Missionaries to Uganda | Missionary Rhoades

Thank you. Praise the Lord Church.

Praise the Lord. We apologize for the technical

difficulties. I'm sister Jamie Rhodes.

I wanted to 1st so I don't forget.

We have bookmarks at the back. Please stop and take a bookmark

on your way out. Take those.

There is a barcode on there. If you have a smartphone, you

can look us up on Facebook through there and follow us and

see all the things that God is doing in Uganda.

So please pick one of those up. So when we first arrived to

Uganda, it didn't take long to realize that they have a very

strong Muslim population there and the Though it was the first

foreign religion in Uganda, Catholics and Anglicans have

been the dominating religion. The people of Uganda are hungry

for more of God. Many Christian Church members

outside of the Catholic religion refer to themselves as born

again. Sharing what the Bible says of

being born of water and spirit is part of the doctrinal

teaching that we are sharing with ministers across Uganda and

people that we are making friendships with there.

Some of them have been filled with the spirit, but there are a

big majority that take that that experience of repentance and

they they look at it as being born again.

So they'd have had an encounter with Jesus and they love the

Lord. They just need more truth.

So within one month of being in in Uganda this past 10 months,

God had provided us with a safe and quiet place to live in the

southeast part of the crowded capital of Kampala.

Being in the central location has not only allowed us to enjoy

modern conveniences like refrigerated stores and freezers

in the stores, but also it's been beneficial for us for

outreach. So it's a, it's a central

location. So when we do mission, it's from

any direction that we go. It's just much easier.

And also when my husband has leadership come, pastors and and

ministry come, it's just a more central location for people to

come to. So we do host in the compound

there where we're at. So ministry goes on there as

well. So we live there, but ministry

goes on there as well. So during our close to 10 month

stay in Uganda, we've hosted many AOJC leaders or American,

not many leaders, but a few of them.

And but many, many people have came.

We've had four times we've hosted in our compound since

we've been in Kampala. So the orphanage, so that's

where the brother Pastor Josh Wilson will bring people on

missions trips to Uganda and they go to Hope in Christ two or

three days out of that trip. And these orphans are these

children at Hope in Christ have truly become like family, not

only to the mission groups, but to my husband and I as well.

We've been going once a month we go and we do teaching there.

So we're just trying to give a solid foundation.

So we've just started at the Plan of Salvation and we're just

going to move right in on to other biblical truths to teach

these children. And we're hoping to take another

day and go out and just have prayer meeting, praying the word

with these children and just allowing the Spirit of God to

move there on a regular basis and just see what what we can do

there to be a blessing as missionaries.

We travel all across Uganda meeting pastors and

congregations. And many of these churches are

in villages and have churches made of wood poles and sheet

metal, some made with mud, mud and grass roofs.

So there are current laws not yet implemented that will hinder

a huge population of these churches that we are teaching in

when these laws are enforced. So investing in permanent

structures to to worship in is something that we need to focus

on now in order to make sure the Apostolic doctrine has a

positive presence in Uganda. The needs and challenges of most

pastors and their congregations in an underdeveloped country

like Uganda can be overwhelming. Yet we see many of these pastors

taking in children, giving out shoes, helping other family

members with school fees, and the list could go on and on.

So I want to take the last few moments to share with you a

vision that God has given me. It started last year as we

prepared to visit a few churches before we headed to Uganda.

I was writing out what I would say and as I wrote the words

continue to flow. The thought had not fully come

to me before that moment. I would like to share with you

what I believe to be a God inspired vision that I wrote

that day. With approximately 2 million

orphans in Uganda, the Apostolic Church has an open door to

millions of souls waiting for love, provision, and hope.

The American Apostolic Church has an opportunity to not only

share the love of Jesus Christ, but to invest in an Apostolic

education that will forever change the fate of many of these

children. Please pray with us for laborers

and resources to make Apostolic schools a reality throughout

Uganda. So during our ten months that we

just came back from this vision, this thought of Apostolic

schools throughout Uganda would come to me again and again in

prayer. We would visit village churches

and we would see pastors opening schools and, you know, just

doing the best they could to provide some, some kind of

education because these the, you know, these children could not

afford to go to a school. So they're opening schools and

just doing the best they can. So the need, the need for

schools in Uganda is great. Many children still cannot

afford to go to school where there may be some government

assistance. It it seems like maybe they

don't want to go to those schools.

