Since returning from Kenya our team has been struck with the realization that we have exactly five weeks left in the country of Uganda. Five weeks. Four plus a few days if you consider the fact that we will leave Lira a few days before we fly out for our final team debrief. While I look very forward to seeing all of my friends and family again. Coming to terms with the limited amount of time that we have left for ministry in this country is a sobering experience.
In recent news…we've been put into new groups for ministry during the week. I am partnered with Sarah and Jordan. This week we began at the hospital. I have to admit, after our first visit to the hospital I was not excited about it being a part of our ministry here. I recognized the importance of ministry there and I could easily see how big of a need that was present in that place for Jesus, but it is one of the most uncomfortable environments that you can find yourself in while in a 3rd world country. I felt spent after that first visit. But since then, I have come to LOVE the hospital. I have discovered that it isn't about praying and touching every single person that has wondered onto the hospital grounds, but instead that while there I have a genuine opportunity to invest in some pretty amazing lives.
Which brings me back to Monday…
At the main hospital in town there is a three or four year old boy there named Edmund, well the nurses tell me he is Edmund, his aunt tells me he is Isaac…who knows. Either way Edmund/Isaac has an extremely distended belly due to his kidneys not functioning properly. I met him on my second visit to the hospital. He has been there for 2 months already. The doctors are treating him with lasiks and prednisone, so in addition to his already round belly his thin frame is swollen from the steroid. When we first met, he could hardly move. He just sat in his hospital bed in the busy ward staring at the muno girl who was praying for him. His aunt told me in broken english that his condition hadn't really changed. I visited him twice in the hospital before my team went to Kenya for debrief. It had been a couple of weeks since I had been able to check on him and needless to say I was eager to return to the hospital when Monday finally rolled around. I'm happy to report that not only is Edmund/Isaac looking ever so slightly better, he also sassed the nurse who told him to greet me. He was 'fearing' the white person. Still he greeted me and he was standing outside the ward enjoying some fresh air. He has a long way to go, and I hope you will join me in praying for this precious little one.
Monday also included a 'divine interaction' as I like to call it. I met an old woman named Joyce who, upon seeing me walk into the Orthopedic ward with her daughter Jane, greeted me with the biggest smile I've ever seen and despite her broken hip, she attempted to raise up all by herself in her bed to grasp my hands. I've never met this woman before in my life. Still, my presence in the ward that day brought her so much joy. She just needed a visitor, someone to sit with her and hold her hand and hear her story. Luckily her daughter Jane spoke english and we became quick friends. Jane is 30 and has 4 children. She never finished elementary school, but somehow she is managing to send all of her children to school in the village where they live. As it turns out her mother lives down the road from my home here in Uganda. She knows our contact, Pastor Johnson Ogema, and was thrilled that I am one of her neighbors. After Joyce and I read some verses from the bible together, Jane walked me into another part of the two room ward where four other elderly women were also lying in bed with broken hips. These are currently some of my favorite women in all of Uganda! And Jane was wonderfully helpful, she walked me to each bed, translated our conversations, and was very quick to tell me which of the women were saved and which ones I should "teach Jesus to," and often she said, "you must pray. Pray for this one now." You guessed it, I hope you will also add these sweet ladies and their broken hips to your prayer list.
Yes, life in Uganda is full of ups and down. It is full of exhaustion and discomfort most of the time. But I would not trade my time in this country for anything. Your continued prayers for my team are so very appreciated. Somehow God has knit us together in a truly unique way and we have been counting our blessings and attempting to challenge ourselves even more since coming home from debrief in Kenya. I hope you will help me to pray for our team. Pray for health, pray for us to be challenged and grown more than ever before in this last month, and pray for us to continue exploring what it looks like to live in community together (true community like you find in the early church in Acts). We are presenting a pretty big Easter program at Church this Sunday and if you'd like to mention that while praying, too, we'd really appreciate it. 😉
I also maintain my own personal blog at http://idwellinhope.blogspot.com! I hope you'll take a moment to check it out! Last week I posted about what a privilege it is to serve with this team of amazing individuals…
