The week that was.

Well I not am sure what a normal week is for anyone one, but since I don't have any major news I thought I could just recap our week.

The picture above is something we often come up against while traveling down the road. It slows down your journey to say the least.

We have been at the hospital checking up on a church member who contracted tetanus. He got cut by something that was rusty and since he had not had the vaccination he contracted the disease. Normally a person dies with in about 24 hrs, but God had mercy on him and he survived. He swelled up like balloon all over his entire body and could not really talk for about two weeks. For over ten days he had very little sleep because something that would resemble a person being shocked with electricity kept disturbing him - but in reality it was something that was giving him a stabbing feeling in his heart. In such a state you could wonder if he could make it, but he did. If you don't have your tetanus shot - go get it today! No one should got through such an experience when a vaccination is available. I can not adequately describe the pain this young man went through and the way he looked - all I can tell you is that it was not good at all.

I had loaned my small iPod to a pastor at our church. He walked out his office for a short time and when he came back someone had stolen it. The thing that always gets me about these things is that it seems like most of the theft we experience is at the church. Of course we spend a lot time there, but it always makes my head spin. In our men's breakfast this morning we had a discussion about the corruption here in our nation and in the church at large. The conclusion was, since most children do not grow up with a sense of right and wrong in the home it's very hard for them to make the right decision later on in life. If that's true (and I believe it is) make sure your children grow up in home where right and wrong is discerned....otherwise your nation may someday end in the state we are in - where your own church becomes a "den of thieves".

On a more positive note, we had a great testimony in our Sunday service the week before last. Human sacrifice has been on the rise here in the last few months as witchdoctors have been targeting not just children (as they usually do) but older children and adults also. Human sacrifice is not something that went away in the stone age - it is still practice here. People do not give themselves willing they are tricked and or kidnapped and then brought to a witchdoctor to be beheaded and whatever else they do. This church member got up and told this story about how he had been targeted as human sacrifice. They had tricked him into believing a story that was false to get him to the shrine where the killing was going to take place. He openly admitted he was not "prayed up" for the whole experience - but said that in surprise to him when they brought him to the witchdoctor a mysterious wind followed him into the shrine. In the shrine they had a fire that was burning and the wind he brought in with him blew the fire out. The witchdoctor began to feel very uncomfortable with this wind that followed this young man into the shrine. They began to investigate and found out found that they had the wrong guy. So they sent him away. His point was "God is with us -even when we are not prayed up". I will leave you with that thought, and recommend you still pray but remember that even if you don't - God is still with you!

Jailed!

Being a muzungu (white person) in Uganda I have encountered all types of corruption from different sources at different levels. I have never paid a bribe and never will. Many times I have been pulled over by the police with the threat of taking me to the court (as a way of getting bribe from me). I would let the police into my car and offer to drive to court together with them. After a few hundred metres driving down the road (by this time the police would have figured out I am not giving him any bribe), he would give me a warning and get out of my car. This has happened more times than I can count. But this recent incident has to be at the top of the list.

On February 13th, I was travelling back from our Bible School in a town called Jinja when I reached some sugar fields at a place called Lugazi. Ahead of me I could see many cars stopped along with the police. The police man flagged me down and flashed a speed gun that showed that I was travelling 85 kph (about 53 mph). I thought I was going slower, because I spotted the cars and police at the side of road in far distance and I had slowed down along ways back to see what was happening as I approached the police. In any case when the police stopped me – he simply told me I was going to court. I followed him to the Lugazi Police station where I was written a court order. When I asked what was happening I was told I was speeding and I was going to court. I then asked the officer if it was not customary procedure for me to get a written citation for speeding. He told me that it was for the offender to request for such a citation. When I asked for a citation he told me it was not possible because I was going 85 kph (about 53 mph) and the speed limit was 50 kph (about 31 mph)keep in mind this is a highway. I was then taken to the Lugazi court and thrown into Jail. At this point I have not been explained by anyone what is happening or been told my rights. When I asked one police woman what the procedure was she responded “We too are big people – you just do as we say” as if I was a big person because I wanted to know what was happening to me. There were two others with me who were also being charged for speeding, one for 85 kph also (interesting huh, makes me wonder if their gun was stuck) the other for going 61 khp. While in the jail, fellow prisoners welcomed me by searching my pockets to see if I had any money or anything that might interest them. By now I am feeling like a common criminal. After about 1½ to 2 hours I appeared in court. We were told by the police to plead guilty or we would stay in prison until our court date. When I appeared in court I was mocked and shamed – the judge seemed to be happy humiliating me. For what? Because I was a criminal that needed to be treated like one. I was fined 450,000 shillings (about $225.00 USD, which for this country is outrageous). The other two that were with me were fined 300,000 and 400,000 (the man who was also doing 85 kph paid 50,000 less than me). By the time I was released at about 4:45 PM (almost four hours later) there were three others who were also being charged for speeding - all had to pay 400,000. There was one other person who had no driving permit/licence and was having to pay 600,000. When I left all but one person had paid, in total that was 2,950,000 million shillings (about $1500.00 USD). This was collected from the drivers pulled in by the police in the afternoon session. Who knows how much money they collected from other drivers in the morning session? Who was the money paid to? To the makeshift court collection office next to the jail. In Uganda because of the corruption, all such monies are to be paid at the bank, and then you take the receipts to the court or police. But not this time. From the moment I was pulled over till the moment I left the jail, I was barely given a chance to say anything or even ask questions, I was to pay or I was to stay in prison. Since my fine was paid at 4:45 PM and it had to be paid before 5:00 PM the word was going around that the muzungu is going to dig the next morning and they were all having a good laugh. I have no problem paying for a speeding citation; in fact I would gladly pay under the due process of the law. One man in jail told me he was embarrassed for the treatment I was being subjected to and said that maybe they should make considerations for foreigners. I don’t agree, everyone should be treated the same, they should be treated with respect and be given the proper due process of the law. Unfortunately this time justice would not prevail. Pray for us and our protection in such situations. Trust me it’s no joke.

