Ishongororo Community Church

Nestled in a small gully next to the busy highway leading back to Mbarara town, this small church was filled with eager participants. Time keeping proved to be the biggest challenge in a community where time has very little value – you dig in the garden, you go home. As a result, we didn’t cover all that we’d hoped but we still had some very engaged, eager people grasping concepts that were entirely new and entirely useful.

Look what I found on the side of the road.

Pastor George had another opportunity to co-facilitate as he gained confidence and experience in preparation for independent teaching ministry on behalf of Surprised by Hope. Pastor Gerald was a great help to us all as well. We struggled a bit with the translator – just knowing English doesn’t necessarily qualify a person to translate…let alone translate business terms. Pastor Gerald became quite good at helping in this area given that this was his third time in the same week having attended the training.

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Pastor Yoram's Termite House

The land where his dilapidated temporary house was erected proved impossible for brick making. Being a creative thinker, Pastor Yoram asked a nearby neighbor if he could chop down the termite mounds covering his plot. A welcome service, the neighbor agreed.

Pastor Yoram used that clay from those termite mounds to make bricks and build his house. Proud of his accomplishment, he wanted the muzungu to sleep in that house at least once before departing. We all shifted to the beautiful mountainside where the unfinished house rested almost four kilometers from the church. Four kilometers may not seem like much but when you hand carry two 20 liter containers of water uphill and downhill to provide for the family every day…you might change your mind.

The first muzungu to visit the entire clan, so says Pastor Yoram’s 80+ year old father, we were gifted with Julia who quickly became the responsibility of Pastor Gerald given that he was already keeping Frank the rooster. Pastor Yoram’s wife had a badly infected finger – probably from using an unclean knife (see the water issue noted above) and so I left all the medicine that remained for getting the last of the glob out of my leg. I told Pastor Yoram that he would most certainly need to take her to a doctor as the infection seemed to me to be bad enough to quickly lead to infection of the blood and finger amputation and all those other nasty possibilities. He received the news graciously and I suspect he wondered how exactly he would manage to get her the needed medical treatment.

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Michenyi Community Church

Sitting atop one of many beautiful rolling hills in the Mbarara area, Michenyi Community Church boasted stained glass windows (of sorts) which offered a stark contrast to its mud walled exterior. That contrast made this church feel so very beautiful, that and the lush green landscape surrounding it on those rolling hills.

The evening before our scheduled workshop the people gathered inside the church for a time of worship. I joined them with a few worship dance steps and a greeting of welcome. Most attendees traveled for several kilometers to be here and would sleep inside the church that night in anticipation of our time together the following day.

Frank the Rooster has now been consumed.

Between 40 and 50 participants gathered while Pastor George and I co-facilitated the first two workshops in the Entrepreneurship Series. When teaching about asset-based development, Pastor Yoram offered a personal testimony as to how this approach benefited him. 

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Kishabya United Pentecostal Church

Our night time arrival netted a beautifully lit crusade grounds.

Lights edged the white tents where people gathered for an all night crusade. More than 100 people danced and worshiped the Lord as Pr Gerald and I entered through the flower-filled arch. Pastor Cornelius and his wife are wise to operate an events business where tents, decorations, cakes, and the like are rented and made. Their double use for church related events is most certainly advantageous. The nighttime beauty of this place was awe-inspiring.

These balloons really challenged participants to think creatively.

Two days of Entrepreneurship teaching held on the same site where the crusade took place was thought to make the venue perfect. And yet we learned that all night crusades welcome the morning teaching far too early and that while many Christians are interested in beginning or improving their businesses, these are not always the same people as those who attend a crusade.

From inside the non-venue church, you can see the flag walls.
Beautiful but not stable.

None the less, we saw God moving among the people both during the crusade and during the teaching. Participants enjoyed the exercises to help reinforce learning – especially the balloon animals – and demonstrated an ability to transfer that reawakened creative thinking ability to their business project ideas. We all look forward to their testimonies of what the Lord has done.

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