Wednesday started out innocently enough. It was a beautiful sunny day, maybe a little on the warm side, but it’s not worth complaining about. We had the morning to just take it easy around the house and do some office work. It was nice to just sit and read my Bible and have a chance to read my book on the Holy Spirit by AW Tozer. Who knew that the spirit would come into play so much on this day. A little later Scott came in to inform me that one of the schools we were going to that day was having a parents meeting because they believed that 7 of their students were demon possessed. So I spent a lot of my time until we left preparing for what might be a serious spiritual war. We headed out just before lunch and grabbed some sandwiches on the way. I had been really excited to go to these two schools because we were going to have to take a boat to get to them. We finally got through to the other side of Kampala and pulled into the boat area. The boats themselves are similar to large canoes. Except they are quite deeper, probably four foot sides. These boats are also used for fishing all along Lake Victoria. The boats are not perfectly built and take on water through several holes but the water in the bottom wasn’t anything to worry about after the 15 minute ride. It was quite a peaceful trip and great to eat our sandwiches and take in the scenery. Next, we pulled into our landing area with boda bodas ready to take whoever landed to wherever they needed to go on the island. Mpata Island is not actually an island. You can reach it by land, it just takes about an hour and a half more. Don’t ask me why it’s called an island. The ride across the island was amazing. It was so pretty with glimpses of the lake every other turn. After about 10 minutes we pulled into Mpata. There were lots of people just milling around outside and laying on mattresses next to packed bags. It seemed odd because there weren’t many kids. When the head mistress greeted us we asked where the kids were and she told us most of their parents had sent them home because of the demons. Oh yeah, I forgot about that whole thing. We asked if we could meet the students and she told us that they had gone chasing them through the bush. About 10 minutes later a group of adults come walking up with two boys aged 17-18 with their hands tied and wobbling as they pulled them along. Immediately all the village came and surrounded them to look. We learned that one of the boys had been acting this way for a week and the other had just started yesterday. We sat down and tried to get the villagers to back off as we talked to them. They had a hard time focusing on us as they were shaking and very tired. One of them was hot and the other was cold. We were also told that the other 5 had been taken by their families to their homes. SO all we had were these two. We all talked to see what we felt was going on and Scott began to call people in Uganda to get their opinion. I in no way wanted to say that there wasn’t anything spiritual going on, but really felt that we needed to check them out medically and I wished Katie was there. After finally hearing from some of the people Scott had called and after we had more of a chance to look at the boys, and knowing something wasn’t right, we decided that we needed to address the villagers. We decided to pay to have a bus come out and take any of the children and a parent to the hospital in Kampala to get checked out. Scott gave a wonderful talk, which he said was totally of God, to the villagers about not being scarred, that God had claimed that school and He was much greater than any spiritual force that might be going on. It was good to see them relax as we claimed things for God, and talked about how God had gifted the medical community. We then asked the villagers to join hands and I prayed for everything. It was a God thing too, as I didn’t really know what to say. After we finished the villagers scattered and soon the other 5 girls, who they felt were possessed, were brought up to meet the bus. I had the chance to just sit amongst them and look them over and talk. One of the little girls was smiling and spoke good English so I kept talking to her. Suddenly she just started crying and shaking. I went over and just started rubbing her back and singing. I noticed that everyone near her was talking very loudly about these kids being demon possessed. I can’t imagine how these children felt to have the entire village tell them they were possessed, and how scarred they must have been. Soon, we headed off to the next school to make a quick visit. Lweza sits on a hill overlooking the lake and is just beautiful. I got the chance to just pop into the classes and goof off, and just talk with the kids. I love seeing their joy to be at a school and the joy in their smiles and laughter. After some pictures and video, we were off. We hopped back on the bodas and headed back to ride the boat back. However, when we got to the landing our boda drivers were demanding more money than we agreed upon. This soon turned into an argument with everyone around. Boat drivers yelling at boda drivers, boda drivers yelling at each other, boda drivers yelling at us, another boat that was leaving yelling at the boda drivers and then at us. It was quite frustrating knowing I would be coming back and would have to use these drivers that were yelling at us. After 20 minutes of yelling we finally gave them more money and left. It was nice to just have a chat about everything on the way back across the lake and I think we all felt OK about everything. We did talk about how it is hard for people to explain something they don’t have an understanding of by using something they do know. We prayed for the kids that were headed to get looked at and wondered what the outcome would be. After we got back we ate and then laid down as it had been a tiring day.
The next morning we got word from the hospital that all of the kids had malaria and two of them had cerebral malaria and thus the odd mental behavior. It was good to know that the children were alright and the only spiritual warfare was with that of fear. But God is still greater none the less, and it was a great day.
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