Thursday, September 15, 2005
My first visit to the village
On Thursday, September 8th, in lieu of the regularly schedules women’s Bible study at the town church in Mbarara at 5pm, we met at the church at 930am to go to the village of Kishasha for a town-village ladies’ day.
The women were awaiting our arrival at their small church building—nothing more than a dirt floor, walls of mud and reeds, and a tin roof. While our hostesses were preparing meals for us, the 17 ladies from town sat on the 8 small benches inside or on the big straw mat on the floor; before long, we broke into songs—well, they did. I hardly knew the songs (and the Runyankore language is very difficult). They did sing a few in English: "Soon and Very Soon" and "This is the Day". Slowly, ladies and children from nearby villages trickled in and greeted us (the visitors). They served us a mid-morning meal of hot steamy posho (corn mush—like porridge) and sweet baby bananas. (I’m pretty sure there were some dead flies that had gotten mixed in with the posho, but I don’t think I actually swallowed any!)
Then we got down to business and did some serious praising of out Lord. Man, do these people know how to celebrate and praise the Lord! There was singing and dancing and clapping and even a drum for some added acoustics! There is so much "free-style" singing that takes place too. It is very cool to see and hear!
It was beautiful to see so many women from different places praising the Lord together. Our hostesses sang some songs welcoming the visitors and then asked us to sing some songs for them. In this way, we were able to see some differences, whether in language, culture or knowing different songs; more importantly, we were able to see the most significant commonality: a great love for our amazing Lord!
We had the opportunity to hear 3 women speak to us. First was Jane (from Nyakinengo village) who shared about how to trust that Jesus knows our every care and worry and will take care of us (like with a sick child). She spoke from the gospel of Mark and with such excitement it was contagious. So, we sang and danced some more; following the "singing sessions" people just broke out into prayer. . . individually and out loud. It was such a cool thing to hear, even though I couldn’t understand it at all.
Next, they asked for a volunteer from the town church or a missionary to preach to us. Thankfully, Jadress (from MCC) shared with the ladies about the many blessings women have in our Lord. I can’t imagine just getting up and speaking without any preparation, but she did a fantastic job! More praise and worship followed, along with everyone standing and introducing themselves.
Finally, they wanted a missionary to preach to us. So Amy Naramore felt moved and wanted to speak. She shared a story of a Ugandan friend who claims to be a Christian, but he doesn’t think he is saved because he still sins. She left us with a message of God’s grace and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Our hostesses served us a typical Ugandan meal, with HUGE portions of posho (corn meal-type stuff), matoki (looks like bananas but you cook it and it tastes kind of like potatoes), and beans. It was different—a little bland, but very filling. Everything had a different texture than I am used to. .. . overall, not a bad experience for my first taste of the local food here.
It is difficult for me to compare this day in the village to worship in town, because I have been here such a short time and only been to one church service. However, in speaking to the women from Mbarara Church of Christ, they felt blessed to see the joy of the Lord in our sisters’ hearts as we all worshipped Him as one body. I, too, feel blessed to have been in the presence of Jesus with such beautiful women.
The women were awaiting our arrival at their small church building—nothing more than a dirt floor, walls of mud and reeds, and a tin roof. While our hostesses were preparing meals for us, the 17 ladies from town sat on the 8 small benches inside or on the big straw mat on the floor; before long, we broke into songs—well, they did. I hardly knew the songs (and the Runyankore language is very difficult). They did sing a few in English: "Soon and Very Soon" and "This is the Day". Slowly, ladies and children from nearby villages trickled in and greeted us (the visitors). They served us a mid-morning meal of hot steamy posho (corn mush—like porridge) and sweet baby bananas. (I’m pretty sure there were some dead flies that had gotten mixed in with the posho, but I don’t think I actually swallowed any!)
Then we got down to business and did some serious praising of out Lord. Man, do these people know how to celebrate and praise the Lord! There was singing and dancing and clapping and even a drum for some added acoustics! There is so much "free-style" singing that takes place too. It is very cool to see and hear!
It was beautiful to see so many women from different places praising the Lord together. Our hostesses sang some songs welcoming the visitors and then asked us to sing some songs for them. In this way, we were able to see some differences, whether in language, culture or knowing different songs; more importantly, we were able to see the most significant commonality: a great love for our amazing Lord!
We had the opportunity to hear 3 women speak to us. First was Jane (from Nyakinengo village) who shared about how to trust that Jesus knows our every care and worry and will take care of us (like with a sick child). She spoke from the gospel of Mark and with such excitement it was contagious. So, we sang and danced some more; following the "singing sessions" people just broke out into prayer. . . individually and out loud. It was such a cool thing to hear, even though I couldn’t understand it at all.
Next, they asked for a volunteer from the town church or a missionary to preach to us. Thankfully, Jadress (from MCC) shared with the ladies about the many blessings women have in our Lord. I can’t imagine just getting up and speaking without any preparation, but she did a fantastic job! More praise and worship followed, along with everyone standing and introducing themselves.
Finally, they wanted a missionary to preach to us. So Amy Naramore felt moved and wanted to speak. She shared a story of a Ugandan friend who claims to be a Christian, but he doesn’t think he is saved because he still sins. She left us with a message of God’s grace and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Our hostesses served us a typical Ugandan meal, with HUGE portions of posho (corn meal-type stuff), matoki (looks like bananas but you cook it and it tastes kind of like potatoes), and beans. It was different—a little bland, but very filling. Everything had a different texture than I am used to. .. . overall, not a bad experience for my first taste of the local food here.
It is difficult for me to compare this day in the village to worship in town, because I have been here such a short time and only been to one church service. However, in speaking to the women from Mbarara Church of Christ, they felt blessed to see the joy of the Lord in our sisters’ hearts as we all worshipped Him as one body. I, too, feel blessed to have been in the presence of Jesus with such beautiful women.
# posted by beth @ 2:00 AM 
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Hi, Beth! Sounds so exciting! I am so jealous. It makes me so homesick but I can picture how you landed and the landscape. Hope things continune to go well. I'm enjoying the books you left me, well, enjoying is not the right word! I am reading with a heavy heart, is more like it. Maybe we'll go to Rwanda together? Thanks again. I'll write you separately, but love the blog. Thanks for sharing! Love you. Rachel
# posted by 
: 4:38 PM
: 4:38 PM
hey beth!Sorry I hanen't written in a while!I'm glad to hear your doing well!Things are awsome here!Hope to see you soon!
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