It has been two and a half months when I set my feet on the land of Gulu, indeed when i reflect back at the time I was seated in that bus, wheels revolving towards the unknown land, there was hidden panic, fear and doubts. The fears of when I would meet the relationships I had made in the last two decades of my life were erased when I was sitting in a different bus moving directly the opposite direction back home.
with mom
My mom has always been there for me and ever since I was a child I don’t actually remember missing her as much as I missed her this time, because I missed her so much, I did not want to go say hello then leave the next hour, I determined to spend as much time with her as possible. I made sure I reach her home first before visiting anybody else. It was indeed a fruitful moment for both of us and had a chance to meet my step siblings who I would have not met if their father (my step father) was present, I wanted and prayed that my vacation would be full of joy and happiness so I knew that going to their home and facing my step father was not a way of fulfilling this prayer. Well, on the 21st I arrived and on the following day I went with her to the garden, doing everything I can to bless her in the two days I had scheduled to be there. This time with her made me thank the lord for his work and faithfulness in her life and her commitment to the lord despite the disappointments and brute experiences she has faced with ungodly husbands.
At new hope uganda- home
On the afternoon of the 16th after working with her in the gardens I had to say bye proceeding to my second home, New hope Uganda. It’s a home where you are welcomed from the gate, so I faced the warmth of the welcome right from the gate. I can’t express my reaction at seeing people I treasured so dearly in my life. rather than say I was very happy and for these few days God had allowed us to be together I was determined to make it a moment worth treasuring hence remembering, I missed everybody so much that knowing I was at a place where I could access them by a few steps of moving my legs, I moved almost to everyone in that single evening of the 16th. Who wouldn’t be tired after that moving to and from the whole place? I intentionally gave a weak communication of my going back so to those I had not told, I was a total surprise. My stay at New hope was a moment filled with laughter, joy, happiness and excitement. I visited many different homes telling them of what Gulu is like and my personal experience, the seeing of the people was wonderful. Why I asked for my vacation to be scheduled at this time of the month is because I wanted to be a part of the team from new hope going to kapchorwa, meeting people is great and I like it but I didn’t want it to be all that I do in all of the two weeks. For this part of the trip I dedicated myself to following what the leaders had planned to do, I was not in the leadership position so spent more time talking to people while the leaders organized most of what was needed.For many of my buddies, the lord has called us to pursue different goals in life but all for his glory, the discussions to what we are doing was very little, what could I advise I person in school doing biology, physics and chemistry. But in all that the lord has called us to do and pursue in the different part of Uganda, there is something common to us all. We all agreed that the Lord never sends you where he will not keep you, that even in the storms, His love never fails , never gives up, never runs up on us, his anointed ones, and that we shall see the lord in the land of the living. We have grown as a class for the last few years but now I consider our growth beyond that level, I may be wrong in this, but in my life family is not blood connection and DNA, this is very paramount, for those who object. how many people share the same DNA but are great enemies? Some people like me would be carrying hatred and bitterness from my childhood because of family if the lord had not replaced those memories with love from staggers who I now call family. It’s from this basis that I say that family is a relationship, that’s why I have the freedom to address Perez as my brother, Lillian as my sister and many others as my siblings; this kind of relationship is got from Christ and in him alone because outside him, it’s confusing and my need to go to a pharmacist after reading this.
