I received a call early this morning -- it was a little before my alarm goes off at 6:00 am, making it Friday evening in Uganda. All I got was, "Cindy? Cindy? I'm out in the middle of nowhere."Then nothing.
Then dial tone.
What is one to make of that? I don't know about other people, but to be awakened by a ringing phone is a shock to my system. I'm jarred out of sleep, hear that Steve is "nowhere," and then nothing. It was a good thing that his tone was calm, conveying much more than that short report.
A few minutes later the phone rang again. Steve explained that he had run out of minutes -- that's all.
So what is he up to in Mbale?
I know that the team is staying in hotels in Mbale. I googled it and it looks like a big city to me. There was not enough room in the reserved hotel so the men are staying down the road in another one -- one without electricity and without hot water. At least there is water, Steve said, and he got to take an ice-cold shower in the morning.
During the day, the team did AIDS testing. I think that was done in Mbale, though I'm not positive. "Nowhere," as Steve called it, is about 20-25 miles outside Mbale and that is where they are holding evening crusades. When I was a teen, I attended a Billy Graham crusade in California and I know not all crusades are held in stadiums with loud speakers and massive choirs. (Yet the good news of God's love and redemption through his son, Jesus, is always shared!) Steve described their meeting place as a wooden structure with bamboo walls and at 5:oo pm it was packed with people. Where they came from was a mystery to Steve as on the drive to "Nowhere," all he saw was a hut here and there -- no evidence of a populated area.
Steve told me that Pastors Ephraim, Martin and Moses were in attendance and that he was very excited about what was going on. I'm so glad that Steve can be there, and I look forward to our next (short) phone call to hear more!
~Cindy
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