July 3, Friday
This morning I slept until almost 8 a.m. because I stayed up late journaling and emailing last night. Breakfast here is the best with many choices: eggs, bread, potatoes, sausage, pineapple, cereal & milk, cooked tomatoes, juices, tea and coffee. I enjoyed eggs, bread, pineapple, juice and tea.
We left the hotel at 10 a.m. and stopped in at the market in town for Jason to buy some balls for the children. While he was shopping we ladies looked at some of the items for sale on the sidewalk. A Moslem man wanted Beverly to take his picture but her camera wasn’t working right. We had walked away when the man called us back to take the picture again. We had a conversation about Jesus and another very tall, large man came up who is Catholic. He said the other man was his brother and he’d been telling him about Jesus. The first man wasn’t really interested in hearing about Jesus so we were about to walk away when I noticed Kemper walking toward us. The spiritual atmosphere was very demonic but when Kemper was walking up, the demons were fleeing. Shortly afterwards Jason arrived with the balls so we left.
We drove out of Mbale on the road toward Kapchorwa to our first church. The drive up the winding mountainous road was very scenic with waterfalls off the cliffs and the rift valley in the distance. After about two hours we arrived at Tubani Baptist Church built in honor of Sam Bryson of San Antonio. Sam, a SOK, worker put the signs on the outside of the church while we waited for people to arrive. It has been raining for the last few days, so the people in the villages are in their gardens planting. There was a group of about a dozen dirty, raggedy clothed children and a half dozen men and women present when we arrived but more arrived later. We gave the children some cross necklaces and took lots of pictures. Beverly visited with the ladies and Marie gave the children pencils and paper and had them sitting down and writing. After awhile we had about 40 people present for the dedication and inauguration. There was singing, praying and introductions before Kemper and Jason spoke. All adults present indicated they were already saved. Then we went outside where Kemper cut the ribbon and prayed. After that we went back inside with more singing and celebrating.
The second church was reached after traveling on some rough roads. The people had been waiting for us so we arrived to the sound of singing and drums. Bulegen Bapist Church was built by Riverside Church. The people had been meeting in a nearby home for church so they were very happy to have a building now. Since the people were already inside waiting for us we didn’t have time to interact with them like we did at the previous church. The same procedure was followed: singing, praying, introductions, preaching, ribbon cutting, dedication, and inauguration. All here also indicated they were already saved. Glory to God!
Before we left Beverly and I went to the outhouse. I praise God for protecting me. As I placed my feet on each side of the hole, the dirt and sticks on the left side caved in and my foot went between the logs. Somehow my foot stopped and I didn’t even fall down. As I brought my foot up, praise God, I didn’t even lose my sandal. The pastor walked up to tell Beverly that this one wasn’t good to use just as I recovered my balance. Thank you Jesus. This is the second miracle. When we arrived at the Triangle Hotel, a couple of nights ago, the hall lights were very dim with only one light burning. As I was walking down the hallway, I didn’t see a step of about 10 inches so I stumbled down. Praise God! I didn’t fall or hurt my foot or ankle! Psalm 91:11-12 “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Thank you, Jesus for keeping my body from injuries.
We drove on the rough road to the third church, Kibembe Miracle Center Church, a Pentecostal church. This church is in need of help to complete their building. They have mud walls, dirt floor and a tin roof. SOK will plaster the walls inside and out with concrete, put in a concrete floor, put in windows and doors and paint it. Peter and Kemper explained what SOK does and what their responsibilities will be. They will take care of the orphans of the village, they will assist with the construction, they will feed the workers that SOK sends and their own people and none of them will get paid any money for working. They agree to use the building as a church to worship God, Jesus and Holy Spirit and to learn, teach and keep the Ten Commandments.
They agreed to these conditions so the next step is Kemper will look in the US for a sponsor to send the money for the materials for the construction and he explained this could take months or even a year. The people were very excited and appreciative of our offer and our visit. We didn’t stay long at this church because it was time to start back to our hotel in Mbale. We took a different way down the mountain. The unpaved road was rough with steep switchbacks and the scenery was breathtaking. We saw two more waterfalls as we went down. We stopped once to take some pictures before we got to the bottom of the mountain road.
By 6:15 we were at the Sunrise Hotel to eat supper. Tonight I had fried fish and French fries with a bottle of water. Everyone seemed a bit quieter tonight because we were all tired and hungry. During the day we only ate some of our snacks in the van for our lunch and most of us didn’t drink much water because of the lack of toilet facilities. I plan to go to bed early tonight after journaling and sending my emails.
What a blessed day we had. We visited three churches and got to worship God with three different groups of people. We had beautiful scenery, safety, good food and a good place to sleep tonight. Thank you, Lord for everything.
