America: An African Boy's Perspective Part 5.

A lot has happened this last week. Most of the time, as i sat in the car, admiring the beautiful creation, i kept thinking of how privileged i had also become. And i tried not to dwell on the fact that i may never again get to see some of the things and places that i saw while we were driving; but then, that is life.

A dear mother in the Lord had read about my article about Nursing Homes and told us; when we had settled in her house, about her ministry to some of the old ladies in these homes; particularly about her 97 year old friend; Arlene. She told me that if i had wanted to meet this elderly lady, as i had expressed about meeting someone in a nursing home in my earlier blog, she would try to arrange for a meeting the following day. Though my body was not well from the cough and sore throat, i couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. Arlene greatly agreed to meet us. The next day we drove to the parking lot of this beautiful government Nursing Home. It was better than i expected, complete with a bank, salon, cafeteria, theatre, etc. Everything was neat and clean. In my mind, a lot was going on. As we approached Arlene's room (which has a beautiful sight with the window overlooking her flower garden outside), we overheard her telling the someone who had delivered her food about her guests (we!) who were to arrive soon. She had not taken this visit lightly- she had gone down to the hair salon to get her hair worked on; had changed her dressing and was smartly dressed, waiting for us. We wheeled outside to have a talk. I told her, with the help of our host, Nancy, about my life growing up. When i told her i grew up hunting and farming, her eyes lit up with a glow; she beamed: "i grew up a farmer as well!". At least we had one thing in common. She also told us how she grew up. Nancy asked me to tell Arlene how the elders are cared for in my part of the world and i told her what i told you in the last blog. I asked her how it was done here in America when she was younger. She told us it was almost the same as in Uganda. She even told us how she had helped to care for her grand mother who lived with them until she passed on. I asked her about her experience in the Nursing Home (she has lived her past 10 years in two different nursing homes); she paused for some time thinking and was honest enough. She told us how well they are cared for in that place, the nurses are good and kind, they get good meals, they are attended to when they get sick, etc. But then she sighed and blurted out: "but i miss relationships with other people and my independence". There were people she had left behind whom she missed so much. Before we left, i asked her if she had a choice, which system of elder care would she rather choose-the old system or the new one in the Nursing Home. She again thought for a moment and then told us: "i would choose the old one. It's good to be with the people you love and care about". Nancy had told us how Arlene ended up in a nursing home. Her son had built a small extension in his home for Arlene to stay in and be cared for by his family. However, one day Arlene missed a step and fell down. Her son's wife said she did not want Arlene to stay with them, much to Arlene's chagrin, but she was helpless to stop herself from being taken to her first nursing home. Before we left, i felt the urge to say a prayer. I asked Beckie to ask Arlene if it was ok with her for us to pray, she agreed and the four of us held our hands in a circle and prayed, it was beautiful. Afterwards we each took a turn to hug her and left. I turned back after a short walk and there she was, watching us disappear, i could see in her eyes that a lot was going on in her mind. One huge lesson i learnt was to cherish all the relationships that we have with others right now and enjoy our independence and to each day be grateful for these gifts, because one day, just like Arlene, these may turn out to be what we will miss most. After this encounter, i made up my mind, on how i want to finish...

