"So Many"

It is now about 2:30 in the morning and the Lord has woken me to take time to pray and write to you all who are following this blog. Today was a great day in the Lord.  It started early at 4:40 am where we drove to drop off Pastor Moses at one radio station and then myself and Pastor Betty (whose real name is Elizabeth. I like to use her real name as it reminds me of my Elizabeth whom I miss very much) drove back to Torroro to another radio station.  I spoke the word of God at 6:30am over the air waves of Uganda.  I discovered later that this station broadcasts over all of Uganda and parts of Kenya and surrounding countries. All day people would come to me and say Pastor I heard you speak the Word of God this morning.  I wonder as the phones rang constantly of people needing prayer or to give there life to the Lord, how many millions of Ugandans heard the message of salvation and how many more became born again. God is so Good.

The line that never ends for food

We returned home for breakfast and some rest before returning to the church to prepare to go to the Hospital to feed the patients both the Word of God and Food for their stomach. In Uganda the Hospitals do not feed the people and many starve in the hospitals and become sicker from lack of food at times.  It is up to family to bring their sick family members food. But most do not have someone to provide for them so they go hungry in hopes of getting well before starving.  Many leave sicker than when they came or die. I know this is tough to here and I had to “Keep control of my emotions” but by the time the feeding time was over I had to go away and weep even as I am now remembering the sorrow and pain.  I prayed for hundreds of people and children and many gave their lives to the Lord.  I did not see any Miracles of physical healing today, but I saw many souls healed and smiles on mothers and children as they received what the Lord had provided.  I want you all to know that those of you who gave money and funds for this trip some was given to help with this feeding as well as for the honoring and feeding of the widows today.

In Women's Ward praying for sick and salvation

Praying over the babies for healing

One of many very sick children waiting for food

More children who need prayer.  So many they just kept coming in need of prayer

He says to please pray for me!

Today I will speak on another radio station for about 1 hour.  This station is a Christian station where as the one yesterday was a secular station.  The audience is smaller for this station and probably only reaches about 1 million, Ha, Wow to think that God will use me to speak His Word to so many.  I am very humbled and deeply moved. Please continue to pray for the journey of this servant of our great and mighty King.  Also I ask that you would pray for Pastor Betty, her heart breaks for her own children who are in need of money to finish school.  The oldest Samuel has one year left in the University, if he will finish he will be secured a good lifestyle in Uganda, However he needs $2000 in the next two weeks to finish or be kicked out of school. There oldest Daughter Faith has studied hard and been invited to go to New York to study for free, but the U.S. has denied her Visa 2 times and school starts the end of next week. She has an interview again on Tuesday, Please pray for her favor to get her visa. I have much more to say and hope to share it with you soon when I return.  Please find attached pictures of today’s outreach at the hospital.  Many Blessings Pastor Bret -being humbled daily

The God of Just in Time

I Made it!!! I spent my first night in Kampala of which I did not lay my head down till 3am Kampala time, after 22 hours of air time and 4 hours of waiting time.  The journey was a bit challenging but rather than go into the ugly details let me instead tell you what I learned.  We serve the God of “Just in Time”!!! Before I left a great man of God in Eugene, told me as he and his wife (Virgil and Joy) came, to get control of my emotions if things go bad and seek the answer from God.  Let me just say I had to get control of my emotions numerous time and God Always came to my rescue.  I love the God we serve.

I arrived in Tororo yesterday about 3pm to stay with Pastors Moses and Betty.  Wow what great hosts they are and Betty has fed me well.  It is about 3am right now and as you can expect sleep seems to evade me do to the excitement of the day that is before me, but before I tell you this.  I would like to share with you about my evening last night.  I was sitting on the porch with Pastor Moses drinking coffee when Meme came out.  Meme is two years old and cute as cute gets and is the daughter of one of the elders of the church.  Meme wanted me to clap so Pastor Moses and I clapped and we all three sang to the Lord in worship while Meme danced.  You see Meme’s real name is Miracle!!! Her parents were told by the doctors that they would not be able to have any more children because her tubes were all messed up.  So the church prayed for her and God healed her and now they have a “Miracle”.

