Well, it's hard to believe that it's been a month and a half since we got back from Uganda. It seems like time has flown by so quickly! I guess with all of the remodeling and the Easter activities that have been taking place, time just got away from me. But I'm back!
We had a missions service the Sunday after we returned. It was really a great time of sharing with the folks who had stayed home and prayed for us. We showed video clips, and each of the team members shared for a couple minutes about what the trip had meant to him or her/how it had impacted his or her life. I know we would all agree that NONE of us came back the same. We were all so touched by the people to whom we went to minister. Those people in reality ministered to us. We fell in love with the people...the country. Many of us did not want to return. Most of us are looking forward to our next trip back "home" to Uganda.
One thing that the trip did for me was to make me appreciate the things back home that so many of us take for granted. I was stuck in traffic in downtown Roanoke a couple weeks ago. In the past I would have got antsy, and maybe a bit irritated at the lack of synchronizing lights properly, but as I thought back to the traffic jams in Kampala, suddenly our traffic here looked pretty good! So I didn't get upset at all. I just relaxed and laughed about it!
And then there is the renewed appreciation of indoor plumbing! :D :D :D Once you have the opportunity to use a Ugandan outhouse, you really appreciate that hunk of porcelain in the bathroom! And of course, there are the really important things, like the fact that all of our children here in the USA have an opportunity to go to school, at least through the 12th grade. In Uganda education is not free unless someone like Pastor Solomon has a heart to believe God for the finances to provide a free education! 10% of the population are orphans, and with an 80% unemployment rate, even the ones who have a mom or dad in the home, don't have a good chance of getting an education.
And the fact that we have good health care available...with modern diagnostic equipment in all of the hospitals. We have so much to thank God for EVERY DAY! Pastor Solomon was in the States recently and was interviewed on The Harvest Show. During the interview he gave some of the updated statistics for Uganda. The one that stood out to me was that the average age of Ugandans is 14 1/2 years old! It's hard to believe. It was very exciting, though, as I listened to the interview, to know that WE had a part in the work that Pastor Solomon was talking about. He mentioned the half-a-million-dollars worth of medical equipment that we had shipped over...the cardiac monitors, blood gas machines, etc. All I can say is, "Praise God!"
Well, It's after 5:00 AM, and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. So I'd better close for now. See you soon!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment