Ian's reflections: Cathedral and Gashonga Church

We awoke to bright skies and the songs of the fishermen on the lake. After a hearty breakfast of eggs and Mandazi the little deep fried doughnut type which are not too sweet.

Then off to the 8am English service which was quite traditionally Anglican their where two groups our own and one from Canada. We all had to stand up and introduce ourselves, say where we were from and a little about ourselves. An American couple who were out here helped with the music together with our friend Boniface.

Ian Graham one of our team preached a very good sermon on James how we overcome trials and temptations then we had a simple communion service.

The team arriving at the cathedral

After a brief loo stop back at the guest house we were driven down the road towards Bugarama where there are tea and coffee plantations. We arrived at our friend Ephraim’s church where there was already loud exuberant singing going on.

The church is newly constucted with help from people at Southover it had grown alot and they were now sending six evangelists out into the little villages up in the hills which were relatively unchurched,, their task being to plant new churches.

The service was very simple with lots of singing and little bits of liturgy. They also acted out a bible story with a sketch and a song which was very effective for them and does not need much translating into different language

I preached on the wise and foolish builders ending with an altar call to which a few people responded and several of us prayed for them as Ephraim led them through a commitment to follow Christ. There was a presentation for everyone from the team who had contributed. Then we were ushered into the back room where we were given a lunch of delicious fruit and bread and offered the ubiquitous Fanta or coffee. Then back on the bus just as it started to rain.

Our planned walk in the afternoon was rained off so we were able to have a quiet time reading and catching up on things.