Personal Stories

Why they chose to sit near us was a mystery. We would have prefered that they didn't because they were foul-mouthed and offensive. The two girls were in their teens and had matted hair, blackened eyes and numerous body-pearcings. The 4 boys were similarly bedraggled...

Who would really believe my remarkable story if I told them? But this is the truth. This is what actually happened to me... Mysterious things happen all around the world - despite what the sceptics say. Anyone who has spent a long time in Africa will know this. Mystical experiences are part of life there. But in my own home in Melbourne all those years ago, a strange occurrence happened to me - and it sparked a chain of events that eventually led me on this very unusual safari to east Africa.

In my heart I have felt betrayed by God... like he called us out on a limb to take steps of faith, only to abandon us and let us fall, to feel the pain of isolation and the loneliness of defeat. God has been silent, and as one who has known the sound of His voice in the past and as one who understands that true life only comes from every word which proceeds from His mouth, that silence has been a burden too heavy to bear. But after a long silence, last night God showed up...

How can we really know God? How can we trust him when bad things seem to happen to good people? Why does God allow suffering, accidents, diseases and natural disasters?

Ingrid Wilts is a single woman, a missionary from Holland, who came to Uganda in 1981 to serve Jesus. Since then she has been robbed at gunpoint, shot, maligned and falsely accused of practising witchcraft, being a rebel leader and a political agitator. Ingrid has emerged as an inspirational testimony of enduring faith.

The testimony of Kisakya Jannipher.

The birth of the Jewish Messiah (Saviour) was foretold by prophets hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea. His birth and life and death fulfilled hundreds of Old Testament prophecies, yet most of the Jewish nation did not believe. The first believers, however, were Jewish and it is through their testimony and written account of the life of Jesus that we have the New Testament today. According to the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Messiah was not only destined to be a saviour to the Jewish people, but he would also be 'a light to the gentiles' so that non-Jewish people could find God too.

• Jesus was, and is, unique for many reasons. Apart from being a profound and insightful teacher whose life stands as a credible witness to a radical new way of living, Jesus was unique in the following ways:
• Jesus had no earthly father: His mother Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit
• Jesus performed powerful miracles: These miracles were numerous, well-documented and witnessed by many.
• Jesus revealed the character and nature of God the father through his life, love, teaching and his death.
• Jesus died unjustly, willingly taking the punishment for our sin, even though he lived a righteous life and deserved no punishment.
• Jesus died, was buried and rose again, revealing himself to his followers and meeting with them over many days, after which he returned to heaven in bodily form.
• Jesus promised that he would continue to be available to his followers by means of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is promised to all who believe, enabling them with 'gifts' to serve and glorify God.
• Throughout history, even to this day, Jesus continues to empower his followers around the world to spread the good news about God's free gift of eternal life which is available to all who will believe.
• Jesus promised that he would return to judge the world and to deal forever with the problem of evil. He may return at any time.

Why I Believe

I first came to believe in Jesus Christ at the end of a long philosophical search. Having been a church attender with my family as a boy, the full reality of God's love and plan for the world (or more specifically, for me) didn't hit me until Jesus came into my life in 1978 through the life and testimony of a Chinese-Malaysian student who was studying with my brother.

When we found Nakato in the village near Jinja she was in advanced stages of sickness due to HIV/AIDS. Nakato was a Muslim and married to a Muslim man when she contracted the disease. Unable to care for herself, her husband or her children, Nakato returned home to her mother where she could be cared for, and to get help caring for her children. As the AIDS related symptoms increased, Nakato realised that death was approaching. In desperation she surrender her life to Christ, fully expecting to die.

The root of most people’s indifference to the issue of interracial reconciliation - particularly as it relates to land rights - stems from white man’s inability to realise the deep significance of land to indigenous people and culture.

People go to Africa for all kinds of reasons. Mine was a primarily a spiritual quest. Like that early pioneer, I too had been strangely compelled and drawn by the hand of providence to explore, in my own way, the "dark continent". My safari began at that place where David Livingstone discovered the most beautiful natural wonder in Africa - Victoria Falls.