Sunday, June 24, 2007

Today we rested in preparation for a VERYVERYBUSYWEEK! We visited Christian Life Church which is a more traditional African church compared to KPC (which we visited last night and was run by Canadians). These Africans are on fire for God - their services last 2 hours, an hour of worship and an hour of sermon. This really tested our ability to stay awake and pay attention and alert (especially for Diana). Regardless of the length, however, the worship was awesome and you could really see their passion in the way they praise. People were free to dance and raise their hands in the chairs; nothing could contain their joy and obvious displays of love for Christ. It would be so cool to see such a lack of inhibition in our own church. The best part was at the end of service when one Ugandan came up to us and said, "Because you came to our church, you are my friends and I love you." It really warmed our hearts to receive such love from a complete stranger. We are really encouraged now to demonstrate the same level of enthusiasm in welcoming at RCCC.

After church we went to an Italian restaurant for a TWO HOUR lunch (everything runs on Ugandan time). Afterwards Jo, Anita, and Eric went to see one of the kid's school performances which turned out to be a FOUR HOUR African extravaganza of children dancing, singing and reciting folk poems. Wherever we go, the children and people are so enthusiastic to see us - they were just in awe of how different we look. The best reactions from Ugandans is when we attempt to speak in their language - all barriers are broken and they smile and wave back.

Meanwhile, Diana and Grace spent the afternoon sorting the rest of the donations and getting to know Anne, the daughter of Maria (owner of the guest house). We had some interesting conversation about the politics of giving (more on that when we return) and the relationship between muzungus (non-Ugandans) and native Ugandans. We are looking forward to giving the rest of the clothing away to some of the school children, the Sanyu orphanage and Sherry's new orphanage.

Please pray for this coming week. It will be our first full week here and we will have a lot to do. There is no set schedule, but it will definitely be packed. We are always on the run, driving around the city, running errands, going to different orphanages, medical clinics, sightseeing, visiting people and other various ministry work. Stay tuned!

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