“All the stuff that happened today was normal, for Africa. That it all happened in one day, though, is pretty crazy.” - Pastor Mark Tubbs
Many of our group awoke to religious chanting of some sort, though I heard nothing after the rain. After a brief continental breakfast, with fried eggs specifically requested by myself, we were off as the rain began to fall once again. We worshiped on the bus—Anne Tubbs on keyboard and Eunice leading us in prophetic singing. After a time we arrived at the city of Kampala, where Justin got his ipod stolen ... some kid just grabbed it out of the window as Pastor Steve was trying to take a picture! After that I went on a shopping spree with the insurance money because the airline had lost my luggage. Then we drove to Palissa, where we would minister for the next two days.
On the first day we began ministering at a conference held in a village church. It was truly off the beaten path, in fact, the roads were practically blocked off, as maintenance crews had been meaning to fill in some of the ditches on the sides, but never finished the job, simply dropping huge piles of dirt right in the middle of the road, thus forcing all travelers into the very ditches they were trying to fix. This made travel on these roads basically impossible unless you were walking or biking, though you might barely make it through with four wheel drive. Of course, none of this applied to us and our bus. I have lost count of the number of times we got stuck in the mud and had to struggle, sometimes for up to an our, to get ourselves free. By the end of our time in Palissa, I was quite weary of 'partnering with the bus', as I put it, as inevitably such a partnership ended with all of the guys caked in mud, which, coupled with the fact that we were all asked to dress in nice Sunday clothes to attend these meetings, caused our chivalrous task to soon lose its luster.
Anyway, first day: Our contact for HIM in all of Africa is Bishop Simon. He was our guide for the trip, but we were also joined by Pastor Fred, who was head of the HIM churches in Uganda. On the way there, we discovered quite an amazing story connected with the HIM presence in Uganda. Pastor Fred sold all he had to start a church in Uganda. After facing some initial opposition, the pastor received the word "Harvest International Ministries" from God, as well as a detailed image of Pastor Mark Tubbs! Pastor Fred had never heard of HIM and never met Pastor Mark, but he looked up the organization online, and walked many many miles until he found Bishop Simon. The two connected, and this trip is one of the fruits of that connection, as we find ourselves breaking new ground—the first HIM team ever into Uganda. We were surprised to learn, however, that Bishop Simon and Pastor Fred had already planted 25 churches there! We praised God for the work he was doing and how the way had already been prepared for us.
Needless to say, with such giants in the faith to introduce us, the welcome we received at the church conference seemed almost royal. (It was also the first time any foreign visitors had been in thie areas since 1980!) Singing, dancing, and lots of introductions. Pastor Mark was asked to speak, but before he did, our group spoke prophetic words over the assembly, highlighting one person and prophesying over them. There were several good and specific words, but the moment that sticks out most to me in my mind was when Mina prophesied over some men there ... I say men because at least two stood up, although the word was somewhat specific ... part of it went something like this: "I see you in a dark room asking if God can see you, you want God to show himself to you ... he sees you and has heard your cry, and he is going to do it." After a couple of men stood up she began to speak more of God's heart for them, but the men were not able to hear all of what she had to say, because part way through the translator was so touched by her words that he broke down in tears ... evidently what Mina was speaking fit with what he was going through in his life as well!
Anyway, first day: Our contact for HIM in all of Africa is Bishop Simon. He was our guide for the trip, but we were also joined by Pastor Fred, who was head of the HIM churches in Uganda. On the way there, we discovered quite an amazing story connected with the HIM presence in Uganda. Pastor Fred sold all he had to start a church in Uganda. After facing some initial opposition, the pastor received the word "Harvest International Ministries" from God, as well as a detailed image of Pastor Mark Tubbs! Pastor Fred had never heard of HIM and never met Pastor Mark, but he looked up the organization online, and walked many many miles until he found Bishop Simon. The two connected, and this trip is one of the fruits of that connection, as we find ourselves breaking new ground—the first HIM team ever into Uganda. We were surprised to learn, however, that Bishop Simon and Pastor Fred had already planted 25 churches there! We praised God for the work he was doing and how the way had already been prepared for us.
