Sleepful in Kampala

After a swim and a good meal last evening, the primary objective was catching up on sleep (Dave's starting point was -33 hours); this morning, everyone was remarkably spry. The daily group ritual of ranking our general well-being on a scale of 1 - 10 resulted in virtually everyone coming in at 8 or better. Ironically, in a country renowned for excellent coffee, the absence of real brewed java at breakfast this morning meant several of us could not hand in perfect scores. That was resolved after church when we visited 1000 Cups.

Kampala Pentecostal Church has people lined up at the door as one service ends, attendees exit one side of the building while others fill in from the other. We met up with John Cassels and kids, while Krys joined us early afternoon after busing it from Arua (a heroic effort to say the least).

KPC as it's generally known is a vibrant, packed, sweaty, energetic, demonstrative, and impactful ministry in the middle of downtown Kampala (many will know that this is the founding church of Watoto children's orphanages and choir). Several groups from away like us (Montreal and Australia included) were introduced to an appreciative congregation. The two-hour service was taken up largely with singing (while 20 baptisms occurred simultaneously and somewhat in the background)and teaching. A surprising highlight for me was a time of prayer when everyone split into groups of 2 or 3; being near the end of an aisle, I was able to pray for and with Rose, a young Ugandan women who was suffering from gallstones. Readers so inclined are welcome to join me in the days ahead as I promised her this was not a one-time event. It occurred to me that as visitors, many of us are quick to appreciate and embrace this different church culture (though some aspects were surprisingly western) as part of our foreign experience, but would likely be uncomfortable exporting it back to Canada. Not exactly sure why.

We're off to our retreat centre north of Jinja along the Nile in about an 30 minutes for the rest of our trip (about a two-hour journey by bus). The good news is that the lost baggage arrived moments ago; Caroline and Josh are now in fresh clothes (a blessing for us all). The real work begins early tomorrow (Monday) morning (around midnight in Kitchener). We're all well and anxious to get started.