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More photos accompanying this update can be viewed by clicking here
GOAT GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE…
Here is something you don’t hear being announced very often in the UK during the church announcements. Tucked between the notices for the meeting times and the previous weeks collection totals came the herald of, ‘All of you who have pledged goats, chickens and bananas bring them to church next Sunday!’. Calvary Baptist is going through an exciting time of transition. The church has neither land nor buildings and the basic structure we meet under is only a temporary shack on borrowed land. The church has however identified a plot of land they hope to buy and the church members have mobolised themselves to make 50,000 clay bricks in a bid to raise a church building. In order to raise funds for the purchase of the land and further bricks, the local community was invited to a fundraiser (essentially an auction) where the produce and handicrafts made by church members was sold (see picture 1). Jenny’s chocolate brownies turned in a healthy profit and whilst Graeme was pipped at the post for a succulent looking cockerel he was delighted in his winning bid for a rather plump and juicy looking goat we’ve named ‘Bert’ who whilst exorbitantly over priced should afford a wonderful alternative to turkey come Christmas day. Most pets shouldn’t be just for Christmas - this one really is. (See picture 2)
KASESE EVANGELISM WEEK
It is not the building that makes the church however but the people and later this month the Baptist church is holding an intense week of evangelism for which we would value prayer. A 20 strong team of pastors and choirs are crossing the border from Congo to support the church members in all their outreach activities from the 17 - 23 November. Each morning there will be personal visitations to homes, apologetics seminars in the early afternoon, an open air evangelism crusade at the public park in the late afternoon and the showing of the Jesus film in the evening. Please pray for all the practical arrangements that still need organising but especially that God would be working in the lives of those who do not yet know Him and that people’s hearts and minds would be open to respond to the gospel.
EDUCATION AND JUSTICE WORK TAKES OFF
We have completed our needs assessments and visits to NGOs working in the justice and education sectors including a visit to the high court (which travels to Kasese for one week a year to try serious crimes like murder; the town only having a Magistrates court). We sat in on some of the sessions and were struck by how slow access to justice is in Uganda. The murder case trial we witnessed had started 4 years ago with no end in sight, judgment being delayed until the high court returns next year. Please pray for the UCLF work in Kampala which is working hard to try and help individuals apply for bail whilst they wait for these long trials to be completed. One very positive outcome of our visits to the courts is that the Chief Magistrate is very encouraging of Jenny visiting the prisons to do some self representation workshops with prisoners, the majority of whom have no legal support.
We are also excited that we are now about to launch into some of the programmes we felt called to Uganda to do and the next six weeks sees us traveling around the country and Kasese district to undertake both legal and education workshops and meetings (details to follow in our December newsletter).
THE BUU AGM
We joined several hundred Baptist pastors and church leaders in Kampala for two days for the BUU AGM. Aside from the long administrative reports on the costs of stationary it was so encouraging to hear the reports of all that God is doing through the church across Uganda and so humbling to meet many of the men and women who labour unsalaried and are often overwhelmed by the needs of their congregations (see picture 3).
PERSONAL NEWS: MOVING HOME
The wasted years of indulging in the banal delights of home make over programmes finally paid off when we were able to put into practice all that we learnt as we oversaw the renovations on our new home into which we have now moved (see picture 4). We are hoping that this building will serve more as a mission centre for BMS in western Uganda for as well as our home, the outbuildings will serve as offices and a meeting room as well as a place to put up visiting teams. Whilst lacking the finesse of ‘Justin and Colin’ we are delighted by the work done to renovate the house. We were so happy with the owners willingness to follow rule one of makeovers – paint everything magnolia – that we were even able to forgive her for the hideous mother of pearl, shell shaped lamp shades that she bought especially for us and attached to the wall as she thought they might be ‘to our taste’.
EARTHQUAKES, PESTILENCE AND LIGHTENING STRIKES…
First we were spooked by a small earth tremor that woke us in the middle of the night (we live on the world’s largest (although relatively safe) fault line – the Rift Valley). Then our bed, which had taken four weeks to make, turned out to be full of woodworm and had to be returned to the carpenters. A new bed arrived 4 weeks later – we suspect its the same one - which considering we once waited 8 weeks for DFS to deliver a sofa is not bad going.
But it was the lightening strike that finally made us wonder if someone was trying to tell us something. Kasese lies in the Mt Rwenzori rain shadow (the clouds rise off the Congo forests, drop their rain on the mountain and then dry air sinks down into Kasese) making it the hot, dry place it is.. The rains due at the start of October had been delayed and the church had been praying for the rains to arrive as most of the members had planted their crops and the seeds were beginning to rot. How their prayers have been answered! Everyday we are treated to spectacular lightening storms which whilst awe inspiring also have one small side affect – when they strike you they hurt! Foolishly sitting at the computer during one such storm, lightening hit our house causing a massive surge of power which seamlessly transferred itself into Graeme’s body throwing him several feet across the room and turning the computer powerpacks into toast (thankfully they are covered by warranty and the lovely people at Apple immediate dispatched a new one in the post). Whilst in a lot of pain and very shaken at the time, and despite the frustrating 18 hour power cut that then followed, Graeme is secretly hoping that having survived a lightening strike he has now been imbued with secret powers like the ability to fly or walk through buildings.
AND FINALLY…
SCOTTISH FOOTBALL BECOMES MISSIOLOGICAL TOOL…
For years we have had to suffer the pain and humiliation of supporting Scotland. Drawing with the Faroe Islands and defeat by Costa Rica have all been part of the bumpy ride of being members of the ‘tartan army’. But suddenly it has all become worth it. Football is like a religion here - the football columnist in the national paper has even named his daughter ‘Anfield’ (at least it has a better ring to it then calling her ‘St. James’ Park’) and people are fanatical about ‘The Cranes’ – Uganda’s national team. Whenever we have introduced ourselves as being from Scotland people have become very excited exclaiming, ‘Our new national manger is from Scotland’ – that ‘giant’ of football, Bobby Williamson, former manger of Hibs and Kilmarnock. Could this be the missiological opening we had been hoping for? A chance to meet people on their level, connect with them through their passion then share that there is a truth greater then football out there. Sadly not. ‘Bobby’ has continued in the trend of other Scottish legends by losing his first two games in charge meaning there is now little hope for the Cranes to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. We are now keeping very quiet about our footballing heritage…
IF YOU FEEL ABLE TO PRAY…
Praise God for:
- The encouragement of meeting pastors from all over Uganda at the BUU AGM
- The arrival of the rains which are helping to make the crops grow
- A new house to live in and offices to work from
Please Pray for:
- The week of evangelism in Kasese (17 – 23 November)
- Safety and ability as we spend the next six weeks traveling and running legal and education workshops
- The prison decongestion programme that the UCLF are working on in Kampala
- That we would continue to make time in the busyness of travel and work for our personal devotions
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