HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Wow, it is really weird being in 80 degree plus heat at this time of the year. Usually I am home in MA with my family freeeeeezing!! I wanted to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving and that I am thinking of all of you as you are home in good ole’ US of A enjoying some turkey, stuffing, potatoes etc. Angie and I went over to Jerry and Candis Bingham’s house yesterday to celebrate Thanksgiving together. We had chicken instead of turkey, stuffing, jello, biscuits, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw. To finish off the night, apple pie!! AWESOME!! It reminded me of being at my Grandparents house up in Maine. We played some darts and had a lot of great conversations. Always so good to have the fellowship!

 

This week has been great thus far. Last Friday I moved into an apartment. So praise God for providing that! It has a wall around it with a large metal gate (no guard with an AK-47 is needed). There are four apartments in one row. Angie is in the first one, William and Gerry John are in the second one, some Ugandan men are in the third, and I am in the last one. They all have two bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and a kitchen. The floors are tiled and bars on all of the windows and doors. They are so great!! I will try and post some pictures of the apartment.

 

I am starting to get my feet wet with some ministry here and have enjoyed talking and sharing with many of the staff at the ACTION office. I am excited to be working alongside the Men’s ministry team who minister at a new site each day of the week. They minister at two different prisons, a hospital, ex-boy soldiers (Men of New Life), and various Internally Displaced Persons camps (IDP). On Tuesday I went to hang out with the Men of New Life at the Men’s center. The ACTION men share from the Word of God for about 35-45 minutes then distribute some break and a soda for each of the men. There are about 25-30 that show up each week. Some of the men have amputated limbs, some are blind, and some have only one eye. All from being a soldier in the LRA. There is one man in particular who is now born-again and is one of the four Men of New Life leaders. He was Joseph Kony’s personal bishop. Kony told this man to rewrite the 10 Commandments so that Kony would be able to kill people and not feel as if he was going against God’s Word. Pretty messed up I say!

 

The Commonwealth is in Kampala for the next week and there is much going on. Today is a public holiday because of CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Gov’t Meeting).

 

Many of you have been praying for me and the ministry here. I want to tell each of you that each day I feel the prayers that you lift up to God. I know in my heart that you are praying for me and even though I have been sick a few times already it has strengthened me in Christ and brought me closer to Him! Please continue to lift up the ACTION Gulu team as we press on to share the love and truth of Christ with the Acholi people.

 

Up and coming Event!

On Sunday Angie and I will be accompanying Jerry and Candis for a special children’s church program at the ACTION orphanage called Home of Love. Please pray that this time would be glorifying and honoring to God and that they children would be blessed and encouraged in Christ. Snapshots will follow!

 

Please pray:

-That all of the ACTION Gulu staff would remain healthy. (Angie Lauer, Jerry & Candis Bingham, William & Gerry John, and me).

-That the Word of Christ would go forth with power and conviction.

-That the Ugandan ACTION staff would continue to minister well to their own.

-For the Muslim mosque that is right down the street from the ACTION office. Pray that they would see the truth of Christ and repent and believe in Him.

-That the ministries here at ACTION would continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Until the nets are full,

Adam Hussey

adhussey@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Fish Pond

Pictures

Here are some pictures. My motorbike, the fishpond and some of the child mother’s huts.