That's quite a lot about Arlene (bless her Lord). Let me say something about divorce. Since i arrived in America, i have heard about this single word more than i have heard in Uganda since the year started. Through numerous conversations, i have heard words like; "her first husband, his first marriage or second, step children, her parents divorced,...etc". People talk about it freely here as if it's just part of life. You hear in conversations people telling each other do you remember so and so? the listener usually says yes or which one before the word is blurted out, "well, they separated or they are going through a divorce". Reasons are always aplenty and so is pity. in my culture, divorce is associated with shame. It happens, but rarely; a lot has to take place before a divorce happens. There's no hiding that women are not treated well in my culture, to some, they are property, bought through bride price. And over 90% of women in villages pride themselves in bringing in dowry to their parents so that their young or elder brothers can use it for marrying themselves a wife. Domestic violence is common, wife beating is common and some women receive the beating positively as a sign of love! Yes, love! They think if your husband doesn't beat you, he doesn't love you and may be has a mistress somewhere. I know some of you (especially my female readers) are already seething with anger at their foolishness. Let's see what the word says:...therefore shall a man leave his after and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 KJV). ESV says hold fast instead of cleave. I am no expert here, but my question would be, are we cleaving tight enough to each other? are we holding fast? Or are we cleaving/ clinging/ holding fast to other things in place of marriage? Imagine a man who is drowning and then finds a log floating atop the ocean, what do you think this man will do? He will hold tightly onto this log, because his life may as well depend on it. I like looking at marriage like this. If two people realized that this is the only wife/husband for them, there's no other choice or alternative, i think most marriages would survive. But then questions will come; what is he beats me? what is she cheats on me? what if i am abused? what if....?, what if...?, what if...?. As i read more about divorce in this country, there were different statistics. What caught my heart was that over 50% of christian first marriages in this country end up in divorce, over 60% of second marriages and over 70% of third marriages end up in divorce! of course other stats had it slightly lower with first marriages at 40% divorce rate. What is even more annoying is that christians divorce more than atheists and agnostics! One pastor was quoted as saying it was a tough call trying to save marriages since most of the congregations think it's always an option, not a no go zone! I wonder how conflicts in marriage are resolved here but in my culture; if there was a conflict between the couple, the man's parents (since they would always be the nearest ones) would try to sit the couple down and resolve it. If the wife isn't satisfied, she will tie a few of her things and go back to their home. After a few days, most husbands will travel to go and reclaim her. The woman's brothers and parents would then put the husband to task (some times he may even be beaten) to explain unbecoming behavior. After things are sorted out, the man will carry his wife on his bicycle or motorcycle and take her back home and life continues. The man would be warned against doing the same. Usually divorce is not discussed as an option, rather reconciliation is. If the couple were to divorce, there is a lot of shame on both families and some times, people are scared away from marrying from such a family that is soiled by divorce. People would think both sets of parents did not do a great job bringing up their children in family values and if marriages lasted longer without problems, then the families are praised and many people would want to marry from that family- because kids are/were raised properly. How about christians? My pastor likes saying that "the marriage certificate you signed when you got married didn't have an expiry date". And since we say for better or worse, in sickness and in health...why then run away when the worse showed up? This reminds me of a lady who once told us that she likes to tell all the worst things about her to everyone who desires to be her friend. And then they will have to choose whether to continue being her friend or not. She said this is usually to prepare them so that the day they hear the worst things about her, there would be no surprise! Peter asked Jesus how many times he ought to forgive and the master's reply startled him: "70 times 7 times in a day". One would have to be a devil himself to wrong you 70 times 7 times a day and you would also have to be a devil to remember all these 70 times 7 times worth of wrongs! And the scriptures also say that perfect love casts out all fear and love covers a multitude of sins. I know we all hurt each other in marriage; sometimes our hurts are so deep to bear, every divorce has justifiable reasons for its occurrence, but we can choose to live above and beyond these incidents. I think of these African women who endure and forgive their husbands, sometimes for the sake of their children, their parents, their husbands' shame, among others. Usually in the latter years of their marriages, the couples tend to work things out, and then they begin to love and cling to each other; my own grandfather still kept asking for forgiveness from my grandma for mistreating her and going out with other women when he used to work. They loved each other so much, he always called her "toto" (mommy) and she called him papa. Imagine how many people Christ would be divorcing each minute if he considered ways in which we hurt him and keep nailing him back on the cross with our actions!
Today, we also want everything to happen and move so fast; since we are surrounded with fast things. We want fast forgiveness, fast changes in our partners, fast answers, and we want God to be fast as well in answering our prayers. In my country, young educated people look up to America for almost everything. And lo, they copy almost everything that is done here whether good or bad, they think life is lived best in America. Among graduates today, divorce is on the rise, and so is gay relationships, and also other positive things that happen here. As i wind up this subject, i would like to share with you a quote from my pastor: "True christianity is practiced in a marriage, by married people".

That is already too much. I will push my thoughts on gay relations and others to next week. Hope you had a good read and don't hesitate to give me your feed back. May the Lord bless and sustain you this week. May His will continue to be seen in you and through you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Your Brother in Christ,
Ruudy.

America: An African Boy's Perspective part 4.

Today, i want to start by thanking all those who have been reading my blog posts; thank you for your comments and encouragement.

