Aggie's Ladies

One of the former members of Life's Journey Church is now a missionary here in Uganda. His wife Aggie works with these ladies. They make beads and other arts and crafts. One day the team came to visit them and we were greeted in typical Ugandan style --praise and worship.

They showed us their many beads. These were just a few that they hung on a line. All the rest were on tarps on the ground and unfortunately I didn't take a picture.

These ladies live next to a huge stone quarry and many of them work there each day. They sit with their hammars and break up the rocks into smaller stones. It is tedious work and does not pay much but they are happy to have a job. Some of the team members tried their hand at breaking up the rocks. The ladies laughed at us as we struggled to do what they did easily, but they loved it that we tried.

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Alabama team

We were blessed by the team that came from Life's Journey Church in Huntsville, Alabama. They came ready to work. We went into two different slum areas, Nateete and Naguru. The first day in each area the team went door to door to share the Gospel. The next day they came back to the same area to set up an eye clinic and share the Gospel.

Pastor Keith was amazing. Whenever he started sharing he would soon have a crowd of men around him listening and asking many questions.

With the help of some of our local pastors we set up a big tent to house the people coming for the eye clinic. It was full most of the time. It was quite orderly and everyone was patient as they sat and waited their turn.

Tables were set up for testing for glasses. These were just reading glasses but they tried to be as accurate as possible. After being fitted with glasses the team then took the opportunity to share the Gospel with each individual.


Between 450 and 500 pairs of glasses were given out during the week. People were thankful that they could now see.

Miscellaneous pictures

 

 

 

Nkere Church, Kawempe

 

This was our first time to go to Nkere Church. It is on the far side of Kampala. You can only drive so far and then you have to get out and walk. Not an easy walk. This is another one of the churches that does not have a building. The landlord is a member of the church and has graciously allowed them to meet on her property. The tarps help keep out the sun and rain if it is not too heavy. Pastor Deo told us that if it rains you cannot get in or out of the area because it floods.

All of our churches start off with such a good time of worship. Today we sang. Then the older children's choir sang. Then the Women's choir sang. It was a special treat.

 

Lynn got to preach while Pastor Deo interpreted.

 

This was the children's choir. You can see the community bathroom behind the children. This was the first one I had seen built up like that. I assume it is because of the flooding.

 

After the service, everyone stayed for lunch. We didn't know about that ahead of time so it was a delicious surprise. We had matooke (cooking bananas), rice, g-nut sauce (peanut), and beef --a typical African meal.

Nateete BGR buckets

 

After we left Naguru, we drove across town to Nateete. Here we first met at a house where the others were gathered. Again, because of the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, they did not want to be seen by others in the community.

 

This lady started a support group called "Friends" where those who have HIV can come and share and encourage each other. She is one of the friends.

 

This group was gathered together We had the buckets to give to a certain list of people but we didn't say what they were for. Again, the Gospel was presented and three more became believers. Africans do everything very formally. So, as we gave each bucket to an individual we gave words of encouragement.

Shamin

This is Shamin. I want to share her story because it is typical of many people here.

First, let me give you a little background. Our team works with Manna Ministries here in Kampala. They go into a slum area and the community itself picks about 50 people/families who are the poorest of the poor. Those people receive food for about a six month period as well as hear the Gospel. Our friend Douglas has been ministering to Shamin for the last six months and on the day that we went to deliver our Home Care buckets he asked us all to visit Shamin.

Shamin is living with her extended family now. We all gathered into her room which was relatively larger than most homes in the slum. We all found a spot on one of the three beds in the room. Douglas asked her to tell us her story but she was too emotional. So this is the story that he related.

Shamin has just recently become a believer. She was Muslim before and her family still is. She is also HIV postive along with three of her children, one of which just recently died. Having HIV carries a big stigma here and anyone having it is usually shunned. Shamin has it so she mostly lives out her life in her bedroom. Her son was in the bed while we were there and he is not doing well either. No one comes to see her and even her family ignores her most of the time. Shamin does not feel well enough not to go out very often, so like the lepers in Bible-times she is separated from the community. Being a believer has not helped her with her family. That is another offense she has committed.

Douglas had wanted us to visit her so that we could encourage her and show her the love of the Lord. He also wanted her family to see that we could visit her and touch her and hug her and visit with her and that it was ok. Shamin was encouraged and she was so happy to have someone to come and tell her that she is still valuable and that God does indeed love her. It certainly doesn't feel that way to her much any more. We told her that we would pray for her and ask our churches at home to pray also. That,too, was encouraging.

There are many others like Shamin. While the statistics for HIV/AIDs was down for a while, it has started to rise again. Please join us in our prayers for Shamin and the many others in the same situation.

Home Care Buckets

Our whole Kampala Urban Team gathered this morning to go and deliver the Home Care Buckets we have received. The buckets are intended for selected people in Nuguru and Natete infected with HIV.


We have 50 buckets to deliver.




The buckets went to people who were in need of them and there was no requirement to receive them. It was an opportunity to share the Good News with them.

Victoria Falls

Since 40/40 training was in Zambia, when we finished we decided to go to Livingstone to see the Falls. It was an 8 hour bus ride down but Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and so worth seeing.

 

We were lucky on the timing. Right after the rainy season it is difficult to see the Falls at all because there is so much water going over that there is a mist that actually hides the Falls. This was about a month later and the mist would rise and fall. We had to wear raincoats and still managed to get soaked.

 

This baboon was searching out all the cars to find food. She wasn't a bit shy. In fact, when she saw that one of the children in our group had a peanut butter sandwich she ran over, reached over his shoulder, and had that sandwich before any of us could do a thing.

 

This was our reward for making it through our training.

 

Homestay - Day 3

We got up early and at 7 a.m. went to a neighbor’s house to greet a newly married couple. They were married in Lusaka and had just come Petauke for the first time to meet the mother-in-law. It is the custom for everyone in the neighborhood to come and greet them, give encouragement, and leave some money. Seems like a great idea to me.

 

 

Later, we went to church and heard Pastor Amos give a good message in two languages. He admitted later that it was hard to keep his place. Two choirs – the women’s and the youth—blessed us with their singing. Again I say, I have never heard anyone sing like the Zambians. It is just heavenly.

 

Homestay - Day 2

This has been a full day. We woke up early. We dressed and were ready to go before sunrise. We walked about 4-5 km to Pastor’s cornfield. We harvested corn for about 3 hours then Amos took us to harvest g-nuts (peanuts). I got the impression that they were told to let us do some work without much expectation that we would really work.

 

We came home about noon. I did the dishes while Mary cooked lunch. They taught me how to cook the nshima. I wasn’t very good at it. It reminds me of making playdough. Their daughter kept laughing at how I was stirring it and when it got really thick, I had to use to hands. She used one—easily.

 

Lynn and the Pastor spent most of the time sitting under a tree discussing life.