Ponderings on the spiritual state and future of the church.

It is an interesting thing to dwell on “The spiritual state and future of the church” in the country you have been called to be a missionary in. 

But having a fond interest in society, history and its repeated cycles (especially in the context of Christianity) I can’t help but wonder aloud at where Uganda’s church may be headed.

I write this with tired eyes after being kept awake all night by the local Anglican church (which has more of a charismatic feel to it) who ran an ‘Easter special’ overnight prayer and worship service.

I once read an article that said in the Congo, brothels where calling up the police and complaining about local churches making too much noise all night. The article was showing an ironic twist that in Africa the church has more passion and fun during the night then the brothels. Although living next to many churches I can see a different side to it, and although I do not advocate for brothels in anyway, perhaps I can feel a little bit of their pain.

I noticed the Anglican Church setting up around 6.00 pm on Friday. They had hired some great big monstrous speakers for their overnight affair. I felt a pang of worry as I saw them set the giant speakers up outside, facing towards the community, instead of inside towards the church.

As expected it was impossible to sleep during the night, as the loud speakers pulsated their singing, chanting and strange wild animal noises (the charismatic flavor to the Anglican Church) right across the local village, and right into my bedroom.

I had wrote a rather sarcastic comment on my facebook page early this morning about “representing Jesus in the quest to love your neighbor as yourself” .. But after pondering on the fact that the post was written in a spirit of smugness and some sort of ineffective revenge, I had to remove it.

Sometimes the self-conviction of being a follower of Jesus can be hard.

But the issue still remains. Overnight prayer meetings are fantastic for sure! But the attitude of “you’re going to hear us worship all night whether you like it or not” towards the outside community has you wondering ‘what spirit of Christ is this?’

I believe it stems from a deeper issue within the church here in Uganda. One that follows rules, customs and actions that say “I am a good Christian, can’t you see”. Yet it can sometimes seem like a church culture very devoid of the Christ shown in scriptures.

And believe me, as a youth worker here, I can see it is something the next generation are starting to pick up on.

Often history repeats itself and I can’t help but see similarities with what has happened to the church (or Christendom for that matter) in the west, or mainly the U.S, and what may slowly happen here.

Uganda's church could be compared to the church in the west a few decades ago. It’s rather easy to be a Christian in Uganda. Pastors are still held with a high level of respect, even above others (which I must say dangerously leads to people aiming to be a pastor for the wrong reasons). No one will mock you or ridicule you on your Christian beliefs of salvation, sexuality, or the afterlife. And the name of Jesus would most likely be heard more than once during the day (and not in a swear word may I add).

Yet as often, this highly Christianized state can be lacking in Christ like mindedness.

Just like in the 90’s in America, the prosperity gospel is rampant! I have so often heard pastors claiming things like
“If you just place your hand on your chest, and declare prosperity, health and wealth over your life, In Jesus name, all your hearts desires will be granted to you by God”

Where such teaching can be found in the scriptures, I am still struggling to find.

The incredibly dangerous thing about this gospel, that perhaps wrecks more havoc here in Africa then in America, is the fact that people are living in abject poverty. Everyone wants to hear the prosperity gospel here! The lie that if you just accept Jesus, everything will go the way you want it.
It is a doctrine that encourages idolatry and is sure to disappoint and leave a bitter taste in people’s mouths when they realize that they are still living as the poorest people in the world.

Perhaps they would best be taught the truth of scripture that says “One of the great hopes of this present life in Christ, is not that in following Jesus everything will go your way! But that through your suffering Jesus is enough to sustain you no matter the circumstances”

And more than that, perhaps these great prosperity preachers with their big crusades and flashy cars may best represent Jesus by laying down their life for the poor, instead of exploiting them.

I have to keep in mind that it is always easy to judge others, without first looking at your own heart and trying to clean up the selfish greed and mess within oneself.

But still, it can’t help but be noticed (especially by the younger generation) that this movement of charismatic prosperity churches are rife with sexual and financial scandals. Whether a pastor has impregnated ten young girls in his church, or has stolen money from the widows fund, I have heard it all.

And lastly, the one which really pushes away the youth, is the self-righteous legalism that runs rampant. If you are a sinner (that includes anyone who drinks, smokes, listens to secular music or has sex) you will be vilified and humiliated by the 'oh so righteous' pharisees whose sins are swept under the carpet (which include greed for money and power, self-righteousness, hypocrisy and harsh judgement)

I can’t help but see the similarities to what has happened in the church in the west, to what may happen in the future of Uganda.

The west has shaken loose its shackles of Christendom (and I do not necessarily think this is a bad thing) and many people, fed up with the behaviors they have seen, have walked away from the church and Christianity with ‘justified’ frustration. But tragically they have walked away from the eternal life giving hope of Jesus, all in the supposed name of liberation. And perhaps we as the church have some serious explaining to do as a result of this.

Recently I saw a humorous (yet a bit dark) quote on facebook that said “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it”

Is that what will happen with the church in Uganda? Will the same thing happen with the next generation? Especially when they become more and more westernized and are influenced by outside ideas.

This post has a large negative stream to it, but I believe there is still hope. Of course that is what the Christian life thrives on.

Hope.

Jesus said two thousand years ago that he was going to build his church “and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.
The Christendom church here may eventually grow weaker, but in doing so, a purging and purifying act may happen.