They're looking for schools that have better teaching that they

feel like that they can actually get an education.

The goal of these families sending their children to

school, like just doing their best even when they're poor,

just struggling to get school fees, is because they're hoping

their children can somehow just get out of that grip of poverty.

So education is very, very important.

The children in Uganda are very aware of, of their, you know,

their grades is a very big concern because if they don't

make certain grades, they won't be able to attend certain

schools. So education is very much a

concern for the people of Uganda.

So every day I'm, I'm seeing a little bit more, I'm just

understanding a little bit more of the complexity of the

education system in Uganda. I see a little bit more every

day, the greater need and how much having an Apostolic school

that teaches Apostolic doctoring during Chapel can make an

impact. There's so many children in

Uganda, and I believe that God has put this on my heart to

share with the people in America the need for Apostolic schools.

If we can, You know, we see Catholic schools, Muslim

schools, there are some Christian schools, but a lot of

them are very expensive. But if we could start planting

schools and letting these parents know if you, you know,

and providing a good quality education with good teachers,

then they will come because they're looking for it.

They're looking for it and then, you know, we can tell them, OK,

you know, we, this is what your child will be taught during

Chapel. You know, the Spirit of God will

be moving during Chapel. So not only are we going to

influence these children and give them opportunities for

truth and the Spirit of God to fill them, but also for their

parents to hear this truth. So I believe it is a great open

door and I'm just, I'm just trusting God to do it.

God has opened doors for me to partner with a lady that is in

Uganda. She works for the government.

She is an ambassador in Uganda. She is an ambassador in Austria.

And God is connecting us. We're in the process of getting

a work visa through her. She has a nonprofit and and that

nonprofit has a a church that she calls the prayer center.

And I don't know if if he could put yes.

So this is the prayer center. So this would be there is land

there that she is willing for us to put a school.

And as just since I came back here, we continue to discuss

things. And then I realized she sent me

plans. So she's had blueprints for a

school there for some time. I don't know, I need to ask her

how long have you had these blueprints?

So I don't, if you don't mind to put that other picture up.

I don't know if you've seen it already.

So this is just the front of the blueprint for the school.

It would house 300 children, kindergarten through primary 7.

And so we've discussed and a portion of the funds that would

be raised from this school would go right back into building

other schools across Uganda. And so God has given me someone

that is a godly woman. She's a praying woman, and she

has vision and our visions have collided.

And so God has just worked it all out.

And so I'm asking you to pray with us that let me get through

here. Pray for us, for the souls of

Uganda. Consider supporting the greater

Hope vision and other mission needs in Uganda.

And one thing, just remember us on a monthly basis if you can.

But we want, we want people to feel led by God.

We want cheerful givers. And if you can't give, please

pray for us. And even if you can give, please

pray for us. Please remember, remember

Uganda, Remember the children of Uganda.

I do believe God has spoken a greater hope to me, a greater

hope for the children of Uganda. I kind of skipped some of my

notes, but yes. But God has promised these

children a greater hope. And so right now I'm the

mouthpiece and and I'm praying and believing for Apostolic

schools through throughout Uganda.

With God, all things are possible.

God bless you all. Thank you for having us tonight.

Amen. Mccambo, you have a zebra

Canisa. Yes, you're right.

That is praise the Lord Church and Luganda, so you so that's

your language lesson for the day.

But so English is though, the primary language of Uganda,

which is surprising to most people.

So Luganda, what I just spoke is probably the second most popular

language. And then there's a lot of tribal

languages across Uganda. But we have, if you were in

Kampala, just going to stores and things like that, you have

no, there's no issue speaking English.

Everybody speaks English. They know what you're saying

most of the time. So I do want to give special

honor to Pastor McGee and First Lady for having us.

I've heard a lot of good things about you.

I'm my pastor on Monday. I'm I'm telling the truth.

