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Mon: City Slickers |
| Wednesday, September 20, 2006 |
I had thought that Saturday (with its flat tires and improvising how to jack up the truck) was something of an adventure. I was mistaken. Monday was more adventure than we bargained for...but it was so worth it!
It all started in a trip to visit a village called Bulumwaki, which was a 2 hour drive on decent roads. What an incredible place! A local church providing schooling, water, and health care for scores of orphans. This is the village that all of you who provided pain meds (tylenol, ibuprofin, etc) went to. These meds are used for fever reduction, in addition to pain relief for those with HIV/AIDS. We saw their new bore hole they just received from another partner church, and their clinic that was completed earlier this year. It was incredible to hear how 3 other church communities have recently sprung up from this humble church in the last months. Godly, loving leadership. They are so blessed!
We wanted to provide a blessing that would allow the recipients to do some blessing of their own, so we decided to try to buy 10 goats and give them to families in Naigobya. Then, they raise the goats and breed them. When they give birth to their first female baby goat, they will give it away to another family. Thus, the continuing of the blessing.
We traveled to Ikumbya, which was a ride on what I thought were some of the worst roads in the world (no offense). We bumped into friends of a nearby church with a livestock truck (God's doing, not ours). There was only 1 available goat here, so we had to go north just a bit (very vague in Uganda!).
While Charles was looking for goats in this village, I started playing with a few kids (Shaser was the instigator of this!). Soon, I was playing simon says (no...more like copycat and then laugh) with about 100 children that were having the time of their life and hanging on my every word and action. I was having the time of my life, too! Actions, words, expressions, rhythms, they copied it all and giggled at this crazy pail white dude.
About 10 miles on even WORSE roads (because they were also muddy and water filled), and we were in another village. Charles left us there and went further north with the truck, and returned an hour later with 5 more goats (6 total now). It seemed that the price was quickly escalating. So, we decided to head to Naigobya with the 6 we had. As we headed south at 7pm back on the muddy ruddy road, we hit the bottom hard about 1 mile on our journey, and the goat truck behind us started honking. Yep...we put a hole in the oil pan of the gearbox...our vehicle disabled. So...it is now 8pm, dark, and we are 3+ hours into the bush with a dead vehicle.
Our friends in the goat truck and Henry rugged up a tow rope from a big stick, ropes, and automotive belts. 1 mile...broke. Retied. 2 more miles...broke. Retied. By this time, Mike was up in the goat truck having a blast, so Paul and I got into the goat truck (which was pulling our truck if I was unclear on that minor point).
So...how improbable is this: we are on the other side of the planet in the bush in East Africa, in a truck of goats pulling another minivan with a stick and a rope. City slickers, I tell you. In spite of how strange this sounds, I've never felt so peaceful. Simple joy.
Two hours of pulling, and we were back in Ikumbya. After an hour and a half, a taxi showed up and took us back to Jinja. This 3 hour taxi ride brought us back to our motel at 2:30am.
We were so thankful that God was with us and giving us forward progress and a way out. The other guys took the goats to Naigobya...more on that later.
Thanks for your friendship. To my friends at work and church and neighborhood, you should have heard the gasp when a super-sized suitcase was presented that had literally thousands of doses of meds. Ditto for those of you who brought vitamins (which went to the children of Naigobya). None of us will fully know the impact of this, but what a joy to be a part of the rhythm of God by giving out of our abundance.
Your servants,
Troy, Paul, and Mike
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