ethio-ugandan

I'm sitting here in the Ethio-Ugandan internet cafe trying to type on this terrible keyboard... and yeah, it's kinda terrible, not going to lie. anyways... life is good here, we are planning on going to ssenge a little later, we were supposed to go earlier but Abby fell a little sick so i had to go to the market and get some fruits for her and bring those to Sandra's, where she lives. anyways... so much to do! lots of ASU stuff to work out, bills to pay, i need to meet up with Jumah, Serj, and some other people before I leave. OH, and find Pastor Ben Kintu since i think he has one of my African Hearts bags.... hmmm... anyways.. that's about it.. i think i'll have to write more later... maybe get a photo up if i can find an hour to spend here! hope you all are well! God Bless

Congo recap from Steve Tracy

July 24, 2008

Dear family and friends,

We arrived back in the U.S. Monday night after a rather grueling 40 hour return trip. (I guess we're pretty spoiled given the fact that missionaries used to take a couple months by boat to get to Africa). Sorry I wasn't able to send out an email earlier but I have been sick for the past week and am finally on the mend. We simply can't put into words our gratitude to you our prayer supporters and to our loving Savior for what we saw God do in Africa. We will send out a trip photo summary with some of our best pictures in the next few weeks.

We can clearly see why our team had been under such bizarre Satanic attack for months before and during the trip. Before the trip: two team members had unusual bone breaks, one team member's spouse experienced a debilitating back injury a few weeks before we left, one team member had to drop out a couple days before the trip due to a family crisis, our team leader had routine foot surgery which didn't heal properly and required weeks of recuperation, and then two weeks before our trip our host cancelled the entire conference in Goma.

During the trip: most of our team got sick and one team member developed an infection from a burn, our host had to be hospitalized with typhoid, the beginning day of 2 conferences had to be abruptly cancelled due to the unexpected death of a local chief (we announced this while people were sitting waiting for the conference to begin), a woman was brutally murdered in a nearby village during our conferences, a short term worker helping with our conference developed potentially life threatening kidney complications, and thirty minutes before Christine and I were to give a presentation on abuse and forgiveness a pastor unexpectedly began showing us horrific color pictures of children and adults tortured and killed by rebels.

Yet in spite of Satan's many crafty attempts to wipe us out and sabotage the conferences, God moved powerfully to provide, protect, and heal. Satan hates to see captives set free but thankfully he doesn't have the last word! Through your prayers and the power of our awesome God, we witnessed literally dozens of breath taking miracles and experienced indescribable joy at being privileged to be the hands and feet of Jesus to some of the most marginalized, traumatized, and stigmatized. Here are just a few salient examples:

· Roughly 48 hours before we boarded the plane for Africa, we received a $45,000 check from Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold. This is an international mining company, headquartered in Phoenix, which has extensive mining operations in Congo. This grant helped cover thousands of dollars in unexpected team trip costs due to the last minute change of venue, allowed us to scholarship dozens of abuse care givers from the region, and most importantly, allowed us to provide professional quality color healing art handbooks and workbooks for rape survivors, prostitutes, and abuse care givers in English and French.

• With less than two weeks notice for our hosts to organize a half dozen major conferences, to invite soldiers, pastors, prostitutes, rape survivors, rape care givers, politicians and civic leaders, and to arrange housing, meals, and transportation for dozens of people, God supernaturally empowered our conferences beyond our wildest dreams. God brought extremely influential people to the conference and allowed us to we minister to hundreds of abuse survivors, abuse care givers from at least 30 different ministries, roughly 50 army officers (including many former rebel leaders, most likely some responsible for horrific atrocities), almost 80 prostitutes, and roughly 50 civic leaders, judges, and politicians.

• We heard numerous testimonies of new abuse ministries that have sprung up due to our abuse and sexuality conferences conducted in Congo last summer.

• We saw roughly 50 prostitutes and another 15 rape survivors come to faith in Christ.

• God brought the assistant to the Governor of the Province, a committed Christian, to attend three of our conferences. He has already contacted the mayor as well as federal officials in the capital of Kinshasa to report on our conferences and endorse our ministry to the Congolese govt. He has also begun organizing an abuse summit in October of mayors and political leaders.

• On the trip back to the U.S. God providentially seated Christine Stephenson, our team leader, next to an amazing Ugandan woman and former child soldier. She is the director of Invisible Children, a huge ministry in Goma, Uganda to child soldiers and others brutalized by the Lord's Resistance Army. She has formally invited us to come to northern Uganda next year to do an abuse ministry training for her staff of over 100 care givers.

· We held precious babies born of rape and prayed over them.

· We shared our own stories of Christ's healing and love with prostitutes and rape survivors who have been thrown out of their homes and communities and saw God use us to give hope, encouragement, and to help survivors begin to heal.

Please continue to pray with us that God will bring peace to Congo and healing to the abuse survivors we ministered to. Pray that God will guide, protect, and empower the many pastors and abuse care givers who attended our conferences. Finally, please pray with us that God will show us how we can continue to minister to abuse survivors and care givers in eastern Africa. We serve and awesome God!

