Our first day in Walukuba, Uganda was a Tuesday. We had left the sick girls in Masindi Town that morning and drove 2 hours to get to this small village. They welcomed us with a choir and breakfast and a request that someone speak at a funeral that afternoon.
We were tired already, and a little in shock at the request. Why in the world would they want one of us to speak? But despite what I felt, I found myself volunteering. All that morning, as my team sat and listened to the choir and attempted to sing for them as well, my mind was spinning. A million thoughts were running through my head. Why did I volunteer? What do I say to a group of Africans who just lost a member of their community? Who am I really to say anything in this situation?
Very quickly, I found myself standing in front of the community. And it didn’t feel like a funeral. It felt like a town meeting, with people making announcements about voting registration and singing songs somewhat joyfully. I stood in front of them completely lost. It felt like I spoke for 30 seconds. In all honesty, I have no idea how long my message was. And to this day, I’m still not sure all of what I said. My brain and my body were still in shock.
But this is the one thing I remember. I told them that although God promises us pain and suffering in this life, that although we all have to go through these experiences of losing loved ones, that God is still so good. That is a simple fact that no matter what, none of us can deny. His goodness trumps any hardship. His goodness overcomes all my heartache.
I walked away still not knowing what had just happened. And a week later, as I met up with all of the people on my squad in Kampala and told them about my month, I realized that I was forgetting this story. In all of the craziness that was traveling around and running crusades, I had forgotten that I had done this. That I had spoken at an African funeral.
It suddenly hit what had happened. What I had seen, what I had said. And since in the moment, I had no time to shed tears, they all came out with several of my squadmates. I did something I never thought I would do. And God granted me grace. He gave me the words. And it’s obvious that He carried me through. I never thought every moment on this race would be pleasant and this was proof that sometimes things are incredibly hard, but God is still good. And I can’t deny it.
