Other Testimonies from the CBU Team

Hannah – Favor of God Ministries is one of the most amazing organizations I have ever worked with. One of my favorite aspects of this organization is their acknowledgement of the importance of prayer. This could be seen clearly when my team, along with Favor of God, went to Pader for a crusade. When it rained and we were not able to have the crusade the first day, the Favor staff was quick to hold a prayer meeting in which everyone prayed for all aspects of the crusade. This was such a powerful time in the spirit, and I will never forget the fervor and diligence with which they prayed. I will never forget my experience with Favor of God and I know that God has changed me. Thank You!

Bekah – We walked out of the airport and met a tall Ugandan man. He was shy and didn’t say much but we soon found out he was our driver. On the way up he still didn’t say much. We were soon surprised at Nebbi that this tall, quiet Ugandan wasn’t so shy after all. David was actually not only a driver for Favor of God, but a pastor, singer, dancer and like 5 other things. David is one of the most self-sacrificing people I have ever met. We were headed to the crusade in Pader for the weekend and he wasn’t supposed to come with us because he had a retreat at his church. But our other transportation fell through and he not only drove our team the 5 hour van ride to Pader but also came back to Gulu to pick up another team and drove the 10 plus hour round trip again without any sleep. Seeing this kind of sacrifice and joy during those times was amazing to me. He gave me an example of what Christ-like servanthood is supposed to look like in everyday life. Not only is David an example, but the rest of the staff of Favor is as well. There are extreme financial constraints on the ministry, but they are still faithfully serving. That humbles me in so many ways. I hope to be like the staff of Favor of God. Even if it is only half of who they are, it’ll be more like Christ then I am today.

Brandon - I will never forget morning devotions at the Favor of God Mission House. Seeing the passion every staff member possessed when worshipping our God was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Just standing in that room the first morning, full of shock, opened my eyes to who God really is.

God is not an American God. God is not a white God. God is not only where I can see or where I have been. God is a universal God, who knows the Favor of God staff as well, and in depth, as He knows my own family. God changed my outlook of earth as well as heaven. To praise and worship God is more than just words that rhyme and music that flows. Worshipping God is raising your voice, lessening yourself and proclaiming His glory and authority over the existence of life. The Favor of God staff showed me that.

Showing the Jesus Film in Nebbi

Picture of Gulu Town Marketplace

Children in Kolongo in the District of Pader

Favor of God’s Bible Distribution in Kolongo

The California Baptist Team with Carole and Benjamin and Stacey

Seated – By Sarah Bourns

Seated in the heavenlies with Christ

Waiting on Him, resting in Him

Sitting at Jesus’ feet

Trusting, listening, learning

Sitting. Not Striving. Not working,

Just sitting

Seated in Uganda

Watching, worshipping, praying

Sitting at the feet of Favor of God

Ministered to, instead of ministering

Served and cared for, before we served and cared

Sitting in cars

Sitting in meetings

Sitting in huts

Sitting with our team

Sitting with children on my lap

Sitting on the floor while orphans pray for me

Sitting in morning devotions before any work is begun

Sitting. Not working, not helping, not teaching

Just sitting.

Luke 10:40-42 Mary sat at the Lords feet

(Sarah Bourns was the team leader for the recent California Baptist University Team that visited Favor of God)

Dec 3 Newsletter – Susan's Testimony

Could this be what happened on the beach one day…

After Jesus fed His disciples breakfast in John 21, Jesus had a question for Peter. “Peter, do you love me more than these?” Maybe he meant more than the others, or maybe more than anything else in his life. Peter answered Him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I do.” Jesus told him, “Then feed my lambs.”

As Jesus asked that of Peter three times, maybe He was looking for something deep within Peter’s heart – for the strength of commitment or to test the real motives within maybe even unknown to himself. He was also looking for the depth of Peter’s love.

If our answer is “Yes” as Peter’s was, then we hear what follows, “feed my sheep.” This was Jesus’ persistent request for the sign of love for Him. There are so many that don’t yet know they are called to be His sheep. “I will call them My people who were not My people, and her beloved who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people. There they shall be called sons of the living God” (Rom. 9:25, 26). As we love Him, we love those whom He loves – every person, every child, every widow, every man – who do not yet know Him.

May I share with you the testimony of one precious woman in Gulu who has been loved back to the heart of God, and is now seeing people transformed around her because of that love?

Susan is now 26, but she was 14 years old when she and her 16-year-old brother were abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and forced to become child soldiers. During their training in the LRA, they were beaten and brainwashed by their captors in order to ensure that they would kill on command. Anyone who resisted the LRA in any way was shot on the spot or beaten to death. Child soldiers were often required to raid their own homes and kill their own family members.
The rebels often accused Susan of being born-again. But even though she had been miraculously healed when she was 12 years old, she denied their accusations because no one had ever explained salvation to her. Nonetheless, she knew enough to cry out to God desperately to let her survive and be returned to her home. She knew what it meant to run through battlefields calling “Jesus, Jesus” while the bullets were flying around her.

About a year after being abducted, Susan and her brother were fighting in a battle in Sudan, which lasted about 6 hours until the LRA started to withdraw. Her brother was shot and wounded, and though she stayed back to try and help him, he died there on the battlefield. Susan, together with about 15 others, were captured by the Sudanese Army. This “people’s army” delivered their prisoners to the Ugandan government, who in turn took them to a war rehabilitation center in Gulu. They lived there for three months. Here Susan received counseling and more importantly gave her life to Jesus. She had struggled with suicide during her captivity with the LRA, but God was beginning to restore hope again to what others would have called a shattered life.

As she was returned back to her village, she continued to struggle with direction and purpose. How could life be meaningful again when she lived daily with such painful and vivid memories? But then one day someone told her about our mission house where people prayed, where they were loved, where lives were changed, and where there was a family that cared for and accepted every person as valuable.

She came to the Favor of God home almost 3 years ago, and began to be fed both physically and spiritually. As Susan found new meaning for her life, she began serving there with joy and confidence. Today she leads the ladies’ prison ministry, worships and sings with a new song, and radiates the love of Jesus as she teaches and shares with hurting women.

As our Father is transforming each life, they are the vessels He is now using with a new purpose to bring healing and restoration to others wounded just as they were. This is our mission – because we love Him, and because you love Him – to feed His sheep.

Pray with us, go with us, and love with us to find and to feed the so many more just like Susan, who still need to hear, still need to be loved, still need to come to His healing arms, so they too can live with a purpose as one of His very own.

“Peter, do you love Me? Then feed my sheep.”

For every precious life,

Carole and the Gulu family

Meet Samuel – HOH Children's Home

This is Samuel. He was born in the bush as both of his parents were in the LRA. He spent his early years on his mother’s back while she fought in the LRA.

His father died in 2002 and his mother in 2005. Samuel and a younger sibling were left in the care of their grandmother. His younger sibling has also past away. Samuel’s grandmother had no means of supporting these children except to beg to organizations like World Vision and World Food Organization for some of their basic needs. His grandmother was suicidal until she was born-again through the ministry of the New Life Church in 2005.

When Samuel arrived at the House of Hope, his arm was in plaster (cast). He broke his arm climbing a tree to find food. He was also severely under-nourished that mid-September day when he arrived at the House of Hope.

Samuel has been taken care of by the loving staff at the House of Hope Children’s Home. He is now thriving at the House of Hope with regular medical check ups, schooling, and a nurturing environment that teaches him about the saving power of God’s grace.