Catching Things Up

Catching Things Up

I suppose it has been a while since I posted anything.  Sorry about that.  This is the result of two things.  First being away from internet, electricity and civilization for a few days and when we had internet it was a poor connection.

Rather than try to remember where I left off what I will do is work backwards by events.

So we start with today, Wednesday, September 15, 2010.

We are now at the Fairway Hotel in Kampala, Uganda.  We are booked in until they take us to Entebbe and the airport for our flight on Friday.  This is the flight that will take us to Nairobi, Kenya and our final week.

We left Mbale this morning.  Our driver arrived at 8:30 and brought us to the Elgon Flyer Bus Depot.  Our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am and was right on time.  We decided to do the bus since the cost of hiring a car just did not seem reasonable to us.  Our trip from Kampala to Mbale by car cost us 400,000 UGS.  Our trip from Mbale to Kampala by bus cost us 20,000 UGS plus an additional 15,000 for a short hire from the bus to our hotel. Certainly much less expensive.  The bus was also a lot more fun and more comfortable than a car would have been.  We arrived early enough to snag the front seat right behind the driver.  That seat gives you extra leg room and a great view.  The bus sits very high so the view was great.  The distance between Mbale and Kampala is about 200 km.  In Canada we would say 2 hrs. but this isn’t Canada.  We left at 9:30 and arrived in Kampala just after 1:30 pm.  We were actually early.  It was a little crazy when we arrived,  We were suppose to meet a driver at a particular spot but the bus didn’t end up stopping there.  The driver saw our bus and followed it.  What a blessing!  After the bus stopped and some very confusing moments the bus started moving again and suddenly we saw a man waving a CRWRC sign out his window.  We were so thankful that the conductor stopped the bus for us and our bags were very easy to pull out.  Another moment when we really sensed the hand of God in this too.  There was also a time or two on the trip where prayers were issued for safety and answered swiftly.  The only problem with the view from our seats was the fact we could see the close calls.  But those are now in the past!  Praise God for His care!  One other thing I must add about the bus trip its called a “Short Call”  The bus stopped in an area that is wooded on both sides of the road and then the conductor announced “Short Call”.  Those who needed to make a short call headed for the bushes.  You guested it.  Nature was calling!  Needless to say, we just hung in there until reaching our hotel later in the day.

Yesterday was our final day in Mbale.  I think we were at the point that we wanted to move on to the next phase of our trip but it was also difficult to begin saying goodbye.

It amazes me how deeply you can connect with people in just three weeks!  Some far more than others and that is what made it hard to say goodbye!  The school put on a small farewell gathering for us.  It was more formal than we would have liked and was first limited to the faculty and a few of the staff which left out some of the wives that we really connected with but we made sure we sought out those we truly needed to say goodbye to.  We had another heavy rain storm.  They have become an almost daily reality here as the rainy season settles in.  The power was also late in coming back on.  I will not miss the daily outage as they worked on the lines.  Off by 9 am, back on some time around 7 pm.  

One more thing about the gathering but I will write that after I tell you about our weekend since it involves a gift we received while on our adventure.

That takes us to Saturday since that is when our adventure begins.

We were up very early. In order to get the best spot in one of the taxi vans Willy, our host and guide, wanted us to be at the departure point by 6 am.  It is still dark here until 6:30 so we walked in the dark to catch a taxi.  Willy wanted to put us in the front seat so we would not get crowded in.  We didn’t get the front seat but we didn’t get crowded in either since Willy made sure they didn’t do it to us.  He was so good to us!  You need to understand how these taxi vans work.  They are mostly older Toyota vans, built for 8 or 9 passengers at the very most but converted and licensed to carry 14 plus the driver.  That makes 15.  Yeah, right!  During various rides in these things I think we topped out at 22, plus luggage and chickens.  Never forget the chickens!  But do forget shock absorbers!

We were off to Willy’s home.  Willy lives in the north, between Lira and Gulu, in Apac region.  Until a year ago this was still a conflict zone involving the LRA.  If you don’t know what those letters stand for please Google Lord’s Resistance Army and give yourself a very important history lesson.

We traveled to Lira by taxi van then after some waiting time we were off again in a Toyota 4X4 pick up.  Paved road for the first 20 minutes or so, then on to a clay/gravel road about 1 Canadian lane wide.  We drove on this for about 15 minutes more and then turned on to what can only be described as a cow path.  We have no idea how our driver determined the best route but he did an amazing job.  We were now in the real Uganda. Much more than 50% of the population lives in locations just like this.  We had left real roads behind and along with them we left power lines behind as well.  You never leave telephones behind here though since it is almost all cell phones.  I suppose we were about a KM down the cow path and the last possible place the truck could reach.

Willy and his wife Mary

Willy's house

Our room

This is where Willy lives along with his wonderful wife and four daughters.  There compound consists of a central brick house and assorted out building.  If the pictures load you will see the reality of a brick house and what I mean by out buildings.  One of these out buildings was our room.  Mud walls and floors, thatch roof.  We had a vinyl on the floor and a real bed, even though it was a single bed for the two of us.  An amazing experience.  Honestly I am having a difficult time putting this into words.  I do not want to give a false impression of this experience nor do I want to make light of it.  Conditions are very primitive by our standards but Willy and his family keep things cleaner than many less primitive settings.  

When talking about primitive I suppose I do have to mention pit latrines.  Some of you immediately know what that means.  If you are thinking out house though, forget it.  A pit latrines is a rather low mud hut building with thatch roof and a hole in the floor.  Yup, that’s it, just a hole.  Can you say squat?  Enough said.

We arrived at Willy’s home late Saturday afternoon.  Willy had observed what we like to eat and what we didn’t like.  He also asked many questions so we knew we would be treated well.  Mary, his wife, did such an amazing job at making us feel honoured.  And believe me it is the custom of everyone in their area to honour guests!  It was overwhelming at many times.  Women kneel when they greet you and serve you.  You are given water for hand washing before and after meals.  As guest you usually eat before your hosts and gifts are often given.  More on gifts and chickens later.

