amazing things will happen

SOME OTHER PICTURES OF THE CLINIC TODAY