PRENOTE: This is Part 1 of the weekend report. Where we stayed Friday night had wifi. My phone connected to the internet via the wifi but my laptop would not. So this report was not sent on Friday or Saturday as it states it would be.
Then Saturday night we were with Shannon Hurley at his SOSMinistries camp/community/complex. (More about it in part 2.) They have a visitor home that Hillary and I stayed in. It has wifi but an hour into our stay, the power went off in that home and so did the internet. There was internet at other locations but it wasn’t convenient. So I’ve been without internet for the past two nights. It is now Sunday. Here is Part 1 of the weekend report.
Friday, 2-1-19 report. The trip from the border town of Busia, Uganda to the capital of Kampala.
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Dear Friends and Family,
I am in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. The roads are the same they’ve been since my first visit 20 years ago but the number of cars has increased significantly so traffic in and around the city always moves at a snail’s pace almost any time of day. I will probably not send this until Saturday. The place I am staying the night has wifi. My phone connects but this laptop will not. So, I’ll get things prepared and send it when I get reconnected.
The real story for today (Friday) is my meeting with Hillary last night after I sent the Thursday report. Our discussion went in a direction I didn’t expect and I was pretty encouraged and excited when we were done.
UGANDA: SETTING THE PACE
Hillary and his team has started doing seminars on their own. They have also started going through ITEM’s mentoring syllabus on their own in preparation for taking pastors through it in the future.
Hillary was presenting a budget for the coming year, which included more seminars and mentoring. PLEASE FOLLOW CLOSELY.
Our strategy
Our strategy for each pastor we train is a Bible and theology seminar, followed by a ministry and preaching seminar, followed by up to two years of mentoring, leading them to apply what they have learned at the seminars and especially expository preaching (thru books of the Bible).
I started asking Hillary questions about locations, seminars, and mentoring and what I found out was that he is following the strategy (outlined above) masterfully!
They have been going into different regions of Uganda following the pattern I explained in the paragraph above. In short, by the end of August 2019, they will have finished the two seminars in three regions and will begin mentoring those pastors. In October they want to start the process in a fourth region. This is significant progress and as far as I can tell, Uganda is modeling what we are pushing for in all countries in which we have a team. Other countries are in the process but I am not sure any are as organized and as far along as they are in Uganda. I plan on using what they are doing as an illustration of what other countries should be doing.
Out of our discussion came a reporting and tracking system that has been lacking to date. So, this was the second unexpected provision of the Lord that came from our discussion.
When we sat down to talk, I had no idea this is where we’d end up!
O give thanks to the Lord , for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting. (1 Chron 16:34)
SLOW AND HOT
The trip from the border town of Busia to the capital city, Kampala, is about 140 miles. It is a one-lane-each-direction trade route so you follow slow moving trucks for much of the trip. I put a map of the route in the picture album. GET THIS: The first 125 miles takes about 3 hours, maybe a little more. The average speed is 40 MPH. The last 15 miles takes 1 hour! As you approach Kampala, things really slow down and get backed up. See picture album to see the line of traffic approaching Kampala.
Four hours in 90+ degrees in a hot car, following trucks……but you gotta do what you gotta do. I can’t wait to get back to winter in Oregon next Tuesday!
POLICE HAVE RADAR GUNS HERE ALSO
We were an hour or more into our trip to Kampala when a police officer 50 yards ahead of us started waving Hillary over. He checked Hillary’s drivers license then told Hillary he was speeding and revealed a speed radar gun showing Hillary was going 71 KPH in a 50 PH zone. Hillary apologized. Said he thought he was out of the 50 zone. The policeman asked if he knew Hillary. Hillary said, “Maybe.” The policeman told him to slow down and let him go. We were both very surprised.
POTENTIALLY STRATEGIC WEEKEND
Tomorrow (Saturday, the day I send this) we’ll drive another two hours to connect with Shannon Hurley, a missionary from Grace Community Church (John MacArthur is pastor). Shannon’s ministry is “sosministries.com”. We are doing similar things. He has a school. We do seminars and mentoring. I am going to brainstorm ways SOS and ITEM might work together in Uganda.
I will add more after our meeting on Saturday. (NOTE: It wasn’t sent Saturday due to no wifi in our house.)
Hillary and I will spend the night, attend church with Shannon Sunday and head back to Kampala Sunday then to Entebbe airport to start my journey home!
By His grace,
Steve