Early in the stages of planning the mission trip to Uganda, Erica Hale asked the group to pick out a Bible verse that would be guiding us through the process and that we wanted the group to focus on. I went to the Bible app and searched “verses about missions” and combed through the results. One of the results was 3 John 1:8:
“So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.”
This verse stood out to me because it spoke to why we are going on the trip. The Rock Church is looking for ministries in Uganda to partner with and support, and this team that is going will be the ones meeting the local ministries that are already established.
When myself, Erica Hale, and my mom started talking about the trip, we wanted to find people who would be able to cast a vision for the future of The Rock. Chris Uhles, Jim McFall, Nancy Henry, Crystal Roddenberry, Tina Conners, Andrew and Rachel Hale stepped up and joined the group as soon as we started praying about who the team would be.
We knew we would not be going on a mission to knock on doors or hang out in a park to share the Gospel, as fruitful as those missions are.
Building Long-Term Ministry Partnerships in Uganda
This year’s group is there to vision cast, meet with the leaders of local ministries, and find ways that The Rock can partner with them in the future. The goal is that we would spend the next year praying for and with the ministries, and we would have a mission organized for next year that would be able to help with whatever specific needs the ministries have and continue to build long-term relationships with them as partners, supporting them as they teach the Truth.
Beth and Matt Wisch, my mom and dad, have spent a year living and working with most of these ministries in Uganda. They have not just been working with Mission Aviation Fellowship, the organization that sent them to Uganda. In their free time, they have also been working with local ministries and making connections through their church.
The team from The Rock will be meeting the school where Mom does weekly English lessons. We’ll visit two different ministries in the slums that work to provide safe, enriching spaces for the kids who live there, and we will have lunch with a group of local pastors in the area. We will be spending a Sunday at the Wisches’ church, where we will be able to see what the local church is doing as well.
Our First Days in Kampala, Uganda
The team left Utah on Halloween and arrived very late on Sunday night. Once everyone woke up on Monday morning, Mom and Dad gave the team a presentation about the culture here in Uganda. We talked about the different religions, refugees, and tribes that are present in Kampala.
Did you know that Uganda has an incredibly young population? The median age here is 17 years old, and over 50.5% of the population is under the age of 17. That means that a lot of the work that we will be doing here will be with ministries that work with the local children.
The women in the group went with Mom to go to a seamstress and the grocery store. We bought out all of the self-care items at the grocery store to build kits for some of the families that go to the slums ministry and the boys at the Boys Home. We are going to the ministries to give the gifts and learn about what they are working on here.
Prayer Requests for Our Uganda Mission Team
As we wind down for the night, pray that our two boxes show up as soon as possible, pray that we get over the jet lag quickly, and that we are all well-rested for our full day tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Matt is taking the full team to the MAF Hangar to take a tour of everything and meet some of the team members here.
Thank you for continuing to pray for us!
Leia McHenry
Posted in Missions