It may make the Christians left, more Christ-like then before.

Although I do see many dissatisfied youth with the church as they have experienced it, I still see a deep longing and desire for God.

I run a bible study class here every second Sunday, and so often it gets filled with passionate youth yearning to learn what the bible has to teach. I don’t provide any bowls of snacks, or soft drinks, or fun activities to start the session of with, just pure solid teaching touching on some of the heavier and deeper topics of faith. And yet they come! How different to the seeker sensitive youth culture of the west.

I see young people who are desperate for the truth of Christ in scriptures, who want a life that is wholly submitted to him, instead of some outside appearance of a good Christian girl or boy.

Instead they want Jesus as their treasure! They want heart transformation, not trivial behavioral alignment.

They want the meat of scripture, not continuous distorted milk being fed to them.

And then I see a handful of faithful pastors of truth and integrity. Men who may have nothing to offer by the worlds standards, but have a deep passion to teach what is right, and to live by what is right.

I see Christ centered NGO's and schools, that conduct themselves with honesty, love and compassion.

I see many passionate people who may be vulnerable to being led astray, yet if taught with truth and love, will have the seed of spiritual growth nurtured and watered in their hearts.

As tattered as the church may be, there is always hope.

I once heard Tony Campolo give a controversial quote. He said “The church is a whore, but she is my mother”

With all her faults and unfaithfulness the church is still the one that has carried this glorious message of the gospel throughout the generations.

We may do well to look into our own hearts, and see the religious self-righteousness that dwells in all of us, and that must be fought daily with scripture, prayer and acts of love and grace.

After all, the body is made up of a people on this side of glory. We will still sin and make mistakes. And that is why we need the Gospel, that is why we need the blood of Jesus to purify us. Not one of us is without sin, and so we strive for truth and love as we recognize our own salvation and rescue from our sinful hearts and the deserving punishment.

The church, to some on the outside world, may look like she is wearing the garments of a whore, but because of the blood of Christ, He will cloth her with His righteous robes. He will prepare His bride to be the glory and splendor that He has been working on since the beginning of man.

Civil marriage and a new pooch.

So this might sound strange but I am legally married right now.

Even though Agnes and I are getting wedded in a church in a few weeks time, last week we went to do our civil service in the government house in Jinja.

This civil service basically means we are internationally recognized as legally married. 

This will make things a lot easier for Agnes and I seeing as we are both from different countries. That might mean being able to get her to come and visit oz, or getting a visa or even duel citizenship for me here in Uganda (I have to wait three years before I can apply)

It was a bit of a process, we had lots of paper work to fill out, including a certificate of no impediment to marriage from Australia to say that I could legally marry. After lodging our forms, a public notice was then stuck on the town hall in Jinja with our names on it, and if no one raised an issue, after 21 days we could legally get married.

So after the 21 days, and no one raising an issue, we gathered our witnesses for the civil service (I got Robert K, and Agnes brought her uncle along) and then we went to the lawyers office to be married.
It was really an interesting affair because the government official/lawyer who was to marry us was an interesting man, to say the least.
We had already found some issues with this guy, because he kept threatening me with jail if I was not genuine and if I was doing an illegal marriage.
I didn't know if he just didn't trust me, or didn't like me, but he was really trying to play a power game over me when we had approached him to organize a time to do the service.
Basically he was a big fat government man, and like most big fat government men, they are on a bit of a power trip, and like to try and intimidate you.

I remember I had arched up a bit, because he struck a nerve by trying to suggest our relationship wasn't genuine. Luckily Agnes kept me humble, otherwise I really need to learn to chill with these big government officials ... perhaps its just the defensive man inside me rising up haha.
Luckily Agnes foster uncle (who was her witness) had talked to him for a bit before the civil service started. Her uncle Steven is the mayor of a local town here, and most likely in a higher position politically then this man, so it worked in our favor.
Still the government lawyer started the service by threatening me with jail if I was not being legitimate, and that he didn't like my documents I had provided (never mind I had done everything by the book and handed in everything they asked for)
After listening to him go on like this for 10 minutes, and being very ready to start talking back and defending myself, he all of a sudden said "Lets do the ceremony then".

I think these guys just like to make you sweat.

Agnes and I then did our exchanging of rings, repeated the necessary words, and signed our new internationally recognized marriage certificate.
The government man all of sudden become so cheery and happy, and congratulated us. He then proceeded to give us some marriage advice (which was the worst advice Agnes and I have ever heard) basically telling us that if we ever have any problems in our marriage, we should leave it in the bedroom, don't tell anyone about it, and walk around in public with a smile pretending that nothing is wrong.
We just nodded our heads and said yes sir haha.
So we are now legally married! Which feels really strange, because it certainly doesn't feel like we are married.

Agnes and I will not be living as man and wife until we get married in the church. We really value a ceremony done before a community of family and believers, making our oaths before God.
That is when we believe our marriage begins and we become one! We both see a lot of beauty and benefit in holding onto traditional values. We really believe in aiming to follow the biblical views of marriage and relationships! I know a lot of people think this is a really crazy view, and it is very unpopular and counter culture these days to wait until you are married before you live together. 

But we don't feel we can pick and chose what we like, and don't like, from the bible. We want to submit wholly to God, believing and trusting that His way is actually the best way. So we don't want to live as married people right now, and we will wait for all the 'benefits' of marriage till after our wedding in the church haha. This is in no way judgement on people who do/or have done differently, but just myself expressing my views and values, and the way Agnes and I are going about things.