Your fellow servants to the broken,

Steve and Celestia

From Mengo, with love

So, I just beat Eddy at arm wrestling immediately after beating 3 other of the boys… you may think ‘no big deal’, but Eddy is a haus and it was no small feat. Maybe it was the bananas and peanut butter coursing through my veins, who knows. It’s a good end to a good day, an early day, but a day spent, finally, with all my boys here at African Hearts. Today they (the African Hearts brass band) had a “function as they call it, at the Mengo primary school just down the hill from Namirembe guest house, which, if you been to Kampala, you have probably stayed at. Talk about kids, SO MANY kids! We showed up finally around 9ish and then marched all throughout the Mengo district followed by 400+ kids in various colors representing their grades/teams for the sports day and named after various Ugandan National Parks. So many people showed up, to include a VIP, who in typical African fashion showed up really late so that it’d be known that these now-500 people are waiting on one person, and that, yes, he is that important (I think he’s the US equivalent of a director of athletics in a normal school district). The band played a number of times throughout the 9-hr day, and performed their trademark acrobatical antics and had a good time in the process. There were children everywhere and tons of laughter and bright colors, as is the norm here in Kampala.
One of the boys today, Fazir, mentioned that he had a girlfriend, and I said “I want to meet her”, so later on he points at a girl and says “that’s her”, so, believing him, I walk to this girl and start talking to her, and find out that she’s not only not his g/f but she’s not sure she’s ever seen him, or any of the band before, although she admitted to liking them. Now, I told her that if she so desired she could “meet the band” as they are all the rage around here, but she declined, and asked me for my number instead. That’s not my style so I turned down the offer and walked over to Fazir and said “come here buddy” and his nervous smile enveloped his face, so we walked over to her and he stumbled through some small talk as I explained to this girl, Olga, that Fazir is a star trombone player… she didn’t seem overly impressed, and since he was already turning as red as a Ugandan can, we headed back to the joshing of his friends back in the group. He later told me that he wants me to meet his girlfriend, but that we’d have to fail to mention that past episode….
That is but one of the normal incidents of the day with all these wonderful young men and boys. Whether it be talking with deep things with Laurence or logic jokes with Tony, one of the leaders, and a great friend here, there is so much life and joy here to be experienced. When we finally left the function I was exhausted and I hadn’t even performed in the hot equatorial sun. I had learned how to properly say “cabalabaga” though, that’s for sure! Upon returning to the house near Miracle Center church on Rubaga road, I fixed up some various wounds as a father or mother would and then spent time talking to Omar, one of the younger boys who was uncharacteristically quiet that day. We ate Fruit Loops, Smarties (the British ones, like M&M’s), and beef jerky that I had stored up for such a day. We really didn’t talk a whole lot, but I think he felt a lot better just spending that one on one time with me. So many of these boys aren’t technical orphans, but many of them just don’t get that one on one concern and care. Sometimes no one takes the time.
Our amazing interns, Coreen, Hannah, and Sarah, also knew this as they just dove in an got to know the boys so well, taking the time in their 3 weeks to just love the boys and to be a listening ear. Each one of them impacted the lives of those boys… even when I wasn’t in Uganda to see, I know that they left a legacy just by the week at the end I was able to see. They all worked so hard and made sure that they knew, intimately, the lives and struggles of these boys. It was an encouragement to me to see these women continue the legacy of the other Mzungu women who love them so well like Abigail and Jessica. It was just amazing to see. Loving these boys is a way of life and it’s not much like other organizations in the world. Even as I write this in the bedroom overlooking our little valley, with some of the boys playing guitar outside playing songs they’ve written, it’s just different. It’s different than Mexico Missions, COTN Malawi or COTN Uganda, or Congo Initiative in Beni, DRC. It’s different than Lost Boys, Phoenix, or any other African thing I’ve been able to experience. I am not of the opinion that it is so much better or without fault, but it’s simple and real. We experience community together and sometimes there is difficulties, and sometimes we fail one another, and we can still get lonely, and you can go to bed a little hungry because no western-style authority will make sure you have enough food. On the flip side you’re allowed to live in the culture and with the people. Not a lot of pretense, just a lot of honesty and cheap fried food.
This journey to Africa has, for me, already been better than the last two mission trips to this continent. I loved Malawi, and it paved the way, and knowing my friends and Flood Malawi are there is a powerful magnet to the warm heart of Africa. Uganda part one was good, but fractured and overall a harder experience. Congo was amazing, and it was so fulfilling that I can honestly say after that experience that I could not count my life for loss after it. I saw so much redemption that it was unreal. I saw miracles and the Holy Spirit moving despite the weakness of people…. It, as anything in the real world goes, was not without conflict or issue, but God was redeeming everything. He even found a way to redeem my time spent in the military which, as days go by, I’m finding it increasingly hard to justify those 5 years, even though the most obvious redemption of that time occurred in the Congo, something I could have never dreamed when I signed those papers to enlist oh so long ago. And now African Hearts/Uganda part II, which has been even more conflict and issues, but again redemption. I’ve learned so much about myself and my strengths and weaknesses even in my brief time here, than in any other period. I’ve made some bad decisions and some great ones. I stand by my actions, and I see God opening the doors in my life in more ways than one.
I often say I have no idea where God is taking me, but that’s not entirely true. He’s taking me to new heights and trust in Him. I honestly don’t feel stronger about being called “to” Africa, as I more and more shy away from locations associated with callings, and cling to the fact that God is refining me and that He has things for me to do for the kingdom and he needn’t tell me where right now. I love working with kids and being a dad to them. I love watching living as I do in Kampala and having the freedom to do as I please. I also love speaking to people as I’ve been able to speak at a number of churches, Food for the Hungry, and a number of conferences on things as varied as the nature of Missions in the globalized (or is it glocalized?) world and issues of healthy sexuality/Women’s rights. As I pursue my degree in Integrative Studies with an emphasis on Women’s Issues I see my massive amount of experience starting to formulate a worldview based on a Kingdom ethic released from the confines of thinking like a member of empire. Christ brings people together across every single division and line sin, culture, and politics could create. Christ bridges the gap, and I for one, will testify to the necessity for Christians to engage the world, not just their world.

