More on Uganda

Since my post two weeks ago, I have not given any more info on our trip to Uganda, so I thought I would tell a little more about it. The first was the broad strokes. Now for some detail. The weather was magnificent - I was expecting Waco type weather without A/C, but was pleasantly suprised to find high temps of 88, quite cool in the shade, and lows of 70 and actually requiring a blanket at night. We did have running water and flush toilets, although they were outside; but no electricity. Therefore when the sun went down it got dark quickly, and was amazingly dark, especially before the moon came out. The good part was that the stars were unbelievable - I felt like I was seeing what the Persians saw 2000 years ago. We did have headlamps and could do some reading and visiting but what it really meant was that you went to bed early. Life was definitely more simple and I could get used to that - though it was hard to let go of the Western mindset.

Since we were part of a total team of 23 Mzungus (white people), we often had to split up what we did during the day. A lot of us worked side by side with the Ugandans at RG. That involved making bricks, harvesting G nuts, washing clothes, tearing down termite mounds, clearing land, construction work on the orphan homes, painting, ect. At other times we went in to schools to give our testimony and play with the kids. One team went overnight to another village and had a healing service and fed some orphans. One day we held a medical clinic on site at RG and saw over 100 people. Another day we worked with a local church to do a community health evangelism project - we helped build a fence around a water site. So as you can see, we were plenty active and I think helped the work at RG, both in terms of actual work and also in fostering better relations with the local community and other churches.

As I reflected on everything going on there, I recounted all of the things that I enjoy. There was various types of construction ( electrical work, plumbing, carpentry), unlimited opportunities for gardening (both vegetable and flowers), lots of bird watching and plenty of photo ops, eventually there will be a medical clinic to work in or to teach and also a Bible school in which to teach, opportunities for hiking and National Park adventures, plenty of room to jog. The only thing I did not see was tennis, but who knows but that may be in the plans. In taking all this in, I felt like God was saying to me, "Why do you think I put all of these things in your life? It is what you were made for. The other was just preparation."

I hope that gives you a little better idea of the trip. May God bless you.