The Ministry:
After 18 hours of traveling from Nairobi, Kenya, to Lira, Uganda, on African roads, we arrived safely on February first, and were warmly welcomed by Pastor Johnson and the staff at Alpha Resort and Hotel. We are working with a church called Victory Outreach and Pastor Johnson is one of the 5 founding pastors of the ministry. They have over 120 church plants in Uganda and around the world. Team Shekinah has found many ministries in which to serve, including hospital visits, prison ministry, radio preaching, Compassion project (in connection with Compassion International), the agricultural project, dancing, worship team, working on computers, visiting schools, and just building relationships with the people at the church and here at the “hotel” among other things.
I am really enjoying my time here and have been most used in the Compassion project. I have been utilizing my organizational skills in making sure all the children’s files are completed properly and have taught in the 3-5 year old classroom on Saturday which is when they have all the children come for fun and teaching. I have also visited one of the agricultural project’s plots and will write about that in my next post. Last Monday Austin, Priscilla and I went with Pastor to a school in another village and got to walk around there and see a pineapple field; a brick-maker’s place, where we also played with a couple (nearly) newborn goat kids; and then we got to try our hand at using a manual sewing machine (basically the only difference is that you have to constantly pump the pedal). We then went back to the school and met a bunch of the kids and taught them how to throw frisbees! That was a lot of fun and such a good day. Last Sunday, Priscilla and I preached in the main prison here. I went to the hospital with a couple people on Tuesday and we prayed over nearly every person in the men’s ward, and then a couple of the others went the next day and got to go into the maternity ward to pray! The other thing I just joined is a dance group called Echoes of Grace. It is a group of 16-26 year-olds who learn choreographed dances to perform in church on Sundays. It is so cool to see how all the people here just welcome us in a expect us to be a part of everything. After not going to the Compassion office for a couple days because I was doing other ministries they even asked me if I had gotten lost!! It’s so great here and these next 2 weeks are going to go by so fast.
The Living Conditions:
Basically, where we are living is called a hotel, and it houses teams that work with the church and do other humanitarian and mission projects in and around the area. It is also where Pastor Johnson and his family live. It’s kind of set up like a hostel, and we are all in beds. We have a shower – cold water – and we do our laundry by hand. It’s a nice place, as here in Africa hospitality is extremely important. They won’t hear of us sleeping in our tents and think it’s funny that we have slept out on the top of a building under construction here so that we could see the stars and watch the sunrise. We actually saw a few shooting stars and a meteor that glowed orange and had a long tail of debris. It was truly amazing.
The weather here is mostly hot, hot, hot, but we have had a few days where we thought it might rain and the clouds kept the temperature a little cooler. One night when we were going to sleep it was 89°F! But, I’m not complaining. As much as I miss the snow in Michigan I do not miss the cold!
It is such a blessing to have the privilege to serve God here in Lira, Uganda. Thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve God in our 7th month on the field!