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| The view of Mountain Moroto from where we were |
Kapchoarwa mission
I was not planning to go back to new hope after the outreach so the 20th was a hugs and byes day for those who were not part of the kapchoarwa team. When the church gave me time to say hello to them, it was time to say hello and bye at the same time. 4am of the 21st of August 29, 2012 we set out for the journey towards our destination, kapchoarwa. We went in groups of 14, 14, 7 and 3 all with different vans depending on capacities it could hold. Because of this we had to delay a bit, the police wanting breakfast and waiting for others just to make sure none of the group was getting lost. We also had to switch vans because the ones we went with did not want to go all the way, so in kampala we boarded different vans that knew the place better and was used to driving on mountains. It was a normal drive until we reached the district of our destination. It was time to climb mountains, the road on the mountains was perfect because vehicles move very slow on them, it was scaring at first for the vehicle was pointed up as if we were in a plane taking off in the air, if I don’t ever get the plane experience, I know I’ve had it on the mountains of kapchoarwa, the more we moved up, the more sceneries we saw and the more beautiful it appeared, falls on most of the hills. We stopped at sipi falls to enjoy the view.Launch was being prepared when we arrive at 4pm, when it was ready, it was time to wash hands, this was the time to experience what we would face with the next week, the water was freezing cold, because we were on top of the hills, it would get cold so much that drinking water was debatable, I only took it in form of tea, a bath was optional to everybody, the fog would cover the whole place as though we were in the middle of the clouds, one could not see the person five meters away from him. We had to push one of our trucks because it had got stuck it the mad after it rained this provided me with a good opportunity to take a bath . We had to wake up every day at 5am in the cold to seek the lord for the day ahead of us, and then we would take breakfast heading out to do some community work in the gardens of the weak and the old. I loved it when I met people who spoke Luganda my native language, digging was one of the ways we shared the gospel in actions before we went door to door preaching, in this, Eyo leaders would assign us with people to preach with so that there is company and support, to all the homes I visited, they all professed to be believers In the lord, this, I loved, it swept away all the unnecessary arguments, confusion and criticisms among us. I went on straight asking them a few questions about the God they believe in just to make sure they were on the same road with me. For most of them I would take that chance to speak to them and encourage them basing of the bible, telling them that Christianity is not the work we do but the relationship we maintain with the lord, challenging them on repentance and forgiveness and for the washing away of our sins. There is one family I visited and when I asked if they sinned or not, the lady was convinced that she had no sin in her life. The lord had prepared me before hand for he had led me to concentrating and studying sin before the mission. She had a bible so we read scriptures on sin, romans 3:23, 1 john 1: 7 – 9 which promises that he will forgive us when we repent. As I kept on talking, I saw their hearts soften for the wordWe ate launch at 1:30 thereafter getting ready for an open crusade, it was a lot of turn up we got from the people, this was not our preaching but the work of the Holy Spirit, when we showed the movie the passion of Christ, all the three translators ended up in tears seeing the persecution Jesus was going through. After it all we went back to the camp, ate supper, evaluated the day then slept waiting for the next day, our second last day was giving cloths to families we had developed relationship with, it is on this day that I came across a welcoming family, Priscilla is their little girl who is in p.7 but more wise than the grade she is in, they invited me the next morning for breakfast, the request was said in a humble and happy mood that I had to answer yes. They sent me back with fresh maize as a gift of their first fruits. I saw the whole family later in the day giving them my picture and words of blessing at the back. We parked our entire luggage after the football match between us and the natives of the land, we left the land with a blessing of singing to them all the sons we could remember from childhood including the Uganda national anthem, as soon as we entered the car to leave, the rain started, we thank God it didn't rain before we moved, I had to board a bus back to see Cole and the rest of my family in Gulu, I enjoyed the whole vacation and can’t trade it with any other thing.
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| These are memories of friends to love, treasure and pray for |
My heart at lastt
Christianity is not the work we do but a relationship we maintain, the surrounding we influence and qualities produced by that relationship. As I sit down evaluating the whole vacation, am wondering how this statement has been fulfilled in these last two weeks and will continue to be, I don’t consider what I did for the people of kapchoarwa but mostly value the relationships I built and how my having Christ influenced them, those I have led to Christ and how they have showed me the love of Christ through their hospitality, I will live to remember that land and how my relationship with Christ was developed through allowing me warm me in the intensive. coldness........ one of my great friend text me saying,,,,,,,,,,, kigasite yesu, welcome back, lets live to remember the great time we had in kapchesombe, miss you and pray for you.all i responded was yes indeed, the lord was faithful, miss you and pray for you.
