African Mission—by Judy Willson–May 2009

 

Sunday, April 20^th 2008—Mission Trip

 

During Sermon at the Church of the Transfiguration

 

This is Kabale weather; it is now their rainy season. Only the sun would come out a little and then rain once again. God is preparing me!

 

Father Henry was reading in John 14: verses 1-14 our Gospel for today, after reflecting on these passages he asked me to speak during the sermon rather announcements.

 

Good Morning!

 

Fr. Henry called me on Thursday and invited me to speak today about the work that we are doing in Uganda, what the mission experience has meant to me spiritually and our upcoming mission trip. My husband Frank and I will be departing next Friday very early for Uganda. We are both very excited and ready to do God’s work.

 

I would first like to recap a little about our project which began a little over 1 year ago in April:

 

· June 2007: I presented the first visit and mission plans to our congregation

 

· August 22, 2007: Our first official monthly committee meeting was held beginning with 6 members and now we have 9.

 

· September 2007: Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba and his wife Penelope, our hosting family in Uganda came to the US as our guest. During that time many social events for the couple were held. At one event a gift of $450.00 was given and designated for a clean water project.

 

· Mid-December 2007: I received a water proposal that would give approximately 720 people in 2 village’s clean water.

 

· April 5^th 2008: Our parish held the first fundraiser for the African Mission.

 

 

I believe with all my heart that God has given us a tremendous opportunity to learn from our friends in Uganda.

 

This year has been a journey like none other in my spiritual life; a good lesson in developing a stronger faith. What was only a dream to me and those in our mission village; God has now brought close to fulfillment.

 

Personally and professionally this work could not have come at a more challenging time in my life. However, God is teaching me more and more that I am not in control; that no man is an island and that we do need one another. God’s work is not meant to be done alone, it is meant to be done with our neighbors and our friends in Christ, which are on all of the earth, not just here. If God calls one of us, he calls all of us. Our mission quote reminds me of this: “I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am”. This means we take care of each other. If you are hungry, I will feed you; if you are without shelter, I will take you in to my home. This is how our hosting family lives and the way our village families in Nyakishenyi live and believe.

 

God gave me good Christian friends in our church, my family and community. These friends gave me hope and we can now give an estimated 720 people in 2 villages hope. The gifts received to begin the water project have touched my heart so very much. All of this has given me a better relationship with God. It has also given me new friends in Christ.

 

A few evenings ago, I said to my husband “we have to get a plan for the mission for this coming year”. I have moved so quickly that I can’t even see what has happened. In that moment, I realized that we are now beginning to meet the biggest challenge, which is helping to provide clean water. We could only do this with God’s Help.

 

Our mission has other objectives and goals: such as providing animals to the village. However, I believe God decided where this project would go first and what was most important for the people in our mission village. I do believe that we are only facilitators doing “HIS” work.

 

This project has never been about me, Fr. Henry or our wonderful committee members. It is all about what God is doing for HIS people. As God gives to the people in the villages of Uganda a gift of clean water, he gives back to us love, appreciation and faith in HIM. It is about friendships, relationships, and caring for those who feel they have lost hope.

 

I have always wanted to join other mission teams and projects, but somehow God has a big sense of humor, nothing convenient for this one, HE decided to send me very far away and HE calls me back. I don’t know why God put me in the middle of a village, in the middle of Africa. I do trust that God has a plan for me where ever I go in life and for everyone here as well.

 

Finally, with God’s help we will have wonderful results for our parish and community. I have been told the project could be completed by August. To date, we have raised 90% of the estimated cost for the water project, and will need the remaining funds for the completion. So, I plan to stay at Faith House in Kabale and travel to the village area to see the work being done and prayerfully completed. During my stay, I will also volunteer in the Rugrama Hospital in Kabale, which is near the college campus and St. Peters Cathedral; visit the sites of the completed water projects in the villages and visit the mission clinic about 12 miles from the village of Nyakishenyi. I am planning my stay day to day, if I get too home sick, I will come home.