He said you're going to you're going to love these people.

So that is exactly what he said. Nothing bad.

So we are very glad to be here. So basically I'm just going, I'm

going to move fast here. I'm going to have quite a bit

information a short period of time.

But I just want to give an update on what we are doing in

Uganda and kind of the demographics of Uganda and where

Uganda is at. I did not know where Uganda was

at before I went on my first mission trip there.

I, I knew it was in Africa, but I really didn't know where is

that or any significance of Uganda.

But so Uganda is located, it's called Eastern Africa.

So to your N you'll have South Sudan, to your W you would have

Democratic Republican of Congo. And then to your E would be

Kenya. And then right next to Kenya

would be the Indian Ocean. So that's kind of where that's

at. And then South of it, right

where we live at, we live in Kampala and Lake Victoria.

We're, we're like maybe a mile, 2 miles from Lake Victoria where

we live at which Lake Victoria is the largest, second largest

lake in the world. It is the largest tropical lake

in the world. It has several islands in it

where we do minister on now so and then also something neat,

the Nile River comes out of Lake Victoria.

It starts in Jinja and that's where it starts.

It goes all the way through Africa, through Egypt, which we

know that baby Moses was put in that corner.

So, so that a lot of history in, in Uganda, in Africa, a lot of

culture, a lot of old history in there.

So the Nile River is the longest river in the world.

So that's two pretty neat things about Uganda that I didn't know

about before I went there either.

So the size of Uganda is comparable to the state of

Oregon. It's it's not, it's a smaller

country, not too big a country. So Oregon, just put his

perspective. Oregon has about 4.2 million

people. Uganda has over 48 million

people. So there's people everywhere.

Population is everywhere. And it's it is projected at the

end of this year, there's going to be 50 million people.

And here's astonishing number also, roughly 48% are under 15

years old. It is one of the youngest

populations in the world. And once we got to Uganda, this

is when my wife started getting this vision like we have to

reach these kids. Yes, we want to reach adults,

but that we got a shift here. We have to shift how we're

teaching, what we're doing and reach these kids.

So that is on our hearts now. There, there, when you go to

Uganda, space to compile, there's kids everywhere, on the

street, everywhere. Just a lot of kids.

There's about 5 kids per childbearing woman, so that's

average. So just a lot of children.

So the size of Kampala, where we live at is this capital city and

the area, the metropolitan area, there's about 6.7 million people

in the area that we live in. So it's very populated.

It's about the same size as as metro Atlanta or Washington DC,

but scrunched up. So there is a lot of people and

another reason she, my wife is saying we do live in Kampala for

a few different reasons. But the economic dominance of

Kampala, it generates over 60% of Yagana's GDP.

So most of your business transactions go, you have to go

to Kampala. Some things you can do online,

but other things like like vehicle registrations, you buy a

vehicle, you've got to go to Kampala.

So that's like if you buy a vehicle here, you have to go to

Washington, DC, it's not going to work too well.

So then you have long lines, you know, so, but that's another

thing about Kampala. The annual growth rate is about

5% growth annually. So think about that 6.7 people

right now and then it's going to multiply.

So the work of the Kingdom is great in Kampala and to central

location. We, we are, we can have meetings

at our at our house a lot easier than other places in Kampala or

in Uganda. And right now Uganda has

religious freedom, which is a different than most African

countries like Nigeria, different countries, there's

persecution going on. So we are very fortunate, at

least for the time being, we are free to worship just like this.

We can be outside and worship and we're not afraid of getting

dragged out by soldiers. So we are very thankful that we

have time right now to work and that's why we want to do a

school, get something grounded. So eventually if we're not able

to be there, we somebody else can carry on the work.

It's not about us, it's about the ministry there.

So we are currently working with eight churches in the Kampala

area. So every Sunday we are attending

one of those services to either speak, support, whatever we can

do for these churches, we are there for them.

So as we started full time officially in Uganda and last

May, so God was he was kind of telling me how, how to set up

teaching because I was praying a lot.

My God, how how do you want this?

How do can we be successful in Uganda and teaching?

There's so many people, how are we going to reach everybody?