In other news I got myself a new best friend.
My very own pooch! She is still young, about 8 months old. I picked her up from a friend of mine here who wanted to get rid of her.
I have always wanted to have a dog of my own, who will follow me everywhere and be my mate. I have called her 'Rafiki', because she looks like the baboon from the lion king, and it means 'friend' in Swahili.
It is a bit hard getting her used to our house and property, as we don't have fences here. So instead she will be on a chain for about a week or two, as we feed her and she gets used to us as her new masters.
She is just a local breed, which is basically a mongrel dingo looking dog. But I have aimed to maker her the best, well trained, cleanest local dog around.
I have already taught her to sit and to shake, she is a smart dog and I think she will catch on quickly.

She is having problems with the chain though, she has been a free dog, hunting her food, for the last 5 or so months, so being chained is stressing her a bit.
The first night I had attached her chain onto a long rope so she had a bit of freedom, but she ended up chewing through the rope and running back to where she came from.
So in the morning my friend brought her back on the chain for me.
I have decided to let her sleep on my upstairs balcony at night. This has worked well the last two nights, she quite happily sleeps on my outside couch all night without making a sound.
And in the morning when I check on her, the balcony is clean. She doesn't go to the toilet untill I take her out onto the grass in the morning.
So she is already impressing us!
The aim is to get her so used to us, that like most dogs around here, she will be able to roam free off the chain. And hopefully because she is so used to this place being her home, she will want to hang around here and sleep here at night as well.
It's fun having a new dog to train. I have always grown up with well trained dogs, so I have got a good idea on how it works!
Most Africans find it funny how I treat Rafiki. Most people take two approaches with dogs. Rather they let them do whatever they want, roam free, with no discipline at all. The other way is to give absolutely no love, chain the dog up, beat it when it does something wrong, and watch it grow crazy and wild over time.
So when people see me giving rafiki lots and lots of love, but being pretty tough and disciplined as well, they think I am crazy.

But no doubt they will be surprised when I have the greatest, most well trained dog in Wairaka following me around.

Otherwise the tailoring class girls are their last month. We have got the class some really nice material so they can make themselves some nice dresses to finish on. They also made me a gift, a brand new African styled shirt.

My sickness has really improved as well. Even though I still had my diseases when I went for my check up last week, and I am on another two weeks of medication, I really feel the difference the last few days. I don't wake up feeling sick, and I can actually go out and do stuff all day without getting tired.
So thanks for all your prayers people.

My family come here in less then a month, and Agnes and I are still preparing for our wedding, but we really look forward to being here with my family as we lead up to our big day.

Beast in the water.

I thought I would write up a short blog post seeing as something that got me very excited happened recently.

If you remember a few blogs back I wrote about how I went swimming in lake Victoria and felt a bit uneasy because I was thinking about crocs.
What I didn't elaborate on was that I had gone swimming by myself (except for a few kids in the shallows) and I had decided to swim out deep. I was feeling good, and reassured because many people had told me it is safe to swim.
But I remember all of a sudden getting a deep sense of danger, the feeling you get when a predator is around. I remember not feeling good in the water at all, and decided to swim to shore because I couldn't get the thought of crocodiles out of my head.
The only other times I have had those feelings, includes a few times while surfing in Australia. One particular time after a wave broke I felt that deep sense of tension, as if some predator was swimming underneath me. Well thirty minutes later a surfer spotted a shark and everyone swam to shore.
It was the same feeling I had swimming at this spot. I didn't think anything of it, and even went swimming at another spot a week or so later.

But here is the crazy part!

Just two weeks ago a fisherman got taken by a giant croc and eaten, at this very spot I had been swimming!
Then just last week, after a four day hunt, the Ugandan Wild Life Authorities captured this giant of a beast, man eating, Nile croc.
They captured this beast literally at the very spot I had been swimming and got the heeby jeebie feelings from.
Farouk was actually there when they pulled it in, as the croc was captured right near the YSU agriculture garden.
I have included some pictures I got from Ugandan news sites.
Apparently it has eaten 6 people in the local area, and one of the places it ate someone from was Wairaka beach, a place I have swam at a few times.
The croc weighed one tonne and was apparently 47 kgs shy of the worlds heaviest captured croc, and they reckon it was around 80 years old.
They got him alive, and were going to transport him to a national park up north.

No one bothered to tell me there were giant crocs in the lake here. Often I have asked if it is safe to swim and if crocodiles were a problem, only to have people respond to me that it is fine to swim.
Think I'll just stay out of the water from now on.
I find it interesting I had those feelings a few months before this man got taken, at the very spot I was swimming.
Is it all just superstition? or maybe there was some primal sixth sense kicking in and the monster was nearby.

I guess I will never know.

And to be honest, I'm kind of glad that's how it is.

Never a dull moment in Africa.

General life and a moving story.

The last week or so I have still been caught up in bed, and resting at home.
It seems like I will go out to accomplish one or two tasks for the day, and then I need to go home and lie down and rest. Some times I spend the whole day in bed.
This disease which I have been suffering from really knocks it out of you, it is kind of like chronic fatigue.
If I ride my bike a short distance, I end up getting short of breath. So I have really been trying to rest and take it easy. I have four more days of medication before I go back for a check up.
It has been really helpful having Farouk, Beatrice and Agnes around. Programs can still run even when I am sick, because these guys are still working and helping to keep things running, especially Farouk.
So its great to be able to relax and rest without stressing too much about things not running.

