Pastor Gelevazio’s Testimony
I was born into a Catholic family, and my father was a catechist at a church in Bugangari. I used to travel with my father to visit the sick members of the Catholic Church. After praying with the sick, my father would advise them to seek help from either a witch doctor or a spirit medium.
Our Catholic faith was just for religious attachment, but we had continually worshiped spirits. What led to my salvation was due to sickness. I started suffering nightmares, where I would see a fire burning my house, and over time I became like a mad person. I had no peace at all. I consulted the witch doctors for help and tried the herbalists, but every attempt failed. I went to the hospital, and the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with me after much testing.
I was encouraged to try Jesus and see if I would find peace and escape the nightmares. The Christians shared the gospel, and I believed in Jesus giving my life to Christ. The nightmares left, and there was no longer any torment from the spirits. I thank God that He saved me from all the oppression.
I believe I am called to lead this church because this place is my home area. People know my transformational testimony and the power of believing in Jesus to save those who are heavy-laden like I was. So, I will point them to Jesus and proclaim the gospel to all the community members.
Recent Ministry:
We praise God for the two new families that have given their lives to Christ. Our church now has seventy-five members.
We pray for Ronald and Ruth that they may remain strong in faith and remain serving the Lord. Ronald, 35, and Ruth, 30, have one child, a baby girl of 6 months. They live in a temporary house and depend on subsistence farming. We met this family through our home visits and found that they were demon-possessed, which they thought was the reason for their failure to have children. Ronald lamented that since getting married, he started seeing strange things like snakes, which had made him find refuge in bars. We remained close to him by sharing the Word with him and praying for him. We invited him to come to our church, and he began to get better. He believed in Jesus Christ and he and Ruth gave their lives to Christ. His wife conceived and they now have their beautiful baby girl. They have managed to buy a piece of land which they use for farming. Ronald is the chairperson for development and his wife Ruth is in praise and worship.
We met Medard through our home visits. Medard has three children. We prayed for the family, and they promised to come to our church. When they came to church, they were convicted by the Word. Medard and his family gave their lives to Christ. They are now in church happily serving God.
Women’s Choir
God has heard our prayers and opened sources of funds, and through thanksgiving and contributions, we have managed to plaster our church building. We continue to pray that we may obtain enough land to expand the church and establish Sunday school classrooms.
God’s Embassy Katerampungu
We see God at work in the life of Sanyu, 65 years old. Sanyu is a widow and gave birth to eight children; six died. Her remaining two are now 34 and 45 years old and have families. She used to worship spirits, and after performing her spiritism rituals, she would lose a child. She resorted to drinking alcohol to try to deal with her loss and pain. She also experienced torture from demon possession and would cry at night, calling the neighbors for help. When the neighbors came, they could not see how to help Sanyu, which caused rejection in her life, with her friends abandoning her. We shared the Gospel with her; she believed and accepted Jesus Christ. We prayed with her, and the Lord delivered her from the devil’s bondage and healed all the sicknesses she had. She was baptized this month. We thank God for His grace that saves and His power that delivers and heals. We pray that she keeps the faith and grows in the Lord.
Christopher is married to Abias and has three children, aged two months to eight. They live in an unfinished temporary house and depend on subsistence farming and selling labor to others for income. However, they are very hardworking. We met this family when they were still living in Christopher’s parents’ home in the storeroom. He was not planning to build, though his parents were constantly nagging him to move out and maybe go to rent somewhere, yet he had no means to afford it. This made him desperate, and he started drinking alcohol, which made him aggressive and abusive to even his wife to the extent that the wife was about to leave him. We shared the Word of God with him and encouraged him that all things are possible. We invited them to pay us a visit at church. They came to seek counseling due to the pressure from his parents, and we shared the Gospel again. This time, they believed in Jesus Christ. They joined us in church, and Christopher stopped drinking alcohol, and then people started trusting him to give him work to do. He and his wife have worked hard, saved, and have been able to build a house for themselves in which they will live as a family. They are in church serving God in the ushering department and the intercessor team. Their children are in Sunday school. We pray and believe God so they can finish building their house.