So God gave me this plan. He led me to this discipleship

series. It's a 23 lesson series.

I did not write it, but we use this.

So it teaches. Obviously first is the plan of

salvation, and then it goes into the fruit of the Spirit.

Gifts of the Spirit, how to operate in the gifts of the

Spirit, how to live a separated lifestyle from the world, the

family structure, the structure of a church.

So we take one thing at a time, we build, we keep building on

the plan of salvation. We will spend.

So we started this probably in June of last year.

So we start our first series in June and we started with

repentance, the baptism in Jesus name and filling Holy Ghost.

We took two days to teach those three things full days.

So we have many scripture verses only we teach scripture verses,

a lot of scripture verses. So it cannot be debated.

We cannot be debated on this. So, so how we do this?

We we have we work on three islands, we teach this on three

islands and we teach this in eight districts inland.

So clear from Kanjojo which is close to Congo all the way to

Mabali which is borders Kenya, the whole strip right there kind

of central area there in Uganda we will teach.

So we have 8 districts. So each it takes about 8 visits

to go back to each. Each of these places takes 8

visits to accomplish these 23 lessons.

So we right now are about two visits into it.

So we have a long way to go, but it takes time to travel.

We travel our we travel 2 * a month.

So it's it takes one day to get anywhere in Kampala.

It's rough travel. So we take one day to get there,

two day teaching and then a day to get back.

We do that 2 * a month among other things that we do.

So and right now somebody asked if what's going on right now in

Uganda, what are you doing? It's still going on.

We have two of our trusted leaders in Uganda that they go

out and they just got back. I prayed today from Bavuma

Islands from teaching. I think that is on their third

round of teaching in Bavuma Island.

So we are going forward as we're here in America, things are

still going on. People are getting taught right

now as I'm speaking. And also we've since we started

going to the islands, a lot of people on the islands do not

speak English. They are not as educated.

So they will speak mostly Luganda on these three islands

that we go to. So we felt in my spear, I felt

that God would want us. We need to translate this

discipleship series into Luganda from English.

So I'm like, we prayed about God, how are we going to do

this? But God did provide the funding

for it and my 2 leaders can, they are right now are, are

translating that into Luganda. So I, my hopes is at the end of

the summer, we will have this in the Uganda language so we can

teach more effectively because we hand these pamphlets out.

So as I'm teaching, they have this in their hand.

They're going to the scriptures that we're teaching.

We're doing this together. So we're teaching it together so

they don't miss anything. Because my vision is after we're

done with these 23 lessons, that these leaders will be able to

multiply. We don't teach congregations.

I felt the Holy Spirit to teach leaders #1 it's, it's more

economical for me because we feed these people as we teach

every day. We have to be feed these also.

So we keep it between 15 to 20 pastors and leaders every place

that we go. And then after they're done,

they will be able to teach it. So that's my vision.

So pray for that, that it keeps going on that they get a hold of

this and can do what we do. We also, this is also exciting.

I've got a contact, I don't know if anybody knows Brother Brown

from Quincy, OH, if you've heard of him, but he's a very good

pastor friend of mine that now has been you gone, you gone by 5

different times helping us out, preaching.

He's a preacher, so he goes out, he reaches for people, very good

at reaching for people. And he's got a contact that he

gave me and it's the head chaplain over all the prison in

Uganda. So he gave him one Bible study.

At that time, he wasn't ready to get baptized, so he handed the

baton over to me. And that's where missionaries

come into play at. That's what my job is now.

So I've from that point on and that's probably about last six

months we've been in contact with him.

And probably about three months ago they've asked my wife to

speak at their church to the women.

So they planned this after the morning service for her to

speak. Well, it so happened that the

men wanted to stay in there also.

So we had a full house when she spoke and after she spoke 6

people want to baptize in Jesus name.

So when we found this out, I asked the chaplain.

He was there. I'm like this would be a great

time for you to get baptized in Jesus name.

He's like and right then he's like, I don't know if I'm quite

ready. I'm like OK, so but by the time

if I a couple miles away is where we baptized in this little

Creek. By the time we got there, he

came to me and said, OK, I see it now baptized.

