Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mbale Motorcycle Madness

So there I sat. Don't get me wrong. If you are going to have a vehicle breakdown in Uganda there is probably no better place to have it than Mbale.

Mbale sits at the base of Mt Elgon, which at 14,176 ft. makes it the second highest mountain in Uganda. Usually the mountain produces afternoon thunderstorms which help to keep the town from getting too hot. But the area has not had any appreciable rain since November. So it is hot.

Mbale has lots of hotels and restaurants for the tourists. Lots of filling stations, parts stores, Asian supermarkets and such but there is not much to do. And when the hotel booted me out the door(checkout time 10:00am) I decided to walk to the shop about 5 miles away. I needed to go to the ATM (Mbale has at least six) to get money to pay for the repairs so walking seemed like a good pastime. Perhaps not my best idea.

One of the drawbacks of walking in Uganda is motorcycles. They drive anywhere they want at any time they want. For someone who doesn't hear very well, a motorcycle driving on the wrong side of the road can hit you long before you hear it. These are small 125cc bikes that sound like a mosquito on steroids. Too high pitched for me to hear. As I walked to town I was brushed twice by these mosquito mounted maniacs, then verbally abused for having the audacity walk on the side of the road rather than in the road as the locals do. I always thought it was absolutely insane the way people here walk in the roadway. But with the pavement having more pot holes than the roadside the walkers stay in the center of the road and vehicles stay on the side. It always made sense as a driver; now I understood as a pedestrian as well.

The bright side was as I walked through town I saw a prisons truck and I struck up a conversation with the driver. Peter told me he was the personal driver for the new Regional Prisons Commander. I found out that the R.P.C. is an old friend Kenneth who had served as O.C. of Kirinya Main Prison So I waited for Kenneth and we had a nice talk. It was actually his first day as the new R.P.C. so he insisted that I come to his office to sign the visitors' book. I did and we prayed together for his new assignment. A real blessing for me!

Heading out again I found that all the ATMs in town were broken except one and it would only give me $20. So now I had to kill time until I could find a working machine. Two hours later with cash now in my pocket I started walking to the shop.

By now it was truly hot. I considered a motorcycle but from the early brushes I still had a bit of an attitude, so I walked. Truth was I couldn't remember where Patel's shop was and I didn't think the boda driver would know, so I thought I'd walk and hoped I'd recognize it when I saw it. I didn't!

Two hours later I gave up walking. I thought I had found it once but when I walked down the street it did not match what I remembered. I walked to the next main street where 20 bodas sat. How to choose? Simple, wave and the first guy there gets to take the mzungu. But since we all know that bazungu always have to pay more the competition was fierce. Six bikes fired up immediately and raced toward me. Five of the six crashed together and one survived. That is how and who I chose.

He assured me that he knew Patel's place very well. After riding around for twenty minutes he ran out of fuel. So I paid him 2000 shillings and got on another boda. After much discussion and finger pointing we took off. After 10 minutes we asked a passing school boy. He said Patel's shop was at the end of this street. Going to the end of the street it was all looking vaguely familiar. Wait a minute, this is where I got on the first boda! And that's the shop across the street. And to think it only took me 35 minutes to get across the street by motorcycle.

Now it is 4:00 pm the car doesn't run yet and Mr, Patel says "Let me take you to the bus. You go back to Jinja and I'll bring the car when it is fixed."

At least I'll be home tonight!

Monday, March 26, 2012

How To Arrange a Meeting part two

As I said we are still working on my getting back . But the good news is that everyone eventually got to where they were supposed to be. And God knew what he was doing when He killed our car.

As Sam was leaving with Bev for Jinja she gave me a hug and said “Sorry about the car and leaving you here.” But I told her that God obviously wanted me to have the meetings and the only way He could get me to hear Him say “Stop” was to stop the car and He did!

We towed the car to the Toyota dealer (don’t be too impressed) and after waiting for thirty minutes to push a car out from the gravel drive way we pushed ours through the gate. As I signed the form (now be impressed) the shop manager said “We will work on it straight away on Monday.” WHOA! Monday? I can’t wait until Monday! As we struggled to push the Landcruiser back up the gravel drive that it had so easily rolled down moments before, I briefly thought that Mbale would be a good place to spend the weekend. But pride won out over reason and we got the car towed to Mr. Patel’s. Who promptly told me he’d get to it first thing Monday morning. But this was obviously a much better garage because I didn’t have to sign a form to leave my car there.

Going back to the inn, the lost travelers finally arrived from Kenya. They were so dirty and dusty I didn’t recognize them. After glancing at these filthy people coming up the drive I went the other way looking for the lost team. Then they hollered at me by name and I recognized them. Poor guys were exhausted but they had great tans only that it turned out to be dust. They looked much better but paler after they had showered. We agreed that the next morning we would meet for worship, the word and communion in the garden and off we went to our rooms.

