Our Weary Travels Home

Monday we went to the market to do some souvenir shopping. You can't go to a foreign country and not o to the market for souvenirs! So we did! We ran in and out of outdoor shanties where the merchants had set up shop. We got to exercise our bartering skills. Timmy was particularly good at this. Jonathan kept saying his thoughts out loud to me. Paul was just watching, cause he had no clue! We ended up with a lot of nice African things. Some for ourselves, some for others. Mom and I both bought African dresses: 

Dad, Jonathan, and Timmy got African shirts:

Paul got a T-shirt with the map of Uganda on it, sadly I don't have a photo of that. Once we finished our shopping we had lunch, bought some Ugandan and Kenyan coffee, then started off for Entebbe. Jonathan flew out that night because he had to be home sooner for work. We went to the hotel and saw he off (on the hotel transit), then we relaxed the rest of the evening. The next day we spent at the hotel or on the Lake. 

I know, we were suffering! Maybe not. We didn't really have much of anything to do, except catch up from being offline for a week. We went to the airport early and just hung out looking at overpriced shops. Finally our plane took off at midnight. The flight was relatively uneventful. I got two seats to myself which meant I could lay across both of them and sleep. The second flight, mom sat beside me and we watched movies together. We arrived in DC at 3pm on Wednesday and my mother-in-law and niece were there to drive us home. Which was fun! I got to sit in the back seat and hang out with my little niece, Ava! 

We made it back to Skippers, where Mom and Dad live and slept the night away. Sadly every day since I haven't been able to sleep in. I've woke up between 5-6 AM every morning till this morning, I woke up at 7 instead. Jet lag. Anyway, there are worse things. We already miss Uganda, especially our new friends in Busia. We are already working on plans for returning next year. Our hope is to build a team who can do two things: one, teach another Bible conference; two, put a roof on the church. They have been building this new church building since 2002, one brink at a time. They take up offering every week in two baskets, one for the regular offering, the other for the building project. We hope that next year we can "top off" their work by giving them a roof. 

Pray about, and think about whether or not you can help in one way or another, next year. Either by supporting, or by coming. I will hopefully be able to post specific ways to help soon. 

Blessings in Christ. 

Weekend in Busia

We spent our last weekend in Busia with the church rather than traveling back to Kampala with Pastor Michael. On Saturday we basically hung out with the Compassion Internaltional sponsor kids. We worshipped with them that morning in the church where they packed close to 300 children in that tiny room. Then we taught them Bible stories during their morning lessons.

In the afternoon we played games with them, the boys played footbal (soccer), basketball, and volleyball with them.

 Then we watched as the kids were given their new school uniforms for the year. That was such a treat! All the kids lined up and waited patiently for probably one of two new outfits they would be given all year long, the other being at Christmas.

A lot of the kids were wearing TOMS shoes. They are an organization where you are able to buy a pair of shoes for yourself and by doing that you pay for not only your shoes but also the production, shipping, and distribution of a pair of shoes to a child who lives in a impoverished area of the world.

This was also the day of Timmy's nose bleed. He had been suffering all week of a head cold due to the dry area and dust. So after days of congestion his nose had just about had it. Right after he had been spontaneously asked to do the morning devotions (five minutes before it started), his nose began to bleed. He stepped outside and everyone thought that the nose bleed was due to the Holy Spirit. We explained that was not the case, he had just had a cold all week they then thought he had malaria and needed to be quarantined. We then had to convince them he did not have malaria and we were taking preventive medication for that, it was just a head cold. Finally they believed us and someone went to get him tissues. 

Mom also had a funny experience that day. Shortly after we got there she saw a small group of kids near the school buildings and decided it would be nice to go hand out crosses. Little did she know, kids jump out of bushes (or wherever they hide) when there is the prospect of treats. She was rushed as soon as they realized what was going on. After a few minutes Sylver and Irene came to her rescue and lined them all up hoping that would eliminate possible mugging. Sadly she did not have enough crosses for all the kids who showed up. Maybe next time. 