 

Frank and I ask for your prayers for a safe journey, for the people of Nyakishenyi and for the completion of the water project.

 

 

God bless you all,

 

Judy A. Willson

 

Dear friends and family in Christ,

It is good to be home!!! I arrived home July 7^th after many hours of traveling by car and air from Kabale, Uganda Africa. It was a very long journey which began at 10 a.m. on Sunday July 6th in Kabale, leaving from Faith House on Rugarama Hill, at Bishop Barham University College, checking through the borders of Uganda and Rwanda to arrive at the Kigali airport in Rwanda and then on to Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia. There was a stop for refueling in Rome and then home to Dulles Int’l Washington DC, at 10 a.m. Monday July 7^th.

Our host the Rev. Canon Jovahn and Penelope Turyamureeba, family and the people of Nyakishenyi send their love and greetings from Uganda to you their friends here in the USA. They send their appreciation for all that you have done for them and the Nyakishenyi village!

I am very excited to share with everyone all of the video and photos of the water project from start to finish and many other events that took place while I was visiting in Uganda. I attended and recorded many church services, which included a funeral of a very prominent business man, a give-away ceremony for a bride and the wedding, and a graduation in Kampala for Joshua Turyamureeba, the son of our host. All of these events are in many ways culturally very different than ours here in the USA. I also visited and documented the medical clinic in Nyakishenyi village and the Rugarama Hospital in Kabale, and one other mission hospital in Kisiizi.

This mission trip has offered me an opportunity to appreciate my country and home. However, it has given me a deeper understanding and insight of the culture and life of many African clan traditions. I also love my family, friends and home in Uganda and they will be missed so very much. The mission produced much more work than had been in the written objectives for the second visit back to Uganda. It has proven how much God works through us humans. I have not yet to realize what this has meant to so many people in the villages who were given a gift of water; in not just two villages as previously planned, but 3 villages.

At this time, for them, this water is a miracle from God. Because the dry season has arrived in Nyakishenyi village, the nearby spring water source where the village people had been fetching their water has dried up for now and they would otherwise have no water without walking for a very long distance to find it. Now with the tap stands so close by they can fill a gerry can in less than 5 minutes, this took over 1hour before and sometimes they would leave them only to come back and find that someone else would have taken the cans they had been waiting for to be filled.

This project has brought together people in their village and other villages that otherwise had been separated by their religious denominations. The last weekend I visited the village they were sill gathering at St. Paul’s church in the village area having thanksgivings for the water they had received. St. Paul’s is an Anglican parish, which I attended a few times in the village, but the Catholics who had not been getting along with the Anglicans too well in the past few years have been gathering with the Anglicans and reunited as a community at St. Paul’s.

When I arrived in Uganda the people of the village of Nyakishenyi had already organized a committee and a whole community was waiting for us and prepared to begin working. What we believed would take nearly 3 months took half the time to fully complete, with one additional village added. The people of all denominations worked side-by-side day and night to complete the project. The engineer told me he had never seen people work so hard together and accomplish a project so quickly. It was truly amazing!

I was given the opportunity to know what it was like to be without water for washing in the village and in the town of Kabale. It was also a lesson for me to learn to know how to deal without electricity. Between the loss of power and running out of water, life can be difficult, especially for people who take these things for granted everyday; me being one of those people.

So in the weeks and months to come, I will begin to work with our team here in the USA and Uganda (Nyakishenyi Village Team) and Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba, our host and facilitator in Kabale, to prepare a proposal for our “2009″ mission visit. This year’s visit built and strengthened a stronger relationship with the people of the Nyakishenyi Village and districts, the people and friends of the Bishop Barham University College, various churches and denominations in these areas. We have built the foundation for our mission, it is now ready to grow and continue God’s work. Because of your support and prayers this mission was a great success. God is always good! It has been an abundant blessing for many and I believe for our parish family too! With these thoughts and prayers, I shall end and say God Bless you all for your support of Frank and I for the mission this past April thru July 2008.

