A year a half ago, we sent a team to Abim which is on the outer edges of the Karamojong territory. After they returned to our base one of the team members, Jenifer stayed behind to visit her mother. One day she decided to take a translator and go up into the hills to find some Karamojong warriors.
She came upon eight men sitting around drinking their local brew. She asked them if she could have a few minutes of their time and they said yes. She began sharing our Gospel presentation with them and in the middle one man stood up and threw up his hands and cried out with tears, I have killed so many people can God forgive me then he fell to his knees. At the end of her presentation all eight men were saved. Afterwards the warriors took her inside their homestead where she shared with the women and children and several more surrendered their lives to Christ.
Unfortunately, the Uganda government closed all travel for several months, so we were uncertain about what had happened to those 8 men and their families, when travel was opened back up, we immediately sent a team to Kotido another Karamojong town, and we dispatched someone to the homestead of those first eight men who came to Christ. Their hearts were still strong after Christ. From that trip 486 salvations, 44 water baptisms, 12 leaders emerged and were trained, 26 groups were formed. The 12 leaders were trained and encouraged by phone and they continued to train group members on ground, these also went out to share the Gospel. And by the time the following trip was made, the groups and leaders had multiplied by 2 in March 2022. Hence having 52 groups and 24 group leaders.
The Karamojong are cattle herders (rustlers) who live in a very violent, primitive, and hostile environment. At one time they raided cattle herds with bows and arrows, now they use AK47’s. Most Ugandans are afraid to go there. Those eight men told us that they had never heard about Jesus before. Our experience is that most people have not heard the message of Jesus before, if they are not unreached then they are extremely under reached.
When Jennifer heard about this amazing work of God, she spared no time to go and see what the Lord had done. She and Paul went to Panyangara sub county, Nakabale village. The most insecure area in Kotido, it has a lot of criminal cases such as raiding cattle, murder and hostility. To the extent that people from outside of that area fear to indulge themselves with it, the government officials have been chased out of this particular village. But it’s by the Grace of God that some elders from that village asked Paul and Jennifer to go and share the Gospel. The first day 546 salvations were registered and the following day 1,200 people gave their lives to Christ.
5 sub counties have been reached with the Gospel; these consist of over 300 villages but 16 of them are having Disciple Making Movement activities going on. However, much as all this is happening, it’s in amidst a great starvation and there’s need for intervention. Some of the immediate requirements identified are; food, seeds for planting, water tank for baptism and audio bibles in their local language.