July 22

Our mood has changed a bit since our initial excitement of arriving here in Rwanda. Today is a difficult day to describe. In fact, probably not until you see some of our pictures and videos will you be able to get a glimpse of the emotional nature of our day.

We ventured out at 10:00am, picked up Pastor James' brother-in-law (Pastor Sam), and headed on our way to our first site. Pastor Sam is our host for our time here in Rwanda. He is an Anglican pastor, a Rwandan Tutsi born in Uganda when his parents fled Uganda during the first genocide in 1959 when the Belgiums left and flipped the ruling system on its head. Pastor Sam tried to return to Rwanda in 1994 after the hundred days of genocide but found it still wasn't a good place to live. He returned for good in 1998.

For those of you who don't know much about the Rwandan genocide, here's a brief history. When Belgium took over colonial rule of Rwanda after WWI, they took the two major ethnic groups--the Hutus and the Tutsi--and drew a deep line between the two. Previously these two groups had lived in harmony, intermarrying and mixing seamlessly. The Belgians, however, needed a way to rule their new territory and decided through confused science that the Tutsi were superior to the Hutus. They placed the minority Tutsis over the majority Hutus.

However, as independence became more of a reality and with the death of the Tutsi King, the Hutus gained power within the country with the aid of the Belgiums. As the Rwandan republic was formed, the Hutu majority were elected into power. This was the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi people.

The pinnacle of this ethnic cleansing was in 1994. In the course of 100 days, over a million Tutsis and their Hutu allies were slaughtered. There is so much failed politics involved with this 100 days, and I encourage you if you are interested to read more. However, all you really need to understand is that the Hutus did not consider the Tutsi to be people. They considered them "cockroaches," and with the help of propaganda and fear, neighbors turned on neighbors and wives turned on husbands and children.

Hopefully with this brief history, you can picture a bit more of what we saw today. Our first visit was to a church about 20km outside of Kigali. The church is the site of a massacre of 5,000 Tutsis. In African culture, churches are seen as spiritual safe havens. When people feel threatened, they flee to the church. That was the case in the Rwandan genocide. Unfortunately the churches failed the people.

As we walked up to this church, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. All I knew was that there was a possibility of seeing bones. Nothing really could have prepared me for what we actually saw. As we walked into the sanctuary where mostly women and children were huddled, we were immediately confronted with deep shelves, four high, hold skull after skull and femur after femur. The sight was both appalling and overwhelming.

However, for some reason, the real traumatic sight for me were the clothes. As I turned around from the bones towards the front of the sanctuary, I became aware that hanging from the walls were layers upon layers of clothes. These soiled clothes belonged to the massacred bodies. The site of these clothes made my knees weak.

I can't describe everything that I saw in that sanctuary, but hanging on a coffin in the front of the sanctuary was a banner that stated, “If you knew me and you knew who you are, you would not have killed me.” As Pastor Sam put it, it basically says that the killing was pointless. The people gained nothing from the killing and really historically were killing people who very well could have been related to them.

Also on this same compound were a Sunday School room where people were also slaughtered and another room where the people were literally burnt alive. Of the 5,000 people who were estimated to be murdered, only 250 have been identified. Why so few? The suggestion is that there is no one left to identify them. Their whole family was slaughtered.

After viewing that church, I thought I had seen the worst. However, our next visit proved me wrong. Pastor Sam took us to a second church, a much larger church. There the people crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, hoping to escape the killing posses coming through. They were not spared. Imagine a church sanctuary the size of Third Reformed and 10,000 people cram into it, and as the military trucks approach, you cling to a hope that maybe you'll be spared. But then you hear the sounds of grenades going off, and you realize that the wall is being blown away bit by bit. And then the screams begin.

Pastor Sam said that the floors were like a river of blood. As I walked through the piles of clothes that covered every pew, I almost had this sense that I was walking on their blood. And when I saw the altar that was still stained with blood, I could almost hear their cries. I have never walked in a place where 10,000 people were killed in a matter of minutes.

Behind the church are the mass graves built for the victims. They are below ground, and people can walk through rows upon rows of bones and caskets for those identified. I forced myself to walk through them, telling myself that it is the least I can do for those who died there.

