My Uganda Experience, by Benjamin Le

[MSTan]

Processing my Uganda experience while in California

Benjamin Le, a Health Sciences Student
July 26, 2010

It is still hard to believe how a person like me ended up going to Uganda. I grew up in an immigrant church whose primary focus was all about maintaining and contributing to the local Vietnamese community. I grew up never hearing about God being bigger than that. There was never an emphasis on getting involved with anything outside the Vietnamese church. Boy, I was so wrong. Reflecting on InterVarsity’s Global Trek Uganda, I am starting to realize that God’s love is absolutely too massive to contain to just one group of people, one city, or one country. His love was meant to overflow from small hearts, to small communities and spread eventually all over the world. That is a lot of love.

Our team’s preparation for this trip was a major component to this experience. We had so many speakers that already began to challenge our conceptions about Jesus and his Kingdom. I realized during my time at the institute phase of our trip that I was insecure about God. I was worried that if He didn’t work the way I thought He should be working, then something was wrong. I was challenged to see that just because God was not working the way I thought he should doesn’t mean He is not working. The reality is that God can go into any circumstance, any culture, and still maintain His true and unchanging character in that situation. He is still loving, sovereign, merciful, LORD, compassionate, righteous, just, and unchanging in all environments.

I was challenged by this while I was in the States. When I went to Uganda, this became my reality. I was brought into a culture that worshiped differently, did evangelism differently, and dealt with different issues. Yet, Jesus was absolutely the same. Oddly enough, I felt that it was easier to feel the presence of Jesus in situations that weren’t so familiar to me; situations that made me feel uncomfortable even. This included hut to hut evangelism, charismatic worship, and even just praying for dinner in a culture different then what I grew up with. What impressed me the most was how real Jesus was in this culture. To them, nothing was theoretical. God’s power is real. God’s love is real. God’s salvation and redemption is real.

In my church upbringing, God’s redemption was only spoken about like it was some kind of theory, but in Uganda God’s redemption is a complete reality. I have seen former child soldiers who have dealt with the horrors of war at far too young a age become some of most joyous people I have ever met in my life. It bewilders me to see how children who have gone through so much trauma and suffering become such wonderful, kind, loving, and caring people. They’re answer was simple: Jesus saved them. It was through NGO’s like Child Voice International that Jesus became real to them. Jesus became a person that took them in, counseled them, prayed for them, cried with them, and gave them a sure new hope for an amazing future. They don’t just believe in a future in Heaven but also a blessed future here on this earth. They were becoming people who overcame the negative effects of war. They have become established and outstanding individuals in their communities and families. Seeing situations like these makes the Kingdom of God a reality; right here and now.

Susie, one of the staff members on our team during this trip, said something early in the trip that really inspired me to focus on a specific theme. She shared about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ only has an impact if we truly realize we are in desperate need of saving. We cannot see Jesus as an option in our life. For the people of Uganda, Jesus is not an option. He is the only true way out of their suffering. Evidence for this can be seen when considering who would have saved these former child soldiers if Jesus didn’t die on the cross. Who would have taken in all the street kids I met if Jesus hadn’t taken us into His family?

It became so clear to me that the impact of Jesus’ sacrifice was not only that we were saved from hell but we are now able to make the Kingdom of God a reality in this broken world. It is a kingdom where the poor and needy are taken care of and loved. It is a kingdom where former child soldiers and street kids can find refuge and love in the arms of the body of Christ (The Church!).

In Uganda, I saw a glimpse of the Kingdom of God and it was beautiful. I saw Nicholas, a 7 year old street child abandon by his parents at an amusement park, eating dinner with such joy. His dinner only consisted of posho (basically corn millet and hot water turned into a solid) and beans. Yet he ate it the way an American would eat a prime rib with all the side dishes. He licked his fingers in between bites. At one point I think he shook with happiness while eating. I do not know why, but I nearly wept at the sight of seeing Nicholas eat his dinner. He was a child that would have been starving and alone that night if it wasn’t for “Come Let’s Dance”, an NGO that was focused on making the Kingdom of God a reality to children like Nicholas. It was moments like this that made realize why I was a Christian. Following Jesus made sense when I was able to see how he was working in the world through the church.



Overall, I felt that this trip really challenged the way I carried out my daily life. It also gave me such confidence for the hope I have in Jesus to not only save the lost and abandoned but to also shape me into a person that will change this world. Uganda has taken a special place in my heart and I hope that I will come back with much bigger hopes of making an impact as a graduate. It was only through the grace of Jesus that I was able to see the things I have seen. Now that I have seen, I am automatically responsible. I am now set on putting my faith into actions by deeds that will bring God’s kingdom closer to the ones that long for it. This doesn’t just mean HUGE acts like going to another country to serve but in the simple acts in my daily life ; having a conversation with someone suffering, being mindful and reverent of the poor while I live out my life of privileges, and always knowing that God is bigger than any frame of thought I can contain Him in. It would be a shame to just forget all this. I pray that I won’t. By the grace of Jesus, this seed will grow into something that I cannot even dream of. I cannot wait for what Jesus will have in stored for the rest of my life. He is good.

I pray that as part of the global church, we can make Jesus a reality to a world that longs for him.

As I still process from my California home, I can’t help to think of the irony of this trip; I went to Uganda to serve, help, and save, but I have a feeling I was the one who ended up getting saved.