After a brief rest we took a walk with Willy and a friend before dark.  We felt like we were with a major celebrity.  For once all the attention was not focused on us.  Willy is a much loved and respected Pastor.  As we walked along everyone, and I mean everyone waved and shouted greetings.  We waved back many times but it felt like it was all about Willy and we were glad.

We were a little more than a KM from Willy’s home as the sky grew dark.  At first our hosts thought it would pass without rain but they were wrong.  When it became clear rain was going to fall Willy managed to contact a friend with a motorcycle.  He quickly came to our rescue.  As guests we could not be allowed to get wet so we got our first boddabodda ride. (that’s the word for a motorcycle taxi).  We got to Willy’s home before the rain but Willy got quite wet riding a bike back which he had borrowed.

We slept wonderfully well in our little hut!

Sunday dawned bright but the ground was quite wet.  

The Church inside 

The Church, outside.  Note veranda

The plan was for an Assembly.  That means the ten branch congregations that are part of the one Assembly would be coming together at the central church.  The gathering point was right in Willy’s yard, or was his home in the church yard, hard to tell.

The plan was also to meet outdoors but there were not enough tarps for shelter from the sun and as I said the ground was rather wet so the decision was made to try to get everyone into the church building.  The church is also a mud building with a thatch roof.  Since they are working on building a brick church repairs have not been done so the building was getting a little rough.  If I had to guess how many it seats comfortably I would say 200.  The total number of members in the Assembly is 1,120.  The expected attendance was 400-500.  I think a little over 500 came.  We probably got 400 of them in the building and the rest on the “veranda” around the outside of the building.  Again I hope the pictures load.

The Spirit was most definitely present!  Worship was beautiful and sharing the word of God with these wonderful people was a true blessing.  Once again I preached in English.  Willy was my translator but he did far more than just translate my words, he transformed them to fit with his people.  There were two preachers and the result was a true blessing.  Praise God!

When the offering was taken we experienced something very unique.  Some of these dear people have no cash what so ever.  Their offering comes in the form of produce and other items right down to a single egg.  Talk about the widows penny!  After these gifts are presented they are converted to cash by means of a quick auction.  Yup, right there and then in the service!  What a unique experience!  Susan, was asked to close the service in prayer.  What a scary but honouring moment.

Following the service we were overwhelmed by greetings from old and young.  Lots and lots and lots of young!  Susan then got to speak to a group of women, mostly the wives of the pastors.  Just a simple, from the heart talk about sharing in ministry.  Then more greetings and more gifts.  

We got to retreat to our hut for a while as Willy got pulled into various ministry situations.  This gave the rest of the people a chance to disperse and Mary a chance to make lunch.  We saw a chicken arrive on a bike (no she wasn’t riding it, but was tied to the handle bars) and we had chicken for lunch.  Very fresh!

The afternoon went by quickly and we enjoyed another walk.  This time the rain held off until after dark.  On our walk one more gift.  A lady came out to us, knelt before Susan and extended her hands to present three eggs to her.  A very traditional gift, next only to chickens.  If they were not told that we could not take chickens back to Canada we would have had a flock before leaving.  In the end we only had to take one back with us.  It became the base for the chicken stew we made on Tuesday.

Monday morning our lift back to Lira was suppose to arrive early so we could catch a bus back to Mbale.  That didn’t happen.  It was 11 by the time our ride arrived so we had to use the taxi’s again and didn’t get back to Mbale until 6:30 pm very, very tiered.

The only benefit to the late pick up was being able to briefly see a couple of the monkeys that have made a home in the trees near Willy’s home.  What a thrill!  We also got to see a crested crane on the trip to Apac!  

Are you tiered of reading yet?   

After telling you about our weekend it seems like a very significant step down to tell you about last week.

The best way to describe the week is relaxing because that is what we mostly did.  The fact that the power was out all day every day prevented us from doing to much as far as work was concerned.  Staff was in the same predicament.  I completed my time teaching on Monday.  Did I tell you how amazing that experience was!  

Susan couldn’t do much as far as the library was concerned since the lack of power meant no printing of labels.  So our days were filled with relaxing, conversations and walks.  All very good.  

We are convinced that everything we have experienced has been exactly what God wanted for us during this time.  It may not have always matched our expectations or desires but every detail fit with God’s plan.  Of that we are certain and for that we can only praise him!  

We once again want to thank all of you for your love, prayers and support.  Just a reminder about support.  Its not to late if you want to make a contribution!  Also a reminder that our time in Holland and our two days here are at our expense and not covered by your donations.  We are very thankful that we can combine a bit of vacation time with the service portions of this trip.

Well, more than enough for now.  Thanks for reading!

Another Trek and a Day of Firsts

Saturday, September 4

The day dawned bright and sunny.  A rare, clear blue sky.  It looked like it was going to get hot, and it did.  We wanted to go for a long walk again so we started out early.  We were on the road around nine.  Once again we headed toward the mountain but this time by a different route.  We walked for two hours and got higher than we did last week but still a long way from the top.  If we are going to reach the top we will have to use some other means of transportation besides our feet.  They just can’t do it!  We will see if time and energies permit.  

Sunday, September 5

The best way to describe our Sunday is to call it a day of firsts.

It began with our first ride in what is called a taxi here.  What it is seven passenger van with extra seat crammed into it so that it is licensed to carry 14 passengers and the driver.  That wouldn’t be all that bad but then they proceed to keep on putting more people in until they say its full.  On our way out in the morning I was blessed to have the front seat to myself most of the way and on the way home Susan and I shared that seat the whole distance.  We were also blessed that on Sundays there are less chickens being transported so we did not have to share with any animals.  All in all it wasn’t as bad as we had imagined.

