Well here I am 7 months into this race. What a great time Africa has
been.
Nothing what I thought. I pictured Africa as a dry place where
everyone lived in huts and there was no water or power but much to my
suprise it has been great in both Kenya and Rwanda. I was living the
life, had a home with water (including showers and indoor toilets) and
power most of the time. In Rwanda we worked with great pastor named
Moses and became good friends. It was really hard to say good bye.
While we were there we mostly preached at church every night and even
had the opportunity to speak a few times at a hospital's church in the
town of Kigali. We lived about a 40 min bus ride out of the city in a
place called Ramera Kavasa. The month was also one that all the
members of my team got to spread out and use their gifts to minister.
Erin went and coached basketball and would always take one person with
her. Frank painted a mural in the church and always let a couple of us
help him. It was great. We bused it from Rwanda to Jinji, Uganda where
we had a small squad debrief and had some fun. Here we got to do some
rafting and bungee jumping. It was a blast. Here we also got new team
placement because many people went home during the month of Rwanda,
mostly due to financial challenges but also on their own accord,
others asked to go home for not following the rules. Team changes were
a real shake up this time, I was asked to step down from leadersship
and was put on a new team of five people under the leadership of a
girl named Carly. The rest of the team includes a past team member,
Frank, and two other new members named Rachel and Katie. It was a hard
change I lost two team members that I had been with for six month
straight. Also during this time I found out that my dad was diagnosed
with cancer and was going to have to have surgery and chemo treatment.
God works in such great way. While in Rwanda I decided to preach on
Psalms 46 which talk about the Lord being everything for you,
especially in hard times. With all this I kept looking to this Psalm
for comfort. The decitions are still hard to make trying to decide if
I should go home for a week or so just to be with my family or if the
Lord wants me to stay out here for the time being.
Right now I am in Rackoko, Uganda and it is kinda the Africa I was expecting. We have a
little place where we are all staying and we are a hour and a half bus
ride from the nearest city center. It was a rough start with the new
team and these conditions but it's been a great growing expereance. I
now know how to play Phase 10 which is a card game and I was not
really a games guy but now I am lol. We are doing a sports ministry
here playing soccer and volleyball. I played soccer the other day and
I realized how out of shape I am… I told the guys that they were
going to have to come carry me out of bed the next morning. I guess
preaching for a couple months really grows you spirit(stomach) as
pastor Moses would say haha. We also had a kid bring a baby leopard to
the ministry office the other day he said his dad brought it in from
the bush crazy I say only in Africa.
Thanks again for the continued pray and support… I will try and keep
you updated on more of the African adventures
Cody O
