About a month before I traveled to Kenya, I was given a word of advice from someone who has been traveling to Kenya and Uganda on mission trips every year since 2015. The advice was, “The unexpected is to be expected.”
In the USA, being punctual is a part of our life. Our jobs start and end at a certain time. Church starts at a specific time. We meet our friends at a coffee shop at an agreed upon time. We might be five or ten minutes late. But, for the most part, we are expected to arrive on time to all scheduled events.
This is now my 11thday on the mission field in Kenya and I honestly can’t recall any church service, conference or crusade where it actually started at or near the time it was scheduled. Everything has always started between 30 minutes and 2 hours behind schedule. And what time an event finishes is anyone’s guess. A meeting scheduled to be from 10:00 am to noon might start around 11:15 am and finish at 12:30 pm or 1:30 pm. It’s referred to as “Kenya time.”
What I have done to adapt to Kenya time is to “go with the flow.” I don’t have my own car, so I just make sure I am prepared and ready to travel when the schedule says we’re supposed to leave. After that, I am free to do my own thing until my host finally says, “Let’s go.”
Today was scheduled to be my only day of rest during my 17 full days in Kenya. I had been teaching God’s Word for nine of the past ten days. The one day I didn’t teach had been spent traveling. So, a day off seemed appropriate. I might do a little sightseeing, shop at the marketplace, visit with people one on one, or spend time relaxing and writing my newsletter.
We were originally scheduled to leave for Tororo, Uganda in the morning, around 9:00 am. We would arrive at a hotel in late morning. I would check in and then have the rest of the day to explore Uganda. Isaac wanted me to meet a pastor and some of his church members sometime during that day. But I wasn’t aware of any set time for that.
The night before we are scheduled to leave for Uganda, Isaac asks me if we can leave closer to noon instead of 9:00 am. I think about it and say “Yes, that will be fine.” Right away, I know that since we are on Kenya time, agreeing to leave near noon really means agreeing to leave at 2:00 pm. Maybe, just maybe, we would actually leave at noon. One can only hope.
By mid-morning I am packed and ready to go. I wait. I wait some more. No word from Isaac, until he finally walks through the door at 5:00 pm. The entire day has gone by and I was not given any opportunity to do any exploring, visiting, etc. As they say in the USA, I am not a happy camper.
I realize it will likely be dark before we reach Uganda, so I tell Isaac that we might as well wait and leave for Uganda in the morning. But the Lord seems to say to me that we need to leave tonight. Isaac mentions that people are expecting us there. They will be disappointed if we don’t show up. So I grab my suitcase and we head out.
Crossing the border from Kenya to Uganda becomes much more difficult and complicated when you are bringing a vehicle with you. The Kenyan government does not want you selling your vehicle in Uganda. So, they make you file paperwork and then confiscate the title to your car, so you can’t sell it. Why they care if you sell your vehicle or not, I have no idea. A car insurance policy for that country also needed to be purchased. We spend a good hour and a half going through these procedures. It is past 7:00 pm before we finally pass through the border into Uganda.
The excitement and enthusiasm I carried with me each day while on this mission
field has now been drained. I’m still upset about my day off having been wasted. I was really looking forward to visiting Uganda and spending the day there. Now it is dark outside, so I can’t even enjoy the scenery during my first drive in Uganda.
Isaac takes us straight to a small church in Tororo. It isn’t until we reach the church that I discover there is a group of people waiting for us. I am not mentally prepared to minister to them. I have been sulking and thinking about myself.
It is pitch dark when we pull up to the church. Not only are there no lights outside the church. There is no electricity within the building either. The only light we have is an occasional flashlight. It is a small brick building. I greet a few people outside with a warm handshake and a smile and then walk inside.
Once inside, I take a look around. The church has window frames, but no windows. The floor is cement. There is no podium. There is next to nothing inside of this church except about 40 plastic chairs and a small coffee table. An outhouse is located a short walk from the building if you need to go to the bathroom.
I think about the large, elaborate churches so commonly found in the USA and try and compare it to this. It’s like trying to relate a major league baseball stadium to a sandlot. Do these people have any idea what a church looks like in my country? I doubt it. And maybe that’s a good thing. They don’t know what they’re missing.
Isaac and I sit down. There are about twelve to fourteen people gathered around. We are unable to clearly see each other’s faces because of the darkness. Only a few cellphone flashlights give us any light at all. Isaac begins the conversation with a warm greeting and a humble apology for our being late.
I find out afterwards that these people have been waiting here to visit with us for the past 8 hours! Isaac had told them to meet us here at 10:00 am. “What did these people do during those 8 hours?” I asked the church pastor later on. “They were singing praises to God and fellowshipping with one another,” he says. I shake my head in near disbelief. One thing I know is that the people in Kenya and Uganda are much more patient than we are in the USA. I have witnessed their patience on several occasions.
Isaac turns it over to me, to share with these people whatever is on my heart. Due to my sulking, along with being unaware that people were waiting for us, I was not prepared for this moment like I normally would have been. Looking at my notes is not possible due to the pitch-dark atmosphere. So, I am going to have to wing it.
I got through it. I won’t lie to you. I wasn’t the spunky, fired up person that had been so excited and pumped to share God’s Word day after day during my other ten days of teaching in Kenya. But as I looked around the room, I prayed for God to forgive me for having been so selfish. And asked Him to now inspire me as to what to share that might bless this group who were now looking at me with anticipation. I opened my mouth and began to speak, sharing for about 15 to 20 minutes. For the most part, I shared about my experiences in Kenya thus far, starting with Segera Mission.
When I finished, a few others shared from their hearts as well. Then we held hands and prayed. I was inspired to pray for great outreach to occur. In my mind, I saw this small building overflowing with people who love God and desire to serve Him. And now they would need to either expand or find a larger building to house them all. That was my prayer for the church at Tororo. I will be anxious to see during my next visit if this vision was from God and would shortly come to pass. I sure hope so.
After our prayer, several people walked up to me, telling me that they would really like me to teach God’s Word at their church the next time I am in Uganda. The pastor from this church had already traveled to Kenya and heard me teach at the Kimaeti conference. He would also be traveling with us to Bugiri the following morning so he could hear me teach for two more days. He absolutely loved what I was teaching and couldn’t seem to get enough of it. He is a quiet man, very meek and humble.
We say our goodbyes to these lovely church members and drive to a nearby 
hotel. I learned a valuable lesson. There is no ‘day off’ when we are serving our Lord Jesus Christ. We never know when and where God will put people in our path who are hungering and thirsting to be ministered to. God had planted these people here. They had waited 8 hours for my arrival. It was so humbling. And I hadn’t been adequately prepared. I was determined not to let my guard down like that again.
But in your hearts, set the Lord Christ apart as holy, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you,
1 Peter 3:15 REV