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!

Merry Christmas

Christmas in Uganda is always great. We have no snow and we have no Santa's, but we have Jesus and it's not against the law to put a manger scene up in the city. Most people look forward to this time of year to be in church on Christmas Day and then with friends or family in the afternoon. The whole world does not revolve around what you will "get" or "shopping" or many of the other things that take away from the real significance of this season. Most people think about giving a person a card, sending them a message on their phone or just saying a kind word as a gift. It's mostly about encouraging a person in whatever way you can. If you do give a gift - it's not so much what you got - but more on the fact that you got anything at all. We will often go through our house and find whatever simple gift we can to bless some of our church members, it could be shirt (a 2nd hand one), a pen or watch (not new). The people will enjoy just the fact that someone was thinking about them - more than the gift. I thought I might share these few words with you in hopes of you having a simple Christmas and not getting too busy as tough as I am sure that will be. However it turns out, please do have a wonderful one. We we will be blessed to my Mother here for about three weeks, until the 26th. We will also be having our annual Christmas carnival at the church. Otherwise - enjoy your December!

Uganda goes to East Timor

This is our missionary in East Timor, Pastor Brain Korton. We sent him there in January of this year. We raised the money needed locally in Kampala for his airfare and have been sending him money for his upkeep. I had a chance to visit him last month (East Timor is about a 3 hour plane trip from Singapore)and He has done a great job! He learned the local language in just three months. He is from the Acholi tribe in Uganda and only God knows how - his local Acholi language is similar to the Tatum (a combination of Portuguese and Bahsa Indonesia) language that the local people speak. There are missionaries that have been there in East Timor for over two years and they have to yet to learn the local language as well as he can speak it. He has also been given great favor by the local people and has been able to construct a 5 bedroom house for the team that we are sending early next year. He has also been the given the money to build an orphanage in the town in where is. He has many testimonies that I hope to share in future posts. Otherwise, Uganda has arrived in East Timor and God is doing tremendous things.

Here is short clip of him speaking with the local people.

Prime Time at the Pool

Prime Time at the Pool is an evangelistic outreach that takes place at Uganda’s largest University. Usually about once a year they ask me to come and speak for them. The crowd consists of both Christians and non-believers. There are usually about two thousand or so young people that crowd around the pool every Saturday night. Every year they have a week long series of meetings that I spoke at this year. It’s not an easy crowd to preach to – being that it is outside and much of the crowd is a bunch of unsaved rowdy university students. Many come only for the music, so by the time the preacher comes there is a lot jeering and hollering. But, I really thank the Lord for the students who were bold enough to step out in front of their friends and make a decision to follow Christ. It turned out to be a good evening.

"To each his own"

That's right! Want to gain some weight? Especially around the hips? I don't think you will find this advert many other places in the world, but here in Uganda people actually want to make their hips bigger. I remember once when a couple was getting married in our church. The girl was tall and slender. Her relatives didn't approve of her getting married so thin. What did they do? They told her cousin to "fatten her up". I am telling the truth!!! Needless to say these days the girl has met the expectations of her family and is now nice and uhhhh (what's the word to be politically correct?) big.

Teen Challenge Uganda

A few weeks ago we had tremendous time with two brothers from Teen Challenge in the States, Bernie Gillot and Mike Zello. They came here to Uganda to help us transition our Recovery Home into an official Teen Challenge. Though we still have few things to iron out – it looks like we will be called Teen Challenge Uganda in a few months. We are looking forward to the relationship we have begun and are believing God for greater things in the future in helping us reach the hurting in our city.

We visited High Schools, slums, churches as well as did numerous Television interviews for a great time of impact. Bernie is an accomplished singer/song writer who raps, plays the guitar and keyboard – almost all at the same time. Mike Zello the Africa Director for Teen Challenge who has one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever heard. We thank the Lord for sending them to us at this time.