Thanks again for all your love, prayers, and support i love you all!
DAN


Prayer update:
-Heather, the sick girl medivac’d from the DRC is doing well back in the United States!
-The Congo team made it back to the United States intact and with a love for Africa
-As far as I know our 3 AfriHCO interns made it back to the United States safe and sound….

Please pray for:
-Those returning to the US, that they’d assimilate back into life without losing what they’ve learned, and be able to finish crazy amounts of homework in 4 days (wink wink ;-)
-The leadership Team here at African Hearts, Lutaaya, Roscoe, Tony, & Junior, as well as the Mzungus leadership Abby, Jessica, and myself, that we’d continue to be refined in being leaders…
-The boys of African Hearts, that they’d just grow stronger and stronger in the Lord…
-For all the attendees of the conferences in Beni, DRC, that they are applying what they learned…

hello everyone! i'm in Kampala, and life is well. SO busy.... but it's good! i have to go!

kampala....

Hey everyone, i'm listening to the call to prayer from the huge mosque here in kampala... it's nice to be here. We've had a crazy day ministering to street kids. i love it. I will write more later, but just wanted to leave you with an update from steve & celestia... they say it better than me...
dan


Dear family and friends,

Thanks so much for your continued prayers. We arrived safely in Kampala today. We will be here 2 days with Abby and then return to the US. The last couple conferences were incredible. We had a very fruitful conference for abused women and abuse care givers. On Tuesday 25 of the prostituted women who had prayed to receive Christ and who committed to leave prostitution came to a training we helped offer to begin to train them for a new means of making a living. One of the women shared that the day after the conference a man came up to her, and knowing she was a prostitute, offered her 10 dollars to sleep with her. She refused saying she was a new creation in Christ and wasn't a prostitute any longer. Then he said he knew her daughter was in the hospital and she needed money for her care so he offered her $15 to sleep with her (a very substantial amount of money here). She again refused and said she trusted God to provide for her. We were able to provide significant financial help for micro loans for these women as well as abuse survivors in a couple other ministries.

Yesterday we had an amazing day visiting clinics for abused women. The first was one the ministry visited last year in Butembo where we met Naama, the young woman who went insane after being raped by militia but who has had incredible healing this past year. They have now opened this clinic in Beni. They had prepared for our coming all day. They have been so thankful we have been praying for them this past year. The people of Congo have been so exploited and forgotten, so they are very thankful for our love and concern. When we arrived at the very humble little compound about 100 people were lined up waiting for us, singing and shouting. They did a service for us in the little mud wall meeting room. This is an incredible work for the mentally ill, most of whom have gone made from rape and other trauma. They have so little and do so much for "the least of these" expressly in the name of Jesus. They were so thankful for our help last year (our team chipped in together and bought them 2 motorcycles so the staff can visit patients in their homes instead of walking miles a day) and for our prayers and our return this year that they presented us with baskets of fruit, vegetables, and a live goat (complete with floral decorations). Celestia made us promise not to let our hosts cook the goat for dinner! (A very real possibility.) As we looked out a the faces of the patients, many of whom are completely out of their minds due to their trauma, and the dedicated staff, I don't believe I have ever been more humbled by a gift in my entire life.

They asked us again this year if we would go into each room of the clinic so they could briefly share the stories of each resident (told by the staff) and then we could pray for each of them individually. What a heart rending yet beautiful experience we had to minister to these suffering people. The stories are absolutely mind boggling. The most painful was a little girl who was probably the most traumatized in the clinic. She could only stand with her arms out and shake and babble incoherently. Two years ago she was raped in her village by 5 militia members. She still has unhealed wounds on her back and waist from the attack and has lost her sanity. Celestia held her while she prayed with her and gave her a red comforter that my mother had made. It had the words of a Christian hymn on it that Celestia read to her. That was the one time we saw her smile. We will send a picture of that moment when we return. Her situation and so many others seems utterly hopeless but when we heard that her name is Naama ("grace" in Swahili) we were given the faith to trust that the God who healed the other Naama last year who was catatonic from her rape could also heal this Naama.

This probably all sounds rather surreal and beyond belief but we have seen over and over with our eyes and heard with our ears both the incredible evil and suffering that is endemic to eastern Congo as well as the miracles God does through prayer and the faithful work of his people. Please pray with us for Naama's healing and for God to guide the faithful abuse workers at this clinic (CIPIMA) and the other 35 or so abuse ministries who sent workers to our seminars.

Finally, please pray for our team's continued health as we return and pray specifically for Cassie Kassali and for Heather. Cassie and David were our hosts and are the founders of Congo Initiative. Cassie had to be hospitalized this week for 3 days. She has been very ill with typhoid. Heather is an American who has been living with the Kassalis and ministering in Congo for several months. She is very ill with serious kidney complications from malaria and typhoid. She flew back with our team today and her health insurance company after seeing her blood results immediately arranged for a nurse to stay with her tonight in Kampala (with our team). They have chartered a flight for her to the US tomorrow morning.

