What a week. Let's just go through it chronologically, shall we?
Monday- Got back to the island after a escape weekend. Choppy boat ride and actually felt sea sick. Gross. So far... all is well.
Tuesday- Pastor's training! I love and hate these 2 days every few weeks. It's awesome to see God working and discipline these pastors on the islands. The building is always filled with praises and teachings. It's fun to hide in another room and just lay and listen to everything. Of course then the building is filled with late night talkers, radio players and snoring all night. Also, this is the night a mouse decided we should spoon and climbed into my bed. He crawled right across my forehead. Scared the crap out of me. I kicked him out of bed but kept coming back every few minutes, keeping me wide awake. This was also the night I found out my dad is not coming to Uganda after all. He became very sick and there's a lot to it. I was heartbroken. I went and told Keeky and couldn't help but cry. I really like her a lot and her encouraging nature and her ability to show sincere empathy. Later that night, Andy and Keeky came and we prayed together for dad and that Ben might still come without dad and that a replacement would emerge.
Wednesday- Prayer in Kytonga! Woot woot! Love Wednesdays! So for prayer meeting today it started really late. But Mama O and Papa O are back on the island and Mama O came to prayer with us. I so admire that couple. They compliment each other so well and they way they minister is impressive. I love to listen to them talk. I went earlier and walked there by myself and visited with people before prayer. Of course the first thing Pastor Philip said to me when he say me was, "Oh! Do you have another story for us today?" I shared on the book of Judges and what happened during that time and then shared the story of Ehud. I explained how since he was left-handed, he was considered deformed or even cursed. But God used him to deliver the Israelites from Moab's oppression and gave them peace for 80 years. The questions they ask blow me away. Olivia asked, "Did Ehud have the spirit of God on him when he killed the king or was it a spirit of murder?" She basically asked, what's the difference? Wow... bible college didn't prepare me for that one or a lot of the questions they ask. Every time I go to prayer meeting and tell a story from the Bible it always reminds me of a quote my dad shared at church just before I came to Uganda. Of course I can't quote it or remember where it comes from but basically he said that we are so concerned about arguing about Christ's 2nd coming and some haven't even heard about His first coming. It goes on and on. But just the fact that we can be so concerned about arguing theology and beliefs and the law in the Bible when most haven't even heard the good news and those who have and are born again haven't heard a single story from the old testament. Who do we think we are that we pride ourselves on being theologians when all we do is hide out in our offices and never share the good news because we are so concerned with being the smartest and the most holy. I will never be able to describe to you the look on someone's face when they hear a story of God's goodness for the very first time after you have heard it hundreds of times. They expression they get. The hope they receive. I can't describe it and I won't, because you need to go experience it yourself!
Then that night came round 2 with the mouse. Keep climbing into my bed and bugging me so I gave up and let it have my bed and I went and slept in another room. Stupid mouse.
Thursday- Starting growing very excited for Ben and Justin to come. Starting to just be plain excited about what God has in store for the week of preaching the gospel and ministering among people. It's going to be awesome. I received a tip that mice and rodents hate cayenne pepper, thank you Jonnie. So I took some of it and I sprinkled all over the floor around my bed, on my stuff behind the head of my bed and on the corner of my bed that the mouse loves to try to get in at. I thought oh man my roommate is going to think that I'm preforming some kind of witchcraft ritual. haha. All that night the little rodent didn't come near by side of the room, instead he bothered my roommate's things. WIN! Oh and I also was told to be careful walking around the fields. Apparently we now have a croc that is coming really far up on the island and eating monkeys. He is really close to our compound. They said he must be extremely hungry to come that far onto the island. YIKES!
Friday- This is the hard part. The bad day. All was fine until the afternoon. There is a mom in Kytonga who comes to prayer meetings. She is a new believer. Her husband just starting coming to meetings as well because their boy has been sick and they wanted prayer for him. In the afternoon they rushed the boy over to Karina's house. He was unconscious and it didn't look good at all. So Andy threw stuff together and they got him on a boat and rushed him to Jinja. It took 2 hours to get to Jinja. When they reached the hospital the boy died right there at the door. He was like 3 years old. Oh man...
This is the first death among the new believers in that village so everyone is watching them to see how they act. Of course they aren’t even sure what to do. Everyone of course is saying that her boy died because she became a born again. The mother was saying all kinds of horrible things and they kept watch over her so she wouldn’t run off to the witch doctor. I went to the house around 10:30 pm with Mama and Papa O, Robert and Justus. There was a fire going on outside and people sitting around it. We arrived and immediately the O’s went to work. They started praise songs and soon the crowd grew larger. Mama O kept laughing at me because I was picking up the songs in Luganda and singing along. Papa spoke about how everyone dies. It’s not because this woman got born again. Even the great men of God in the bible eventually died except for 2. He preached about an everlasting life. Robert also spoke on the same thing. There was no actions of that of non-believers except for the drunk men that were hanging around and mocking the praise songs. We left around 11:45 and Mama O stayed the night there. Andy and Karina said that it sounded like things were going well and that if it had been in the family the was not saved some really bad things would have gone on. I didn’t ask for them to explain what. I just didn’t want to know.
Saturday- I was running to the public boat this morning and I stopped at Andy and Karina’s house to say goodbye and while I was there I heard a screaming child outside. I opened the door and there was Madame Joy holding her little 2 year old girl. The girl had no shirt on and had what looked like mud all over her left side. She seemed to be in a lot of pain and I thought, oh she must have fallen or something. Them Keeky came to the door and Madame Joy said, “My daughter got into the pour age.” I looked closer and her skin was gone on her upper arm and the ‘mud’ was pour age. She had really bad burns. Keeky jumped into action and cared for the girl. She said pour age causes a lot of burns here and then it just sticks to the skin causing lots of damage. Man. So I just went on my way to the boat. I feel like I got a real taste Andy and Keeky’s life here on the island this week.
I just went to the market and while I was walking back my bag broke up and all my passion fruit scattered on the ground. Embarrassing.
I’ll be traveling to Kampala on Monday and then in the middle of the night going to the airport to pick up Ben and Justin. Then back to Jinja on Tuesday morning and out to the island. I'm expectant of what God is going to do on the island this week. I can't wait to see what happens. Praying for salvation and healing for the people. Especially in Kytonga. My heart has been absolutely captured by that village. I'll keep you all posted!
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