Fred
Friday, August 10
I departed for Uganda from the Lexington airport at 2:30 pm.
My flight would take me first through Detroit, then on to Amsterdam, and
finally to Entebbe, Uganda. It would be a total of almost 24 hours of travel
time. I arrived in Entebbe at 10:30 pm Uganda time. We had one team member,
Terri Roche, whose flight was cancelled and she will not be able to fly out
until on Saturday.
Saturday, August 11
Arrived in Entebbe and was picked up by Tabitha and our bus
driver James. We got our bags, loaded up the bus, and headed for our hotel.
When we got to the hotel, we checked into our rooms and then ate some dinner at
the hotel restaurant. I finally got into bed at about 2 am.
Sunday, August 12
We got up early and went to a church NW of Kampala and about
2 hours travel time in a very rural and mountainous region. This church
received LLJ training by the Omega church from Kampala. This is exactly what we
wanted them to do after we trained them last fall. Several church members testified
about the LLJ Encounter and how they were using these principles in their
lives. The church was packed and had probably 150 or so adults and lots of
kids, maybe another 100 or so. Their service was from 9:30 am to 2 pm. Randy
preached and was provided an interpreter. I was very touched by the children
singing songs and praising God. The people thanked us for bringing LLJ to
Uganda and they appreciated us being with them for worship services. We ate
lunch with them. In fact, we were somewhat uncomfortable in that they brought plates
of food for us to eat before the rest of the people had been served. To me,
this just reinforced the idea of top-down leaders who stand “above” the people
they lead. It was a long trip back to Kampala and we all were very tired and
still not recovered from our long flight on Friday and Saturday. That evening,
I went to the airport with Tabitha to pick up Terri Roche and bring her back to
the hotel.
Monday, August 13
Today we traveled to Gulu. The first half of the trip was over
very good roads. However, the second half was over some of the worst roads that
I have ever ridden on. It may have been better to not have any pavement and to
have only dirt roads? On the way to Gulu we were passed by the President of
Uganda’s motorcade. The farther we traveled north the more primitive things
got. We did notice that the terrain in the north is fairly flat with only a few
rolling hills. It looks a lot like Texas or Oklahoma and the soil seems to be
dark and rich. It looks like it would be good farming country, yet it remains
largely uncultivated? After a 5 ½ hour ride, we finally got to our hotel in
Gulu. The hotel was once the headquarters of the British Army and it did look
like a military compound. We later found out that several US troops who are
training and advising the Ugandan military were staying at the hotel.
Once we got to Gulu, we checked in, ate lunch, and then went
to the church. That afternoon we did a VBS for about 250 kids and later that
night we would do the first half of an Encounter. The VBS went fairly well even
though we didn’t get much time to prepare. Randy and I facilitated the
Encounter that evening. The church building was rather small, had a mud floor,
no windows or doors, and the roof was tin and had a lot of holes in it. They
did not have any electricity but they did have a generator and a sound system. We
got started at around 6:30 PM and would go to about 9 or so. The Encounter
started well and the people seemed very interested. We did have an interpreter
and that slowed things down quite a bit. They really got into the Jesus/Pilate
video on a contrast of influence. Things went well until it got dark. They
didn’t have any lights. We couldn’t even see our notes nor could the people see
to take notes in their books. We took a break and they finally found an
extension cord that had a light plug on one end and they hooked it up for us.
We left that evening hoping things would be better tomorrow evening.
Tuesday, August 14
Tuesday was not a very good day. The VBS had way too many
kids. It seemed that the Pastor had told the kids to all bring a friend with
them and the number of kids doubled from the previous day. It was very chaotic
but our VBS team did the best they could and got through it. The Encounter,
scheduled for the afternoon, got off to a very late start. We eventually
started an hour late with only 5 or 6 people. Eventually, they showed up and we
had about 150 or so. Not long after we began a tremendous thunder storm hit us.