Last week Friday night the local Anglican church ran another one of its over night prayer sessions. This time it was so loud, as they hired a few boom speakers. At 5.30 am they were still carrying on and making such loud noises, the sound actually carries right through the village. I know of many people who can never sleep on a Friday night here, because these churches pump their speakers up all night while praying, chanting, and sometimes screaming wildly.
Well I was very sick last week Friday night, suffering from typhoid and bruselia. So I was not so happy about it and decided to visit the pastor of the church the next day.
I managed to find the head bishop and the associate pastor of the church around midday, and sat down for a talk.
I decided to come in a spirit of kindness and grace, and I explained who I was, and encouraged them with the work that they are doing. I then mentioned if it is possible at all for them to keep the noise down, because they are keeping everyone awake on Friday nights. I did this in the most gentle way possible.
The response was actually really good! The pastors themselves don't go to the overnight prayer sessions, but they are run by another group. They said they were so sorry and were going to talk to the people who run these sessions.
They also thanked me for being frank with them, as they said many Ugandans will gossip and talk about there frustration with others, instead of directly talking with the church. So they were glad I spoke about it with them.
We also talked about how keeping everyone awake at night is not really the best way of showing the call of Jesus to "love your neighbor as you love yourself". And I talked about how there are many Muslims in this community, and doing this is certainly not attracting them to Christianity, but most likely pissing them off and pushing them away from the church (I didn't say it like that haha)
Last night was a Friday, and interestingly they made a bit of noise up to midnight, and then were rather quiet. So maybe my talking to the pastors actually helped.
Its amazing what can be accomplished when you talk directly to an issue in a calm gentle manor. Gossiping certainly doesn't work, and neither does attacking someone your annoyed at.

The other day I took Agnes to the good quality Muslim hospital here because she had a severe tooth ache. She has actually had this tooth problem for a long time (since I have known her, about two years) and she has always complained about it.
Last Thursday night she barely slept and was in agony with a throbbing tooth, so in the morning I took her to the hospital to have it checked out.
The modern hospital here has a really good dental section with top dentists in the country to help you with any toothy problems.
After xrays and examinations it was clear that Agnes had a very infected, rotted, back wisdom tooth. It had a huge cavity in it, and was already loose.
Basically there was no way to save the tooth.
So she had to brave it and sit back in the dentist chair, as the metal tools and clamps came out to remove the tooth.
Luckily it is a modern hospital, so she could get all the appropriate injections to numb her face and take away most of the pain as they removed it.
At least now she never has to worry about that tooth giving her problems.

I wanted to share a moving story with you that Farouk told me the other day. It is a rather personal story involving Farouk, so I have asked his permission to post it on my blog, as I think many people may find it inspiring and moving.
He said it was fine for me to write about it.
Last week Farouk's uncle passed away. He had liver cancer and has been rather sick the last year. But there is so much to this story surrounding his death.
Farouk's background story is that he is actually an orphan. At the age of 12 both his parents died in a car accident and he and his younger brothers were left as orphans. Farouk could of been ok, because his parents had a bit of wealth which could of helped him and his brothers. But this uncle took all of the wealth from Farouk's deceased parents, and then outcasted Farouk and his brothers to fend for themselves.
The next 8 or 9 years of life for Farouk would include extreme poverty, homelessness, hard labor, scavenging for food just to get by, and a tragic way of life.
Farouk basically managed to get himself, and the brother that follows him, through high school (minus the last two years). This was not easy, it included a traumatic life, where Farouk's only way of survival to help him and his brothers, was indoctrination into a very hardcore gang. Farouk still carries some of the scars on him, in regards to some of the things he was involved in with this gang, just to survive.

And that is what Farouk is, a survivor.

He managed to get his life together and have his life turned around by the gospel, to where he is now a positive force for good in the community, instead of one of destruction and violence.
And Farouk was propelled into this tragic hard life, all because his uncle refused to care for them, and took the money rightfully inherited to Farouk and his brothers.
Farouk obviously carried around a lot of resentment towards his uncle over the years, due to the hurt and pain he caused him.
The last few years though it seems that his uncle, nearing the end of his life, was realizing the pain he had caused, and tried to make amends.
He started sponsoring Farouk's youngest brother, and a number of times asked Farouk to meet with him.
Farouk never got to meet with him, and has been hesitant over the years.
But last week, as his uncle was dying in the hospital, he begged his family to contact Farouk so he could speak to him before he died.
It seemed he was desperate to talk to Farouk and make things right before he passed away.
Farouk got the call and rode his bike as fast as he could to the hospital, only to find that as he rushed into the room, his uncle had died only a minute or so ago.
Farouk said the body was still warm. He was that close.
Obviously this hurt Farouk so much, because he had forgiven his uncle in his heart, and had never got the chance to tell him.

But what happened next was truly moving.