3 Days of Fasting and Prayer

This Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we had three days of fasting and prayer. Jerry wanted to dedicate all of our ministries to the Lord through prayer and fasting. Tuesday all of the ACTION staff went to the Village of Hope. This is where the child mothers live with their children that they had while they were in the LRA. There are about 45 women that live in round huts in a gated community, which ACTION built. These women stay for 6 months then move on to live on their own and another group comes in. There is a clinic going up as well that will be for these women and the surrounding community. Also this is where Jerry built fishpond, which is a new ministry here at ACTION. It was great to be able to pray for these women and children and for the fishpond and clinic. I walked into one of the huts and a woman was standing there so I prayed for her. She introduced me to her two daughters, one was around 2 and a half and the other one was just 2 weeks old. I asked her the names and she told me the name of the older daughter but she didn’t yet have a name for the younger one. She asked me if I would give her a strong biblical name. I thought she was joking, but she didn’t look like she was kidding. So I told her Rebekah. Then she said pick another name so that I can compare the two and pick which one I like best. I then told her that I liked Sarah. She chose Rebekah. I cannot believe that I was given the opportunity to name a child! I am attaching a picture of the child mother holding her daughter Rebekah.  Wednesday the ACTION staff went to the Home of Love orphanage. Here about 55 children from baby to 14 live. They go to school, are fed, and have daily activities at the orphanage. It is also a gated community with two dorm buildings, a large meeting building with a cement floor and thatched roof, and a building for the kitchen. I wasn’t to involved with this day of prayer because yesterday morning I woke up very sick. I still stuck it out and went with the ACTION staff to the orphanage but was in rough shape. After telling Jerry my symptoms he told me that it was an amoeba of some sort that was in my stomach. I had a horrible stomach ache, which turned into a bad headache. I slept most of the afternoon yesterday. I woke up this morning feeling much better but really weak because I hadn’t eaten anything yesterday except a banana and lots of water.  Today I am lying low, but the ACTION staff is at the office praying for the ACTION buildings, such as the maintenance buildings, the kitchen, the staff rooms, etc. Then they will head over to ACTIONS men ministry building where a few of the ACTION men meet and have bible studies and coordinate men’s outreach opportunities. I hope to be working here with ex-boy soldiers. In terms of the ex-boy soldiers I have some really great news. The commonwealth is coming to Uganda this year, it’s the last week of November. The Queen is attending, along with 52 head of government and 5,000 delegates. Since the commonwealth is coming to Uganda a lot of things are being worked on, such as roads, buildings, etc. The commonwealth also is sponsoring a technical school for ex-boy and ex-girl soldiers. It is right here in Gulu!! It is about 30 minutes from our ACTION office. Jerry and I went with two of the men’s ministry guys to see it. It is almost done and will be ready to open for the February term. There will be a wood shop, electrical shop, two dormitories, a main admissions building, and a couple of other types of trades. There is room for about 600 I think. The best part about this is that the manager of the entire facility is a pastor!! We are hoping to start bible studies there when things get up and running. What an awesome outreach that this could be!!  Please pray for:-The child mothers who are leaving the ACTION program.-The fishpond. That it would produce a great harvest.-The clinic, which isn’t finished yet. That God would use it and bless it for His glory.-The new child mothers and their children as a new group come in a couple of months. -The ACTION staff. For perseverance and strength.-For this ex-soldier facility and that God would allow ACTION to get involved there.-For the Home of Love orphanage.-For my health that I would return to 100% as soon as possible.  

Thank you so much for your prayers. 

Until the nets are full,

Adam Hussey

adhussey@gmail.com

 

 

You know you’re not at Holland Church when…

I had quite the experience this past Sunday at church. Jerry took Angie and I to a church where he attends. As soon as we walked in they ushered us right to the front of the church in front of everyone. In African culture this is common for guests to be treated this way. After about 45 minutes of singing we were asked to introduce ourselves, nothing too long just who we were why we are here etc. Then a man who was visiting was invited to preach so that was about an hour. After the sermon people were asked to come to the front of the church if they wanted healing. The pastor said that if anyone was hurting from an illness or physical pain or anything of that sort that they should come forward to have hands laid on them and to be prayed for. The pastor then asked Jerry, Angie and Me if we would lay hands on some of these people. So we got up and began to pray over these people. Well one girl that I laid hands on started to shake as I was praying for her. Then it became more than a shake and before I knew it she was on the ground flailing her arms violently at people. The pastors quickly took action and held her down as one of the pastors put his hand on her forehead and was yelling in her ear. They had to put something around her legs because she was going to hurt herself or someone else. Jerry, Angie and Me stood back and just watched. Then a second woman began to do the same thing. I said to myself, “well I’m not at Holland Church anymore!” It was something that I had never ever been exposed to. These two women were yelling, screaming, and kicking. I then saw one of the pastor’s rip off these beads that were around their wrists and waists. Jerry told me later that they were fetishes, something that witchdoctors use for healing.

 

Jerry motioned to Angie and Me that it was time to leave. Jerry doesn’t like to stay for the entire healing part of the service because he wants to let them do their thing and doesn’t want to be a distraction for them. Jerry said that having a healing portion of the service is quite normal and most churches perform them. I asked him how real it was because in the US we see Benny Hinn and say to ourselves, “yeah right.” Jerry said that it was 100% real. He said that there are so many evil spirits here and witchdoctors who plague people’s minds that these people are really possessed. So I experienced my first exorcism. As we were leaving the church one of the pastors came up to me and asked me if would want to preach next Sunday. I told him to give me a few weeks! I need some time to adjust to this type of church.

 

Please pray that:
-God would protect me from these spirits that are so prevalent here

-God would use me here in Gulu for His glory

 

Until the nets are full,

Adam Hussey

adhussey@gmail.com

Rash Update

I forgot to update everyone on my rash! First of all I was leaving Herberts house Thursday morning to leave for Gulu and as I was walking out Herbert saw a black hairy caterpillar on the floor making his way for the door! I couldn’t believe it. I thought that the doctor was pulling my leg with the whole caterpillar thing but there it was!!! Unreal. So it was a caterpillar. The doctor told me that it would be about 10-12 days before it healed up. It is now been 3 days since I was at the doctors and it’s almost completely gone, no itching at all just a few red spots left. Praise God for the quick healing!! Thank you so much for your prayers.

