Arua September 2023

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."

Ps 23 has been with us throughout this mission, threading itself through much of what we have done. We celebrate the truth of God's Word as he has met all the needs of the team and much more, and we have seen Him meet the needs of His children in the DTS and the Pastors in Rhino Camp.

We believe the time spent in intercession in Entebbe at the start of the mission provided the bedrock for all of the work following. We had a wonderful and amazing time in the Lord as we prayed into the lands of Uganda and South Sudan.

The week with the DTS students was a struggle on day one, but praise God the breakthrough came on day two after God gave us the strategy. From that time we experienced a warm relationship and a willingness to open their hearts to God. Once that willingness came, the Lord stepped in and we saw transformation and joy start to break out. Then as the week of teaching and ministry progressed we saw greater freedom in their lives. The last day was very loud with lots of laughter and wonderful expressions of joy. The testimonies shared were themselves confirmation of how much the Lord had worked in the lives of these dear children. We were building on that which had gone before, but we felt they were better prepared for their month or more of mission and outreach.  

Here are some of their testimonies to God’s goodness:

Grace – Stomach Pain, Ulcers. After ministry, pain has gone.

Jonathan – Thanked God and Flame for healing yesterday. He has released people from his heart after naming and forgiving yesterday.

Grace – Praise God and Thank you for the teaching. She has found the teaching very helpful. God is shaping her and she is hearing the voice of God so clearly.

Grace Bella – Problems sleeping due to the pain in her leg. Since Tuesday, there has been no more pain.

Elisha – This has been a tough week. He is dealing with bitterness. He has not slept well for 3-4 years and had bad headaches and a hot body in sun. He lived in Africa when he was 8-9 years old and wished he had dark skin like the Africans. His relationship with his family is not good and he has learned about controlling others from his mum though he did say she was a good mum. He has controlled his friends by using money. He was at a point where he knew he had to let everything go. He was full of anger. He laid a pebble at cross and then ran away. He started to cry for the very first time. Anger has gone. Last night he read the bible and slept until 6.00 am for first time for a long, long time. All bitterness has come to light re his mum and siblings and has gone.

Daniel – He has felt all tied up for a long time. God has been teaching him to forgive himself and he has found peace. The teaching has helped so much.

Nora – Thank you. Flame maybe came for her – she felt every teaching was for her – it touched every corner of her life. Her family has been impacted by curses. Her Aunt shamed and cursed her when she gave birth to her children. She has forgiven her and has also called her sisters to tell them to forgive. She has carried damages from different people – father, father of children. She has forgiven them. She feels she is now released and healed and that God will bless her and her children.

Hannah – Best day was yesterday. Her family (especially Aunt cursing) has been released and she has had a good sleep.

We were pleased to visit three local South Sudanese churches and preach on Forgiveness. Collectively there were 150 adults, 5 children gave their lives to Jesus and there were 6 physical healing that we know of.

Our second week was always going to be physically and spiritually challenging, but the Lord went ahead of us and our daily journey to Rhino Refugee Camp was good. It was only on the first day that we had to deal with a minor repair in the rear break drum, which was quickly sorted by our driver and we were soon on our way. We had around 45 Pastors and leaders with us in the church, some of whom had already come under Flame teaching. There was such a sweet spirit in the church and everyone engaged with us which made teaching a joy and delight. One of the highlights was the forgiveness teaching and the response following.

With sincerity of heart the Pastors came forward and hammered a disc onto the Cross, or in some cases a number of discs. A second highlight came after the teaching on emotional healing when we witnessed such a wonderful outpouring of God's love touching into the pain and hurt. The tears flowed in both men and women and a long time was spent in the presence of God as Holy Spirit ministered healing. We thank God for the release of so much pain and trauma. There is still more to come but we trust God to continue his healing work. The third highlight was cleansing the land. Pastor Felix and a Ugandan brother lead prayers of repentance for the things both past and present that had defiled the land surrounding the church. After prayers and breaking of curses, we all went round the boundary, planting scripture, breaking curses and praying blessing. It was a powerful time and we are sure that God will demonstrate His power over the land and we will see transformation.

Felix encouraged us with a testimony of cleansing the land in 2016 when a dry Brook that had never contained water was prayed over and curses broken. The Ugandans said they had never seen water in that Brook. Now there is water all year and when the people are baptised in it the water level is up to the hip.
"Today we are receiving freedom from the devil, and I believe that my children will be set free and will not inherit the same behaviour. I am carrying a trauma for 5 years, my first daughter and son carry a hate between them. Since I went back home yesterday after the teaching, I slept for the first time in long time. I used to wake up even during the night thinking about all these situations."

Another pastor testified, "When you told us to bring the persons at the cross, I was carrying UN on my heart for cutting our food ration. I was very angry with UN, because back home in South Sudan we have good farmers and we could grow anything. Here we need to rent the land to cultivate it, but we have no money to pay for the land, and the weather here is undeterminable and very hard to get a crop on this rocky land. In the church, we feed people spiritually, but when it comes to their physical needs, you cannot help them and you see they need not only the spiritual help. They look at you as a leader and you do not have the power to help them, but today when the cross was brought here I had to surrender everything, you cannot change anything through complain, it is a decision that was taken.”

Another pastor said, "Since the war started, my grandfather was born in the refugee camp, so was my father and I, and I also got married in the refugee camp. 4 generations were born into refugee camps because of different wars, and we have our black people who do not like our lives and come and fight us using guns, sticks, and they don't like forgiveness, so how can you forgive them if they use control to threaten you and push you in violence. "Forgiveness is the hardest thing ever; it is easy to forgive small things but when it comes to greater suffering it is hard. I used to have the greatest bitterness inside and carry it with me, but when I learned how forgiveness is a command, I chose to forgive and leave all that bitterness away."


 These are just some of the testimonies. There were more but I hope this gives you an idea of the struggle and trauma those on the refugee camp carry.
 We are really grateful for every prayer that was prayed and sustained us. May you be richly blessed by Abba Father.

We return home with many wonderful memories and deep thanksgiving to God. Through prayer we believe we have completed that which Father brought us here to do.