By Anthony:
We really enjoyed the lockdowns in Uganda and made the most of them, although of course we had great compassion for our friends who struggled economically during that time. Once the lockdown ended at the end of September, life went into high gear with trainings, meetings, small groups, and visiting people. This post will share a few highlights about things that don't fit into other posts. I'll start with ministry events and at the end share other fun photos from life.
We had a preaching TLT training in Kachumbala with Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of God Church (not the same as PAG). Leaders from this denomination from around a few districts gathered for the training. I led it with Robert Odukatum and also my Resonate colleague Stephen Omoko. There were 25 participants and we had to translate everything into Ateso. It struck me that we were teaching perhaps bachelor-degree-level biblical interpretation and preaching concepts to many pastors who have never finished primary school. When you consider that, it really makes you respect their commitment and desire to learn!
I've shared so much about TLT in the past, so I'll just tell one story. A pastor shared about his church that at the end of the service, the floor is open for each of the church members to share about their recent dreams, and the pastor has to interpret them for the rest of the church! He was not thrilled about this practice, and the rest of the pastors encouraged him to have it stopped. My co-facilitator shared about another church that did this, in which a lady shared about her dream of the pastor walking down the road, walking backwards, while urinating, and that pastor had a hard time interpreting that one for the church! Speaking of dreams, the most common question I get when people personally call my phone after my radio teachings is that they tell me about their dreams and ask for help interpreting. I have to help them think about how some dreams are from God but some are just dreams, I talk the issues through with them, and I pray for them.
Here is the group:
I had an interesting opportunity to teach a group of youth from our own church how to play ping pong. It was a joy to share that God is okay with us having fun, and that exercise is a good thing! Walter (in blue), one of our guards/groundskeepers who I taught how to play ping pong (and who is now an expert player), came along with me to teach them.
Federico, a missionary friend from Argentina, also came along to help teach.
We also went to Kampala a couple months ago. We had a whole slew of different meetings with various Resonate partners and institutions. It's always a good time for high blood pressure, road rage, and near death experiences. I didn't take this photo, but it gives you some idea of the fun of driving in Kampala.
But one highlight of that Kampala trip was that we got to meet our new Resonate colleague, Barbara Kakemba. She is working with Resonate's Educational Care program. It was nice to meet her and her family and to see their amazing strawberry garden which is giving them good additional income.
When the churches opened up again, one of our church members took some pictures during the service. This was back when the chairs were still spaced and people were still wearing masks. Nowadays it's very unusual to see anyone wearing a mask in Soroti. Things went back to normal really fast. Yet somehow covid is not spreading rapidly here like in the US, and comparatively few people are hospitalized when they have it. We don't understand. Perhaps because Ugandans have less obesity or stronger immune systems? One new development is that a lot more Ugandans are willing to get vaccinated than before. Uganda is up to around 11% of the people having been vaccinated with at least one dose.
I meet every other week with a group of pastors in Soroti for a book study. We are going through Prodigal God by Tim Keller. It's creating very stimulating discussions and biblical study for us as we think about God's grace, community, and church discipline. We meet under a tarp at our home and I provide them breakfast.
If Sara is ever around when I have meetings with pastors or Bible studies like this, she will spend time showing her garden to them afterwards or sharing seeds with them and giving planting instructions. Here is a photo of pastors taking home huge bundles of chaya that she shared with them.
After a pastor's meeting last week, we discovered many children out in the street a few feet from our gate. It turns out they had a pet monkey! We and the pastors had to take a look and one pastor fed the monkey a banana. The kids must have caught it in the village and then took it to town. Here is a video:
Some of you
may have read about Resonate and PAG's church planting efforts in the Karamoja region. We are happy to share these beautiful photos of one of the new churches that is meeting outside of Daniel's home! These photos are already many weeks old, and the church has grown more since that time.
One of the most exciting things to happen in Soroti recently is that the new market opened, and it is enormous! Years ago, the market was a mass of little wooden shacks with tarps overhead, a maze of dark and dirty tunnels. Then we had a nice outdoor temporary market. And now the new market is the biggest building in town, almost like a modern shopping mall. This picture doesn't even show half of the structure. It's a beautiful place. Unfortunately we hear that people really struggled to get places in the new market and a lot of bribery took place. Some of our friends who had places in the old market failed to get places in the new market.
We made an effort to visit the homes and families of our guards recently. We have 4 guards, 2 who alternate working days, 2 who alternate at night. They each work only two weeks in a month. That way we have someone at home both during the day and during the night. In the last couple months, we visited Paul's family, John's family, and Raymond's family. Here is Paul with his wife Rachel and their new baby:
Here is John's family:
Here is Raymond's family:
I love that their home has a tree in the middle to provide shade and a gathering space for everyone in the big family.
Raymond's sons keep pigeons as a small project. So the other day I bought two of them and cooked them for myself and Sara. I simply fried them for 2 minutes on each side, and then roasted them in the oven for 10 minutes. They were very tasty! I recommend them. We will surely buy them again.
Speaking of eating interesting things, our Argentinian friends, Federico and Belén welcomed us to a goat roasting at their farm. It was very good, and a lot of food! I didn't eat for the rest of the day after that lunch.
It was their son's birthday so he got to blow out a candle on the goat, rather than on a cake:
Last, a few pictures from around the home. This is our veranda many mornings because of our ducks.
This is a frog who was living in one of our toilets for a long time before I finally scooped him up and let him go outside. At least with geckos, we do it the other way. If I catch them outside we bring them inside, which I did last week. Geckos are like our pets, a fun home decoration, and they eat mosquitos and bugs.
Trimming Caleb's hairy feet:
Beorn making dinosaur noises:
