Day 12: Lots of Church and Lunch

Another early wake-up today! We went to two long services at different churches in the region. Church #1 was a very nice 1 hour and 45 minute service with some very reserved people in Bulocheke. It was a massive, traditional Anglican Church, all cement with very high ceilings and stained glass windows, which were the first I'd seen here. This was obviously a church that had been built by missionaries. There was a new vicar and the archbishop was there and they talked about deacons and dioceses - verrry Anglican and British. The sermon was about an individual's process towards development - both physically and spiritually. First you need to have love, the vicar said, next you need to have unity, then will come peace, and after that will come blessings, and with those blessings you can start to truly develop a deeper spirituality and step into your purpose to further develop your community and serve others. We left quickly after the service to drive a half hour to the next church. Church #2 was St. John's Church in Bukilasi. Even more rural, far up on a mountain, very remote. We took some very bumpy, difficult roads to drive up there, passing over some impossible bridges and through a eucalyptus forest. My father's church, St. Michael's Episcopalian in Arlington VA, paid for their roof and donated choir robes two years ago, so he was very eager to see how it looked. The sermon was "God Wants Us to Hear and Obey" and it was very nice. I expected these church services to feel more uncomfortable and the messages to be more conservative and politically divisive based on the experiences Marissa had mentioned to me, but they were as innocent as Hallmark cards. That said, this service was exactly three hours long. Children everywhere. Interesting Fact About Ugandan Church Services: For their offertory, 5 baskets are set on the altar, so they can add up tithes by clan. If congregants donate food or goods into the basket instead of money (!), they live auction them off right then and there. Then they count it all and announce the total amount collected that day to the congregation, by clan. Pastor Peter served us lunch after the service in the parsonage next to the church, even though John had asked him not to feed us, knowing that we had another lunch engagement down the mountain. It was a massive and delicious meal of matooke, rice and beans, beef stew, chicken, bamboo shoots, The Best Cabbage in the World cassava (or yucca), and chapati bread. And don't forget about the bottles of Mountain Dew, Coke, and FANTA that they break out only for special occasions. Holly told me that I would feel like the President of the United States and although I have been treated with the utmost respect and honor the whole time I've been in Bududa, it has been these Sunday meals that have really made me feel like an international politician or celebrity. Folks have Visitor Books that they ask you to sign when they visit and I signed Pastor Peters. I looked through it back six years - Dad and I are the only other Americans besides the Wanda Family and Marissa the Volunteer Coordinator. Our second lunch was at John's childhood teacher's home. It was also massive and delicious, but there was hardly any room in any of our stomachs. The mayi (grandmother) who served us made several attempts to guilt us into eating more food, but we were stuffed. We came home just in time to watch Jennifer the housekeeper kill the chicken that she planned to make for our dinner. Wow. Can't unsee that. It was interesting for sure, but also pretty gruesome. We leave here tomorrow morning to head back to Kampala! Safari on Tuesday and Wednesday! So excited, but sad to leave Bumwalikani. Sidenote: The stars here are INCREDIBLE just after the sun sets and just before the moon rises. Absolutely breath-taking.