 

With God who we love and trust,

Judy A. Willson

African Mission/ Coordinator

 

 

 

 

Sermon preached at the Church of the Transfiguration Sunday August 3^rd 2008, Braddock Heights MD

 

Good morning! It is good to be back Home at the Church of the Transfiguration and to see you all again!

 

Agandi: How are you? Nimarungi: I am fine! This is a standard greeting and reply in the Rukiga language, which was taught to me by my host and the locals while in Kabale. I also learned that the phrase, how are you, is one of the first phrases that they teach their young children to speak in English. It is used frequently by the young children in the village areas when they see or greet white visitors. They would call out to me,” Mzungu (meaning white person) how are you?”

 

So I pray today that your answer would be, Nimarungi, I am fine!

 

I would like to share with you a sermon that I was invited to preach at St. Paul’s church, an Anglican parish near our village project at Nyakishenyi. St. Paul’s is located in a neighboring village called Nyakisoroza.

 

My hope is that you will better understand the experience Frank and I had on our recent journey to Africa.

 

First, I want to share some information about the geographical location and some history concerning Uganda’s Anglican Communion.

 

Uganda is located in East Africa and the villages that received water are located about 2 hours from the town of Kabale, which is one of the largest nearby towns. Kabale is the town where we stayed during our visit and is where our host the Rev. Canon Jovahn Turyamureeba and wife Penelope live and work. We also spent time in the Rev. Jovhan’s house in the village while working on the project.

 

 

 

The origination of Uganda’s place in the Anglican Communion began with a man named Henry Morton Stanley, a British Explorer and missionary, who introduced Christianity into Buganda, now called (Uganda) in 1875. According to the book entitled, “The Uganda Martyrs Are Our Light”, “Stanley noticed that the King and courtiers were listening more intently than he had ever known them to listen before. Until that day, it had always been thought polite to talk about any one subject for a short time only; but now these black men seemed to forget to become wearied. Each succeeding day, Stanley continued to talk on this same subject. His hearers appeared far more interested in what he said about Jesus than they had ever been in any of the wonderful things he had told about civilized people.” Following Stanley’s mission work there, more Anglican missionaries were invited by the King of Buganda and Catholic missionaries came as well.

 

The people of Uganda have been influenced by the British culture and the Anglican faith since that time. The primary language is English, although there are approximately 46 other languages spoken in Uganda.

 

According to a special report published by the United Bible Societies’ World Service Center, “66% of Ugandans are Christians and Christian denominations are almost equally divided between Roman Catholic and Anglican plus numerous small denominations.” In addition, “The Kingdom of Buganda, precursor of modern Uganda, was the only African country by the end of the 19^th century to declare itself a Christian nation. The Bugandans worshipped their ancestors and believed in a benign Creator God. They were ready for the Gospel. The first missionary arrived in 1875 (Mr. Stanley) and by 1900 Christianity was the established religion.”

 

The Ugandans have had a strong need and desire to hear about Jesus Christ and to become Christians since the days of Mr. Stanley. Today they are still very committed to hearing and learning about Jesus Christ.

 

There is not enough time to go into all the reasons why Christianity is growing in Africa, but from what I have read and from my personal experiences with the culture in Uganda, I believe it comes from constant struggle with poverty, war, hunger and other devastations the people go through everyday; that they simply turn to church and Christianity for comfort.

 

Family and extended family remain a major support system for Ugandans. Weddings and burials are huge and some of the most important events to be attended in the area I visited in Kabale. Daily life in Kabale for Christians appeared to revolve around family and church. Even for those who had jobs, it seemed that church and God always came first. Their faith is not hidden in the streets or shops. They confess their belief in Jesus everywhere; they speak very freely about their devotion and commitment to Jesus Christ. They are clearly proud to be believers in Jesus. In many ways they are “natural evangelists.”

