Pastor Roc serving those with HIV and AIDS

Reported by John Bills

While in Jinja, I was invited to visit an AIDS clinic out in a remote village. I was greeted by Pastor ROC a Ugandan with a huge heart for those suffering from AIDS. We traveled a very long distance packed beyond description in a public transport mini van. Just when you thought there was certainly no more room for another person, the driver would stop and pick up three more. We had a wonderful time of sharing together of the goodness of God in our lives in spite of the crowded conditions. 

He motioned for the driver to stop along the road as Pastor ROC wanted me to greet his wife. So, the driver stopped and Pastor ROC motioned for a women working in a near by field to come over to the van. Over to the van came his wife, aged from the sun, dirty and sweaty from working in the hot sun. She greeted me with the biggest smile and said what an honor to meet me.  

I found out later that Pastor ROC and his wife have a small congregation that are not able to help very much financially for them to pastor the church, so both he and his wife have to work in the fields to get enough money to feed their children. He turned over his hands to show me the blisters and calluses that have been produced by years of hard work. Even through this hardship, he remains faithful to God and serves with a compassionate heart, those in the villages around his church.  

He volunteers at this AIDS clinic we visited to pray with the staff and patients.

 As we arrived at the clinic, I was immediately brought before the staff to hear their stories and pray for them.  I then was taken out into the bush to visit a couple of families that are suffering from the results of AIDS.  I cannot begin to describe to you what if felt like to sit on the dirty floor of one of the homes to pray with a mother dying from AIDS.  She is carrying for a daughter and her six children, both widows whose husbands died from AIDS.  This amazing mother has a faith in Jesus and a hope that overshadows the hopelessness that many would feel in this kind of circumstance.  As I sat next to her on the floor, I wrapped her in my arms and began to bring a word of love and comfort to her from a loving heavenly Father.  It is these kinds of moments, that you forget the surroundings of smells, heat and flies and experience the presence of God in your midst.  

When I finished praying for her, Pastor ROC said that he felt such a deep presence of God in the room as if God was there physically touching each of us.  Each in the room testified of the same thing.  Out in the bush, in homes like the one I visited is the working power of God moving from household to household.  When scripture says that God is near to the brokenhearted, that word has become alive to many.  I feel humbled to experience it.

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