Sunday 15th

Church today was at Wairaka Miracle Centre, the church of Pastor Moses. I managed to decline an offer to preach, saying that we needed one chance at least to hear an African sermon. We were still ushered in to the prime seats at the side of the stage to ensure that we were visible to all, and we were given the opportunity to introduce ourselves and give a greeting. The service was quite similar to the others we had attended with periods of worship and a lengthy sermon. This is the church that the kids from Care4Kids attend, so the average age of the congregation was fairly low. Pastor Moses and all of his people were very welcoming.


After church we slipped into town for some lunch and then returned home by 4.30 pm. Ivan met us then and we walked to a local village to meet some of the people there who are really struggling. The mothers that we went to meet were off at a wedding, but we did catch up with one man who wanted to recommit his life to Jesus. He showed us the house that his 75 year old mother lived in and where she cared for 5 children. The children had one bed made of cushions off an old sofa to share, and the first thing we saw when showed the mother's bed was an eight inch long rat crawling off the bed. After praying with the guy and talking for a while we ventured off to find another family where we spent quite a bit of time. The mother here supports here family of five children by making liquor. There were about 5 of her customers present and we all sat down for a while. One of the customers, an older fellow asked if he could be 'saved'. We prayed for him and when Ivan asked if any of the others wanted to be saved, the mother replied that she would like to be but would have to lose her job because the church would not accept her profession. What a dilemma. When John asked if she believed in Jesus and accepted that he died for her sins, he was able to assure her that Jesus accepted her. When it was almost time to go, we gave them some clothes and trinkets which they were extremely thankful for. The visit was an opportunity to get in touch with the people that we drive past and see but have not had anything to do with until now. It certainly gave us a different picture of what life is like for many of Uganda's people, and its not a great picture.

The 75 year old mother who we missed yesterday, appeared at our breakfast today. We shared a little of our breakfast with her, and when Calista gave her some clothes that we had left she broke down in tears. It doesn't take very much of what we have in plenty to make a huge difference to these people. We at HopeBuilders are not just building homes for orphans, but we are becoming part of a community that hopefully we will be able to help, and give some hope, for a long time.