To the Ends of the Earth – Morning Day 1

First hand account by our Director, Daniel Okwara, shared in a phone call from Nabilatuk.

We woke up at 5am and had morning devotion together as we waited for the Nabilatuk team to come join our AEM team (me, David, and Joseph).  Changes happened with our plan to go first to the schools.  Some students had to go to a function, so we adjusted. We waited until after breakfast at 9am and then went to the village called Nataba on bikes (motorbikes or bodas) with our packed luggage of supplies.  One of our guides, Pastor Emma, was left behind when his bike got stuck.   We had 2 bikes in front, me with the luggage and Reverend James was carrying two other people.  David & Joseph were riding with Pastor Emma in the back when their challenge delayed them 20 minutes. At Nataba, many people had gone to the gardens or to look for food.  While the people gathered we started showing them the photos from 2 years ago, in 2023 when I came with bibles. They recognized me and said, “I remember you!” They loved the photos, so much. Even with people away in the garden we started our program. After 30 minutes many started to come and join us.  We had Praise and Worship, singing songs in the Karamojong language.  It was amazing to learn that Pastor Emma had composed many of the songs, and is a talented musician.  He is considered a special pastor in this region.  Our AEM team learned the songs, which included LOTS of jumping.  They gave us good exercise.  Then we prayed and thanked God.

When we speak Ateso they can hear…and same when they speak Karamojong.  We can understand.  I (Daniel) pointed this out to the crowd, so they could see for themselves and truly realize that we are really the same, that our team from Teso land is actually descended from the Karamojong.  I shared with them that, “we are one and we’ve come to share the Word of God.”  Then we did introductions.  It was so beautiful. Joseph introduced us in English, then Pastor Emma translated into Karamojong followed by me translating in Ateso.  This allowed our new friends from Karamoja to hear all the similarities in the 2 languages as they were spoken one after the other.

I (Daniel) preached from the book of Acts 8 starting in verse 4 about Phillip going to Samaria and meeting a sorcerer who had made people think he was the great one God was using.  God gave me the scripture to share, just this morning before we left. It came as I was reflecting on all we had been through in the last 2 days (with our spoiled car and the taxi rides) just to make it to the people in Nabilatuk and now to the remote village of Nataba. The message was centered on letting them realize they might have some great person in their lives that has power, but that Christ has now come to liberate them.  Just like what happened with Phillip and the gentlemen who bewitched people…but then Phillip went and preached Jesus. When the man realized that people got healed at the name of the Lord Jesus, he offered Phillip money to have the same anointing.  At the end of it all, God led me to share that THAT is the same Jesus we have come to preach today.  We need to look at Jesus. God led me in sharing the Scripture until they had an altar call. I reminded them very strongly that if you have ever given your life to Christ before, this is NOT something you do again. As we sang our praises to God, and had an altar call 32 people gave their lives to Christ.  They raised their hands to make Jesus their Lord and Savior. Then we prayed with them, sang songs again and celebrated with them.  

I told the crowd. “We shared the word of God and now we want to show the love of God through some things we brought to share. The crowd had no idea that we had brought some much needed items.  Something happened today that really moved me.  Joseph, my team member, got a conviction this morning when he came to us with the clothes he had gotten out to wear.  Joseph instead felt he should give away 2 of his shirts to others. We gave out 254 items of clothing in all today.  It was quite busy as the now large crowd desperately didn’t want to miss out on clothing.  The needs are so great, so it was understandable that it got a bit out of control at the end.  We learned from the experience, as we always do, and will give assistance next time through the local churches.

Pastor James was given a Proclaimer to keep using and helped us select a local leader in Nataba to keep a Proclaimer as well.  We can’t thank Faith Comes by Hearing enough! We have partnered with them for over a decade, as they have provided audio bibles in numerous languages all over Northern Uganda.  Our summer team brought several audio bibles, called Proclaimers when they came back in June last year.  This is our first opportunity to bring them to the people of Karamoja. 

To bring our time to a close for the day we gave out the pictures from that village taken in 2023, because it’s the 2nd time to go there.  We got back at 3pm to the hotel. We had to rush and eat our lunch for the day was not done. Read Part II HERE.