The doctor approached Farouk and asked him if he was the nephew that the uncle was desperate to see. After confirming this, the doctor told Farouk to reach into his uncles back pocket, as his uncle had told the doctor to keep it a secret, if he died and Farouk hadn't come yet.
Farouk pulled out a letter addressed to him from the back pocket of his dead uncle.
As Farouk opened it up and read it, he told me that he begun to cry in the hospital. The letter basically confessed everything his uncle had done to him, and was saying that he was greatly sorry for what he did to Farouk, and he was asking Farouk to please forgive him.
Farouk told me that at the bottom of the letter he found directions to go with his family and relatives to a certain bank, where Farouk's uncle had deposited something for the whole family.
So after arranging the body for burial, the whole family went to the bank. This uncle of Farouk's actually left behind 13 children, so there were many uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers and children going along to the bank to see what Farouk's uncle had left behind for them all.
When they arrived they found that the bank was holding a letter from the uncle, and would not give it to anyone but Farouk. As the family stood around the bank, Farouk opened the letter to find that it was his uncles will.
Farouk's uncle was actually rather wealthy, and owned a house, a large property and a few machines for sugar cane planting.
As they read the will together they were all shocked to see that the uncle had left every bit of wealth and property he had owned, to Farouk.
This is a man who left behind 13 children, all very poor, but was obviously so convicted on how he had treated Farouk, that he left everything in his name.
Everything.
But the part that moved me the most, was when Farouk explained to me, with tears in everybody's eye, wondering what Farouk would do, he looked up at them and said something that would shock them. Farouk told them that he was doing ok, he had a job with YSU and was able to support his family. And then he told them that he would hand over everything back to the children and family of his uncle.
He gave it all away.
You may not realize the significance of this. Here in Uganda, everyone dreams of having their own house and property, and here was Farouk giving it all away, when he rightfully should of owned it, especially after everything his uncle did to him.
He told me that all his cousins came to him with tears in their eyes, thanking Farouk from the bottom of their hearts that he would give all of this wealth to them, especially after what his uncle did to him.
He then told his family that he had forgiven his uncle from the bottom of his heart.

It was a family reconciled.

I remember sitting in my room talking about it with Farouk, when he told me everything. He had been rather emotional for a few days so I had wanted to know what had been bothering him, when he told me all of this.
But he then said to me something that moved me. He said "Brother, the reason I can forgive my uncle, and the reason I need to forgive him, is because Jesus told us to forgive. And the way I will be forgiven reflects on how I forgive others".
He then told me that he doesn't need all this wealth, because the bible tells him to store up treasures in heaven, and not to be consumed with storing up treasures here on earth.
Here is a guy who has been betrayed, an orphan, a reject, an outcast, who has lived his life in extreme poverty, finally getting the chance at a life of wealth.
And yet he gave it all away in an instant, out of love for his cousins who are struggling and need help.
Farouk is just getting by, and so he said "I have all that I need right now, let me trust in God for the future"
Let this be a lesson for all of us. Are we storing up our treasures here on earth, where moths and rust eat away? Or is our treasure somewhere else .. somewhere more eternal?
And here is Farouk, someone who was betrayed, and as a result of that betrayal, lived a life of pain so hard we in the west couldn't quite understand it, saying that he forgives the one who caused him that pain.
Are you able to forgive those people you are angry at? What small petty things cause you to hold grudges towards others? Or perhaps it is something large, maybe you have been hurt in a huge way? But do you have peace in your heart by holding onto that anger?
Let us use this example to make peace with those we are angry with.

Let us use this example to live for what really matters.

And even though Farouk is now going to struggle paying for his younger brother, who was being supported by his uncle for school fees, and we are looking together to try and find a sponsor for him, he still has faith and trust in God that what will be, will be.
Do you have that faith? are you willing to let things go and put your trust in God, instead of finding security in your wealth?

It is a challenge to all of us.

But as I told Farouk, in the end it will be 'oh so worth it!
In the end, it will be those great acts of love, and faith in God that will pay off, and all the wealth in the world will not save your soul.

Birthday Cheer!

I forgot to write in my last blog about my birthday, so I thought I would write a brief sum up.
Last Wednesday I turned 27, and got a special birthday treatment.
The day started with Agnes coming over for breakfast. After she finished teaching, I noticed she was running in and out of my bedroom a lot, I suspected she was up to something.
When I tried to go downstairs she wouldn't let me and told me to wait.
So around lunch time I was told to empty my pockets and come downstairs. I crept down the stairs suspiciously and looked into the living room.
No one was there.
I then walked outside to a burst of "Happy Birthday" from the tailoring class, plus Farouk and Agnes. They then sang happy birthday to me while holding signs for me.
While they were doing this I noticed one of the girls was shaking up a bottle of coke rather violently.
I started getting worried.
Once they finished singing happy birthday they all yelled "Baby shower!" and next thing I know the bottle of coke was opened up and poured all over me.
Farouk, rather excitedly, also poured a bucket of water over me. After this strange violation I was told to sit down and cut a muffin with one of the girls. Then I was force fed the muffin.
I'm not quite sure if this is a normal thing, and whether I should laugh or cry, but the girls seemed to be having fun.
Afterwards they all gave me small gifts, like pk chewing gum, or lollipops, or an avocado, and they also gave me hand written letters of love and appreciation for my birthday.
It was all very sweet.
Agnes then cooked me a yummy healthy meal, since I have been eating really badly lately.
That night Agnes and I also went out to a pork joint. Basically a little shady bar with people boozing, where you buy a plate of the most delicious pork and share between the two of you.
All in all it was a typical African birthday .. full of surprises.

