Doug and Cathy Hall made their first trip to Uganda this winter to learn more about Texans on Mission's Water Impact work in the central African nation.
Doug summed up his experience by saying: “It's not just about a hole in the ground that provides clean water. It is about comprehensive generational change in each one of those communities.”
The Halls, members of Community Life Church in Rockwall, visited three villages with wells drilled by Texans and Ugandans on Mission. At a fourth village, the Halls were present when the team hit water with a new well.
“Our drillers sleep at the well site in tents,” Doug said. While drilling, “they live with the village people and a community member cooks for them. … They live with the people, talk with them, eat meals with them.”
The TXM drillers do this because they actually are on mission with Christ to the villagers.
“Our head driller is an evangelist who drills water wells; he's not a water well driller they've talked into preaching,” Hall said.
The head driller’s name is Godfrey (far right). He is a gifted speaker, and the Holy Spirit speaks through him, Hall said. “I watched him challenge and comfort people. Anything that you would hope a pastor would do, he did it.”
Godfrey, in fact, previously pastored a church in South Sudan, said Mitch Chapman, director of TXM Water Impact. “In 2017, Godfrey gave up his pastorate to escape from the war there. …
“He's a great leader, and he loves to worship the Lord,” Chapman said. But Godfrey also “does a great job of getting the (drilling) crew going and moving forward, even to the point now that we're looking at splitting into two drill teams.”
Cathy Hall (right in photo at left) said of the TXM ministry: “Organization of all of the details is mind blowing. Our Ugandan mission-minded staff continues to work hard to make lives better for the villagers in the name of Christ providing access to both clean and living water.”
And the people in the villages left a deep impression. “The Ugandans are the most gentle and soft spoken people, Cathy said. “They are generous and kind. Texans and Ugandans on Mission Water Impact ministry is making a huge positive impact one well at a time.”
TXM’s Uganda ministry starts Bible studies in every village, and some already have become churches. As a result, TXM sponsored a Church Leaders Conference in February for pastors and other ministry leaders in the villages. Ninety-one leaders attended and received instruction in pastoral self-care, hermeneutics (biblical interpretation), Bible study methods and children's ministry.
Click here to read more about the conference.
Leaders of Texans on Mission and its sister ministry, Texans and Ugandans on Mission, meet in Gulu, Uganda. Left to right: Doug Hall, TXM donor relations officer; Samuel Ojok, Uganda ministry director; and Mitch Chapman, TXM Water Impact director.