Day 13: Blog Post by Burt

Day 13 - Sunday, 19 July 2009 (Posted by Burt)

Here we are again, and beginning our day with 6:30 AM devotions, we prepared for our last day of ministry. Before long, we are on the road to present worship at Soroti Prison, located about 60 kilometers north of Kumi. It was here that we found a very receptive audience from within the 397 inmate population. Approximately 30-35 inmates are female and are housed in a separate wing of the prison. They responded enthusiastically by their singing and dancing to the YCVM praise base. They also listened eagerly to Aeri’s testimony of how she related of her imprisonment brought on by her struggles to forgive a significant adult in the last of her teen years and fasted for three days as a means to discern God’s plans for her life. Ask her to share her testimony with you some day.

Today’s worship presentation was another example of the power of God’s love and grace. When Bro Dustin ended his preaching, he did an altar call, and about 30-35 individuals stepped forward, including a female guard. His scripture text was Luke 18:18-26, The Rich Ruler. All of us enjoyed hearing him “preaching with the power of God”. After three hours of worship, we headed back to town to the Land Mark Hotel for lunch. Again, the food was quite tasty and well prepared, as it was previously from our Katakwi trip to learn about Internally Displaced Persons.

A definite highlight of today’s activities was a special team meeting at 5 PM, at which time each of us was given a brand new African garb. A couple of our women received a two piece outfit “dressed to the nines”, while the men received a pull over shirt with printed animals and flora indigenous to African culture and art.





And, the special meeting turned out be a time we celebrate two wedding anniversaries, Peter and Donna [13 yrs] and Dustin and Valene, both within this week or last.



The celebrations were fashioned after an authentic wedding celebration, just as if the families had invited slews of villagers from near and far to participate in it. You’ll have to wait for Benjamin’s recorded video to see the styles and vibrant colors, or when we give our first collective mission report.

And, finally, our evening was not complete until we were surprised to hear the cell phone ringing in my pant pocket. It was our terrific CCUMC family preparing for their 11 AM worship service. It was good to hear from our folks back home, especially their laughing and giggling. We praise and thank our Great God for the connections we have with our world-wide hook ups as we profess along with John Wesley, founder of Methodism, that the world is our parish.

We’ll take tomorrow as a day of rest, and travel 2 – 2 ½ hours to Cipi Waterfalls in Kapcworwa. Stay tuned and we’ll send along some of our excursion experience.
Thanks be to God!

Peace,
-Burt

Answers for Day 12:

1. “Stoney” is a soft drink that has a ginger flavor.
2. We discovered some locusts.
3. A hand-painted CCUMC t-shirt.

Questions for Day 13:
1. Who were called “Bolt” and “Diana” during introductions at the prison?
2. What does “mugole” mean?
3. What utensils did we eat with at the anniversary celebration dinner?
4. Which one of the YCVM host members has volunteered with the Ugandan Red Cross?

Prayer needs:
1. Pastor Emma’s 11-month-old son Jabez is again fighting malaria, and had to be taken to be seen by a specialist.
2. That Silver’s father will truly commit his life to the Lord to be transformed.