Archives May 2026

Mission Moroto Stories: 27 Miles

2 years ago, a family of 11 came to visit the mission. Years before they had been up on Mt Moroto and ministered to some Tepeth Tribe villages and they wanted to reconnect with them. So Rebekah and some of her boys took them up there on foot and they found some villages and had a glorious reunion. They camped the night among the windy mountain peaks in tents and Rebekah still says that it was the coldest night of her life. They had a wonderful time but there was still one village higher up that they couldn’t reach. Some days later, Rebekah and one of her boys decided they would hike up there and find it. They took a motorcycle up as far as it would go. Then they hiked and climbed rocks and scrambled up nearly vertical slopes on hands and knees grasping one clump of grass or one root at a time. Up and down, one ridge and valley after another, they hiked and finally exhausted, they found the village and shared Jesus and fellowship with them. They hiked all the way back down and when they reached the motorcycle, it had a flat tire. So, because they had no other option, they drove the motorcycle with a flat until pieces of the tire were flying off, and they were down to the metal rim. It was now night and they had to push the motorcycle until they finally reached a police checkpoint and the police called one of Rebekah‘s staff members to bring the vehicle and pick them up. But the staff member had never driven the vehicle at night because of the tribal warfare and the gun battles along the roads, it is very unsafe to travel at night so he didn’t know how to turn the headlights on so the children piled into the vehicle and began to push every button and flip every switch until finally, the headlights came on. 😂 The staff member drove to the police checkpoint and picked them up and brought them home safely. When they finally reached home, Rebekah looked at the steps meter on her phone and it said they had walked 27 miles that day. Whew! Rebekah was violently sick all night from dehydration but rejoicing that they had found the village. Today, there’s a church among those villages. Many of the people have become baptized believers and they love to sing and dance and learn new worship songs. They tell us, “Teach us more! We are behind because we never knew these things and we want to catch up!” www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories

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Mission Moroto Stories: River Sermon

In December of 2022, we had been spreading the gospel in the villages just north of Mission Moroto for almost 2 years and we had a group of new believers who wished to be baptized. We set a date and a location at the Nakiloro River and about 150 people showed up on the riverbank. We had been having a 2-year drought and most of the rivers had dried up and the Nakiloro River, a typically strong one, was just above ankle deep. We found a spot that we believed we could use for immersion baptism if the people lay flat down on their backs in the river. Just as we decided on the deepest location, a demoniac woman appeared and walked out to the baptism spot and let out an unnatural amount of urine in the very spot. Then she began to undress. Papa Matthew walked into the river, laid his hand on her shoulder, and said, “Jesus says come.” She jerked as if shocked by something and obediently followed Matthew out of the river. He turned her over to some local women pastors and they began to pray over her (sadly, she was killed by raiders a few days later). Papa Matthew quickly decided that we were not baptizing until he had preached the entire gospel to these people and explained baptism thoroughly first. So, he stood in the river and started with explaining the Holy Trinity before creation and then creation, the fall, then the coming of Jesus, his death and resurrection and ascension, and then the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then he explained baptism thoroughly. Just then, out of a clear blue sky a black cloud appeared just above us and it began to pour rain! The people cheered and clapped. One of the local pastors turned to Papa Matthew and cried, “Papa Matthew! This is a miracle! It never rains her in December!” We cheered and praised the Lord. Suddenly, the river rose about 2 feet. Papa Matthew exclaimed, “Well! Today they are going to get sprinkled and immersed, hee hee!” The rain quickly stopped and that day we baptized about 150 new believers. What we couldn’t have known that day but happily learned later was that first, the town drunk, Loduk George, had seen the gathering and came to see what was going on. He heard the sermon and he often reminds us of the words that touched him most that Papa Matthew said, “There is no magic in this water, it is just a symbol, but the Holy Spirit will change you from the inside out and when you come up out of the river, you will be a new person.” He came and was baptized and he says that when he came out of the water he felt the Holy Spirit change him and he has not had a drop to drink to this day and he is now one of our village pastors. Nearly every time he sees Papa Matthew he says, “My baptizer, my baptizer!” and gives him a big hug. Second, there were 5 prominent elder ladies, called grandmoms, present that day who believed and were baptized. They went back to large villages farther north than we had ever visited and began to tell everyone about Jesus and a revival broke out and in the spring of 2023 thousands were saved and baptized. Praise the Lord Jesus for His power and His kindness to us. www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories

April of 2022 was a crazy month for Rebekah and Mission Moroto.