We’ve spent last week on the road and will probably spend this one as well. But lo, it has been a very beautiful adventure. Seeing the country side has been refreshing. In fact, some of the scenery reminded me of home-Uganda. In Uganda, our trees mostly turn their leaves to yellow before they shade them off during the dry season. But here, it has been fascinating seeing trees turn to different beautiful colors: yellow, red, orange, etc. This is the part of America that is not reflected so much where i come from; people think it’s all about tall buildings, big factories, nice houses and a good life. If i was ever to live in America, i would probably stay in the country; i feel it’s more quieter there and peaceful.

I enjoyed the tour of Boston, given to us, by our kind hosts Josh and Liz (they went to the same College with Beckie). I never thought it was awash with tourists as i saw. Having already been to lake Michigan, it was nice to be at the atlantic ocean as well. Hopefully, i will touch the pacific ocean too, some day. While in Boston, Josh and Liz invited us to their church (First Presbyterian Church); which by the way supports us, for an international potluck on saturday. We regretted not carrying our own atap (cassava and millet flour) from Michigan. However, at the potluck, Beckie glanced them first and then told me that omena (minnows) was on one of the tables. In Uganda, most expats cook this with maize (corn flour) bread for their dogs. However, growing up, this was the most affordable diet in the villages and kids would be very happy the day their mothers are cooking some of it. A sister from Malawi (bless her Lord), had prepared it and she was standing from a distance looking for the brave ones who would eat! She was glad Beckie and i served some. I actually carried the reminder to eat the next day, which she gladly packed for me. She told me they flew it all the way from Africa! The dinner was very interesting with foods from almost all continents. The people were very warm towards us and the congregation was mixed with people from different races and ages. They gave us an opportunity to talk-generally, we enjoyed our time there. It was also nice to see Beckie’s former college and meet some of her former professors and her coach in Vermont.

Let me divulge into something that has got me thinking a little bit. I had read and heard about this before, but had never taken keen interest and thought in it—The nursing homes. Where i come from, the youngest son’s responsibility is to take care of his aging parents until they died. The rest of the children are given their share of the land which they then move to after they get married. However, the younger one and his wife would stay in the same compound with their parents to take care of them during their old age. The youngest son would inherit the land that belonged to his parents on top of his share. Some times though, the parents would choose another son if the youngest was deemed not fit for the task. Grand parents’ main work in their later years would be to entertain their grand and great grand kids with stories (mostly around the fire in the evenings) and provide counsel on several issues. Their opinions are highly regarded and they felt very important. They also help take care of their grand kids as their parents go to the garden and always had special delicacies that they would prepare during family special occassions  Here however (and pardon me if i am wrong here), they go to the old people’s homes when they reach a certain age. And before that, their kids grow up and leave them alone; they go and start their own families and visit occasionally—some even stay in distant states. I know this is part of the norm here, but, the thought of it was scary; it made me not want to grow old here. I found myself thinking deeply about it and it’s something that i will want to get more information and knowledge about, and if it were possible, hear the experience of someone living in one of these homes.

Another remarkable thing i have noticed this week (again, i don't know whether it’s always the case), is how students seem to establish a close and deep relationships with their teachers (professors). I have a great relationship with some of my former teachers; but i was one of a kind. My wife and her friends seem to have a great time with their former professors. Some of her High School teachers were very excited to see her (and me!) when we went to Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids). It was the same story at Gordon College—in fact, even more. Professor Kelly exhibited a very high level of happiness when we visited her house. I couldn't believe she was that excited to see two of her former students and their spouses and child. It’s uncommon in Uganda to witness what i did. Likewise was Professor Coleman. But then, i also later thought that may be this was down to the ratio of teacher to student here. Our classes can be as high as 200 students to 1 teacher. At the University, there was a class where we were over 700 students to 1 Lecturer! Surely it becomes difficult for the poor teachers to remember and be in touch with most of their form we students. What was unique about this however, is the fact that these guys were there over 5 years ago! If it’s a common phenomenon, then it’s a very unique one!

Next week, i will weigh in my views and rant a little bit about somethings that may step on a few people’s toes; and i know i may not have the audacity to opine about them, but it will purely be my thoughts and perspective about these contentious issues—Divorce and same sex marriage. They are probably two contentious and touchy issues i have heard about since i came here.

May the peace of the Lord garrison you this week and may he keep you in health this week, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Till next week,

Ruudy.

