This, That, and Copius Ramblings

So, I apologize that you I have gone almost a whole week without talking to you all. I know that you are all waiting on the edge of your seat. This sounds uncomfortable, so I suggest that you stop doing that.

I have been slightly busy this week. On Sunday I did not go anywhere, well not to any far off village. I went to church with Daniel, Absalom/Solomon, and George William. We went to a suburb/section of Mbale (I'm not sure what you would call it. Probably suburb...), called Namakwekwe (Nah-mah-kway-kway). I only share this with you because it is very fun to say. Give it a try. Yeah I thought that you would enjoy that nearly as much as I do. So George William... (Forthwith referred to as GW, because its a long name(s) to type, although typing this disclaimer is likely more lengthy than just writing out George William, I'm not even sure I'll say it again, but I've written this now so I'm going to keep it, it makes for a good dramatic commercial sort of break in this mediocre story.) GW received a tract from this church so he wanted to check it out, and we went with him because we could.

So we show up at this church about 15 minutes or less before the service started, and the door was shut. Then a woman came to a side door of the building we were lead to and says, "What church are you looking for?"
GW responds that we had come to fellowship, and she then says she'll open the door. She opens the door, and the pastor comes to greet us. The fact that he came to greet us was normal, the fact that he was wearing a towel... well that was slightly less than normal...
We should have just left then, but alas, we stayed. We waited, and people began to arrive in 20 minutes or so. (Mind you people usually start singing and praising before the service is scheduled to start.) We then thought that it was going to be a very good service because we started by singing hymns, and not many churches have hymn books. I enjoyed the hymns much.
Then we went to the prayer portion. We had the usual general prayer, and then the worship leader gave us specific things to pray about, the list was so long we divided the congregation. This is not normal. This took about 20 minutes. GW "I was too tired to even pray any more."
Then we went to praise and worship and sang for another 15-20 minutes.
Then came the worst part of the service. The previous week they had distributed tracts to the members and had recorded how many each took. They then had to report back on each of the tracts. The member had to stand up, say how many they took, then explain why the person was not at church if they were not. I feel this is a good way to increase evangelical activity; public humiliation. Then we took 20 minutes to review last week's lesson. Then we left before the sermon after 2 hours of church.
The students have not stopped talking about this church. They said it was the prime example of how not to run a service.

Then I felt rather sick on Sunday afternoon. I think I had a fever, the reason I believe this: I used a blanket for a nap, and I was cold all day. I was better on Monday.

We then started "Spiritual Emphasis." I taught Monday night. Then today I taught in the chapel at 10 AM and 7:30 PM. I also taught my discipleship classes at 2 and 5 PM. My throat is a bit tired. I have the same schedule tomorrow as I did today. My larynx is not appreciative of my 4 speaking engagements per day.

This weekend I am traveling with GW (I have in fact typed GW quite a few times) and Julius to Amuria. This is... in Uganda. I will be there from Friday to Sunday (or Monday). We will be doing teaching on Saturday and on Sunday. I am excited for this. This will be the first time that I'll be sleeping in the "village." I don't know if I'll be grass thatched hutting it or if there will be a permanent structure there, but I am stoked either way.

In other news, I am also starting to meet with Sam tomorrow for one on one discipleship trainingness. Mostly because I am not very busy this week.

Ok, it is my bed time... I just looked over at my bed and saw a cockroach scampering across my headboard. I think I'm going roach hunting prior to going to bed. I lied previously...

OK... Love you all. God bless!