US – Uganda
"Something funny happened as we waited for our departure plane in Phoenix," Steve says.
It was 10pm on a Tuesday night. Steve Evers and Kent Reisenauer were waiting to board the plane that would carry them for the first leg of their journey to Kampala, Uganda in a crowded waiting area.
Other than the normal amount of TSA security-induced tension in the room, it was a fairly subdued crowd. Everyone just wants to board so they can start the snooze to JFK. Kent begins doing something with his backpack.
All of a sudden, a serious-sounding male voice, speaking in a decidedly foreign language, emanates from somewhere in the room. Could it be some bad guy? A terrorist?
The grave tone is out of place, and even sounds possibly threatening - especially when you don't know its source and you're in an airport.
Kent gives a slight nervous laugh. He's realized his backpack is source of the voice! Digging through his backpack, he can't find the inadvertent broadcast and put a stop to it!!!
A couple awkward moments pass. Finally he's retrieved the offending item.
It was one of the Luganda language audio Bibles Kent and Steve are transporting so that graduates of the Portable Bible Course ITMI's Muhindo Kawede is teaching for prisoners in Uganda can continue growing in God's Word.
Muhindo Kawede and an excited graduate at the in-prison graduation ceremony of the Portable Bible School course.
Kent has several of them in his carry-on to keep his checked bags under weight. His fingers find the power button and the male voice stops. Potential "international incident" averted!
Kent demonstrates the features of the audio Bibles he and Steve took with them. (You can hear the Lugandan Bible that was played in the airport for yourself at 1:16!)
"We may have been watched a bit closer on the flight by all who had been sitting around us!" Steve postulates. Nevertheless, the duo made it to JFK and boarded their flight to Nairobi, Kenya.
Though there was a short delay in Kenya, eventually, the guys were transported to Entebbe, Uganda and on to Muhindo Kawede's city, Kampala, after two nights and a full day of travel.
In Kampala, they'll spend time at the home of our partner, Muhindo Kawede, the Founder and Director of the International School of Missions.
ITMI's Muhindo Kawede guides Steve and Kent through a visit to a slum near the campus of the International School of Missions where they assisted with a children's ministry in 2018.
The International School of Missions main classroom building.
An aerial view of the ISM campus, located about an hour outside Kampala, Uganda.
Uganda has been the location of several unique preaching experiences or "adventures" for Steve, and this weekend, he is scheduled to preach at the church that meets on the campus of the International School of Missions.
This is the church that began because ISM students were so successfully sharing Jesus in their door-to-door evangelistic efforts that the new believers needed a place to grow and be discipled!
Steve preaching at the church that meets on ISM's campus during his 2017 mission trip.
We will be bringing you more stories of the ministry those of you on Steve's sending team have enabled by contributing financially to help Steve and Kent make these mission visits.
In the meantime, enjoy these stories of past ministry you've made possible in Uganda: Steve's Preaching Adventure from 2018 that includes some great photos that really make you feel like you were there and the unusual story of the night he was Preaching at Midnight in Uganda from 2012!
