A Far Off Land

I did not know what to expect. I wasn't too sure what I was doing. But I had faith that God was with us and whatever we did, we did it with Him.

The long flight was an exciting one. Sure, it was uncomfortable for the most part, but I was excited. We were on our way to a different country, culture, language, people. And it was going to be summer! It was weird going shopping for sun lotion the day before.

When we finally reached Entebbe in Uganda, I needed the loo badly. I just couldn't bring myself to go on the flight! ...anyway, when that was dealt with, two things - no, three things hit me. Firstly, the heat. It was the night time, but it was so warm! Around 22 degrees Celcius would be my guess. It was nice. Secondly, the smell. I simply cannot describe it, but it wasn't nice. It made me wretch a little. But I got used to it within minutes. Thirdly, the windows were covered in flies. Totally covered! I was half expecting to step outside the building to a thick atmosphere of flies. That, thankfully, wasn't the case. Seems the flies just loved windows. I prefer Macs myself, but each to their own eh. Ha. Ha. Ha......

When we did get outside, there was another fun difference to the UK. The noise. As we would come to expect over the following 10 days, when the sun disappears the bajillions of insects come alive and fill the air with their happy banter. I liked it. It was different. As long as they weren't planning an all-out attack on the human race, I was happy.

The first night, we stayed at a Motel. And it was guarded by a man with a gun. Which was nice. I wasn't too sure whether to give him a nod of greeting when our eyes crossed paths. After all, a nod could be offensive. Never know. So I did not. I let him be.

It was interesting to sleep under a net. Also interesting was the heat. And the noise. But I slept non the less. Didn't sleep much on the flight ya see.

The next morning we left for Kumi. A nice relaxing minibus journey. On bumpy roads in a burning heat. All day. But it was exciting! Peering out of the windows was awesome. It was a mix of things I expected to see, and not. We went past little mud huts with thatched roofs. Exotic trees were everywhere. Women carrying ridiculously heavy things on their heads. Without holding them upright! The women were simply awe-inspiring. The roads themselves were mostly orange dust with fun pot-holes in random places meaning we needed to swerve all over the place. While everyone else on the road does likewise. The driver seemed to know what he was doing though!

What I didn't expect was the many advertisements all over the place. Mostly paint, Coca-cola and mobile communication providers. It was a bit strange. So many people had mobile phones! Rich and poor. People had mobile phones. Simply awesome. I am glad they had this blessing. Communication is important. One other thing that I wasn't expecting was the fact that the main language in the cities is English! English adverts, English signs, people speaking English. I was expecting to be in a country that didn't understand English, but it was a comfort. Although in Kumi (where we stayed for the majority of the time) they spoke their own language, there were always people around who spoke at least some English.

The house we stayed in was really great. It was a brick building with a roof, had a living room / dining room area, 3 bedrooms, a wash room with running tap water and a room with a flushing toilet. It was luxury compared to any of the locals living in the area! We also had electricity and a fridge. God blessed us with so much comfort among people with non. It was one of the many things that I found humbling while there.

Enough about first impressions. How about the people I shared this adventure with. The leader of the group and the one who gave us all this opportunity is Tom. He is a man who strives to do whatever it is that God wants him to do. He is good at encouraging people to do the same and to help them to find and grow their gifts and talents. John-Luke is a guy with rock star hair who genuinely cares about people's thoughts, ideas and dreams. He is willing to stand out and do whatever it is that he feels God calls him to do. Ste is my best friend who I can comfortably call a brother. He brought much laughter to the group and particularly made the younger ones feel less anxious. He grew a lot in conf

idence in many ways and enjoyed pushing himself to do what God wants him to do. Was fun to hum game tunes randomly throughout the trip too! Paula is a real woman of God. She always puts God and others before herself and strives to worship God in all she does. She works with the youth of the Dingle in Liverpool, which is no easy task. Her love for God was strong in Uganda and was felt by all. Grace is a young woman with a lovely, caring heart. God wi

ll use her love for people to do amazing things and this was seen during our time in Uganda. She was a real joy to be around and I must say she calmed my heart and mind when I was uneasy about the unknown. She made me smile an awful lot, even though she called me a smelly skunk. Terri is a young woman with a quiet but strong presence. I can see that God will use her for things that are both scary and exciting in the future. She grew a lot in confidence and character during these 10 days and her willingness to step out of her comfort zone was inspiring. Last but definitely not least is Hannah. The youngest of the group. She settled into the different culture and environment very quickly and I am sure this experience will stay with her for the rest of her life and impact all she does. She brought smiles to both the team and to everyone we met. It was a real privilege to spend time with these great people. I already miss them all and wish I could have spent more time with them. The team got on well together and grew together and got to know each other better. To work in a team like that is always a real blessing.

The thing that struck me the most during our trip to Uganda was the people of Uganda. Among them are the warmest, friendliest people I have ever met. Whether they were leaders of churches, youth leaders, heads of families, young children, people getting on with their everyday tasks, young, old, people with things, people with nothing. They welcomed us with smiles and kind words. They waved in the streets. They shook our hands. They provided us with their choicest foods even when they don't have much. They went to great lengths to make sure we knew we were welcome. Their love and hospitality were truly awesome and very very humbling.