The generator went down. The roof leaked and rain blew in the windows. Water
was everywhere. We got through it and finished at about 5:30 pm. Then, the
Pastor lectured us for 30 minutes or so in front of the people about the short
notice that he had in preparing for us. Not once did he thank us for coming,
doing the VBS, or teaching his people about leadership, or anything. It was a
terrible experience to say the least and very embarrassing. I guess it was his
way of saving face with his people. This would not be the last time that we received
some negative feedback from some of the pastors due to the lack of coordination
and planning on the part of Tabitha our Ugandan host.
Wednesday, August 15
After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed for
Lira. Even though it was only about 90 miles away, it took us over four hours
to get to Lira. The road was even worse than the road we traveled to get to
Gulu. Our driver told us that the big pot holes in the road were caused by
artillery and mortar shells that had been fired during the years of war and
rebellion that had plagued the northern region of the country over a 20 year
period. Once we arrived at Lira, we checked into the hotel and then visited the
church and school where on Thursday we would hold a VBS and Encounter. The
church was supposed to furnish our VBS team with 10-15 volunteers and limit the
number of kids to no more than 200. We asked the church to have the volunteers
show up the evening before the VBS so that we could inform them of what our
plan was and coordinate with them. None of them came this evening. It would be
an indication of what would take place the next day. Luke and his son Jamin
joined up with our team in Lira that evening.
Thursday, August 16
We arrived at the church and school at 9 am and began to set
up. Debbie and Luke would be facilitating the Encounter at the church and our
VBS team would be conducting the VBS across the street at the school. Soon
after our VBS team arrived things began to go south. Instead of 200 kids that
we expected approximately 450 kids showed up and we had NO volunteers from the
church to help out. Our VBS team only consisted of Terri, Charisa and James.
They were overwhelmed. We tried to get some help from some of the women who
were at the Encounter but no one else came to help. Our folks did the best they
could and mainly played games with the kids. The Encounter, however, went
really well. We had around 200 participants. Needless to say, our VBS team was
totally stressed out after that day.
In coordination with Stone Kyambadde (Tabitha’s husband), we
conducted our first soccer camp today in Lira. They had approximately 400 kids
attend the half-day soccer training camp. Stone is a former soccer star for the
Ugandan National team and now runs a ministry in Kampala that takes in orphans
and helps them get a good education and skills they need to get a job. Stone is
also a trainer with the Stephen Covey organization and teaches all over the
world.
Friday, August 17
We left Lira this morning enroute to the city of Mbale. We
would be doing the first half of an Encounter this evening in the nearby city
of Palissa and then a VBS and the remainder of the Encounter on Saturday. Randy
and I would travel on with Pastor Daniel to Iganga where we would do an
Encounter with one of his churches on Saturday. The rest of our team would stay
overnight at a really nice hotel in Mbale. After the experience of Gulu and
Lira the team was somewhat discouraged. Saturday would pick up our spirits
considerably. Praise God!
That evening, Randy and I checked into the Mums hotel and
Iganga and had dinner with Pastor Daniel. What a visionary! He discussed his
vision and plan for developing leaders and planting churches in the various
villages around Iganga that did not have a church. Pastor Daniel gets it! He
sees that too many well meaning do-gooders have made the Ugandan people reliant
on outside aid and unable or unwilling to help themselves. His motto is “don’t
give me a fish; give me a hook so I can catch my own fish”. It is truly
refreshing to talk with someone who understands that if the Ugandan people are
to be lifted out of poverty that they will have to do it themselves.
Saturday, August 18
Today, Randy and I facilitated an Encounter for
approximately 100 business and professional people from Iganga. Debbie and Luke
completed their Encounter and the VBS team held their VBS in Palissa. Overall,
we had a very good day and a positive experience. Both Encounters and the VBS
were well supported by the church leaders. Things were very well organized and
for the most part the “right” people attended. It was a very encouraging
experience for us and we all felt that the people who attended really got
something out of our teaching. It was an awesome feeling! That evening the rest
of our team joined Randy and I at the Mums hotel in Iganga. We had a very good
dinner (even though it took them about 90 minutes to prepare our food) and we
rejoiced and shared our positive experiences with one another.
