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Recently I went on a missions trip to Africa. Five years previously, I had heard that Geoff Wiklund was going there so I asked if I could go with him. He told me that he wasn’t taking a team this time but said that when he was doing so I could go with him. I accepted that and gave him a donation for the trip. I had almost forgotten about it but when I heard Africa mentioned my heart leapt. I heard that Geoff was planning to take a team in 2017, leaving on November 20th and returning on December the 12th in time for Christmas. One day I was about to get breakfast when the Lord said in a quiet voice “I’m fulfilling your heart’s desire.” I said “which one?” I felt a surge of eagerness to go, plus the prompting of the Lord. There were three separate individuals who thought that I shouldn’t go as I had some health problems. The Lord had told Geoff as well as me that I should be in the team. How wonderful is that! Ten people put up their hands but only five of us went. There was Caroline, Michelle, Richard, myself and of course Geoff. Qantas was having a sale of business class fares, so we grabbed them. Inoculation and visas needed to be seen to. Fortunately we could get the visa applications done in Auckland. The overseas visas were the ones that took the time even though we could go online to apply. Of all the countries, the most disorganised was Tanzania where all forms had to be filled out on the spot. Thank goodness for Richard’s help with this as the print was too small for me to read, let alone fill in. We needed to stop over in Johannesburg where we found the hotel was double booked, so we were transferred to another one quite a distance from the airport which meant an earlier start as we were flying to Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania

When we arrived, the pastor from the church we would be working with came with a four-wheel-drive and a van to take us to a small hotel which we had to ourselves. Everything there was clean and tidy. We were there for six days and the church people brought and prepared our food for us. We enjoyed lots of fresh mangos and assorted veggies even potatoes. Some fish was quite different from what we know but it was very rich and tasty. The first day we went to a church it took two hours to get there over potholes and boulders that are called roads. Even the floors in the churches are uneven. The Bishop welcomed us and Richard preached on blessing. Then he prayed generally over the congregation using the power of blessing to release people from generational curses of various kinds. As God moved across the people they were set free. I had a very short time to pray for a woman on the way out of the church. She gave me a smile, I pointed up to God for He is the healer and gave thanks.

One morning Caroline, Michelle and I held a ladies’ meeting. Michelle gave a short message then we showed them how we pray for the sick. Then we prayed for those who wanted prayer. I believe a lady was healed of a throat condition. It’s harder to get a good response when you are using interpreters. Body language is the best thing to look for in that case. During the weekdays the meetings in the church were held at 3.00 pm and would go until 6.30 pm. We would be praying for the sick at the end of the meeting. One night there was no announcement made for us to pray so I took the opportunity to ask a group of young folk if they would like prayer. The response was “Yes”, so they asked one of the pastors and he came over too. It turned out that he was this family’s father who had just had a life-changing experience with God. So we gave thanks for that and prayed for the whole family to help each one to hear what the Lord would tell them; to answer the call. Afterwards I felt the Lord was saying that they would be shakers and movers in their generation. The eldest daughter was going to university in the new year and wanted prayer to prepare for her studies so she would do well at them. On Sunday morning Caroline and Richard went to another church to preach about the power of blessing and prayed for everyone in the congregation. Holy Spirit brought deliverance and healing to them. While Geoff, Michelle and I were on our way to the Sunday service we got stuck in a hole in the vehicle and had to be lifted up and out by ten young men from the community. Needless to say we were very late but that didn’t matter as they don’t have a strict timetable. After that the car needed some repairs so we were able to assist with the payments. The Bishop who had invited us gave us the use of his own car and his driver while we were there. The church people looked after us very well. The people in that area are quite poor but when you are waiting in the queues of traffic they would come to the car windows and sell hazelnuts. They were lovely and fresh and crunchy. We missed them when we left for Kenya.

