There I am again with my classic holding my arm out shot...the car was stopped thank God. I think I have to worry more about a car accident than mosquitos!
I'm trying to document everything while I can remember because remembering and writing are things that gives us power. I am sure if Pastor Mike could type well himself he would share his own story, but me being the American who grew up with a computer, I get the pleasure of relaying the story of an amazing man. He is someone who knows the exact number of Sudanese refugees in Uganda and has knocked on all of their doors to offer them relief. I will go with him in May to a refugee camp where we will minister to his people.
He is a man who went back to Sudan with no possessions except medicines like cough syrup and pepto bismol, his Bible, a guitar, and a microphone and every day would preach hope in the camps. Every morning they would look for him. He became a doctor of sorts to the people, but mostly a kind of savior.
Pastor Mike is a Sudanese refugee who fled his country years ago amidst terror and violence brought on by Muslims in the North. He was luckier than most and took refuge in Kenya where he studied theology through the help of a church. As I spoke to him of my desire to help end the war in Northern Uganda, as usual, he explained things are complicated and more tied to Sudan than even I realized. These are really Pastor Mike's words more or less, not mine, so I cannot lay claim to them and in an effort to be politically correct, I am not trying to demonize Islam, but simply tell the truth as experienced by a refugee. There have been histories of violence in all religions, but I think we must take seriously what is happening in Africa.
If you want end the war in the North you must first look to Sudan. This is not a political problem as much as it is a spiritual one. If you look up and see that mosque, you see the spire reaching towards God (much like the tower of Babel I said, and we had a good laugh:)
but the Muslim agenda is to squeeze the life out of each country in Africa through violence and then when that country is in desperate need, come in offering help and convert people. I met many Pastors in Sudan when I went back whose arms had been chopped off because they would not become a Muslim because they knew the truth of Jesus. When I brought Bibles to Sudan a helicopter attacked us with bombs and literally all of our supplies were destroyed except the Bibles lying intact on the ground. For Islam, Northern Uganda is just the gateway to the conversion of the rest of Africa through torture and displacement of those who do not accept their way. Kony's agenda (leader of the LRA) even though he will not admit it, is really to spread Islam and he is a tool in the hands of the Islamic military. His rampages of murder and atrocities against innocent people is really just a way the Muslims in Sudan are forcing the people to their knees. I am most sad when I see the Muslim relief trucks come to the people because I know their strategy. All Sudanese Christians know it is the Muslims who are oppressing them, and yet they come with their "relief" and say "look at what we have done for you. Where are the Christians? They have done nothing for you. Become one of us..." And so on. I know a man who says, I love Jesus but I go to mosque because I need food. For me, it is not Museveni who will end this war, but my hope is to raise up Sudanese refugees as Christian leaders who will go back to their country and stand firm against the spread of Islam before they infiltrate the rest of Africa. We cannot look at this simply with human eyes or human solutions. We must see this as a spiritual problem. But we need resources. The people, they need so much help.
I am amazed at his bravery and humbled that such a man as this drives me around every day as part of his service to Dr. Lynn and their partnership in aiding Sudanese refugees.
I wish I could write more, but I am so tired. I will send more pictures of Uganda soon, but I wanted to tell his story.
with love,
Sarita
