Now in Uganda

Taking the message of the cross to Uganda.
It felt like it took a week of travel to get to Uganda, but in fact it took only a lil over 50 hours(yes thats a lot). Today was the first day of ministry for our team and it was incredible...we saw about 60 people commit their lives to Christ as well as countless others make a commitment to sexual abstinence. I had two remarkable moments occur - the story went like this....
We have all seen the pictures of starving African children on TV. Uganda like most of Africa has been beaten down by war after war after war, leaving the nation hungry not only for food but also love. Today i asked a group of around 40 or 50 students how many students knew someone personally who had died from aids...every hand was raised. I assumed maybe they mis-understood the question, so I claried "so all of you have had someone who was very very close to you die from aids?" Still every hand remained raised and in that moment I realized the message of sexual purity we were bring was not only a good idea, but it was life and death...

moment # 2 There is an idea we have stumbled across that seems to be a key to the hearts of the young people. Its the term "sugerdaddy." As soon as we utter this word we have the absolute attention of every female within earshot. In Uganda the children in many cases cannot afford to pay their school fees, and are forced to find "alternative means." The young girls find wealthy older men who pay for their schooling in exchange for being their sexual slave. Today a friend of mine was talking to 6 girls who dared ask who of the most vonerable questions I have ever heard uttered in a group setting. "How then shall we..err those girls pay for schooling?" All the sudden an abstract example came to life before our very eyes.