Telling the Story

We have enjoyed two days of ministry in Uganda. The Pastors' Conference has gone well. As I prepared for this trip I read through my journal of the days I spent here in 2002. One of my struggles then was the lack of a sense of connection to the pastors I was teaching. Part of that was language. I could not say anything in their vernacular, and some of them did not speak English. Part of it was situational. The conference was in Busheyni, an hour's drive from Mbarara, where we were staying with the Peppers. So every day we had to drive to the conference and our schedule required us to leave as soon as it was over in order to be ready for the evening activities. I'm sure other factors entered in as well. But I felt disconnected.

These last two days have been different. The conference is held at Larry's church, University Baptist Church, only a few minutes from his home. I have been able to spend more time with them. More of the pastors speak English this time, and as I talk I can see their responses. I am able to be present for their worship time, which is only to be experienced and not described. And, I'm sure, that having been here before has readied me in ways that could not have been there before.

On Tuesday we studied about the nature of God's Word as both human and divine. In the first session we talked about the inspiration of Scripture and its authoritative claim on our lives. In the second session we talked about the human dimensions of the Bible and the need for us to be faithful interpreters of its meaning. The pastors engaged the discussion enthusiastically. I could not stay for lunch with them that day, because I promised them I would prepare some written materials on the subject that could be distributed to them. They applauded. Literally. So I came home and worked on the handouts in the afternoon.

Melinda, Jenna, and Pamm joined two teams of the Words of Hope ministry of UBC and went to the villages to visit in the homes of AIDS patients. Finding the people, and finding them at home was a challenge. With no phones and no addresses visiting a specific person is difficult. But in each case they found someone to visit, although the effort required nearly four hours. They spend an hour to an hour and a half with the patients, listening to their needs, sharing Scripture, checking on their medications, and praying for them. I want to write more about the HIV/AIDS situation in Africa later, perhaps tomorrow.

On Tuesday evening we once more had guests for dinner. This time it was Skip and Kirk, two missionaries who work with World Venture, the missionary arm of Conservative Baptists. They have come to Mbarara for the Pastors' Conference because they work with Baptist pastors in leadership training in another part of the country. We enjoyed another evening of story-telling, heart-sharing, and laughter. They do a lot of that around here.

Wednesday I taught a practical method of Bible study, involving "the PRESS method" (Pray for Guidance, Read the Passage, Examine the Text, Say it back to God, Share it with Others). I encouraged them to examine the biblical text they are studying much like Dr. Pepper examines his patients -- ask lots of questions, observe everything you can, decide what it all means, and determine a course of action. I taught them how to use the "SPACE Questions" as a means of applying the text to their lives (Sin to Confess? Promise to Believe? Action to Avoid? Commandment to Obey? Example to Follow?) and to ask theological questions: What does the passage teach about God? About humanity? About sin? About redemption. Again, these pastors were eager to think and talk about the work of biblical interpretation. Today I'll be teaching about the use of the Bible in their own spiritual formation.

Alyso is the "regional pastor." He serves as the pastor of a congregation about two hours from here, but also is a kind of mentor to younger pastors. He is a wise man who seems to know the right thing to say and how to say it succinctly. I have appreciated this quality as the pastors have discussed issues during the study. He asked me today whether I would consider coming back once a year and working like this with his pastors. Sounds good to me.

Larry did not attend the Pastors' Conference on Wednesday. That is his day for the AIDS clinic. The clinic is currently seeing 4000 patients a month. Adam went with his dad to help out. That morning they saw more than 90 people.

Melinda and Jenna once more participated in the AIDS visitation in the morning, while Pamm stayed home to prepare to lead a working women's Bible study in the early evening at the Pepper's house. Melinda and Jenna joined me at the church to have lunch with the pastors. We had a traditional meal of matoke, posho, beans, groundnut (peanut) sauce, rice, and fried cabbage. All this is piled in large quantities in a big bowl and is eaten with the hands. Actually, just the right hand.

In the afternoon, I returned email and then went with Barry (the new IMB missionary), Jared (Barry's 10 year old son), Carrie (the journeyman nurse), Debbie (Carrie's friend who is visiting), and Alysius, a member of UBC who was our translator. We drove to a nearby village to do biblical storying, a method of sharing the gospel with people who are not literate. This was the third week they told stories in this particular village. We walked past red-brown mud huts, through a banana field, and sat on short wooden benches under an avocado tree. It was about 4:30, the sky was clear, and a cool wind blew through the banana trees.

In a short time, the beautiful, but troubled people of the village gathered with us. They came in their brightly colored dresses and shirts, faces shining. Greetings in Uganda are formal and effusive with much bowing and polite hand-shaking. If you are greeting someone older than yourself, or someone for whom you have deep respect, you hold your right arm with your left hand while shaking hands and bowing your head. Eventually twenty-nine men and women gathered for the Bible story. A few of the women brought children with them.

Barry told me as they assembled that likely half to three-quarters of them had HIV/AIDS. Through his interpreter Barry told the simple story of Creation from Genesis 1 and then Carrie and Debbie told the story of the Fall from Genesis 3. No preaching or exposition was involved, just telling the story. Jared held up simple line-drawing pictures to illustrate the story while his dad or Carrie and Debbie shared the narrative. People listened intently.

It took only a few minutes to tell the stories. Then Barry asked the group to tell the stories back to him as he held up first one and then another of the dozen or so pictures he had used. The villagers became an enthusiastic group of story-tellers themselves. When they were finished, Barry encouraged them to tell those stories to others this week. One man testified as to how he had told the previous week's story to a group in another village during the past week.

Then Alysius asked for prayer requests. One elderly woman named Grace needed prayer for a physical need. She had been bitten or stung by an insect on her breast (which she proceeded to expose and show us), so that it was terribly swollen and causing great discomfort. A little girl of ten or so asked for prayer for herself and her four siblings. Their parents had both died of AIDS recently and the children were living alone, caring for each other. A grandmother, who could hardly have been forty, had her grandson tied to her back. The child was only a few months old. She was caring for him now, because both his parents had died of AIDS. We listened and then we prayed. This group is not far from becoming a church.

Afterwards, Carrie and Debbie took Grace aside and examined her, gave her some Ibuprofen (all they had with them), made her promise to make her way to the clinic in Mbarara on Thursday. One woman, smiling, made her way over to me and rubbed my arm, apparently amazed to see hair growing on a man's arm. Children smiled and huddled around us all. Next Wednesday we will return and I will be the story-teller, sharing the account of Cain and Abel.

While we were in the village, Pamm and Melinda stayed for the working women's Bible study Sally Pepper began in her home a few weeks ago. Thirty women showed up for the study. Pamm was the guest teacher. I don't know what all she said, but Adam Pepper said that from his bedroom next to the living room where they gathered, he heard lots of laughter. Nurses from the hospital, a visiting doctor, and women from the community attended. They were leaving when I arrived, and their faces told me they had had a really good time. Pamm will teach the group again next Wednesday.

Melinda, Jenna, and Pamm will go on Words of Hope visits again this morning. After the Pastor's Conference, I will help Larry and Adam pack up trucks with things we will take to the village tomorrow, where we will hold a medical clinic and show the Jesus Film. More than 30 of us will travel to Lyantonde, about an hour from here. We will conduct the clinic and show the film on Friday evening, spend the night in tents, and then we will see patients again on Saturday.

So far, the time here has been all that I have hoped and prayed that it would be.

Blessings,

rrc

"fearing excess, we have not feared caution" -- Thomas Kelly

R. Robert Creech
16106 Middlebrook Dr.
Houston, TX 77059
www.ubc.org
www.rrcreech.com