T.I.A.

Well, I’ve been here in Busia for
almost a week, and I would like to bring you up to speed with all
that is going on. I apologize if this blog is rather long and
disorganized, but we’re still just trying to get settled in, and I
have so much to relate to you. The title of this blog stands for
“This is Africa”, an acronym that we use several times a day to
note differences between Africa and the U.S., especially when we find out last-minute that we are expected to do something or when we wait
for long periods of time because times are relative here and
punctuality is not highly valued (as is true with most other
cultures).

When I said that our host missionary
was leaving, I failed to mention that we are not completely without
contact. We are working with Pastor Moses, a Uganda native and head
of Helping Hands Uganda. We are also getting to know and work with a
good number of people through the school for orphans and Church on
the property where we were staying up until yesterday, all of whom
are involved in Helping Hands either as employees or church-goers to
this church, which was planted by and is run by Helping Hands.

Last Friday, we found the internet café
here, and I posted my previous blog. We did actually take Friday to
be more of a day of rest, so I read, relaxed, and napped a little
too. That was a very good time for me to get settled in a bit.

On Saturday, we started our journey in
earnest. Since we had no scheduled ministry, we had time that day to
run some errands (like going to get bottled water) and some time to
just try to get to know some of the people around the school for
orphans that we were staying at. We had a good time getting to know
several people here. First, we were invited to sit on a lady’s
porch as probably 30 or 40 kids came and surrounded us (“T.I.A.”).
Later, we also went and bought a coke for a lady named Esther, who
works at the Angel Hotel. We sat and talked with her for a while and
invited here to church with us the next day (and she came). Then
that night, we had “choir practice” with one of my favorite
people here, James, who plays the keyboard for the church. We had to
prepare several songs to sing for the church the next day.

Before Saturday, I had been feeling
fairly apprehensive upon arriving in Africa and rather out of place
(which I think is justified considering the new
surroundings-“T.I.A.”). Honestly, if I had to go home
immediately, I don’t think I would have been too torn-up about it.
But, getting to know people around town has helped to relieve those
feelings a great deal. I would say that in that aspect, I have
definitely settled in here.

Sunday was a very interesting day. We
really only did two things: church and what I will call a “market
time” with the church. We got up and had church for three hours
(not too long for them) from 9 AM to noon. When we arrived, they
asked us to run Sunday School (without any notice- “T.I.A.”), so
we did. And during the service, they asked me to preach, so I did (I
preached on Matthew 4 and the Temptation of Jesus). Then that
afternoon, we went and attended and sang at (they love singing and
music) the market time (they love singing and music). Essentially,
the church sets up a sound system in the market and sings worship
music and has someone preach to the people as they come to the market
to We, for the remainder of the time, played with the children (or
at times, policed them, breaking up fights and the like). The
children love just holding our hands, but that only lasts for a
little bit of time. By the end, I had become a human jungle-gym,
picking kids up and throwing them around…needless to say, I was
very tired by the end of the time.

The past two days, Monday and Tuesday,
we have been moving- a lot. We moved the office for Helping Hands
from down the road from the school to the actual compound containing
the school, and we moved into our house on a new compound across
town. So, we had to move (with the help of a rented truck) 14
full-sized, hand-made, wooden beds, mattresses, and all of our
belongings across town and into this new house. The beds were quite
an ordeal because they were very heavy and we had to take them apart
to get them into the hallway and individual rooms and then put them
back together. The whole process was rather exhausting, and my back
has really been bothering me since about half-way through Monday.
Hopefully, we won’t be doing anything too physically strenuous the
next week so my back can recover.

The time not accounted for here has
generally been spent buying, cooking, and/or eating food. I know
that this sounds like an odd thing to say especially considering how
simply we eat, but “T.I.A.”, and that is what we have to do.
Because we weren’t in a more permanent living situation, we
couldn’t buy too much at a time (which is going to end up being the
case anyway, because with the exception of spices, rice, beans, and
eggs, nothing else keeps for more than two or three days- no
refrigeration, “T.I.A.”). But, we’ve had a good time as
several of the Helping Hands people have taken us out, shown us where
to buy certain things for the best price, and helped us figure out
how to do this in the most cost- and time-efficient manner. These
outings have been good for us too because they have allowed us to get
to know some of the people better and become more familiar with
Busia. And, though our food has been very simple, it is really good.
We may have water and beans and tomato wrapped in flatbread (I don’t
know what the real name is, but it’s kind of like a tortilla, but
thicker) for dinner one night. It doesn’t sound like much, but
it’s easy, inexpensive, and quite delicious.

Well, the next few days, we will be
helping with a pastor’s conference here in Busia and then going to
Kampala on Saturday to get tents and a few other supplies. We will
need the tents for the time we spend visiting the “bush churches”-
“T.I.A.”. We will be going to work with our first one on Monday
and Tuesday. I should be posting more blogs soon. I’m going to
work on one about two boys here that we’ve met (Emma and
Kamalisha). I will also be posting a picture blog of our house, the
school, the market, and a few other things around town, and I’m
sure I’ll have something to write about when I return from the bush
churches.