When our WHM/Trinity team left on Friday, we welcomed the Bolthouse family in their place. Bill and Laurie have been friends-we-had-not-yet-met for many years. They were missionaries in south-east Europe in the late 90’s and now have an amazing and unusual life, embodying the truth that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” God blessed them with resources which they have chosen to spend on the Kingdom rather than themselves. A few years ago they invested in us by buying us the ultrasound machine that now forms a large part of Scott’s ministry to HIV positive pregnant women. So when they planned a family trip to Uganda to visit some of the ministries they have supported, they asked to treat us to a couple of days at the game park and then visit our home in Bundibugyo with their three daughters. Our families connected quickly and deeply in the way that only shared experiences of cross-cultural struggle and war and parenting and refreshment of the Gospel can do . . . We watched a group of hyenas stalk and chase kob in the early mists (the first time we’ve ever seen hyenas at full speed rather than the slink into shadow, and a sobering reminder of their power and danger), saw two female lions and their two cubs lazing in the morning sun, floated down the Kazinga channel with dozens of hippos and hundreds of diverse herons, storks, egrets, kingfishers . . . And lastly ended on the back of the truck in the midst of a herd of elephants, when everyone was focused on the tiniest little baby elephants on one side of the road and Laurie and I yelled as a huge and angry mother elephant charged us from the other side of the road. Thankfully she quit as soon as we sped a safe distance away. When God finally answers Job’s suffering, He does so by pointing to the wild animals He has made. We always find the beauty of the game park a good antidote to the pain of Bundibugyo, so those days were a great gift.
From Mweya we returned to Bundibugyo for a first-hand look at our team’s ministries. Like the visitors the week before, they were able to tour the school, converse with students and teachers, see the hospital wards, malnourished children, goats, and even take a refreshing dip in the Ngite Falls. Both groups of visitors left us encouraged by their heart-level connection to God’s Kingdom in this obscure place, by their prayers and support. We are grateful. Half of the first group ended up stranded in Entebbe for a day when their BA flight blew five tires and aborted take-off and evacuated (! Rivaling the Barts’ horrible travel saga, though perhaps just extending it since they were carrying trunks for the Barts). The other half went on to Sudan with Michael and are just arriving back in the US today. We know that the cost, both in finances and in the emotional/spiritual toll of experiencing this place of spiritual battle (the hailstorm that struck us at Ngite where 9 years ago some of the same men had prayed against a demon the community feared inhabited a certain rock would be just one example), is high. So we are thankful for those who count that cost and are still willing to come.
1 comment:
Nice Post, A trip to Uganda in pictures. I went for a flight to Entebbe a few years back with a friend, the favourite scene for me was when the sun is setting down and an amazing scene it becomes.
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