TheNarrowRoadPursued

A friend gave me this video.  It is very well done and serves as another voice of experience.  The trip to Uganda continues to flood me with waves of desire to do better living.  God paid my sin debt with His absolute best. I cannot but expend my life, such as it is, poured out in gratitude for His great gift and indwelling power.

Listen…even as you watch.

Monday came and Mark and I were now acclimated to being in Uganda.  Although it wasn’t like being at home, we were doing just fine and woke excited for the day.  Mark demonstrated his character and giving heart (once again) by making his first task of the day to give Ugandan Bibles to Livingston(e), our table servant at Emmaus House.  Livingston(e) had recently come to faith in Christ and was hosting a small house group Bible study and needed God’s word to share with those who also came.

We had a driver and free time before we had to report to our first church so we went to the closest thing we could find to a “tourist trap” in Kampala.

Actually the preferred delivery system in Kampala!

We wandered the often narrow alleyways and purchased items from those who made them as often as we could.

I purchased my only “Ugandan” shirt from a young lady who happened to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  It was so humbling to “buy direct.”  This woman, probably in her early twenties sat at her sewing machine in a closet-sized shop just waiting for folk to negotiate the labyrinth of passageways to “happen upon” her.  As a former retailer, I never stopped being amazed how folk could survive while breaking EVERY rule of basic retailing business.  The teacher in me wanted to cry out at the top of my lungs, “Hold on a minute, let’s talk business here!  If you want people to purchase your things…” But I kept my mouth shut and just enjoyed the experience.

The experience, by the way, included a trip down to Lake Victoria.  We traveled to the Port Bell, home of the famous “Port Bell” line of alcoholic beverages and entry point for fisherman coming off the lake.

A video would have shown the flies and heated argument over price

The lake was beautiful but the “fish market” a real USDA, OSHA, FDA, FBI, CIA etc. nightmare.  At least everyone was dressed nicely, including the woman wearing the sequined ballroom gown (no picture, we didn’t want to be that rude) while she cleaned this enormous fish.  Surreal is a major understatement.  We walked about a quarter mile to the clothing import/export shop and JC Penny.

Entrance to the local "JC Penny"

I have never seen so many clothes in one place in my life.  Clothing from Western countries is literally baled up into 6′ x 4′ cubes and shipped to Port Bell. There it is sorted, spread out on the ground, hung up on all sorts of structure and mixed with never-been-worn items.

During our travels this day we attempted to share the gospel with our driver, Richard.  He was a very nice man and actually had (we soon would discover) a very nice car by Ugandan standards, 1995 Toyota Corolla, with leather seats straight from Japan.  He spoke passable English and passable Ugandan.  The passable Ugandan ended up causing us to take an unscheduled trip to the Kasubi tombs where the former kings of Uganda are interred.  It is a long story; suffice it to say that Ugandans don’t always understand each other very well either.

Entrance to Kasubi Tombs

Definitely (the only?) major tourist trap in greater Kampala, we got to hear the history of Uganda from a “British” point of view at Kasubi Tombs.  The whole story is worth telling, but I will enter but one excerpt.  One of the former kings thought that his kingdom should be the only one in Uganda.  He actively persecuted Christians because they proclaimed the kingdom of God and his son Jesus.  When informed that the kingdom of God was in heaven and in the hearts of man, the king responded by killing Christians so that they could be part of the kingdom they proclaimed.  He said something to the effect of, “You can only have one king, since yours is in heaven, you can join him there.”  Truth may be found in many places…

After many hours, we finally reached our intended destination, a house church in a fairly nice neighborhood.  The home was upper middle class because it had walls and ceilings, doors and windows, a indoor toilet, and four rooms (including the toilet room).  We worshiped with abandon for about 45 minutes.  After that, Mark shared his testimony.  I taught again from Genesis how God remembers even those who have nothing, He does not forget them, even in their troubles.  This group was more familiar with the stories of the Bible and connected well with the theme of God’s remembrance as the story unfolded from Noah to the Exodus.  Before we left, Mark opened his bag of goodies and made friends with the many children in attendance.

The evening ended in a gourmet meal prepared by Anthony and Misti’s housekeeper.  Steamed chicken in banana leaf, sweet potato, white potato, matooke (crushed plantains), beans, rice, fresh mangos and pineapple.  It was way too much!  We talked well into the evening, learning more about the work Anthony and Misti were about.  They allowed us to email/text home and we ended our day back at Emmaus House.

The following picture is a good commentary on the industrial development of Uganda:

The only FedEx truck we saw all week!

After our morning/afternoon worship experience we went further into the “downtown” area of Kampala and visited the Garden City mall. The mall is a fairly good size and has western style restaurants and shops. It is where most of the expatriates stationed in Kampala go to shop and hang out. Garden City had one of the best “ForEx” shops we found, so Mark and I would return there to exchange dollars for shillings whenever we were able.

Our hosts wanted to eat at the Indian restaurant at the mall so Mark and I treated them, their daughters Charis and Sophia, and Kelsey to an absolutely excellent Indian meal.

The waiter had no idea how to use a camera.

In addition to really fine food and outstanding service we had Cokes made with cane sugar from a glass bottle (Coke NEVER tasted so good) and ginger ale made with real ginger (that was different, but very good).  The meal for the seven of us cost about 110,000 shillings which is very, very expensive by Ugandan standards but much lower than average for US restaurants of the same quality (meal total was about $69).

After the meal (which took about 90 minutes or so) we traveled to Anthony and Misti’s home for a planning session.

