Women Come 4th

One of the missions we came to do was spend time with Pastor Jimmy Kiwanuka 's wife Helen and a group of women from their church. What we had in mind for our time here and what they had in mind ended up being two different things! We already knew to expect the unexpected, but we were taken aback when we found out their plan for us was a two day women's conference in three different villages, all three weekends we were here in which Ashlee and I were to be the guest preachers both days!! They requested that we feed the ladies lunch both days and also bring them gifts. We sat with Helen and her friend Susan and made a program (as they say here) or a schedule Thursday morning, we told them we couldn't go with them on Friday because we had already made a program to go with Lyzette to the hospital, but we would go on Saturday. They were very gracious and excepted our plan, so we told them we would go shopping for the gifts and food before they went to the village and we went to the hospital. We had no idea we would be funding the entire conference, but we had money to spend. So we bought rice, beans, some little meat and some vegetables to put in the beans, along with panties, tooth brushes and tooth paste, soap and salt to give as gifts.

 

Since we couldn't go Friday, Justin went with Jimmy and the ladies out to the village of Lwanika that was an hour and a half away. They call it the place where the dogs turn around because it is so far away. While the women were meeting, Justin thought they would just sit outside and visit with the men. As they started talking, Jimmy told the men that Justin was there to preach to them or give them a word. Surprise!! The Bible says that we should be ready to give an answer at all times, but that really caught him off guard. They said he did great. They talked about being men of God and how they should treat their wives and family.

It ended up being a women and men's meeting both days! We all went back on Saturday and Ashlee and I spoke and gave our testimonies and then we had lunch, which the men served all the ladies and even washed the dishes. This is such a big deal here because they say that men think that women here are a little higher than a goat and lower than a human and that is not a man's job to serve, he is there to be served. It was a wonderful thing to see!

After lunch we broke into groups. Jodi was with the married ladies, Ashlee was with the single mothers and younger ladies and Helen took the widow ladies and they were allowed to ask us questions and we answered them the best we could given the different cultures through an interpreter. We were so surprised at the nature of the questions they asked that were very personal about their bodies, and their relationships with men, whether it is their husband or other men, raising their children, friendships with each other and last but not least, their finances. Jodi talked to the marrieds about raising a new generation of boys to be Godly and breaking the generational practices that have been handed down, even if there is not a born again father to take the lead. A born again woman can and must be responsible to raise her son in a different way, so he knows how to treat a women and take care of his family in a Godly way even when he has no role model to follow. It was a wonderful day and the whole village was so grateful that we came. They said " now we know God has not forgotten about us.

 

 

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