Nancy, 20, is the daughter of Herbert, 54, a resident of Kanyamuhe. We met her when she was sick. We prayed for her, and God heard our prayers, and she was healed. She came to church to testify what God did to her, and she gave life to Christ. She serves God in the choir.
Ministry update June
Warm greetings in the name of our Lord Christ Jesus. Thank you for supporting us in ministry in Katerampungu and surrounding communities. We thank God for the love, encouragement, prayers, and financial support you give us for our ministry, without which it would have been difficult to reach this community with the Gospel. Thank you for standing with us; you have helped us minister to the people in Katerampungu and the surrounding community in a more practical and effective way. We bless the Lord for White Fields and pray the Almighty God blesses you and your families.
During the Sunday morning foundation class, we train interested members and then give them opportunities to lead intercession prayers, read the Bible in church, lead church programs, share the Word of God in home fellowships and lead praise and worship in Friday evening services. We have an intercessional group for those who feel a burden to pray that meets every Thursday from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Children who attend Sunday school and learn Bible verses, stories, and songs present what they learn during Sunday’s main service.
Every Thursday evening, we reach out to the community through home fellowships, one in Omurutwe led by Mwesigire Vastin and another called Rise and Shine home fellowship in Omukiteete led by Kamusiime Caleb.
When we visit people’s homes to share the Word of God, we encourage them in the Lord and pray with those who need prayer. This month, we visited 63 homes and ministered to 158 males and 227 females. This was possible because of the holiday; people are home in the villages more during holidays. This has been an exciting month, and we thank you for praying for us to reach out to His people. We are excited to reach more with the Gospel next month. Thank you for standing with us in the ministry’s work.
God is at work in the life of Katusiime Ruth, age 70, who has recovered very well from a fibroid operation. We visited her when she was home from the hospital, and she was still in great pain and bedridden after the operation of tumors from her womb. She lives with a 14-year-old grandchild who cannot help much because he is not around the home but is looking for jobs. We prayed with her and encouraged her to continue believing in God for complete healing and to continue taking her medicine. We thank God that she had recovered and was out doing her work on our follow-up visit. She will soon return and fellowship after she gets enough strength to walk to church.
We see the delivering hand of God in the life of Naturinda Mellon, age 30. She is married to Simon Byebiroha, age 40, and they have three children between the ages of 3 and 7. When we visited their home, she abused us, and she did not want us in her home, but her husband calmed her down. We shared the Gospel, but then she became violent to fight us, and we asked Simon to bring her to church so she could be prayed for. She was there for three days as we, the church ministers, met and prayed for her. The Lord, by His grace, delivered her. When Simon saw what the Lord did to deliver his wife from spirit possession, he, too, gave his life to Christ at that moment. She now testifies of God’s mercy through Christ Jesus, who healed her, and she is bringing two of her children to Sunday school at church.
We praise God that we have started plastering our church structure. Our church building will be good, and the traditional religious leaders will not mock us for a poor church structure. The poor-looking structure was one of the reasons they used to discourage people from hearing the Gospel and joining us for church. We believe that God will enable us to paint the church building and provide a water tank to collect the rainwater and share it with the community.
We praise God that we baptized 12 members, seven males and five females, this month and give God all the glory.
We thank God for the parents who brought their children to be dedicated to the Lord. Eight children were dedicated to the Lord. As we placed our hands on them, we prayed a blessing in the name of Jesus Christ. We read Matthew 19:13 that they brought children to Jesus so that He might place His hands on them and bless them.
Abaho Augustine, age 31, is married to Ainebyoona Shivan, age 25, and has one child, who is three months old. They are such a young family, yet they are such a blessing to the church here in Katerampungu. They sell hard labor to earn a living. Sometimes, Augustine is hired to ride a boda boda and is paid a commission depending on his journey. They are active members of their home fellowship and serve on the church ushering team.
