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Lukonda Congregation's New Worship SpaceThis weekend I was fortunate to be able to return to the Kayunga area, where I visited four congregations just last month. During that visit on May 9th and 10th, we saw the beginnings of a structure at Lukonda that we were told would soon be a new worship space for their congregation. Like most churches in Uganda, this worship space would also serve other purposes - in this specific case it would serve as a school during the week. So when I was invited back to Lukonda for the dedication of their new worship space I happily jumped at the opportunity. For those of you who are counting, this is the fourth weekend out of the last five weekends that I've traveled up-country: Kayunga May 9th and 10th; Mbarara May 17th; Ikumbya May 24th; and now Lukonda (in Kayunga) June 7th!
Lukonda congregation is fairly close to Kampala - only a couple hour's drive. And this visit I was able to take our short-term missionaries, Liz and Christine - both of whom arrived in Uganda only this past week - for their first visit up-country. After leaving Saturday afternoon, we stopped for some wine in Kampala so we could celebrate Holy Communion on Sunday. As we arrived in Kayunga, we stopped to check in at our hotel, Hotel Katokomu - which is pronounced the same as "catacomb"! I had stayed there before and was very happy with it, although this time I asked to look at the "more expensive" rooms (rooms are priced at $17, $19.50, and $22 and I was curious what my extra $5 could get me). The more expensive rooms were just located on the second floor and had a TV - same size bathroom, same size room, same size bed. Not worth an extra $5 to me. Then we continued on to Kayunga, stopping on the way to get some matoke (similar to plantain bananas) from a neighbor. We walked back with the neighbor into her "garden" which is actually a plantation of a few acres and hand-selected the matoke stalks we wanted. On then toward a local shop for some flour, stopping along the way to greet the chairman of the congregation. Finally, we made it to the home of our TEE student - and the location of the new church structure. We had some tea, shared some scripture, enjoyed the company and returned to the hotel for dinner and sleep.
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Playing with the Children Before WorshipSunday morning we had arranged to arrive around 9am but I assured the girls that meant we would leave the hotel sometime before 10am and they would still have an hour or so to play with the children at the church before the service started. We had a leisurely breakfast, I finalized some work on a sermon based on Zacchaeus, and we stopped on the way to church for some chapati - a local flatbread without yeast to use for communion. Sure enough, the girls had plenty of time to play with the children - which is one of their expressed desires for their two months of mission work here in Uganda. So this was a great introduction to what they will likely see as they interact with children across the country. They tried to teach songs and American games but since children don't usually start learning English until about 3rd grade, there were some difficulties with language. Things finally got really going when the kids started playing games they knew - including one which I call "Simba"!
To play Simba (you know, Simba, the character in The Lion King, means "lion") all of the children line up on one side. Then, one of the children (usually a girl) goes to the other side of the field/play space. She's the "mother." One child crouches down between the line of children and the mother. The crouching child is the simba. The mother calls out in sing-song rhyme to "her" children - all the children on the other side of the simba, calling to them to come. The children call back that they can't come because there is a lion in the bush. She calls back to them, "All of you run very fast to me!" and the children all cry out "We're coming" and then try to run past the child - simba - in the middle. The child in the middle tries to catch one of the kids running past. Like most children's games, it's simple, fun to watch, and just a little morbid. They had another game, similar to duck-duck-goose called "Cat and Rat" and a counting game that teaches the numbers in English with jumping and clapping. You never really think about the absurdity or simplicity of children's games until you run into someone who doesn't know how to play freeze-tag or red rover or duck-duck-goose.
While the girls played with the children, I realized that my Swiss Army knife did not, in fact, have a corkscrew on it. Hmmm. Where to find a corkscrew for the communion wine out here in Lukonda? Nowhere, that's where. So I set about destroying the cork in an attempt to get to the wine inside. Which means, of course, that the wine couldn't be saved for a future administration of Communion, but that's okay. With no refrigeration available and with the unfortunate infrequency of communion in these areas, saving the wine wasn't much of a possibility even if it did have a screw-top. I bought the remainder of the opened bottle from the congregation after worship and brought it back to Kampala.
Worship was a pleasant affair and one of the other local church leaders, Wilberforce, rode his bicycle all the way to Lukonda to be present for this special event. As often happens here in Uganda, liturgy, preaching, and administration of the sacraments was reshuffled at the last minute so I didn't end up preaching after all. But I did get to confirm one girl and then administer communion - only my second time ever doing so. Some of the communicants had been confirmed last month when we were here and this was their first communion. What a joy. We also dedicated their new structure for the Lord's service. For lunch, Liz and Christine got to enjoy their first taste of matoke and beans - an excellent meal, which I very much enjoyed. Our ride back home was uneventful and pleasant. Altogether it was a highly successful trip up-country. -Shauen