Praise the Lord,
I hope this email finds you well....The past 2 days have been interesting and rewarding.
I'll fill you in on yesterday....
Saturday I was able to sleep in, until about 8AM. Had a relaxing start the day, then piled in the car with the Pastor, his wife, and his daughter Lydia and drove off to the village of Kapala. Not to be confused with the Capitol city of Kampala. It was a 2 hour drive and only about 30 mins of the drive was on paved road. And the dirt roads in Uganda make dirt roads in America look like highways. There were bumps, and ditches, and twists, and turns. Needless to say, it was bumpy ride. As one pastor said, "You will do a lot of 'dancing' on our roads." Meaning that we are being bounced about inside the car, like we're dancing. We arrived to the village church where we were greeted with such kindness. Children sang for us, they danced, the leaders of the church spoke and Pastor Patrick brought the word. Afterwards, the adults cleared the children from the church....and just so you can imagine...the church is comprised of brick walls held together with cement that is slapped between each brick. Then the roof is made of old corrugated tin and held up by an A-frame truss made of branches....So once the service was complete, the children exited and the women brought food and placed it before us. We ate with our hands and feasted until we had to leave. As a gift, the church gave the Pastor a duck....so....the duck rode back with us to Mbale. The pastor drives, what we would call, a hatchback. So, yeah, the bird was flapping about the entire way home. If there is anyone reading this who knows me, knows that one of the things I fear is BIRDS! So, I just tried to laugh. The birds legs were tied, so that made it all the more agitated. At one point, I was leaning all the way forward in my seat, with my head nearly touching my knees. We made it home safely, and we didn't have to ditch the bird, or the gift, I should say. We arrived just after dark.
Today was a great day of church. I taught the youth Sunday School. We discussed 1 Timothy 4:12. Then we went to the service. There were probably a couple hundred in attendance today. We sang Because He Lives and it was lovely to hear the accents of Uganda lifting up this hymn to God. The Pastor taught on the book of Luke 24:13-35. The congregants were so warm and welcoming. After church the pastor took me, and his family to Elgon Hotel for lunch. Very beautiful place with tasty food.
Please pray for this evening. I am leading a study on Proverbs 31:10-31. Talking about women of good character. I will be leading a study on the radio where people are encouraged to call in and ask questions. Women really struggle in this culture and are not treated well, so they are very broken. I really want to encourage them and tell them what God says about their value. Most of you will be in church while I am doing the radio program, so please just say a little prayer. Thank you!
Tomorrow, I will get a small tourist break and the family will take me to see the waterfalls near Mbale. Then, back to the orphanage where I will spend some time with the teenage boys and girls.
Thank you for the prayers!!!
Ashley