 

Church introductions and more diseases.

I will keep this blog post a bit short, as I am not feeling well and really struggling with sickness at the moment.

After many weeks of feeling so weak, shivering, sweating, waking up with headaches and having joint pain, I decided I should go to the good modern hospital here called Alishafa.
I was getting very tired of constantly being sick and not being able to spend a few hours doing activities before I needed to lie down again.
After more blood tests and a good examination from a professional doctor I was diagnosed with Typhoid and Brucellosis. The typhoid is still from last time and wasn't fully treated so I am now on powerful medication (The best type you can get, the doctor said).
The other disease 'Brucellosis' comes from contact with cows carrying the virus. You can get it from drinking milk or eating meat not quite cooked.
This makes sense as I often eat at dimly lit restaurants, where feral cats are running between your legs, and you can't see the food being prepared. As much as I love eating at these places I may have to stop going there. Luckily for me I am getting married in two months to someone who loves to cook ;).
The disease can be tricky to treat and can last for months, even years sometimes. It can develop into a chronic level which may be similarly compared to something like chronic fatigue. Continually tired and weak and feeling sick. If not treated it can also turn into a serious illness that effects bone marrow.
You can say I am glad I got diagnosed fairly early.
It was quite clear this is what has been causing me to feel so weak the last month or so.
The treatment is a bit tricky, so he wanted to get me imported medicines from Germany, instead of the cheap alternatives floating around. A bit expensive, but worth the extra money.
So I will be trying to recover for the next few weeks. Keep me in your prayers as I am really coping it here! I also have a bad cough, chest infection type thing that I need to get medicine for.
Feels like my body just caving in.

Otherwise I got introduced at the church Agnes goes to the other day. It was a fairly large church, and obviously has good leadership structure, and lots of great programs. Was a bit too prosperity gospel for me, but its always nice to visit a new church.
When it was time to introduce me, the pastor got up and stated to the church "We have a young man here who is going to take one of our daughters hand in marriage, can anyone find him?" At this point they played some upbeat African music, while everyone looked around the church 'pretending' to try and find me. I say pretending because everyone knows it is Agnes getting married, and everyone knows she is marrying a white man, and the only white man in the church was me.
Not too hard to find me.
Farouk had come along with me for support (as I am not allowed to come with Agnes or sit next to her .. more cultural things to obey) and so we also joined in with the pretending of trying to find this mystery man.
An elder of the church then came and picked me out of the crowd and hugged me, then grabbed my hand to bring me to the front of the church. He then told me I needed to dance.
So while everyone screamed and laughed at us, Farouk, this elder, and myself all danced to the front of the church.
Not embarrassing at all.
Then they picked Agnes out from the crowd and she also danced to the front of the church with her entourage following her. We then gave a little talk each and then the pastor came to pray over us. It got interesting here because the pastor asked us to kneel down on the ground. I went to kneel down and everyone started laughing at me. They were just laughing because it was funny for them to see a white man kneel, but I got a little confused and stood back up to ask the pastor if I should kneel too.
You see in society here, in many situations of greetings, women kneel down, but men are expected to stand and never do such a thing. So It flashed through my head that perhaps this is why they all laughed at me. But it become apparent these cultural protocols don't apply to this situation I was in, because when I asked the pastor if I should also kneel he looked at me funny and said "Do you have something wrong with your knees?"
I said "no no its ok" and quickly knelt down, while everyone laughed at me some more.

I am such a white boy.

After a long prayer, which I didn't pay any attention too because I was just praying it would hurry up, because my knees actually did start hurting on the concrete, we were finally allowed to 'dance' back to our seats.
Another interesting experience. Sometimes I have to laugh, I used to think I had a really good grip on the cultural stuff here, and in many cases I really do, but getting married to a Ugandan women can make me feel like I am just scratching the surface on the deeply rooted cultural norms here.
Other wise everyone was so excited and happy for us, and we got a lot of people in her church supporting us.

If you read my last blog post you may have read about a man named beeyo who had an extremely infected foot. We have managed to get him treated over the last few weeks (with a few missing days here and there, with him nowhere to be found) and his foot has really healed.
It has been quite funny trying to get him treated, as he often is so off in his own world, that he will walk around in bare feet in the mud, or searching for hidden treasures in a trash heap, while his infected wound is at risk of getting very dirty.
He came around to my house the other day with his walking cane and his mongrel looking dog following him. He came to see me and to thank me, continually repeating "in the name of Jesus, God bless you".
He told me he wanted to give me a plot of his land and put me in the lease for it, and include me in his will.
The interesting thing is the man is actually quite wealthy, despite his appearance. He used to be a town counselor here and was a very respected man in the community until he went mad and the alcohol ravaged his mind.
I tried to tell him it is not necessary and that he should give the plot of land to his family, but he wouldn't have it, telling me "No one wanted to help me, you were the only one who helped me".
Farouk told me later that its quite possible the family were waiting for him to die so they could inherit his wealth.
I really really don't want to be given the land and to be put in the lease, and now Beeyo is trying to convince me to come to his place on Sunday so all his relatives can see, and witness, that he is giving me the plot of land.
Not sure how I am going to get out of this one haha.
Never a dull moment in Uganda.