Sunday was the church service. All nine churches meet at Buteba and Dad preached. They then had a gift appreciation "ceremony." The women of the churches gave mom and me beautiful cloths and handmade purses. The men presented Dad, Jonathan, Paul, and Timmy with plaques made from seeds and beans. Then they gave us gifts of produce. This included corn, avocados, eggs, and most interestingly: three chickens. Then they handed mom one of the chickens, this was the result: 

Give a city girl a chicken... Oh, it was funny. Unfortunately we couldn't keep any of the produce so we gave it to our driver, Michael. After the service we drove back to Kampala. Our intention was to do some sightseeing on the way, we were going to go on a tour of the source of the Nile in Jinja. Unfortunately we had a flat tire which took two hours to repair. But we were able to stop by the Baptist Seminary of Uganda which is in Jinja. We met one of the teacher/administrators there, Vernon Sivage. He invited us in, took us for a tour, then feed us and gave us water before we had to continue on. We arrived in Kampala late that night and went straight to bed, for we were exhausted! 

Friday: Follow up or Evangelism?

Friday was our follow up day. Our goal was to go to the houses of those who had accepted Christ on Monday and Tuesday and pray for them and encourage them to join us on Sunday for worship at Buteba. There was a slight hitch in our plan though. That was the day the government decided to hand out mosquito nets in town. Therefore many had left their homes and gone to town to receive the nets in order to lessen the malaria risk in their family. We walked for quite some time and passed many empty houses before we came to some where family members had remained behind to work while others had gone to town. The old man who had prayed on Monday was not there but some of his children/grandchildren were home. We presented the gospel to them and four oldest were saved.we continued down a little ways and came to a house where we had presented before but the old Catholic lady had discouraged them from believing. This time it was not just her daughter who was home but also her son-in-law. He sat and listened with his wife and this time they both confessed. At the very next house a brother and his sister heard the gospel and they too believed. We stopped at one home of a family where four had confessed on Tuesday. Only one of them was home but their son and daughter had returned home from school and we were given the opportunity to share with them. Jonathan presented the gospel and after a few clarification questions both confessed Christ. After praying with and encouraging them we continued on and came to the house of a Catholic lady. She was willing to hear us but after 30 minutes of conversation she persisted that she could be saved by her prayers to Mary and that by that Jesus would accept her. We prayed for her and went on our way. 

Just before we reached that house the men in our group decided to take us on a detour, up a high rocky hill. It was beautiful! You could see far off into the distance and on one side was Uganda and on the other was Kenya. You could look down and see the fields marked out and the huts on the edge of the land. You could see the medical center and the church and school. It was beautiful! Jonathan wanted to build us a house up there, I said the first requirement was that he build me a ski lift! 

In total there were about 13 more salvations, from our group and from the others. Dad had an encouraging visit with a lady they had spoken to on Monday. She had confessed Christ that day and when the group returned on Friday she had reported that she had spoken to her husband who is catholic and he had allowed her to choose for himself though he would not change himself. She asked for prayer for her habit of drinking which she desired to stop for she knew in her heart that what she did was wrong. This was a great encouragement that the people who we were speaking to were taking their confession seriously. 

Thursday: More Training

Thursday was the continuation of Wednesday's teaching. Dad continued in Ephesians through the beginning of chapter 6. We had discovered the day before that polygamy was a very prominent problem in the district. Unlike in the States, the laws for marriage are not as detailed. Many of the marriages are sanction by the community and the government considers that sufficient. So during the section of Ephesians 5 which deals with the relationship between an man and his wife, Dad stressed the need for godly men to follow Scripture and love their wife as Christ loves the church. He taught this along with the topics of "How should a Church Member live?" and "What is the role of the pastors?" 

