Sunday, February 28, 2010

Hello from Kabale! Yesterday we left Kampala about 1pm because we had to update our three Ugandan cell phones (which as of now are still not working!), get money exchanged and buy Israel a wardrobe and toiletries for the week. We tried to find him clothes in Kampala with no luck and knew we had to leave to make Kabale before too late.
We stopped in Mbarara (about 2/3rds of the way between Kampala and Kabale. (total 8 hours drive). It was dusk and Sue and Israel dashed into a darkened alley way with tiny shops of clothing. We found one with men's clothing and Sue began tossing shirts and pants his way! It was completely pitch black and we really couldn't see anything. I used my Blackberry to light up the counter so the woman could write out a receipt for me!
Off we dashed and over some newly paved highway and some typical really huge potholed roads we made our way to Kabale. Christopher, our driver drove the van and Charles Tuhaise drove his car. After Mbarara town, it got dark and we still had 135 kilometers to drive to Kabale. Night visibility was nearly nil. Charles later said he was driving on auto-pilot, but thankfully, that was after we arrived at our hotel in Kabale.
We arrive in Kabale at 10:30pm. Another very, very long day (the third) of travelling. Our hotel in Kabale is very nice. We left this morning at 8am for the village. The new highway is awesome but it still took us about 45 minutes. Everyone was very excited to see us. Tito greeted us on the road and ran along with the van to the office. We attended All Saints Anglican church (right by the ACT office) this morning from 11am to 2pm. Before that, Charles suggested we drive up the highway above the marketplace toward Kisoro to see an "aerial" view of the marketplace. It's the first time we have had that view! We discussed ideas for land for ACT activities.
David was the main preacher in the service and as always, was outstanding. Charles translated his sermon as he went along. There was much dancing and singing and praising God.
Following the service, we had a huge lunch prepared for us Ugandan style. After lunch we started the ecumenical service under a large tent. We are estimating there were about 300-400 people there. It was momentus! Charles did a roll call of all the churches who were attending and there were 7 churches represented. David again preached and painted the vision of all Christians coming to gether to restore the church. It was truly inspiring. Father Bruno translated this time. This service ended 5:30pm and there was many photo ops and visiting. All in all, a very, very good day of fellowship with our precious partners.
We arrived back in Kabale by 7:30, had dinner and Charles and I are now sitting writing this blog. He has some greetings for you:
Hi everyone. We just had an awesome day in Muko at the inter-church fellowship. Apart from what Sue reported, what was remarkable for me was that we I asked God for a rainless afternoon in my prayer this morning. Rain would really have made the inter-church fellowship difficult. The tent was a 100-seater and we had nearly 400 people turn up. Guess what. God answered our prayer. Its rainy season here, but as we started the afternoon meeting, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds as to confirm God's presence at the meeting. The whole afternoon we had a beautiful sunny afternoon as rainfilled clouds threatened an invasion at a distance. But something (I think God's presence) just kept them away. It started raining as we drove back to our Hotel in Kabale. Talk about answered prayer! We saw this today.
We thank you for coming back to read on the progress. Overall things are moving as expected since we arrived in Kabale. We have a board meeting Monday morning and look forward to another successful day.

Thanks, Charles...We are signing off now. It's 11pm and we are both pooped!!! Take care, keep praying and tomorrow night we will try to get back sooner to town and maybe upload some photos. Be well. Goodnight. (Sue)

3 comments:

  1. Hello to the team and especially to Susan,

    Your description of the ecumenical gathering and service sounds as if it was beyond all expectations. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I am off to our ChristCare group now, I will communicate the news of the successful day to them.

    Praying for your guidance by God's spirit.

    John

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  2. I'm glad today was a beautiful day all around to worship! Dad, don't be sad...I had tears of joy that I was able to hear your voice! If you have to choose who to call tomorrow please call Mom. She really misses you and feels a little slighted that I have received an email and a phone call from you. Of course, you take the risk of her not having her phone on her :) I love you and I miss you very much. We prayed for all of you today at UMYF and the kids were very inspired by your continued mission work. Be safe and make safe choices! I am praying and thinking of all of you and hoping your meetings go smoothly tomorrow, the rain holds out, and hopefully you get the phones up and running! What did you eat for dinner...I'm eager to find out!?
    Your loving daughter,
    Ashley

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  3. I missed hearing from you all today! I hope that you had a wonderful day and that everything went smoothly! I am praying for you and thinking about you always!

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