I got up early Sunday to prepare a message for our team and decided to check email. As yahoo came up it opened to Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead on a live webcast concert. I listened for 20 minutes and it was if my past had come back to life. As if the “Dead” had resurrected. Then that still small voice that comes only from the master said, “ I have resurrected but these have not. Where is the praise due me?” Off went the webcast. But then the Lord pointed out that the concert was called “The Bridge.” Jesus is the bridge between God and man. He has risen from the dead. And as we serve Him we too become the connections to the bridge that is Jesus Christ. That became the message that was shared from John 13. It actually was a very blessed time and I am ever thankful that God stopped me from going back to Jinja.

I got to have great meetings with the KKAB team. It was a real blessing to hear their hearts for Jesus and their zeal for the work that they are called to do. So the meetings are over, the team has left but here I sit in Mbale with a smile on my face as I look at our dead Toyota. I’m trying to remind myself to listen and hear. I am blessed when I remember.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

How To Arrange a meeting In Africa

I have never been known for my ability to hear. One of Bev’s favorite quotes is from the movie “Christmas Vacation.” "You couldn’t hear a cement truck driving through a nitroglycerine factory! And she is right. My ears are not what they used to be.

But the good news is that God can always speak louder than my inability to hear. As is being demonstrated to me this week in Mbale.

I traveled east to the town of Mbale to meet with three team members of KKAB (Karamoja, Kaboong and Beyond) who are under our NGO, when they returned from a seminar in Kenya. The other three KKAB members were driving down from Nabilatuk. Since Ryan was down for the earlier Pastor Conference, he decided to give me a ride and return by way of Mbale where Bev and our visiting friend Sam after their road their road trip out west would meet me and the KKAB team . We didn’t want to pay the fuel costs of taking a third vehicle since we were all going to the same place. Now with two headed southeast (Bev & Sam), two east (Ryan and I), three coming south (Miriam, Jean and Carina) and three pointing northwest (Tom, Simon and Summer) we would all arrive at about the same time in Mbale. This was going to be easy. Seldom had any travel plans for a coordinated rendezvous that I had engineered seemed so simple and perfect.

The first sign of trouble came when Ryan & I were delayed 1 ½ hours. Couldn’t be helped, we were waiting for some equipment for Ryan. Plenty of time. We still reached before noon. Meanwhile Bev and Sam left right on time. Their snag came when they shredded a belt in Soroti, 105 kilometers away. But God in his mercy put two mechanics who know me right on Bev’s path and got them on the road in an hour. God also didn’t let the belt tear on the 118 K stretch where there are no service stations. Thank you, Lord!

The south bounders were delayed when they assisted a friend whose car had broken down in the middle of nowhere. But they still made it.

However the same could not be said for the Kenya travelers. The bus company canceled the day bus and put them on the night bus instead. Only problem was that the night bus never came. The team finally showed up 24 hours late.

The next day Sam needed to catch the plane in Entebbe 6 hours to the west. We sent a message, actually dozens, to Tom and it was agreed that he would come to Jinja to meet Bev, Jean and I after we returned from Entebbe and the rest of Tom‘s group would meet in Mbale. As we headed out of Mbale at noon the car died. Now what? After several prayers Jean found a friend to get a special hire car to take Bev and Sam back to Jinja to catch another special hire to Entebbe. Jean and I would stay in Mbale to get the car fixed and wait with the rest for our Kenya compatriots to arrive. But God definitely said “No!” to letting the car run.

But God did allow Sam to make her flight, and let Bev get home late but safe.

As for me … well we are still working on that!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Beauty Instead of Ashes

Isaiah 61:3 "and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."

I have seen this verse literally happening in the last month. The fire at Works was 26 days ago. Since then ten of the fire victims have come forward to receive Jesus into their lives at Sunday services. Others in private conversations. Even more are now attending church for the first time and learning of God's great love for them through His Son.

The ashes of their burnt homes are only a memory. New buildings have been constructed. But the joy in the church is from the lives that God is rebuilding. He has shown Himself as the provider for those who could not care for their families. People are no longer asking "Where is God in my despair?" They are seeing Jesus work in ways they did not expect. They have peace that was not theirs before. A hope that will last for all eternity. Gladness instead of mourning.

And I have new brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that the witness from the fire doesn't stop now that the construction has finished. I pray this is a new beginning for our neighborhood. I pray that God continues to change these hard hearts of ours. Not the hearts of the new believers but the hearts of all us church goers who for so long have kept quiet while people around us were longing for the answer to the question of life. Who loves or cares for us? The answer is "Jesus cares! Jesus loves us!"

The garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair is put on with the blood of Jesus. When we are washed clean in His blood "Behold, I make all things new" is
now reality. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come.