Bomb Blasts

As we were watching the World Cup (my wife and I) we heard two loud "booms" that sounded quite close. I assumed they were fireworks - about an hour we received a text message that bombs had went off in two places in Kampala. One was at a nearby Rugby Club were people were gathered to watch the game. It is about a mile and half from our house (but no worries - far enough from us - we are OK). Sirens were heard throughout the night,as they tried to help those who still had a chance of survival - while many others were being whisked off to the mortuary. We are still reeling in the details (Today is July 12th the day after). But we are deeply saddened by these terrorist attacks (as they have have now been confirmed to be terrorists in Somalia). Pray for for the victims hanging on to their lives and and pray for the rest of us as Kampala has now become a target for these Somalia Terrorists. At this time 64 are confirmed dead.

A day in the life - Ugandan Style

The only way travel. A great view and A/C.

Fresh bread delivered daily.

Top Rate Security

The Uganda Call

We finished The Call last week. There much controversy surrounding the event due to the fact that their is a bill that is in our Ugandan Parliament right now concerning homosexual laws. We presently have no laws in place in our governmental system for homosexuals other than homosexuality being illegal.

The controversy comes in because of one particular part of the bill that states that a person who is infected with HIV AIDS that infects a minor under 18 - would be deserving of the death penalty. This is is already the existing the law for heterosexuals that commit this crime.

The church wants to see the bill's penalty lowered to from the death penalty to a prison (For both homosexuals and heterosexuals) sentence - but the homosexual agenda around the world is calling this bill - "kill the gays" bill and have made it into something that it is not.

Anyway, Lou Engle who is the Founder and leader of The Call has held prayer rallies in the US - most notable in San Diego to raise a trumpet call for prayer and fasting in favor of marriage between a a man and woman.

So the media stirred up lies about The Uganda Call as a rally to incite violence against gays.

Numerous media outlets were on hand for the event. I was personally interviewed by Al Gore's network called "Current TV".

Jesse Engle - Lou's son - joined his father on the trip along with Stuart Greaves from IHOP (who has lead the prayer at the International House of Prayer for the last 10 years for midnight to 6 AM session for six days a week). Stuart and Jesse both had a chance to minister in our church in separate sessions. Lou Engle also had a chance to visit our church and prayed over us. It was the same Sunday that our own Pastor Rick Seaward from Singapore preached in our church for the first time.

So it was quite an eventful Sunday

The Latest from the Woodson's

Since our return from the States – God has been refreshing our church with a renewed freshness. Somewhere towards the end of February we gathered our leaders for a meeting – God came in a very special way that night and filled people with His Spirit. Some cried, others laughed with joy, many were healed – above all the fruit that came from that night was changed lives. Since that night we have seen an increase in every area of our church but most especially in the area of an increased hunger and thirst for God. We thank God for this season and do not take for grant it – only pray that it will continue.

At the end of March a Team from Teen Challenge representing the Pacific Northwest Region of the US came and begun a partnership with our local Teen Challenge Chapter here in Kampala. It has been something that we have prayed for and longed for – for many years. We have needed this boost for this ministry and are excited about this new partnership we have begun. The week the team came we went on local TV and Radio Stations as well as schools and youth groups to spread the message of God’s healing power to save and change lives from addictions.

Lou Engle who represents a Ministry called The Call is coming to Uganda and I am part of the team arranging for the event. This ministry focuses on repentance and reconciliation and targets young people. The date is scheduled for May 1^st this year. It’s not an easy task to bring churches and Pastors together – but we believe that this day will be a historic event in the life of this nation. Please pray along with us and stand with us as we plan for TheCall Uganda.

Our Family is well and we expect to have a new addition by October this year. Everyone is excited! Josh wants a baby brother and Breanna wants a baby sister. Whatever God has for us – we believe they will be a blessing to family and the nations of the earth.

Another day in the life..........

I can't seem to keep up on life these days, at least my blog life - I just somehow forgot about it.

Well Happy New Year! Who knows when you will be reading this at least I am trying to get in a blog before Feb.

So much has been going on - I am not sure where to start. We have now been back in Uganda since Dec 29th ( about a month now) and things are going great - I can sense God doing a new thing in the coming year. It was really good to get away and get a fresh perspective on ministry and our spiritual lives. We often need such times to move on in life.

Uganda is changing so fast these days - buildings are going up everywhere and land prices have sky rocketed - we paid $30,000 USD for the land our church building is on about 8 yrs ago and today the same piece of land is worth somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 USD (that is for a 1/2 acre). Food prices have also gone way up and it's getting hard for the average person here to get along in life with the basic necessities.

The other day someone jumped into our yard (over the wall) and stole our son Joshua's bike - it seems it was in broad daylight and then they stole the mirror on my car that was parked in front of the church. Oh well - another day in the life....

And so we press on - knowing that our destiny is before us- realizing that it's more necessary than ever before for us to find a place of daily prayer and still our hearts before the One who gives life meaning.