 

According to Wikipedia online, “there has been tremendous growth of Christians in Africa. As evidence, only nine million Christians were in Africa in 1900, but by the year 2000, there were an estimated 380 million Christians. According to a 2006 Pew Forum on Religion and Public life study, 147 millions of African Christians were “renewalists” (a term that includes both Pentecostals and Charismatics). Much of the Christian growth in Africa is now due to African evangelism rather than Western missionaries. The Book of Common Prayer has been translated into many African languages.

 

All of the information I have shared with you to this point, I hope will help you understand why mission is so important for Christians around the world. “Missionary activity renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity….Faith is strengthened when it is given to others” said Pope John Paul II (The Mission of the Church, 1990, 2).

 

Now I would like to share how my adventure in the village and sermon evolved.

 

On this most important weekend in the village we held the dedication service and thanksgiving feast for the completion of the water project. On Sunday morning the celebration would begin with a 2 -3 hour church service, followed by a walk to the reserve tank site where the official water dedication ceremony was held. Afterwards, we then proceeded to the Rev. Jovahn’s village home for more ceremony, speeches, dancing, feasting and gift giving. It was a great day for the people of the villages and for us. For them, this was a day which they had always prayed for, but never felt possible. They called it a miracle!

 

On Saturday morning, of this weekend, while on my way once again to visit the source of water with other village friends, we stopped to visit the Rev. David and his wife Juliet. I had met this couple last year and they are very hospitable.

 

 

 

 

From their home near St. Paul’s church you can see in the back- drop the beautiful mountains and rocky cliff where the water source is situated. The Rev. David Byabashija is pastor at St. Paul’s church.

 

While visiting with the Rev. David, in the course of our conversation, I asked him, “who will be preaching at St. Paul’s tomorrow”? He said,” we like to hear from our visitors and it is an opportunity for you, would you like to preach the sermon?” I was not sure what to say…or how to answer. I was trying to think quickly of how I could write a sermon or find the time that day with all the other activities going on or even find paper in the village to prepare a sermon. I didn’t have my journal with me that weekend, which would have provided me with writing paper and didn’t have access to a computer. I didn’t know how I would prepare a sermon. After thinking a few minutes, I felt it may be rude to say no, so I accepted the gracious offer. 

 

As that day went on, God provided the words and topic for the sermon. The Rev. Jovahn and wife Penelope found me some paper and Jovahn provided me with scripture that he felt appropriate for the topic of my sermon. It was all coming together, just like the project had come together, not easy, but it was getting there. As it turned out, I had one hour and a flash light on Saturday night, in my room at the village house to prepare for the next day.

 

So I found my sermon at the water source that Saturday. It was a pretty good trek up the mountain to the source, but always worth the walk. For me, each time I walked there it meant more than just being close to the source of water which would supply the villages; it was there that I felt the strongest presence of God. It was also from there I felt renewed and that I was given strength to do many things I needed to do while in the village and in Africa.

 

The water source was near the top of the mountain, and came from the rocky cliffs. This was an area that would be excavated and cleaned up to get the flow moving stronger and faster to the areas down the mountain to the villages.

 

Here I was an Episcopalian from the USA, an mzungu (meaning white person) finding myself preaching in an Anglican church in Africa, with an estimated 250-300 people from the villages attending; of different denominations, to give thanksgiving for the water project. My words also needed to be translated for those who didn’t understand English and they were spoken in Rukiga.

 

So on Sunday June 1^st 2008 I gave the following sermon to the people of the villages who attended St. Paul’s

 

Good morning! It is wonderful to be here in this beautiful community and church once again. Thank you for such a warm welcome.

