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“I thank my God every


time I remember you.”
Philippians 1:3

TESTIMONY
Connie Jarlsberg August 2018, Issue 76
After serving as a missionary in Uganda for over 21 years, last month, Connie returned to missionary who’s been around now going on to 29 years. We also did a missions conference
the U.S. We asked her to share what the highlights of her time in Uganda were. called Ignite 2018 and it was to sensitize Ugandan pastors that now is the time! Uganda is
The major highlight is the relationships and friendships I’ve had and praying from Kampala not a mission field any longer but it can be a mission force. Our idea is to equip people to do
Baptist Church (KBC) for 16 years – just realizing that I have Ugandan friends who care all of these things and to walk faithfully with God and to follow Him in obedience. It’s
about me, who love me, people who would help me understand their culture and what it exciting for me to know as I leave that there are those who will carry on this work.
really means to live together, pray together and share food together. My house was the
place where everyone came for pizza and I’d have fellowship with a group of single women
friends where we’d just spend time together, listening to each other’s stories and learning
who God wanted us to be as women and why God values all of us. Sharing with those ladies
and understanding that God cares about us and that He has a place for us is really one of the
significant things for me. There will be fond memories I have of elephants and giraffes but it
will be the friends I have and the believers that I know who are the highlights of my time
here. There are those I have watched grow up who are in university now or married and
starting families. To be in Uganda long enough to see that has been a gift. Just being part of
KBC, to know that this is my church family; this is where I belong—in Uganda. That’s the
part that makes it difficult to leave. Often over the years I have seen and experienced the
love of God though those at KBC.
In the days before ARVs were easily accessible, I worked for True Love Waits (an HIV/Aids
program) with Pastor Andrew and Faith Kembabazi and others. We talked to primary and
secondary school children about abstinence and God’s plan for sexuality to prevent HIV/
Aids. The work with True Love Waits was great fun in those years. It was serious work we
were doing but being able to interact with Ugandan young people and to travel around
Connie attending to a patient during the Kampala Baptist
Church 2017 medical week
This is where I belong — in

“ Uganda

the same time, those were great days. The early days of Medical Mission Week at KBC were
also really fun. I don’t remember when the first medical mission week happened but I do
remember that we saw 350 people in 5 days and that it was Beatrice Mawano, the Late Ruth
Musoke and me who were the nurses in those days. To see how far the medical mission
My dad came to visit Uganda four times. People didn’t understand why he would come all
the way from the US to see his single daughter but it was because he loved me. Through
that he demonstrated what God the Father looks like; how He unconditionally loves us.
Having him visit and meet people here, develop friendships and see the work we were doing
Uganda with a team of Ugandans to see the country and do work, serving God together at at that time was a real highlight of my time in Uganda as well.

God’s made it pretty clear that He is now saying “you’ve done it. It’s time for you to leave
and let them do what you’ve taught them to do”. And I don’t think that many people can
say that. There’s leadership at the university, there are mature women at KBC that we’ve
done life together, there’s a fellowship of Ugandan nurses who understand what being a
week has come is a real highlight.
Christian nurse is all about. That’s a real joy in my heart.
When I started teaching at Makerere, what I really wanted to do was to help nurses do their
My prayer for KBC is to see people walking with the Lord and growing in their faith in Him
job well as they took care of patients. My students knew that I was a believer and so we
and making wise decisions based on what scripture says. I pray people will understand what
talked about why I did nursing the way I did – I loved Jesus and I wanted to give good care to
obedience to God looks like: Be willing to spend time with God, understand who He is, read
patients as well. Five of my former students are believers. They have their PhDs in nursing,
His word and do what God asks you to do. That they will continue to be faithful to the Lord
now teaching at the University and several of them have said to me “Connie we’ve heard
with their lives. I leave you with Philippians 1:3-6. - “I thank my God every time I remember
what you said and we really feel like God is calling us to teach nurses and to help them
you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the
understand who Jesus is and how He would want them to be nurses”. Recently Nurses’
gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in
Christian Fellowship began in Kampala with a group of nurses who are learning how to
you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
integrate their faith into nursing practice. What does it mean when Jesus heals and what
does it mean to us as nurses and especially as Christian nurses? How do you put Bible study
and work together? How do you care for patients created in the image of God and really Connie is a missionary working with World Venture. Born and raised in Wisconsin
need someone to advocate for them and to care for them? I feel I have left people behind – United States, she came to know Christ at 11 years and felt God was calling her
who can carry on that job, nurses who understand what it means to link faith and nursing to be a missionary at the age of 14.
practice together and then sharing that with other nurses. She is a nurse by profession and first came to Africa in 1993 and worked in Zaire
I’ve also been doing some work with a relatively new Ugandan mission agency called Global (Democratic Republic of Congo) where she taught nursing in a small mission
Link Africa and they’ve been sending Ugandan missionaries to remote villages for almost 5 nursing school.
years. They send out short term missionaries for the most part and professionals like Connie came to Uganda in 1997 to work with True Love Waits. She taught
nurses, clinical officers and physiotherapists into health centres. I have been privileged to bachelor of nursing at Makerere University for 12 years.
work with them and have done some orientation for their missionaries. Being able to help
them understand things like “how do you use your profession in mission?” and “what is God The KEY RING is a monthly publication by the Kampala Baptist Church Media Team
that seeks to provide an avenue where men and women can share knowledge and
asking me to do?” and in being a nurse in this health centre, how do you share the gospel
understanding of the word of God, experiences and encourage one another as the
with those people? Recently they sent two missionaries to Kenya and brought two Kenyan
older perform the act of ‘paralambano’ to the younger.
missionaries here. To see young Ugandans engaged in missions is a great joy to me as a
Our prayer is that the Lord will speak to you through this publication.

Drop us an email at kbcmediateam@gmail.com | Visit the church website at www.kbcuganda.org

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