Thursday (2/7) was our first full day serving the people of St. Luke’s church in Sironko. Our team of 12 divided up to work two separate projects: assist with building a new house for a widow with 10 children or help paint the inside of the Pastor’s house. We worked for couple hours, then changed clothes so that we would look presentable when giving a couple hour seminar to the adults on sharing your testimony and the importance of God’s kingdom here on earth.

I was on the painting crew. It was inside and kinder to my skin than the sunny construction project. We had to sand the plaster walls to get them smooth before painting and one of the daughters wanted to give it a go! She had a cough so I only let her help a little bit, thinking it best for her not to breathe in the fine particles.. However, later in the day I came back to check the progress of the paint drying and found her lying outside on the porch covered in white. She was all dusty and was drawing in it.. pretty adorable.

The other project was for a widow with 10 children. 8 are her own and 2 are her nieces. She stepped up to care for them after her sister passed away. They all live in this small house, including her cow at night.

The team’s goal was to assist with moving bricks and other materials for the crew building the larger brick structure you see in the background. Part of the funds from our trip have gone to providing the supplies for this new home. Here’s the family (most of them).

We are not finished with either project. We will continue our work today, Friday 2/8. (Reminder that we are 10 hours ahead of MST, meaning it’s 8a here and I need to get some breakfast soon before boarding the bus)

After the adult education/seminar classes, we all went out to a large social gathering where several churches invite their congregation and people of the community to come and worship (they refer to it as a Crusade). The Pastor (the man in the blue shirt above) asked for someone in our group to share their testimony on stage after singing, so I volunteered. Here’s a picture of where we were.. the landscape was beautiful, singing was spirited and moving and the smiles are always full.

There were easily a few hundred people by the time it all got underway. I shared for about 20 minutes, but they wanted close to an hour. So, I read Acts chapter 7 where Stephen a disciple shared the abbreviated history of the gospel and God’s promises to His chosen people. It was exciting to communicate that this story is our history.. regardless of race or color.  There will be another day of this to further engage the larger community of Sironko and another testimony. Also, the whole WaterStone team will be on stage to sing some songs.

Side note: I brought my ukulele and sang Amazing Grace on stage before sharing my testimony. It was definitely the largest concert I’ve ever performed at. My beautiful wife was next to me the whole time to give me moral support and as eye candy!

Here’s a pic Enza snapped while on stage with me..

And, for my favorite pictures of the day…

We brought a couple pairs of funny glasses with the big nose. The kids were laughing and wanting them, so we gave the them to the adults in hopes of more effective sharing. The adults also got a huge kick out of them!

The kids saying goodbye for the day..