Following our last church visit, the students grabbed a snack at a mall area in Kigali before we headed off to the Genocide Museum. The museum reminded me of the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and provided a lot of great history for all of us. Also, we were able to put some faces to some of the bones we saw at the churches. In all, it took about an hour and a half to walk through the museum.

Nevertheless, by the time we left the museum, we were completely emotionally spent. Much of our car ride was quiet, as we all tried to let all that we saw sink in. I still can't fully fathom what I saw, but I can tell you that humans are capable of unimaginable evil.

We took many pictures and videos with the hope that when we return they will help us relate what we saw more fully, but I have to be honest. Even walking through the churches and breathing in the air dripping with grief does not give a true picture of the terror, pain, and suffering that occurred on those grounds a decade and a half ago. Only the dead understand.

May God grant us the strength to stand up for what is right, defend those who are helpless, and encourage those who are weak.

July 21

As I sit here in our hotel room in Rwanda, reflecting on the fact that one week from now we will be returning home, I can't help but wonder where all the time has gone. In so many ways, we feel like we have been here for a very long time, but we also feel like we were just getting on the plane in Grand Rapids. God has truly been good to us.

The parting of ways, though, is going to be an emotional one. The students have grown very close to one another through this whole experience. Cultural barriers have been replaced with friendships, and there is no longer a Ugandan team and a North American team. In fact, I laugh a bit to myself now remembering our first meeting--the anxiousness, the nerves, the reservedness. Now there is only laughter, jokes, and true fellowship.

Thank you for praying for the home stays; your prayers were felt. Each student had a very different experience but over all positive. I wish I could tell you all the stories that were told around our circle discussion on Sunday night, but I will tell just a few that I thought were either interesting or meaningful.

Derek (from Toronto area) and Dan (from Kampala) were placed together in the house of a secondary teacher. Typically, teachers live in poor housing because they make so little money, but somehow Robert has managed to build his family a very nice home on a large compound. They even have running water and a water heater. So Derek and Dan were set-up from the beginning to be in a very comfortable setting.

However, God had other things in store for them. Dan woke-up on Friday with a headache, a fever, and the chills. He tried to push through it for most of the day, but by Friday afternoon was reduced to tears and a plead to "go home." He was convinced that he had malaria, although we now believe it was because of an infected wound on his leg. Dan stayed at the host home but spent much of the remainder of his time in bed.

Meanwhile, there was Derek. Capturing Derek's personality in words is quite difficult. He is quiet, but when he speaks, he has the driest sense of humor. He'll say something hilarious, and we'll all be cracking up. Yet when you look back at him, he's stone faced. The students love Derek for this.

While Dan was lying in bed, Derek was interacting with Robert's brother who lives with them. "Uncle Tuf," as he's known to his nieces and nephews, is a hardworking man during the day and an alcoholic at night. As Dan put it, Uncle Tuf can disappear for five minutes and already be drunk. Derek spent most of his nights at Roberts, guiding Uncle Tuf back into the compound, as he staggers and falls.

The beauty in this situation, though, is that Robert and his wife Ann treat Uncle Tuf with enormous grace. They accept him as he is and show him the love of Christ in the midst of his struggles. Uncle Tuf has cuts all over his face from where he has fallen down drunk, but Robert and his wife seem to only see him the way Christ sees him. This was a powerful experience for both Derek and Dan, as they watched what true forgiveness and grace look like.

On the other side of Kabale were Olivia and Faith (from Kampala). They were placed in a home of eight children. For most of the week, these eight children live by themselves, while their mother works in Rwanda and their father drives truck to Nairobi. The two oldest children, Janet and Alice, run the household.

Olivia and Faith said that though there are eight children in the household, you would never be able to tell. The house is quiet and organized, and the boys of the family are rarely seen. They also said that from the moment they walked into the house, they were welcomed with hugs and "we love you." Janet and Alice have a softness and love about them that is beautiful and pure. When Nate, Lydia, and I visited on Saturday, we saw a closeness between the four of them that was amazing for having only spent two days together.

The relationship between Olivia and Faith also seemed to have bloomed. We placed the two of them together because we felt as though they hadn't had the opportunity yet to fully connect. I think it was successful, as they shared how they loved having the chance to get to know each other better. They spent every morning reading their Bibles together and praying. A beautiful picture of community.

