A Day of Worship - Sunday in Uganda

Greetings from Uganda!

Debbie Spinks led us this morning in a great devotional about resting in the Lord. It was based on the verse that says, “Come to me, all you who are heavy burden and I will give you rest….for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” One of the things that Debbie said which stuck out to many on the team was “the yoke is not hard, our resistance to the yoke is what is hard.” It was an excellent time of discussion, worship, and prayer together.

This morning, the team was split into four groups and sent to four different churches in order to teach Sunday School and encourage the believers in some of the churches that have already been planted by the ministry here. A couple of the churches were ones that FPC has helped plant on past mission trips to Uganda. Here is a really quick rundown of where and how our team served this morning in East Africa.

Sironko – Audrey and Andrew taught the children, Dr. Bartha led the men’s class, and Allison led the women. This group loved the children, some of whom covered their ears when Pastor Dennis got loud during his sermon. Andrew noted that the congregation has grown immensely from last year and there were around 200 people at church today, the church was literally overflowing. Dr. Bartha had a coffin salesman ask if it was ok to pray for people to die. The team got the rare joy of sharing in communion at the Ugandan church. Dr. Bartha got to help serve.

Ogosoi – Garrett taught the men and preached, Rachel and Cynthia taught the children, and Debbie taught the women a lesson about abiding, based on our devotionals thus far. The team was delightfully overwhelmed when they took one step out of the bus and were enthusiastically surrounded by a crowd of joyous people. In the service, they really enjoyed Pastor Martin’s energy - he ran from side to side on the stage and was very animated. A woman who went into convulsions last year is now serving as a leader at the church. Martin was excited to receive the tall man clothes from the Smiths. Rachel and Cynthia were thankful to serve together and to share Rachel’s first experience in a Ugandan church with one another.

Kanumu – Team W was in Kanumu. Joey taught men’s Sunday School and preached. Kylie taught the children, Karen taught the women, and Rudi prayed and helped with the men’s Sunday School. And when I say Rudi prayed, he prayed a lot! One of the most beautiful moments of the day was Rudi praying over the children during the service. The congregation was welcoming and full of joy, greeting us with that lovely wild banshee yell the women do. We had a difficult challenge when approached with all of the needs of the pastor and the congregation, which ignited some difficult discussion and introspection about wealth, poverty, and giving.

Kadimukoli – Pat taught the women, Walter taught the men, Laura and Carolyn taught the children and they were wonderful (surprise, surprise). The pastor, Pastor Apollo is very entrepreneurial and has done a lot of great work to provide self-sustaining income for his family and the church. Pastor Apollo has been Pat Hunter’s translator for many years. When the team walked into his house, they noticed he had a framed picture of Pat and one of Dr. Bartha in his house. The team was incredibly moved at this clear and tangible evidence that our service here makes a significant impact on the people. Pastor Apollo called Pat up in front of the church and shared about his 12-year relationship with her. The team also noted a ‘talented and respectful’ translator who communicated effectively and genuinely.

After we served in the churches, we met at Pastor Morris’ church in Mbale to all share lunch together. There are a few other groups from the U.S. serving this week as well. During this time, Cynthia reunited with her frequent translator whose name is Sunday. It was really neat to see her light up and to see Sunday’s joyful reaction. Friendship has no borders.

As we finished lunch, there was a downpour on the tin roof of Morris’ church that was loud and beautiful. Once it cleared, we returned to Mt Elgon hotel and organized all the supplies for the week. We scavenged through all of the extra bags we packed and organized the supplies for the medical clinic, the women’s conference, the translators, etc., etc.

After we finished unpacking, we had a couple hours off. Some of us took naps. Others ran a few laps around the giant yard in the back of the hotel. Morris came to meet with us before dinner and thanked us for coming to help serve this week. He acknowledged the sacrifice we all made in coming here and encouraged us to preach Jesus first and meeting humanitarian needs second.

After an emotional dinner and debrief, we are about prepared for bed before hitting the schools, prison, trails, and crusades tomorrow! 

We remembered our fathers today and it was very well said in our closing prayer after debrief that "many of us are here because of our fathers."

Thanks for your prayers and support!

The 2015 Uganda Mission Team