Theology Students Bring Gospel to Uganda

 (posted 11/22/04)

by Alexis Franklin, senior journalism major

 

Southwestern Adventist University students along with community volunteers and students from other Adventist universities, participated in one of many evangelistic crusades in Uganda, Africa. Avi Mendoza, a theology student at SWAU, led the team, consisting of  seven SWAU students, three volunteers from the Cleburne community, and 2 girls from Florida. Once in Uganda, they met up with teams from Southern Adventist University, Andrew’s University, Union College, and a few volunteers from Romania.

They spent a total of two weeks in Uganda, with four days dedicated to orientation in Kampala, the capital of Uganda; and the rest of the trip spent in front-line ministry to the local people.

The team broke into several groups to cover different sites in the city of Mbarara, Uganda. While there, students and volunteers held evangelistic meetings for the villagers in the area. The sermons and the equipment for the meetings were provided for the students. They gave multi-media presentations with power point, and short movie clips during the evangelistic meetings. The format was designed and distributed by the Global Evangelism office in the South Carolina Conference directed by Robert Folkenberg. Meetings also consisted of music from each church,  which had their own choir of local members.  Some volunteers held children’s meetings and every team used a translator for  the sermons.

Team members held visitations with the local people. They interacted with the locals, and made trips to their homes to study the Bible.  According to Mendoza, this evangelistic team baptized a total of 4,486 people while on the Uganda mission trip.  Southwestern students led146 of those to accept Christ and be baptized.

“It was truly a blessing and a life changing experience in Uganda, especially spiritually,” said Mendoza. “It is also truly amazing how receptive the people in that part of the world area to the gospel.” Beside the spiritual victories, team members describe the differences of Uganda to the United States.  

            Pat Gregg, a church member from Cleburne said, “You realize how fortunate and blessed you are to live in the U.S, because in Uganda everything is like camping for your entire life.” While in Uganda, Gregg and others found transportation in a gutted-out ice cream truck, blackouts throughout the entire city, and a country plagued with malaria.

“There weren’t that many mosquitoes,” Gregg said, “but apparently most were carriers.”

In Uganda, blackouts occurred frequently, forcing team members to preach by flashlight. Gregg even said he had to preach by the light of the computer, while everyone else sat in darkness.

Team members met a pastor who served 22 churches which he walked or commuted to each, showing the need for more pastors in the area. “A lot of the people wouldn’t attend church because they were too far away,” Gregg said. Because of this, Gregg says plans have been established to set up new churches closer to them.

Charles Bowyer, also a church member from Cleburne, explained what he thought about Uganda.  “People all over the world are the same, they want the best for their families,” Bowyer said. “It’s a responsibility and a privilege to follow the command of Jesus given in Matthew 28:18, 19.  The command was to go and make disciples of all the nations.  Bowyer also mentioned differences he saw, saying there is widespread poverty throughout Uganda. People wash clothes, pick fruits, and bring in the harvest to make a living.

 “Salaries are meager,” said Bowyer. “Construction workers are paid two dollars a day for a total of 48 dollars a month.” Bowyer and team members saw the impact their ministry made when it was time to go.  “Every employee from our hotel was sorry to see us go and wanted to take pictures with us.”

            Josh Hodges, a religion senior at SWAU, participated in the sermons given to the people in Uganda. Everyday Hodges and the rest of his team got up at 7 a.m. to meet for the morning devotional. Afterwards, they would decide what to do for the rest of the day. According to Hodges most of them chose to study their sermons all day for the evening meeting.  “It was encouraging to watch the power of the gospel, spoken through our lips,” said Hodges. “Something we said was relevant to somebody’s heart, opening their eyes to the blessings God has provided for them.”

 

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