So..that leaves us here...in Rwanda. We spent a good portion of yesterday traveling and arrived at our hotel around 3:00pm. The hotel is very nice (even wireless internet). The students were hilarious as they checked out their rooms. Words of "awesome" and "paradise" were thrown around. Today we will be visiting the genocide museums--a church and a memorial. Then this evening we will watch another performance by a dance troupe. I'm looking forward to today.

Our prayer requests now are simple, please pray for the hearts and emotions of the students as they prepare themselves over the next week or so to depart from one another. Please pray for safe travels, and please pray for me. I haven't been feeling the greatest over the last couple of days. I've been dealing with a head cold, and now I'm feeling a bit uneasy in my stomach.

We love you and miss you!

July 16

Isaiah 58

“Why have we fasted,” they say,

“and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?”

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife

and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,

only a day for a man to humble himself?

Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed

and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is no this the the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food wit the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say;

Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a

sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

I was reflecting on this verse this morning and felt convicted of my own hypocrisy. So often I ask God why there is so much injustice in the world; I plead with him in my prayers to right the wrongs of the world. Yet I do nothing. I don't “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free.” Instead, I am content with talking.

Unfortunately, talking does little to truly carry out God's work. I'm not saying that prayers are unimportant or lack power. Sometimes prayers are our greatest weapons, but I can't help but wonder. How much more could the church accomplish if we spent less time in our prayers for the congregation pleading with God to provide and more time being the hands that provide? What if we instead of praying that God help those who are lonely and depressed took action to be the ones to visit and encourage those who are lonely and depressed? What if we
lived out God's calling instead of spoke God's calling?

We as a church do many of these things in different ways. We have Calling Pastors who visit the sick; we bring food in for the poor on Third Sunday for Hunger; we seek shelter for refugees. Yet, so many of us personally do nothing. I ignore the needs of my neighbor, and I turn my cheek to the homeless in the park. My question is how do I personally live it out and not rely only on my passive involvement?

Yesterday as I stared into the eyes of those in unjust situations and saw the pain in their eyes, I thought about how our little acts of mercy can be powerful. We only cleaned a little around their homes, a little that won't go a long way in the end, but the fact that people showed that they cared, brought the love of Christ, carried so much power. I think of the lady I mentioned in my previous post. By asking us to pray for her husband's drinking problem, she was reaching out to us in an act of desperation. She no longer cared what her husband would do to her for speaking out against his drinking problems. She only saw in us her last hope, and yet we brought that glimmer of hope—a hope far bigger and more important than the little acts we did around her home. My encouragement, therefore, to you is to put off the thoughts of, “What can I really do? The problem is too big for me.” Every little act of mercy is important because it carries with it the hope of Christ.

Today we have laid pretty low, doing mostly Bible study and debriefing. The students leave tonight around 6:00pm for their home stays. They will go to five different homes in pairs, except one home where four will go (after one host home fell through). Nate, Lydia, and I will miss them here, but I am excited for them to get to experience new people, hear their stories, and get to know one of the Ugandans on a one-on-one level.

On Monday, we will leave for Rwanda and will stay in the capital city of Kigali for two nights. We will have the opportunity to visit some of the museums from the genocide that took place in the 90s. The trip will be exciting, powerful, moving, and fun. I personally am very excited.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, especially as we travel around the country and Rwanda. Pray that we will continue to sense God moving amongst us. Pray that more cultural walls are removed. We've experienced hurt feelings on both sides, but we are grateful that God has given us the grace to talk through our differences and move beyond them. Pray also that we will be able to continue to fulfill the goals of this trip and be able to identify when they are being met.

Blessings to you all! We look forward to seeing you all in only a matter of weeks.

July 15

July 15

Well, I haven't done a great job of keeping up with this blog since we have been here in Kabale, mostly because we have been so busy and things have been a bit intense. I will try here in this entry to communicate a few of the things we have been up to since being here in Kabale.