 

I will begin today with 1^st Peter Chapter 5: Verses 6 & 7 (New International Version)

 

“6 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he will lift you up in due time…7- Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon

 

I believe we set our own limitations and God doesn’t set limitations on us. God is there to support and encourage us! Yesterday I wanted to walk to see the source of water flowing from the mountain once again. The view from there is so beautiful and the presence of God is there as well. I was with The Rev. Jovahn and his wife Penelope, son Joshua, and other friends including a young man named Godfrey. I was thinking about how much I liked to see caves. I asked if there were any caves nearby. I was told by Godfrey, “yes there are caves just a short distance.” So I agreed that I would like to see them. I was also told that there was a cave where the Catholics go to pray, because just inside the cave there is a stone figure believed to be shaped like that of Mother Mary.

 

So as we started towards the path to the cave, I began to become concerned that it was not possible for me to walk to this cave, that I wanted to see so much. As I looked ahead I said, “I can’t do this, I’ll never get down from there on my own, if I get up that far.” (The terrain would be difficult for a mountain goat to climb. It was very steep, rocky, and almost straight up. Let’s not forget that I am also a Kaaka; in Rukiga that means Grandmother).

 

However, with the support of Godfrey and Joshua, I continued to climb, with them by my side and knowing they wanted to see me reach the top and encouraged me every step of the way to continue that very rough path up to the top of that mountain towards the cave.

 

If I hadn’t had their encouragement, I may have given up the journey. When we have the help of others and God’s help, we can do many things. It is with our friends in Christ that we are given the support we so often need to do many good things!

 

So along the way, as I looked up that path, I felt it was impossible to go forward. One of the young men said to me, “you can do this, we are with you, and you are not alone.” At that point I was thinking these are the words of a true friend in Christ; as God is also with us, I shouldn’t fear. I should not fear!

 

However, we should know that we have some limitations when it comes to putting ourselves in way of danger. We do have to realize in certain things we need to go very cautiously. God gave us basic instincts to know when we may be putting ourselves in too much danger or at risk of hurting ourselves or causing others harm.

 

As we continued, I made it to the foot of the cave, but decided that I wouldn’t go beyond that point. This was my decision. Even if I had climbed into the cave surely God would have cared for me. I wanted only to go that far. For me it was good enough. I was satisfied to have reached that area. (I then returned down the mountain literally by the seat of my pants, and I was lucky to have been wearing pants that day, because in the village women wearing pants are thought of as not being saved or as acting too manly. Remember this was to be a short hike, but it took over 1 hour to go to the cave and return to where Jovahn was waiting and wondering where we were. He had never gone to the cave and didn’t realize how far it was. So he feared that I had fallen somewhere and broke a bone and was in need of help. However, by God’s grace and protection I made it back safely).

 

Over this past year I was also not sure where this project would lead me. However, God showed us the way and cleared the path to provide this community with water. God was sure and it was HIS will that the work has been done.

 

If I had not been prayerful and encouraged by my friends at home and especially here, I may have given up in the first few steps of the path and journey. I couldn’t have done this work needed for the water project without God’s help and my friends in Jesus Christ.

 

I believe we should never set limitations upon ourselves, unless we are sure they are for reasons that will take us down a dangerous path that God would not want for us. If it is a good thing, we should continue down that path and finish our journey.

 

Your community has helped lay the foundation for more great work to come. You have proven your strength and faithfulness to yourselves and to God. You should be very proud of this work and it should never be taken for granted by anyone.

 

In a very short time, together, we have completed what many at home told me would be impossible. Here, according to our engineer Howard, you have set a record in completing what many would have considered to be impossible, but “with God all things are possible.” There is strength in numbers. I believe we do need each other in this world for support and encouragement. This is why God gave us each other as neighbors.

 

This concludes the sermon given at St. Paul’s

 

These are the words that God gave me for the day of thanksgiving and dedication for our water project in the village and I am very thankful that God has given me this day to share His words with you.

 

Finally, I would like to thank you here at the Church of the Transfiguration, for all your support and prayers and to the call of discipleship in the world. Thank you. Amen

 

God bless you always,

Judy A. Willson

Guest Speaker/ St. Paul’s Church at Nyakisoroza