Jeremy with eMi in Uganda: Jesus in da House

That’s a quote (more or less) from a worship leader from Amazing Grace church where I attended last Sunday. Yeah, to put it in Brett Steffen terms, it was “off the chain” … and I loved it! Three adjectives to help describe it – lively, loud, and long, with an emphasis on all three. I think my right ear is still ringing (ok, maybe that’s a exaggeration but you get the point). It was really encouraging, though, to see the spirit of praise in the brothers and sisters there, especially coming from those who have so little by our standards. It was also encouraging when at some point during the service, some of the members stood up and shared praise reports of how God had been working in their lives. They truly have a sense of dependence on God that is generally missing from our self-sufficient culture in the west. To be fair though, the African churches in general, have various struggles, no different than in the States. Lack of eldership (the avg. age of the Ugandan population is 15), false doctrine, and syncretism (with animism esp. in rural areas) tend to surface the most. I only mention this so that you will be prayerful, especially that as those of us from the west learn abundantly from their example, that we could also teach them what we have to offer. Sort of a mutual discipleship.

Amazing Grace Christian Assembly

If the first three hours of worship weren’t enough, in the afternoon Amazing Grace held a variety show of sorts, where they had about another three hours of praise and worship, this time performed by groups of children, women, and men in the form of singing, drama, and dance. I had a great day and I can’t wait to go back next week. Hopefully by then, I will have loosened up enough to at least throw in some disco moves or something, (just kidding but I’m actually really good at the “truck driver” and “law mower”, ask Brett).

Children performing at the variety show

I spent much of the rest of this week researching similar past design projects and other organizations who work on water supply projects regularly. I’m learning a lot about how things work here in East Africa, as it pertains to technical design and life in general. For example, internet and electricity are not to be taken for granted. While we have both (fortunately, because many have neither) they are quite prone to switch off frequently and unexpectedly. A majority of the nights so far have been spent reading under the flicker of candle light. When they’re on, the internet is extremely slow and the power is often too weak to kick on a florescent bulb. This means readjusting my concept and value of productivity.

On Thursday, we had guests at the office to demonstrate their bio-sand water filters and solar cookers. Both concepts are simple, sustainable, reliable, and efficient. I’m excited to try them out myself and potentially incorporate them into our design project.

Later, I (mistakenly – I’d explain but it’s a long story that’s only funny if you where here) visited the site of an orphanage campus which is under construction. We (well, at least those of us who were supposed to go) went to follow up with the design plans which eMi had done on a previous project and determine to what extent things were being built correctly. We walked around the site, literally dragging neighborhood kids along with us who were totally elated to get swarm, touch and feel the muzungus (evidently our flesh and hair feels differently than theirs). All in all, it was a heartwarming experience.

I guess I’ll add that on the trip, I had another very interesting conversation, this time with a Seventh Day Adventist. I won’t go into detail, but I walked away thinking about a point made by Peter Abelard which I found in a book on Christian History that I’m still reading. The purpose of one of his writings, Yes and No, was to show that theology must not be content with citing authorities (individual scripture references included). It is quite possible to argue from the Bible on either side of many issues. Him and I both had an arsenal of scripture verses which we used to defend our position. However, for the truth to be understood, it is necessary to understand the whole of the Scripture in its proper context. Not such an easy task but thankfully, we have help (Jam 1:5).