Boda Bodas and Prayer??!!

RAGE!!!! Just deleted everything as I was about to post. Frustration.......

Let me try again. Ok here goes :-)

This will be my last update I imagine, as from tomorrow people much wiser than me will hopefully be using this blog for what it is meant to be used for - telling the tale of Love for Life in Uganda this summer. I apologise for high jacking it, as well as rambling on for extended periods! I have never blogged before, maybe I will do it in the future, who knows, though I fear I have a tendancy to ramble and speel (as was apparant!!!). Regardless, from now on you will be hearing from others on the trip.

Just killed a misquito.

Anyway, I have been in Kampala from Friday 3rd July, which also marked the parting of the ways, with Luke and Mark remaining to work on in Rwanda and DRC, and Chris leaving to serve in Romania with a team from his church. My task has been researching for my dissertation - 'Does faith help or hinder HIV/AIDS prevention? - Uganda - A Case-Study'.

I have interviewed and spoken to a lot of very interesting people, from WHO representatives, the Muslim co-ordinator of HIV/AIDS policy, Medsin San Frontiers workers and youth workers involved in HIV/AIDS prevention. Still hoping to meet World Bank, Family Planning and UNAIDS by end of week - we shall see. People have been so good about agreeing to talk to me, and I have been very fortunate.

Being by myself here, I have had lots of random adventures. Having to make my own way round Kampala, I have been using the motorbikes or boda bodas, where you hitch a ride on the back of said bike for a small fee. Business oppurtunity for Belfast? Anyway, I have learnt a lot of things from these daily dances with death, for example, never get on a motorbike that has no wing mirrors or speedometer. Especially when the driver seems to get a twisted satisfaction of playing chicken with buses (and fortunately winning). Also never let a driver take you on 'shortcuts' down 'roads' that have bumps that make you wonder if you are ever going to be able to sit down again!

Biggest lesson? Don't be fooled by helmets. I approached a driver with a helmet, thinking that surely this guy is a pro? Well in a way he was. The helmet seemed to give him the incentive to attempt speeds I did not know, nor wanted to know, were possible for motorbikes. Fortunately his attempt at actually becoming airbourne failed and I got back to Fields of Life where I am staying in at least a semblance of one piece!

One thing to be said for this all is your prayer life improves immensely. When you are staring at the bonnet of an incoming car your prayers become much more serious and desperate!!!!!

Team Love for Life arrives tomorrow, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone. It has been good here, but as I have been on my own I have not really had a chance to talk to anyone except those I have been interviewing, so after a week of intense discussion of HIV/AIDS prevention, abstinence, condoms, sero-status and the role of faith in HIV/AIDS prevention, I will be glad to talk about other things!

I am especially looking forward to seeing my family, and I'm not going to deny I have missed them. It has been a while and it will be good to see all of them again. I am gutted Charlene is not going to be well enough to come, but I know that she will get another chance, and before very long she will be in Uganda again, and the poor country won't know what hit it! Shes a legend, and I am looking forward to seeing her when I get home. Continue to pray for her, especially as it must be hard for her not seeing me for so long (messing Charlene :-) ).

In terms of the interviews I made the mistake of bringing only 6 thirty minute tapes, and as some of the interviews have been close to an hour, I have been operating like a machine, trying to transcribe fast enough to keep going with the interviews. Bad call of mine with that one!

So now you are up to date. As for what has gone before, my head is still all over the place in regards to Rwanda and the Congo (see previous posts). I still trying to think through everything.

I guess one thing I am learning is that God is good. And He is at work, even when I refuse to see it or acknowledge Him. He knows what He is doing, even when everything looks a broken mess to us.

When I look at situations that appear desolate and hopeless I confess I find it hard to see. But one thing I do know is that our God is a God who heals, and who delights in taking broken lives and broken situations, and making a beautiful new creation. Sometimes the most beautiful things have to be broken first.

I am also acutely aware that we are not the answer - God is. Being honest, how could we ever heal a heart, restore a relationship, work in a situation or help a community? But God does. He is already ministering in these situations long before we appear on the scene, but by His Grace, He desires to use us.

I am aware I am rambling and repeating obvious truths, so I will say what I want to say and ask you to pray, pray for the people like Jaqueline, Davos, Zacchaeus and others I have mentioned before in previous posts.

We have to pray about such things. For one thing it can put things into perspective. I am fully aware that too much of my time I spend looking inwardly and getting down about things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. And my prayers can become so self-absorbed. But the world is bigger than the altar of 'I', and by praying for people and situations like this we can remember that, and gather some proper perspective, as well as bein to see things as He does. We all have knowledge of people and situations, whether it is a friend who feels overwhelmed and lost, a starving child in Africa, a Romanian driven out of their home or a co-worker who does not yet know Him, and by praying for them we can begin to look towards the things that matter. The change in our lives can begin even in what our hearts look at when we pray.

Also, how can we honestly say we love our brothers and sisters as we love ourselves, if we do not pray for them? I damn myself with many of these words, but I believe that there are sometimes certain things that are true regardless of our feeble attempts at living them.

God is big. And God is good. Even though I struggle and have struggled over the last month at times to see His Hand at work, it remains true that His Justice will flow like rivers, His Mercy will minister to the nations, His Love will light up the world and at His Name every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is LORD. All in His time, but He is at work. It will come to pass.

I have so much to learn. I need to trust Him like many of the people I have met do. And I need to remember most of all this story is not about me. God is working, and perhaps we have to wake up, open our eyes, cast off our bedclothes and ask and look to see what He is doing already, draw alongside Him and prepare to become the supporting characters in His Story. And that is when we come alive.

So I guess I am just asking for prayer. For prayer for the situations that have been laid on our hearts or minds. Even when we don't feel like praying for them.

So that is me, I bid you adiou (is that how it is spelt?). What shall follow is the story of Love for Life this summer (as long as someone actually is going to do the writing??!!). Thank you for your prayers, you are legends. Will see ye soon!

To finish, a quote from Philip Yancey, "God is already everywhere, no matter how dark the situation, how dark the life or how dark the path. Our job is simply to make Him more visible wherever and whenever we go." To serve Him right where we are, in everything we do, making the invisible visible and showing His Light in the darkness. It will come to pass.