and have been doing ministry here for about a week. I’m glad I’ve had
time to process our time here before writing a blog because at first
sight, Uganda is a little overwhelming.
We arrived last Wednesday morning after an all night bus ride from Nairobi, Kenya.
We got off the bus, thankful to be next to a grocery store, an ATM, and
a coffee shop while we waited to be picked up by Pastor Emmanuel, our
contact for the month. He finally made it, we stuffed all our packs in
the back, and made our way to the outskirts of Kampala,
capital city of Uganda. We got situated in our rooms and three of our
new friends from the church directed us to lunch at a restaurant on
foot. Okay, so I never wanted or imagined myself in Uganda, but here we
are, walking the crowded, congested streets, trying not to get run over
by crazy matatu drivers while avoiding the holes that occasionally pop up
on the side of the road. The sidewalks are crowded with vendors
selling everything from fruit to chicken to clothing, not to mention the
motorcycle taxi drivers at every corner flagging you down asking if you
need a ride. You would think most of the people here have never seen
white people before (and maybe they haven’t) by the way they stare
unashamedly at us and get their friends to look as well. After about
only three hours of sleep on the bus the night before and missing the
beauty of Nakuru already, my brain was on overload. ‘where am I?’ ‘what
in the world am I doing here?’ ‘I don’t know if I can handle this!’.
Thankfully, we had a great lunch and made it safely back to our hotel
where we had the remainder of the day to rest. That night our room was
filled with the noises of the night, something I’m still not used to.
All of this and we hadn’t even started ministry yet!
morning we made the thirty minute walk to the church and we were again
met with new sights and sounds. We walked through the market where they
sell fruits, vegetables, meat, chickens (alive when you buy them,
skinned and dead when you walk away). Everyone has their own stand,
competing for business, so there is no shortage of yelling and shouting
to get your attention. We have since then evangelized in that market,
making new friends, leading people to Christ, and making it a much more
enjoyable place to walk through.
We made it to the church, and
to our surprise, there was not much to it. There are boards making up
the frame and tarps for protection from the sun, that’s about it.
Although there is not much to the building, the members make up for it in Spirit and love for the Lord!
evangelizing in the nearby villages, getting mixed responses, but
overall a very successful day.
We have built relationships with some amazing people and base our
beauty of the country on their generosity, not on the landscape. We do
not need anyone worrying about our safety because like I’ve said before,
there is no safer place than exactly where God wants you, and that is
exactly where we are. We do hope you will join us in our prayers for the
people of Uganda and that God will go before us and prepare their
hearts for the Gospel.