America: An African Boy's Perspective Part 3.

I have been getting positive feedback from many of you, appreciating or adding a comment to what i have written before. Thank you, it's always nice and encouraging to hear such positive comments from you.

Last week i promised to divulge a bit into my observations regarding christianity here, i will start with that. I have enjoyed worship every time i have gone to church so far and, i have also enjoyed the sermons that i have been privileged to listen to; i feel like the Lord was speaking to me personally in some of them. Talking about sermons, i have heard people say statements such as "i agreed with today's sermon" or "i didn't agree with some things he talked about" or i don't agree completely with today's sermon". Personally, i don't always think the pastors are mandated to preach what we agree with all the time. Nobody has ever preached a sermon that everyone agreed with, not even Christ! And if we begin to influence our pastors to preach what our ears want to hear and agree with, then we will miss out on what God wants to communicate to us. My principal has always been to get what the Lord wants to communicate to me individually and leave the rest out because; there may be another person who is happy with what i wasn't happy about. It's healthy not to agree with something, but i don't like it when it's made a big deal and the other truths get ignored.

After seeing what i have seen in terms of possessions that people have here, i have come to admire those who; in spite of having many possessions, are still standing strong in the faith, when, it would be easy to ignore God. I love that they praise the Lord in their abundance, just like we praise the Lord in our poverty back in Africa. I also love the generosity of Christians here, to share with those who don't have and support missionaries across the universe. I think this is beautiful. I can also understand why some people here have turned their backs on God; they think they have everything that they need and don't see the need for him. This makes America a ripe mission field, i think Christians here ought to reach out to these people more than before and one of the facts i have discovered through my numerous evangelism stints is that, it's very hard to lead " a wealthy or rich man/woman" to Christ. They are proud, think they know more and have it all, especially if you don't measure up to their standards. It's a hard task, but one, that the church here needs to under take seriously.
Staying with the church, i still think the American church, just like the American country, needs to take a lead in the battle with radical islam. Every day, i read painful stories about how ISIL is ruefully killing kids and christians in the middle east and i keep thinking, is prayer all that we can do as believers to support our brothers and sisters? Is there something more we can do? I have painfully read that over 3,000 people from the Western world have gone to join these murderers! What makes them appealing that they are luring people from the comforts of life in the west? I have read how they thick they will make Britain, France and even America to be muslim countries governed by the sharia law! In the Island of Seychelles, a Saudi prince went and put a $1,000 prize for every young person who denounced christianity and joined Islam and there were many lines of young people crossing over, why? Because of the abject poverty. A couple of months later the same prince returned offering this time, $7,000 to every convert. This was to target those who had ignored the $1,000 earlier on. Still the numbers that turned up were huge. Are these some of the things that attract our young people to join this murderers religion? What can the church do to attract their radical young people? I am sure the church can do something more. Imagine what kind of evangelists and preachers these radicals would be if they were to receive the glorious light of the gospel! Some of the most fiery preachers we have in Uganda are former muslim clerics who saw the light and are now dividing the word of truth. I believe we can do much more as a church to counter these guys and offer the risen Christ to them. One of my childhood dreams has always been to be a missionary to Iraq or Iran or any middle eastern country. Who knows,may be someday, we will end up in this battle field.

I know you are getting tired of reading the above rumblings and rantings. Back to my observations, one thing that has stood out for me is how the parents here are always there for their kids; taking them to school, attending their practice and games, etc. This is a big deal here and i keep wishing i was a kid here, i wish i had arrived 20 years a go! Less than 1% of Ugandan parents go to their kids' games. It's less important to them; they have other big things to handle. I remember how i felt broken when none of my siblings or relative turned up for my graduation from the University. I was the best male student in our entire 2500 faculty of students. My name was the first in the list of graduates with special commendation. Most of the students had at least one parent or sibling with them. I sobbed aloud when my name was called out for special recognition and there i was, being accompanied only by a friend who was still at the university. My course mates congratulated me, carried me aloft (yes, even with my frame they did!) and tossed me in the air, but there was no one from my family to share these special moments with me. I was bitter and wished my parents were alive, at least they wouldn't have failed to show up. I look at the kids here and i go: "THIS IS HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!" And i hope none of my children will have to go through those experiences that i went through.

The other lucky bunch of Americans are the wild birds and animals. I remember that statement of Christ about how the father feeds the birds of the air! It's a scripture that gives most of us hope and trust in the provisions of the Lord. It's nice to see that American people are jointly doing this with the Father; providing food to the birds of the air. It's unheard of among my people that someone is selling, let alone buying such nutritious food for the birds and the animals from the stores! You would be called mad to do this. Even chickens in the village homes are not given food. They have to fend for themselves in the bushes. The only time they get to taste food in their homes is during harvest time when food is being dried in the compound. Even then, young kids are assigned the task of chasing chicken away from the food. Wild birds can only eat food that is still in the garden. But even then, they get trapped and eaten as food and someone is always there to scare them away.
Birds are to be eaten. Growing up as a hunter, we used to kill some of the birds that i see here, in their thousands. I would sell some and use the money for buying school supplies and take some home for food. People would buy them as soon as they saw them because they were a treat! Likewise to animals. We would hunt them down: Rabbits, squirrels, antelopes, etc. Now here, i look at them and keep saying it in my heart that "you are lucky you were born American!" I am looking forward to seeing a reaction on my Uncle's face when i tell him how these wild birds are fed and how they come into people's homes and how the wild animals are found in people's compounds. He might begin asking how he can get a visa to fly over here to hunt...

Lastly, i had a great week in America this last week. I got to see lots of new places, the hunting store amazed me with all these thousands of choices of hunting equipment! My Uncle Dave took me to play golf; a sport reserved only for the very rich in Uganda and i did quite well; shot a golf ball over 170 yards and hit a green! Proud of myself. He also took me to the beautiful Lake Michigan, which brought some memories of our very own Lake Victoria. I have been hosted for dinner by many generous families here in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. I would say last week was my favorite so far; i think the Lord wanted me to enjoy it; he even gave us favorable weather just for me, can you imagine!

I'm out of time, next week, i will bring you even more insights about America. Remember, these are my personal observations and views, which of course, may change from time to time. Thank you for reading this. God bless you.
In Christ,
Ruudy.

America: An African Boy's Perspective Part 2

After the last post, a lot have I seen, much much much more than I thought I would ever see...I thought I had seen enough about America through the hollywood blockbusters; how wrong I was! The only true representation of America that I can vividly remember from those movies is the cemeteries!

On a positive note, the Lord has graciously granted me good health; I haven't had problems with my stomach in regards to foods, I am grateful to Him for this.
I have also been privileged to be taken around many different places here in Michigan by my American family and friends. We've been to huge malls and supermarkets, eaten food from different places, given a tour of downtown Grand Rapids, been to watch "American Football" in schools as well as volleyball and playing soccer - these have been refreshing to me.

People here have been so kind, we have been invited to different houses for dinner, which is cool and someone showed me, through his actions, what it means to see a need and meet it. He looked at what I was wearing when we had stopped by to say thanks for his previous donation of shoes to us, and very fast, he noted that I needed good shoes for the winter. Off he went inside and came back with new Colombia hiking shoes for me! Thank you Jeff!

Back to my intriguing observations; sorry for my wonderings here and there about stuff. The dogs, yes, I mean the dogs. It has struck me how privileged the American dogs are, to live a life that is far better than over 60% of Ugandans, let alone Ugandan dogs! In Uganda, dogs are some of the most suffering creatures; in villages, most of them have to fend for themselves and usually a dog's life is that of suffering. These dogs here happened to be in the right place, I bet the dogs back home would want to immigrate, if I tell them about their counterparts here. There's more I could write about this, but I will leave it for now.

Homes here have no wall fences, which surprised me. Back home, almost every nice home has to have a strong wall fence, it's part of the construction plans and even then, you still have to have a security guard to ensure your safety. The first few nights, I felt a little insecure inside sleeping in a house without a fence and yet it's by the main road!
Even the mail boxes don't have locks, anyone could just pick your mail and disappear; I joked with my mother-in-law that "I hope no one will steal my green card when it gets mailed here". Of course I was assured that it's a criminal federal offense to steal mail and nobody wants to face the wrath of the law. I keep thinking about this from time to time.

Last week we visited my wife's close friend, Nancy's family. I met her son Bryce, and we had something in common...hunters! He showed me around his hunting zone, explaining what animals he has so far managed to kill, etc, etc. He proudly showed me his hunting guns, and bless the Lord, he gave me an opportunity to shoot at the cans with both guns! I think I hit three targets and missed once. Afterwards, I kept thinking how these guns make hunting so easy and if I had one growing up, I would have probably depopulated animals in my country considering that I used to hunt so I could sell the game and use the cash for buying my school supplies. But this is something that you can never hear of in Uganda-guns in the hands of civilians, that can be used for hunting animals, talk about the American Liberties and Right!

Finally for today, let me say something about the houses here. Almost all the houses I have been to so far, are constructed using timber. In Uganda, we use concrete walls and floors and I would choose concrete all day. And I think we probably can't build our houses in Uganda using timber because of many reasons, especially security, reckless fires, and termites. One thing I have observed from all these houses is that, they make a lot of noise as you walk on them. Africans are people who are secretive and private. They would feel very uncomfortable staying in these houses for so many reasons, some of which, I can not elucidate from here. This is something I look forward to sharing with people when I go back to Uganda and hear their diverse opinions. Maybe in a couple of months, I will write some of their thoughts in this blog for your consumption.

Next week, I will write about the church, my observation of christianity here, more of my observations here, and many more. Hope you enjoyed today's blog. Give us your feedback. God bless you.
In Christ,
Ruudy.

America: An African Boy's Perspective.

I actually don't know where to start from...but somehow, I have to. I have always read a lot about America and watched a few stories and movies, and I thought I had a pretty good view of this country, but I have discovered nothing I read or watched represents what I have seen so far.

After failing two visitors' visa interviews at the US Embassy in Kampala, we were both disappointed, especially my wife, who really wanted me to go meet her family since we had just gotten married. The long process of applying for an immigrant visa started. A year or so later, we were in Nairobi doing medicals and attending interviews. The process got a little bit more longer and frustrating than we had hoped, as most of you who religiously follow us found out from our past publications.

Finally we got all cleared to go to America, praise the Lord! Boy, we were excited and planning started. 9th of September slowly kept approaching and my mind whirled around many things and thoughts. Finally we would be touching America on the 10th of September; and friends kept telling me many things to look forward to, from the much dreaded bad winter, to the glorious food at McDonalds. My greater fear has always been the cold snow. I read in the national papers in Uganda about a Ugandan who visited Sweden and because it was very cold, he contracted pneumonia and a few days after returning, died! 

I sat on that plane from Entebbe to Qatar (thank God it was only a few hours) thinking about snow, cold weather, bad winter, someone had posted about a bad weather forecast for the day we arrive in Grand Rapids, etc. My ears were beginning to pain from the effect of the plane (remember this was my first time on the plane, blessed be God) and breathing was also pretty difficult.

Qatar airport is beautiful and the sight of it brought some needed relief, since our next flight to Philadelphia would take more than 13 hours. After security checks, I was properly belted in my window seat and ready for America. couldn't sleep that long and finally we landed in "Philly". The sight of many African American brothers in the airport was calming. A good friend picked us and took us out for a huge breakfast (American breakfast). We left for Grand Rapids where our loving cheering family was waiting for us. I was touched because many family and friends had turned up to receive us, some driving for over 17 hours to be at the airport, never felt this sort of family love before.

My observations so far have been totally different than what i ever expected. Everything here is in excess, the malls have thousands of alternatives to choose from, so do supermarkets. The traffic is crazy, driving on the right seemed strange, and the worst feeling so far has been being the minority. There are few blacks in places I have been so far and catching people glancing at you is a very funny feeling. To make things worse, I am tall and hence an easy pick for most people. I have seen more over weight people here than i have ever seen my entire life (with the food here, don't be surprised if i turn up in Uganda very fat, i bet not). The question in my mind is, do these people know how blessed they are to have all these stuff? are they always grateful to God for this? how can one nation have all these things and yet many other nations, and continents have the opposite? This is still perturbing my mind.

Going to Church yesterday was refreshing, the worship at Remembrance (our home church and biggest financial supporter) was good (thank God they sung a few songs that were familiar) and the Pastor's message went home well (at least to me). One thing that stood out was his passionate call to his congregation to embrace new worship changes as the church embarks on something that appeals to the younger generation. He said some people might leave the church because of this. I was thinking, his can someone leave church because of this?.....

