RUKUNGIRI -Sat., July 28th
Posted by vroomer in Uganda Outreach
JULY 28TH - The sounds of southwest Uganda rise and fall just outside our doors. Taking a brief tour of the propety unveiled a rather large, lush and panoramic view. Why has God blessed us with this luxury? In staying here, this home of an ex-military General, are we a part of any wrong doing? Has this man been a part of any impropriety? I don’t want to be negative, I just want to protect us. “More will be revealed”, they say.
SATURDAY EVENING -
Just and amazing day. This morning’s devotional and worship was so emotional for me. I can’t explain it, I just know I was brought to tears. Looking out over the verdant and rolling hills of this property I felt God’s presence, an in explicable and pervasive feeling of power, love, creativity and rightness. Truthfully, what I was sensing and feeling is beyond my ability to describe it in words. It went beyond words and was beautiful.
Breakfast was routine with primarily cereal, breads and jams. I had a bowl of cereal and discovered the milk to be warm with a gamy taste. Neil’s said he earlier saw one of the staff in the distance of the back property carrying bladder-like bags. Having never had fresh milk before this was a surprise for my taste buds. I’m thankful for it, but likely will not opt again for warm milk cereal.
Directly to the construction site we went after breakfast. Luke and I filmed for little while then helped with shoveling dirt. We must have moved literally a ton of dirt. It was good, hard work from everyone and we were eager to do it.
There was some issue that occurred. Apparently, town officials asked for our passport and health info. It was said that we might not be able to conduct any nightly crusades at RCC. Not everyone had their paperwork with them, so Neil had to go back to the house with a few others. They returned later with apparently no issues.
I had three different connections today. My first was with Emmanuel, a soft-spoken, gentle 16-yr. old who worked alongside us at the construction site shoveling dirt.
I approached him during a break and struck up a conversation. He’s in a vocational schoool learning construction, an intentional but unfortunate choice. He was in school in Kampala but the fees became to much for his older brother and caregiver to afford so both moved to Rukungiri. Apparently, Sam has a wife and three daughters who have remained in Kampala.
Emmanuel dreams of being a veterinarian, a dream that took some prodding to get out of him. He’s resigned himself to not having the dream come true. He sure seems like an emotionally strong and proud young man who like thousands of others got a rotten deal but he is undaunted. I can learn a lot from him and others like him.
I’m going to pray about this but I have this sense that I’m supposed to sponsor him.
Later, at the church crusade, I spoke with another older boy, Johnathan. At one point, I had to bring to his attention that his bible and cd case were unattended and a drunken man seemed to be eying them. This act prompted him to write me a note, which he gave to me later. The note, among other things, said he thought we could be friends for a long time and that “he loved me more than I think”. Not sure how I feel about this. Kind of premature to making such statements.
The last connection I made was with “Princess”, an utterly adorable seven year old girl.
She wore a pink dress, a dress the previous missionaries said was her trademark. I was told she would melt my heart and they were right. Princess was much older than her years. She carried around a small boy as though it were her own child.
We interacted a bit and at one point I gave her a bottled water. In return, and a bit later, she returned with an ear of cooked corn for me. Not sure where she got it but the act went beyond just being a fair trade. I was so humbled by her gift. I’m going to look forward to seeing her throughout the trip.
OBSERVATIONS -
The smell of smoke continues to permeate the air. It’s everywhere and present all the time.