Well, today was a different kind of day for the team. Don and Larry began the day with meetings at Mt. Elgon Hotel with representatives from Living Water and Sanitation to discuss options for adding a bigger drilling rig to the water well drilling ministry here in Uganda. The meeting went very well and we are looking forward to exploring new opportunities through this ministry. By noon the team was dressed in fancy African dresses or nice American dresses and the men all were looking "smart" in their suits and ties. We were heading to an African wedding. Pastor Timothy, the pastor of the 2006 TBC church plant in Apokoro village, was to be wed today to his fiance Beatrice. The congregation gathered together in the Apokoro church and with much fanfare, the man of the day, the groom, arrived in the church through a slow procession down the center aisle attended by his groomsmen and best man. Later, the bride arrived escorted by her family as they made their way down the aisle again to much fanfare and alot of eyiiieyii... from the ladies. Once they were seated, across from each other across the aisle, the Word was delivered with much animation and passion by Pastor Morris Ogenga. I won't even try to explain what happened during this part of the service but suffice it to say that Jamie wants Pastor to oversee his wedding and Mike said he would want Pastor to perform his daughter's weddings...years from now. Once they and the congregation were throughly convinced that "the door was closed" for Timothy and Beatrice concerning other men and women Pastor went on to tell Timothy that Beatrice was not marrying him for his food but because she desired a husband and for him to care for her and attend to her needs. OK, you had to be there. Ask one of the team members about this ceremony when they get back. It was a joy to behold and a true celebration of marriage. Once the rings were exchanged, the wedding proceeded outside where a tent was covering the cakes. Both cut the cake, served each other cake and Fanta Orange and then it happened.... The skys opened up, the rain fell, and the party was washed away. The team got soaked to the bones along with most of the crowd even though we had party tents set up to cover us up. As Forest Gump would say, "it was big ole fat rain" that was blowing and swirling. Once the rain subsided, the team had time to visit with Timothy and Beatrice before heading back to Mt. Elgon Hotel for our team dinner together. Tonight we received our coffee, packed our bags and will load up the vans for our trip to Jinja tomorrow.
Scott will be preaching, Don will teach the men's sunday school, Rose will teach the women's sunday school, and Melissa will teach the children. We will be holding church services at Pastor Charles' new church called Kidoko. This is the church that TBC sponsored and opened last November on our mission trip. It will be good to go back and visit the people whom we shared the gospel with last year and who are now making up the congregation of this baby church.
All will sleep well tonight after a full day of life in Uganda.
Larry Hoelscher
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