I want baptized. So that day after from her

speaking, we baptized him the head chaplain of Uganda in Jesus

name. So now he wants all of his

chaplains to teach the oneness doctrine in every prison.

So then it got to me. It's like, OK, how do we OK now

how do we do this? So I've been in contact.

Right before we left, I had a meeting with the head chaplain.

We went out to dinner. We talked about this.

And he wants, he wants to know how we can get college into the

prison so they can get a degree. So I'm like, let me look into

this. So I got with Brother Naomi.

He is my mentor. When I have questions like that,

he's the man I go to, very knowledgeable about many

different things on the mission field.

So we talked about it. He said well first they don't

get Internet in the prison. So he's like why don't we first

take the first steps and enroll the chap, all the chaplains into

this. Why don't you work on that?

Try get them enrolled in that. So I'm like, OK, that's a great

idea. So last week we got the first

one enrolled. So we are going forward on this.

So when we get back, I will also be teaching all these chaplains

my discipleship series and then we can at least teach that to

the inmates. We can do something.

We can start with this till we get a, a way to get Internet or

a way to get this college into the all the prisons.

So that is a huge open door that God has given us.

So please pray for us on that. Some things are bigger than what

I am. A lot of things are, you know,

like I, I don't know how to do this, but every time that

happens, he brings someone in our lives to help us, you know,

help us to do that. So also, this is very, this very

special thing that we do. We're in Uganda.

We have a like a Zoom prayer meeting every Monday and Friday

at 6:00 AM and that includes my wife, me and my assistant and my

island director. We come together, we have

prayer. We not only pray for ministry in

Uganda, we pray for you. We pray for churches here in

America, churches that support us, churches that don't support

us yet, but one this teaching churches here, we pray for you.

So I want you to know there's people praying for you in

Uganda. Pray every day.

So and we pray for unity. We need unity.

This is how revival was going to come is unity, the sphere of

unity that binds us together. So we pray for each other.

So the number one way to have unity is prayer for each other.

And that's when we have, when the pastor calls for prayer,

church prayer, it's before service or corporate prayer on a

Friday night or whenever you might call for a prayer night

come because that bonds us together.

It bonds you together at a local, but it also reaches

because you have, if you have focused prayer request, just

like we had tonight. If we're all praying for these

needs, it'll go all around the world.

So I believe in corporate prayer, they don't take away it

don't take from our personal prayer life.

This is separate from that. So the second way to promote

unity is to give. You can give to your local

church. We need to give offerings.

This is above tithing. OK, I'm not talking about

tithing. I'm talking about giving to

special needs. And I seen up on the board and

that's great because we need to give to family.

We have a family here that's a focus on which is great because

this it brings unity. When you see a need inside your

local church. We need to take care of that

need. That's number one.

Take care of ourselves here and then we have Missions America

and I see adopt A adopt A city or Missions America.

That is very important. We sow into that as well because

we love America. We call to Uganda, I love

America, so we work with each other.

We we support each other in prayer and giving and then

giving to world missions because when we do all three of those,

we are advancing God's Kingdom together.

Not one of us can do this alone. It takes a team, it takes

churches, it takes missionaries, evangelists to do God's work.

So the third way to promote unity is participate in local

church functions. Like I see on the board, you

have local things going on. Participate because that brings

the local body together, because you're working together.

The pastor can't do everything. He he might be the face of

everything here, but he can't do everything.

He can't be in the sound system. He can't do everything at one

time. So it takes a team, it takes

unity to do that. And also go to your district

meetings. Are you in the Indiana district?

Yeah. OK.

That's what I thought. So went and I heard you have

some stuff going on in the district.

Be a part of that because that brings unity in your district.

And then lastly, go on the foreign missions trip, you know,

and sometimes that's not for everyone.

I do understand that. But when you do go, it gives you

a perception that you will not have and it don't have to be.

Yes, I want you to go to Uganda and you meet up with brother

Josh. He's all about Uganda.

OK, You have heard if our our sound wasn't too good on

everybody, Josh talking about Uganda, brother Josh is.

