Visiting Emmanuel in Anyara

Recently, we and Emily went to visit our friend Emmanuel and his church in Anyara, near Lira.  He is both a former student from Pentecostal Theological College, and currently one of my TLT students in Kaberamaido.  We wanted to do a post about it because we greatly enjoyed their enthusiastic worship, which you get just a taste of in the video below.  Ugandans do get hot too.  Most of these folks were dripping with sweat by the end of singing time.

I preached and Sara gave a short talk about why people don't have to be ashamed to be farmers.

After church we went to Emmanuel's home but it had rained recently and we ended up getting stuck on a muddy bridge.  The bridge was very soft, and part of it was made out of an old stump that was never removed.  We ended up having our tires sink into the soft soil and the middle of the car was propped up on the stump.  We had no idea how to remove it without ruining the vehicle underbelly.

Even with a few passersby and a car full of people to push the vehicle, we could not get it to budge in either direction.  We tried digging with hoes and putting down bricks, and even tried using the jack.  Still didn't budge.  We kept collecting more and more good Samaritans.  So finally they said, "let's try again now that we have more people!"  With 15-20 people pushing the car it finally moved!  Praise the Lord for his provision!

Emmanuel generously gave us two chickens (one was for Emily, but she left it at our house), a bunch of bananas, and a goat (or ram? - we haven't seen it - it is staying there in the village).  We are stunned by such generosity.  We graciously accepted the gifts even though we know it was a huge sacrifice for him and his family.  But as the Bible says, "it is more blessed to give than to receive" and we want to allow Emmanuel the joy of giving instead of refusing the gifts he offered.