Dedication of the Lunyole book of Acts

This weekend we traveled east to witness the dedication of the book of Acts, in the language of Lunyole. This is the third and final Scripture dedication that they’ll have before they dedicate the entire New Testament in about three or four years. In 2006 they dedicated the newly published Gospel of Mark and then in 2007 the “T-Epistles”, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon and James. I have been to them all but Acts was the first dedication for my kids.

Ella LOVED it. People. Dancing. Singing. Playing on a mat with sticks and immature mangos. Heaven for a kid like L!

Frankie did great too but being as he’s not quite the social butterfly and only two, not quite as much as his enthusiastic sister. This was his first cross country trip and he did great however! And thank goodness, no sullen pouting (which, when sitting in the backseat, would I even have noticed?)!

The dedication was held in the far north of Butaleja district, in an area of rather marginalized Banyole. The normal road that would be used to get there was washed out by the previous rains so we had to drive up through Mbale and over to Busiu, then south to get to it. The funny thing is, we used the exact same little two rut road that goes by the Compassion center where my Mom’s sponsored child, Justice, goes!

The day was beautiful, the skies clear and blue!

We had a small convoy. One guy and his family in a big 4x4 SUV, the organizations big 4x4 van, then me in my little Toyota Corona : -) We traveled about 16 km on a little two rut road and my little car did marvelously! Sometimes the road was there and sometimes...

... only half of it was!

At this point I was beginning to wonder if me and my kids would need to be hauled out on a bike ;) I drove over this with the car tipped sideways so that the under parts of my car wouldn’t be ripped out. The first time over the kids slept, the second time over they hooted and cheered. I love my kids : -)

It was a little hard to concentrate on driving and taking pictures, but I did manage to snap a few. I liked this one with the little hut in between the big rocks which seemingly came from no where.

It was a little adventure getting to the dedication sight. Once there the guys manly chest beating for driving over the rough terrain (neither have ever driven Montana roads!) was pretty much put to a halt when I popped out of my Toyota Corona with my two chipper little kids. I actually heard someone say, “It’s a good thing we brought our bigger car!” (the big 4x4 SUV), to which I replied, “Yep, good thing I brought my 4x4 too!” And I wonder why some men are annoyed by me or my family makes them uncomfortable... ;) Ha ha!

Our trusty outfit

The dedication was supposed to start at 10:30 am but when we got there at 12 there was hardly any people there. Not unusual for an event here but we were surprised at the extreme lack of an audience. Because of the area and the rain that had been washing out roads, the turnout was lower than usual when it started two hours later.

While we were waiting, the kids and I checked out this small herd of cows.

I think Ella is wondering which one she wants her brother to tackle for her. The prettiest one of course!

Here Ella wants to head back to the people and Frankie wants to stay with the cows. Gotta love their two very different personalities!

This was the choir of about 200 students from the primary school, that sang and danced.

A sermon from a local pastor

Ella started out playing on the mat with the neighbors baby while the preacher preached, but the once the dancing started...

... She was right in the front row! She was so cute sitting up right next to the literacy guys with the table full of the Acts and other Lunyole booklets.

I tried to use the opportunity to explain simply to Ella what was going on, with the translation of Bible stories (she doesn’t quite know about books of the Bible yet) into a language that the Banyole people could understand, and how this was the reason I went to work at the office everyday. I’m not sure how much of it really sunk in. She was mostly just enamored with the dancing!

Enoch and Gesa.

Enoch (left) started out as a linguist and helped get the Lunyole language written down with an alphabet. Then he was the head of the translation team, and then moved on to being a translation consultant for all the translation projects in Uganda. His heart is still with “his” bible translation project though!

Gesa, right, has been the Lunyole translation project leader for about a year and a half now, and is one of the guys I supervise. Both are delightful fellows, who are fun to work with and I can learn a lot from. They were both previously pastors.

By 3 o’clock the place had filled up a bit more. These men area few of the eager audience.

They were pretty attentive! Well, except for Enoch. He looks like he has a headache... Or perhaps he’s just thinking?

Gesa giving his speech

The kids and I left at 3:30pm, right after Gesa’s speech, because we had to get to Jinja (about 170 miles away) that night before dark. I did NOT want to get stuck on that road in the rain or after dark! It’s a good thing that we did too because the dedication didn’t end until two hours later when it started to pour down rain. By that time we were almost in Jinja, where I’d made reservations to stay for the night.

Even though things didn’t work out quite as was planned, with the washed out road, late start and over 250 miles driven, we all had a marvelous time. God kept us safe on the roads which is nothing to be taken for granted as road travel here is really dangerous. Also, the kids had fun and didn’t get too tired or hungry. Quite an accomplishment for a two and five year old who had gotten out bed at 5:30am!

I loved getting out of Entebbe and seeing some beautiful scenery, not to mention driving through villages and seeing the different animals and “average” Ugandan people. Makes me much more grateful for what the Lord has given me (especially my beautiful Ugandan children!) and for the work that I’m involved in here in Uganda.