So after I blogged last week, the rest of the day turned into one of the most fun/eventful days of my time so far. I went to a JENGA football match with Michael about 45 minutes out of Mbale in Sironko, a relatively remote town. Just 45 minutes before we were due to set off, Michael told me that I wouldn't in fact be going as coach, but player. We were travelling in a matatu - a crappy little minibus. Michael told Phille, the captain, to arrange the cheapest Matatu he could find, he didn't disappoint. What arrived was the most beat up vehicle you could ever imagine, it get laughed off an MOT test. I took up station at the front in what's come to be known as the 'death seat' as most Matatu crashes are head on collisions and quickly realised how poor this thing was. To get into third the driver had to jam the gear-stick in several times and when it eventually did get in gear, it just fell out again... Every button/dial was broken which was assuring and it smelled bad. An all-round great vehicle, but it all added to the fun. We got there and went for lunch in a shady cafe, which had probably never seen a Mzungu before and then walked to the pitch. The locals got pretty excited when I ran onto the field to warm up in my Reading kit (thanks to Kit AID), they don't get many Mzungus, especially none playing football, they loved it. However because of my lack of prep time I had to borrow some boots. Those of you who know the dis-proportionate size of my feet would probably guess that they wouldn't have my size over here... So I wore size NINEs without any studs and just grinned through the pain. I helped out Joseph the coach in the first half, it turned out that the other team were pretty good and our heavy lunch didn't serve us so well, we came into the break 4-0 down. But then I came on in the second and we played a much more organised second half, eventually losing 5-1. Still great banter though...
To be honest most of the week was taken up by the office, I've been starting the new News Update, helping Tiff with photos sorting, also JENGA now has a twitter account which I'm manning (follow @JENGACDO).
Sunday was also really cool. I got the great privilege of being able to preach up the mountain at Emmanuel Church, one of Bethel's church plants. It was such a great time. I preached on being a 'Holy Priesthood' from 1 Peter 2. I spoke about the importance of seeking the presence of God, how that builds us into being a 'spiritual house' and how that should affect the way we live. Had a time of quiet at the end just listening and receiving from God and really felt holy spirit moving in that time. God is moving up the mountain!! Preaching again this Sunday at Mustard Seed Namatala, Pastor Sam's church, on giving. Trying to get a good balance between sensitivity and following the word of God down the line.
A really interesting observation from CRO yesterday. We had to go down to a different field for football, which meant walking through town. I was walking through with a kid on either hand and had about 10 different Ugandan me come up to me at different times questioning why I was with 'Street boys'. Really opened my eyes to the Ugandan opinion of these amazing kids. Most of them see them as just a nuisance, look past their terrible lifestyles and only see them as an annoyance to themselves. That's just been a bit thought-provoking for me over the past day.
Beginning to ramp up the time I spend thinking and praying about what to do when I go home now, would appreciate prayer for that, but also that I'd be focussed on finishing really well here. :)
God Bless
Dan x
jengauganda.org
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