May/June 2009

Download letter from New Hope Uganda's Kasana Children's Centre

After 2 weeks in Uganda, and 2 weeks in Tanzania, the medical teams were able to serve over 1,000 patients.  This trip was full of adventure, with stories that will be told for years.  In Uganda we served Children Warriors, the boys who were taken as little boys and taught to kill.  They are being rehabilitated, and we were able to minister to their medical needs, as our partner, M3 Partners from Dallas Texas, ministered the Gospel to their hearts.  We also served many orphans, whose parents have been lost to wars, or AIDS.

We then spent 2 weeks in Tanzania, where we served predominately Muslim villages.  It was interesting as the villagers watched the first few patients exit the clinic, and then the lines grew larger and larger.  What a thrill to see their hearts open immediately and passionately to the Gospel of Christ.  

Not only were we able to meet the physical needs of over a thousand people, but with the partnership of E3 Partners and MRI, we were able to see 7,000 people come to the Lord, and 47 churches planted.

Remember the Bible story about the boy with the basket of fish and loaves?  The basket that fed thousands…?

We landed in Uganda May 20 with great expectations of what God would do in the next 4 weeks, not realizing that God would far surpass those expectations, and throw in a few surprises along the way.

It’s always a very long, arduous process of going through customs with our medical equipment and supplies.  Arriving in Entebbe was no different.  After a long while, we were able to load our supplies into a large diesel truck, and the team loaded onto a bus for a 6 hour trip into the remote northeast corner of Uganda.  I always stay with the equipment, so I got into the truck with the driver and another young man, and we followed.Going through Kampala, the clutch went out in the truck.  The bus went on ahead while we combed the streets of the city looking for just the right parts.  It was a miracle to actually find the needed parts.  After we fixed it and got on the road again, it was getting late, and it began to get dark.  You don’t know what dark is until you’ve experienced it on the “dark continent.”  Traveling in the dark is not a good idea, and actually pretty dangerous.  WE GOT LOST!!!  

We were a couple miles from the Kenyan border with very little fuel, no money (lost), and no direction.  We parked behind a building in a small town and slept with a herd of cattle.  The Muslim call to morning prayer blasting through the town woke us, and we took off BY FAITH, asking God to direct us. We soon came to a stop, with 3 large trucks stuck in a wash-out, blocking the road.  The driver tried to turn around, but we were soon stuck as well.  No fuel, no money, lost, stuck…no way out.

After sitting for an hour, an angel appeared, in the form a little boy, who stepped out of the brush, wearing only shorts, and carrying a wide hoe.  He offered to help.  I thought, “Sure, the truck is ready to fall over, full of everything we will need to fulfill our mission, and we are going to depend on a little boy?”Well, he began to dig, and dug for over an hour, removing grassy vegetation from the front of the tires.  I got behind the wheel and with a little muscle from the drivers, began to rock the truck back and forth, and to my amazement, was able to drive up onto the road!

It was a miracle!  But we still had no money, and running out of gas.  We drove back to the same village we had just slept in, and drove down the main street.  There was a small store, and I had enough money for a coke.  So we pulled up, and I could not believe my eyes – an ATM machine!!  In this tiny village.  I got out of the truck, ran to the ATM machine and stuck in my card.  "Welcome William Mays" were the sweetest words I could have imagined.  In the same little town we also found diesel.
So, we were on our way again to the first of many villages that were impacted with the love of Christ, as over 1,000 people were drawn to us for dental help, and received the greatest gift of all.

But I will never forget the little boy who offered what he had, his time and a hoe.