“The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” 1 Samuel 18:1
Now, if you just replace Jonathan with “Canby” and David with “Kacungwa” you will understand the relationship God has established between these two small churches on opposite sides of the world. It was something that first occurred to me when I met another of Pastor Sylver’s young sons named Jonathan and we became fast friends. I joked that “Jonathan and David had become friends” and as soon as I said it, I realized the parallel to the relationship between Canby & Kacungwa.
There is nothing that could explain this apart from God. The circumstances that lead Canby to Kacungwa and the strong bonds of friendship and love that have formed over the past 5 years ARE as if our collective hearts have been knit together by God in His love. It’s not just the beautiful children, but with the entire church.
It began when Johnny Karls, then ARM Executive Director, felt God leading him to connect Canby Christian Church with this community and then Pastors Ken & Sylver joining forces for God’s Kingdom. Since then we have had many short-term mission team visits, regular interaction with our sponsored children and built relationships that withstand the separation of time and distance.
Wednesday was such a very sad day for everybody. It was the day we had to say goodbye to our friends and our Ugandan children. None of us were really looking forward to it as we rode the bus out to Kacungwa this one last time. The mood was subdued, everybody caught up in their own thoughts and memories of the time we have spent here. We knew that there was a meeting prepared where we would all sit in a circle and talk of the time together and share mutual appreciation.
Something you may not be aware of about the Ugandan culture is that people here do not cry much. When a dear one dies, yes, but beyond that they just don’t. But this morning as Dickens spoke on behalf of the Kacungwa community, he [unsuccessfully] choked back tears to finish his words to us. It was truly an emotional good-bye for us all and we knew that the harder one was yet to come.
As we left the meeting, we were all looking anxiously for our children, but they were not too far away and almost immediately holding our hands. We took a round of pictures [that we will all treasure] then said our last goodbyes with hugs, tears and prayers. Pastor Sylver’s wife, Allen, gave me a gift to thank me for loving and sponsoring her son Joel and for loving all of their family. She grabbed me in a hug and began crying on my shoulder. I could not help but cry also…Only God can knit lives together in such a way.
You won’t find many pictures from the goodbyes – nobody was even remotely interested in taking pictures, but rather intent on the people and making sure we didn’t miss anybody. We loaded up on the bus and drove away full of so many emotions but mostly sad to be missing those we have become knit together with in God’s love.
Let me share just a few more pictures from our time together in Kacungwa.
God bless our friends we love so dearly in Kacungwa!
Signing off from Kacungwa … for now. We love and are loved in this beautiful place!
