The Hope of Glory

 

Today was a very special day of celebration here in eastern Uganda. Just wait until you see Dr. Bartha’s smile and Walter and Joey’s outfits!

The day began in the backyard of the Mount Elgon hotel. Garrett led us in a devotional about righteousness.

Walter, Pat, Joey. Andrew, and Rudi were blessed to attend the graduation ceremony for the Bible Church that our church helps support Covenant Bible Institute of Theology in Mbale. It was an all day affair. We arrived and Walter and Joey got dressed for their part in the ceremony.

The entire ceremony lasted about four hours, with a couple handful of speeches, two full sermons, one given by our beloved pastor Walter, and certificates and awards, which Joey helped to hand out. There were also about five different musical performances. The marching band did not show, otherwise it would have been even more (this is not a joke).

When all the ceremony part of the ceremony was over, the graduates were called up one at a time. When they were called, their family and friends enthusiastically joined them and walked them to their diploma. One guy got lifted and carried back to his seat, like the ending of Rudy. It was an infectiously joyful occasion.

Rudi received a real blessing on our way out as a man approached him and thanked him for his sermon at the Akalabai crusade last night. This is especially neat because none of us knew who the man was and the ceremony where we saw him was in Mbale (a long drive from the crusade in the village).

The rest of the group went to Lulwanda Chidrens’ Home for a visit. Dr. Bartha got to meet a boy (about 17 yrs. of age) that he has been sponsoring for years and exchanging letters with but had never met in person. The people at the home taught our team how to make chipoti, which was a delight. 

Our experienced Uganda Team members remarked how grown some of the children they see each year are getting. There are 12 new children there and they have started a transition home to help prepare the orphans for life on their own. The water well that the church sponsored in 2008 is still operational and is in the picture below.

After these two very different, but blessed, experiences, the team met back at the hotel and headed out to Dr. Bartha’s new clinic and home in Atekwan. To say the team was incredibly moved by the experience is an understatement.

The clinic has been operational since early November of last year. It is open every single day and thanks to Dr. Bartha’s efforts, it is almost completely free for the people. The team estimates that the circle of influence has a radius of about 7 kilometers and that most who come to the clinic come on foot. The clinic sees a little over 40 patients a day. There are 22 people on staff, including Dr. Bartha and two other doctors (Luke and Paul), security officers, nurses, a driver, lab technician, accountant, etc. The clinic has its own lab with a microscope, a very small pharmacy, and an ultrasound machine.The clinic costs about $6,000 to operate monthly. And the incredible staff has visions of opening another clinic at some point in the future in another area.

If there are severe cases in the clinic, they drive people to the Mbale hospital. This was the case with a baby just hours before we arrived. The infant had severe malaria and malnutrition. Much of the sickness they see is malaria. Dr. Luke said that about 85% of the malaria tests they do come up positive. And about 80% of those positives are severe cases. There has also been 15 babies delivered at the clinic so far. There is a meager overnight ward for those who need an IV or some treatment overnight. It was full of sick babies when we were there and we took the opportunity, along with the staff, to pray for them. We prayed for many people at the clinic. It was a humbling, powerful, and unifying experience. We are so thankful to be included within the body of Christ. And so thankful for what we witnessed today.

 Our team was inspired to see the place where Dr. Bartha has chosen to live out his calling. They affectionately call Dr. Bartha “Dr. Okia”. Okia means ‘medicine’ in their language. He works six days a week. On work days, he goes to the clinic and leaves for a short time during the morning to speak at schools about nutrition and healthy living. Some days, he has to go to Mbale for medicine or to another village to do some aid there.

As our team was led around the humble, yet very clean, clinic, we prayed over the rooms, the doctors, and the patients that were there. Our team felt the unmistakeable presence of Jesus in the clinic. We saw some sick babies come in and it was heartbreaking. But as Dr. Bartha said, “they will get better.” Unfortunately, we cannot share all of the great pictures we took on this post. Even more unfortunately, we cannot adequately express how wonderful this ministry is, how blessed we felt to be there, how beloved Dr. Okia is in that place, and how much the presence of God permeated the clinic. There was immense suffering, but in the midst of it, a peace that passes understanding.

The Bible says that we ought to glory in our suffering because suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. The Cross Emergency Medical Clinic is a place of suffering, but through perseverance it has produced characters like Dr. Bartha. And so, The Cross Emergency Medical Clinic is a place of hope. As Garrett said after praying for a woman, “they joy of Jesus is that she will be healed, either in this life or the next.”

 Walter presented a cross, hand made by someone at FPC Midland, to the clinic as we enjoyed some conversation about what the Lord is doing in the medical clinic and how valuable Dr. Bartha's mission has been to the community.

 

We also had the chance to visit Dr. Okia’s residence and see that our beloved friend and team member is being very well looked after, affirmed, and valued in a beautiful home as well as at the clinic. He describes it as a place of peace and it certainly feels that way. The view is incredible. We prayed over the house with Dr. Bartha. It was such a joy to be with him today and to see, quite clearly, that he is home.

After dinner and a debrief, our team entered into an exercise wherein we uplift one another. We started with a name (Rudi was first) and then went all the way around the circle and every team member spoke to Rudi’s giftings and how they saw the Kingdom in him. It took us over an hour, with a flood of tears and a thundercloud of laughter, to get through six people. We are planning to continue tomorrow.

 Our time in Uganda is rapidly coming to an end. But, there is still ministry to be done. The Lord is still at work here and has a bit more before we head home. Pray for us as we try to finish strong and, as always, to abide in Him.

Thanks for all your prayers and support,

The 2015 Uganda Mission Team