So I am really please to have been able to get to an internet café to update this blog. Everything is so very spontaneous here it is hard to get organized! We have had a great couple of weeks with the team from church – Mari and Helen have been doing great things with children and Dad and Paul have been ministering to leaders and doing evangelistic preaches. I have generally been mucking in and hanging around having fun!
So in a nutshell (because we only have half an hour) this is what we have been doing for the last week…
Thurs 28th – We flew overnight into Entebbe from Heathrow and for the first time ever we all managed to get at least 3 or 4 hours sleep! It was emotional setting off – thinking that I wasn’t coming back for ages, and it seemed like such a long time… But as soon as we landed I remembered why I had been so excited about coming.
Fri 29th – Florence met us from the airport with Bartolomio the new driver in Emmanuel’s vehicle which has done far more than its fair share of miles on Uganda’s unmade rocky roads. It was so nice to see her again. She is a large smiley lady who laughs about almost everything but works really hard. She is Emmanuel’s administrator as well as his wife really, and has a massive heart for people in need, especially children. We spent the first day resting and Mari and Helen went off to buy lots of things for the children’s work like paper drinks a CD player and biscuits.
Sat 30th – The first day really. Dad, Paul and I ran a day’s youth conference at Emmanuel’s school Bweyogerere Pentecostal Church where he had invited young people from a number of different churches that he oversees. There were probably around 50 or 60 people there, and we ran some discussion groups and had worship and Paul and Dad both preached. Helen and Mari went over to a slum area of Kampala where two guys from the church have started a small school made out of papyrus and wood. It really is a deprived area, and they survive on what little payment they can get from the parents, which is often few and far between. They have about 80% muslim children and many have become Christians as a result of attending that school and surprisingly there has been no opposition from the parents. They are actually just grateful to have somebody willing to educate their children. The ladies had about 150-200 kids turn up for their day, and they taught them songs, stories and played lots of games. They say they ran out of everything but have never had so much fun in their lives!
Sun 31st – We stayed together this morning and attended Bweyogerere church, where Paul preached and the rest of us just shared a greeting. You wouldn’t believe how passionate these people are in worship and how responsive they are to preaching. There is a lot of energy in the room to say the least! Shouting and wooping and dancing, whether they are kids or older people, everyone is involved and they sit there for ages to listen to people share from the Bible. In the afternoon Dad and me went back for the final session of the youth conference and were interrupted bout 5pm with the most almighty storm, you couldn’t here any thing at all! I’ve honestly never seen rain like it, it was so loud and was washing the soil away around the building. All the windows were blowing open and water was flooding in from every corner… it was crazy. But the young people were again responsive and enjoyed discussing what they had heard.
Mon 1st and Tues 2nd – Mari and Helen went the 3 hrs up country to Diikwe today, a little bush village where Hope and her husband Herbert run a school and a church in the most remote place. They had hundreds of village children both days and were absolutely exhausted by the time they came home. I don’t think they had ever seen any thing like those two mad white people jumping around and being crazy. It wasn’t easy for them actually and they were pretty tired, but Hope was so happy to have such an input in her tiny corner of Uganda and they did a great job. Paul and Dad ran a conference for leaders under Emmanuel’s oversight from churches all over the country on these two days and did really well. Paul had prepared four sessions on leadership from Nehemiah and although he ended up just about as tired as Helen and Mari, he did a fantastic job. Emmanuel kept saying what a wonderful thing it was to have all his leaders together, and that they are going to try and do a similar thing in January. In the evening on Tuesday they all came back to Emmanuel's house for dinner and worship and we also had communion in his garden. And where there is no communion wine or grape juice, Coke will always do!
Weds 3rd - Nothing happened today, actually nothing! We were supposed to attend an evangelistic crusade at a local police academy, but at the last minute the Chief of Police of Uganda turned up to speak to all the officers, so we waited around for him to leave but... well he didn't. So the whole thing was called off. So as not to disappoint the church who was running it, we went just for an hour in the evening and worked with about 100 children in one of the school classrooms which they use as their church. It was really hard work as it got dark quickly and there were no electric lights, but I think they were grateful to have us any way. We made a collage of a shepherd and fields with a sheep stuck on by each child, and taught them the story of the lost sheep. The stupid thing is, it doesnt matter how little you do for these guys, they are incredibly excited to just receive you as honoured guests and encourage their church. I guess that's what we are here for really. O yea and we broke down in a traffic jam on the way back - and if you have ever experienced Ugandan driving you never want to be stuck in a traffic jam and pushing a bus between a million crazy mopeds and heavy trucks. Eeekk!
Thurs 4th - Today was a lovely day we spend with James Akolo and his family (our church met this guy while he was studying in the UK a few years ago, and he has a church which has also planted another one in a tiny village). We ate at his house, then drove down a road which had been specially prepared for our visit by the people of this new church plant, that had never had a vehicle or a white person down it before. It was a little like in the middle of nowhere, and at one point we got out and walked for a while. An experience of the real Africa! The church was up on a hill and absolutely packed with people. The walls were made out of mud and it had a corrugated iron roof. People were hanging on our every word as we shared greetings and said about our church's heart for Uganda. Dad and Mari preached and Helen and I sang a couple of songs with James' daughted Deborah. We called for a response at the end, and 7 youngish teenagers came forward to become Christians, which was very encouraging. And also loads of them asked for prayer for healing and stuff. It was quite incredible. It seems that the church never stands still here, no matter how much it is doing there is always another project up its sleeve! Please remember to pray for James and the pastors at this new village (its called Buyenge). Things are really tough there - they are short of water, jobs, good food, and many of the children had worms we think. This might be something we can help with...
Fri 5th - Today was also a wonderful day. We all went together to Kiwale where the church has started a school in the building built with funds from Community Church Sheppey. The congregation was made up on about 90% under 10s and the teacher there - Josephine - did a fantastic job with them. Mari, Helen and I along with Baby Charles (our translator and the youth leader at Bweyogerere church, also one of the guys who started the slum school) did songs and stories with the kids in the morning while dad and Paul took the leaders and a number of students from a Bible school that has just been started in that building. It was a long jounry over bad roads, and it was quite hard to share with very young children, but it has confirmed that probably the biggest need there is for people to look after the kids. Please pray for the other teacher who is very sick with malaria, and they are due to start the new term on the 15th. If she is not well enough that leaves Josephine to run the school on her own....
More to follow soon!
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