First, Rebekah discovered that the former Mayor of Moroto Town had stolen the title document to Mission Moroto’s land and was trying to steal the land and sell it fraudulently. So, she set up a meeting with this man and some elders to ask him to return the stolen title document. At one point in the meeting the former Mayor picked up a club to strike one of Rebekah’s teen boys whom he assumed had told Rebekah about the theft and attempted fraud (But actually the Holy Spirit had woken her in the night and revealed it to her). As the club was coming down on the head of the teen boy, Rebekah jumped in between and blocked the strike, breaking her arm. The meeting quickly disbanded and the Mayor went and liquored up a group of 20 or 30 local ruffians and they came back with clubs shouting that they were going to kill Rebekah. She stood there in front of them with a herd of her little children behind her holding stones, ready to defend Mama Rebekah. She told the mob, “Go ahead and kill me! I’m standing right here! But, I don’t think my God has given you authority to kill me, has He?” They looked stunned and dropped their clubs and left. Later, a larger mob came and tried to break down the large iron gate at Mission Moroto but finally the soldiers came and broke up the mob. The Mayor put out a contract with local hitmen on Rebekah’s life but the Holy Spirit kept waking her in the night and revealing their plans to the point they finally asked her, “Are you using witchcraft on us? How do you know these things?” She smiled and said, “The Holy Spirit tells me.”

Second, a few nights later, one of her teen boys came to her door with the alarming story that he had just received a call from neighbors telling him his brother had just been abducted and robbed by raiders, his goats stolen, and how he was tied up, clubbed, stoned, stomped and left for dead. Rebekah grabbed her purse, rushed out the door, picked four of her biggest boys to go with her, and drove her van in the dark with one arm in a sling through the mud to find the dying boy. Suddenly she realized her fuel gauge was on empty all the while knowing there was still a contract out on her life. BUT GOD! They didn’t run out of fuel, they found the boy, and raced him to the hospital. He slowly recovered at Mission Moroto and eventually became Rebekah’s gardener for awhile. News outlets began to pick up the story about the Mayor breaking her arm and it went all over Uganda and the perpetrators fled the area. She went to court and miraculously won against the fraud and today Mission Moroto is a very happy and peaceful place. ❤️❤️❤️ www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories

Mission Moroto Stories: Rubi’s Hats

2 years ago, God sent an angel to Mission Moroto named Rubi Hernandez. Soooo many wonderful things could be said about Rubi but the one we want to tell you about today is her unusual affinity for hats. Rubi loves to wear hats! And she wears lots of them! Here are just a few hats that Rubi wears at the mission. Assistant Director, Bible Teacher, Youth Pastor, English Teacher, Spanish Teacher, Medical Assistant, Wound Care Specialist, Prison Ministry Director, Street Ministry Director, Puppet Aficionado, Pest Control Specialist aka Bed Bug Sprayer, House Painter, Picnic Table Refinisher, Tortilla Maker, Latin Chef, Coffee Barista, Motorcycle Daredevil, Youth Chauffeur, Gopher Cha IYKYK, Snake Burner IYKYK, Abrazo Instructor IYKYK, Master Photographer, Baby Snuggler, Chorus Teacher, Typhoid-Malaria-Ulcer-Bacterial Infection Conqueror and the list could go on. Needless to say, Rubi’s love for hats is a huge blessing to us. We love you Rubi! https://www.missionmoroto.org/

Mission Moroto Stories: Baby 2×4
When Inowa was 3-years-old, her uncle inexplicably beat Inowa’s mother nearly to death and broke her hip. She couldn’t get to the hospital and so the break became very infected. Rebekah was in her village one day bringing food to a different family that had just buried a relative and stumbled upon Inowa’s mother and learned of her situation. Rebekah rushed Inowa’s mom to the hospital and they were able to get the infection under control but she lost all ability to walk. A couple of weeks later a neighbor brought Inowa to Rebekah and begged her to take her because the mom could no longer care for her. And, of course, Rebekah took Inowa in. Months later, Inowa was playing with our hand pump at the water well and crushed her finger and needed stitches badly and IV antibiotics. Even though tribal warfare was raging all around and the roads were dangerous and the hour was late, Rebekah and Papa Matthew raced Inowa to the hospital and got her treatment. As they were racing back home in the dark they came around a corner and the headlights flashed upon a giant Rock Python stretching across the entire road. The snake was as big around as Papa Matthew’s bicep and the length of the road’s width. As Papa Matthew screamed SNAKE!!!, Rebekah gunned the van and we felt the bump bump and raced on home. When Inowa recovered, she made a constant habit of wrapping up an object and carrying it on her back the way Karamojong women carry babies. We would tease her because somedays it was a baby flip flop on her back and some days it was a baby 2×4 board and somedays it was a baby brick. When some of Rubi’s friends heard about the baby 2×4 they packaged up a baby doll and sent it with Matt & Lisa to the mission. And now Inowa is all healed and she has a baby doll on her back and a ready smile and hug for everyone. ❤ www.missionmoroto.org