There are many challenges here which makes the Lord so more more real and precious. We have been so privileged to serve abuse survivors, care givers, and Christian leaders in Congo and are already talking about what we might do next year. We can't thank you enough for your prayers and financial support to make this trip possible. As our Ugandan friend Jumah said 2 weeks ago when I was sick "the Devil is a liar and a thief but Jesus is Lord!"

Your fellow servants to the broken,

Steve and Celestia

Blog from Peggy (a good update!)

The following blog is from Peggy Bilsten, former vice-mayor of Phoenix and a good friend of mine and fellow teammate here in DRC:

Greetings from the Democratic Republic of Congo!  We are beginning our third round of conferences.  So many people have walked miles to be here every day.  As being reported on the news in the U.S., the rape and oppression of women is off the charts.  So many are children, and they are in need of hope.  They so appreciate the trauma and abuse seminars, and the workbooks that are a pathway to healing.  There are many NGOs who are attending the conference. Over 38.  While they have been trained in relief, many have not been trained in the extreme trauma of rape.  I am so thankful to see them here.  We have seen many documentaries on the Rape of Congo, but what I have experienced these last 2 weeks is hope.  We are empowering the leaders to lead with integrity and recognize that evil has become a part of warfare here.  On Sunday Dan (check out his blog), who has served the U.S. well, not only overseas, and for 5 years, but also here in Congo.  Dan had the opportunity to speak to the military leaders, and encouraged them to think of their Mothers Sisters Daughters when they come into contact with woman, children in and out of warfare.  As a result of Dan’s seminar we now have a direct link to the governor of Congo.  He has invited me back to moderate a seminar between the leaders of Goma, Beni, Butembo, Bunia, inviting them to unite as they rebuild, and have the opportunity to show the world their strength and commitment to the healing and empowering woman and children.  That’s hope. 

We have also been blessed to be with women and children who have gone through tremendous abuse and begin a micro-business program.  We have had over 60 women sign up.  They will be learning business principles, marketing, and most importantly self-sufficiency.  As they were signing up, they were so filled with hope they cried, and they danced.

It has been such a blessing to be at the new university that so many of you have supported.  Thank you.  Besides providing for excellent, unconventional education, it is a  place of conflict resolution where leaders from all over the region feel safe and empowered to speak and find solutions other than violence.

I will be sending another update, but as you can see by the few I have mentioned, I am so humbled to be a part of what is going on in Congo, and I am off to the next amazing conference...

Eric

Eric, my buddy, who is a sojourner here at UCBC, created a voicemail for the UCBC computer lab today that says this:
"Thank you for calling 'Hairbrushes R US' of Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo. Our normal operating hours are 5 am to 6 pm."

He said some other stuff too, anyways! he's funny... i'll edit this blog when i remember that hilarious conversation better. Anyways... pray for this brother as he's been giving of himself for a long time and he's a humble servant of the Lord. Thanks

Post 3: Nama

The incredible story of Nama (Post 2) has just been expanded. Yesterday the village chief’s older brother passed away so our conference for abuse survivors was cancelled and we attended the funeral. It was a surreal experience that I hope to write about at a later time. I want to tell you about Nama….
As soon as we left from the funeral we walked towards our cars to head back to Dr. Kisali’s house where we are living. And there Abia, the lady that runs the clinic aforementioned that Nama used to be hospitalized at, walked up and greeted us with her massive smile. She, in broken English, told Celestia “I have brought Nama, she is here” and then Nama appeared. We all were taken aback by the transformation. Where once had been a hollow shell of a human, looking in her mid-40’s, and bound so she wouldn’t kill herself, was a young 22-yr old woman full of life! Celestia, Christine, and Steve were dumbfounded. Abia went on to tell us that she had driven some 75 miles past Butembo and 5 km into the bush to find Nama and bring her. As we sat down with these ladies and a lady named Francine and a “psychologist”, the real story unfolded.
Nama goes on to explain, slowly and through a translator, that she is doing well living in her village. She has decided not to marry the man who raped her, even though she has completely forgiven him, and he has become a man of God. She says she is waiting for a man who is worthy of her. It was incredible! She also speaks to the other rape victims in her village and beseeches them to keep their children from rape. She tells them they are created in the image of God… Then Celestia and Steve recounted their experience with her at the clinic last year in which she was catatonic and had complex PTSD and was actively trying to commit suicide. When Celestia had prayed for her at the clinic Nama held onto this cross that was around Celestia’s neck… Celestia, in her joy, reached from Nama’s hand and said “we’ve been praying for you every day since last year, and now you’re a woman who has experienced Christ’s redeeming power, and I want you to have this cross (she was wearing it still) that you were holding on to last year when we prayed for you.” And with that, Celestia put the cross on Nama, and she cried…. I can’t really give and eloquent explanation of what went on, and there is so much to say…. But, It was just amazing. This broken woman, with so little to have hope for, finding complete healing in Christ… It is a miracle story. “in Christ we are a new creation….”

Thanks for listening! More on the way…. Dan

Congo Photo series 6

Let's see: my backpack, some kids, the "Vatican Kiosque", A UCBC student, and a "UCBC Beni" vehicle placard. Good stuff.

Congo Photo series 5

Some photos of "the women without homes" and other scenes from Congo....

