Uganda Prayer Requests

March 2008

There is new life in Uganda! Our country director, Pastor James, has added another member to his family. His wife, Agnes has given birth to a healthy baby boy, Eyul Clark. Please pray for their continued health. Please hold Pastor
James up in prayer as he leads this ministry; pray that God provides strength for each day.

The container of food that arrived in Uganda last September has still not been released. Please pray against the bonds of corruption that are keeping it from being released. The commissioner has gone to the government on our behalf to ask that the container be released. Please pray for her success.

The recent unrest in Kenya was causing a lack of supplies and services in Uganda. We praise God that the country is now moving in a positive direction as opposing parties are working toward peace. Please pray that peace would be fully restored, and our children continue to excel in becoming family. Recently all of the children were admitted into primary school and are delighted!

February 2008

The new orphans celebrated their first Christmas in the home. Our Vision team arrived safely along with all the children’s Christmas gifts. Praise God, many of the children have never celebrated Christmas before, so this was very special.

Please continue to pray for these precious children, many of them are still haunted by their horrific past. Pray that they would be released from this and that they would be given the childhood that was taken from them.

Our Aunties and Uncles that are caring for the children are so wonderful, thank God for the blessing they’ve been. Continue to pray that they would have patience and wisdom for parenting these children.

The container that was sent to Uganda has yet to be released, please pray that God would work in the hearts of the officials involved and allow the release of the container.

January 2008

Praise God, we have now welcomed 26 children into our care. They are all looking forward to meeting Daddy Chris, as he will be visiting Uganda at the end of this month.

Our team of counselors have temporarily stopped going out into villages and have been making these children their primary focus. These 26 children have come from an area in Uganda that has undergone the most turmoil. Please pray for the counselors as they work with our children, that they would have wisdom.

Also pray for the children, that healing and restoration will take place. Currently the children are on holiday and are looking forward to starting school soon. Pray that they would continue to adjust to their new life with COTN.

Last week we showed the JESUS film. Praise the Lord, 800 people accepted Christ.

Due to the lack of cooperation from the government, our container full of food from our last 285K has yet to be released. Please pray for our relationship with the government of Uganda, that they would understand our mission.

November 2007

Praise for the twenty-one Ugandan orphans added to our sponsorship program. Full-care sponsorship requires three sponsors per child ($43/mo x 3 sponsors) to fully provide for each child’s needs. Pray the Lord will provide such sponsors to help us care for these children.

In Uganda, we are also introducing a new sponsorship program—Staff Sponsorship, for those wishing to sponsor a staff member. (Visit our website for more information on both programs.)

Our counseling ministry continues in Lira and the surrounding communities. Our team of counselors has switched from going out every day to going out for one week at a time, camping in the camps and villages they are counseling in. This new schedule reduces transportation costs and also alleviates walking long distances on foot due to flooding. Pastor James reports that this has turned out to be quite a blessing. Before, the counselors were viewed as merely visitors. Now that they are staying in the camps and villages for a week at a time, they have been able to develop relationships and are considered family. People are opening up to them and sharing their lives much more freely.

The JESUS film continues to reach people for Christ in Uganda. Last week, Pastor James reported that 162 people came to know Christ in three days. Praise God! One night in the village of Apac, an incredible ruckus occurred in the crowd that was gathered to watch the film. Pastor James said he and the other staff heard horrible wailing and screaming—they feared something tragic had happened to someone in the crowd. It turned out it was merely the crowd’s reaction to the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion. “It was evidence of the tremendous power of God,” says Pastor James.

Continue to pray for the release of the shipping container of 285K food shipped last August. Taxes were originally quoted at 40 million shillings (equivalent of $23,000) and were recently reduced to 14 million shillings (about $8,000). We are begging that it be released for free. Pray for the speedy release of this container containing much-needed food and Bibles.

October 2007

We continue to move ahead with setting up our ministry site in Lira. Praise for the completion of Phase I—the orphan selection process. Our COTN–UG staff has identified twenty orphans from orphan-headed households (the “worst of the worst” cases) and is finalizing the necessary legalities to officially bring these children into our care. The steering committee will be conducting interviews with perspective houseparents this week and will continue to ready the homes for the children’s arrival. Pray that God will provide sponsors for these children (watch our website for more information).

Trauma counseling continues on a daily basis. Recent flooding has adversely affected many areas, destroying not only crops and property, but wreaking havoc on roads. The van used to transport counselors gets stuck in mud almost daily, causing counselors to travel some stretches on foot. Last month, counselors focused trauma counseling efforts in two specific camps: Barlonyo and Abia refugee camps. These two camps are among those that experienced some of the worst human massacres at the hands of the LRA rebels (Lord’s Resistance Army) in all of Northern Uganda. Praise God for the perseverance of these counselors and the healing God brings through them.

Praise God for the continued blessing of the JESUS film ministry in Lira and the surrounding communities. Last month, 586 individuals at nine different locations made decisions for Christ! To date, the JESUS film has brought 2,141 children and adults in the greater Lira area to Christ. Pray for much-needed discipleship of these new believers. Many areas lack churches and currently have no means to grow them up in their faith.

The 40-ft. container of food packaged at our recent 285K event in Silverdale, Washington has finally arrived in Kampala, Uganda. Once we receive tax-exempt clearance from the Ministry of Health, the container will be trucked to Lira.

Praise the Lord for a large donation received this weekend in Florida designated specifically for orphan care start-up costs.

