The SOS truck, 3 year old Daniel, Harriet, and baby Joseph

Inside the eye ward at the National Hospital

We visited the “private’ area of the hospital which housed the wards of the paying patients. After waiting a brief time for permission, we all split up and visited the patients separately. At Shannon’s suggestion, I went to the “Oral” ward. The first patient I saw had a very apparent tumor on his right cheek. It was about the size of a grapefruit and had deformed his mouth by pushing it over to the left side of his face. I could tell that the man was Muslim based on his attire. I introduced myself to him and realized he had a rudimentary knowledge of English. If I recall correctly, he said his name was Mohammed. He motioned for me to sit in the bed next to his since no one was occupying it. As I was sitting down, Solomon, the husband of Jackie, the SOS bookkeeper, sat down next to me. Mohammed explained to me, via Solomon’s translation, that he had the tumor for about a year and that he was to have an operation on Friday of that week. Knowing that we did not have much time, I and Solomon presented the gospel to Mohammed. Surprisingly, instead of Mohammed refuting what I said, he responded that we all worshipped the same God and that he was very grateful for me and Solomon spending time with him. I then recited John 14:6 where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” and further explaining that there is only one true God, the God of the Bible. Mohammed pondered this for a while a little confused, almost as if he never heard this before. Unfortunately, time was short and we had to leave the hospital. We left Mohammed with a New Testament, tract, and a minimal amount of money to purchase some food (food is a separate expense in the hospital). I pray that Mohammed knows enough English to read what we left him and comes to saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

ESV New Testament, 5000 schillings, and tract to each

Overall, the visit to the National Hospital was a huge eye-opener for each of us on the team.  Never had we felt such a hopeless longing of compassion toward so many people headed downhill physically and spiritually.  The conditions were far poorer than in any hospital we had ever seen, and it being the National Hospital, it was the best Uganda had to offer.  Speaking individually to the patients and handing out the Bibles is something we’ll remember for years to come.  Looking the patients in the eyes and sharing the truth of God’s Word to such weakened and downcast people was a life-changing experience.

-Shannon Hurley

The following is an email Danielle Hurley sent out to her supporters in the middle of our time there:

“On Monday, we took the Grace team to the source of the Nile River. On the way home, we stopped near our former village and picked up a young widow and her baby. You may remember Harriet from a newsletter about a year ago. Her husband died from a kidney problem before her baby was born. Since then, her alcoholic in-laws have kicked her out of the house and taken all of her belongings.

We had been paying her rent for the last few months, but had been receiving phone calls from her this past weekend, hearing that the in-laws had taken the baby from her, hoping she would leave. Harriet believes that they took the baby from her to force him to starve to death. She doesn’t have any family around, so she asked if we could let her live in our area.

Harriet had retrieved her baby earlier on Monday, and we arrived at a meeting place on the side of the road at 10 pm on Monday night and loaded them both into our vehicle. When we got home after midnight, we realized that the baby was extremely dehydrated and was vomiting. A few girls from the Grace team took shifts staying awake with the baby all night, feeding him a homemade recipe of a rehydration solution they found in my Where There is no Doctor book. By morning, he had stopped vomiting and began to show signs of life. Praise God for the servants He sent from Grace in His perfect timing.

This week we’ve been nursing the mother back from starvation mode, trying to get her milk to come back in. Harriet came to Bible Study this week and heartily participated. She is smiling for the first time since I’ve known her. Pray for Harriet and Baby Joseph, that God would draw them to Himself. A generous donor from the States has already offered to fix up a home on our property so that she and Christine can raise their babies in a safe environment.”

But he was right-even in the darkness, we could see that the Hurleys had constructed a wonderful home base on the front end of their 100 acre property.  Their ranch style home has a 4 bathrooms, 6 or 7 bedrooms, and a spacious living and dining room area.  At first, it was overwhelming– missionaries in Uganda with such a big, nice house?

The Hurley Home (front)

But seeing the way they use the space God has given them is indeed humbling and encouraging.  The Hurleys have taken in 8 Ugandans to live with them (many times more!) along with their 4 children.  Danielle cooks every day for everyone.  When our team was there as well, there were 25 or 30 people every night!

