thursday

ok, so the update from yesterday first - i asked pat about the reaction of the people in the village when they received the Bibles, footballs, and clothes.  pat gave me an extremely detailed response.  he said, "it was awesome..."  oh well, i'm doing well to get the reports i'm getting!  

when they stopped at the school by the village, artistic leven presented the gospel using a story board, and JOHN ECKLEY led the altar call.  i tell you what, these presbyterians are stepping outside their comfort zones this week!

there were about 300 people present at the pastors' conference today, so the attendance has been steadily increasing each day.  2 women have prayed to receive Christ during the conference - that's the beauty of it being open to the public.  and this is so great - one of the women who attended the first couple of days was pregnant.  she had her baby (today, i think) and guess what she named her little girl???  CHARLESTON!  i love it. 

pat, jessica, john and barb hildreth, and the aleles traveled to jimmy's village today.  this is a very remote area.  we went there two years ago and we were the first white people who had ever been there!!  they visited with jimmy's dad and received an incredible welcome from the church there.  since we were there they have been able to put a roof on the church, thanks, in part, to some help from RPC.  the team members took wine and bread to give pastor aaron so that the congregation could partake in the Lord's supper.  oh, the things we take for granted! 

the rest of the team went to one school today - the school pastor johnson attended when he was young.  lori gave her testimony and over 100 kids came forward to pray to receive Christ.  praise the Lord!  

this evening the team participated in a "revival" of sorts in the open market in lira town.  i'm sure this was quite an experience.  i didn't get details here.  

one last thing - today was pastor johnson's birthday.  this will highlight what an amazing job todd christian has done planning this trip -  not only did they have gifts for johnson (a journal, a devotional book, and a signed picture of the team), they also had a cake AND candles!  unbelievable.  apparently they don't have a tradition of celebrating birthdays in uganda.  johnson said it was the first birthday present he had ever gotten.  wow!

the team said goodbye to joseph today.  he is getting married in two weeks!  they hope to see him sunday in kampala. 

that's all i've got for you.  does anyone else have any more details?  if so, please share!