One team (led by Polycarp) has already gone and come back, and the second team (led by Concy) followed them. A third team (led by Walter) will likely go in late May.

We invited Polycarp’s team (Polycarp, Rachel, and Sharon) to share with us about what they saw and experienced. It was easy to see that the trip impacted each of them deeply.

They were visibly shaken by the conditions that these other tribes live in – with water scarcity, virtually no food, and in constant fear of neighbouring clans coming to raid and steal their livestock. Yet they were also very surprised at how welcoming the communities were to them – not at all like they had been taught to think about the tribes in Karamoja region. Polycarp commented that the very harsh living conditions have made people open to the gospel, because they are looking for help.

They were all deeply touched by the teaching that Timothy and Ian did with them each evening, which was drawn from the Xplore course. [Timothy and Ian are Ugandan missionaries who are originally from the southwest of Uganda, and have been living as long-term missionaries in Kaabong District, which is in the far northeast of Uganda and is part of the Karamoja region. Karamoja region is one of the key places that our team has been praying for since God gave us the vision of raising up cross-cultural missionaries to unreached people groups in 2018. They work mainly among the Ik and the Dodoth people groups. And these Ugandan men – Timothy, Ian, and Mark – are passionate about mobilizing others to go to the nations through hosting exposure visits.]

Rachel said, “What we’re doing in salvation is not even a half of what God wants us to do.” She emphasized the point which struck her deepest, that we as Christians often miss the “so that” clauses that accompany God’s promises and blessings in the Bible. If you read God’s promises of blessings in the Bible attentively, you will notice that each blessing is followed by a “so that”, which calls us to be a blessing to others. She said, “Whatever we have is not for us. It is a blessing to share with others. The salvation we have is for others also to enjoy. And yet there are many millions of people with no access to the gospel. [In Kaabong] people are crying for a single church to reach there.” She went on to say how she couldn’t even imagine how people are born and grow up with nobody to tell them about Jesus. “People in the villages are asking, ‘God, what am I doing in this world?'”.

Sharon said the course taught her to “forsake everything you have. Just follow God.” She continued, “Even if you die while on God’s work, it’s not bad even. Even if they kill you, you will just feel happy that you’ve done what you’re supposed to do in this world.”

Join us in praying for these teams, that as they come back, God will use them mightily to share what they have seen and heard, so that whole congregations will catch the fire that they are carrying in their hearts!