Friday, September 30, 2016

Luganda Diary: September 25, 2016

Sunday morning in the village. We woke, had breakfast and got ourselves ready to attend a local church service. We walked thru the village with Mama Roona, as many of the village kids & adults call Winnie, and another neighbor, Harriet. 

We went via the short cut, thru an area with many houses (and tons of kids), to the main road, and then down a side road. With 2yo Roona in tow, it was about a 20 minute walk. We finally made it to the church where Praise & Worship was already in full swing. Kendal & I were the only visitors present. The parishioners made us feel very welcome as soon as they saw us. They waved, smiled, and shook our hands. Thankfully, the worship leaders & pastor translated most of the service for us from Luganda to English.  

It was youth Sunday, with special focus paid to the children as many are starting a new semester term tomorrow. The kids did a great job ministering: during praise & worship, prayer, & even a short sermon that focused on Love (1 Corinthians 13).  

At one point the Pastor called us up and asked us to introduce ourselves. "Someone", ahem....nominated me to speak for both of us. Letting the congregation know who we were, where we were from, and why we were here in Uganda.  Overall it was really nice being able to experience life as a member of Nakasake Village. 

After church we took a ride to another village (Luwero) in order to tap the ATM and buy a few items that we would need for the week--mostly bottled water & fruit. The drive took about 45 mins along a rutted dirt road. We were finally able to get some cash!! I took out 150,000 Ugandan Shillings! Sounds like a lot but with 3,400 Shillings=$1 US, I only ended up with about $43. Enough to buy a few staple items and hopefully, finally, at last set up my phone so that I'll be able to have more reliable internet. The jury is still out on that. After a registration process that took close to 30 minutes, waiting another 30 minutes for the torrential downpour to slack up a bit, on our way out of the stand, I was told it could take up to 3 days to activate the new SIM card. I'm not holding my breath. We'll see how it goes in a few days. 

The remainder of the evening was spent socializing over dinner & tea with Winnie, organizing my room (now that I'm no longer sharing with Kendal) & bathing...it was cold tonight! Even more cold than what I started getting used it.  Oh well, it wasn't the end of the world. 

It's now bedtime for me.  Im not quite sure what tomorrow will bring but I'm positive it will be interesting! Until next time...

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