Back in the U.S.A.

After a long missions trip it is so good to hear the officer say, "Welcome home Mr. Sizemore" as I pass through passport and customs.  It is good to be home.  Kim and Kellie were there at the airport to greet me with hugs and kisses.  It couldn't have been any better.

The fear after such a long flight is the jet-lag.  What that usually means is you wake up in the middle of the night and are unable to go back to sleep, making for a rough day until your body adjusts to the new time zone.  The blessing for me was that I was unable to sleep on the plane and was dead tired and slept all night long.  I woke up refreshed on Saturday and was able to spend all day with the family running errands.

The whole team was excited about Sunday morning at New Season.  It felt like forever since we were able to worship in our own language and culture.  And it was amazing.  The Spirit of God was all over the place.  I looked around on several different occasions to see people weeping in their seats as they were moved by different parts of the service.  I was one of them.  It was one of the best Sundays I have experienced at New Season in a while.  I can really feel the church body growing in the Lord and it is a beautiful sight.

Tonight, at 6:45pm the team will be giving their testimony and vision for Uganda in the future.  I would like to personally invite all of you to come and rejoice in what the Lord has done.

An Island Adventure

Lake Victoria is a huge lake. You can travel for hours by boat and get to the place that you see no land. It is not uncommon for there to be 5' waves on the lake. Scattered throughout the lake are little islands that are inhabited. The people have very little communication with the land and sometimes never leave the island. There have been missionaries in the past that have visited these islands and shared the gospel but it has been many years that they have been left to themselves in every way. The island people are what we would call simple people. They live a simple life of fishing and have simple thoughts about the God, the world and everything in it. They are just trying to make it from day to day. The islands are filled with drugs and alcohol that are destroying lives and families. This would be our task on Saturday. Visit one of the islands to encourage the pastors and evangelize as much as possible.

When we arrived at the dock I had no idea what kind of boat we would be boarding. All I knew was it was about 30' long. I have expecting a little fairy of so sort. What we boarded was a home made 30' canoe that was take on water and we had about a 30 minute trip to get there. The boat could only come about 15' from the shore so we were taxied out and the girls were carried. There are people that get paid all day long to carry people from shore to boat and boat to shore. We saw grown men being carried on the workers shoulders. The lake was calm on the trip over which made for a nice smooth ride.

We we hit land on the island it was as if we traveled back in time about 50 years from Ugandan standards. It was a very primitive place with huts all around. There was a school that was unfinished and run down that the kids were meeting in and kids were everywhere. Hanna took out some little bracelets that we were giving to the kids and was pinned up against a wall as they bombarded her for a gift. I had to step in so she could move.

We made our way up to a big tree which would be the meeting place for the church service that day. And as I was walking a saw three men in a hut not to far from where the tree was. As we were waiting for the people to gather The Lord impressed upon my hart to go and speak to these men about Christ. So I grabbed Julius, my translator, and we headed across the field back the their hut. After the greeting I began to share my testimony with the 3 young men. I share with them how the one decision that my father made to follow Christ changed the entire course of our family. I come from a line of alcoholics and my dad was headed in that direction until he gave his life to Jesus. Two of the men confessed that they had received Christ but one had not. As I pleaded for him to accept Christ, he bowed his head and prayed to receive. He was one of the three we led to Christ on the island that day. Steve preached a great message of David and Goliath using the kids and props for his story. The parents loved it.

After all ministry was over the villagers prepared the team fresh fish that had been fried. (The whole fish, eyes and everything.) It was not something that we would have normally ate but Krystal and I jumped right in. The fish was very good. You just had to be careful not to eat the bones.

The team had spent several hours on the island and it was now mid afternoon. The wind was getting stronger and the boat ride back was pretty rocky. We had chartered the canoe for ourselves, but ended up with about 20 extra passengers for the trip back. It was a long day but a good day in The Lord.

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Double Honor

On Thursday and Friday we finished up the Pastor's School that Steve and I had been teaching in the morning. The pastors were blessed and excited to begin implementing some of the things they had been taught. We have a standing invitation to come back as often as we would like to continue the training. As always, my heart for the pastors is bigger than my ability to fund the trips. God will see fit to bring us back I'm sure.

After the Pastor's school on Thursday we went to the poorest area of Uganda to the Church in Wabulenja. This is the group that led worship at God's Garden. It was the most exciting service I had ever been apart of. People praising and dancing before The Lord is ways that I had not seen before. The spirit was in that place. I preached and then Steve preached and we saw 15 or more give their lives to Christ. As I'm writing this paragraph I realize there is no way I can convey what happened and you understand the full impact.

Friday night we were scheduled to go back to the same Church again for the second time. We were all excited about it and wondered what the night would bring. Bob let us out a little ways before we got to the church so that we could invite people and witness on the road. This was the first time that Steve had been door to door so you know he was taking full advantage of it. As we got to the Church the music had already started and the people were already praising The Lord with all their heart. The Spirit of God was thick in this place. Steve had asked me to preach first and God had filled me up with a message about Lazarus. There was so much freedom from The Lord. God was moving the hearts of the people and again about 15 received Christ. After Steve's message the congregation asked us to pray over the people and bless them. This was such a moving experience as the people came up one by one and one of the team members laid hands on them and prayed.

Through out the night the pastor kept saying that they wanted to bless us with a small gift of there appreciation. I was figuring they would pass the plate and collect what they could. Now remember this is the poorest Church that we know of in Uganda. So, at the end of the service they call all the team up onto the stage and they begin bring from outside an overwhelming amount of goods and laying them at our feet: mounds of sugar cane, fruits and vegetables, a chicken (a live chicken), eggs, nuts, corns, and grains. it completely filled up the stage. The whole team was overcome with emotion. We were sobbing uncontrollably as they continued to lay their incomes at our feet. I have been honored with gifts from Pastors and Churches all over the world but never to this magnitude. As we wept on the stage they continued to bring in more commodities that I know they sell for a living in the market. And the entire time they brought it in they were sing and praising The Lord. I saw the poorest Church give me the blessing of my life. O that we would learn to be a giving people. That we could give to The Lord with joy and thanks giving in our hearts.

They had so overwhelmed us with this blessing that the SUV we came in was completely packed from floor to ceiling. Then we had to borrow a van that was packed out from floor to ceiling as well. It was absolutely amazing and indescribable.

I come on the trips to bless people with God's word and I always and out blessed before I leave.

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