On top of the normal everyday responsibilities and burdens of constantly embracing others as family, the Hurleys deal with an enormous amount of smaller struggles with resources (or so we Americans would consider).  Their home is completely solar-powered, water pump included.  Their kitchen is the priority, so sometimes they run out of water to flush the toilets, take showers, and even wash the dishes.  Then, water needs to be pumped from a boar hole!  Outside of that, it is not uncommon for the lights to shut off around or after dinner time and much of the laundry is hand-washed.

A pity, right?  No!  The Hurleys are extremely thankful, resourceful, and efficient with what the Lord has blessed them with.  And from our time spent with them, it was more than enough to thrive on.  It was truly a blessing to see their family joyfully serve us with the resources and never complain that we were taking showers that were too long!

A final tidbit: the SOS Ministries truck!

The SOS truck, after we packed it with mattresses and supplies for the pastors’ conference

The SOS Ministries truck, or what they call a “lorry,” was our transportation for most of the team gigs.  We sat in the back and endured (then learned to enjoy!) the bumpy ride on the dirt roads.  Sometimes trees would thrash us through the sides, and many a time screams were emitted at the entrance of “exotic” bugs like grasshoppers.  But in reality, the SOS truck is an incredible resource for moving large and numerous items, people, and even for SOS’ mission which is proclaimed on its back and sides: “SOS Ministries- Empowering Uganda with the Hope of God’s Word.”

The team enjoying another ride in the lorry

All in all, it was truly a blessing to see firsthand the Hurleys’ resourcefulness and stewardship of the Lord’s provisions.  They are able to not only raise up and love those under their roof, but also effectively wield God’s truth in their ministry to Uganda.

Danny’s (SOS) hand in the River Nile

Encouraged by Shannon to get to know one another at a spiritual level, so commenced deep conversations, which gave honor and glory to God for His grace, love, and mercy. As we rode on a boat on the lake, reaching the actual source of the Nile River, we marveled at God’s creation from seeing howling monkeys, tropical birds, and a monitor lizard.

Half of our team on a boat by the source of the River Nile

After the boat adventure, we headed towards “The Rainforest,” a resort where we would eat dinner. On the way there, conversations resumed on the infamous S.O.S. truck. It is awesome to hear people’s testimonies and how God orchestrates different events and multiple people in one’s life to ultimately bring Himself glory by rescuing us from eternal damnation as we make Christ our personal Lord and Savior. During dinner, we continued sharing God’s work in our lives, as well as our spiritual struggles as we gazed at the bright stars on the sky ( I had never seen so many stars shining so bright!) , I was awestruck of God’s creation proclaiming His majesty, glory, and power and how weak and miniscule I am. It just left me humbled before the Lord’s presence. He, however, still created us after His own image, putting us on this place we call earth to bring Him honor and glory. I thought of what Psalm 8 says, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (v.3-6).

The other half of our team on the other boat

Our leader, Kurtis, on the River Nile

A fish the size of Evan Hurley!

Anthony is a gentle giant. Standing at 6’8” his height alone seems to command respect, however it is his large heart and gracious demeanor that we all looked up to. He is in charge of community outreach and showed us the ropes all throughout our trip.  He’s great with kids (“MMMMHMMM!”)

Anthony, Sarah, Danny, and Charles

Edward is a small man with a big smile, zealous for the Lord. He translated for us and unexpectedly made our skits and sermons come alive as he acted and preached passionately right alongside us.  Edward is headed to seminary next year and wants to be a pastor in Uganda.

Edward, in the passenger’s seat (left side!)

Dennis, whom everyone affectionally refers to as “manager” has the difficult task of overseeing the 100 acres of ground that SOS covers and all the work involved in it, but does so quietly and humbly with a servants heart.  He also leads the workers (mostly unbelievers) daily in a Bible study.

Christopher, Edward, Kevin, Dennis, and Anthony

Jotham and Rebecca were always willing to serve in all capacities and approached us with warm greeting and smiles everyday.  Jotham translated for us as well, narrating all of “Fireproof” during the movie night and two of the Sunday sermons.

Jotham, Bryan, and Rebecca

Our very good friend Paul was an extremely hard worker joked around with us as if we’d known him for years.  As he packed up a truckload for the conference, Kurtis said of him,”Man, that guy is convinced that God sent him here to this earth to pack that truck today so the Gospel will be proclaimed at that conference!”

