Testimony Time!

We have taken long in updating this Blog, but for good reason! God has been moving and we have been busy. We want to take some time to testify about what God has done in the last couple months.

July Youth Ablaze Team
In July we had a group from Youth Ablaze come and join together with some Ugandan Youth for ministry. They developed an awesome VBS program for the impoverished children at a ministry called "Smile Africa" as well as spoke in a High School, held a 2-day youth conference, and ministered in local churches. God is awesome as we saw many salvations and lives impacted by the Gospel. It was an awesome 3 weeks!

August Medical Team
Dr. Bob led a medical team from Albany Med who offered free medical services in rural areas. The Youth Ablaze Uganda team traveled with them around Tororo, translating and serving those who came for care. They also used the opportunity to preach the gospel and were able to lead about 40 people to Christ over the course of the week. Jesse and another young man prayed for a woman who had shooting pain through her back and chest that contorted her body and afflicted her for more than a year. When they prayed she was completely healed and she praised God and brought another friend for prayer also. The woman was moving freely and jumping without pain! Praise God for everything he did and for the sacrifice of the medical team who saw around 600 patients a day!

Karamojong
Jesse and Denis (a Ugandan) have been able to go into a Karamojong village and share the gospel. This tribe of people are the most outcast in our region, they live in abject poverty and have a mindset that they are somehow lower than human. The Lord opened a door through one family's tragedy, the death of a boy, to share the love of God with them. Even while sitting around a drinking pot, people listened intently to the Word of God and about 6 0r 7 stood to receive salvation. Jesse and Denis have been going back weekly to visit and pray with the young believers. In fact, the woman who owns the brewery where the people of that place gather to drink got saved and wants the Lord to help her start a different business, something that pleases God. Her parents are dead, and she is the provder for her whole extended family. Please pray for these young believers, that God would set them free from every curse and stronghold in their lives and that the Lord would provide for the woman's needs. Her desire is that the hut where the people now gather to drink would become a place of prayer and fellowship!

Conferences
Since moving here in May, we have had many invitations to speak all over the country at conferences, seminars and churches. One in particular that stood out was a youth conference called "Youth Ablaze" in Mbale. A few years ago God spoke to the pastor the words "youth ablaze" and he wrote it down to remember. They began an annual youth conference gathering 1000 young adults by the same name, and felt instantly connected with us when we came. Through our time there, God called many to full-time missions and made a serious impact on their lives. We loved their passion for the presence of God in worship and felt right at home!

Smile Africa
Since our time with the children of Smile Africa in July we have felt very connected with the ministry. They clothe, feed, bathe, and educate over 400 children 6 days a week. The children come mostly from the Karamojong tribe and are severely malnourished and neglected. We hope to continue serving with the volunteers there and minster the Father's heart to them.

Marriage Course
We have begun a 14 week marriage course run by Paul and Jean McFate with 7 other couples in our area. It is a good opportunity to get to know other couples and each other better :)

Awinjo House
We are doing a weekly Bible study/teaching with the youth at Awinjo House, a discipleship ministry for youth from troubled backgrounds run by Ken Knowles. Our hearts are so connected with those kids, ages 6-22, and we are focusing on the Father heart of God.

What is next?
God is directing us for this next season to 'bunker down' here and really start establishing the House of Prayer Missions Base. We feel the first step is to find a location in the heart of town to begin gathering people for continual prayer. We will start by opening it everyday from 6am-12pm and open it up to the region. Our desire is to be open 12 hours a day by January. We are also beginning a weekly Encounter service on Wednesday nights and weekly evangelistic outreaches on Saturdays. Two of the young adults we have been working with are in the process of planting churches in the village this month. Our long-term vision is a House of Prayer Missions Base raising up laborers to plant churches in the context of night and day prayer. We are beginning the first full-time Discipleship School in January with 12 Young adults, so please pray as we take applications for the 12 openings. Also, we are holding 3 regional youth conferences in each of the 3 districts in Tororo over the next 3 months. The purpose of these is to stir up the call of God upon this generation, calling them into lives of intimacy with Jesus and the Great Commission.

Please Pray For:
-Wisdom as we determine the youth who will do the Discipleship School
-To find the right location in town for the prayer center and Youth Ablaze office
-Finances for a 15 passenger van before the school starts
-For the people in the Karamojong village to stand in salvation
-For Denis and Peter, the young men planting churches
-For finances for the discipleship school, roughly $400 a month
-For open doors in the Muslim community
-For greater power and anointing on our lives to see captives set free from demonic powers and sicknesses. That the dead would rise, the deaf hear, and the blind see.
-Grace to deal with baffling cultural differences :)
-To see doors opened and laborers sent in the North African nations; that God would give us the strategy and the wisdom to accomplish His will.


God bless you and thanks for praying!
Jesse, Rachelle and Hadassah