Tabitha, our Ugandan host, became ill today and decided to
return to Kampala. We later found out that she had come down with malaria. So,
until we returned to Kampala we would be on our own.
Sunday, August 19
We attended two (2) church services this morning. Randy
spoke at the first one and then Luke spoke at the second. Both gave very good
sermons and we had a very good morning of praise and worship. The first church
that we attended was in the city of Iganga. This church uses a combination of a
tin overhang that is attached to the side of a building and a large circus-type
tent for their services. The place was packed with almost 300 people. This
church has about 1000 members and conducts three services each Sunday morning.
The second church we attended is located a few miles outside of Iganga in a
small village. The church building had mud floors, a tin roof, and clap board
walls. There were about 75 or so people in attendance. This was a church that
had just started in January. They planted it on their own with no outside funds
from the US or Europe. After this second worship service, we visited a third
church that recently just had started up a few months before. They meet in a
make shift building of wooden supports covered by blue tarps. They already have
50 or so members! Amazing! Again, they started this church without any outside
support or money. It proves that the “locals” can do this by themselves. It
just takes leaders who have a vision and passion for reaching the lost.
After church, we ate lunch, rested a few hours and then
prepared for our pastor/ministry leader training courses, Encounters and VBS
that would take place on Monday and Tuesday.
Monday, August 20
This morning we led a Pastor/ministry leader training
program at Pastor Daniel’s church in Iganga. Luke taught on “Becoming a leader
worth following” and I taught a lesson on “Making disciples like Jesus did”.
Randy preached during a lunch hour session. We had lunch at Pastor Julius’
home. We also conducted a VBS at a local school. Debbie and I led the first
half of an Encounter that evening from 4-7 pm. Not sure how much they got out
of it?
Tuesday, August 21
In the morning, Luke and Randy finished the Pastor/ministry
leader for Pastor Daniel’s church. Randy taught on “Emotionally Healthy
Churches” and Luke taught on “The Barnabus factor – the Power of
Encouragement”. During lunch, Luke preached on “Cat and Dog theology”. It was a
great session and was well received. We also had lunch again at Pastor Julius’
home. We even had ice cream! Debbie and I finished the second half of our Encounter
workshop. The people’s participation and response was awesome and totally
unexpected. After the first night, we doubted whether they were getting
anything we were trying to teach. But, after tonight, we saw that they really
understood the principles of servant leadership we were teaching them. A truly
great and inspiring session; they really got into the Unconditional love
activity and the Shoe shining exercise at the conclusion. You could really feel
the love of God in the room as they shined each other’s shoes and hugged each
other. After we finished, Betty, one of the women from the church that owns and
operates a private school, had us over for dinner. Betty runs a private
Christian school for about 200 kids and does so without any outside financial
support.
Wednesday, August 22
This morning we left Iganga for Kampala. Dave woke up very
sick. Randy believed that he has malaria so on our way to visit the “Source of
the Nile” we stopped at a medical clinic in Jinja to get him checked out. Sure
enough, Dave has malaria! He will have to take four shots (1 per day) over the
next four days. He is a very sick puppy right now!
We then visited the Nile River and the team, less me, took a
boat ride. There was NO way that I was going to ride in one of those old leaky
boats on a river as swift as the Nile! They had a good time and made it back
with no problems. I waited on them at the café on the river. We then boarded
the bus and went back to Jinja to eat lunch and for me to find a bank to get us
some more money out of an ATM machine. We ate lunch at the Source Café. The
food was great! This café is part of a ministry started by the Church of
Christ. They use the profits to fund development projects to help Ugandans
start their own businesses. The complex includes the café, a church, internet
café, library, and craft shop. After lunch we traveled on to our hotel in
Kampala.
This evening Randy, Luke, and I went to the “Fire Center”
church in the community of Ntinda which is located in northern Kampala to do
the first half of a mini-Encounter that would take place over two nights. Just
as we were getting started, the power went out. We were in total darkness. The
church leaders took over and began singing songs and worshipping. They did this
for about 30-40 minutes while they worked to hook up a generator. They finally
got it to work and Randy and Luke taught for a little over an hour before they
had to quit at 9 pm. This turned out to be a long, hard day.