The second first was worshiping in a Pentecostal Assemblies of Uganda Church.  Last Sunday we had gone Presbyterian.  This was the home church of one of my students.  Much of what was said and sung we didn’t understand even when it was in English.  We have determined that Ugandans have very good hearing because many people speak very softly.  The firsts didn’t end by worshipping with them.  I also preached there.  I began with an object lesson for which there were no words in their language.  That reminds me of another first that I better tell you about.  I had to work with a translator.  Most of the people know English but services are still always done in English and one of the local languages.  A young lady was translating for me at that point.  When I said “object lesson”  she just looked at me with a very blank look indicating she didn’t have a clue what to do with that one.  Anyway, the lesson was using pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, another puzzled look.  They don’t know what those are either.  I told them that each piece is part of a bigger picture.  We each, as part of the body of Christ, are like those puzzle pieces.  We all need one another to make the picture complete.  Several weeks ago I did this in Tillsonburg distributing some of the pieces of the same puzzle there.  We are all part of the same picture that Jesus is putting together.  I keep the edge pieces separate to illustrate that Jesus will one day complete the picture. I had Susan and W help by distributing pieces to everyone there.  That brings a first for Susan.  It was the first time that a small Ugandan boy ran away from her screaming in terror.  He didn’t know a kind muzungo to see one.  

That brings us to the sermon itself.  Like I said, I was working with a translator.  That means short sentences.  One bonus the sermon only needs to be half as long because it takes twice as long to deliver.  It is a real art working with a translator.  The young lady did a marvelous job, but I wore her out.  She got lost on how to best translate some of the things I said so my student, Bishop M. took over (Did I tell you I was teaching a Bishop? How cool is that!)

After service we went to the Bishop’s home for lunch.  Two more firsts.  One, lunch at the home of a Bishop.  Two, lunch in the home of any Ugandan.  It was very nice.  It made Susan feel very strange though because the Bishop’s wife did not join us so she got to eat with five Pastors, an Elder and a Bishop.  All males.  But she got introduced in church as a Pastor anyway.  Wait till next week, they want her to preach. LOL, Well speak to the women anyway.

As a thank you gift to the Bishop and his family for hosting us we presented them with very Canadian frisbees (bright red, white maple leaf and Canada written on them)  The children immediately began to have a great deal of fun with them.

Shortly after lunch we traveled back to Mbale.  We had been in Siranko, about 40 minutes out (twenty minutes on Canadian roads and Canadian speeds, maybe less).

We had a chance for a quick nap and then we walked to a muzungo (white) fellowship group for a very pleasant evening.

September 1 God Answers Prayers

I want to take some time today to tell you of two wonderful men who are part of my very small class.  In fact, at this point in time, they are my class, but they are more than enough to tell us that this is where God wanted us to be right now.  It has been far more than a meeting of minds.  We have shared our hearts with them and they with us, both within the class and in many conversations outside of the class.  They are truly men of God.  Both M. and W. are Pastors within the PAGU.  One serves closer to where we are the other in an area to the north which takes about 4 hrs to reach.  It is our hope and intent to spend one Sunday with each of them and the people they serve.  

I believe both of them are men of real influence.  Perhaps not the type we first think about, the movers and shakers within the power structure of the church.  These are the type of men than truly aim to serve God by reaching the hearts of people.  They do not pedal the gospel for personal gain or glory.  They truly desire to speak and live the word in such a way that people are set free to love and serve our Lord Jesus.  These are the type of people I prayed I would teach and God has answered that prayer in a way greater than I could image.  Perhaps not in quantity but in quality.  I even thank God for the fact that due to a conflict of schedule my other student was no longer able to be a part of the class.  His absence has made the interaction of the three of us even more rich.

Before we came on this trip we selected the text from Romans 1:11-12 that you find at the top of this blog.  These words have been fulfilled in many ways but especially by sharing with these two men.  The stories they share within our class and outside of the class have so filled our lives with a deeper and richer understanding of our God and his word.  They read the word and experience God from a very, very different perspective than we do.  This has added so much to our understanding as our reading and understanding of God and his word has added to theirs.  Together we have been mutually encouraged by one another’s faith.  What a blessing.

There are others who have touched our lives deeply and we thank God for each one of them and for their willingness to share their journey with us and allowing us to share our journey with them.  I would like to share so much with you about each of them but somehow I believe that would be a violation of the trust they have placed in us as they have shared with us.  If you would like to know these wonderful people than you too must seek them out.

I will leave you with one request that comes from M. and W.  Please pray for the people of Uganda and for this nation that they will see the hand of God working in them and through them to bring healing and revival.  Don’t worry, every time they have asked for a specific prayer for Uganda, I have asked them to pray the same prayer for our nations for their need is our need.

August 30

August 30

I suppose I should be diligent and get back to writing and posting more to this blog. I haven’t been as good at it as I promised myself and some of you I would be. Please accept my apologies.

We had a wonderful weekend. I believe Friday was where I left off?

Saturday we chose a very simple way of exploring more of the area, our feet. We had the option of hiring a car and driver for the day and going to some more touristy areas but we decided we aren’t here as tourists. Even though we do want to see some of the country we don’t think it is proper for us to spend money like tourists.

Mbale is situated at the base of Mount Eglon, I believe it is the largest nonactive volcano in Africa. It is truly beautiful to look at at many different times. It can be shrouded in mist or, like today, the sun can be striking it in stunning ways. On Saturday we decide we would simply trek as far as we could up the mountain. We began walking from the campus at about 10 am. and simply headed toward the mountain. The first portion only goes up hill slightly and very gradual so you don’t even notice it. We stopped at the information building for the national park which covers the entire top of the mountain. There we picked up a map and asked about trails. We learned about one that would take us to the top, if we wanted to go that far and could make it that far.

