In a few days I will be leaving for a short term ministry trip to Kampala, Uganda. This the first partner summit sponsored by Mending the Soul (https://mendingthesoul.org/). The team has invited two dozen of their most strategic African partners from the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda to come to Kampala for the 5 day conference. We will be teaching and serving these amazing leaders for five full days. This conference will focus on teaching on a biblical theology of suffering and lament, biology of trauma, ministry to the traumatized, and self-care for care givers. Our team plans to offer individual pastoral counseling, individual and group prayer times, and receive ministry updates and conduct strategic planning with our partners.

We will be working with top leaders, most of whom oversee large ministries that serve thousands of people. This will be a most important time to strengthen front line ministry leaders and further equip them to train their leaders. After this conference we have the opportunity to train 25 workers at the National Rehabilitation Centre, the primary government agency that works with institutionalized street children and juvenile offenders. This is an incredible opportunity to bring Christ centered trauma healing principles to staff members working with one of the most difficult populations in Uganda, staff who have never received training like this.

This will be a very intense and full two weeks. We greatly need prayer support. In addition to me the team members are:

• Jumah Patrick (trip coordinator and teacher)
• Nora Poling (daily sharing her own story at both conferences)
• Kelsey Hawk (teaching on biology of trauma and care for survivors)
• Dr. Ethie Gebeyehu (team and conference prayer director)
• Celestia Tracy (teaching and pastoral counseling)
• Steve Tracy (team leader, teaching and pastoral counseling)

Our trip schedule is:

• Jan 20-21—US team travels to Uganda
• Jan 22—team preparation for conference
• Jan 23-27—conference with 25 African trauma ministry partners
• Jan 28—ministry in local church
• Jan 29-30—training for Rehabilitation Centre staff
• Jan 31—team returns to US

I hope to post updates on this site, assuming internet access is available. There will also be updates on the Mending the Soul site.