The team is safe and sound in Gulu!!!

I called around 11 AM this morning just before I had to head out. I appologize if you've been waiting to read this blog. I JUST got home and am hurrying to update you as I know many of you are anxious to hear news.

I was only able to speak briefly with Don. I could barely hear him, because the JNB team was performing and boy were they LOUD. It was 9 PM their time. They were exhausted from a long 6 hour + drive over the dusty potholed roads of Uganda. Unfortunately, they arrived late and their "reserved" hotel rooms were given away! Aloysious felt very badly, but that's just the way it is in Uganda. Don said they are staying in a "dive", but he didn't mind, because they were there to serve the Lord not stay in a nice hotel. So they aren't staying at Acholi Inn. I didn't find out the name of where they are.

Don sounded very tired and he asked me to call him back in about 45 minutes when they'd be eating dinner. That means they were eating around 10 PM after an early morning and LONG bus ride. This is very typical of Africa and many other cultures...what we consider a late night dinner. I was unable to call him back, because I had a previous engagement.

JNB was performing in the Noah's Ark night shelter, which is small and the place was packed. What with the climate and the warm bodies, he said he was soaked with sweat and again mentioned how exhausted they all were. Pray for a good nights sleep for them all. Pray for strength, energy and zeal for the coming days ahead.

The Noah's Ark night shelter, as I mentioned before, is where the children, some even as young as 3 and 4 come to sleep after walking 4-5 miles each evening from their outlying village. There are other shelters and some sleep on the streets of Gulu. The good news is that there were only about 250-350 children where at one time there were 7,000 children coming to the city for refuge and protection! That's good news because that means Koni and his rebel army must not be nearby. In fact I just called Russ Carr the founder of SOI to ask about Koni and the reduced numbers of "invisible chidren". He said that Koni and his rebel army have been chased into Congo and are cornered there. The other governments are getting involved and Sudan is no longer supporting him. Many have already surrendered as they work towards amnesty. If you've read anything about Koni then you know the unspeakable horrors he forces on children just to gain power, soldiers and pleasure. He is evil.

Before performing at Noah's Ark, they performed at Kirambe Center, a SOI funded project run by Aloysious and Esther. SOI has land and temporary buildings where children and adults are given vocational and educational training. One project is a huge brick oven where 40-50 loaves of bread are baked at a time and the sales helps to support the workers. Aloysious will also gather people from the displaced people camps (refugee camps) and take them to the Kirambe Center for traumatized counseling. Most of the traumatization is due to the war in Sudan and from the horrors inflicted on the children who were able to escape Koni and his Lord's Resistance Army.

There were approximately 1,000 people at the Kirambe Center and about 200 decisions for Christ!!! This is awesome!!! These people are the lowest of the low and in such dire need of not only physical help, but spiritual help as well. Please pray for Aloysious, Esther and their children as they work in a very difficult place. Pray for the Lord's protection, miraculous healings, His spirit and power, His love and peace to be over that place and over Aloysious and his family.

I really want to put some photos on the blog site from Don's past trips just to give you some visuals. But I need to figure out how...first!

Continue with your prayers as they will be staying in Gulu for 2 nights.

Thanks.