We continued on. Soon we began to really climb. Although we remained on a road the entire time and there were “houses” all along the way, the climb was significant but the views we enjoyed were worth it. Sorry no pictures at this time due to slow internet.

Trust me it was beautiful. At one point we stopped to drink some water we were carrying with us and have a granola bar. Also trust me anything like a granola bar attracts attention. “Chocolate!” Three ladies who were also heading up joined us. They were pleasant company as we walked and they stayed with us for some time. They also wanted us to take their picture with Susan, which I did. They were campaigning for one on the many political parties in Uganda. The one to which the current president belongs. Primaries for that party were held today. They were going to have a rally in that area. They stopped at a community type meeting spot under some big trees and we continued on. We tried one way but it started to just go along the side of the mountain so we turned back and went the other way. We climbed for some time and thought we were about to reach the plateau but we turned a corner and all we saw was more road going up. We had gone as far as our bodies were physically prepared to go. We had been walking for two hours and had probably gone about 12 K. On our way back down our three ladies chatted with us again and asked if we had sodas or bottled water, or chocolate we would share with them. We only had enough for ourselves and we make it a point not to respond to these types of requests. It is very easy for musongos to give the impression that they are there to share wealth. Musongo is the swahili term for a white person. It is said with respect but we heard it a great deal all the way up and down the mountain. It is mostly said by children. In fact some of them even sang it. The phrase is “Musongo, how are you?” Repeat that several times and see if you can’t begin to sing it as well.

Time for a new paragraph since the subject is now coming down the mountain. Needless to say we returned to campus faster than we traveled up although once we reached the flatter ground of the town it was hard to convince our legs that they still had work to do to bring us home.

We took about 1.5 hours to return. I wish I could share some of the pictures. We certainly will when we return home.

When we got back to campus we could enjoy the final preparations which were being done for a wedding reception that took place on the front “lawn/field” of the campus.

It was interesting to listen to the music and later listen and watch the festivities. Many things were similar to our own wedding receptions but other things were quite different.

For those of you who are involved in catering for weddings you will love this. Preparations for the meal began in earnest the day before since there were 400 guests to be fed. Huge quantities of plantain (a green banana) had to be peeled. They worked till 1 am and then began again early Saturday morning. The meal was to be served at 4 pm. At 4 pm everything was ready but only a hand full of guests were in sight. Guest arrived mostly after 4 pm and the bridal party got there around 5:30. Dinner finally happened around 7. Amazingly the food was still warm and since we got to eat some too, quite good. We were fortunate, we got a fork and napkin with ours. Not so for the wedding guests. Food was eaten in the traditional way, with your fingers from a plate on your lap. No tables required. They did have chairs. More traditionally would have been on the ground.

One more interesting thing: By 8 pm the guests were all on there way home and by 11 mostly everything, including tents and chairs, was all packed up.

That brings us to Sunday.

We lazed around for the first part of the morning because we were told the service we wanted to attend started at 11 so we planned accordingly. We were going to the Presbyterian church since we were not quite ready for a full blown Pentecostal service quite yet. We will get to do that next weekend and the weekend after that since my students have asked me to preach in their churches. I hope they can handle it.

Anyway, when we walked next door to the Presbyterian Church there were still plenty of people outside so we thought we were on time but the service was already going on.

We learned later that Adult Sunday school and worship just flow into one another and the whole thing began at 9:30. The service was good. Some hymns were even very familiar to us although I have never sung “Christ Shall Have Dominion” quite that fast! or “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow” quite as slowly as they did.

The preaching was good. Powerful even. The Pastor preaches in English but it is translated at almost exactly the same time into one of the many local languages. I’m not sure which one it was. I realized it is an art to Preach with translation going on like that. I pray I will be able to accomplish it without a) constantly losing my train of thought or b) boring people into a sound sleep. You may begin praying for me now and for the people next Sunday.

Our afternoon was restful. We planned to meet Mary (the young lady in charge of keeping us well fed and looked after) and Craig, (the person from World Missions in charge of the Farming in Faith program) and together go to a fellowship group that consists mainly of whites living or working in Mbale. It started at 5 so we were to meet at 4 in order to walk over. We got there at 6:30. This has not been typical. With all the talk of African time things have generally been on time or very close to it. We had a wonderful, although short, time of fellowship and met people from many different places.

Our hosts were a Christian couple who came from Palestine via Jordan some 26 years ago. They came here with nothing and gradually built a home and a life for themselves. Please pray for Christians who live in the middle east! Life for them is not easy and they are often forgotten including by other Christians.

Today was back to teaching. The only main difference was that the power went out during the night after our second major, and I do mean major, rain storm in less than a week. This is the wet season but these storms are big even from the perspective of the people who live here. They talk about climate change here as well. Other than these storms, both of which happened at night, the weather has been very pleasant. I would never say it was very hot nor have we had any need to close windows or put on additional clothing.

Our day without power did not affect my teaching any and it only made Susan’s day slightly less busy than her days have been so far. By 8 pm our power returned and we could once again feel connected.

Now if only we are connected enough so I can post this.

George.

August 27th

August 27

We are so sorry that there are a number of days missing from our blog. We were told in preparation that we would need to be flexible so we have been learning in all things to be flexible. We may also say that we have learned a little more to depend upon the Lord and know that He is dependable. Let me explain just a bit.

First: Somewhere in my mind I had the idea that internet access would be relatively easy. Well, it is, but only after you learn how to go about it. It seems the college where we are working has a grand total of one computer that has access to the internet. There is no such thing as a wireless network on the campus. Silly me. What made me think students here would even come close to having computers and a need for wireless access to the internet. What we learned is all you have to do is ask the right question at the right time. The right time to ask questions is often when Kennedy is around. Kennedy is a wonderfully helpful man who always has a solution. I think his solutions also include a way he can make a few shillings (the Ugandan currency) but that is okay as well. It is a survival skill in this country. One worth having. Kennedy has graciously provided us with the USB stick that connects us to a cellphone server and by that to the internet so we are now as connected as we can possibly be. (we did pay for the service for a month since Kennedy wasn’t able to but its really not a big price to pay and we are glad to aid him in this small way. Praise God for internet service. The things we have learned we would rather not do without!

