PTC Reunion

When we were in Uganda in 2009-2010, we got to know the students we taught at the Pentecostal Theological College (PTC) and we visited almost twenty of them at their homes and churches.  One year was not enough time to visit everyone, though.  When we got to Uganda this year, we knew that with our work schedules, we would still not be able to visit all of these friends even in two years of being here.  So we decided that it would make more sense to invite all of them to our house at once instead.

Considering that we invited all fifty-or-so students for good food and fellowship, we were a bit overwhelmed by the planning of such an event (even knowing that not all would be able to attend).  But hey, we learned how to cook for thirty people easily at World Hunger Relief, right? 

So, we borrowed chairs, large numbers of plates, and some huge pots for cooking.  And we had help from Edward's wife on planning how much food to get as well as Paul's expertise from having been a chef at PTC.  Paul directed the cooking of the various dishes - beans, potatoes, pilau, and cabbage.

Anthony chopped lots and lots of onions, tomatoes, and meat.

I cooked a massive amount of pilau and baked three cakes.

When our friends arrived, everyone enjoyed catching up with each other and with us.  Many of them had not seen each other in years because they live all over the country.  We had a great time going around and having each person share what they have been doing since we left Uganda in 2010. 

We prayed and sang together and even played a game of Bible pictionary.  There were some pretty funny drawings and lots of laughter. 

It was great to catch up with our friends and to discover that many of them are living relatively close to Soroti.  We received many invitations back to their homes and villages, probably more than we have time for.  But as much as possible, we hope that we will get to continue to minister alongside these very special people.

Oh, by the way, we prepared way more than enough food!  We wanted to make sure no one went away hungry and planned for more than the twenty who RSVP'd in case more showed up.  However, it ended up only being only about twenty-five of us total.  In the end, we invited all the neighbors to come and take home most of the leftovers.  So we probably fed sixty to one hundred people with our meal, which made us think of Jesus' parable about the wedding feast where the host had to invite in all the people off the streets to come for the celebration!