Thursday, August 23
Today, we have a VBS at the Omega church, Randy and Luke
will travel two hours (one way) to Nansana for the first day of an Encounter,
and in the evening Debbie and I will finish up at Ntinda. When Terri and James
came back to the hotel from the VBS they were very sick. So, I took them to a
local medical clinic. James has a head cold and Terri is suffering from
exhaustion. The Doctor told her to get some bed rest. Not much chance of that
happening? Debbie and I went to Ntinda and even though we started a little
later than we wanted things at first went really well. But, about halfway
through the power went out again! Debbie was teaching and it seemed not to
phase her one bit! She was amazing! She couldn’t even see her notes but she
continued on and finished up. We packed
up in the dark and James our bus driver took us back to the hotel. Randy and
Luke got back to the hotel at about 10 pm. Another tiring and long day is over.
Friday, August 24
Today was supposed to be a day of rest for me in that I was
not scheduled to teach. However, I once again had to go to the bank, get some
more money, pay some of our bills, and balance the checkbook. Also, I came down
this morning with a really bad head cold and decided to go to the doctor and
get some medicine. I did get a few hours of rest in the afternoon, but still
feel pretty bad. Today, the VBS team went to Ntinda and Randy and Luke went
back to Nansana to finish up their Encounter. The VBS went great and Terri,
Charisa, and James were glad that they made it through their last one of the
trip. They would have Saturday off to rest and recover. Again, Randy and Luke
would get back very late from Nansana.
Saturday, August 25
This morning Debbie, Dave, James, and I traveled to Entebbe
to do a one-day Encounter. We had only
26 participants and about 10 or so were ones who had attended last
fall’s Encounter. It was very good to see our friends Jeff, Ivan, David, and
Martin. What a joyful reunion! Best of all, we had a great discussion with
these leaders to develop a plan to go deeper and develop leaders who will take
the LLJ message to others and eventually handoff the teaching of LLJ to them.
On our way back to Kampala, we stopped by to visit Ivan’s home and family. We
had a very nice visit. However, it had rained and the road leading to his home
was muddy and slick. Our bus got stuck. With a little help from Ivan’s
neighbors, who gave us a push, James our driver got back on the road. When we
got back to Kampala we went over to Stone and Tabitha’s for dinner.
Sunday/Monday, August 26-27
Our last day in Uganda – we are all tired and ready to go
home but we will miss our Ugandan friends. It has been such a joy to share the
LLJ message with them and to know how much they love the Lord and are eager to
serve him.
This morning we went to the Watoto Church in downtown
Kampala for their worship service. The place was packed and what a service!
This is the largest church in Uganda. They have around 25-30 thousand members
and eight satellite campuses around Uganda. They have five services on Sunday
at their Kampala campus. After church we went to the Women’s market and did
some souvenir hunting. We then returned to the hotel, vacated our rooms,
changed clothes for the trip back home, and went to a restaurant called “The
Lawns” for a final team lunch. Great time and very good food! After lunch, Musa
took Luke and Jamin to the airport and the rest of the team went to see a play
that was put on by the Watoto church at Uganda’s National Theater. After the
play was over we headed for the airport and the trip back home.
Our flight was on time and we departed at 11:30 pm for
Amsterdam. Once we got there we all split up and traveled back through various
cities to our homes. I was sure glad to see Michelle when I finally arrived in
Lexington at 2:45 pm on Monday, August 27th after nearly 24 hours of
travel.
It is good to be home. I truly feel blessed by God for
having had the experiences of the last 17 days. I have worked with a great
group of people and have met so many wonderful Christian men and women who
really want to make a difference for Jesus in their country. I have learned so
much, both by our successes and by our mistakes, and will use these lessons to
work with Randy, Debbie, Luke and others to rework our strategy and develop a
more sustainable approach that will better equip leaders who will carry the
message and equip other leaders as Jesus equipped and released his disciples to
carry on long after he left them. Thank you Lord, for the great experiences we
have had and for allowing me to play a small role in what you are doing around
the world.
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