Now for more stories of flexibility. Where to continue? Oh, yes.

Second: We were prepared for the fact that here we get 12 hours of light and twelve of dark so we didn’t have to adjust to dark at between 6:30 and 7. We were also mostly prepared for the type of accommodations we would have so our room, which actually is quite reasonable, was not a shock. We have adjusted to cold showers with a hand held shower. (It does help that my hair is now very short) I have also resisted some of my strong urges to scrub things, but not all. I am also glad that I grew up in a home where it was perfectly okay to use certain articles of clothing that have served their purpose and you are willing to part with as cleaning cloths. (Read into that as you must and you will probably be right.) Insert by Susan: I have decided to close my eyes to the dirt. It is such a large task with so little equipment. The red soil just walks in with us all the time and is everywhere. We do not even have a broom in our room so much for cleaning.

Third: And this brings us to Monday. I adjusted, because I had no other choice, to the fact that my expectations about the class I was going to teach were somewhat wrong.

I assumed 20 to 30 students, or even 10 or 15. I have 3. But I have come to love and respect these three wonderful men of God who have such a deep desire to learn. They have taught me so much already.

I assumed I was to start teaching on Wednesday and would be teaching until September 15. When talking with Patrick, the Principal, on Monday I saw my three students sitting in class waiting for me. I was graciously excused from beginning immediately. I officially started teaching on Tuesday but I did get to meet all three men on Monday evening and have a wonderful time of interaction with them. This has also become a regular evening practice and other times as well. Long, very deep and stimulating conversations can occur when you simply allow for the time. Our evening meal starts around 7. Tonight we returned to our room after 9 because of the blessing of conversation.

Back to teaching. I started teaching on Tuesday. On Thursday I noticed a schedule on the bulletin board that listed my class dates as beginning the week before we arrived. So I wasn’t just a day late, I was a week late. But not according to my schedule. I also noticed the end date for my class was set as September 6 so I went to ask Patrick and discovered that I was in deed expected to complete my teaching time by that date. Shift into high gear!

I think I was also under the assumption that I would be teaching for 3 hrs each morning and another 3 hrs in the afternoon. That isn’t the case and I am glad for that. This week we met from 9 am until 10:30 and then had tea break for about 45 min. We then resumed class until 1 or a little after. Sometimes we are having such a wonderful discussion it is hard to stop.

I have done a lot of talking but that’s okay. You all know how much I love to talk anyway.

I had also assumed that it might not always be easy for my students and I to understand each other. I was right although they seldom have a problem understanding the things I say at times I have a problem understanding them. Let me share two things about that. First, they have a wonderful way of speaking for one another when they sense I have not heard or understood something. When this happen one of the others, most often Moses who I never have a problem understanding, speaks up and says
“I think you have not understood what ..... is saying” This has been so very helpful and the other brothers graciously accept this as something good.

Second, there are times I just have to listen and hope that what I have misheard will become clear. That happened today as one of them was telling a story. I heard “rich doctor” and wondered about people going to see the “rich doctor” It didn’t seem to make sense until it dawned on me that they were saying “witch doctor” and then the story made perfect sense.

The English spoke here is actually much better than I had assumed but accents can sometimes cause us to pause to consider what has been said. It’s actually fun and we have also learned that people here love to laugh.

I think I am now up to number four on the list of learning to be flexible, if I am mistaken please be flexible, laugh about my mistake and move on.

Maybe I should mention Susan’s work here. She was prepared to be truly flexible on this since we had no idea what they would find for her to do. The one option that had been presented was helping to reorganize the library, and this is what she is doing. This work involves the Librarian finding catalogue information for each book on an internet based program. This is a slow process made slower by the computer, the internet speed, the time that the internet is down and perhaps the Librarian. When she finds the information on 10 books she can print a sheet of labels. She can do this when the printer has ink, which it didn’t have at the beginning of the week and that would have remained the case had it not been for our willingness to provide the funds to buy a new cartridge for the printer. Oh, and we think this is the only printer on campus so our donation made a few others happy as well. We don’t plan on asking to photocopy anything because we assume it has no toner, or something worse. Occasionally we are told about certain things and do get the feeling that it may be a way of asking if we might be willing to help. As an aside, we are very thankful we read a book entitled “When Helping Hurts” before coming. It has been a blessing to realize that the answer to every problem is not throwing money at it. Our brothers and sisters here are not always truly blessed by depending on others and we are not a blessing when we promote dependancy. Now back to Susan’s work. It moves slowly but she is enjoying what she can do and the people with whom she is able to interact as well. We both feel it to be a blessing that we can share this time together.

This is not the kind of experience you can have and then go home and tell your spouse all about it. We hope you are getting a sense of what we are experiencing but we know that there is simply no way to convey everything nor is it wise to convey many things until you have turned them over in your mind. We are glad we can do that together.

One more item on being flexible is knowing when to quit and move on to something else. I believe I have come to that time for now. This post is already quite long and there is far more to write but it can wait till another time.

Tomorrow we plan on an extended walk/hike. I will tell you about our walks either before or after that one.

