Today was the big day in Uganda….Election Day. The threat of violence during the weeks prior to the election that altered my scheduled leaves me still in Kenya until the threat of violence is over.

Traveling for the past few weeks throughout the interior of Kenya has given me a greater understanding of the people. During these weeks I’ve stayed in their homes and slept in their beds, even slept with their chickens, but more importantly, we’ve cried together, laughed together and worshipped our Lord together.

During the 3 conferences, I had 102 pastors who registered with me. When you add their members who attended, we were able to teach basic christianity and leadership classes to between 800 and 900 believers during this time. As always I am thankful for those of you who financially support me. Your support paid for the food to feed all these people during the days they attended the conferences. You were just as much a part of reaching out to them as I was, thank you.

I was reading this morning in Revelation 7: 9-10 about how it will be as we gather at the end of the age. “After this I looked up, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Reading these verses of scripture throughout my Christian life has never been as vivid of an image as it was for me this morning. For the past few weeks I’ve experienced many different tribes, people and languages. I’ve participated in unrestricted worship services where I sometimes wanted to hid and not be seen with my rigid style of worship. I long to have the freedom they have here of whole hearted worship.

When I go home for a visit and I walk into the sanctuary of my home church and our amazing choir stands to sing, I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving to be there…to hear beautiful singing glorifying God in a language I can understand. Then I come back here and I travel out into these remote villages where there are no instruments or sound systems…just the voices of the people and I am overwhelmed with thanksgiving to be here….to hear beautiful singing glorifying God in a language I don’t understand.

This morning I was thinking about the day that is coming when we’ll all be together. Every tribe, every nation, every language, praising God together. I don’t know what it’s going to sound like on that day, but I know it will be better than anything we’ve experienced here on earth. I’m sitting here laughing because I have this visual image of Brother Rob, my home church music minister, a wonderful man of God being surrounded by the people I’ve met in the past month. He would be teaching them some good ole southern gospel…and they would be teaching him how to dance! Heaven is going to be so much fun, I don’t want anyone to miss it.

What about you,are you going to be there? Have you made preparation for where you’re going to spend eternity? We live in a world where we have more choices than any generation before us, but eternal choices are the same today as they were in the beginning of time.

Love to all,

Joy Breedlove

Missionary-East Africa