 This morning I was looking through some cards and letters some of you had given to me before I left home and some that have been mailed since I’ve been here. Thank you for them. I appreciate them so much. The picture that the children’s church took of themselves is a huuuge encouragement to me each time I open my bible! I love you all so much.

 Until the nets are full,
Adam Hussey
adhussey@gmail.com

Reflections

I was sitting in Hotel Cosmos in Gulu town reflecting on the past two days here in Gulu. Yesterday Angie and me went to the ACTION office for morning devotionals. Each morning the entire ACTION staff gathers for singing, devotional and prayer. After this Jerry met with Jim for about 3 and a half hours while I hung around the office talking with various staff members. I got word that someone had spotted Joseph who was the one who came to Kampala 3 days ago to bring my motorbike up to Gulu. He put it onto a truck that was coming up to Gulu with a bunch of supplies for shops in the town. I went to pick the bike from the truck and rode it back to the ACTION office. It’s great having it here in Gulu.

 

Jerry, Jim and me took a ride to see where the Butterfly Center is. The Butterfly Center is a 6-month program for child mothers. They spend 6 months at the center learning and growing in their faith and learning a trade. Then they leave to live on their own in a house, or apartment. Every 6 months brings in a new group of women. As soon as I stepped out of the truck there were 2 kids on each of my hands and more following. The children were smiling and the mothers were so full of joy. Its amazing the transformation that God is doing in these women’s lives. One of the women’s left arm was cut off from the elbow down. Jerry told me that she was caught in crossfire while she was in the bush with the LRA and had her left arm and part of her stomach blown off. She was smiling and loving life despite what she had been through. Jerry told me that the love of God is what brings these women this joy and happiness.

 

Near the Butterfly Center there is a pond that was hand dug. Jerry knew a pastor that had told him about starting a fishpond. Jerry being a man of vision that he is took on the challenge. He had the pond dug out and build a few small pools for breeding the fish. He is raising both tilapia and catfish. Currently there are about 1000 fish in the pond. It takes about 6 months for the fish to grow enough for harvest. The first harvest will be in late February/early March. It will be fun to be a part of it! Jerry told me that the market for these types of fish is very good. He told me that he already has buyers who will bring their trucks in when we harvest the fish. With the price per kilo that you can get from these two types of fish each harvest could possibly bring up to $25,000 dollars. If the first harvest goes well Jerry plans on digging another pond right next to the current one. Praise God!! Please pray that God’s will be done in and through this! Pray that God would use this for His glory here in Gulu!

 

After visiting the fish pond and Butterfly Center Candis Bingham took Angie, Kappy Robinette and me to see the Home of Love orphanage. ACTION started this orphanage, which has about 55 children. There is a building for the girls and a building for the boys. The compound also has a place for the kitchen and a thatched roofed building for meetings. When we arrived the children brought straw mats and chairs out to the meeting building where we introduced ourselves and spoke with the children. They listened so attentively! Then they sang for us both songs in English and in Acholi. They were all dancing and jumping for the Lord. A lot different praise and worship than in the states. We met a woman who was a child mother and the sister of Cecilia. Cecilia was one of Kony’s first wives. Cecilia had been with ACTION for about 8 months but was taken back to the LRA by Kony’s orders. Cecilia’s sister works with these orphans and cares for them as if they were all her own. Candis was telling us about some of the children’s stories. Each child has a traumatic story. They have been through so much at such a young age. Some of the children’s parents were strangled to death by some of Kony’s men, while some children’s parents were tied up and beaten. Seeing these children and knowing their history causes one to have immediate compassion on them and a desire to see them grow up and live normal lives.

 

There has been much news on peace talks that the Ugandan Gov’t have been having with the LRA. Kony’s main man Otti has been captured and he may have been killed by Kony, but we aren’t sure of this yet. Gulu hasn’t had any abductions in quite a while and things are very calm here in Gulu. We praise God for this, but also we must pray that the LRA would completely be shut down and that there would finally be total peace here in Gulu.

 

Today Jerry is going to take me to see a couple of apartments. I hope to find one soon so that I can get settled in.

 

I want to share something from what I’ve been reading in the Word lately. I’ve been going through Leviticus, which has law after law after law. God is showing Israel that He wants them to be separate from other nations and to be holy. Reading through this book makes me realize our need for holiness, which can only be brought about by Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross for us. Leviticus 17:11 hit me as very important because it’s the blood that was so important for the sacrifices to be made. The priests would offer sacrifices to God and would throw the blood of the animals against the altar. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” There are many places in the Word that talk about blood. When the soldiers were beating Christ He bled a large amount of blood, rivers of blood. Christ shed blood all of the way to the cross. Romans 3:23-25 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This is to show God’s righteousness, because of his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” If not for the blood that Christ shed there would be no remission of sins. Christ’s blood that he shed is so necessary for us as believers. 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” We are washed in the blood of Christ. Just as in the Old Testament sacrifices were made to God as a way to atone for the sins of the people, Christ’s death on the cross and the blood that he shed was the final sacrifice for our sins, all of our sins, past present and future!! How awesome is that! Each time we sin God doesn’t require us to kill a lamb, goat or bull to atone for our sins, because Christ died for our sins once and for all! To God be the Glory!