Congo Photo series 4

Here are some photos from when I spoke to the soldiers on Integrity as a soldier and prevention of violence towards women. This group of officers and chaplains was a mix-match of Congolese soldiers, some of which were former rebels. It was daunting to stare in the faces of men who knew much more about war than I did. Deep within the "rape capital of the world", in a stick tent, I was given the opportunity to speak with the Governor of Kivu's assistant, Valare, about sexual violence towards women. It was incredible. I felt the prayers of the multitudes that day, and each word I uttered to these men I count as a gift from God. Never have I felt so exactly where I should be. There was no need to accuse the men so I just showed them using truth and scripture that it's our job to defend women and children, not rape them, not hurt them. With power comes responsibility....The men took it well and responded with words of affirmation that they will take this issue and discuss it with their men. After Valare, the assistant/counsel to the Governor, gave a sermon, somewhat about what I had spoken about, we were dismissed. An older man, a chaplain of some kind came up to me and said very slowly and deliberately, in broken English, "I. love. youu". It was beautiful and powerful. Thank you for your prayers....

Congo Photo series 3

Here are a few more photos of the Congo, the pastor's conference, and of the prostituted women's conference... such an incredible experience. God is moving...

Prayer request: Heather

Hey my beloved friends out there in the "real" world, please be in prayer for a dear friend here in Congo. Her name is Heather Wright and she's one of the teachers/helpers here at UCBC University here in Beni, DRC, where we are staying. She's an awesome woman of the Lord and has been such a servant to us on the MTS team in every way. In her past few months here she's had run-ins with Typhoid and Malaria and as a result contracted a kidney infection, which she's been fighting since. Now she is very sick and fears her kidneys may be shutting down. Eastern DRC is not the place to deal with such a serious situation so she may have to fly to Nairobi, but more likely, head back to Wisconsin for the treatment that she may require. It's a pretty serious situation and her prayer is that she will know what she should do, since leaving is not what she wants to do. Also, if God is willing, we pray that she would know healing. Please join me and our whole team in praying for this woman with a servant's heart for the Lord. Thanks!

Dan

Congo Photo series 2

Hello All, here is some more photos of me speaking, the conference, kids, people, you know... I'm taking hundreds and hundreds of photos, I look forward to getting them posted as long as we have internet (it's been down for the past two days)! I love you all, and know that the conferences are going amazing. Today a ton of people came to the Lord.....
Praise God!
dan

Congo Photo series 1

I want to share with you an amazing quote that my friend Lindsay (we went to Malawi together) sent to me, and is SO applicable to things here. Thank you Lindsay, continue your work for Him in Argentina. It's from "A life interrupted" about a girl in Aushwitz who was killed along with her family....

"Dear God, these are anxious times. Tonight for the first time I lay in the dark with burning eyes as scene after scence of human suffering passed before me. I shall promise you one thing, God, just one small thing; I shall not burden my today with cares about my tomorrow. I shall try to help you, God, to stop by strength from ebbing away... All that really matters is that we safeguard that little piece of you, God in ourselves. I defend your dwelling place inside me to the last... And there are those who want to put their bodies in safe keeping but who are nothing more than a shelter for a thousand fears and bitter feelings. And they say 'I shan't let them get me into their clutches', but they forget that no one is in their clutches who is in your arms "

Post 2: Congo & Hope

Friends:

Never have I been on the cutting edge of ministry as I am now. God is moving mightily. The Democratic Republic of Congo is simply different than anything else I’ve ever experienced. As the bush plane we took to the Congo descended into Beni over the lush rainforest of Ituri, I had to take a gasp at the immense beauty, never imagining the destruction and utter hopelessness that seemed to be all that I’d ever heard concerning this country to be true. But the people are lovely… and exploited and lied to and in bondage like I’ve never experienced before. Mending the Soul is here in Beni (now that Goma has fell back into violence) with the Congo Initiative to minister to the broken people of Congo. The rubber meets the road here. This is where the modern west and traditional Africa collide. This is where the bible meets myth. This is where colonization’s legacy is played out in ways that I could only dream of prior to experiencing it myself. The culture here is as far from mine, yet somehow so alike, as I can imagine. Africa has always posed a conundrum with me, and Congo has only further complicated that paradigm.

I don’t want to give too many details now until I’ve processed the complex situations that I’ve experienced since being involved with this, but the youth track of our complex has been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. Healthy-sexuality has everything to do with everything in Africa. It is one of the most key aspects of every major issue in this amazing continent. One might not gather that when thinking of poverty, war, famine, and other issues commonly attributed to “the dark continent”, but the patriarchy, war, rape, family dysfunction, poverty, AIDS, corruption, and many other issues are intrinsically linked with sexuality. I’ve seen its destruction in America. Here it has defined life and death. There is hope with the youth though…. I have hope for them, we all do, and we know God is faithful to complete what He has started, for God is able to do ALL things, no matter the difficulty we perceive. Moment by moment we are all reminded just how much God has to be at the center of all of this. He is the ONLY hope for the Congo, no amount of “free love” and NGO aid will fix the issues of the DRC, and the greatest leaders of the Congo echo these sentiments. Only Christ can heal this land. Period. I won’t attempt to explain all the dynamics at this time, but I will tell you this: after copious amounts of facing the reality of abuse-acceptance, victim-blaming, traumatizing-rape stories, clergy-denial, and a profound misunderstanding of sexuality, there is hope. The people here have a respect for scripture that is allowing for repentance on a large scale and normal people going to great lengths to care for the abused and to change their country back for Christ.

