The Serious Side of Life

Godfrey is still standing strong despite losing both his wife and baby in less than three weeks.

Hello friends,

I just returned from visiting the family of a young boy from our Sunday school who died yesterday . He was only about 12 yrs old. He drowned in a small lake by the side of the road that had formed by rain water. Apparently he thought he would go swimming in the pond. Because the water was quite cold, his legs cramped up and he drowned. His friends had motioned to some grown-ups to come and rescue him, but apparently they didn't take the children seriously - God knows if they would have been able to save the boy. Even now as I write this blog, I am reminded of another church member who recently lost both his wife and young baby in a span of less than three weeks. They had been married less than two years, when tragedy struck. The wife was having problems in her pregnancy and eventually the child died. After the pre-mature delivery the wife remained at the hospital under the Dr.'s care. She seemed to be getting better and then a day later she was pronounced dead.

One of the things that constantly goes through my head while living in Uganda is how often people die of things that are rarely taken serious. Many of these deaths could be avoided, if their was a sense of seriousness that surrounded them (Bystanders, Dr's, Policemen). Many of the schools that transport children to and fro or on field trips are just flat bed trucks with a bar around the back end. They pile them in and make them stand up and hold on to one another to balance. I have literally seen small pick-ups with what looks to be about 25 or so students. But here is the ironic thing, the driver drives like he is in race (with no regard for those in the back). But the real ironic thing is this - the students are happily singing and caring on with no regard for the danger. What are they singing?....well.....something like this (I am not making this up) "Driver, Driver keep driving faster and if we crash, at least we will be in the hospital together". Huh............. hard to figure out isn't it.

I am in no way saying that in the two cases above that (both the young boy and the wife and her baby) the people around them did not care enough or do enough to avoid the tragedy before it took place. But, I often get this underling feeling that seems to be within the culture, that says "Life is tough and you never know when your going to die - so don't take life too serious because if you do, you will be disappointed". And so we end up with a sense hopelessness here - that most people in the first world never live with. Sometimes it hard.....Pray for us as we pray for you.

Hold on to today and live it as if it was your last and when you make it through, thank Him for another one!

Happy New Year from the Woodson's

We pray that this blog finds you blessed and ready for a New Year. As a church we are going through the book of Joshua - from the first Sunday of the year. Our theme is "Step over the line in the year Two Zero Zero Nine". I am sure their are some things that we all need to step over this year to get to where we are going. Whatever that is for you; be it a difficulty at home, at work or school we hope you cross over (from your own strength) into His grace to get you through it. We pray that His Spirit is strong and steady throughout this coming year. The Year of our Lord! God Bless you and your family in 2009!

Read on as this blog continues below..........

A December of pictures.

Hope you had a great Christmas. As I has mentioned in my last blog, my mother was here from the States, we had great time with her. In the three weeks she was here she took over 1000 pictures!!! Here are a few of shots of what our December looked like here in Uganda. Be blessed!
We had a Christmas Production at the church entitled "Miracle Child". It was a story about three mothers (Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary) and the birth of their children. In the audience was a manager of a Local TV station, who so impressed with the production that he offered to broadcast it for free on his station.



We also had something called "Talent Time" were we had all our G12 groups (cell groups) perform some skits. Lorraine brought her girls out dressed as "Kung Foo" artists and show that they were not to be "messed with"

Our annual Christmas Carnival drew well over a 1000 people, probably closer to 2000. In an event that we get our members to bring in donations of food and clothing to give away to those who are very poor (living on less than a $1.00 a day). The people come and receive free; haircuts, shoe shine, eye bow cutting, nail polishing plus the food and clothes. We also have games where they win prizes such as gift certificates to local super markets and much more. People came as early as 8:30 AM to line up (we do not begin until 2 PM).

This girl had her face painted at the children's carnival that runs simultaneously about a 50 yards from the church at another location.

This picture was taken on Christmas day. The choir worked extremely hard to present some incredible items that blessed the congregation immensely.

Lastly we took my mother up to see the animals in one of the Game Parks. We were blessed to have found this lion who had just killed a African buffalo. We were able to get quite close and no one became dessert!