Paul and Lucy

Ronald joyfully served in the kitchen and was always willing to teach us Ugandan, ask us questions and play a mean game of cards.  His loving heart and servant’s attitude was always encouraging.  He’s crazy!

Ronald and Jenny

SOS’s faithful accountant Jacque reminded me of everyone’s favorite auntie who always came with a calm presence as she daily greeted us with a warm “How are you?”and a hand shake.  Being relatively new on staff, her servanthood behind the scenes has already helped SOS Ministries dramatically.

Jacque at the River Nile

Christine and her baby Nathan were usually right there with us as we traveled and greeted us with hugs and friendship from the day we landed in the airport.  Last but not least come Danny and Charles, two guys that are usually laboring for the Lord away at boarding chool and face the challenges of standing up for their faith amongst other students that may ridicule them. They were like our brothers, constantly laughing with us and working alongside us.

The SOS Ministries Staff and the GCC Team ’09 at the Rainforest Resort

Each of these men and women have a unique story explaining how the Lord saved them and how they came to find SOS ministries, all of which I wish I could type out, but you’ll just have to ask us personally about them! Please continue to pray for these men and women as they serve alongside the Hurley’s in Uganda.

The houses the villagers lived in were either made of mud and sticks or bricks. To our surprise we found that the doors of their houses were never closed, most of the Ugandans were either sitting around outside with the children or inside their homes. All were immediately welcoming and word spread like fire that some white people had come to visit. One group experienced their first encounter with the fire ants! When crossing a path to visit the sister-in-law of the lc, we had to pass through a pathway that was covered with about 2 meters of fire ants-we had to run and jump over them! Some got some painful bites. This was important not just to get the word out about the film night but also to help us understand the great financial and spiritual need of the villagers who we would be serving over the next two weeks. But what was more overwhelming than the poverty present was the welcome we received; it was so unexpected! Overall, this was a great experience and a tangible way to further represent SOS ministries in the village.

Such were the words of one of the songs we used during our schools ministry during our first week in Uganda (more on that later).  But the funny thing was, the more repetitive and stuck in our minds that song got over the course of the trip, the more we would need to see the truths in its simple words.

As illustrated:

Our trip to the airport in Entebbe, Uganda to return home– 7:30 PM, 4 team members in a van with all the luggage, 7 team members in the Prado Land Cruiser, flight at 10:20 PM.

After a Ugandan pizza (it’s not bad!) last supper in Kampala, we began the hour journey to the airport.  After our first left turn, both vehicles got pulled over: no RIGHT turns on red!  They drive on the left side of the road.

After some begging and pleading with the Ugandan policemen, we got out of the situation for free (usually all they want is money).  We continued smoothly as we watched the sun set on the edges of the Kampala skyline.

POP.  The right rear tire of the van exploded, leaving us stranded on the side of the road.  The Prado continued ahead safely to the airport, with a majority of the team members, but no luggage to check in.

Long story short: we spent over an hour trying to fix and replace the flat tire, but to no avail.  Shannon decided to flag down any large vehicle to get us there.

We hail a dump truckish vehicle with bricks and dust in the back–heading the opposite direction..

On the drive to the airport, four of us sat on bricks in the back singing, praying and holding the luggage, knowing full well that although we were completely in the Lord’s hands.  We were stopped by the Ugandan police again at a check point, told that what we were doing was “unacceptable, even in Uganda!”  We paid them off, got to the airport, parked in the parking lot, and somehow dragged all the luggage to the check-in desk by 9:45..

KLM, our airline and known for being quite strict, had closed entry at 9:20.  There was little hope–but 5 other passengers had baggage trouble and God allowed us to rush through customs and check-in and get onto the plane.

Needless to say, God is sovereign.  We were completely ready to take the next day’s flight.  But God obviously had plans for us to make our flight and bring a hectic time (based on human understanding) to glorify His Name alone.  And quite honestly, this was just another perfect example of God’s providential hand actively working during our Ugandan adventure.

It’s not much, but a picture taken from my camera phone during the bouncy dump truck ride:

Stay tuned!