It was about a 2 hour trip by van from Webuye to the Ugandan border. We were going with a team from the Kenyan Life Spring Church, our own team & carrying sound equipment and speakers for the open air crusade to be held in Uganda. Anybody who's traveled by land & had to cross borders into 3rd world countries know that borders can be pretty shady. The Kenyan-Ugandan border was actually not that bad. It did take almost 3 hours to cross the vehicles - b/c we were taking sound equipment a lot of paper work & suspect crossing agents were involved, but eventually we paid our $50 visa to get into Uganda & were across.
Uganda was visually beautiful & a lot greener than even Kenya. We were amazed at the extensive groves of banana trees, rice fields, yuca, corn, cattle just abundance of fruits & vegetables we saw. God had definitely blessed this land, & it was evident agriculture was very big here.
The Ugandan people we were seeing were a lot darker than most Kenyans. Bishop Alex had told us that many in Webuye traced their roots back to Kenya & many had sought refuge in Kenya during the bloody civil wars of Uganda during the military regimes of the 80's. Uganda at 1st glance appeared to be economically poorer than Kenya.
The town where we'd be ministering was called Mbale. It was mabye a bit smaller than Webuye, but the main difference was that Mbale had a large Muslim population. The largest Islamic University in all of Uganda was located in Mbale & we saw at various points very conservative muslim dress around town.
Mbale was about 2 hours from the border. We arrived into town and went directly to the church we'd be ministering at. We had met Pastor Robert our 1st day in Webuye & his church in Uganda was under the covering of Bishop Alex's Life Spring ministries as well.
I think we were all stunned by the 1st impression of the church. My 1st thought was, yeah let's forget our ministry and just try and build them something better in the short time we're here. God had other plans & as we got out of the vehicles we went into the church & immediately started to WORSHIP! WHAT AN AWESOME BEGINNING TO MINISTRY HERE! I think a lot of us were fighting to hold back tears. The church, as you can see in the pics, has no roof, bamboo posts for walls, & the sun was for real in Uganda.
We met the asst. pastor who helped Pastor Robert & again scores of curious little ones from the neighborhood. They didn't quite know what to make of us at 1st (I don't think many of them had ever seen non-black faces before) but eventually they warmed up to us.
From the church we went to the little hotel we'd be staying at for the night, then had a meal at Pastor Robert's next door neighbor's house. Ugandan food was similar, but as Cinthia & I would say definitely 'Banana-based.' We had green bananas, almost like in a mashed potato form, with every meal in Uganda. Food was good, but didn't touch Kenyan food.
After our 4 o'clock lunch we went down to see the 'crusade ground,' where again we were to be the special attraction. The 'platform' was set up in the middle of an open air market. There were certainly lots of people around and many muslims which we were at the same time glad & anxious about. They turned out to be very receptive & we spoke to several of them. We didn't stay very long as they only had permission to hold the meeting until 6, but we certainly put the word out that we'd be around the next few days & interest was high - with a lot of 'what the heck are these people doin' here?' looks from many folks. It was fun. The team was visibly tired at this point though, & the atmosphere felt spiritually a lot heavier than in Kenya. We knew that probably meant God had great things in store for us in Uganda & well . . . he did!
Back at the hotel, everyone was ready for a good rest. We were all thrilled that there were showers, which none of us had in Webuye, & hot water! The hotel itself almost felt dangerous. It was right smack in the middle of town & it definitely reminded you of one of those hotels you'd seen in modern African films. We knew God was with us & just tried to rest in Him.
The next morning we were going to be going to a far more remote place in the mountains of East Uganda. More unknown . . . more adventure. Pastor Robert, again had a pretty ambitious schedule for us. Tomorrow we were to make the 3 hour trek up the mountain, hold a crusade, hold a free medical & dental clinic, & do children's ministry all in 1 day! For now it was time to rest.
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