No Words

It’s been a week since I came back from my first trip to Kabale Uganda to visit our team at Mountain Children’s Ministry. That sounds a little weird to say “team” since Ivan Twino is our only official “staff” person. However , in the short period of time he and his kids have been there,  a community has developed there that is quite a beautiful  thing to watch as it unfolds. I thought I would try and describe a couple different scenarios but “No Words” can really do that justice but I thought I would give it a try…

No Words….

…can describe such a beautiful landscape (farmland, mountains) that is countered by the total lack of “conveniences”(necessities?)  that we are used to in the West…running water, access to the internet, electricity, roads, shoes. The juxtaposition throws you off a little bit…

…can describe the graciousness (and gratefulness) of the people we serve and are serving with. Humble, happy, grateful, hopeful. Their faith, their low expectations on what they are “owed”, what they need is so different than anything I have experienced.

…can really illustrate walking through hills of Kabale (with Ivan and Michele) and have a whole schoolyard of girls stop in their tracks to observe (stare) at us as we walked towards the boys school to pay tuition for some of the 60+ children that MCM now sponsors. I thought it was my stunning good looks but my wife explained to me it had something to do with the fact that they don’t see “my kind around these parts” very often  …if ever

…can paint the picture of 4 Ugandan women standing over multiple outdoor charcoal “stoves” for 8 hours cooking enough food to feed 180 children for the MCM Christmas party. Happy, smiling, content, glad to help..an amazing example to me of servanthood

…were spoken  when I worked with Ivan and two men (both pastors) building a hen house for three straight days . Pastor Sam and Pastor Peter knew very little English (Ivan interpreted when needed) and I did not know their language at all. We had the “guy” universal denominator of a “project” to unite us which was great! Cutting wood, pounding nails, sweating in the Ugandan sun, eating , laughing at our mistakes, sometimes laughing at our inability to understand each other, resting together. No words can describe how I am connected to them now-I am looking forward to our next project!

I began this by talking about the “team” at MCM.  I learned on this trip the team at MCM-Uganda  is much bigger than just Ivan and his local board members –it’s the whole community who cares  for Ivan and the kids ( and for Michele when she is there). There’s a connection and community that is being built that is not easily described but easily understood when you are in the middle of it and can experience it. My prayer is that more people will “take the plunge” and understand it the way I do now. My guess is they will not have the words to describe what they have seen.