I want to share with you a story. A story that could change your life. I’ve only just begun to understand what it means in my life. Read. Absorb. Be changed.

Last year when the MTS team was here in Beni with the Congo Initiative they traveled to the nearby city of Butembo and went to the local mental hospital. There they faced the reality and aftermath of war: raped women who were so traumatized they could no longer function. Rape is always evil, but the rape in Congo is of a caliber that it is hard to express the profound destruction that is given to women who experience this rape. Steve and Celestia Tracy, the founders of Mending the Soul Ministries (MTS), were there to minister to the people there, and met a woman who was so traumatized she no longer could do anything for herself. PTSD doesn’t even describe the reality this woman lived in, her eyes were hollow and blank. She had been brutally raped by the rebels while she lived in her village, and had gotten pregnant from that tragedy, and in turn resented the child, and to top it off her village had rejected her, leaving her socially ostracized. Hell was her life on earth. And it is in this dire existence lies the most amazing story of redemption ever told, a story that could change the world… Celestia took a photo of this woman, Nama, was here name. The photo captures Nama’s empty eyes, her empty soul. That photo came back to the United States, became a painting that was eventually put into an MTS healing workbook. It haunted the Tracy’s thoughts and prayers for a year. The debilitating trauma of rape in the eyes of those who have experienced it will do that to someone. They never forgot her. God answers prayers. This year as we were here in Beni, at the conference, the ladies who worked at that mental hospital were here reporting on their work with rape survivors. After they spoke, Celestia and Steve went and talked to the ladies and brought along that book with the photo of the woman in it. They asked the ladies “Do you know this woman?” and the ladies said, “Yes, we know this woman!” and Steve and Celestia said “We have been praying for her for a year now, how is she?!” and then the best story told in decades was unfolded from women whose eyes wept with the ramifications of epic.
“Her name is Nama, which means ‘Grace’ in Swahili”, they said. “She was one of the most traumatized women we’ve had, but God did a work through us to her. Over the past year she has healed from her abuse completely. She can function as a normal person, loves her child, has moved back to her village and again can work in the fields. She has experienced amazing healing and her love for Christ is real. God has done an incredible work in her! But there is more. The man who raped her, and left her with child, has left his evil life in the bush and has given his life to Christ. He repented from his sinful and destructive life and has sought to turn completely around. He is actually from the same village as Nama is from and now has fallen in love with Nama and they are to be married! He is submitting himself to the leadership and discipleship of the church for two years to ensure that he has thoroughly changed from his past and that he is the man he must be to marry this woman he nearly destroyed. He doesn’t do this because he feels he musts, or because of some cultural reason, but because he has turned away and experienced Christ!”

This story of redemption has the power to destroy our fragile framework about what is possible, and build up in that void the truth; God can do all things, and he can redeem fully all things.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Please pray earnestly for healing in this land. Thank You, Dan

Ps. I miss the comments at www.glocaldan.blogspot.com ! Hook a brutha up!

Post 1: Dubai

It is 1:35 AM in Dubai, U.A.E. and I spent my 4th of July flying over the US, Canada, France, most of middle Europe, Turkey, and best yet, IRAN. Iran was beautiful, and it was awesome to see a country most people never see. It was a great flight from Houston to Dubai!

It has been a long time since I've been to this wonderful place, but the people are even more friendlier than I'd remembered! Our time in Dubai has been splendid, although our grand plans to go out on the town have been thwarted by collective tiredness. Not so much me, but you can't do much alone here... it's safe, but still not wise. It's good to get back and collect my thoughts here at the "Dream Palace" Hotel near Dubai Airport (where i got to hear my first call to prayer in a while...). The 14 hour flight from Houston was quite enjoyable and I spent the entire time next to really cool girl from Pakistan heading back to where he family is from, Karachi. She was a Muslim and we had a cool discussion about getting ink (tattoos) done of scriptures from our Holy Books, mine being the bible, and hers being the Q'aran. She said she would get Henna done when she was back in Pakistan. Anyways, the flight was good, already there have been small hiccups but the Lord is with our team, even though, as aforementioned, we've only been growing in weakness.

I've been anxious a little today however. I'm trying to focus on what I'm to be doing so soon, but i don't feel prepared, nor do I feel that my heart is exactly where it should be. I'm afraid of interpersonal relationships and issues getting in the way of things. At one point tonight i just had to put my head down and just say "God, I need your strength". I've already gotten, not annoyed, but apprehensive. I guess I'm just used to being on my own. I don't mind being in a leadership position, which i kinda am here, but I'm a lot more independent than some people think. At any rate, it isn't about me, and I am excited to see what God is going to do in the Congo through this team. I'm even more excited to spend a decent while in Uganda. We've got some great interns (Coreen, Hannah, & Sarah) and it will be great to see them love on the boys of African Hearts. The work in my heart is one of love too, and it is asymmetrical loving, if you will, in that I need to rest much more in Christ's love of me, so that I may know love of others and give love to others. Satan has been working overtime to get me down and steal my joy, but I hope in Christ that it won't happen. Pray for me and the team.

well, i should be going, but i thought I'd leave you with a little reminder of home, the good ole' American Starbucks, in the Middle East.