Otherwise things have been a bit rough here in Uganda. I have a lot of things to work on in regards to my upcoming wedding, and also YSU projects, and this sickness has really knocked me back a bit.
I am also fairly conservative with this sort of stuff, but I feel I have had a lot of spiritual opposition lately. Without going into details, to preserve and protect the identities of certain people, I have been involved in a situation here, where I have aimed to respond in a biblical way, holding onto truth and integrity.
I have tried to take the role of defending the weak and abused and trying to act in a way I could see Jesus responding. I have also approached and corrected what one could say is a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'. Even doing things in a gentle, humble way, with no intention of trying to bring anyone down, and trying to do everything from a position of love, I have still felt some serious opposition.
Try and be a light against the darkness and it will bound to happen soon enough.
I have no shock or surprise over it, or even the sickness for that matter. I fully expect and embrace any suffering here on the mission field. Christ is more then enough for me.
I want to live a life that shows the world that my treasure is in heaven and not on earth. And even though I can fall and fail, as all humans do, I feel so confident and secure in my faith, and in my position before God.
Not because of anything I do, but purely because of what God does for me, and through me.
So please keep me in your prayers during this tough season, I am feeling a bit of the weight on the Calvary road of suffering.
But if it can glorify God and show to those around me, how satisfying He really is, I wouldn't have it any other way.
He truly is more then enough!

Sickness, and encounters with the outcasts.

The last two weeks has seen me getting very very sick. I had malaria a while back and I seemed to get better from it after a few days. But about one week later I woke up with a splitting headache and a very weak feeling. Farouk encouraged me to go check it out at the local medical center, which I had just been at one week before. My nurse Olivia, who knows me well now, wanted to take a big amount of blood from me and check to see if I had any typhoid, as well as malaria. After checking she came back and told me that I did have malaria, and a very strong case of typhoid.

I had my typhoid vaccination about four years ago, but it seems it only lasts about three years, so I was well and truly sick with this potentially lethal disease.

You can get Typhoid from drinking the water here (which I am always careful not to do) but apparently it’s possible to catch it from eating street food (food sold on street stalls) which is something I do regularly.

I ended up having to get a cannula in my hand so they could pump medicine directly into my veins. The first lot they put in made me feel very ooazy, as I told the nurse that I needed to lie down. I ended up fainting slightly onto the sick bed in the medical centre, and had to wait about 15 minutes until my next injection.

Overall I had to have nine injections over the course of three days, including one very painful penicillin shot in my bum. One of the nurses laughed, and said she was happy as she has never got to see a muzungu’s (white mans) bum. The other nurse said she didn’t want to see because she ‘feared’ my skin, it was too white for her. When I told Agnes this it didn’t seem to faze her and she just laughed.
So I spent a few very sick days in bed due to the two life threatening diseases and the strong medication being pumped into me.

I was also told to keep the cannula (a needle thing that stays in your arm that you can attach drips into) in my hand for the night so they could use it to put medicine in the next day. I remember just before bed though it was driving me crazy. It is such a disgusting feeling, having this little tube up one of your veins, it’s like your whole body is crying out that it doesn’t want it in there. And when I would turn my hand slightly the tube would push against the vein and it would send shots of pain up my arm.
Farouk and I ended up working out how to pull it out, and I just bought a new one the next day to go into my other hand.
I was also very watchful to make sure all the needles going into me where fresh out of the packet. Seeing as I am in a little back ally medical clinic in Uganda, I thought it might be worth just checking on that one.

Our house has also been cut off from power for the last two weeks as well. It seems when we moved in our power meter was not working right, and our landlord was not aware of this. We ended up going and paying for a new meter from the power company almost two months ago. But this is Uganda so things take time. We were still connected to power and allowed to stay like that, we just had to show our receipt when the power company came to cut us off.
Anyway they came, but Farouk was out, and our neighbour told them we didn’t have a receipt (even though we told him we do, and if the power people come and Farouk is out, to just get Beatrice to show the receipt).
So we got cut off and we are still trying to hassle the power company to hurry up and put us back on. They keep saying tomorrow, but it has been about five ‘tomorrows’ now.

Hopefully everything will be sorted by Monday.
I have been reading books by candle light though, which has been sort of romantic.
I remember one night when I had the cannula in my arm, and was feeling very sick from the typhoid and malaria, I pulled out the little Gideon bible next to me and read it in the candle light, while I ate my plain rice with my bare hands.
I actually felt really content and happy in that moment, and I had a giggle over it all. Maybe I am getting closer to what Paul talked about when he said he had learnt to be content in Christ in all situations.

Today was an interesting day in little gospel lessons, and the power of grace pulling on the heart strings.
Farouk and I decided to go to bugembee to eat some food. As we were walking to catch a taxi we passed a few men who were walking, one of them screaming in a very angry sounding voice as he preached.
This is something you see often here, street preachers that have taken it to an extreme, where you cannot even understand them because they scream so loud.
I kind of know the man in the area, so as we passed him, and he screamed in our direction, I calmly asked him “Sir why are you so angry?”
He responded by yelling at me and asking what I had to say, and I simply asked again why he was yelling so much. He stated that the bible says to go and preach the gospel, to which I agreed, but then said “but why do you have to yell it at people?”
He kind of laughed and then kept walking, and Farouk and I noticed he was very quiet as he walked away, as perhaps he had gotten embarrassed.