Their home is a missions residence near the main International Mission Board offices in the Muyenga neighborhood (in Kampala) where we were also staying. It is a walled, gated and guarded (at night) compound and quite large. The girls have a wonderful tree house in the yard and the “garden” is well managed. Because of the disparity of incomes (between the missionary and the average Ugandan) and due to the amount of time required to get from one place to another, it is customary for missionaries to employ several Ugandans in different capacities to help them care for property, their children and even themselves. Our IMB mission workers do not earn a “living wage” by American standards, but they do all right in making a respectable life for themselves and their children in Uganda.

Muyenga neighborhood taken from a nearby hill

Anthony gave us a brief overview of our assignments for the week. We nodded approval although we had no idea of what we were doing. I was able to give the girls some gifts we brought from the States and to give Anthony supplies he had requested (HP Inkjet cartridges were especially appreciated).  One of my stateside friends had given us $600 to spend on our trip, so we arrived with plenty to share and ended up passing some of what we brought on to a team from Texas that joined us later on in the week.

We were allowed computer access and took about one hour to send 3 emails and 4 or 5 text messages to our family and workplaces.  I had forgotten how slow the internet used to be in its earliest days.  Ugandan internet is mostly dial-up on copper wires and the rest world is broadband on digital and optical lines.  The two don’t mesh well to say the least.

7:45pm in Uganda is very dark, and we were still at the Shelton’s home after 8pm.  Anthony was gracious enough to take us back to Emmaus House.  Both Mark and I were plenty tired and fell asleep before 10pm…bad move…at 4am Sunday we were tossing and turning trying to make it to 6:30am.  We survived, however, and made it to Day 3 ready for “real church” with our ever expanding Ugandan family.

Looking back am constantly amazed over how clueless we really were as to what was just around the corner.

Stay tuned!

After sleeping like we had not slept in two days, we awoke to a fine breakfast of something that looked like pancakes, peanut butter (for me), fruit juice and a semi-overcast day. We spent the early hours exploring and taking pictures of the place where we were staying. We didn’t suffer any jet lag, me because I have learned how to avoid it pretty successfully and Mark because he is just flat out tough (more on that later).

The gardens at Emmaus House

We were supposed to be picked up by Anthony, our host missionary about 10am, but a little after then Misti, Anthony’s wife and co-laborer, arrived at the Emmaus house to let us know that the plans had changed. On short notice, Pastor Thomas of the Sweeto gathering had called for a “women’s day” and Misti and Christine, another one of the Mission Board workers, were to supposed to speak at the gathering. Not knowing what to do with Mark and me and unwilling to leave us there with nothing to do, Misti invited us along. We accepted gladly.

One the way we met Grace, a Ugandan woman who has been working in the slum areas of Kampala sharing the gospel with the women there, finding resources for meeting places for the “house churches” and teaching new Christians the basics of following Jesus. Grace is beautiful inside and out and her name suits here very well.

We also met Kelsey, an American woman who came to work in Uganda as a volunteer at an agricultural testing lab north of the city. She had no American friends and no support system in country and (very long story short ) connected with Misti so she would have someone to hang out with from America. Kelsey is also an extraordinary woman. She has her degree in agricultural science from California Polytechnic Institute (a prestigious school) and came to Uganda “to work with the people here.” She had no training in cross-cultural communication (outside of living in California) yet she just jumped in and began exploring the country…on her own. I don’t believe she is crazy, but she does have an extra measure of pluck.

Skipping a lot (I do mean A LOT) we found the gathering spot, a government/community building which is something akin to a picnic pavilion at most state parks in the States. We were greeted with “Praise God” by Momma Agnes. Mama, I discovered later, is the self-appointed leader in any context you find her. She wore on her person a passion for Christ and an intensity for service that can only be truly found in places of great need and held only by people whose mission is Christ alone. Mama is “fat.” In the US we consider that a negative. In Uganda, being “fat” means you are well provided for and it is actually considered desirable in both men and women. When Mama shared Jesus and spoke of His provision for her, people believed her.

We all received places of honor as we waited for the gathering to begin.

Mama Agnes, Kelsey, Me, Misti, and Grace @ Sweeto

For the first thirty minutes or so only men came to the gathering. We were not disappointed, however, because they all brought instruments and began tuning them. I have never seen or heard anything quite like it, but it was extraordinary. I was so sure that there would be nothing but dissonance, but once these men (there were at least six or seven) began to play together the music was in tune and harmonious and exciting! Below is a picture of the “bass” version of the instrument which also doubles as a tambourine and a drum and is played by two people simultaneously.

Pastor Thomas is standing to the right (in front of the white truck). The worship instruments are to the left. The man in the white shirt was one of the translators.

Pastor Thomas greeted the few who had arrive and we began worship. We jumped, we stomped the devil we sang with all our hearts (whatever words we could pick out either in English or the local dialect being sung). About forty minutes later the crowd had swelled to near capacity, other men, women and children came from the local area.

Mark and I were allowed to bring greetings from our brothers and sisters in Christ. Mark had never spoke in public before, but he came ready to roll. He not only introduced himself very well but won the undying love of the people there by letting out a worship whoop that made it sound like he had been in Uganda his whole life.

Christine shared her testimony to relationship with Christ and read a long passage of Scripture. The process took a long time because everything was translated for the sake of those who were not fluent in English. Then Misti got up and gave a message that would have done Beth Moore proud. That woman can flat out preach. Since it was “women’s day” and yet so many men showed up, Misti took the opportunity to speak about marriage and to tell the men that the accepted Ugandan custom of treating their wives as household slaves and instruments of personal pleasure was opposite to Scriptural teaching. Pastor Thomas was translating. He rearranged quite a few things that Misti said, but enough of the men spoke English well enough to get the “unedited” version Misti was presenting.

Mark and I give greetings to the congregation at Sweeto

After a couple hours we were finished, and needed to go meet up with Anthony. We said our goodbyes and went off to another section of Kampala that houses the “rich” of Uganda.