After and excruciatingly long 10 hour ride in a bus from Kampala to Kabale, we arrived at the place we would call home for the next two weeks. The compound used to be a orphanage run by Kabale PAG (Penecostal Assemblies of God) but is now just the home of Pastor Moses and his wife Stella and three orphan boys. The boys have been adopted in a way by Moses and Stella. The place isn't huge, only three small rooms and a sitting area. There is an African kitchen outback (if you don't know what that is, we'll have pictures of the place eventually), there are two pit flush toilets (pit toilets which flush in a way when water is dumped down them), and a shower room where bucket showers can be taken privately. We have all adapted to living here by now, but it was a shock to some of the North Americans when we first arrived. Even some of the Kampala kids have never spent much time in a place where there is no toilet.

Over the course of the first couple days, we met all the leaders of the church and their community development project. There is Bishop James (head of the church), Pastor James (who we're spending much time with), Pastor Vincent (a pastor of one of their district churches and the director of the community development), and Maureen (HIV coordinator) and Sharon (PAPE coordinator). They have been excellent hosts, showing us the way that God has been working amongst them and how community development works.

On Saturday, we visited Edson's house in the morning, cleaning around and inside of his house. Edson is 15 years old, HIV positive, and an orphan. His parents died from the disease, and he had been living with his grandmother. However, his grandmother became ill, and his aunt came from Kampala and took his grandmother back with her, leaving Edson to die. People with HIV are still highly discriminated against, so it is not unusual to just leave those with HIV alone to die. People still think that they can get HIV by shaking hands with someone or sharing items with them. Edson is just one example of millions who have similar stories here in Uganda.

Saturday afternoon we traveled to a secondary school, which experienced a fire in June. The boys' dormitory was burned down, and the students lost all of their belongings. We visited the dormitory first, witnessing what a miracle it was that 200 boys got out of the burning building safely without any serious injuries. I personally was overcome with a sense of injustice, reflecting on the vast resources we truly have in education in the U.S. After our time at the dormitory, we visited the new school being built and visited the boys who are now housed there. We shared in song, prayer, and words of encouragement—followed by a rousing game of football (soccer).

Saturday was also special because it was Nate's birthday, and I am happy to announce that I figured out a way to pull off a party this time around. Lydia and Pastor James helped me find a place to get a cake and a present of flowers and new dress pants. Then the students all chipped in and bought Nate a new dress shirt to go with his pants. We surprised him with the cake and presents and shared in a time of laughter and encouragement. It was truly a good day.

Sunday we went to church at Kabale PAG, joining in the worship services and helping with the Sunday School hour, and in the evening we were invited to Bishop James's house for dinner. Truly these people know how to be hospitable, another thing I need to learn better from them. Bishop James put together quite a feast and told us stories late into the evening.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were days of work in the field. Monday we helped mud a church (quite a messy ordeal), Tuesday we helped clean two different wells, and today we visited and cleaned for patients with HIV/AIDS. All three were intense and exhausting experiences, and we have so many stories to share from those times.

However, let me just tell you about one of the patients we visited today. They were the last of three patients, and it was a couple with one child (one on the way). Both the parents and the child are HIV positive and are struggling to get by. The problem isn't that they don't have the access to resources. The problem is that the husband (who probably infected the wife in the first place) has a drinking problem. We asked the couple at the end if they had any prayer requests and the wife responded by saying she wants us to pray for her husband's drinking problem. It took great courage for her to say that as she may be beaten for it, and the look on her face when she said it broke my heart.

I left that home and asked Pastor James how he doesn't get very angry in those situations. He responded that he may have said a few words to the man had we not been there, and he said he gets so angry at the men sometimes for being so irresponsible. Truly, there are so many injustices in this world, and often it is the weak who suffer the most. Not only is this women suffering but their child is suffering as well. Soon there will be another child brought into this world with HIV.

My battery is running low, so I can't say too much more. However, please keep the students in your prayers as they will be doing home stays for the next three days. It will be an intense but moving experience for them all. We miss you all and love you lots!

Monday, July 6

Monday, July 6

I have to admit that I am writing this on Tuesday morning, so I have a bit more perspective on the activities of yesterday. You see for much of yesterday morning I lived in a state of stubbornness. I didn't want to admit that the spiritual realm that I live in is imperfect and that spiritually I have a lot to learn from the Ugandans. Though I know this to be the truth in my heart, my head was filled with pride and arrogance. I kept wanting to say, “You don't know the culture I live in. The church in America is trying its best.”