Love ya!

dan

sushi before bed

I'm going to go ahead and admit I've eaten Sushi twice in the past 24 hours. I don't want to say I'm "entitled" to it because I won't be able to eat it for two months, but I have just been craving it like crazy, and I know a great sushi place you can get it on the fly.  The "Vegas" roll at EastWinds Sushi is simply legit. Today I actually ate it with Mike (blog), who came up to hang out and give me a break from the insanity of my packing and everything. It was awesome. We listened to The Killers (I admit, I'm on a kick) and the new Coldplay (both really, really good) and talked about Uganda. Mike used to work for Invisible Children in San Diego, which is how I know him, so he's got a huge heart for Uganda as well. He actually came to the awesome party we had at Abby's on Saturday, where there was people from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, and even a couple, though few, Americans! Mike said "Dude, I love the friends you and Abby have! It makes me miss Africa." I know what he means... they were so great, just having so much community and laughter, the party didn't end until 1 AM, which is much later than we'd anticipated... but it was awesome... lots of laughter and interesting stories... Anyways... 

Today I finished my last class. I'm not going to miss the "intro to the exceptional learner class", but I really enjoyed my Speech class. I've mentioned it a number of times in my blog and I will miss how spiritually enlightening it was. And I don't mean that in a metaphysical, but a literal, we-are-all-created-in-the-image-of-the-invisible kind of way. I learned much about the human condition in that class and about people's hunger for God... it was evident in almost every speech. It was encouraging, especially with all these fears about the "new atheism", it was peace-inducing to know that God can't be kept out of people's lives, even when we, as a society seem hell-bent on trying our hardest... I mean "God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), so as C.S. Lewis said "A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." 

Leaving ("in a jet plane") in 13 hours. Just wanted to slow it down and let the caffeine get in the bloodstream... no sleep tonight...

Love you all. You'll hear from me next as I spend the 4th of July in, what better place(?), the Middle East! 

Dan

Congo/Uganda 2008

Friends... 

It has been too long since I've last written you. Many of you do know that I am leaving the country soon, Thursday to be exact, and many of you have written, sent money, prayed (and hopefully will continue to do so), and called in support of my journey back to Africa for the Summer of 2008. Thank you for that! 

This journey has already proven to be much different than the past times I've journeyed to the continent which I love... but the Lord has been good, as He always is, and has provided not only monetarily for me, but in all the things I need, whether it be the life lessons, time, or just relationships that are going to be crucial to my service in Africa... for that I am eternally grateful and hope that through these emails I'll be sending you will be able to hear and experience much of what God is doing in the African continent. 

As most of you know I am going to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the first third of my time in Africa. The opportunity was given to me by Mending the Soul Ministries, an abuse healing and counseling ministry here in Phoenix. Every year they take Pastors, Counselors, a gynecologist (once), and people who love the Lord to minister to the broken people in the DRC, one of the most afflicted areas on the planet. In many parts of the area we will be in, if you're a woman and you haven't been raped, you're the minority. The amount of sexual violence in this area is simply profound. One doesn't have to think too long about how this affects the very social and spiritual fabric of this beautiful and yet tortured land before realizing that this reality changes everything. Rape is being used as a weapon of war.  If you'd like to read up on it, click this link HERE. Our purpose in going is to take our expertise we've been blessed with (more others than me ;-) and bless those in the Congo. We do not go to export our American values, but to share Kingdom values and principles with the common people, the perpetrators of evil, and caregivers. To empower the women and prostitutes to dream and know there is healing and hope. To free the men to understand women's equality and value, which allows them to be men. To free the youth from following in destructive patterns of violence and abuse. To share Christ with a broken world that will simply blow your mind. Specifically for me I am sharing the topics of Abstinence and "Satan's lies about sexuality" (I'm an expert. Just Kidding.) with the youth, and speaking with soldiers about the ethical treatment of women, since they commit most of the atrocities. I'm also the trip photographer and general "go to" guy... I hope they've picked the right guy!

But Satan does not want this trip to happen. Already we've had massive changes come up for this trip. A complete change of location in the Congo at the last minute, to name one of the problems. But God has hooked us up. Period.. and he's in the business of being God now as much as ever. It was brought up today at our final, and hectic, meeting tonight that we have only grown in weakness since we started to work towards this adventure in seeking the Lord in a foreign land. It's been one rough patch after the other... but in our weakness, He is exceedingly strong. As it was pointed out today it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 " 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." His power, that is Christ's power, is sufficient, and overflowing... that's what we're claiming for this trip, we have to because we're not prepared and we're coming to a place where we have to rest on the Lord, because apart from Him we will inevitably fail. It's beautiful. Also my "anchor verse" for this trip is Matt 11:28-30 which says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." This is pertinent to me because I am weary and burdened, and leaning on Christ is hard for me to do, but when I do I know peace... 

From Congo I will be returning with the team to Uganda, but not leaving as soon as they will be. I'm staying until the 16th of August. The rest of my summer in Uganda I'll be working at African Hearts Community Organization with Abby, Lutaaya, and 3 Interns from ASU we have convinced (against their will of course ;-) to travel with us to Uganda. Chiefly our initial work is preparing the new land in Ssenge (essentially a village-esque suburb of Kampala) for the arrival of the new street kids. There are over 1,000,000 million street kids in Uganda. That is a lot. Think about that statistic.... our goal is to bring in a dozen of them off the streets and love them to death. This is where it all begins and this is where Abby will be eventually spending the next many years of her life serving these new boys so it is definitely an exciting time! I am looking forward to just being there, grasping the ministry of presence a little more, and further understanding my role in this passionate pursuit of a life-changing environment that we seek, with the Lord's help & guidance, to create at African Hearts. It's hard to step in to it all when you're 10,000 miles away, but when you're there... finally there, you just have to drink it in.... and, again, know peace....

