Mental Snapshots

When teams come to visit us here in Jinja we hold a nightly debriefing so team members can express what God is showing them or doing through them each day. My snapshots for the past two weeks include:

DAY 1: As the team arrived Bev stayed at the aiport waiting for Carol while the rest of us went to the guest house. I forgot which team members were to be in which rooms. So the two guys got the surprise of the day when entering their room there was only one double bed. The look on their faces was priceless since they were not old friends but had only met earlier that day. It was almost the shortest short term mission trip on record but God resolved the problem and everyone got a good night's sleep when two of the ladies graciously switched rooms with them.

Day 2: The smiles on the faces of the congregation as the welcomed the team during second service. The next Sunday was the joy on the faces of the team as they saw their "old friends" from the previous week. Love can grow among God's people so quickly that you would have thought the body here was where the team came from. Indeed there are no strangers in Christ!

Day 3: The pleasure and joy of the Ogongora worship team as they played music on their thumb pianos and the kids danced. The joy was fully matched by the team as they danced with the kids. Andrew flat wore himself out dancing. Some ask "Will there be dancing in heaven?" All I can say is "I hope so!"

Day 4: The relieved concern when we found the people of Ogongora making a "new road" around the mudhole that had swallowed up the bus and Land Cruiser the night before. Then it was the surprise of seeing 300 people already waiting for treatment. I was blessed to see our Ugandan team showing compassion as they kept the crowd, that swelled to about 1000 by noon, moving for treatment.

Day 5: The medical team saying good by to their translators. It was difficult after being in such close contact and depending on each other for 60 hours. Both Ugandan and American teams had grown to admire and love each other more than we would ever have guessed. But then that is God's very nature doing more for us and through us than is possible!

Day 6: Jacob Opio winning a chicken paying bible trivia. He was great!

Day 8: The fun of sharing the Gospel at prison when the enemy had sent a man to interrupt. Guys got saved and treated and healed.

Day 10: The perseverance of the saints as they faced their last day of ministry, outdoors on a hot windy day. They stayed until all the prisoners had seen a doctor and received medicine.

The snapshot I didn't get, was saying goodbye to the team. Another team from America came and I happily got to work with them but sadly did not get to properly say good bye.

So here it is, Steve, may God bring you back this way again to finish the work. Andrew, let God begin the work He wants to do in your life. Deb, thank you for your time ministering to Bev and I. Bailley, sorry you couldn't stay longer but the third time's the charm. Alicia, Thank you for the incredibly compassionate heart you have shown to all of Uganda. Rachel, Miss Sunshine, God bless you for showing me what it means to have joy in the Lord. Brittni, May you always be as yielding to the Lord as you were here. And Doctor Jenny, Your warmth and professionalism are only outstripped by your love for Jesus.

Thank you all and may God bless you!