December 22nd

I went to Kakamba this morning; Solomon took me on his Honda.
I had to go there as a missionary representative I guess, not quite
certain, Karen and Tom just volunteered me to go. Not that I’m
complaining I’m glad I get to be an active part in getting this
church in Kakamba going. I got there at around 10, but Reverend
Alfred (the district superintendant for the Wesleyan church) came
late, arriving at around 11. He apparently had a flat. We had a
meeting with the chief elder and some of the other important
people in the village. We discussed some terms and such, as well
as the future of the village concerning the placement of the church.
We saw the land they want to give us for the church, they are
willing to give us a pretty good sized tract of land for the church,
parsonage and a small farm if the pastor (when they get one, but
they won’t have one until the church and parsonage are both built)
decides he wants to farm. They want to let us have the school and
to build a church but the Muslims are also interested in acquiring
the school and the village has said that they want to see some
action soon and whoever shows the action first will be the ones
they give the school to. When we got back to the hospital Solomon
went to finish the work that he was missing because he took me to
the village. Having the hospital’s community health officer take me
was probably not the best option, but the only one since there are
three people who could have taken me, one was in Freetown,
Samuel the accountant (BS wouldn’t let him go) and Solomon.
When he was done we went downtown on a borrowed Honda to
try and find him a pair of shoes (which is what I wanted to get him
for Christmas but the pair I got were the “right size” but too small
anyways. Here gifts are given before Christmas so that they can
have them to wear on Christmas day. We were done looking,
couldn’t find a pair, and we tried to go but the ignition was stuck
in the off position, so Solomon had to push the bike over to a
mechanic. We got it turned to the on position finally and headed
up to the hospital. As soon as I got back I had to head to the
outpatient clinic where we spent two hours setting up the gifts
for the staff kids. Each staff member got to go through and select
a few gifts for their kids. It took three hours helping staff member
get the gifts. It was a very long process in a hot room and not a
lot of fun but at least their kids will have some “new” things and
that made the whole thing worthwhile. After we got that done
we had a very late dinner (after 8pm) and then I went over to
Solomon’s for about an hour before going to bed. Have a great
night!

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks