A Testimony by Jim Fruehan

During my visit to Uganda in 2008, I was experiencing many problems with the internet. Sometimes the internet cafe would be closed due to lack of power, or halfway through writing an important email the electricity would go off. Sometimes it was incredibly sluggish and the connection would dropped so frequently that you spend all your time trying to log on and not actually accomplishing anything. I felt spritually attacked and was getting increasingly disappointed, frustrated, irritated, and upset. How am I to communicate with all our friends and the supporters of this ministry, if the internet isn't working?

But the Lord is ultimately in control, and had a plan in mind I knew nothing about. After five visits to the local store in Masaka town with about ten or twelve hours of fiddling with settings, and two trips to the internet store in Kampala, a days journey away, I finally visited an internet store called Afrika Point in a neighboring village, within walking distance.

There, I met two orphaned teenage boys, Joseph and Moses. I was looking for the computer speakers to listen to a voice mail from our American phone number, and these young boys who lived nearby and were just hanging out, were there to help me out. We ended up visiting for a while and I told them about our ministry. Moses told me that he would like to donate some clothing to a children’s center that we were assisting. I was quite surprised, because we are constantly confronted with people in need who presume we are rich muzungus or outright ask us for money. He told me he had everything he needed and would ask some of his friends to donate some clothing too. They had such generous hearts and pleasant personalities. When I asked him if he went to church, my understanding was that he belonged to a local church that I was familiar with. Consequently, I invited both of these boys to come to church with me on Sunday.

Sunday morning, As my wife Robyn and I walked down the steps to the front of the church, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Joseph and Moses with a bag of clothes in hand. As I expected, they seemed to enjoy the worship music I had mentioned when I invited them. The pastor asked if any visitors would like to come introduce themselves. I accompanied the two boys to the front of the room, where Moses shared about his invitation to attend church, and how it was his first time in a church; he couldn't disobey me by refusing my invitation. We went back to our seats and continued to enjoy the service. After the pastor completed his sermon on obedience he asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus today. You guessed it, Joseph and Moses motioned to each other and I looked at them and they nodded that they were going up to accept our Lord. I couldn’t believe what was happening; all I had done was simply invite them to our church. As I hugged them and placed my hands on their shoulders I was overcome by the Holy Spirit, it was so awesome that I just can’t explain it, I am so happy we had the pastors to pray over these boys because I was tearfully speechless to not only witness this but to realize how God was working through me.

After we returned to our seats I opened my bible to Matthew 25:31-46 “The Sheep and the Goats” and showed the boys that they have already done as the Lord has instructed us to do… vs. 36 “I needed clothes and you clothed me.”

The internet seemed so important for me to do my job in this ministry. It was the internet problems that brought me to meet these two boys that God had placed there just waiting for me to arrive that day. How easy it would have been to ignore them and not bother to invite them to church on Sunday. Sometimes the Lord has other plans for us and it is for us to act on them. If the Angels are keeping score, I think it is; “One frustrated Director equals two saved souls”!

It was within a few weeks of becoming “Born Again Christians” that I met with the boys again. Their testimonies on how their life has changed was amazing, they were telling me that I saved their lives! I said; “Now wait a minute, I didn’t do anything, I just invited you to church.” They continued by saying that after my invitation to church, their lives had changed. The next thing they tell me is that they want to spread the Word of God. Thus the birth of Youth Country Missionary Club!

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