September 2007

Praise for the continued blessing of the JESUS film in Uganda. Routinely, 100+ individuals make decisions for Christ at each showing. Heavy rains have taken a toll on the screenings, but the recent purchase of a tent to protect the equipment has been a huge blessing.

Continue to pray for the COTN–UG steering committee as they seek to hire additional staff; specifically for house parents and aunties and uncles to minister to the orphans we will be bringing into our care.

Pray for the COTN counselors as they work in the IDP camps and seek to identify the specific children that we will bring into our homes. So far, the number of orphans identified far exceeds that which we will initially be able minister to. Pray for discernment as the counselors meet with the orphans—they truly desire to identify the “worst of the worst.” But, as word is getting out as to the counselors’ intention, many children are making up details and exaggerating circumstances in an effort to be “chosen.” Pray that God will clearly guide us to the children He desires us to minister to.

August 2007

Praise for the safe return of Sue and Ed Harrell, COTN’s summer counseling team, and short-term teams from the Grove Church in Arizona and Flood Church from San Diego. Over 1,700 men, women, and children were counseled this summer and those that received counseling last year continue to be emotionally healthy. Besides counseling, the teams were able to give the children a chance to experience what a real childhood is like through activities such as art, photography, crafts, and sports.

Pray that these counselors and teams will continue to have a heart for these children as they settle back into the States.

Praise for the newly formed COTN–UG steering committee. They are excited to move ahead with the establishment of our orphan homes. Praise for four new Ugandan staff members: Hudson who is taking over sponsorship, and Rose, Agnes, and Lucio who will be in charge of continuing the counseling in the camps and schools.

Praise for the continued success of the JESUS film ministry—to date over 10,000 decisions to follow Christ are a direct result of this ministry.

July 2007

Continue to pray for Sue and Ed Harrell and their intern team as they are now in full swing working in Uganda until mid-July. Pray for their team of USA and African interns as they minister to the traumatized in IDP camps in and around Lira. Over 1,800 children and adults have received care.

Two teams (one from Flood Church in San Diego and one from Arizona) will lead counseling sessions and utilize “laughter as medicine” therapy through sporting events and VBS.

We have identified 30 orphan-headed households to which we will begin to provide care. Praise for the first staff members recently hired to care for these children: three counselors who will serve in our new counseling department and one guardian who will serve as “mother” to the children currently serving as heads of household. In an effort to allow these child “parents” to relinquish their parental responsibility and reclaim their childhood, they will be separated from their younger siblings (living in the same compound, but in different homes).

Praise for the purchase of a new/used Mitsubishi truck that will serve the JESUS ministry and be used for reaching children in outlying areas of Lira.

June 2007

Praise for a new home that has been found and rented in Lira. This home, along with another house we currently rent will serve as the base of operation for our ministry in Uganda. The first house will serve as housing for interns and short-term teams, and also as a COTN office. The second home will be used to provide housing for orphan-headed households.

We are currently coming alongside five orphan-headed households that we plan to bring into full-time care by this fall. Pray for wisdom as we hire staff to care for them, seek sponsors, and work with social welfare officials.

Pray for Sue and Ed Harrell as they prepare to depart for Uganda later this month. Sue and Ed will lead a trauma team consisting of 75+ interns and short-term team members. This trauma team will be serving for two months in Uganda.

Two Malawi interns from last year, now COTN-MA staff, Chance Gondwe and Henry Kumwenda, will coordinate the new Malawi interns coming to serve in Uganda summer 2007.

Pray for the entire trauma team as they provide trauma care, conduct health clinics (primarily for women with STDs), lead VBS with interns (utilizing “love and laughter” therapy), and as they work in the IDP camps.

May 2007

Food distribution continues in Uganda. According to Pastor James, COTN is the only organization currently distributing food packs directly to camps. Other organizations rely on government reports and have heard that people in displacement camps are returning home, which isn’t the case. COTN is currently the only organization in the field, actually distributing food to the hands of the children. Pastor James says, “Thank God for COTN!”

Pray for Pastor James as he continues the daunting task of serving two ministries—COTN and his role as pastor, two very demanding ministries. “It’s by the grace of God I’m able to do it,” he says.

Praise for the success of the JESUS film ministry. Pastor James shared that the film has awakened evangelical programs in many area churches where such outreach programs have long been stagnant. The JESUS film is currently being shown twice weekly to surrounding communities and villages. News of the film is spreading and people are waiting in anticipation for it to come to their village. Recently the film was shown to soldiers in a Uganda army barracks (which is unheard of in Uganda as evangelical endeavors in military stations are strictly forbidden). An army commander who attended the film thanked Pastor James and told him how much he appreciated COTN bringing the film to them. Pray for wisdom and protection for the JESUS film ministry team as they travel. They often travel 80+ km and return home well after 2 o’clock in the morning.

April 2007

Praise for successful trauma counselor recruiting and training recently held in California and Arizona. Chris Clark and Sue Harrell recently trained eleven trauma counselors and an additional ninety team members for future work in Uganda.

Pray for continued wisdom and discernment as we seek to start up ministry in Uganda. Praise for Pastor James of Truth Evangelistic Church in Lira, who is currently working with three different area churches and serving as our Country Coordinator in Uganda.

Pray for peace in Uganda. Peace talks are not going well. At a recent Kids at Risk conference in California, the Clarks and the Harrells heard from an ambassador to the UN from Uganda that said, “The worst place in the world to be a child is Uganda.” Pray that this will change—soon.