Okay, perhaps I need to back up a bit. Yesterday, we stuck around the hotel, and the Ugandans joined us. The theme of yesterday's training was supposed to be Community Development. However, we are trying to start the day with a time of joint devotions, a time to come together as Christians to praise God and talk about the ways he is revealing himself to us. Well, this proved to be more difficult than one would assume, as cultural differences led to an awkwardness during the time of devotion. You see, as we were sharing, only the Ugandans felt a freeness to express themselves while the North Americans felt a bit uncomfortable and a bit inferior in the ways that God has revealed himself.

Truthfully, I felt a tightness during the whole experience, feeling a bit resentful that perhaps the Ugandans didn't understand the spirituality of North America (well, at least the Reformed spirituality of North America). I knew that the North Americans were feeling like it was a bit of a competition—who did God reveal himself to in the most powerful way. Also, when one of the North Americans revealed a struggle or question, the Ugandans felt the need to express the lesson that God might be trying to express to the North American students, not understanding that sometimes in North America, we express ourselves only to be heard. Though God can certainly speak through them to us (and has in many ways already), sometimes we simply need to just be quiet and still and wait for God to reveal to us what he's trying to teach us.

Well, my attitude was certainly arrogant because I failed to see that perhaps we don't understand their spirituality all that well either and that we haven't intentionally built in a time for the students to share a bit of where they come from spiritually. So, instead of jumping right into Community Development, Nate and I decided to take a good portion of the afternoon to allow the students to share with each other a bit about the churches they come from. We set the discussion up in a very North American way, and it was probably a bit uncomfortable—too boxed in—for the Ugandans. However, at the end of the discussion, Nate wrapped it up by stating that the lesson of this exercise is not only to teach one another about where we come from but understand that because of cultural differences listening and asking questions is important. Sometimes when we express something the receiver might understand it one way while we intended for it to be understood in a completely different way. I think this was a lesson appreciated by all.

This brings me back to the lesson I didn't want to learn. During the group sharing time at the end of the partner sharing time, there was a common theme struck on by both the Ugandan students and the North American students. The Ugandan students stated that their churches' strengths were caring for the community and living in community with one another. They stated that their churches struggled with finances and church organization. The American students for the most part stated that their churches were fantastic at sharing their finances and had very good structure and accountability. However, almost all of them stated that their church did a poor job of building community and reaching out to the community.

So, in truth there are things that we can learn from each other, but I could feel the deep longing of the North American students to be a part of the passionate community development that is taking place here in Africa. Truthfully, it made me sad. Why are we in the RCA and CRC being so complacent when it comes to building community? Why are we as North Americans so ignorant of our own selfish, individualistic attitudes? Why are we such private people, when God calls us to share as a community our trials, temptations, and sorrows as well as our joys?

I believe that people in North America are looking for something more. I believe that they desire to find a way out of their isolation and loneliness. And I believe that we as a church need to get off our butts and show them that God has an answer for that loneliness. We need to show them that being a Christian is more than a set of rules, more than a set of judgments, more than a set of Bible stories that might not relate to their lives. Being a Christian should be about living in community, sharing the grace that Christ first shared with us. I pray that the church in North America will one day open their eyes and feel the deep call to build that community—a community that is not just about throwing money at the problem but about sitting down together (rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic) and experiencing the joy of Christ together. I pray that one day our community will mimic in many ways the community here in Africa—where church is home and where family is more than just our immediate family but all in our community.

I recognize that there is more to all of this than my simple hopes, as our culture places some very difficult roadblocks to achieving that purpose. Hopefully, though, these few students will learn some practical ways to practice that community over the next couple of weeks and will be able to bring those ideas back to their churches. This is Nate and I's hope.

Otherwise, all is well here. The students are truly loving each other, and Nate, Lydia, and I continue to figure out what it means to lead together. It has been frustrating at times, but we are learning to share grace and receive grace.

