A Church has many Purposes...

The day started early with a soft knock on my door at 6:45. At 7:15 we were at breakfast, me eating a package of oatmeal brought from home shared by one of my teammates. Oatmeal has never tasted so good! Then we boarded the bus for an hours drive through fairly good roads to Festo’s church. When the bus stopped, I was sure we were just pausing for a moment. We were in the middle of nowhere with not a building in sight. As the team started to exit the bus I was mystified. I wondered where we were headed with nothing in sight but open countryside. We were greeted at the bus by a group of girls whose smiles just melted our hearts. And then we approached a bridge (and I use that word very loosely). The stream below us was not wide but it was a stream non-the-less. The bridge across the water was made of logs – but they were not laid down in any fashion. It was a challenge at best to get across. And I was only trying to get myself across. I was not responsible for small children; nor was I carrying a child on my back! Once we crossed the bridge it was still quite a hike before the church building came into view. Tree of Life had applied for a grant for the building and had been granted the funds to build the church. Though the building has been completed about a year ago today was the official dedication and Les was honored with cutting the ribbon. As we approached the church the community was there to greet us. The women were dressed in typical Ugandan dress and the men were dressed in their Sunday best. The pews were hard wooden benches with no backs. As usual they sat the Mzungus in the front of the church on very comfortable seating. As for me, I roamed the church taking a million pictures trying to capture the atmosphere. The worship was started by the Pastor saying it was going to be a “short” service today, only two hours! But that was not to be… and not a single one of us was surprised. The choirs sang and danced and they were beautiful! So full of life and joy. It always is wonderful to see the younger girls start to sing and have the older women jump up out of their seats to join in! They do have rhythm! Then we sang as a choir (yes, I was invited to join a choir) and not one single Ugandan even thought about joining in! I’m sure they are still trying to find our rhythm!!

Russell gave the sermon and it was great. The message was on the generosity of God and one of the pastors translated for him. He was so good to listen to and the message was so positive! I missed hearing Scott but Russell was really a blessing and his message hit home in a time and place where we are giving and receiving on a daily basis.

During the service people kept filing in and the benches got more and more full. The church was filled to the brim with people and children were sitting on the floor. I was amazed at how well behaved they were. Not a peep out of any of them (except for the singing). One little boy crawled into my lap and sat there for a portion of the service. He had the smoothest skin and he spent quite a while tracing the veins on my hands. If it wasn’t so dang cute I might have been insulted. He kept whispering to me and I had absolutely no idea what he was saying! He leaned his head against my chest and lay still for a while and then hopped down and went outside to play.

When the service was over (three hours later) they brought in this banquet of food. This is always an awkward time because we know they are feeding us (who need it the least) and not offering it to the congregation who need it so much more. At this point the people of the church rose to leave and there we were left to eat enough food to feed a village. Strange as it all sounds, it is there custom to feed the guests and they would be insulted if we didn’t eat. By the end of the meal my bladder was overly full and I would have traded ALL my worldly possessions for a restroom. Fortunately someone else on the team felt the same way and so we went in search of a bathroom. Let me assure you, it was nothing like you would recognize. But by this point I really didn’t care. It was a small building surrounded by wood walls on three sides (yes, only three sides) with a dirt floor. Sadly, it was wet before I arrived. I’ll let you draw your own conclusion from that! But it served its purpose and I felt much better afterwards. Besides a trip to Uganda isn’t the same until you’ve gone to the bathroom while squatting!

