Honey & Prayer

[this post was written on Monday morning - we were unable to post it in Lira due to power surges]

After the last post on Saturday morning, we went to visit Dan, Ben and Holly’s night watchman. (You can find Dan’s story on Holly and Ben’s blogspot linked from our page). Dan lives in a village about 9 km north of Lira. It is down a long dirt road through some of the most beautiful countryside we have seen, lush and green, undeveloped and open. Dan’s family were all there to meet us, his grandfather, parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. After a round of formal introductions in which every person had to stand and give a mini speech, we sat down for a meal. First came the honey, harvested just the night before, which we ate straight from the comb. Dan’s grandfather was so excited for us to try his honey that he prayed over it before we ate. Wow, the honey was sweet and so filling, we hardly had room for the traditional Ugandan meal of rice, sweet potatoes, chicken and bitter herbs with g-nut paste (similar to peanut butter) which Holly helped to prepare. Although I was a little skeptical, the meal was actually really good. Dan took us on a tour of his family’s tobacco farm, and then we went up to a rock, the highest point in the village. The view was spectacular, with the cool breeze and surrounded by friends both new and old, I felt like we were experiencing just a small glimpse of the kingdom.

Sunday we gathered with the staff and friends of CPA to pray and fast for the children who have escaped from the LRA and for those who are still in the bush. In typical African fashion, the service lasted about 4.5 hours. Once they found out that Jared was a pastor, he was called up to the front to help lead. I think he got off easy, as he only had to give two sermons during the meeting. In all seriousness, it was so good to be with brothers and sisters, listening to their prayers for their people, and adding our own to theirs, asking God to bring healing and restoration to the people of Uganda.

After the prayer meeting, we went into town to get groceries for dinner that night and ran into a group of American college students. They were over here helping to build an orphanage in Lira. What makes this meeting so amazing is that the mother of Jonathan, one of the students, had met Jared and Kellen at TNL and again at the Global Night Commute. She told them about what he was doing over here, and hoped that we could meet them. Unfortunately, we did not think this was possible, until we ran into them in the store. What a small world. They whole group came over to Ben and Holly’s last night, and we had a great time laughing, listening to good music, and taking communion together. We leave for Gulu today, and so we begin another week here in Uganda.

Your thoughts and prayer are so much appreciated.

Lots of love to you all.
[Alyssa English]