Learning about Time

Dear Friends and Family

We are well and we are learning so much, moment to moment.  We have been humbled by the immediate love and hospitality that is standard in any interaction with the people of Uganda.  There have been unbelievable accommodations made to make us comfortable.  God has sprinkled in many opportunities to remind us that He is in control and has plans for us that we cannot understand.  Learning to operate on African time (which a friend from Rwanda affectionately termed AST African Standard Time) has been a challenge for many of us.  We are learning to release expectations and add 2 to 5 hours to any planned timeline.    God uses everyday distractions and mishaps to His Glory.

Prayer Mountain
The Plan:  Village members will leave at 8:00 am in the van or walking and the van will return for our group at 8:30 am.  We will have a worship service at the top from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.  We will be home by 2:00 or 3:00 pm.
Actual:    We left as the first group in the van at 9:15 am, became stuck in the mud only a short way from Bukigai and thanks to generous farmers and passing community members we were out of the mud and all cheering together after one hour.  We made it about 2/3 of the way up in the van and hiked for 2-3 hours the rest of the way up.  We arrived around 12:15 to begin the service and finished around 5:00 pm.  The last of us returned to Bukigai around 7:30pm in the dark.
What would we have missed if not for the delays.  As we hiked through the foothills of Mount Elgon we encountered breathtaking scenery and unbelievable people.  One group of us was invited into a church service and the church members joined us on top of Prayer Mountain.  Even the relationships within our group were strengthened as we related and learned from each other along the way.  It was a beautiful adventure.

In addition we have been experiencing new foods (cassava) and re-experiencing old ones like bananas, beans, ground nuts (peanuts), pineapple.  The community members are very curious about agriculture in American and our relationship to it.  We have had many conversations learning about each other's cultures and appreciating the differences and celebrating our unity in Christ.  We are all indeed one family.

Love,
The Team

P.S.  Be looking for new additions hopefully everyday, thanks to Pastor Richard's creativity in connecting to the internet!