Olivia and Emily are supposed to receive their luggage today (Tuesday, July 7). I think that they are both at the end of their patience and grace levels, so it is good that the luggage is near. I am very proud of them for their perseverance. Mark is feeling better. Immodium did miracles. Nate has a bit of a sore throat, so we're trying to get him healthy now. Otherwise, God is good, and we are doing well. The students will go on home visits tonight to one of the Ugandan youth's home. Then on Thursday we will travel to Kabale, where we will all live in one house for a week—cooking, cleaning, and living together. Then they will split off into home visits for a week. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Blessings to you all!

Sunday, July 5

Sunday, July 5

Have you ever felt the tears of another? I mean truly felt them, trickling down your throat to form pools in your soul? I would say that most of us have had that sensation at some point, whether it was a moment of complete, heart wrenching grief or a moment of pure joy. If you haven't, then I would dare say that you haven't experienced true community before, the kind of community in which I believe Christ calls us to dwell.

Today was a day of true community. We worshiped, testified, cried, and danced together all in one strange yet magnificent day. We started out by worshiping together at All Saints' Cathedral, an Anglican church, where we were commissioned as an entire team by the Provost of the church. The North American students were humbled and encouraged by the service, especially enjoying the passionate and Spirit-filled worship music, and I was like a kid in a candy shop when I was able to purchase a book of poetry written by the Chief Justice of Uganda, who was on hand to sign it as well. The foreword of the book was written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, so I was sure that it would have a true African spirit in each poem.

After the service we were invited to one of the Ugandan student's home (Inki), where her mother catered a large, elaborate meal for all of us. Prior to lunch, though, we took a tour of Inki's home, which is larger than Nate and I's home and artfully laid out, and played a game of four on the couch, which is fast becoming a favorite of both the North Americans and the Ugandans. Then we enjoyed the feast prepared for us—fish, chicken, beef, beef stir fry, masoke, cooked plantains, fried rice, steamed rice, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans, fresh bananas, watermelon, pineapple, papaya, chapati, bread, soup...you get the idea.

During lunch, I took a moment to look around, and my heart almost burst at the sight before me. Imagine for a moment tables set up in a u-shape, and like salt and pepper, these tables are dotted with white and black faces. These faces are not only enjoying a meal together, but they are lit up with pure joy—a joy that emanates from one's soul. They are laughing together, taking pictures together (notice not of one another but together), and truly crossing cultural barriers to understand each other. This sight is a dream of mine, a dream that Africans and North Americans would be able to sit down at a table together as equals—understanding that each has something to share and that matters of the soul defy all color barriers, all country barriers. I believe that God was very pleased with our lunch.

And if he was pleased with our lunch, our time after lunch must have been pure gold to him. After a bit of silly songs to lighten up our overloaded stomachs, we sat down to listen to each other's testimonies. We had asked the students on Saturday to write out their testimonies, asking the questions of when did they first respond to the beckoning call of God and how has he continued to work in their lives. I knew right away that this time of testimony would be powerful, as I looked around at all the faces of the students who fidgeted a bit of uncomfortably. I knew a wall was about to come down.

God did not disappoint. You see, it was at this moment when we all were given a chance to feel the tears another. These tears were sometimes tears of joy and praise for the way that God has blessed them, and sometimes they were tears of frustration and grief. Either way, they were shared together. A wall fell with a great, thunderous thud, and a community of united believers was formed. And I believe God was jumping up and down in heaven saying, “Yes! Now that is truly living!”

Then we danced. Actually, in reality it was like four hours later, but time means nothing here. After sharing a prayer of blessing on Inki's mother for her amazing hospitality and spiritual encouragement, we were off to our next stop—a cultural presentation at the Nekura Cultural Center. The presentation was a lively, hilarious, and moving performance of the different dances and songs of the tribes of Uganda. Together with the Ugandan students, for whom this was their first time seeing this presentation as well, the North American students were able to see the beauty and rhythm of African song and dance. Then towards then end of the three hour show, the MC asked us all to the front, where all the guests (it was a highly white-faced crowd from the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia) were greeted. Then he asked us all to join in dance, and together we “got down.” What fun it is to lose all inhibitions and feel the beat of the drums flow through your body. Though the “flow” was no where as beautiful as the Ugandan dancers' it was still filled with joy.

