Sisters group on mission to Uganda

Sisters missionaries are headed to Uganda. photo by Charlie Kanzig A group of 10 Sisters residents led by Mike Parker and Sisters Community Church pastor Tim Kizziar will depart for Uganda on Thursday, July 15, on a short-term mission trip that will conclude July 27.

Parker, who is founder and president of All Nations Ministries, traveled to Uganda in November and looks forward to sharing the experience with fellow Christians from the Sisters area on this current trip.

Team members include Parker, Kizziar, Dr. Scott and Cheri Miller, Chris and Lisa Gilbert, John Hornbeck, Ed and Cheryl Perregaux and Beth Golden.

The group is participating in a country-wide event called "Arise Uganda," which is coordinated among 15 cities in Uganda simultaneously. The Sisters group will be centered in Kapchorwa for most of its stay and will focus on children's ministry, leadership training, health care, marriage seminars and a fresh water project.

A total of over $90,000 has been raised in the local area to help fund the trip, pay for 6,000 Bibles and other materials and to help bore four wells for two internally displaced internment camps. The camps include members of the Sabiny people who been overrun in recent years by invading tribes from Kenya, displacing them from their homes and farms.

According to Parker, 15 cities around Uganda will stage "Arise Uganda" events simultaneously. The effort was spawned in part a few years ago when well-known evangelist Luis Palau was invited by Ugandan leaders to minister to the country's people. Palau was unable to go at the time, but the plan has been brought to fruition this year with the involvement of churches throughout America, including Sisters and a group from the Portland area.

Palau and his son Kevin lead a program called "Next Generation Alliance," which is designed to equip Christian evangelists for the next generation.

Sisters Community Church hopes to partner with the people of Kapchorwa for a long-term partnership, according to Pastor Kizziar.

"We want this trip to be the first of many interchanges we have with the people of Uganda over the years to come," he said.

Kizziar expects the group to gain as much as it gives.

"We want to meet whatever spiritual and physical needs we can in Uganda, but also understand that we stand to learn a tremendous amount during our two week stay," he said.