He comes at least once a year and more than that sometimes

just to visit Jamie and I I can't thank him enough for what

he's done for us in Uganda. But so think of these three

things when you think about unity, think about think of

these words. Pray, give, go.

Yeah, right. All those things, even you can't

go on a missions trip. You can go here.

There's outreach here that we need to do.

So be a part of something that's bigger than you.

Because this, the mission field for me, Jamie and I is bigger

than we can do. It's it's bigger than us, You

pastoring and this community is bigger than you.

So I want to go to I'm getting to in here, but I want to go to

Romans chapter 12, verse 4 and verse 5.

Romans 12:4

For as we have many members in one body and all being members

have not the same office. So we being many are one body in

Christ and everyone members one of another.

So as missionaries, I can speak for myself.

We can't do everything on the mission field ourselves.

We have newsletters that we do every month.

We can't we, we depend on Sister Emily from Brother Highness

Church in Sidney, OH to help us with that.

My wife does a great job writing it, getting the pictures

together. And then right now we sent it to

Sister Emily. She does it for us, sends it

back to us. And that's my job to get a sent

out then. So we do that together.

The mission video, Brother Cameron from Brother Balls

Church, he came to Africa, took the videos, took pictures and

that is what you've seen on there.

That's real life pictures and videos from Africa.

What we do so and then we have my translator, Bishop Jackson,

our driver Gerald, and then Brother Wilson, Brother Cody

Mayo, which my fields supervisor visiting us, encouraging us,

supporting us, preaching different things for us.

We depend on other ministers coming because they do things

different than I do. We all have different callings,

we have different gifts. So when Brother Brown comes, he

operates in a spirit different than I do.

So we come together to be effective soul winners together.

So, and then my last scripts or verse, and I will end with this

Psalms 133 one through 3, which is, I believe the whole chapter.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell

together in unity. And I see there's an exclamation

point after that. So let me read that again, how

it's wrote in here. Behold how good and how pleasant

it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

It's I'm going to exclaim it. It is like the precious ointment

upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard

that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of

Herman and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of

Zion. And this is key on this chapter

for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore.

So we, when we are unified on the local level, church with

missions, America with world missions, and we can unify, the

Lord's going to command blessings on us.

When we give, it comes back to us.

And that's not the reason we give.

We give to advance God's Kingdom, but it's a law of the

Bible. Give and you shall receive.

That is that is Bible. So that is God's law.

We don't work on the economy of this world.

We, we, we don't work on that. It doesn't matter what president

we have in Uganda. It don't matter what president

we have. I, I try to teach them we, we're

not on, we're not on that economy.

We don't have to be in poverty. You know, if we're teaching

tithing and offering, we're, if we're teaching these things as

which I am, because it needs to be taught there.

I'm like this will erode the poverty spirit if we when we

learn how to give. So there are blessings and

giving. So one last thing.

I know I said that was the last thing, but I, I see I have many

notes here and I'm I'm going to wrap up, but I see I have the

tower of Babel. If the world can get God's

attention for being united on one voice, what can the church

do if we're if we're locking arms with each other for

unified, we don't have to agree on everything, but we do agree

on the plans of a we do agree on important things that's going to

make us successful in the Kingdom if we work together.

You know, I did this illustration a couple services

ago. I had a few men come up here and

they locked arms together. When they're locked arms

together, I could push on them. Yeah, I can bug them.

I can, I can, you know, disturb them.

But I can't trip them. I, they, they won't fall.

But if I can get one of those men, I don't care who it is.

They can be the strongest person in church.

If I can give them to the side, then like the devil, I we can.

I can trick him. I can trip him up somehow if

he's away, if he's not engaged in the church body.

So I'll leave you with this. Please stay engaged in your

local church body. Submit to your pastor.

We have to submit, submit to authority.

He has a pastor also. I have a pastor.

So it don't matter how high we get.

I don't know if you call it that, but how we for pastors,

missionaries, we always have somebody we're held accountable

to. So we always have somebody and

you have Pastor McGee and first lady here.

So I'm asking this as I close submit to them, see what God

does for you. I thank everyone for coming to

listening to me. And now I'll turn it over to to

pastor here.