At first I smirked with Farouk, but it wasn't long after that when the stain of smugness was recognized on my own heart. As much I am not a fan of this type of preaching, I really started questioning and wrestling with myself. Was that really the most loving way to interact with that man?
It may sound harmless how I questioned him, but I know within my own heart that my questioning came from a frustration of being kept awake all night by these types of pastors, who scream and yell into their jacked up microphones all night, every Friday night.
I have to be so careful not to hold a sense of arrogance towards these types of people, just because I believe how they are doing something is not the right way of going about it.
And I guess we can all get caught up in not extending love to the people who don’t preach with love.

I couldn’t dwell on this too long though as what came next completely surprised Farouk and I.

If you remember a few weeks ago I wrote in my blog about the local drunken villager coming and asking for prayer after saying he was knocked by a motor bike. If you read the blog you would know that I felt guilty that I hadn’t reached out more to this man.

Well it seems like God wanted to give me another chance.

As we walked past some shops this man yelled out to us, and I went to go shake his hand. He started telling us that he had another injury on his foot and he started to take of his sock as he wanted to show us.
When he took of his sock and showed us the bottom of his foot Farouk and I cringed in horror. This man’s foot had a seriously deep and disturbing wound that took up most of the bottom of his foot. I am talking about a massive hole in his foot that looked like it was rotting away. 

It was gross.

I knew straight away this guy would need medical treatment as he could quite easily loose a leg or get a lethal infection if left alone. I knew the man had no way of paying for it himself, as he was lying in the dirt with a torn pair of pants and no top. He then started pouring his little bottle of bootleg local booze on his wound as he smiled at me and waved his little Gideon bible around to show that he had been reading.

Farouk and I got him up and put him on a boda boda (motor bike taxi) and got it to take him to the local medical center (same one I had been to when sick) as Farouk and I walked the short distance to meet him there.
When Nurse Olivia saw the wound she also cringed and said that it would take serious treatment, the guy basically needs a shot every day for the next ten days. Our friend was clearly drunk, and Farouk explained to him we would promise to pay all his treatment but he has to commit to coming to the medical centre every day to get his shot. Farouk also asked the man to please take a bath before the nurse works on him, as he really stunk.

It was quite a sight as the man sat on the hospital floor shaking his head strangely, with his foot sticking up in the air. He really is an eccentric character, and seeing him with his bottle of booze in one hand and his little bible in the other made me laugh.
We gave him money to take a boda boda back to where he lives, to bath and rest before he would come back in the afternoon, and we promised to buy him shoes so he would stop walking around on the ground with bare feet, and infecting his foot even more.

He was so thankful and kept waving his bible and saying "God bless".

Often a man like that would be so looked down upon here in society, especially by the church, due to his drinking. But I can’t help but think of the verse that says “the first will be last, and the last will be first”. I know many pastors who may be well respected in the community, but have a very strong air of pride around them. I have no doubt that this drunken lowly man would be the first to humble himself before God and recognise his need for a saviour. Sometimes I have a feeling that we will actually be very surprised to find out who will be in the Kingdom.

So for the next few days I will go to the medical center and pay in small amounts, depending on whether he comes for his medicine or not. Please pray that he commits to going, because the wound is very very serious.(Although much later that afternoon I went to the medical center to pay for his evening dose of medication, and they said they had cleaned him up, gave him injections, and wrapped and bandaged his wound, as well as give him the shoes. A little later I met him on the way and of course I find him walking in bare feet with his wound in the dirt. He showed me where they had cleaned up the wound, and I got to see how deep it actually was, to the point of almost seeing bone. I tried to explain to him that he can't be walking around in bare feet, and he nodded and agreed. He actually speaks really good English, but how do you get something through to such a sporadic crazy man)

After we had dropped him at the center, Farouk and I went to town to go eat some food, but Farouk couldn't eat meat because he kept thinking of the guys’ foot. I had no problem though and gobbled down some grizzly, tough meat.
After buying some shoes for the man and dropping them off at the medical center, Farouk and I headed home. 

But it seems God was not done with us for the day.

As we walked past an old empty shell of an unused church, we noticed a drunken street youth, passed out, propped up against the wall, all by himself. 

We called out to him for a bit but he was well and truly out of it, and seemed to be sleeping off his drunkenness. Farouk and I then went to a local shop and went halves and bought a bottle of water. We then walked back to the boy and while trying to snuffle our giggles, quietly placed the cold bottle of water in between his legs in front of him. 

We laughed the whole way home, as we imagined him waking up from his drunken stupor with a throbbing headache in the abandoned church, and finding a full bottle of fresh cold water sitting in front of him. Farouk started joking that maybe he will get freaked out seeing as he was in a church, and that he may think the water was a divine gift, and it might end up making him turn his life around.

Life is always interesting here. I feel so blessed that I am surrounded by daily opportunities to be able to walk like Jesus.
Some days I don’t though. 

Some days I am so caught up in my own life that I walk on by and don’t think about those around me, selfishly consumed with the day’s tasks.
But other days, I have a real sense of God’s love and grace, and feel the weight of it as I encounter people who are needing his love and grace shown to them.
This are the days I love, and I believe these are the days that will matter in the end.

So if you feel like praying for me, I would request you pray for this old man with the wounded foot, and the drunken street boy. Who knows what it just may do.

God bless.