Bashaija Christopher, age 40, is married to Orikiriza Abias, age 35; they have three children: Ninsiima Mellon, age 13; Nayebare Shivan, age 12; and Niwaha Linus, age 5. They depend on subsistence farming, though sometimes Christopher goes away to look for and do masonry work on buildings. Abias Orikiriza used to attend one of our fellowships held in Omukuteete village but later stopped attending because her friends mocked and despised our church. We visited her several times to follow up on sharing the Word of God and to pray with her, but she refused to attend again and never wanted to share the reason. One day, she lost a child, and the church she was attending refused to bury her dead child because she had not been paying her quarterly dues. When she approached us and asked us to help her bury her child, we accepted and buried her child at no cost to her, for we feel we are called to serve this community, and God provides for us to serve. She later joined us and gave her life to Christ. She is growing in knowing God by loving to hear and learn more of the Word of God. She serves on the worship team, and the children attend Sunday school. Her husband is still up and down looking for jobs, so he is not home a lot. We pray that he will commit to visiting us.
The Lord Delivers a person from a Mad spell
God is working in the life of Doreen, Rosalina’s fifteen-year-old daughter and a resident of Rutwe cell. Doreen woke up one day and was mad, they tried to get medical help, but nothing worked. She was mad for three years and since she was still young, her parents suspected that she was bewitched. They took her to different witch doctors, but her condition instead worsened. Her mother brought her to church when we were there for the Friday evening service and as a church, we stretched our hands towards her and prayed for her. The Lord delivered her, and she later joined us and gave her life to Christ. She accepted and chose to be baptized. Her mother is so grateful to the Lord for healing her daughter and we give all thanks and praise to the Most High God.
We praise God for the church’s presence in our community. People have come to testify that ever since God’s Embassy Katerampungu started, she has become a resting place for many even those who are not church members. Many people have changed from spirit worship and bondage to worshipping our Heavenly God Almighty and the freedom that He gives through accepting Jesus Christ.
We are increasing in number, people are coming to church and coming to Christ. Many are excited and willing to be baptised. This month we baptized six members.
We thank God for where we are renting the land, but we are still asking and waiting upon the Lord for the provision for the land of the church to be permanent. At that time, we will be able to put up a Sunday school structure for the children.
A family in our fellowship includes the family of Denis, twenty-four, who is married to Provia, twenty years of age with two children, Arnold, age three, and Ambrose, age two. They are residents of Katerampungu and live in a three-room semi-permanent house. They survive by selling their labor to do hard work in other people’s fields. We met them through home visits, shared the Word of God, and prayed with them. We invited them to come to church on Sunday and Denis did. While at the church, he gave his life to Christ after listening to the sermon and joining us. He also attends a home fellowship with us in Katerampungu. He later joined the church intercession department. We are praying that the Lord uses Denis as a vessel to reach his family because the other family members are not believers. We also pray that Denis will keep in faith and serve the Lord.
We have a church choir that meets every Saturday for practice. They begin with sharing the Word of God and encouraging one another to be strong in serving the Lord.
The Sunday school children meet to learn Bible stories and memory verses. The children also have fun with games. This photo is of a race to drink the fastest. This boy was the winner.
Six people gave their lives to Christ. Their names are Doreen, age thirteen, Rachel, age eighteen, Amutuhire, age nineteen, Kamusime Kellen, age fifty, Ambrose, age twenty-four, and Denis, age thirty-five. Total of two men and four females place their faith in God. Rachel, who is eighteen, lives with her grandmother and they both sell hard labor for survival. She dropped out of school because she had no money, and her grandmother was not able to raise enough to provide for them and also pay for her school fees. We pray that the Lord makes a way for Rachel to be able to go to school.
We reach out to the community through home fellowships, as a church we have two that meet on Wednesdays. We also do home visits, and this month shared the good news with twenty-three men and thirty-three women. We praise the Almighty God for His unending love and grace for the Katerampungu community.
Secondly, I am passionate about helping people know the Jesus that I have come to know and grow together in faith. So many people around our area are filled with religious practices that are not biblical. I have been studying at the Uganda Bible College, learning the truth in the Scriptures. I want to pass that knowledge on to our community by establishing a local church.
