We have one week remaining here in Gulu. Every month seems to be flying by faster and faster. Africa is incredible. It’s so hard to take everything in. I want to take advantage of every moment…remember every detail. I feel like I need a month just to reflect on this past one. There are so many stories to tell, so many people to introduce to you, and so many memories that will change my life forever. Here’s a photo reflection of some of the sweet things we’ve been experiencing.
Getting to Gulu was quite an ordeal. It consisted of a 17 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Kampala, an 8 hour bus ride from Kampala to Lira, and a 3 hour bus ride from Lira to Gulu. We got to spend the night in each location, so that helped. African buses are very amusing, but also very stressful if you can’t find the humor in the situation. I feel like we’re getting good at that. “Oh, you’re pressed against a sweaty, smelly guy for the next 10 hours?” No biggie. “Oh, women are breast-feeding on both sides of you?” That’s funny. “Oh, we have to cram ten people in this small car to get to the bus station?” Good bonding time. We’re adapting.
Welcome to Victory Outreach Church. Ever heard the phrase, “The church is not a building”? Well, these people have shown me a visual representation of that. Some people walk very long distances to worship here. There are two services on Sunday mornings, as well as chidren’s church, discipleship training, youth services, worship team practice, and kids’ nights.
We partner with Pastor Stephen to do crusades in local villages. There is singing, dancing, and preaching. We’ve also been doing one-on-one evangelism. It works so differently here. People are interested in talking about spiritual matters, whether they believe or not. We’ve always been received very well. And when you invite people to church, they actually come. We met a guy named Walter the other day…he’s related to Joseph Kony. Small world.
This is Nancy. She’s probably the first personal friend I’ve had on the race. We make friends every where we go, but I like to claim Nancy as my friend. We met her at church and she invited us to her home to speak to her family. We sat in their house and shared why we were doing what we were doing. After we talked for a while, Nancy’s dad spoke up. Santo said that he was a Christian, but his life had become stale. Before we came, Nancy was reading the Bible to him and encouraging him. His words were, “She penetrated my heart.” Nancy told him that evangelists were coming. Evangelists…still sounds funny. Anyway. Santo shared that God had used us to bring him renewal, a fresh start. He also agreed that the whole family would come to church on Sunday. After he said that, his daughter let out a very loud Acholi battle cry of joy. It was one of the top moments on the race so far.
Another reason it was such an amazing night was that we got to meet a lady by the name of Kolostina Acoya. She is 98 years old (which goes far past the life expectancy of 50 for Uganda). She entered Santo’s home and began singing and dancing. She sang through a megaphone type thing, which they call a trumpet. We were confused at first, but we’ve learned to go with things and find entertainment in even the most awkward circumstances. Santo then began to tell us her story. Kolostina met Jesus in 1971. Ever since that day, she’s awoken every morning around seven. She goes outside, sits down, and begins preaching and singing. The trumpets were symbols of the first Christians in Africa, and it never leaves her side. She eats with it, sleeps it, lives with it. She’s a prime example that you don’t have to travel across the world to be a missionary. She sits right outside her home, but she’s been doing it faithfully for the last forty years.
This doesn’t really fit in, but I’d like to show you a jackfruit. It’s growing outside our home, and we were clueless as to what it was at first. When you cut it open, it looks like artichoke. But it’s slightly sweet. Pretty good. But the fresh pineapple takes the prize. It’s incredible. The food’s been great so far, surpassingn all my expectations. Naomi cooks things we like, so we’re very grateful.
We’ve gotten to visit hospitals here as part of our ministry. The first place we went was the children’s ward. We hung out in the malnutrition unit. It was great to play with and pray for the kids. Kids in Gulu are funny. For many of them, we’re the first muzungoos they’ve ever seen. So many are scared of us and cry at first. But they’re all interested. They run up and hold your hand just to walk. Being in the hospital was tough, but it was great to see that these kids were getting the help they needed.
Here’s a cool story. During a crusade this week, we were approached by Noris. Noris is an interesting character. She brought us a two week old baby girl and asked us to pray for her. She then asked us name her. Evidently she had an Acholi name, but not a Christian name. How often are you randomly asked to name someone’s baby? Being here is teaching us to walk in who we are….well, who we’re supposed to be. Before we walk around and pray for people at crusades, Pastor Stephen tells everyone that our hands are blessed by God. We’ve been anointed and God hears our prayers. At first I was taken back by this. We’re just crazy kids from America. But I realized that he was right, as hard as it is to grasp. So, here we were with this tiny baby. After praying for her, Colby got to name her. Faith. It’s appropriate, we feel. Luckily, we learned that the mother loved the name.
I could go on for hours with more stories, but I’ll leave you with a few more pictures to enjoy.