I hope to post again soon but unfortunately the bag that got lost also has the inverter for electricity so we will see. I will be very busy this next couple of days.  This morning I will leave at 5:30 am to bring the word over a radio station to a secular crowd in Torroro and eastern Uganda.  Then from 9am till 3pm or…. We will be feeding at the Hospital and ministering to the sick.  On Saturday I will drive to the Kenya border to a Christian radio station and at 6:30 in the morning will be ministering over the air waves reaching much of Uganda and Kenya. Then we will be having a widows day to feed and minster to the widows they expect some 300 to 600 to show up from all over the area.  Please pray for a multiplying of food as food has gotten very expensive here because of the droughts. Please pray also that we will be able to give gifts of food to the widows to take home, but there is very little to give at this point.  But we serve the God of breakthrough.  Maybe some of you reading this will be moved by the Lord to give to this.  It is not too late, to do so simply call my great friends Virgil and Joy in Eugene and tell them you would like to help and they can give you all the details of how. There number is 542-636-4807. Also please pray for my wife and family while I am a way whom I already miss greatly.  I am praying for all of you that you will also someday come and see what a great thing it is to be here and how it pleases the Lord. Till next time may the Lord Bless you. Pastor Bret

Bags are Packed

Tomorrow I begin the journey to Uganda.  Bags are all packed with there maximum weight.  Hopefully I am not over weight we will soon see in the morning. Today I believe the reality has hit me that I am actually headed to Uganda. Many things are running through my head. The biggest is what will God do during my journey.  Sunday was such a great blessing with all praying for Liz and I and for the Gift of impartation through a miracle child "KJ". This morning I was reminded by the fact that when Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended on him, but notice he never left.  We like Christ have the Spirit in us but not everyone has the Spirit on Us!!! Basically my prayer is the Holy Spirit is not just in me but is seen on me!!! I just want to be a wineskin that contains the treasure to be poured out on anyone who will stand still long enough to receive what God has for them.

Thank you to all who have faithful supported this journey through Say Yes International. With that said please pray that the Journey goes well tomorrow and all connections are made and that as I go I will be sensitive to the "Dove" on me and not the flesh. Blessings to each of you.

The Journey begins: Preperations for Uganda

Today begins the first of the posts to those who would like to see and hear what will be going on while I am in Uganda. I will fly out of LAX on August 2nd and arrive 19 hours later on August 4th at 1:00am. From what I understand Pastor Jonah will be there to pick me up and wisk me away either to a motel or....? or we will start the 4 hour Journey to Torroro where I will spend my first few days in Uganda with Pastor Moses.

Please be in prayer that all the plane connections go well, but most of all that the Holy Spirit will guide and direct me as my steps are ordered. Also that hearts will be prepared as fertile ground to recieve the Word of the King that loves so much. Many blessings and watch for updates and pictures leading to the journey as well as the journey itself.

The Meaning of Christmas

I thought I would take the time to share this with you. I was recently asked to write an article for the Tri-County news: Although I am unsure if it will acutally be printed I thought I would take the time to share it with you all. With that said I pray that each of you has a wonderful CHRISTmas:

This year my family and I had the opportunity to go to New York during the first week of December. What a glorious time to be a part of the New York Christmas celebration. With people, and I do mean lots of people, bustling about seeing the lights and the decorations we had the opportunity in the midst of something incredible to observe the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Although this was spectacular to say the least, with the excitement in the air and famous entertainers present to usher in the season, the true joy and excitement came at Radio City Hall at a show called the “Christmas Spectacular”. The climax of the show was the depiction of the Christmas story in a Spectacular blossom of lights, costumes, and Color. When the show was over it was as if I had lived the Christmas story right out of the book of Luke in the Bible. How do you express in words such and incredible experience other than WOW!

On our return home, to Junction City on the plane it gave me a bit of time to take in and reflect on the experience of the trip. The conclusion I came up with is that in our midst something great has happened, something so great that it has caused the whole world to erupt into a frenzy of celebration. What is even more amazing is that this annual eruption of celebration finds its way into all our lives every year and has done so for literally thousands of years. This celebration of course we know as Christmas. A time when gifts are exchanged, trees are decorated, parties take place, special plays and church services rise to the platforms and pulpits all across the world. But the question I ask is why so much excitement? What is it that has changed a world? What is it that causes us to become excited as little children once again? Can I go as far as to say it is found in one word, Jesus!