That brings me to my conclusion for the day, which I will end with a few prayer requests. I ask that you pray for Mark (from Alberta, CA) who has been feeling a little rough today. He thought he was dehydrated, but I contend that it was more a lack of sleep. He had a headache for most of the day and a bit of a fever. I am praying that it is something that can be fixed with a good night of sleep. I also ask that you pray for me, as I sprained my ankle in a spirited game of soccer (football) last night. I was accidentally slide tackled from behind and twisted my right ankle. It isn't a devastating sprain, but it is a bit swollen and is limiting my activity level. Finally, I ask that you pray for our team. Please pray that walls will continue to fall. Please pray that Nate and I will grow more united with Lydia from team Uganda, so that we will be able to lead together harmoniously. Please pray that we will be open to the ways God is moving and that despite any theological differences, cultural differences, or ideological differences that we will be able to move together as a unit in God's plan.

Blessings to you all from Uganda, the birthplace of the Nile. May you too experience another's tears.

Saturday, July 4

Saturday, July 4

Happy Independence Day! The Americans in the group this morning remembered that today is the celebration of our country's independence and laughed at how far removed we feel from that celebration, though we are thankful for the independence we enjoy.

So much has happened since we last wrote on the blog. We finally met the rest of the team—six Ugandan students and their leader Lydia. We have also met Davis, Beth, and Carol who work for the CRWRC here in Uganda. Davis is the regional director for CRWRC—in charge of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and part of the Sudan. Beth is Davis' wife; she is a physical therapist. However, this trip was part of her brainchild—along with those who work in the Grand Rapids' CRWRC office—so she has spent a lot of time organizing the trip on this end. Carol is the bridger between those who come from other countries to Uganda to serve in some capacity. She has been the main planner of the trip, organizing all the small details. The six Ugandan students are Daniel, Stephen, Jonah, Joanne (Inki), Faith, and Julianne (who's not really Ugandan—Kenyan—but is the daughter of Davis and Beth.

We have really enjoyed getting to know all of them, and they have already shared so much of their culture with us, from food to games. For Nate and I, though, it has been so interesting being here in Uganda rather than Malawi. We find that Uganda is quite a bit more developed than Malawi. For example, the hotel we are staying at is nothing like the hotel we stayed at in Ntcheu. Electricity is always available. We have an overhead ceiling fan. We have a shower where hot water is the norm, rather than freezing cold water. There is a TV in our room, though we get no channels, and during our meals, we are serenaded by a constant drone of 90s hit music.

Then there is the city. The city is an enormous, sprawling mess of cars, houses, stores, narrow roads, bota bota (motorcycles), and people. We visited the city center with the Ugandan youth on Friday, and Nate and I were amazed at the busyness of the city. Though Lilongwe was congested and busy, Kampala brings it to a new level. People file through the broken sidewalks, single file and try to avoid cars and bota bota as they cross roads in every which direction. We were relegated to little children as our Ugandan friends led us around, hand-in-hand, weaving us in and out of traffic and through the maze of people.

The landscape is quite different as well. Malawi was a beautiful, rocky mountain landscape, but to call it lush would have been an overstatement. Uganda on the other hand is lush. Everything is green and blooming with life. They have a vast variety of vegetation, from plants that look like they come straight out of landscape back in Holland to large, elephant eared plants whose flowers are as rigid as a wax flower. And then there is Lake Victoria. Kampala sits on the shore of Lake Victoria, the largest fresh water lake in the world. The city is graced not only with the beauty of the shimmering water but also the cool, lake breezes that blow away anything unpleasant, including one's attitude.

As far as the luggage is concerned, Nate and I were blessed to receive our luggage Friday night. Unfortunately, Olivia and Emily won't be getting theirs until Monday. We are of course frustrated for them, but they both have carried on an extremely positive attitude, showing us what true grace and joy in the midst of trials looks like. The other students have been a huge blessing to them as well, offering them clothes and necessities as they're needed. We just pray that they won't have to wait any longer than Monday.

All of this to say, we are doing well. God is certainly revealing himself in the midst of all the things we're doing, and I am excited to see what all he has in store for us. As you can tell, it isn't the easiest thing for us to post to the blog, even though the CRWRC office here in Kampala has wireless internet. We have so little time to actually make to the office. However, I will keep writing and will post when I can. Then you can choose to read what you want, as I post it.