The past week and a half have been a blur. I’ve been extremely busy. Let’s see. I left Kampala a week ago Monday, and travelled to Kapchorwa. It was a long journey and filled with adventure. We stopped in Mbale and picked up some final supplies before continuing on to Kapchorwa. I arrived in the mountains to a small town. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. The weather is fair, sixties and seventies and there is a beautiful view. From the house I am staying at you can walk out on the porch and see down the mountain and onto the plains of eastern Uganda. That Tuesday and Wednesday I was “resting” and preparing for my first journey deep into the mountains to one of the rural villages. Thursday I picked up some last supplies (mainly toilet paper and drinking water, because there is no t.p. nor clean water) and we headed out. The trip took over an hour on rough roads with a 4wd. Vehicle. The trip was beautiful as we wound on a two track road through the mountains. We arrived at the house I was to stay at. The house was made of mud and had a metal roof. There was no power or running water, so it was a lot like camping. It was a great time. The people, though having very little, are so welcoming and receptive of the Gospel. They were wonderful and we shared in fellowship a lot. I also received a shock to find out that I was not the only muzungu (white person) in this rural village. There were two men from FHI (food for the hungry international) who were distributing blankets, tarps, and jerry cans with water purifying tablets. So, I got to speak with a few muzungus, which was interesting because it was something I had not done in quite a while (three weeks). Friday, the pastor of the church I was teaching at, and I helped FHI distribute the supplies to displaced people. We distributed over blankets, tarps, and jerry cans to over 500 families!!! These people had been displaced when the government came in and tore down their houses because they were living within a national forest. So, they are working on resettling these people, but until then, they are living in camps with poor sanitation, and no clean water. It was a heart breaking thing to see. These people had only the clothes on their backs and only some of them had shoes. The blankets were helpful because in the mountains it can get very cold at night, especially during the rainy season. So, after 5 hours of distributing things I went to the church and taught for an hour. Then we worshipped and the people responded well to the message. Saturday I woke up and fellowshipped with people in their homes. We also walked along a ridge to a waterfall and took pictures. It was a beautiful sight and everywhere you looked you could see the beauty of God’s creation. Then I taught again on Saturday, and we fellowshipped some more. Sunday I woke up early and we went to a school and I gave a brief message and then we went to church. The church service lasted for four hours!!! We prayed, sang, testified, sang, danced, sang and then I preached for an hour on prayer. It was a great service and I praise God for it. Then we visited for a while and went to dedicate a child. After that we fellowshipped again and finally Monday came. I taught at another small primary school and then rode on the back of a motorcycle all the way back to my home base here in Kapchorwa.
Just one interesting story. Ugandan people have a strange understanding of time. They are very lenient with it. If you tell someone to meet you at 11, they will probably show up at 12 or even 1. So, Sam(the pastor of the Mengae church, where I was) told me that I would be teaching at one o’clock on Saturday. We left the house and visited people until 12:45. Then we walked along the mountainside for half an hour to a place where we were probably an hour away from the church. Then we dallied around for fifteen minutes and finally started to make our way back to the church… at 1:30. Then we stopped at his home for thirty minutes and finally arrived at the church around three. For a one o’clock service… and the thing that surprised me was that we were the first people there!
I have been so blessed with my time here and want to praise God for all he has been doing with my mission. If I could, I would ask that you continue to pray for me and also, this week, pray for the displaced people in Mengae village who are struggling to survive. Pray that the government resettles them and that they can be strong and patient as they wait. Pray also that they hear the Gospel and let it change their lives.
Praise God.
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