Mobilization and a Wedding

It's about a week late due to internet/power issues

June 11, 2011

Yesterday I left the house and started walking towards the office… but I haven’t learned my way around Gulu yet and was apparently going the wrong way (ha!) I was blissfully unaware but, thankfully Carl and Chris, one of the trauma team members, were driving by and graciously picked me up J  So we first looked at a property that may serve as the Trauma Team’s new office. It seemed so nice, with plenty of room to meet the team’s needs. Then we went to the office and waited while the team prepared to mobilize a village they are preparing to bring the empower program to.

When we arrived at the village we first met with the LC, the ‘mayor’ of the village per say. One of the trauma team members, Florence, explained to me that the team meets with the LC first to explain what the program is and to ensure that they are welcome to bring the program to the people. Florence also said that because most of the villagers do not receive any sort of aid, whether it is spiritual, emotional or physical, the LCs are usually very welcoming to the team and anything they have to offer. And this was true of Oyam as well.

After meeting with the LC a crowd of at least 60 people had gathered to hear what the program was about. Each of the team members introduced themselves and then started building relationships with the people in the village by engaging them in a story that served as an introduction of the empower program. Though all of this took place in the Acholi language, I was in awe of how quickly these strangers were starting to build relationships with one another.  This is something about the program that I love; the team goes with the goal of building loving relationships with the villagers, confident that God’s healing will follow.  Furthermore, each team member is passionate about his and her work- they long to bring the Lord’s healing to people who have been broken for far too long. And even further still, they have all been so kind to me, explaining everything that they do, translating for me, and being tremendously welcoming.

Today I was invited to attend the wedding of one of the team members. How blessed I am to be welcomed in such a way. As the bride entered the church the women started doing their African cheer- soooooooo cool J  The bride and groom were so joyful and the pastors were honored by the marriage taking place. May God bless their marriage and may their marriage reflect Christ’s love for the church. Everything about today was beautiful, lovely, and joyful.