Light of the World

Because I am worried I will forget about the amazing things during the second week, I am skipping Days 9 and 10. Day 9 consisted of President Museveni's prayer breakfast during which we were able to hear the President speak, Mama Janet (his wife) pray, and the President of Burundi give his testimony. On Day 10, we traveled back to Prayer Mountain to refocus on God and our mission.

Day 11 - Travel to the North and Lira orphan home day.

The trip up to Lira was going to have us couped up on a bus for approximately 5 hours of driving on bumpy African roads. We left behind the city of Kampala and all of our Lugandan words and began our journey to Northern Uganda, a place where our hearts had long been attached. The only points of the drive worth mentioning are (1) I peed on the side of the road in Africa (it was quite a freeing experience, and (2) we saw the Nile River (but I did not pee in it).





By the time we reached our destination of Christian Life Ministry's Lira orphan home, we only had about an hour before darkness set in and the lack of electricity would become extremely apparent. As our bus rounded the corner of the orphan home, this is what greeted us:



Tears welled up in my eyes as I exited the bus and was surrounded by children. The little girls would put there head down and kneel, holding up their hand, hoping with all their hearts that you would reach out and touch it. The boys did the same, minus the kneeling. Their faces were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. We were rushed around to tour the facility quickly before the kids would perform their skits and songs that they had prepared for us.

As if Africa did not already have my heart. This was a beautiful sight:



The front of one of the houses:



One of the boys showing off his bed:



We tried to teach a quick "Jesus is a Winner Man" but we could not get it together fast enough.



And then the orphan moms sat us down so the kids could show us up. Big Time.



They performed a skit, they sang, and they sang some more.







Afterwards, as darkness was closing in, we made a big circle so we could pray with and for the children and the orphan moms. We asked for a few of the kids to give us their requests. The first child to come forward asked for prayer for us. For us to be safe during our visit. We came to pray for these kids and their first concern was for us. The next asked for more prayer for us. For us to be blessed by God and for Him to meet our needs. The sun was setting, the orphan home had no electricity, the bugs were eating them up, there is a war in their country, millions of people are displaced, they have no parents, and they wanted to pray for us. The third asked for prayer for peace and for Joseph Kony to end his rebel movement.



We prayed popcorn style. As soon as our heads were bowed, the children began to utter prayers to themselves. Later, Sherry summed it up perfectly by saying, "Those kids I was standing with totally out prayed me!" By the time we were finished, the only light around was that of the camera flash.

The girls that out prayed me:



We boarded the bus and made one last stop before heading to the hotel. Laker and his fellow Cornerstone Ministry friend, Charles, had traveled with us and we were to drop them off at the Lira Cornerstone home. Laker showed us around. We met a group of about 15 girls living in the house. Cornerstone rescues children from the streets, brings them in, and gives them a place to live and food for their body and soul while they get their life back on track. We sat in the common room lit only by a small lamp and prayed with the children.