For both of us: George

August 22 Sorry for the delay

Sunday evening, I think?
It seems like the days and nights have some how blended together to the point that it is now hard to tell what day it is. I can tell that it is night, well evening, because it is dark out. If I look at my computer clock it still shows the time back home in Ontario. It’s 1:22 pm there. Sunday afternoon. We wanted to send an email just to say hi to the kids but discovered we don’t have as easy access to internet as we had hoped. I think we are discovering many things rather quickly. But let me back up a bit.
We had a restful night of sleep in Amsterdam before heading out to the airport. There was some stress involved there but that is to be expected between two people moving into a very different chapter. Our flight to Nairobi was fine although I think it felt much longer that the flight across the Atlantic earlier in the week. Was that still less than a week ago? Nairobi airport was a surprise even though I had received some hints as to its antiquated state. Still it was functional and we survived even though our flight was delayed by about 45 minutes and the whole process was somewhat confusing.
We left Nairobi somewhere around 10:50 pm for a short flight to Entebbe. Entebbe is the location of the airport in Uganda. We were met at the airport by a nice man whose name I don’t remember but it was evident he didn’t like meeting late flights. The drive to Kampala was an eye opener. Well, opening the door on what I thought was the passenger side of the car was the eye opener. Can you say right hand drive? When it is late at night and you are tired and lights are coming at you down the road but they seem to be on the wrong side as far as you are concerned, it can be a little unnerving.
Anyway, we were deposited at a very nice guest house after waking the armed guard (another eye opener) and the front desk staff.
To say the least we crashed.
This morning we woke around 9. Had a nice breakfast although the taste and texture of what were described as sausages prevented us from finishing them.
About 11 am Patrick, the Principal of the Theological College met us along with a hired driver. The trip to Mbale was to take about 4-5 hours. Always leave room for traffic and what ever else might happen. Our might happen was one flat tire and the discovery of a flat spare but in a reasonable location. We got to smile and say hello, good-bye, yes and no to what seemed like 20 or more children, way more didn’t come near us. The exhausted their English on us very quickly. We were very thankful for a big shade tree and some convenient bushes while we waited.
We also engaged in some road side dinning, well sort of. We braved trying the fried bananas. We have some left, enough said. The bottled water is good! We wondered what the quality of the chicken will be that Patrick bought for his wife and placed in a plastic bag on the warm floor of the warm car from 1 pm till perhaps 7:30 by the time he got home.
What else shall I tell you. The sights, the sounds, the smells were a little overwhelming.
Smells, not nearly as bad as I thought they might be but diesel fumes are definitely not on my list of favorites. Sights, very diverse. Still processing those. I brought the camera into the car thinking of taking pictures while we drove and then deciding that Africa is not intended to be one big photo opportunity. I will drink in the people and the scenery with my eyes and then chose how to portray life here. Sounds, car horns have a very useful function here. Other than that it is quieter than I had expected.
That brings us to Mbale. We arrived around 5 so our trip was about 6 hrs. Not bad.
We then went for dinner which was also not bad. Finally Patrick brought us to the College just after 7. It was already very dark so we don’t have our real first impression on the campus.
Our room is on the third floor of the dorm building. we do have our own little bathroom for which we give thanks. Other than that we will learn to live with little. Can honestly say that when you arrive after a very long and somewhat tireing journey you do get hit with a “what have we gotten ourselves into” feeling.
There are more surprises ahead, of that I am sure.
I know of a few more but I will let you absorb all of this first.
Thank you for your love, prayers and support.

Safe Arrival but

We arrived safely in Mbale last night but discovered quickly that we didn't have as easy access to the internet as we had first hoped.

At this time blog posts will be a little more difficult to do so please bare with the lack of major posts. We hope to get something figured out.

Thanks

How to Visit The Netherlands in Four Days

Well, here it is Friday, and our time in The Netherlands is coming to an end. The country greeted us on Tuesday morning with rain and cool weather. I suppose that was a side of The Netherlands we were suppose to see.

Our flight arrived 40 min. early thanks to a strong tail wind. This gave us lots of time so we went over to our hotel to check if maybe we could get our room early. We could. We had to pay extra but it was worth it. We took a nice nap and then caught the train into the central station of Amsterdam. We had no real plan of what we wanted to see and where we wanted to go so we simply wandered around in the rain. Amsterdam is to say the least an interesting city. It is not truly "Holland". It is an international city. We quickly learned what people meant when they said there was a difference between coffee shops and cafes. You go to a cafe for coffee, you go to a coffee shop for 420. We inhaled deeply on the street but didn't go in. We also wanted to explore some of the old churches so we searched out the Oude Kerk. In doing so you end up in the window shopping district. Its a sad world when those of the female gender are displayed in that way. Definately nothing attractive or tempting about it.

What more can I say about Amsterdam. I don't think the weather helped or the fact that we were quite tiered.

We got a good night of rest and then picked up our rental car on Wednesday morning. North, over the dijk and into Friesland to Frienakar (please excuse all spelling errors in this post). We found Susan's aunt's place with a little bit of fun since I forgot where I put the hard copy of her address. I knew I had it in the computer on Google Maps but without internet access you can't get to it. Bummer. Somehow I recognized the street name as we searched on the GPS.

Anyway, after finding them we had a very nice day. A number of cousins stopped by and there was enough English to keep us happy.

Thursday was an adventure. We planned to drive to Uithizermeiden and then to Niejverdal. We decided no freeways. The GPS was great. Just tell her what you want and away you go.

I'll have to add the pictures to show you what we experienced when she told us to turn right, the road went up on to the inner dijk. We had to cross a cattle gate and entered the world of sheep. We both thought we were in the land of All Creatures Great And Small. I had no idea there are so many sheep in Friesland or anywhere else. The definately made us drive slow and enjoy ourselves.

We got to Uithizermeiden and enjoyed a little strole around. Not really sure what we were looking for so I suppose we found it. It was more about the drive and the scenery than the destinations. All of it was lovely.

We drove on to Niejverdaal. If you don't know The Netherlands you won't realize that we started off in Friesland then entered Groenigen. After that Drente and Overijsel. Four provinces before 5 pm. And we traveled on deciding to get closser to Pijnacker. So that puts us through a couple more provinces. All in one day.

