Prison Ministry Team

The prison ministry team continues to share the gospel with those in prison.  They seem to be more comfortable with the materials we developed during the lock-down.  More discussion of the material, more creative use in how they presented their ideas, more volunteers to go to the prison to share.  (I will have to wait a few more weeks before I get a chance to return to the prison.)

We have always prayed for the prisoners and their concerns at the end of each visit.  Now those who visit are bringing those concerns back to the team so we can all pray for them.

Well

Access to water is a problem in many areas in Koboko district.  The municipality has developed a water system; however, it comes from a small river that runs low during the dry season resulting in many days with no water service.  We still use the local wells.  I get my drinking water from a hand pump (deep) well.  The water for other purposes comes from the shallow wells (drop a bucket and bring up water).

In Mugujai there are two hand pump wells for the entire town.  This results in high demand and long lines.  The bishop, Baba Moses, decided to follow Abraham’s example and dig his own well for his family and the ministry.  He dug a deep well so that it would not run dry during the dry season; however, he did not have the funds for a pumping system.  He is using the drop a bucket and bring up water method despite the depth.

Baba Moses’ well, surface view

Baba Moses’ well, looking down the well

Demonstration Garden

I visited Mugujai my first Monday back in Koboko district.  The computer skills class was not notified that I am back, and their meetings have been in the evening while I was gone because that was when one of my graduates was able to mentor them.

He is our agricultural missionary from Kenya.  He has been developing a demonstration garden so he can demonstrate other agricultural techniques and show that the land can produce more than the limited variety of crops common to the area.  He has been developing the farm (the terms farm and garden are used interchangeably here) for two years now.  As he enters the third year, I can really see the difference.

Livingstone leading a group on a tour of the demonstration garden

MTN

One of the challenges I had when I arrived in the United States was phone service.  The two phone companies that operate in my part of Uganda (MTN and Airtel) serve most of Africa and Europe, but not the United States.  I had hoped I could just change the sim card in the phone but no.  The phones in Africa are set to frequencies used in Africa.  The United States uses different frequencies.  Okay, I will use a separate phone in the US.  At least I have my Ugandan phone so I can call the person picking me up when I clear customs in Uganda. 

Not so fast.  The African phone companies put an expiration date on the sim card if you are not a citizen of the country where you established service.  The expiration date is taken from the visa.  My visa expired while I was in the US, and I entered Uganda on a new visa.  No phone service for me until I visited a MTN service center and showed them the new visa.

I tried to visit MTN while I was at Victoria Mall the night before my trip to Koboko.  Tried, because they closed for the day just as I arrived.  I tried to visit an MTN service center in Masindi (a Ugandan town on the route we took while driving to Koboko).  Unfortunately the staff was in a meeting and would not be available until 9 a.m.  It was just after 8 a.m. and the driver did not want to wait an hour.  Two days later I was able to visit an MTN service center in Koboko while they were open.  It took time to update the company records so I would have service, but no cost.

Welcome

The prison ministry team kept the ministry going while I was in the United States.  I feel blessed by this.  It is not my ministry, it is God’s.  We should be able to continue in the ministry even if one person is unavailable.  The team shares this view and kept the ministry going.

The team also decided they wanted to welcome me back to Koboko.  They planned a dinner at my house.  They began the dinner by sharing why they wanted to welcome me.  The most memorable sharing was also the first.  He shared a personal story and then compared my role in the team to his personal story.  He compared me to his father, because he sees my role in the team as one of guiding the ministry, just as a father guides his children so they learn and grow in a good way.  I am humbled and grateful that God has used me in a way that is valuable to the team as well as to those in prison.

Weather

As I was preparing to leave the United States to return to the mission field in Uganda, the weather was heating up.  Many people were finding the 80 F days to be uncomfortable.  I have adapted to them.  I thought it was going to prepare me for the weather in Uganda which is also in the high 70’s F and 80’s.  I was wrong.

First, the three plane flights took me through well air conditioned, much cooler, airports.  The planes themselves were cool and I had to pull out my jacket.  Only Entebbe airport was warm.  Okay, hot.  While the temperature was still in the mid 80’s despite being late at night, it was unusually humid.  The heat I experienced in Seattle was dry by comparison.

Uganda is not normally that humid, except for two weeks out of the year.  The two weeks when moisture is building in the air, but the wet season has not started yet.  What I did not know was this year it had stopped raining in mid-April and Uganda was now going through another lead-up to restart the wet season after a month plus of no rain.

Murchison Falls National Park

Normally I try to take the most economical form of transport available from Kampala/Entebbe to Koboko.  The only international airport is in Entebbe.  There are domestic airports including one in Arua an hour south of my mission site in Koboko; however, it is not the most economical way to cross the country and I want to save money so I can use it for mission work.

The most economical transport is a bus, but it takes all day, and the seats are uncomfortable.  Just like economy on the airplane, the bus seats are small and close together. (Unlike the airplane, the bus seats lack padding.)  They both want to carry as many fare paying passengers as possible.

A public car driver whom I have hired a couple times to get around in Kampala was planning a trip across country and offered to time his trip to my schedule.  He also knew that “someday” I wanted to take a safari, but I have not saved money for this.  He offered to drive through a national park in the process of taking me to Koboko.  It would not be a safari tour; however, it would not have the costs of a safari either, just gas and the park entry fee.  This was almost too good to be true. 

We did not see all that the park has to offer.  Many of the animals are out earlier in the day.  Others are in more remote areas of the park.  However, I have finally seen giraffe and elephants in the wild.

Elephant on land, eating

Elephant in the Nile river

Giraffes

Uganda Kobs (Antelopes)

Shopping

I requested an opportunity to do a little shopping before returning to Koboko.  My opportunity came the night before the all-day trip across Uganda.

I was looking for an electric razor because mine is nearly twenty years old and beginning to fail (stop and start while shaving).  I had seen five models of electric razors in this store a year ago.  Now I had to ask because I did not see any.  I was directed to two models of hair shearers, no razors.  I have talked with others, and they have also noted that the supermarket at Victoria Mall in Entebbe seems to be carrying fewer items.  I do not expect to find a larger selection in Koboko, or even Entebbe.  However, I know some of the shop owners and they will tell me if it is something they can have transferred to them from a shop in Kampala.

H4RI

I visited Hope for Restoration initiative in Entebbe following the prayer meeting (previous post).  I was surprised by the low number of people at the office until I remembered that they had outgrown this office and two of the ministries, counseling and medical, have moved to another location.  It was good to see those who are still at this office.  The ministries are interrelated so many of the others came by the office during the day and I was able to meet them.

I spent some time meeting with the “mama’s”.  These are women who Hope for Restoration initiative has taught to use sewing machines.  Hope has taught them other crafting skills too.  They use these skills to provide a little income for Hope and to earn something for themselves and their families.  I was able to help them with a project that they were doing for Hope for Her (H4H), one of the ministries of Hope for Restoration initiative.

Prayer meeting

Some of the missionaries in Entebbe get together on Wednesday for Bible study.  Entebbe is in the urban area of the country.  They gather at a restaurant called CJ’s.  This Wednesday my host needed to attend another meeting at Calvary Chapel, but he dropped me off at CJ’s on his way to that meeting.  Some of the regulars were away for various reasons.  Those who attended remembered me and welcomed me back to Uganda.  We also had a first-time attendee, Michael, whom we welcomed.

We studied John 14:1-6.  The discussion focused on Jesus is the truth, verse 6.  My thoughts included Pilate’s response, “What is truth?” John 18:38. There are many sources of information in this world, some claim accuracy and authority, but Jesus is the truth.