Praying and Hoping that this Year is more than you could ever expect. God Bless!

Merry Christmas!

Hello friends and family,

Another year has passed and Christmas is upon us once again. We hope this last year has been a great blessing to you and your family.

As for the Woodson’s, it has been a year of reflection and refueling as we have taken the last three months of 2009 and spent them in the States. Although we still have a few weeks left, the time has gone by very quickly and we will soon be headed back to Uganda.

We have traveled over 5000 miles starting out in California – traveling up the west coast to Vancouver then over to Montana, then down to Colorado Springs, up to Minnesota, back down Kansas City and then back to California. We visited the Redwood Forest, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon as well as seeing many of our friends and family scattered throughout the many States we visited. All in all we have built many precious memories and have a lot to be thankful for. We thank all of you who put us up your homes and extended your hospitality to us, may the Lord bless you in return.

Although, there were many reasons why we took these three months leave from the field – one of the priorities was to spend some time at International House of Prayer in Kansas City. We took the month of November and spent that time really seeking the Lord for His purposes in our lives, concerning our future. We felt that after being in Uganda for over ten years now that we needed to take a step back and wait upon the Lord. Although we came with some preconceived ideas (you know us humans), God made it very clear from the onset - that this time would not be so much a time of impartation for “vision and plans for the future” but this would be a time for getting ministered to by the Lord - spending time in His presence and being refueled and refreshed. I would have to say that this has in fact happened and the Lord has been able to work in our hearts for His purposes.

During this time I have been doing a personal study on the life of Jacob and have learned some valuable lessons from his life that have spoken much to me during this season. One lesson I have been pondering over is found in Chapter 28. God shows up in Jacob’s life in a profound way and reveals himself to him with an “open heaven” – Jacob is so overwhelmed by the experience that he calls the place Beth-el meaning “the house of God”(Genesis 28:19). Yet not much change takes place in His personal life. This demonstrates clearly that one can have a genuinely electrifying emotional spiritual encounter without the effect of one’s character being changed. You see, it would not be for another 20 years that Jacob would wrestle with an angel and his name would be changed from Jacob to Israel (Genesis 32:28). At that point he would never walk the same again – he would walk with a limp, he would lean on God instead of his own strength. After wrestling with this angel, a short time later Jacob would return to that same place he called Beth-el, but now Jacob would call it El-Beth-el meaning “the God of the house” (Genesis 35:6,7) . The lesson for me is this: You can’t always know what God is doing in your life – but you can know who God is. You can learn His ways in every season you find yourself in. Instead of seeking God for direction – the Lord has beckoned me to simply seek Him. As I have done this – the Lord had been faithful to reveal His purposes to us.

As we return to Uganda in two weeks – there is a firing burning in our hearts to continue to serve Him in this great nation. We are ready to see all of God’s will fulfilled in our lives for such a time as this. We covet your prayers and know how much we need Him to do His work through us – we are vessels of His purposes.

God Bless all of you who have prayed for us. We thank God for all you have been able to do for us as He has enabled you. Merry Christmas and May next year be a fruitful year for you, your family and your church.

Josh shoots a gun and Breanna rides a horse in Montana

We visited our friends the Gregory's in Montana and they converted us into cowboys.

Some shots from our recent road trip up the West Coast. California to Canada

Kampala Riots

Late last week (Sept 10,11th) Kampala was turned into a war zone as the police shut down the city due to riots. Business, schools and government offices were closed and the police arrested more than 550 people and 14 are have been confirmed dead. The violence erupted on Thursday and continued into Friday when the police clashed with supporters of the King of Banganda (which the largest tribe here in Uganda). The President was preventing the King from attending a youth festival in a certain district for fear of unrest. The King was not welcomed by the people living in that area and the government foreseen a problem. When the President told the King he could not visit the district where the youth event was being held – the king’s supporter’s started rioting.

The nation is becoming more and more discontent and the smallest thing can set it off. This should not have caused riots - it was just an excuse. Pray for us as we labor in this city - we covet them.

To God be the glory

I spoke at Prime Time@The Pool on Saturday, Sept the 12th. This is the outreach I have spoken about in a previous blog. They have this event every week that reaches over two thousand students in a single meeting. They gave me the topic of pornography - which I was not to excited about - because this event is outside with a lot of distractions - including a lot heckling and shouting (while your preaching). In fact by the time the preacher stands up usually about 20% of the crowd leaves even before you get a word out. I thank the Lord for what He did this time. First, I brought our drama team with me from the church and they did a skit on "Samson". I had them come on first and this seem to keep the crowd around (very few left). I spoke about how our eyes lead us to sin many times and how pornography "eats" the soul. I ended with talking about how only a right view of God's love for us could give us the strength we need to overcome any addiction including pornography. In the end, over a thousand students stood up to commit themselves to ask God for His help with their addictions (I emphasized any sexual addiction). In addition about 7 or 8 people were saved. May God receive the glory