Days 7 and 8: Flexibility, focus and fun

Monday brought new lessons in flexibility and focus from Jesus, along with unexpected fun.

Our first group left early to facilitate an encounter for young adults, while the rest of us gathered at 10 AM to leave for our assignments. We were preparing to lead two encounters, one focused on women and one for both men and women.

As we gathered in the lobby, we discovered that Tabitha wanted us to wait a bit before leaving due to some unrest in the city. We decided to go to the pool area, where we prayed for Kampala and for God’s hand to guide all who were involved in the situation. Then we began sharing stories from our lives with one another. Soon, we found ourselves laughing and enjoying this unexpected time of conversation and connection.

At one point, Fred mentioned that he had lived in Logan, West Virginia, and then he mentioned that his mother-in-law lived in Logan, Ohio.

Discovering childhood connections

A few moments later, I leaned over and said, “Have you ever heard of Logan, Ohio?”

“Logan? You’re kidding me! I lived in Logan. My father planted the Church of Christ in Logan.”

“No! I was born in Logan. I attended that church as a teenager!”

“No!” At this point, the people around us began laughing. “When did you live in Logan? Where did you live? What school did you go to?” The questions came fast and furious.

When all was said and done, Fred and I discovered that we had lived in Logan at the same time and attended first grade together at East Elementary School in 1961, during which time my grandmother was the school cook. We couldn’t stop laughing, thinking how much fun we were having realizing that God brought two classmates from Logan together 50 years later in Uganda! (Tonight at dinner, he was heard to say, “We held a 50th first grade reunion, and only two people could be bothered to come to Uganda!”)

A few moments later, Magala came to us and said that we were ready to leave, and just like that, we were on our way to the encounter, still laughing.

As we arrived at the location, we realized that it would be best to combine our encounters, so the four facilitators put our heads together and decided how we would co-facilitate the day’s presentation. Technology set-up is becoming second nature to us all, and soon we were off to a good start. We are learning to work with translators, who are stationed at each table. The low murmur underneath our presentation helps us to gauge how quickly or slowly we needed to pace ourselves.

Our end-of-day dinner was filled with more laughter as friendships continued to deepen. Erin is learning how to speak with a Southern drawl, with Mary serving as her tutor. Fred chimes in on a regular basis with his Kentucky drawl, and soon we are laughing uncontrollably. Rich has given up trying to keep us in line, and Karen has taken over. She isn’t faring any better than Rich, although we do catch ourselves, remembering where we are and who we are representing.

On a joyous note, 3-4 others trusted Christ at the Anglican youth encounter. Today, we had a team working with Anglican priests, over 200 of whom crowded into the room, packing it to the limit. Our team finally had to tell them there was no more room, and turned people away. They had power problems all day, first power, then no power, generator, no generator, and they also had communication challenges with a variety of languages being spoken, with ensuing translation issues.

The rest of us were back at the Hotel Africana finishing up the last day of our encounter. Again we had over 100 people: at least one pastor brought her team with her, many young women attended, along with young children who ranged in age from a few months to a few years old, and again a handful of men. Given the audience, we focused much of our work on the family and discipleship.

I spent the last half hour or more of today’s encounter holding a young African girl, who was listless and coughing, so that her mom could focus on the remaining moments of the encounter. This has been one of the joys for Cherry and Betty, who love to hold and care for the women’s children.

A memorable moment occurred during the closing exercise, which Fred introduced by asking people to use the cloths on their tables to clean the shoes of one another, as a reenactment of Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet.  I was struck by him encouraging them to clean the shoes of someone who did not have anything to give them in return, a phrase I don’t remember using before. As people were moving across the room, several people came up to me and took off this little girl’s shoes, wiping the white patent leather and then cleaning her feet with great tenderness, before placing her shoes back on her feet. While she will not remember this, it left a vivid impression on me.

We continue to find great openness to the message of Christ-like servant leadership, and we anticipate it will be the same as we travel tomorrow to Iganga. We leave at 9:00 AM after an 8:30 AM group photo in the lobby. It was touching to have the chef at the restaurant and the head bellman tell us that they will miss us, and how they have enjoyed having us at this hotel. It has been a haven for us in the midst of all of our work.

Tomorrow night we will meet Tabitha’s father, who has invited us to dinner at his home. She is eager for us to see the humble beginnings of her life, and we are eager, too. On Thursday, our last encounters begin in Eastern Uganda. We have been told that there will be even more surprises for us, along the lines of the literacy, language, and power challenges of the last two days.

After this time in Entebbe and Kampala, we are more flexible and hopefully more prepared to simply move in dependence on Jesus as we travel away from the city. I will blog again once we find internet connections. Until then, good night, and God bless!