Today was the best. Beautiful weather and a wonderful time with a wonderful lady. Jopee Vander Koij is gifted with the ability to make you feel very welcome. We enjoyed our time visiting with her and seeing some sights that were part of Mom Koopman's growing up.

We spent much longer with her than I thought we would but it was all good.

Fianally we went to Delft. Delft is everything you expect Holland to be and a whole lot more.

It was so beautiful in every way. We saw two of the churches, enjoyed some of the shops and all of the scenery and had a great dinner. And then back to Schipol to prepare for our flight in the morning. Staying at Citizen M again and enjoying a comfy bed. Much more to follow.

Commissioning

On Sunday August 15, 2010 we were commissioned for our work in Uganda and Kenya as part of the morning service at Tillsonburg Christian Reformed Church where I (George) serve as Pastor. It didn't seem right for me to do the commissioning of ourselves so the Elders and Deacons did it. We thank God for the love and support that we are receiving from our congregation and others.

Some Information about Mbale

Mbale District

Mbale lies approximately 237 kilometers (147 mi), by road, northeast of Kampala, on an all weather tarmac highway. The coordinates of the city are: 01 04 50N, 34 10 30E. Mbale is well connected with the rest of Uganda and Kenya through their tarmac road networks and along the main trading route to South Sudan.

Mbale is one of the biggest towns in Eastern Uganda with about 100,000 population, and therefore a regional trading hub, serving the hinterlands of Teso region and Karamoja. It is cuddled onto the foothills of the biggest extinct volcanoe (70 x 50 km)on the earth's surface, the Mount Elgon (Wagagai, 4321m), locally called Masaba. Nights are generally cool and days can become quite hot, especially during the dry season.

The slopes of Mount Elgon offer scenic panorama views reaching hundreds of kilometers into the African plains of Uganda and Kenya. Quite many waterfalls are skirting these slopes, some of them plunging down almost 100m! Here the best Ugandan Coffee is grown, processed and exported mainly to Japan and Switzerland, which already indicates its high quality. The primary economic activity in the district is agriculture. Some of the main crops are coffee, beans, Matooke, maize, onions, potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes

Mbale town is a small city but with a bustling population. The town centre is well laid out and has a slightly oriental touch, dominated by Indian and colonial architecture. Of the 1,200,000 people in the district, 90% are considered rural and illiteracy rates are as high as 40%. Most schools are affected with poor staffing, inadequate physical facilities, and underdeveloped curriculum.

The local Hotel industry offers some of its best in Uganda, the top end reaching three to four stars according to international standards. It has many restaurants, internet cafes, and tourist opportunities. The local food delicacy is smoked bamboo shoots (Malewa) from the slopes of Mount Elgon, best served with posho (maize flour).Tourism is booming due to high security, attractive offers as well as tranquility. Sports and leisure offers include two swimming pools, a clay tennis court, a lovely mini golf course, sauna and steam bath, gymns, mountaineering, mountain biking, paragliding, forest walks etc. The 18 hole golf course is not maintained.

This is a test

Greetings faithful readers.

I thought it wise that I practice uploading a picture since I know how much blog readers also look forward to the pictures.

We are quickly approaching departure date. As I write this we are less than a week away.

I think the to do list is under control. There will always be those last minute things but as things come up we are able to deal with them.

So far no real sleepless nights.

God is good. He removes our anxiety when we give it over to him.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Count Down To Departure

July is quickly coming to a close and August is upon us. It is so hard to grasp how soon we will be leaving on this adventure. So much has been done but there seems to be a lot to do yet as well. Not sure how I'll get it all done. Most of it has nothing to do with the trip itself. Both Susan and I are finding it very important to leave things as organized as we can so that others who will be doing some of our work while we are away will have an easier time of things. Some things, however just can't be done in advance and we can't fully prepare for live as it happens. We leave those things, as we should, in God's hands. We also want to help Calvin and David feel some what ready for their return to Redeemer while we are away. Back to school shopping and things David needs since this will be his first year living off campus. Oh well, what we don't get done they can do on their own or with the help of their wonderful girls Esther and Lauren.

Well that gives you a few things to pray about. Here are a few more.

We have all of our shots and medications. No real bad side affects from the shots. Give thanks for that but pray that we don't have any negative affects when we start the malaria medication.

We are so thankful for the donations that have come in. Although I don't have a number to share with you right now I can assure you there is still room. Give thanks for what has been received and pray that the balance will come in.

I hope that helps each of you feel a little more connected with what we are up to.

Thanks again for reading, supporting, praying and loving us.

Well, we had a wonderful weekend. Seeing Melanie was great. I had forgotten how long a drive it is from this part of the province to Ottawa. Canada is a very large country! But all told the driving was relatively good. No major tie ups and delays! When I read about travel in other parts of our world, and having experienced some of it, I am so thankful for our network of highways.

We also had the privilege of joining my former congregation in Willaimsburg for worship Sunday morning. It was good to just sit and listen for a change and not be responsible for any of it. It was wonderful to see the child of a young lady I remember as a child receiving the sign and seal of our God's awesome love in baptism. God is good.

We had a chance to reconnect with many friends but we did miss some. Sorry if you were away or we were just to surrounded by others.

To those of you who were there and received a prayer/fundraising letter we do hope you will partner with us. Small donations are just as important as big ones and every prayer partner is the begest blessing we can receive.

