Today was great. We started at Gaba church and worshipped with our friends there. They do quite a few songs we know. Since Passion was here 2 weeks ago they did quite a few songs from Passion. One of the last songs they sang was “God of this City.” Yep, I about had a come apart. It was good. Josh got to greet the congregation and thank them for their hospitality. We then headed out to Buloba for some country church. : )
We arrived while the congregation was already worshipping in song. They stopped to welcome us and we headed in. The worship team sang, the Sunday school kids came in and sang a special song for us and Josh got to preach. Before Josh preached he asked me to come up and share a story with the congregation.
I shared how we had a missions month and explained what that meant. I shared about the John 4 passage and how we are to meet physical needs and spiritual needs to those we encounter. How we saw a physical need on our last trip and challenged our congregation to raise money for the well. I shared how children, parents, students gave sacrificially and we are able to help get the building done and have money for the well when they are ready. There was much rejoicing! It was good stuff. I am ready to see it tomorrow.
I can gladly say that when Josh stepped up to read the passage he started with he couldn’t. I am proud to say that I am among fellow criers. Haha Josh did a great job sharing from several passages. Philippians 1:3-6, Romans, and Isaiah 53. After Josh preached they gave an “altar call” and one woman- Margaret came up and said she wanted to give her life to Christ! Then a member of the church came up to give his testimony. He shared about the danger of the local voodoo/witchcraft. A woman found a body down in the swamp area and a couple of animals. The man shared that the body was a woman and she had been sacrificed. Evidently she went to the voodoo shrine and never came home. It was heartbreaking and scary. But that is also the reality of the community we minister with.
After church we were surrounded by the children. Several of them offered homemade dolls, footballs (soccer), and other decorative things made from banana fiber/bark. A few gave us pictures of themselves. I had them write names on the back so we can remember.
We stopped to pick up sandwiches and headed to Gaba Landing to get in a boat to go visit Bethany Village. Bethany Village is about a 35 minute boat ride on Lake Victoria away from Gaba. They have homes and a school set up for orphans. Most are from areas where ARM (African Renewal Ministries) has child sponsorships set up. Children who are in need are sent to Bethany. The homes are really great and we visited with the children that Grace Campus sponsors. Amazing stuff. The boat ride was fun. Some team members were not so excited about it though- especially Patrick, Jodi, and Becky. We snagged a fishing net on the way home so we got a couple of quiet minutes in the middle of the lake while we disconnected ourselves. And we drew quite a crowd while we got in and out of the boat at the landing. Fun times.
A couple of things to finish up yesterday’s stories. Mike and Julie were excited because they saw someone from one of the homes where they went door to door. One of the ladies prayed during the home visit to become a Christian. It is exciting to see people coming to church that have never been there before.
One of the groups shared that 2 people prayed to receive Christ yesterday while they were visiting homes. And 2 more from their visits requested follow up from church members. I know that the team is looking forward to spending some more time tomorrow going door to door. Most of the awkwardness is gone- although the fear of not knowing what to say remains. And we are sad to leave our friends after church today.
We will go back to Buloba tomorrow for door to door and in the afternoon we will do the last construction for this trip. I understand that Pastor Peter from Gaba church wants to come tomorrow to help with construction. That is sort of like Rusty wanting to go out to Flomaton or Cuba Alabama to help build a church. Big thing.
I am posting more pictures today to hopefully make up for the lack of knowing what to say right now. I have video that can make up the difference later I hope.
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