Monday, November 16, 2009

Ugandan Burial

Today Jess, Ryan, Kelli, and myself, along with ALL of our Ugandan staff members went to the burial of the son of a very good friend of ours. Mama Agnes has been in our church as long as it has been in existence, I think. She is in her early 50's, which is old for Uganda. And one of her sons just died of complications from AIDS. He's only about 30 years old. Agnes was inconsolable. Our Ugandan guys did most of the visiting and planning with her yesterday, and we helped pay for a lot of the food that was served. J.B. and Martin went and bought the coffin this morning, and J.B. drove Agnes and some of her family out to the village, while the rest of us took various family members plus friends and church members as well. And on top of that, three "Coaster" buses were hired to take friends and relatives to the burial. Customs here are very different than in America. The body was on display at Agnes's home, and when you come to do "visitation," when a woman steps into the yard, she throws her arms on top of her head and starts wailing. This unites you with the mother and/or family in grief. And no one is ever buried in town. You take the "dead body" back out to the village that your family comes from, some young men - friends or family - dig the grave and then either brick it in, or make a cement floor and walls, and then the ceremony is held in the front yard of the family. There is usually a quarrel over who will do the ceremony since the family members come from different faiths and churches. Today the mother, Agnes, had asked Calvary Chapel and Jess in particular to do the service. J.B. made sure that this happened. Jess spoke beautiful words of salvation, and several gave their lives to Christ today. Then we went up the road a ways to where the grave had been dug, and the coffin was lowered into the grave with ropes. Then people threw dirt into the grave, and an iron sheet and a steel mesh was put over the top. Then a thick layer of cement was put over that, and everyone went back home, trecking through someone's sweet potatoe field on the way.
There were several times today when my heart was really touched for Agnes and I grieved with her, but the moment that I will remember forever is when I had my turn to give my condolences in her house as she sat by the coffin, and when I walked in, she had the other women unwrap Eric's face in his coffin (they wrap the body in several bedsheets) and she touched his face and said, "Mama Bev, this is my son. This is my son." And then we cried and cried together.
Eric had prayed with Jess to receive Christ two months ago when he realized that he had little time left. We do believe it was a true decision for Christ, and this gave Agnes some comfort. Please pray for her - she is a widow and lost her husband a few years ago. When we arrived today, she found that because the family doesn't want her and her family buried there, all the cement had been broken off her husband's grave - a great insult and dishonor - and that was almost as hard on her as burying her son.

Friday, November 13, 2009

News From Condemned Prison!!

Today an incredible thing happened!
I have written in a couple of our newsletters that the Death Penalty laws in the country of Uganda were changed about a year ago. The Uganda Supreme Court upheld the Death Penalty and said that men and women could still be condemned to die under the law. But they also ruled that once a person had exhausted all his or her appeals, if they were not executed (execution is by hanging in Uganda) within three years of the end of their appeals, their death sentences were to be commuted to life in prison.
The problem with this is that there is no such thing under Ugandan law as a "Life Sentence." A life sentence actually means 20 years, with an actual possibility of being released after about 14 years because of "good time." This caused a big question within the prison system because about half of all the Condemned Prisoners have finished all their appeals but have not been executed within the next three years. And since there is no "life sentence" actually on the books here, the prison system did not know what to do with them.
It seems that the ruling came today, and Jess got a call that 110 Condemned men were transferred today from the Condemned section to the Convicts section instead, and now they just have to serve out the remaining years of a "life" sentence!
Most of these men were members of the "church" that Calvary Chapel leads in the Condemned Section in Kirinya Prison - in fact, all of the church leaders were a part of this group! And three men had been in prison so long that they were actually released!
The Bible does support the death penalty, but we are so happy for most of these men because they truly show changed hearts through the fruit in their lives. Now there is a HUGE chance that in the next few years many of them will be released to go back to their villages and give testimony to what God has done in their hearts and lives - they will go back as completely changed men!
Of course, Jess, J.B. and Steven have been with these men for so many years now that they have made good friends among them, and it was hard to think of those men with whom they had a relationship being hanged to death.
Now there will be a big task ahead of Calvary Chapel Jinja as our pastors see who will possibly be released next and then will need to find a way to go ahead of those men to prepare the families and villages for the homecoming of people that personified "evil" when they went away to prison.
But it was an exciting day full of joy and prayers and worship. Jess went and spent the afternoon at the prison, rejoicing with those who got the good news, and sharing God's Word and praying and praising the Lord! It was an amazing day!
There is one woman in the prison where we minister who is also possibly eligible for this release. Her name is Charity, and her heart has changed completely from the nineteen year old girl who murdered two people in jealousy to a woman who helps lead the prison church and the other women to stand firm for the Lord. Please pray that God would grant her mercy. She is a friend to Kelli and I and to our Ugandan staff women, and we would be very happy to see HER be given a news chance at life as a witness for Christ!

Pastor Conference

On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of November, Jess and Calvary Chapel Jinja hosted a Calvary Chapel pastors' conference. The theme was "The Words of a Pastor."
Sometimes we think that the only words of a pastor that count are the ones he speaks from the pulpit. And these are, of course, EXTREMELY important, but there are so many other words that a pastor speaks that affect the lives of so many other people.
So 40 Calvary Chapel pastors and lay pastors from different areas of Uganda met at CCJinja for a three day seminar. The pastors from Jinja - Jess, Ryan, J.B. and Steven - taught several of the sessions, and the Senior and Asst. pastors from CC Fort Portal also taught.
Some of the subjects were: gossip by the pastor, words spoken to people on the streets, words spoken to the congregation outside of church, keeping confidences from counseling, words spoken to children, and words spoken at home to wife and family.
For the first time, many of the pastors were visibly convicted by the Holy Spirit and had to stand up before the others and confess that they were guilty of many offenses when speaking to others.
In the discussions, the men actively participated and talked about personal subjects that they had never discussed before. The men also said that the fellowship this time was incredible and they spent a lot of time encouraging each other in their various ministries.
After it was over, in the van on the way to the taxi park, the men were talking about how this was the best conference they had ever attended and how they all needed to change so much about the way they lived and the way they spoke.
We pray that there is going to be MUCH fruit from this conference! There already is some fruit here at CCJinja as WE all try very hard to watch our words and "tame our tongues."