Yes, it is the birth of a baby, but not just any baby, but the savior of the world, Jesus. Who is this Jesus? The Bible calls him a wonderful counselor, mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. This Jesus was to be God in the flesh to restore the bonds of love between God and his greatest creation, you and me. We celebrate Christmas because the savior of the world has come, the one who would restore our relationship with God that had been broken clear back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned. This relationship was restored when Jesus took my sin and yours to a cross on Calvary, died and rose again, thus conquering death the ultimate penalty of sin. So ultimately the Bible tells us if we want to be restored unto God we have to pray to Jesus to forgive us of our sins and build a relationship with Him where Jesus will teach us how to live a life free from the bonds of sin.

So when asked what does Christmas mean to me, it means freedom from the bondages of sin-Freedom!!! When in New York a few weeks ago I went to the eighth floor of Macy’s to Santa Land. After going through the North Pole I approached Santa and He asked me what I wanted for Christmas. This was an easy question for me, I wanted my family together for Christmas to share in the freedom of life we have together in our savior, Jesus. Although said many times and many ways Jesus is still the Reason for the Season.

New York Post 2

Well here is my attempt to quickly post a few pictures from our adventures in N.Y. This picture was taken in Central park on our journey through it from the museum of natural history. This park is amazing and it was also very cold. I am sorry I have not posted more, but our days have consisted of 12 hours on the move constantly trying to see as much as we can. At this point I have accumulated over 500 pictures and still have one day to go!

And yes here it is the famous Rockefeller tree. Yes it is amazing overlooking the ice skating ring and it sure does feel like Christmas with all these people, and yes thanks to all of you who waved to us on National TV. Did you see us waving at you?

A stroll in Central park would not be complete with out a carriage ride in Central park. My dad surprised my mom with a ride through the park while Liz, Brittni, and I made our way over to "The Plaza" to see the inside, warm up and shake hands with Eloise. The Plaza was amazing and well let's just say we did not see Eloise other than a few pictures.

This picture though says it all! You may not be able to tell much, but the board with all the roman numerals is all those who died in 911 and although the monument is under construction and there is really nothing to look at it was amazingly one of the most somber moments I can ever express. The picture also shows a man his wife and son hanging a Christmas wreath on the fence in memory of there fallen loved one. The women was weeping and tears were being held back from the man hanging the wreath as they all sported jackets with fireman patches on them. At this moment God point to me the fact that our life is but a blink of the eye in comparison to eternity. But what really got me is how God showed me that people really matter to him and should matter to us. We do not know exactly how many of these fallen hero's new the Lord, but God does. Some are spending eternity with Jesus and some well ..... only God Knows. May God bless each of you and thank you for allowing my family and I to spend this time together on vacation. However I have to say we are really missing each of you and although we are enjoying ourselves, we are looking forward to sharing our experience with each of you. May the Lord Bless each of you and keep you safe!

Merry CHRISTmas!

New York Post 1

Well here we are in downtown Manhattan in new York. How can we say it any better but that it is major sensory overload. I know two of the three people on the left. You decide who you know!

And yes would not be complete without a picture of time square. This day was Tuesday and pretty quite. Then Wednesday came and you would not believe the people here because of the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. They even had a place by Charmin to go to the bathroom where there were literally 20 toilets made up music about going to the bathroom as you rode an escalator up 4 flights the whole time singing songs what goes up must come down. Only in time square would you find a guy dressed up as a toilet direction you to this place. Weird!

This here is the pre lighting of the Christmas tree about 2 hours before. Already you could not move. It looked and felt like Time Square at New Years. We decided we would come back on Thursday and see it lit rather than waste 4 hours standing up next to people breathing down there neck. Besides that we recorded it to watch later on tv

Well that is just a few pics of the over 200 shot so far. I have to say though the Highlight so far was the Radio City hall Christmas Spectacular. Especially the depiction of the Story of the birth of Jesus. All I can say is WOW. Brittni shot pics of that and we do not have a cord to download so you will just have to wait till we get back to see those. Well must go as we are headed back out into the wild to take more pictures and see the wonderful City of N.Y.. But I have to say we do miss each and everyone of you and the truth is the only thing that would make this better is to be experiencing this with our church family. May God Bless each of you and will write more tomorrow.