Archives 2026

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!