A week in Kigadi

Hey guys! I am back in the world of flushing toilets and showers! This week has been so amazing. I left last Saturday with a young team from Montgomery, and our 5 hour drive turned into an 8 hour adventure. The road is 2 hours on paved road, and the rest is on a dirt road through the wilderness that is Uganda country side. About 5o minutes into the dirt road, our bus broke down. We got out of the bus, and wandered around a tiny, tiny little village. They had never had 'muzungu' visitors before, and were pretty excited. We broke out the bubbles and the bible story book and had a great time. Some of the guys went into the crowd of onlookers and started sharing the gospel. It turned out to be a really good time, but we were all really relieved when our driver finally came back with a mechanic 2 hours later.

We stayed on the grounds of a women's college. We all lived in huts, with toilets, though ours didn't flush. My shower was a red bucket. Our life was definitely rougher in Kagadi than in Masese. We had a lot of bugs and slept under mosquito nets, though it brought back memories of Heidi's net at Murchison Falls, mine had a big hole in it too. The food was fun, it was authentic Ugandan food. Lots of rice and beans! And a boiled egg for breakfast every morning.

We did a lot of amazing things this week. We worked one day at a special needs school and spent a lot of time with kids who are deaf and mute. These kids are unwanted by their families and shunned by their community. First, one of the girls read a story to them, and then I presented the gospel and used the wordless book to teach them the 'colors' and gave them the bracelets that went with it. We spent a lot of time playing with them, and just trying to show them the love of God. They also performed some songs for us in sign language and danced for us. We saw where they lived while at school, and even by Ugandan standards, it was bad. All 60 live in three rooms. These rooms were made for commercial purposes, to store produce. There are some mattresses on the floor, very few, and no windows, and no light. Even during the day they were pitch black. The doors lock from the outside, so if there were a fire, those kids wouldn't have a chance. They are trying to build new accommodations for the kids, but funds are limited, and the kids are grateful just to be able to go to school.

We also went to an AIDS hospital, and that was probably the most intense and emotional experience I have had in Uganda. We toured the hospital, and then we went to the waiting room that held about 150 to 200 people (in America it could hold maybe 20), and shared testimonies and then Dave Eby preached to them and encouraged them. It was really emotional, and the people there were just so receptive and sweet. Many were obviously ill, and all of the little kids with AIDS had really bad coughs because of their immune systems. We got a chance to talk one on one with some of them, and I don't think anyone made it out with dry eyes. It was emotionally draining, but just so encouraging. We had quite a few people who were really interested in finding out how to get plugged into a church and how to become a christian. I had a man and his daughter come up to me after and ask me to pray with them for their test results. They were being tested, but the daughter had shown many symptoms of HIV. She was 14. I never found out the results, but they came to the crusade that night, which was so so encouraging.

Every night we had a crusade, where 2 or 3 of the team members shared their testimonies and then we sang for a long time, and then Dave or Pastor Aaron from Montgomery would preach, then we would sing more. It was always a fun, though long, time. It was held outside, in front of the New Life Presbyterian church of Kagadi. The second time of singing was like a giant dance party, they would move all the chairs and benches out of the way and sing and dance and it was really fun. By the time we got to dinner at the college every night, we were exhausted and ready for bed.

Some other things we did: A soccer game between the Kagadi Presbyterian church and USA team versus the local school team, which brought over 400 onlookers, we lost haha. Door to door evangelism. We visited a prison, where everyone there was facing a life sentence. Many had never had trials. The girls and women got a chance to speak with the three women in the prison, and we were shocked by their stories. Two had become believers in prison, the third accepted prayer. One woman was in prison because her husbands lover had died, and the family said that she killed the husbands lover through witchcraft. The other two were in prison because their husbands had kicked them out, and eventually they took new husbands. They will spend the rest of their lives in prison because it. Unfaithfulness in women is punished with life in prison if the first husband pays enough money to have them arrested.

Coming back, our bus broke down again, making our trip 9 hours. It was pretty funny having it happen again, though thankfully it broke down while we were still in Kagadi. Today, Sunday, it's raining and storming pretty hard, and Uganda is thankful for the rain. It was a really great week, pray for me this week on wed. It will be my first day teaching in Zana school. I miss you all!