Home from Uganda

"Be Prepared...in season and out..."

We just recently arrived home from our Uganda ministry trip, and in the process of trying to stay awake and not give in to jet lag, decided to get an update out to all of you. More than once, we found ourselves quoting the above passage from Paul to his disciple, Timothy. When you're in a third world country, you never know what opportunities may come your way! From arrival to departure, what we "anticipated" would happen frequently changed. Flexibility....flexibility....flexibility....is a message much needed for missionaries (smile). Example: Peg showed up on Monday morning for a "meeting with the leaders in the women's ministry team." She thought it was supposed to be a meeting to discuss possible future speaking at a women's conference. When she arrived, the meeting had already started, and one woman was speaking. Peg was handed a schedule that showed "worship....speaker 1....speaker 2....Q & A....Closing Prayer." When the gal who was speaking finished, the pastor's wife, Mama Irene, introduced Peg as Speaker 2. So, yes, "be prepared in season and out, to speak the Word...and encourage." (no pictures to show-ha! ha!)

After 55 hours of travel (this was a record!!!) from Durango, CO to our hotel in the community of Gaba, Uganda, we were ready to get to our first church service, where Bay was set to preach. On the way to the church, we discovered two things: 1) the church he was about to speak in was not the church he was supposed to speak in, and 2) it was rush hour traffic (see the above picture) and we had to navigate our way carefully to Arise and Shine Community Church. Bay had been scheduled to speak at a young millennial church in Kampala, but instead spoke at a newly planted church in a highly concentrated Muslim community. This church surprised us. By reaching out to the children in the community, they are reaching the parents, and surprisingly (to us) were growing in numbers in spite of the religious tension between Christianity and Islam.

The Lord anointed Bay as he shared a very clear gospel message...and we were blessed by the response. See the pictures below of Bay speaking...and those who came forward at the end of the service.

Tuesday, we headed to Buloba, Uganda, where we began a pastor's and wives conference for over 500 from all over Uganda within the network of Community Churches. The conference was held at Africa Renewal University - the only place large enough to accommodate so many. Again, Bay and I spoke on marriage in the main session, led small groups seminars, and covered whatever other needs seemed to arise. It was a full week...and in the midst we were thrilled to make new friends, enjoy some longed-for-samosas and chapatis, and re-connect quickly with a former teammate from our Rift Valley Academy days.

Pictures below: Top picture is of Bay with one of the African pastors (Pastor Elisha - who lives up to his name!) who spoke just before we did to the large group of pastors and wives. This is definitely two ends of the height spectrum. Second picture: Peg sharing her perspective on marriage (what you can't see are all the pastors and wives who were sitting outside on the patio). Final picture: The last morning of the conference, Bay shared a message with the pastors on how to clearly present a gospel message, so people would clearly know what it means to give their lives to Christ. Of course...he gave an opportunity and an invitation to those in attendance, and somewhere between 40-50 of these men and women raised their hands to say they either hadn't made a profession of faith, or they needed to make sure they had!