After lunch we again spilt into our groups and mom and I taught the ladies and Dad and Jonathan taught the men. The men finished out Ephesians by looking at the armor of God and examining how the church should conduct herself when under persecution. I went a different direction and looked at what it meant to be a biblical woman. We looked first at the story of Eve and saw the reason why woman was created and how it was later distorted by sin. Then we looked at the stories of Sarah and Hannah and compared them to one another. The women related to these women very well for just as the women were in polygamist relationships so were they. They asked how they could live alongside their cowives and what kind of a relationship they should have with them. Many of them wanted to know if God could still use a second wife for his glory. They wanted to know how they could deal with the other women and how they could be witnesses to both them and their husband. Mom and I did the best we could with the help of Mrs Irene and answered those questions as gracefully and biblically as we knew how. This is a situation we do not see often in America nor is it a problem we had ever encountered. Many of the second ( third, etc) wives did not want to leave the man and were afraid of being put away because there was no way they could provide for their children. I read to them the story of when Sarah put out Hagar and Ishmael and how God provided for them in the desert. I told them that while it is a frightening thing to live without provision, God is faithful to provide for his worshippers. One of the things we told the women is that while they many not be able to escape these relationships themselves they can teach their children (especially their sons) to follow the biblical principle and by doing that they will save their children from their lifestyle. 

These are pictures of our group on Wednesday but on Thursday we had almost 70 women listening.

Wednesday: Bible Conference

Today marked the start of the conference. We opened the day with beautiful singing in Swahili, then Dad taught for two hours on Ephesians chapter 1. In this section he addressed the question "What is the Church?" He spelled out how we see that throughout biblical history God's plan has always been to make worshippers, and his ultimate plan was the creation of the church. He explained that we as saints are commanded to be worshippers of God. He spoke of how salvation is through faith alone and that works cannot gain us salvation. In addition, it is the Holy Spirit who seals our salvation in Christ. Because of this we will one day receive an inheritance as a reward in heaven for what we as believers have done on earth. He then opened the floor for questions the listeners might have. Two of the questions dealt with sin: 1) If I am a saint, why do I keep falling into sin? 2) What must I do to stop committing sin? These people were starving for the truth of the word and desired greatly the wisdom of the Word to sink into their everyday lives. 

This picture is of an old Pastor who sat on the front row holding his tattered Bible and reading glasses that looked as if they had been repaired a hundred times. Both days he sat and soaked in every word said.

In the afternoon we split up into two groups: men and women. Mom and I taught the women while Dad and Jonathan taught the men. The men walked through the second and third chapters of Ephesians. Mom read both of those passages, explaining some of the concepts as she went, and at the end asked if there were any questions. There were many questions and they continued until we had run out of time. The first was "How can I raise my children to be godly Church Members?" Another asked about gossip in the church, explaining that there were women in her church that were spreading rumors about her. Some women were dealing with adulterous husbands, and others with polygamists. One woman asked about a situation where her 6th grade daughter had gotten pregnant and her school would no longer allow her to attend. What should she do? Wait for the child to be born and care for it while her daughter is in school? Or would it be better to abort? We obviously advised the first option. Another woman asked about how to care for their family and avoid domestic strife/violence within the home. Mom and I and a couple other church leaders addressed these problems the best we could and we hope and pray that our words were taken to heart. We pray our words encouraged these women to stay strong in their faith and remain faithful to their husband and families. 

Mom and Mrs Irene (Pastor Lawrence's wife) who interpreted for us. 

Some of the 40+ women who came to hear us. 

Tuesday: The Great Harvest

Tuesday was much like Monday. We gathered at the church in the morning, prayed together, sang together, and then went out in groups again. Today we had a slightly different group than before: 

Sylver (our translator) 

 

Evangelist Charles, Pastor Charles, and Teacher Charles (left to right) 

Lydia

Jackson (Compassion worker) and Pastor Cosmos

We went out and visited 13 homes through the whole day. The first two homes we went into and shared with there were three professions. The next place we went there was an old Catholic lady who followed us from her house to the next three houses and discouraged the people there from believing the gospel. We pray that what we spoke would penetrate her heart for she heard the message three times. We also pray that those she discouraged would be given another chance to believe. 

