This weekend Paul, one of our TEE students, invited us to come to the area where he ministers for a visit. So we departed Kampala on Saturday morning for Kayunga, only a couple hours northeast of Kampala. My fellow missionary Rev. Jacob Gillard, Vicar Jerome Wamala - the Ugandan Vicar serving the Kampala area, and I traveled to Paul's home to spend some time with him.
Our drive was fairly uneventful until we passed Kayunga Town and the paved road turned to murram. It had just rained. Now a murram road is basically compacted clay-like dirt. Murram roads generally have a considerable crown to them, to keep the murram from washing in ruts down the center of the road. The problem is that when it rains this clay-like dirt becomes extremely slippery. In fact, after a rain if you aren't able to balance on the crown of the murram road and you move off the crown even just slightly your truck will probably slip right off the road and into the ditch which in this case was full of water from the rain. Which we did. Trying to pass a motorcycle traveling my same direction I had to get over just a bit and schwoop - right off the crown and sliding sideways into the ditch. Now you know our truck - it's all time 4 wheel drive with big tires but I knew if I risked allowing my forward momentum to stop I would have to use my winch to get us out of that muddy ditch. So I kept my foot on the gas and the steering wheel turned "up" out of the ditch and we traveled for a few hundred feet that way - I'm sure spraying mud and water behind us. Finally we reached a little driveway that had just enough rise out of the ditch for us to pop back up onto the crown of the murram road. There wasn't much traffic - I think most people just stay where they are and wait for the road to dry before going anywhere. The experience provided a little more insight into why Paul was late a few sessions back and gave the excuse, "It rained."
We turned off the murram road onto a side road 15km north of Kayunga and continued for another 5 or 6 km before that smaller murram road gave out. Then we continued another km or so driving on a walking path that meandered down a swath that had at one point been cleared for the road to be extended. We finally did safely arrive at Paul's home. He farms about 3 acres of land, raising maize, beans, pineapple, mango, guava, and some bananas. He's a hard worker and also holds a job teaching geography at a nearby school. He happens to be one of our very best students in our TEE class so it was a privilege to be able to visit with him and his family. After some time of rest and recovery from the drive we began to visit the congregations that were expecting us. We continued driving down the walking path past Paul's home - very slow going with several sink holes along the way. We eventually made it back to a road and continued back towards the murram road leading to Kayunga Town. We were almost back to the main road when we encountered a little... um... obstacle. Apparently there is so little vehicle travel in this area that some minor construction work - installing a drain pipe across the road - had been started but no provision had been made for vehicles to pass and of course there were no workers present. There were huge piles of murram waiting to be smoothed over the drain but no way to pass by on either side. A little walking and bike path wound between the murram piles and the water-filled ditch on one side. There was no way I was going to chance going over the top of the murram piles and high-centering the truck. After a few minutes of walking possible routes around the obstruction, we determined that we would be able to drive across a freshly plowed field for a few hundred feet and then make it back onto the road if we kept enough momentum to get over a couple other low spots and ditches. Well, we made it. May I just say that this trip is one of those that reminds me that our truck is not just for show - it's highly functional and necessary.
The first congregation we visited, Kaato, was meeting in a small shelter in a trading center (village). They greeted us warmly and we held a simple service of the Word, with Vicar Jerome preaching a sermon on The Good Samaritan. Next we traveled into a much smaller community to meet with members of the Kakiika Preaching Center, a small congregation that meets under a tree. They were struggling with some accusations from other denominations in the area - especially hard to fight when no one has heard of the Lutheran Church and everyone is leery of "new cults." For this congregation we met with them and encouraged them and prayed with them. Paul will be returning to visit them and provide some of the instruction he's receiving in class to help this congregation answer the accusations brought against them by other denominations. I know I've mentioned this before, but I just can't emphasize it enough - our very presence as Westerners brings a credibility to the congregations we visit. Congregations grow after a white person visits. Now maybe some of the growth is from individuals hoping to benefit financially from projects that may come to that congregation - that's fine. While they're here, regardless of what brings them in, we'll share the Word of God with them and let the Holy Spirit work on their hearts.
We decided to return Paul to his home by a different route to avoid crossing the freshly plowed field at night although I'm not sure the route we took was much better. I mentioned driving on walking trails before but those were walking trails through land that had been cleared for an actual road even though the road wasn't there yet. This time we drove on walking trails that were never intended as a road. My truck was pushing back the brush on both sides as dusk fell and we pushed on into the night hours, finally delivering Paul to his home. We then continued past his home back to Kayunga Town to stay at a hotel.
The hotel we stayed at was probably one of the nicest ones I've been to for "station travel" - the kind of traveling we do when visiting congregations and conducting mission business. Our hotel, which is pronounced "catacomb" but spelled Katikomu was pleasant and we paid a total of 114,100 Shillings (around $55) for three single rooms and three dinners at the hotel restaurant. The price is fairly typical for our station travel - hotels between $10 and $20 per night. I say this one was one of the nicest because it had carpeting and a comfortable bed. My toilet didn't have a toilet seat on it and there was no hot water but I don't expect those things.
Sunday morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast and then drove back to Paul's home where Lukonda congregation meets under a tree. They're working on a structure that they hope to start meeting under in June so we may be back in this area in a month for the dedication of that structure. This time we had service and I had the opportunity to preach on baptism. It was unfortunately one of my poorer sermons and I'm not too pleased about it. I should have spent time this last week preparing for the opportunity to preach. But Vicar Jerome did some baptisms and Rev. Jacob did some confirmations and we had a wonderful time. After the morning service we traveled a little further north to the Kitwe Preaching Center and took an opportunity on the way to stop at the Nile River for a couple minutes.
Kitwe Preaching Center meets in a school building and also had baptisms and confirmations ready for us. This time I enjoyed the opportunity to be the observer and listen to the Rev. Jacob's sermon. Vicar Jerome did the baptisms again since this area speaks Luganda and has a translation of the baptism liturgy that he uses. There were so many to baptise that a mud puddle formed in the dirt floor under the water basin - what a great "problem" to have! We were invited to come and visit one of the congregation's leaders for some lunch. Another great meal! We dropped our student back off at his home by means of the freshly-plowed field and were sent off with lots of gifts of appreciation - jackfruit, a rooster, and avocados! We also bought some tomatoes and green (unripe) mangos from some of his neighbors, along with another rooster (this one cost $7). Unripe mango, by the way, is really good. It's crunchy like an apple in texture with a hint of mango flavor. It was dark by the time we were on the road to Kampala and I think we didn't get home until after 10pm. What a trip. Four congregations in 36 hours, 24 baptisms, 10 confirmations, and the opportunity to share the Word of God with His people.