Thank you for your prayers and support thus far, please continue to pray about the things mentioned below

Prayer Requests

-Congo team adhesion and grace for one another and that we make it to Congo, not only safe, but with our supplies and sanity

-The people who we will be ministering too in Beni and for David Kisali of Congo Initiative

-All the people of Goma who are suffering greatly in this time of social upheaval that never really ends

-African Hearts: for the 'old' boys and for the new boys as they leave their marginalized and tragic lives 

-for the Ugandan leaders and interns at African Hearts (Lutaaya, Rosco, Tony, Jr., Jessica, Abby[blog], Myself, and the interns, Sarah, Hannah, & Coreen[blog])

-that the spiritual battles would be fought with us by those of you back on the home front in prayer!

-that I would have a servant's heart and be able to speak His words to those people I'm speaking to

-that my clarity increases concerning my future at African Hearts and my future in general, and that I can trust Him in all those things

-my sponsored boy at African Hearts, Eugene

-Pray for God to do what only he can do, bring hope to one of the most tragic places on our small planet.

Thank you for your prayers. They go before us, paving the way and lighting our path.

Feel free to write me here while I'm gone and feel free to comment too! the other team member's blogs are listed on the left side as well 

My iPod has enough Thrice and mewithoutYou to last me a while, so as long as my Bible still in my backpack, I'm off! Praise be to the Lord! I love you all. 

 ~Dan~

Congo/Uganda

July 3rd-August 17th, 2008

family

"Family"

circa 2008

David & Goliath

David:

I had one of the most pleasant and uplifting conversations of my recent life today with my friend David C concerning our individual journeys. If you've ever met David you would understand why engaging in such a conversation would be so fulfilling. At this moment in time he is in Pennsylvania just living life, and this is but one step of many that he's taken since he set out to wrestle the world and dig deeper than he ever has before. To question what hadn't been questioned. To rest where rest hadn't been found. It is always my distinct pleasure to hear his insights and to partake, in a small way, in his adventures and experiences. I've gleaned much wisdom even thus far just from his profound insight. It is notable to mention how interesting it is to speak to someone and know he genuinely cares about you when he talks to you... All my friends care about me more than I could wish for, I do not doubt that one bit, and I hope I show them all an equal or greater amount of friendship and commitment in return, but David, by his very nature, engages you and draws out of you the deeper parts of the soul. Today he spoke well of me, which was an honor, and one i hope to repay in the future, but he offered me great advice concerning my time in Africa, advice that was apt in so many ways. He said "Dan, you're on of the most intelligent people I know, and sometimes you can get ahead of yourself... which is something I find myself doing as well, but when you're in the Congo and you're helping to lead a team in real ministry and talking with people, slow down... take the time to say what you say simply and well, and in situations where there is issues, speak slower than them, and speak quieter as well. I think it would prove to be beneficial to you." Mind you David is much more eloquent than that, and i am paraphrasing, but his advice was just what I needed. His confidence in me, as a friend I think very highly of, and one who understands me so well for our brief friendship, was very timely and I will carry that advice into my time, my speeches, and even my manuscripts (lol)! So David, if you happen to read this thing, Thanks! 

Goliath:

Have you ever just drove by a Hometown Buffet and just thought to yourself "I'm going to eat there."? That's what I did today. Now, this is not normal for me, because unless I'm out with kyle or chris, the BBQ kings, I eat pretty healthily. But today it was calling me in, the siren song of unlimited food, of the Goliath of an American celebration of excess, one last shot at getting fat before Africa, drew me in. I met Goliath.... I had nothing but two plates of food (I used to do 5 or 6) to show for myself, and it was by far the worst Hometown Buffet I've ever been to, but it was quite the experience. I mean, spectrum mall: the Htown Buffett was in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Oh yeah.  I people watched as I read "The Macho Paradox", which is, by the way, one of the best books I've ever read. I saw a dude with a mohawk listening to a discman and hitting stop signs with his hands because he thought it was cool. That's right folks, a CD player. I saw the requisite (for the area) homeless and mentally ill, but it felt strangely familiar, as I never want to be too far away from the real world (but somehow self-servingly detached enough? Hmmm). The parking lot had a plethora of American vehicles, which is a good sign you're deep in something. What, no Prius'? (is there a plural for Prius yet? Prii [pree-I]?)And the guy in the lifted F-150 about ran me over but his 75 cent stickers said many intelligent things like "get in. sit down. shut up. hold on." and other pithy comments about people in general. In the restaurant here was an adorable little girl running around too, even the Htown had enough hispanic people in it to give it a blessed air of community as the little girl drew everyone unto herself that we might have an excuse to share in her delightful antics together. It was a blessing actually. What was not a blessing however was the food. Man... call me a hippy, but I love my organic food... this deep fried stuff ain't happenin' for me. I'm leaving this country in like 70 hours but I'll never forget where I'm coming from with this 10 pounds of grease and "fast-food-nation-guilt" in my stomach....