Get Out!

A discouraged church planter is ordered out of someone’s home. In response, he sets aside 90 days of prayer.

My nerves twitched as I approached the compound. Goat hides and cowhides, stretched out to dry in the sun, told the story of a great slaughter. Next to the home, four huge black dogs lay asleep in the shade of a mango tree. I felt sure they would attack as soon as I came near. 

I should skip this home and continue to the next place, I thought. Yet even as I turned back, another voice whispered, “What if God sent you for the salvation of this family? Don’t give up.”

For almost a year, I had been trying to share the gospel in Karaaro-Kyeizooba, but the work had been challenging. The Bahima cattle keepers who dominate the area seemed too rigid to learn new things, and too confident in their cows and their wealth to feel a need for anything more. House-to-house evangelism had been especially difficult; people had simply not been receptive. 

Turning back toward the house, I saw a man approaching from the right. “Agandi Ssebo?” (“How are you, sir?”) I greeted him in our local dialect. He continued toward the home, so I followed him. All four dogs rose up to greet him, their tails wagging. 

“Welcome to the Mworozi home,” he said to me. “Come in.” I introduced myself and a pleasant conversation began. We shared pieces of our life stories, and everything went well—until I pulled out my Bible. 

For a moment, Mr. Mworozi silently stared. Then he pointed to the door. “Get out of my house or I will sic my dogs on you!”

Back home, I closed my door and cried out to God. “You sent me to this spiritually barren land, to people who worship the gods of their fathers and are not receptive to Your message. Soften their hearts, Lord.” 

I needed help badly, so I set aside 90 days of fasting and prayer. Sixty days later, God answered in a strange and painful way. Foot and mouth disease, a dangerous virus with no cure, infiltrated our region, killing and weakening many livestock. To stop the spread of the disease, the government instituted a 100-day quarantine. Animal movement was restricted and all butcheries and milk processing plants were closed. All over the region, people who had relied on animal products swarmed the groceries for vegetables, fruits and nuts. Unable to do business, the proud herdsmen were reduced to poverty. Worried hearts began to yearn for help.

One day as I visited a neighbor’s home, sharing a Bible study about the signs of Jesus’ coming, Mr. Mworozi stopped in. “For nation shall rise against nation,
. . . and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” I read from Matthew 24:7. Turning my eyes up, I saw a look of keen interest on Mworozi’s face. Help him to understand, Lord, I prayed in my heart. 

A few days later, the government instituted a lockdown due to coronavirus. Already we had lost many animals—but now people began to die as well. The doctors advised everyone to be vegetarian and live on a fruit-based diet to survive the virus. Many people whom I had visited and taught about God’s plan for man’s diet suddenly became more interested in attending Bible studies—and the door opened wide for mission work. Among others, Mr. Mworozi invited me to study the Bible in his home. 

After many studies, Mworozi and six other people have decided to be baptized as soon as the lockdown is lifted. I thank God for hearing my prayers and opening the hearts of these stolid cattle keepers!  


Location
Uganda

Author
Told by church planter Emmanuel Nabaasa to John Kaganzi, a district pastor in the Ruhandagazi area in Uganda.

How You Can Help
Pray for Emmanuel as he shares the gospel and plants a new church in this community. 

Pray for Mworozi and the other new converts to be grounded in Bible truth and to continue preparing for the coming of Jesus.

Give to the work in Uganda. Needs include church buildings, Bible worker training and church planter support. Send your gifts marked “Uganda Evangelism” or “Uganda Churches” to: 

Mission Projects International 
PO Box 151
Inchelium, WA 99138

To give securely online, visit: www.missionspro.org/donate 

Thank you. Your gifts support Emmanuel and six other Bible workers in Uganda!