Mission Moroto Stories: 21 Soldier Hitchhikers

One day a few years ago, Rebekah, Lisa, and Matt were headed to town from the mission in their Toyota Mini Van when suddenly 21 heavily armed soldiers stepped out into the road and flagged them down. Rebekah pulled over and the soldiers asked if they could be given a lift to town. You don’t really tell 21 soldiers no so Rebekah said, “Sure!” Lisa scooted over as far as she could and they began to pile in with rifles and packs in the seats sitting on top of each other and in the floor and then one of the soldiers said, “Open the boot.” The Americans looked at each other quizzically and then realized they meant the hatch! So, Rebekah opened the hatch and 8 of the soldiers piled in on top of each other stacked like firewood. Finally the hatch, the sliding door, and the two front doors were pressed closed. Except for arms and rifles sticking out of the windows, all 21 soldiers and Rebekah, Lisa, and Matt were crammed in the van. The soldiers kept asking Lisa, “Madam, are you ok?” and Lisa would respond, “Yes! I’m great.” Matt slowly began to slip his phone out of his pocket to sneak a photo but Rebekah looked over at him and said sternly, “Dad, don’t even think about it.” So the phone was quickly slipped back into the pocket. 😆 The 21 Soldier Hitchhikers got their ride to town and when they got out they thanked and fist bumped the three profusely. Mom, Dad, and Rebekah drove off shaking their heads at each other and saying, “Ain’t nobody every gonna believe this one!” 🤣 www.missionmoroto.org

Mission Moroto Stories – Just Another Day In The Life Of Rebekah Bullen🙃

At 7:30 a.m., one of Rebekah’s pastor team members is waiting at the door for a motorcycle key to carry our pastor team up to one of our remote village churches for a marriage conference and the grand opening of the new church building. Then Rebekah heads to town to get internet so she can send documents to the Minister of Education for our new school licensing process. On the way, she must drop off a staff member and two sick children at the hospital.

It had rained the night before, and they encounter a mining semi-truck stuck in the mud, so Rebekah guns her Land Cruiser and turns off-road, sliding and bouncing through deep mud and throwing mud all over the vehicle. She stops at two stores for baby supplies. After dropping the children at the hospital, she stops at Mount Moroto Hotel to get Wi-Fi so she can send her documents.

Suddenly, she smells a terrible stench in the vehicle, so she opens the glovebox to find a very large rat with a nest full of baby rats! She screams, slams the glovebox shut, then rips the glovebox out of the dashboard, carries it to the parking lot trash can, and promptly dumps the squealing contents into the trash. 🤣

She does her computer work and realizes she is feeling very ill and needs to go to the clinic to get tested. But first, she needs to buy 20 sacks of maize flour from three different locations, pick up the kids from the hospital, and drop our friends from the Netherlands off at Mission Moroto.

She then picks up another staff member and heads to the clinic, where she finds out she has malaria and typhoid. As the doctor is trying to put an IV port in her hand, she is typing important, time-sensitive information into her phone for the Minister of Education.

Then Rebekah and her staff member head to Moroto Prison for an appointment with the warden to receive six preschool children whose parents are incarcerated there. After waiting for an hour and a half, they explain that the prison’s paperwork is not yet complete, so she must return another day.

She arrives home just in time to have the staff count out the beans and cups of rice and flour for the next day’s meals. District government personnel come and inspect the new school, and all is in process!

She organized family worship, took her medicine, organized for a boy to have eye surgery on Friday, and is sending two staff members to Kampala for school licensing and to get one of our girls with a heart condition some new medicine.

Then she called Lisa and me to catch us up. ❤🙏

Monday, a family of 11 will arrive for a week-and-a-half visit at the mission, and the day after they leave, another team of three will arrive for a visit.

But all in all, it was just another day in the life of Rebekah Renee Bullen and Mission Moroto. 🤣 www.missionmoroto.org

We had recently planted a new church and Jesus & Porridge Program in Morukakero Village and because they sold really good fire wood, we were there to buy some for the mission. Suddenly a platoon of Ugandan soldiers stepped out of the forest in uniform carrying rocket launchers, grenade launchers, machine guns, and even bazookas. They had been patrolling the bush looking for raiders. Rebekah quickly stepped up and greeted the commanding officer and shook his hand. She told him about the church and that we were buying firewood. He said, “Yes, I know about all of your churches and I have to tell you that the villages where you have planted churches are now so peaceful that it’s making our work much easier. Also, there is another village down this road called Napedo and they need one of your churches too. Some of my soldiers are bivouacked near there and would love to be able to attend worship once in a while.” Rebekah said, “Yes Sir, Commander we will do that.”

Today, we have a thriving church in Napedo and a matriarch of the village, Josephine, has come to faith, been baptized, and has been coming to our Bible College every week for over a year, praise the Lord! Stay tuned for more Mission Moroto Stories!