In the Village

On Tuesday morning we left to go to a village where we would be speaking all day. We are learning constantly that we need to be flexible and not worry about time here, but it was rather humorous when we were supposed to begin speaking at 9:00am and didn't actually start until 1:00pm. This is not an uncommon experience for us! Haha. The village had apparently rarely, if ever, seen white people before, so there were a lot of wide eyed and blushing kids. All the kids would be staring at me, and then when I look at them they would turn away and giggle, only to look back at me again. It was a fun little game we played!

We had to use translators, and even still it was hard to know how much was getting through the communication barriers. Like I mentioned before, they have a different culture in certain areas here where they won't give as much verbal or body language in response. Yet in spite of all of that, I could tell that we were very appreciate and loved there. They always smiled when we were around, especially when Kevin and I played futbol with a team in the early evening. I tried to hustle as hard as I could, but I still was no match for these experienced guys. I've found that I am generally as good as about a 12 year old guy, and once they are older than that I am in trouble. We then spent the night in this village with no electricity, as I was in my sleeping bag on the hard cement of a hut under a mosquito net held up by two chairs. As hard as it sounds, I actually enjoyed being able to be with them and live like them, if only for a day. I didn't even mind not eating much because no one else around me had much to eat. It is a lot easier to sacrifice when I am surrounded by the people who I am sacrificing for, as opposed to when I am in the US surrounded by wealth.

I am seeing a lot of things that appear to have been exported from the West into the church here unfortunately, from the formality and structure of worship services to the large building that the diocese is in process of building here. But the saddest of all that I have found is the common "pray the prayer" sort of evangelism that offers cheap, watered down salvation with no cost of discipleship. I am still struggling with how to approach this, but yesterday there was a guy who we didn't know who stood up and did an altar call for salvation without explaining the gospel well when I was supposed to preach. There were several secondary students that came forward, so I changed my sermon on the spot and talked with them instead about the cost of discipleship and how Jesus responded to large crowds. I hope that they understand more, but it is unfortunately similar to the US in the sense that Christianity has become a mile wide and about two inches deep in many places here in Uganda, with anywhere from 80-90% of people professing Christ. Now there are many differences, and there is much that is alive here (especially in those who we are working closely with...very godly men), but it is just sad to see how the West has influenced in such a poor way through various missionaries, crummy TV preachers, the Jesus film, and other forms of media.

It is good though that I am learning more and more of what these people need in our teaching, and I am growing in boldness for speaking the truth. It has been hard because I am so used to teaching with confidence and knowing what I should teach on, but this has been more difficult. I feel like I am starting to understand what the Lord wants me to speak on now, though it may change from place to place.

Thanks for your prayers. I am learning more and more. I was very humbled to learn that many of the children in the village we were just at often have just one meal a day. These are some of the coolest, sweetest kids you will ever meet. Why is there such a disparity between them and us? Why do we stuff ourselves and they have so little? Lord please keep these questions at the forefront of my mind, because I know how much my flesh wishes to ignore them. I also want to be identifying more with their pain, and really entering into their struggles. This is hard though, because the implications on my life going forward will continue to be great.