 

Please pray:

-That God would continue to use me during my two years in Gulu.

-That I would find an apartment.

-That I would learn the language and settle in quickly here.

-For the orphans at Home of Love, and the child mothers and their children at the Butterfly Center.

-That Kony would be stopped and that the peace talks would bring forth total peace to the Acholi people.

-That I would remain healthy and strong physically and that my faith would increase in Christ daily.

 

Until the nets are full,

Adam Hussey

adhussey@gmail.com

Newsreel…

I call this blog entry “Newsreel” because there are a few things that I wanted to share with you.

 

First of all, I am scheduled to leave for Gulu tomorrow morning with Jim and Kappy Robinette (ACTION Kampala) and Angie Lauer (Going to Gulu). Today I am going to meet up with an ACTION Gulu Ugandan who will take my motorbike up to Gulu for me on a truck. Jerry Bingham (ACTION Gulu) told me that he didn’t want me traveling to Gulu on the truck because they usually go late at night around midnight. The road is dangerous enough during the day let alone in the wee hours of the morning.

 

Next news is quite interesting. I developed an itchy rash on my stomach this past Sunday. It looked a lot like poison ivy, so I just let it be for a few days. However, yesterday Natasha (Herbert’s wife) told me that I should see a doctor before I head up to Gulu. So Jim Robinette referred me to a Mzungu doctor here in Kampala. I went in and showed the doctor my stomach and he said, “Oh my that’s quite interesting.” I was pretty frustrated that he didn’t let me in on what was so interesting. He then told me, “Giant caterpillar.” I practically fell down. I said, “What you mean there is a caterpillar crawling under my skin?” He told me that one had just crawled onto my stomach and some of its hairs went into my skin, which caused an allergic reaction. He gave me some cream and I was on my way. It’s doing better now, however it’s still quite itchy. Please pray that it would clear up sooner than the ten days the doctor told me it would.

 

Last night Herbert received a phone call from Edson, recent graduate from the University here in Kampala. He told Herbert about Irene’s mother who had just passed away. Let me fill the story in here. Irene is married to Levi. Levi is a leader of the Navigator ministry here in Kampala. Irene’s mother was in a bus accident from Nairobi to Kampala. It went off the road and into a swamp. She survived but sustained a lot of injuries such as a few deep wounds on her left leg. She was in the hospital for a few days, but they couldn’t do surgery on her because there was not doctor in at the time. Her surgery was to remove a goiter that she had for many years. She was in so much pain from the accident now adding on a surgery was pretty draining on her. When she went in for surgery her blood pressure skyrocketed and she died. Today Herbert, Natasha and I went to Irene’s house to pay our respects. They do things a lot different here than in the States when it comes to grieving. We arrived at the house to find about 30-40 chairs outside in front of the home. The women there were screaming, yelling, and crying. I guess that’s how they grieve. Then a truck came with Irene’s mother’s body. As they carried it into the house there was a huge uproar of screams and yells. Then everyone took turns going into the house and seeing the body. Bruce, let me tell you, I don’t know how you would’ve dealt with these women. It’s so different than the States.

 

Please pray:

-For safe travel to Gulu tomorrow morning.

-That I would adjust quickly to Gulu and that I would settle in well.

-For an apartment in Gulu. Jerry is looking at one today for me.

-For my rash to heal quickly.

-Irene and Levi as they deal with this loss of her mother.

-Herbert and Natasha as they try and raise money to purchase a vehicle.

  

Until the Nets are Full,

Adam Hussey

Wisdom…

I wanted to blog a quick update on things. I was originally going to ride my motorbike up to Gulu, however Jerry Bingham was praying about whether or not that would be the safest thing. The road to Gulu has a lot of accidents on it because there are many busses and large trucks that use it. The road is quite narrow and the rules of the road are “the bigger vehicle has right of way.” I thank God for Jerry’s wisdom and for God speaking to him about this issue. I am so thankful to have someone like Jerry who will take the time to present situations to God and seek Him about them. I am going to put the bike onto a truck and take it up to Gulu. I will hear from Jerry soon regarding the day and time for when I will be heading up to Gulu. I believe that it may be as early as tomorrow or Thursday. Please pray about this and that I will get to Gulu safely along with the bike. Also please pray that God will continue to work in a powerful way through the ACTION missionaries in Gulu and that His Word will spread like wildfire through that area. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.

Until the Nets are Full,

Adam Hussey
adhussey@gmail.com