Getting Excited

My anticipation level is building. It's June 15 today. Tomorrow will mark two months remaining before our departure. Things are becoming a lot more "real" at this point. Some events that are coming up to help things along: this weekend Susan and I will travel to Ottawa to visit Melanie! We will also be joining the Williamburg CRC for worship on Sunday morning. To our friends there, we really look forward to seeing you also and (see Romans 1:11-12).
The following Sunday, June 27 I will be heading to Grand Rapids for my final level of Timothy Leadership Training (see the link). In route I will be leading the evening service in Wyoming, ON. I plan on using the passage from Romans 1 for the sermon, I can then use the same sermon the following Sunday, July 4 in Tillsonburg. For those of you in Tillsonburg, July 4 is the date for an offering in support of this project. Shortly after that (meaning I can't remember the exact date and I don't want to go look at the moment) we have an appointment booked at the travel medecine clinic in London. From what we have been lead to understand it shouldn't be more than a couple of shots for each of us and the script for malaria meds. Just another small part of what it takes to travel. That will bring us to the middle of July already and 1 month remaining.
Oh, I almost forgot, on Saturday, June 26th the Rowaan family is getting together at my sister's home! That will be another great chance to reconnect and share our plans.
We want to thank all of you for your prayer support and an additional thank you to those who have already made a financial contribution! God Bless

Finacial Update

We just received our first report regarding fundraising. If you read the information sheet posted earlier than you will know that we are responsible for raising all of the funds necessary to cover the costs involved for our time in Uganda and Kenya. I must confess that at first I thought, no porblem and I suppose a large part of me still knows God is faithful and he will provide all that we need and more but the other part of me looks at the numbers and gets just a little bit anxious. I suppose we all have some growing to do as God stretches our faith.
And now, let me share the numbers with you:
Total to be raised: 9,616
Recieved to date: 850
Still to be raised: 8766
Please pray that we will be able to raise the entire amount.
Please also pray that as we do we will not become anxious about this or any of the other details of the trip.
And, if you are able to contribute....well, you know what to do.
Thanks

Financial Support

Hi loyal followers (of the blog, not us).

Just wanted to let you know that World Missions now has us set up so that you can donate on line. I am putting the instructions here in the blog but the link is at the side.

Click on the country you're currently living in and after the page loads, click on "Available Programs" and select "Rowaan, George & Susan" under the "Missionaries - Africa" listing. Fill in the other boxes as needed and you should be good to go.

Map

I am sure that some of you have a very good idea of what the continent of Africa looks like but I have discovered that many of us have little knowledge when it comes to where various countries are on the content. Do you know where Uganda and Kenya are? Without names on a map of Africa, would you be able to point them out? Give yourself high marks if you can. Give yourself a pat on the back if you did some research to find out when you first started reading this blog.

Uganda, where we will be spending the majority of our time, is located on the eastern side of Africa and sits right on the equator. It has no coastline on the ocean but does share Lake Victoria with its neighbours. Hope that helps.

While in Uganda we will be serving at a seminary in Mbale (M-ball-e) Here is a map, if the link works:
View Larger Map

Fundraising 2

The next post after this is a copy and paste of the fundraising letter prepared for us by CRWM. Obviously something is lost in the translation. Email me and I will send you the pdf file if you like. Many of you will receive a hard copy of it also but this helps you get a head start on a little more of the information.

Thanks for reading.

George

Fundraising

I (we) would like to support

Rev. George and Susan Rowaan (WMLA 803754)

by becoming their prayer partner

with a special gift of $ _________

Gifts are received with the understanding that CRWM has complete

discretion and control over the use of all donated funds. Unless it is noted,

no goods or services were provided to the donor. Every effort will be

made to use your gift for the designated ministry. Gifts to ministries that

are oversubscribed, or cannot be completed, will be directed to those that

have a similar intent or ministry location.

CRWM USA

2850 Kalamazoo Ave SE

Grand Rapids, MI 49560

800-346-0075

crwm@crcna.org

CRWM Canada

3475 Mainway

P.O. Box 5070 STN LCD 1

Burlington ON L7R 3Y8

800-730-3490

crwm@crcna.ca

donate online at

www.crwm.org/donate

Name: _____________________________

Address: ___________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

Email: _____________________________

Please make checks payable to Christian Reformed World Missions and include WMLA 803754 on the memo line.

Rev. George and

Susan Rowaan

Volunteers to Uganda

Email

g.rowaan@sympatico.ca

Phone

(519) 688-2181

Address

31 Dogwood Drive

Tillsonburg, ON

N4G 5S5

“I long to see you so that I may impart to you

some spiritual gift to make you strong—

that is, that you and I may be mutually

encouraged by each other’s faith.”

Romans 1: 11-12

UGANDA

VISION

The church is much more than just a local congregation or a single denomination, it is a body

that spans the entire world and represents diverse languages, cultures and understandings.

As members of this one body we can learn from one another. We each have been gifted by

God in various ways and are called to use these gifts for the benefi t of the entire body. By

journeying from one area within the body to another there is a mutual benefi t of equipping

and encouraging one another. I feel God has called me to use the education and resources

He has provided me with for the benefi t of others within the body including those in

Uganda and Kenya. I believe He has also called me to learn from my brothers and sisters

there and everywhere.

MISSION

While in Uganda, George will be teaching a course on the fi rst fi ve books of the Bible at the

seminary of the Pentecostal Church of Uganda. This is an opportunity to share insights into

the beauty of God’s Word and to further equip others for the ministry God has called them

to. We anticipate learning more ourselves as we prepare for this assignment and as we

interact with students and others who read God’s Word from their own unique perspective.

In Kenya the focus will be Timothy Leadership Training (TLT), a program developed to help

equip those in leadership roles within the church who have received little or no formal

training for this task. Again this will involve interaction with brothers and sisters who

represent a distinct part of the body of Christ and will present another unique opportunity

to learn from one another and encourage one another.

Susan will be involved with TLT, administrative activities at the seminary especially with the

library and help organize Bible studies for children.

PARTNER IN MISSIONS

Ways you can partner with George and Susan include lifting them up in prayer, off ering

encouragement and providing fi nancial support. Please become a partner in missions with

CRWM and the Rowaans.

GOAL

$ 9,616 from churches and individuals