Needless to say, with such giants in the faith to introduce us, the welcome we received at the church conference seemed almost royal. (It was also the first time any foreign visitors had been in thie areas since 1980!) Singing, dancing, and lots of introductions. Pastor Mark was asked to speak, but before he did, our group spoke prophetic words over the assembly, highlighting one person and prophesying over them. There were several good and specific words, but the moment that sticks out most to me in my mind was when Mina prophesied over some men there ... I say men because at least two stood up, although the word was somewhat specific ... part of it went something like this: "I see you in a dark room asking if God can see you, you want God to show himself to you ... he sees you and has heard your cry, and he is going to do it." After a couple of men stood up she began to speak more of God's heart for them, but the men were not able to hear all of what she had to say, because part way through the translator was so touched by her words that he broke down in tears ... evidently what Mina was speaking fit with what he was going through in his life as well!
Then after these words Pastor Mark spoke on God's love and healing, and the move of God that had begun in Uganda. As he began to close his message, indicating that we would move into a prayer time and pray for the sick, a huge wind began to rip through the place, and by the time he called forward anyone who was sick or in need of prayer, the poles that were holding the tarp above us were wrenched from their place, and huge wind began ripping through the assembly, as the rain fell in torrents. The dust blew up, the rain poured down, and they met in our faces. Suddenly we were all covered with mud from the air and our attempt to pray for the sick in the assembly was cut short, for the moment, as we all ran for cover in a tin-roofed brick building nearby. From there we prayed for the sick, tormented, and those in need of blessing. At first, Pastor Mark thought that the rain and wind represented some opposition of the enemy to what we were doing (it certainly seemed a dramatic response to his words), but then later we discovered that this was one of the first rains in this region after a 3-month drought! I saw it as a sign of the Spirit (wind) and the blessing of God's presence (rain), falling in Uganda. Others saw it as the heavens opening to Uganda ... but everyone who there had to admit it seemed quite significant given what Pastor Mark had been saying.
Meanwhile, back in the tent: Pastor Steve, Tyson, and I prayed for a woman with some trouble seeing (it looked like she had cataracts), and also some problems with her stomach. God healed her stomach as we prayed, and she said she was able to see now .. in her words (through a translator), "I can see you now!" Sidenote: the strange thing about this healing was that it still looked like she had cataracts .. her eyes looked the same from when we began praying, but she was insistent that she didn't need any more prayer, though we offered a few times, she said she could see! After that we prayed for a man's leg and when we asked (through the translator) what he was feeling, he just walked out the door! We tried to call after him but the translator told us, "yes, he's been healed!" There were so many there for prayer ... I prayed for a girl who was physically abused by demons every night ... after praying for her and speaking her identity in Christ over her, she left healed. I prayed the father's heart over several people, and a girl received healing in her stomach. While I was praying for this girl, I saw some other members of New Joy church having some difficulties praying for a woman for healing, so I went over to join them. It turned into kind of a tag team thing, though, when some of them left. It was a spirit of infirmity they were dealing with, it seemed. It kept moving around. While this was going on, some shouting and craziness from a woman who was receiving prayer nearby. She had a past steeped heavily in the prophetic but seemed to have some issues with demonization as well, so it was hard for me to discern whether her movements and shouts were prophetic declarations or demonic manifestations, but I noticed one of the women on the HIM team was engaged trying to cast out a spirit. Now if you've been involved in any serious deliverance you know that it is not often wise to cast a spirit out of someone if you don't have any kind of relationship, accountability, or covering with them, as it is possible that you could be exposing them to worse harm (Luke 11.24) ... so I assisted with simply binding the spirit on this woman, and then simply praying the Father's heart over her, simply washing her with his love, and even though we had no translator at that point, the shouting and flailing calmed down. Girl with a headache healed. I then turned my attention to the other woman the New Joy team had been praying for and began to proclaim the Father's heart over her. Soon, however, I found myself unable to minister as the translator broke down under the presence of God, weeping and singing with arms raised in worship. What else happened there? Oh ... deafness in one ear was opened for one, and both ears for another ... more from Mark Tubbs:
"Today a young quadriplegic woman was placed in front of us on a mat. She seemed lifeless and barely alive. As the team prayed strength came into her legs and she was able to sit up straight on her own! Motion came to both legs and one arm. She actually stood with assistance! Most dramatic was the change in her countenance. She does appear malnourished and we are contending for her." (see pictures above)
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