Kenya

We stayed at an orphanage in Eldoret which sits on a plateau. Athletes come there to do high-altitude training as the air is quite thin and the temperature cooler. We were staying in the guest house on the grounds. I found it easier to do things in the cooler air. William Thompson, a New Zealander, went to YWAM. From there he founded this very efficiently run orphanage for children six years and over. He helps them through their education until they are around 17 years of age. When we were there he had very good staff. Some of them had come from YWAM and it seemed like second nature for them to care for the children. Our role was to have devotions three times a day; at 7.30 am for the staff, 11 am for the women and 7.30pm for the children and anyone who wanted to come. We also taught them team games by using balls we had taken- old favourites like tunnel ball, ‘What’s the time mister wolf?’ and shipwreck. Michelle, being the youngest of us had the energy for shipwreck. We all took turns to do the devotions using themes from the Bible and having more interactive times in the evenings. This was when we taught them songs and their favourite was Father Abraham to which they put in their own extras. I took the New Zealand Flag and the one with the silver fern on black as it is used in the sports world. We sang our National Anthem, but they didn’t seem to know theirs. We talked about big names in sports but their world is where they live. One of the girls wants to go to university when she finishes school and would like to travel, so I showed her what my passport looks like.

We went to Turbo where the pastors had a gathering from the surrounding districts. William took us to connect with the Australian couple who had been invited to speak at the meeting. What a privilege to meet up with so many wonderful folk whose focus was on God and His people. We were miles away from any national park, but on our day off William took us to a millionaire’s farm where he had giraffes in the wild. The truck was a high four-wheel-drive and I could only just get into the front seat. To this day I don’t know how Caroline managed it. The giraffes were fascinating to watch as they slowly turned around for us to see their faces. Michelle took photos on my phone so I could see them too.

In the orphanage the children are well cared for. The diet was kale and a mixture of ground maize and water. Mangos were in season and they are really yummy. There is a garden where tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, kale and capsicums grow. By using cow manure and dung worked into the clay it makes it easier to grow these things. Chickens are raised as chooks to lay eggs for sale. When they have finished laying they are sold off for table birds. There are two or three cows which are milked, but they are only half the size of our cows. Maize is the main crop. They have their own water well and the children go out to school. Song and dance are the way the children express themselves and we had a great time of celebration on our last night. Led by Geoff and Richard, we had prayer time for all the children and staff before flying to Uganda the next day.

Uganda

Jackie and Hillary were at the airport to meet us. They had a four-wheel-drive. Caroline, Michelle and I climbed into the car and the men followed in the van along with our luggage. As we walked across the car park we saw a snake taking refuge from the sun under a car. The driver wanted to move the car so he was pushing it out of the way. That was the only snake I saw on the whole African trip. Whereas Kenya’s temperatures were quite bearable, Uganda’s were very hot, reaching into the late 30s. Campala is where Jackie and Hillary have a ministry to the homeless, taking care of their health. It takes a lot of organisation as you need police to keep order while people are having treatment to stop them from pushing in ahead of others. Social graces are few and far between. This clinic happens every other month. We stayed in their lovely airy, spacious home built of concrete. It has about six bedrooms, an open plan lounge and dining area and separate kitchen. Their section had a high wall around it with a gate to enter it by. There were house girls who looked after the house, and there was always someone at home to open the gate. Again, the roads were very rough with potholes. We were really spoilt having Kiwi food for breakfast, Marmite included! And plenty of mangos, tea and coffee. One of the house girls took a shine to me. It transpires she was turned out of the family home so Jackie took her in. She only had the mentality of a seven-year-old but was about eighteen. She has settled in with Janet and Ben (not their real names) and has grown into a lovely young woman. We were praying for each other one morning. I saw her watching so I beckoned her over and she squeezed me tightly, then I asked Richard if he would pray for her. When we were leaving I gave her a gift. She was so delighted. Their church was held in a semi-permanent tent-like structure made of heavy plastic which I thought was quite unusual. The average age of the people is sixteen. It’s sad as there are so few adults to guide them in life. We joined them for a prayer meeting and I prayed for a young lad and encouraged him to pray for me. He was so pleased to be able to pray for someone older than himself. He was quite accurate in what he prayed. What a joy to hear him. Jackie took us across town to pray for a church member in her home. She uses a wheelchair and has very little in the way of possessions in her home. She was a lovely lady battling with some problems, but I know she was touched by the Lord. We went to the evening meeting where I enjoyed an exceptional worship team who were really in tune and anointed of the Lord. Both Geoff and Richard preached. Hillary and Jackie took us to the markets in the city and another one in the suburbs so we could buy things to take home.