After lunch the rains came and so we decided to set up shop and do just the clinic instead of some of us going out to evangelize. Seeing the amount of rain that fell, I think we made a wise choice.!  The people had been told the clinic would be free so as you can imagine a LOT of people showed up. We also decided to distribute the mercy bags (containing sugar, salt, tea bags and soap) along with mosquito nets to the people there. At first it was crazy. Oh wait a minute. It was crazy for a long time. Everyone wanted to be seen and I think they were afraid we were going to leave before they had their chance. The crowd just pushed in until we were crammed into the front quarter of the church. Every time we would ask that they move back it would last about 30 seconds before the next wave pushed forward. Finally, things settled down a bit – but all in all we saw about 200 people! The first woman Vicki saw had several cuts on her hand that had gotten infected. As Vicki attempted to take the existing Band-Aid off it was apparent that it had stuck to the wound and that removing it was very painful. I held the woman’s hand and though I’m sure she wanted to yell out and cry she was very stoic. Vicki was extremely patient with her and took the time needed to gently remove the gauze. She then soaked the wound, covered it in a medicated cream and gave her both an antibiotic and a mild painkiller. Her comment to me was that they take so few antibiotics that in a week’s time it should be healed completely. Meanwhile at the table with the glasses people were dying to become “four-eyes”. The supply we had was gone in no time. In fact, one elderly gentleman came in wearing a pair of glasses with one of the lenses shattered. We took special care to get him a new pair, which he promptly put in his pocket and put back on his old ones.  I can’t understand this because I can’t stand looking through smudged glasses, much less than broken ones. Maybe he was saving them for a rainy day. Oh, wait, it was raining!!! All in the clinic was a huge success. The team worked very well together, jumping in where needed to insure that everyone was seen. 

While all this was taking place Russell was outside in the rain blowing bubbles with the kids. By the time they were done everyone was drenched but in his words, they were clean. I’m not totally convinced he isn’t having more fun with the bubbles than the kids!

The highlights of the day were:

Adam:  He enjoyed the music and watching the choirs sing and dance.

Stacia:  She enjoyed putting the ringworm medicine on the kids. They did this in the back of the church in a room off the sanctuary (the big room). The kids were very patient and waited their turn and were helpful in pointing out areas on others that needed to be treated. It was nice to be helpful without all the craziness!

Judy:  She loved watching Festo in his own environment and meeting his wife. He seemed so alive and full of spirit. Since it was his church that was being dedicated today he was filled with so much joy.

Vicki:  As we approached the church there was a lady who welcomed us with a high-pitched yell. She was so filled with joy. She was dancing and yelling and was so uninhibited. As the clinic approached she knew it was going to be crazy and so we prayed over the time and she was filled with a sense of peace.

Lynda:  She loved getting off the bus and being greeted by a group of girls who then helped us across the bridge.  They were so welcoming! She also thought the music was great – theirs and ours!

Russell:  He loved having bubble duty in the rain. As he gave each child a chance to blow bubbles they kept saying, “And Me”, “And Me”, “And Me”. And older boy holding the hand of a much younger girl (perhaps a sister) kept asking him to give the girl a chance. This caring touched his heart.

Sylvia:  She was stressed out while giving away the glasses as the people kept pushing and grabbing for a pair, but she loved that during worship she got to sing a song with her husband and son!

Vickie:  She loved how the people (especially the women) really get into the church service. She also loved the teamwork that went into the clinic. Without it, we could not possibly have seen the number of people treated today!

Les:  He enjoyed watching the team work together today. It was great seeing the team work together in such chaos. The team really rolled with the punches.

Hajji:  (he is our driver and one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He also has a great sense of humor). The roads today were very narrow and cars were passing us all the time. He was a little stressed as the driver. Then as we left the church it had been raining and we had to cross back over the infamous bridge. He said he kept looking out the bus window to see who would be the first to take a plunge!!! I think he was disappointed we all made it across in one piece!!!

As for me, I was amazed at the gentleness of those working the clinic. They could have become frustrated and angry at the pushing and lack of personal space that was taking place. Instead, everyone just chilled and took each person one at a time and devoted all the time needed to diagnose and treat. The love shown was incredible.  It was a huge picture day for me. Every time I thought I captured the true essence of what we were doing someone else would do something even more special. That is every photographers dream!

I spoke to Phil tonight and will be visiting with him and the kids on Thursday! So tomorrow we get to sleep until 7:30. That is a dream come true! I miss you all and love you very much.