Testimony
I lost my mother to HIV/AIDS when I was six months old, and my father passed away from HIV/AIDS when I was seven. My father had three wives and a total of thirteen children. Because of our big family, some children were not able to go to school, but fortunately, I was. After my father passed, I went to live with family friends who raised me and sent me to school; thanks to them, I received an extensive education.
In 2009, the family I was staying with invited witch doctors into their home to perform some rituals which later had an adverse effect on all of us. In the house, some of us at times were possessed by demons; they made us run away from home and were extremely destructive, causing some of us to get seriously ill and sick in ways doctors could not discern. The situation became so severe that we were taken to an evangelical church in our community by our neighbors.
After praying for us, we had an opportunity to hear the Gospel. I responded positively to the gospel and accepted Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior, being baptized in October 2010. I joined that church and was a member there until August 2011, when I moved to live in Rukungiri. Since I accepted Christ, a lot has changed in my life.
My perspective of who God is changed. I have come to know that there is a living God to whom I was made a child through Christ. Before I thought God was what we worshipped whenever witch doctors came and performed rituals, but I now know that was evil. I used to believe that witch doctors were a source of help and knew everything about life and considered them as priests of God. Since I accepted Christ, I learned that Christ is Lord over all things even over the witch doctors. I realized that witch doctors work for the devil to steal, kill, and destroy people’s souls.
Praise God for all the work Bryan and Elizabeth are doing in Kikarara!
Recent Ministry:
We thank God for you, our friends. You choose to stand by us, love us, pray for us, encourage us, financially support us, and bless us and the people we serve in this community. Kikarara is a difficult place, but your support enables us to reach the people with the Gospel that changes their lives from darkness to light and from hopelessness to hope in the living God through Christ Jesus; may God abundantly bless you and your families.
We praise God that Mukombi has been drawn to salvation. Mukombi, 25 and single, was a drunkard and misused whatever money he earned. We met him one day on our way to the fellowship and invited him to visit. That day, we taught the gospel from John 5: 1-10. He was convicted of his sins, stopped alcohol consumption, and gave his life to Christ. We pray that God may continue to grow his faith.
We see God at work in the life of Kato. Kato and Evas are blessed with five children, ages one month to 16 years. We met this family through home visits and found that Kato was a drug addict and drunkard. He had sold his piece of land to compensate for the things that he had destroyed during his fights in bars. and his children were not in school. He was amazed that we would visit him because he believed his lifestyle was not liked by religious people. We shared the Word of God and committed to pray for him. He accepted Jesus and stopped drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. He became a member of the Church and continues to attend Bible study and fellowships. He started making bricks from his land and built a permanent house. God has helped him work and sell crops like rice, ground nuts, and beans to be able to put his children back to school. The community is amazed at what God can do through a life dedicated to Him. They see the life of Kato as a testament to the power of God at work, that even criminals can reform and change for good. Through the holistic transformation of Kato, many have been drawn to Christ and God’s Embassy Church. They realize that if Kato can change, others can be transformed. We praise God for each day that passes that we see God work in the lives of His people.
Pray that God may pave the way for a school and medical center, in our community, which is far from the main town. We pray that this can also help spread the gospel in our community.
One of the challenges we face as a church and a community is the straying elephants that come looking for food and destroy the gardens. They are so big that we cannot chase them away unless we have a crowd. They come at night, and that is also the time when you cannot gather a crowd quickly. The impact of these elephants is big, and they are threatening food security within the community.
We also face a challenge in our area as the government suspects rebels, especially in the areas around the park and on the lake shores of Lake Edward. These rebels are targeting churches and other big gatherings. The churches have stopped all overnight prayer events to avoid these raids.
We praise God that the fruit trees we planted have started giving fruits, and we will harvest them for the children to enjoy when they come to church. We also praise God for Pastor Steve’s visit to God’s Embassy, which blessed us with gifts for the children and the medical outreach. We praise God for the water tank that collects water, and our neighbors come to fetch clean water; we bless through this water collection.
Update regarding the Church Structure:
We praise God for the unity in our church as we made and burned eighteen thousand bricks. We desire to make enough to build a permanent church structure, as termites are eating away at the structure we have.
The members of Kikarara are now making bricks to replace their temporary wood structure before the termites cause severe damage. For our projects in Uganda, our team takes the initiative to engage the local church in constructing a public gathering place. Our funding provides a solid concrete beam system reinforced with sturdy iron rods to ensure the structure’s resilience against storms. The church community actively contributes to the project by providing bricks to fill the walls, resulting in a highly successful partnership between our team and the local church members. We need about $18,000 to build this structure and include a water tank so God receives glory for every rainstorm that produces fresh, clean water to drink.
