The Uganda Decision

We have decided to stay in Rwanda for the last month instead of going to Uganda. Here's the story...

The United States and Canada have both put Uganda on the list of countries that they tell their citizens not to go to. So if we tried to get visas to Uganda in the United States, we would be denied. We were only able to get visas because we did it in Rwanda. Because Uganda is on the “do not travel” list, the US government wouldn't do anything to help us if we got arrested because we were told not to go there. Apparently, Fedex also has Uganda in the highest category of risk.

Joseph Kony is a Ugandan. He is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is the organization that kidnaps child soldiers and is guilty of pretty atrocious crimes against humanity. Joseph Kony is on the Top Ten Most Wanted list. (#1 is Osama bin Laden). He and his army are currently training and recruiting in Congo. Their goal is to overthrow the government of Uganda and establish a theocratic government. The LRA is thought to have abducted 66,000 children. It's mainly been active in northern Uganda.

Gulu is just a bad area. When we tell Rwandans that we're going to be in Gulu, the expression on their face changes. They don't always believe us, and then they seem worried.

There is an enormous cultural divide between northern and southern Uganda. The languages they speak do not even belong to the same language family. Southerners speak Bantu languages, and northerners speak Nilotic languages. Northern Ugandans hate the current President of Uganda. He has been in power for 25 years, and opposition, especially in Northern Uganda, has been growing.

It is election season. Election day is February 18th. The middle of our time in Uganda. We will be in Northern Uganda. There have already been bombs that have gone off in Uganda.

Our leader, Mikaela, did not know any of this when she chose Uganda. We've given her all this information, and it didn't change her mind. She kept saying she needs a word from God to change her mind. There were three people that said if the team goes to Gulu, they are going home. I just said I don't have the heart to make my family worry about me for a month.

So Mikaela's solution was for us to just keep praying about it until we all got the same answer from God. The problem was that every time we prayed about it and talked about it, the case against going to Uganda just kept getting stronger. This was very upsetting to our leader.

The fourth time that Mikaela started crying at a meeting was when she was saying she felt alone. It's lonely at the top. She took it a bit personally that we weren't willing to go to Uganda. She also said she wants to be pursued as a friend.

The fifth time when she said, “If we're not called to Uganda, why did God put it so strongly in my heart for the last four months?” It was extremely hard for her to let go of Uganda.

Every time we had an emotional meeting, she hadn't been going out and doing ministry with us. She had to take personal days because the stress was really getting to her.

She said she feels like a bad leader. I would feel guilty telling her she's a good leader, because maybe it'd be better if she weren't in positions like this.

First time leaders don't normally lead by themselves on their first outreach. But they had six outreach groups, and it just worked out that this one didn't have a co-leader.

So Dawn and Pieter arrived recently, and they told us the answer about Uganda was a No. They explained that the YWAM council has disagreements sometimes, and they pray about their decisions, and if even one person gets a “No,” then the answer is no, even if the President “got a yes.” “And the fear of God rests on that one person who makes the organization's decision a 'no.'”

Then the apologized to everyone because they felt convicted about telling us the answer is no instead of telling Mikaela the answer is no so that she could tell us so that she would still be honored as the leader of the team.

Then Mikaela apologized to us for drawing out the decision and all of its anxiety because she just had not yet learned that principle about how YWAM operates.

So we've put all that behind us and we're starting over fresh now. :-)