...........to be continued in the next up date.

Life's journeys.

Growing up in the deep villages many years ago, there were very few big dreams in my head. I guess I had more fantasies than dreams. There was little hope and tunnel seemed to always be very dark without any hope of the light at the end.
However, up somewhere, there was always A BIG God with BIG Plans and Dreams for me. After leaving the village later on and joining high school, my world view completely changed and I started seeing life and things differently than before. I received Christ and slowly started aligning myself and fitting into God's plans for me. I started knowing who I really was in Christ.

I was reminded most of these dreams and plans that I used to have by a close friend for many years and a brother in Christ. We reminisced about the past for over two hours. Discussing many things from disappointments to joys. How we were conned by some con men from Canada many years ago that they would provide us employment at the shipping company. The five of us each parted with over 700$ hard earned money. People sold land, cows, borrowed loans, etc because the offer was too good to let pass. We shared about how we travelled to Nairobi for a supposed visa interview at the Canadian High Commission only to be told by the receptionist that "you have been conned". The journey back to Uganda was heart wrenching. Where would we start again. And being the leader of this group, it was so hard on me and I haven't recovered from this sense of failure up to now. One member of our group died a few years later, another one got so frustrated and ran mad after all these episodes and the three of us are strongly serving The Lord.
For this friend of mine, he was so happy for me because at least, I will be going to the States, about 9 years after all that mess. He told me it was a fulfillment of our failed attempts to get to Canada many years ago and he was hopeful that surely one day, he would fulfill his life long dream as well. We encouraged each other in The Lord about our past failures. It wasn't the will of God but ours. We never sought him and yet wanted him to go by us and not us by him. We had a great time and after we departed from each other lots of thoughts came to mind.

Now, it's less than a week to go, it's real, after all the hitches and disappointments, we will finally be going to  America, but instead of being very excited, I doubt whether that's completely the mood. I feel nervous and anxious even though the word of God says I shouldn't be. What could be in store for me over there? What surprises await? Snow? Stares? Language issues? Am I really ready for this?
One thing keeps ringing in the back of my head, " it's not by might or power,it's by my spirit says The Lord". And what more can I do than to trust him with my next 4 or 5 months in a new land.

I look forward to the next chapter of my life book. I look forward to meeting my American family, meet our beloved supporters and enjoy life and America. Hopefully all my fears will be proved wrong. See most of you soon,
Ruudy.

