A Testimony from the Uganda/Tanzania Ministry Trip 2014
By Dan & Deborah Whitt
Awesome is certainly the word to describe this trip to Uganda and Tanzania, because we were constantly in awe of God’s love, power, and grace and mercy. Those who gave financially and in prayer to allow us to go, participate with us in all the blessings of this trip. It was a very productive time for the Kingdom of God.
We were part of a nine person team led by our Chuck Jones from Selma, AL. We were gone from the US a total of 14 days with about 5 days of ministry in Uganda and about 5 days of ministry in Tanzania (the other 4 days were completely consumed with travel). During that 10 days of ministry we saw hundreds of people give their hearts to the Lord Jesus and accept him as Savior. We saw hundreds receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
But, the primary purpose of this trip was to pray for the sick and see them healed (Mark 16:18 and I John 3:8b). We wanted to model the Kingdom of God to these precious people, showing them how the power of God could flow through us empty vessels. Then we encouraged them to come along with us, pray for the sick themselves, and watch God do miracles through their hands. And that is exactly what happened.
We tried to be very conservative when estimating healings. Each evening, the team gathered around dinner to talk about the day’s activities and estimate how many people we prayed for and of those, how many either showed clear signs of healing, told us repeatedly that they were healed, or sent a report back to us through someone else that they were healed or markedly improved. Even with those conservative estimates, we prayed for at least 1,300-1,500 people and saw between 70% and 90% of those folks either completely healed or definitely improved.
Wow! What an exciting experience to see that many people healed. Dan remarked that he felt like a passenger on some kind of special train who was being carried through the most amazingly beautiful scenery. Yes, God’s power was moving through our prayers, but it was obvious to us that we do not have any power of our own to heal anyone. What a privilege it was to get to watch up close and personal as God touched life after life after life in such tangible, dramatic ways.
The First Night and the First Miracle
When we arrived in Uganda, one of our local bishops, Bishop Yusto, met us at the airport and helped us get settled in to our hotel. He seemed tried and lethargic. Before we left for the evening, he told us he suffered from diabetes and, two weeks prior, had finished a 2 week hospital stay for the disease. The doctor’s prognosis was grim for him. So, the team gathered around Bishop Yusto and prayed that God would heal him of Diabetes. Debbie and I have seen people completely healed from diabetes and joined our faith with the others as we prayed for this man.
Two days later we got a report from Bishop Yusto that the hospital had called him back in for a day of testing with some new equipment. The doctors ran the tests three different times because they feared a malfunctioning machine – the tests showed that he was completely free from any signs of diabetes. We saw Bishop Yusto twice more over the next 10 days. Both times he looked like a new man, healthy and vigorous. He kept telling us how he was completely off diabetes medications and feeling wonderful.
After we got back home, we got an email from Bishop Yusto that read, in part, “…as I continue to live a healthy life free of diabetes after the healing prayer you and the team ministered over me in Entebbe Airport View Hotel!!” And this was just one of hundreds of healings we witnessed.
Vision Restored
Although we saw God open eyes that were completely blind, we will recount here how we often saw eyesight miraculously restored. It was typical of what happened several times with both of us.
A person would come up asking for prayer for their eyes. We would ask if they needed healing for pain or for vision. They would say they could not see well enough to read. We would pray for them and ask if they could see (pun intended) any improvement. Usually, they answered no. So we would ask others to come help us pray and pray some more for their eyes. At this point, we would show them a business card and ask if they could read it. They might say that they could see better, but still could not read the card. So, we would pray for them some more, and then ask again if they could read the card. It was not uncommon at this point for them to say, “No, I can’t read it because it is not in Swahili!” We would ask them to spell the words they saw, and immediately, they would begin to do so without effort or squinting. Their vision was completely restored! What a privilege it was to be allowed to participate in the process as God worked a miraculous healing!
Dramatic Sensations
One of the most dramatic sensations we experienced was praying for someone with a high fever. When we first touched their head, it was almost too hot to keep your hand on their head. But as we prayed, we could feel the temperature of their head lowering. After a few minutes, they were back to normal and cool to the touch. We each experienced this with several people in several locations. It was truly awesome.
Miracle Evangelism!
At one village, the CEC church we visited had been telling the neighbors that Americans were coming for healing. There were 6 Muslim women in that village that understood “coming for healing” to mean that we were on a medical mission and they could come expecting medical treatments of some kind. After a short message from Archbishop Chuck, he invited anyone who needed any kind of healing to come to a team member for prayer. These Muslim ladies came up for prayer, each to a different team member. All six women received dramatic healings and, as a result, gave their hearts to Jesus and accepted Him as Savior and Lord. I guess you could call that miracle evangelism!
We could go on and on with stories of God’s love, about relationships that were built, and miracles.
Click here to hear the Whitt’s share about the trip and view pictures.