Our pastor for this month in Bunamwaya, Uganda is fantastic! He takes such great care of us and he has planned a variety of ministry opportunities for us. I'd like to share a story with you from our first Tuesday here. I kind of saw it as just another day on the Race, but my teammate Val has told this story a couple times as a testimony of God's goodness and sovereignty. After hearing her tell it, I realized that it is a great testimony so I thought I would share it with you and I hope you are blessed by it.
We were told the previous night that we would do hospital ministry. I've done this a few times on the Race and have enjoyed it. Basically, we visit with people in a hospital to pray for them and offer them words of encouragement and love. We set off after breakfast with Dennis, member of Pastor's church and our translator. We followed him all around this hospital as we kept getting sent to talk to different people to get permission to visit patients. Eventually we learned that the man we needed to get permission from was in a meeting until 2pm. We were bummed, but Dennis decided to take us to another hospital (the largest hospital in Uganda, in fact).
We had to catch a matatu (14 passenger bus that usually crams a couple extras in) to the taxi park where we would take another matatu to get there. We let a few matatus go by because they were so full. Dennis decided that we would have to split up, so Val and Erin hopped in the next matatu while the rest of us waited. We caught another shortly after. When we arrived at the taxi park, it was absolute chaos. Dennis told us to wait by a little shop while he looked for Val and Erin. Even though it was so crowded and busy, we figured that the mzungus (white people) would stand out pretty easily. No such luck. After 1/2 hr of searching, Dennis came back to tell us that there was another taxi park nearby and we should look there for them. So we walked to the next taxi park where Dennis once again dropped us off at a shop to wait while he searched. An hour passes and Dennis comes back without our teammates. Since we only have one team phone, we couldn't do anything to get ahold of them. We decided to just go to the hospital, figuring that they will find their way back to Bunamwaya.
Just after we pack into a matatu, Dennis gets a call from Abigail, another church member. She has found our friends! Dennis leaves us once more and fetches Val and Erin. Hooray! We all finally get into a matatu (determined to stay together this time!) and head to the hospital. It was a huge campus and we were sent all over to ask for permission. We talked to several people and went in and out of several buildings. We were finally told that we first needed to write a letter to the hospital to get permission. High security. We decided to leave when we were told by a secretary, "you're complicating my life." We left disappointed that we were unable to do any ministry that day.
Feeling defeated, we caught a matatu home. As the matatu started rolling, a lady asks Dennis if Becca can pray for her; she has pain in her stomach. Then a woman asks me to pray for her because she has asthma. As I finish praying, I look around and everyone in our group is laying hands on someone and the matatu is filled with prayers spoken aloud to God asking for healing. I couldn't help but smile and laugh a little at that moment. The people on that matatu had no idea that we were missionaries; they were complete strangers. But somehow they knew and we were able to share words of encouragement and invitations to church.
God had a plan for us that day. He had His hand in it all along. Our plan was to minister at a hospital. His purpose for us was to be in that bus at that time. He knew that the people on that bus needed our prayers and encouragement. We can't be disappointed that the day didn't go as we planned, because it went exactly as He planned. It was His plan for our plan to fail and He was glorified in it all.
As I said, at first I just saw this as "just another day" but Val saw it for what it really was. I'm trying to keep my eyes tuned to see God in the everyday. I encourage you as well to be looking for God's hand in your life. He's showing us more of Himself each day, we just tend to miss it most of the time. Be blessed.