The next place we went was the home of  an older man, his wife, and their numerous grandchildren. Both the old man and his wife, along with another woman who had stopped by to see the wide and heard, believed. He had many questions about the differences between Catholicism and the gospel. Along the way we met many who professed to be what is called Charismatic Catholics. Our translators and pastors explained what that was for we were quite confused. Basically, rather than praying to Mary and believing that their works through the sacraments would save them they worshipped and believed in Jesus through faith. Nonetheless they continued to follow many of the catholic traditions and beliefs, including their submission to the Pope. After lunch we went to a new section of the village to preach for we were getting too close to the Kenyan boarder and many in our group would not be able to go for they did not have passports. We went in the opposite direction, which involved piling 14 people in a van and driving up a narrow "road" leading towards the rocky hilly part of the village. This area was defined by a hilly area which was peppered with large boulders jutting up from the earth in some of the most strange manners. But in this area, which is home to a government medical center, we were able to speak to a few more people. We stopped at one house and two women and two young men heard the gospel and confessed Christ. After that we were able to encourage a couple who lived in the area and were believers already. They pointed us to the last house we visited. This very old man lived there with a few grandchildren. He was is the processes of marking out the ground for a new house, but he stopped his work to hear us. We shared the gospel with him and he too believed. When we joined back together that afternoon with the other teams we learned that 57 individuals had confessed faith in Christ that day. The local pastors were able to record the names and homes of the new believers in order to follow up with them. Some of which we did on Friday. We praise God for the great harvest he has brought in just two days. 

Monday: Day 1 in Busia —Evangelism

We started the day on Monday with a nice cup of African Tea and some fantastic bananas! We loaded up and drove a few miles down the road to Buteba Baptist Church (BBC), it is the mother church of the nine churches in Busia. Pastor Lawrence is the head pastor over the association. There we met our team of 20 people who we would be going with to do evangelism for the day. We were split into four groups, Paul and Pastor Michael went together in group Judea, Jonathan and I were in group Jerusalem, Mom and Dad were in group Bethlehem, and Timmy was in group Jericho. We went out once in the morning for an hour an a half and again after lunch for two hours. We went in different directions with our groups and walked miles through the village surrounding the church. 

There are many stories of the day's events which I could tell, but here are just a few. Jonathan and I went together and talked to many people and visited many families. The first house we went to we sat down and talked to a man. Jonathan presented the gospel and the man confessed with tears in his eyes. This is the first tome Jonathan had ever led anyone to accept Christ, despite his faithfulness to be a witness. 

Then there was a lady who we were able to talk to who accepted the gospel and confessed Jesus as Lord. Her name was Lydia. 

There was a timid little girl who was between 12-15 years old who would not respond to the questions of the men but when I sat down beside her and told her the story of Christ, her eyes lit up and she too believed.

At another house we met an older lady, we shared the gospel with her but she told us she believed she was fine how she was for her son was a deacon and because of that she would be saved. She would not be convinced otherwise. We continued on and spoke to many others and many more believed.

The first day's totals came to be about 36 professions of faith. From mom and dad's group there were 4 professions, from Paul's group there were 12 professions, from Timmy's group there were 11 professions (also because he had brought the knowledge of the gospel to the family's home they gave him a chicken!), and in our group there were 9 professions. 

We praise God for the salvation of 36 souls! 

Sunday: Worship and Travel

Saturday we drove to Kampala, Uganda, the Capital city of Uganda. We stopped at a coffee shop called Café Java and ate. For all my coffee shop friends, their Café au Lait was very good! Afterwards we went to the 50th year marriage anniversary for an American missionary who had been in Uganda for 32 years. That evening Pastor Michael informed Dad he would be preaching the next morning. So the next morning Dad preached two services at Agape Baptist Church where Michael is pastor. Jonathan, Mom, Timmy, and I sang two songs in the second service. It was then that we discovered that it was apparently seen as disrespectful for a man to sing standing next to his mother-in-law. Oops... Oh well, we were just standing in order of song parts. That afternoon we drove to Busia, Uganda on the east boarder of Uganda and Kenya. On the way, we stopped for chicken on a stick, which was sold by street venders who walked right up to your car in the street and sold it to you through the window. Talk about drive through service! Once we got to Busia we unloaded at the Rand Hotel where we stayed all week. We ate at the hotel with Pastor Lawrence and his wife, Mrs Irene, with whom we served all week. We went over the week's plan and hammered out the last minute details. Then we tucked our mosquito nets around our beds and slept quite well all night.