We crossed Lake Albert in a wooden boat....which was an experience in and of itself. Boat rides are like other forms of public transport in Africa- they fit as many people and chickens and luggage as possible into the boat and will spend hours waiting for more to come so that the boat will be as full as possible.
It was disconcerting to think about the fact that there were not only far more people in the boat than it was supposed to hold but also that most, if not all of them, couldn't swim. Bryn got the sunburn of her life- which looked like a first degree burn by the end of the day...One of the funniest moments was right before we started off across the lake. We were wondering just exactly how all this was supposed to work and looked over to see the boat next to us....
Yeah, pretty apropos.
We got halfway across the lake and the engine died. Everyone started saying they didnt know if they had brought enough fuel to make it across. Fantastic. Thankfully though, they found some more and we continued on our way. When we reached the other side, we were carried to shore. The water is deep and they don't want the passengers to have to get wet, so they are carried to shore...even the guys hahaa. It's pretty funny to see.
We traveled by truck to the village where we would be staying most of the week. The church members met us at the roadside and helped us carry our backpacks down the path, past gardens and to the village. We had our own place to stay, which was so awesome. The people there were very welcoming and tried to make us very comfortable. They brought us mattresses and even tried to fix food they new we would like- rice, chicken etc...
Our house
View from the inside of our house
We met the elders and greeted all the people and discussed plans for the rest of the week. They wanted us to visit 13 different village churches, but we said considering that we only had 3 or four days left, we didn't think that would be possible. :O ....
Bryn playing guitar for the kids- lots of kids
The kids would wait outside in the mornings for us to wake up
Chicken coop
stunt man
The next day, we traveled with a truck load of the people to a neighboring village. It was so cool to hear them singing in African harmony all the way to the next village. As we passed in the truck, people would come out to hear...
We arrived and had tea then went to the middle of the village under a huge tree to share the gospel and do some singing...it was awesome. For two kids who grew up in the Bible belt, it was such an incredible thing to share the Gospel- the beautiful story of forgiveness, hope and life to a group of people that really may have not heard it before ....It really had an impact on both of us...
Slept super well that night after such a busy day...
No comments:
Post a Comment