And what's more, everyone seemed to be happy and thankful for what they had. Such a contrast to the so called developed countries where depression, selfishness, greed and sadness consume people, even though they have a lot more material possession than is needed. The two people

that stand out the most to all of us I am sure are the people who looked after us, made sure the house was clean and cooked all of our meals. They were Josephine and Grace. I pray that God will bless them richly. They humbled me so much. I would love to meet them again this life or after. We were all asked to send the love and greetings of many people we met back home. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

The main reason we were there all the way in Uganda was to be part of a Youth Conference. Young people from all over Uganda came along to the conference to learn more about God, to learn more about who they are in Christ, to meet and share fellowship with other young people who follow Christ and to praise God for all He has done.

The venue of the main conference meetings was a huge hall, though it was not large enough to hold everyone who was there. There were around 850 to 900 young people filling the room as well as sitting at the windows outside. It was a bit unnerving when we first arrived there and were given our seats at the front. Facing everyone. I would much rather sit among the young people, but I soon got used to it.

Giving our greetings was... an experience. We were advised to give greetings from not only ourselves but also our home churches and family members. Trying to remember what to say and also the fact that I find it hard to speak in front of 5 people, never mind 900, was not a good combination. In fact when I finished my greetings and was about to sit back down, someone in the sea of people said to me "and what is your name?" I apologised and said my name. I suppose it wasn't so bad. I'm pretty sure a large percentage of the people laughed at me.

Though Tom and John-Luke had to give the main teachings from the team, we were all asked to think of a favourite verse and explain why to everyone. I enjoyed both hearing the teams favourite verses and also giving my own to the crowd. This in itself is an example of a growth in confidence for me as I usually hate talking in front of people. I am sure the same can be said for the rest of the team too. God really worked in and through us on the trip. I just pray that what we said had impact in people's lives. There is one other thing to note while I'm on the subject of talking in front of people. A few people were asked to get up and give their testimony. I was not, but during Ste's testimony, I was somehow mysteriously pulled into it. Well, I was given the mike. And I stood there not knowing what to say. With 900 sets of eyes looking at me. But it's okay. I got a few laughs again. And everyone knows laughing calms the soul. Looking back though, it was good. Most things will seem easy compared!

The worship the young people gave to God was simply inspiring. They do not care about what others think of them as they worship God. They sing songs at the top of their voices, dance beautifully in worship and play magnificent music with such amazing talent to our awesome God. After experiencing this, coming back to a church service in the UK will feel bored and lifeless. Something we can learn from perhaps, but our British culture would find it hard to change in a way that we'd be as free as Ugandans to worship God.

One of the real highlights of the conference was when we all went to a huge field with balloons, tennis balls, volleyballs, footballs and skipping ropes. It was so amazing to be among hundreds of Ugandans having lots of fun. There were shouts of enjoyment heard all around. I started throwing a tennis ball to a few Ugandans and more and more got involved until there was a huge circle of us throwing the ball to each other. It then turned into a local game where one person got in the middle and they had to throw it to someone in the circle and then catch it again. If they didn't catch it, then they join the circle and the person who threw the ball then goes in the middle. The girls in particular were quite scary! They threw the ball with such a force! At the end of the sports time, it was nice to shake hands and speak to people. Everyone was so friendly!! I cannot stress that fact enough!

On Sunday, the girls went to a church to preach and the boys went to a different church. That was an experience. The church we went to was quite conservative with their worship songs and the service was quite quiet. Well, compared to the youth conference anyway. They took their time to welcome us and make sure we knew we were welcome there and that we will always be welcome there. John-Luke gave the sermon which I thought was one of the most powerful I've heard in a long time. He concluded it with a call for people to come and give their lives to God. Nobody came forward, but from what I could tell, most of them were followers of Christ already. The offering was a bit different. People gave money, eggs, rice, chickens, fruit. Whatever they could give, they gave! Then things were auctioned off so that there was money that the church could use. It was a long process, but people gave with cheer!

I could go on and on with what we done. Little and big things could be explained in detail. But I'd always be missing off something of this amazing trip. I'll end with one other thing we experienced. We experienced the land that is Africa. It is such a beautiful land filled with life. Flying things and crawling things are all over that amazing green and orange land. The team enjoyed walking and taking in the area. One day we walked to the top of a huge rock and we could see the land for miles around. I sat there and could not express in words to God how awesome the view was. My eyes could barely take it in. There were orange roads, exotic trees, huge rocks, cows, goats, children, chickens, lizards and monkeys. A truly beautiful place. God's creation is awesome wherever you go.

With that I will end my blog on our adventure to Uganda. It has opened my eyes to the world a bit more. It has given me opportunity to grow to be more like the person God wants me to be. True, it thrust me out of my comfort zone then kicked me in the face, but God really worked in me. I need experiences like this so I can keep moving forwards. I thank God for leading Tom to ask me to come along for the trip. It has added fuel to my passion to go out and spread the word of God to people who have real need to it. I will explain that more in further blogs. Thanks for reading! I hope I have given you a feel for what we did over there! I've missed out so much. Please talk to me about it if you're interested.

Take care and may God bless you. Have a very happy and stress free Christmas!