a wild goose chase

Time flies when you're having fun...Right...well I don't usually try to vent or speak negatively about things on here, and I will continue to try not to do that, but if I am perhaps a little too heavy on the sarcasm of this post or it comes across negative a bit forgive me, just a little frustrated. Since I last posted we have been on what I think can only best be described as a wild goose chase.  Some time in the first week of June we found out that the American Embassy in Nairobi had finally scheduled Ruudy for an immigrant visa interview. I say finally only because we had started the process of applying for said visa about a year ago. All of the sudden we were expected to be ready for the interview in Nairobi by the 1st of July, that gave us about 3 weeks.  And the bonus, Ruudy had to schedule two health appointments in Nairobi at the only authorized place, allegedly two weeks before the interview.  That gave us only one week to prepare to go for the health appointments and interview. We emailed and called the health clinic and after a couple days found out the only available time slots left were on the 27th and 31st june. So much for two weeks prior to the interview. But there was no other option so we decided to go with it. This is already long so I will spare you the details of the 4hr drive to the border and the 10hr bus ride from the border to nairobi and the amazing driving skills that apparently most Kenyans have. Ruudy successfully made it to the two health appointments and he passed! woohoo! And he didn't even need two weeks for results or anything, the embassy had everything they needed in one day. Praise the Lord. We went for the interview, a little nervous, and if we somehow failed this attempt, WHEN WOULD WE EVER MAKE IT TO THE STATES!?! People want to meet this beloved of mine already. Anyway, we didn't fail, but we didn't really pass either. We had his birth certificate and our wedding certificate (both the church one and the one from the local gov't) but it wasn't quite good enough. They needed to see both of those things from the Central gov't not just the local gov't, so, we packed up our things went back to our friends place just out side of nairobi and started making phone calls. Ruudy has some friends who know how to handle such things. So, they started working on getting the certified central gov't copies of things. After a couple days we realized that we would have to go and chase these things ourselves, and it wasn't going to be as easy as one might think. We headed back to Uganda on Sunday the 6th. We had been in Nairobi about 10 days, but very little to show for it. We immediately proceeded to get remarried as a civil marriage because we were told that the church that we married at wasn't registered with the marriage registry and so there was no way they could certify it. At least my sister-in-law lives at that border where we crossed and was so helpful to us. If you don't know uganda you may not understand the kind of waiting game we first played with the guy who was supposed to remarry us, but finally by like 5pm monday we were officially re-married. Only they had put the wrong ages. We took the thing back to the guy to fix, but they just crossed out and put the correct age and initialed it. We then headed about 2 hours closer to kampala, to our new place in Jinja. We slept there and ruudy continued on to kampala and I stayed behind to help with the classes for pastors that week. Tuesday, ruudy arrives and after much waiting and talking they inform him that they cannot certify it because of the age correction, he calls his sister at the border and she talks to the guy and explains the situation and after much talking and begging, he agrees to make a new one and sign it the next morning. Wednesday, his sister waits for the guy and eventually she boards a taxi with the new certificate and meets us in Jinja. We sign it and I drop Ruudy back off at the taxi stage and again he heads to kampala trying to make it before 5pm. Upon reaching this time he is told that the certificate is in the wrong form. So ruudy gets on a taxi van and heads the 4+ hours back to the border where we did the civil marriage. Thursday, after much hassle the guy finally makes a new certificate for us, ruudy takes a 2hr taxi ride back to jinja, where he meets me for 5 minutes, I sign the new thing and he continues on to kampala another 2hrs, but it's too late to do anything, so he waits till Friday. Friday, he tries to get the now 3rd copy of our civil marriage certified, but they say now that they need a letter from the states saying that I was really single when I got married. But of course I was not because I was already married in the church wedding, so there's no way I'll get a letter from the states saying that I was single. Hmm...now what? I called the people at the embassy in kampala and they said that the church certificate should work to get certified, so ruudy calls the pastor in Mbale, which is about 5 hours from kampala. The pastor says that the church is registered with the registry of marriages and he would provide the proof and write a letter on our behalf explaining why they haven't registered our marriage yet, and that they should allow ruudy to register it on their behalf. I'm tired just writing this. Ok, so ruudy gets on a bus and travels the 5 hours to mbale friday afternoon, gets the paperwork from the church and heads back the 2+hours to jinja on a taxi. Our class on teaching bible story telling for evangelism and discipleship is now over and ruudy arrives back in Jinja having to miss all of the classes. Saturday and Sunday, recovery days. Monday, Ruudy goes back to kampala, and attempts to file the paperwork that he was given by the pastor, so our marriage can be registered and then we can get the certificate certified, as redundant at that sounds. Well guess what? The church is supposed to be registering new marriages monthly, and the last one that they happened to register was in 2012. And the registry is refusing to register ours alone, but the church has to register all the marriages that have happened between now and then in order for ours to be registered.  The church charges everyone a filing fee, and the gov't requires 35,000 (around $14) per wedding registered. So you would think when we call up the church and tell them to come and register all of the weddings from the last two years, they would have saved up all of the money that they collected over the years and been able to file, but no, they don't have a single shilling to even help transport the pastor to file the thing.  Don't ask me what happened to all the money people paid over the last two years to get married, but there are 18 marriages that went down, and not a shilling to show for it, and SO...if we want to get our certificate certified we'll have to pay 630,000 shillings (about$252) to pay for the church to file all the marriages, but at least the church has said that they will try to borrow half of the money. ?!?! Tuesday, hopefully the church people come to kampala with their half of the money and all of the marriages get filed before the end of the day, so that by wednesday we can have our certified certificate and then we can mail ruudy's passport with the certified birth certificate and this elusive marriage certificate and we can prove to the embassy in nairobi, that yes ruudy was born, and yes we were married in Uganda. And then a week after it arrives at the embassy, hopefully ruudy will be headed back to Nairobi to pick up his passport with the immigrant visa in it...and then we might start thinking about when we can go to the states... so that's the long of the short of it... if you made it this far, you're really a trooper. well done. please pray for us, as it's a very frustrating process that has swallowed up a good chunk of change and perhaps some sanity as well.