On April 26 and 27 we will have the opportunity to hear terrific speakers, experience worship and fellowship, and share our future missions vision at the 2014 Oakdale Wesleyan Church Missions Conference. The speakers will share about their and our missionary work both globally and locally. Continue reading
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.” Luke 6:43-44
Jesus said that a tree is recognized by its fruit, and the prophet Isaiah said that the coming Savior would be a tree.
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. (Isaiah 11:1)
This being the case, what fruit does Jesus have? We will explore this together during Holy Week.
As was said in the previous post, getting to the airport did not go as planned. We still had quite a long drive to Kampala from Busanda, and once we got to Kampala we found ourselves in bumper to bumper crawl of traffic, where cars took the soft shoulder as a lane, motorcycles used the walkway (when they weren’t weaving through the traffic), and pedestrians dodged for their lives.
Right along the highway, a building had caught fire, causing all the congestion. It took us so long to get to and through Kampala, that the only way we would make our flight was for Lucas and company to drive us all the way to Entebbe. Upon arriving at the airport, we said quick goodbyes, gave our friends some extra cash for food and fuel, and ran. We had just enough time to check in, get through security, and go to the bathroom, before the plane began to board.
Feeling stressed during the road trip to the airport did not allow my brain time to reflect on what we had done and who were were leaving behind. In retrospect, what we left behind were friends. Continue reading
Scheduled to fly home at midnight, Lucas provided us with a simple itinerary for the day. We would make the drive to Kampala, and on the way at visit one more church and drop off his god-daughter at school. Mike and I would have several hours to hang out in Kampala and then catch a taxi ride to the airport. Dropping us of in Kampala instead of the airport would also Lucas and his companions two hours lead time to get back home. Nothing is ever this simple. Continue reading
cassava plant
On Thursday we visited the smallest village church we would see, in the village of Buwembe. It was a fairly long drive out to Buwembe, so it was the only church we visited that day, and we took our time. We saw their cassava plants, and took some pictures of the beautiful landscape, flora, and traditional housing. Small village size aside, we two spies were able to gather a great deal of intelligence at this site.
 a home with two baskets in front |
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Tuesday, after leaving Buyimini, we traveled to Bubwibo, the village where Pastor Lucas was born and grew up. It seemed to us a very personal and private time that Lucas was inviting us into, so we chose not to take any photos the main part of the village or Lucas’ home there. Having a home in the village where you were born is really the only social security net there is in Uganda. If things go badly in a person’s life, or when they are getting old, a house in your home village is always a place you can go, have a place to live, have family around you, and, if necessary, restart your life.
Pastor Sanya Patrick Deo and three of his congregants
The first church we visited on Tuesday was in the village of Buyimini, where the local pastor is Sanya Patrick Deo. Patrick rode around with us this afternoon, and was one of our translators during pastoral training. This extra time with Patrick allowed us to not only get to know him better, but also glean good information about his church and the state of affairs in Uganda in general. Continue reading
On Monday we visited the church in the village of Busitengi, which is also known as Mayiro Eight. My understanding is that Mayiro Eight is the “official” name of the road which goes out to Busitengi and other area villages.
We are at the half way point in the Community Bible Experience. If you haven’t been involved or gotten behind, this is a great place to begin or restart, as we start fresh with Matthew on Monday.
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