Mission to England/Uganda: The Longest Day

Boarding Emirates Air (Click to enlarge)Normally we take an overnight nonstop flight to Uganda from London. It provides 6 to 8 hours of reasonably comfortable sleep. However, our schedule was disrupted by the British Airways strike. We rebooked flights with Emirates Air. That meant making a stopover in Dubai and a brief stop in Addis Ababa. None of us had ever flown Emirates Air and we wondered what to expect. We were in for a pleasant surprise!

Too many hours without sleep
(Click to enlarge)As we boarded, we heard a stewardess exclaim, “Andrew Wommack! I watch you every day on TV in Dubai!” She was so excited she actually jumped on her toes like a schoolgirl. Once it was known that we were Christians, other crew members identified themselves as “born again believers.” We were welcomed again and again as we made our way down the long aisle of the spanking new Boeing 777-300. This reception was totally unexpected. We received word that at one Mosque in Dubai a local cleric actually teaches Andrew’s material. It seems inconceivable how such a thing could be possible, but we rejoice in the way the Gospel Truth is crossing impossible barriersNew Life Church Group (Click to enlarge). (The airplane was clean, new, American made, and more comfortable than British Air. You strike, you lose. We will never again hesitate to fly Emirates.)

The flight was not long enough to provide a good opportunity to sleep. At 2am we arrived in Dubai and had several hours in lounge seats until boarding our final plane. No deep sleep. Maybe 20-30 minutes of catnapping.

Uganda, at last! (Click to enlarge)Boarding the next aircraft we had another delightful surprise. 14 youth from New Life Church in Colorado Springs were also on our flight to Uganda. What an unexpected party! Again, we found little time for sleep before landing in Addis Ababa. Unable to deplane, we were like zombies as the Entebbe airstrip on the shore of Lake Victoria finally appeared on our TV screens.

Teaching before sleep (Click to enlarge)An hour in a bus to Kampala and then sleep—right? Wrong! Andrew made one last trip to the downtown Charis Bible College to teach for an hour before finally falling into bed. It was a day of about 37 total hours without sleep. We’ve seen better, we’ve seen worse. Praise God, it was the beginning of our great experience of ministry in Uganda 2010.

Stay tuned.

Filed Wednesday, June 2, 2010, 11pm, Uganda time, AWMI Media Manager, Stephen Bransford

Mission to England: A Boy Named Wednesday Morning (no kidding!)

The book that started a healing journey.
(Click to enlarge)We are left with many memories of the Stoneleigh Park Family Camp. Above all, we remember lives powerfully changed by the Gospel message.

As usual, there were no high pressure appeals by Andrew to get people to respond. Each time he made a simple invitation after more than an hour of teaching. The people would gather at the front of the stage, where Charis Bible College students were waiting to minister to them. Dozens were born again and hundreds responded to the call to receive the Holy Spirit baptism.

Facing amputation (Click to enlarge)One of those was a 22 year old Norweigan named Wednesday Morning Eide. He came forward on crutches and wearing a leg brace. 18 months ago he had stepped on a rusty nail while playing soccer (“football” as the Europeans call it). He received a routine Tetanus shot at that time. In spite of it, a terrible infection set into his bone, and once diagnosed, the doctors were ready to amputate his leg to stop it. He begged for a different solution, and they placed him in a drug induced coma in order to inject him with super strong experimental antibiotics that were nearly as damaging as the infection. The infection was eventually stopped but the drugs destroyed the good soft tissue in his body—the ligaments and tendons necessary for mobility. He suffered from extreme crippling pain.

Drug induced coma (Click to enlarge)After reading Andrew’s book “You’ve Already Got It,” he caught a train to the meeting in sheer desperation. He was in such pain from head to toe that he could hardly sit still on the first night. As soon as Andrew gave the invitation, he responded to the call to receive the Holy Spirit. As Jane Mizha, a CBC graduate from Zimbabwe prayed for him he said he felt a wonderful fire beginning to burn in his chest.

New man with new shoes (Click to enlarge)

Later, Andrew asked those seeking healing to come for prayer and once again he struggled to the front of the auditorium. This time, 3rd year CBC apprentice, Barbara Anghared laid hands on him and prayed. Immediately Wednesday Morning felt the burning sensation explode throughout  his entire body and instantly, all pain was gone. A celebration began.

Wednesday Morning Eide’s story has been recorded on video to be shared in detail when we return to Colorado Springs.

Filed Monday, May 31, 2010, 10am, Stoneleigh Park time, AWMI Media Manager, Stephen Bransford

Mission to England: An English Barbeque

The Family Camp in Stoneleigh continued with a full schedule of meetings morning and night. In the afternoon, however, everyone took a break for a barbeque on the lawn. Dave Hinton sat in the gazebo and plucked his cowboy guitar accompanied by blues harmonica from CBC’s own John Elshaw. It was  time of fellowship for which pictures are worth more than a thousand words:

Picnic ministry time (Click to enlarge)	Andrew at Messy Church (Click to enlarge)
Dave & John (Click to enlarge)	Ready... (Click to enlarge)
...Aim... (Click to enlarge)	...Fire! (Click to enlarge)
Kids at picnic (Click to enlarge)	Too much fun (Click to enlarge)
Big kids (Click to enlarge)	Zolt and family, from AWME Hungary (Click to enlarge)
Enjoying the sun (Click to enlarge)	Messy Church for kids (Click to enlarge)

Filed Sunday, May 30, 2010, 6pm, Stoneleigh Park time, AWMI Media Manager, Stephen Bransford