Here is the latest from Vern:
This may come as a shock, but tonight Juliet went to Heaven.
But still I’ll do the wedding on Saturday. Heaven is the English translation of the name of her village.
I’ve taught at CBIT from 8:30 to 1 PM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, teaching mostly on the identification truths on Monday and Tuesday, and mostly on Spiritual Gifts today. I finished with an hour and half of Q&A on anything they wanted to ask about. There will be no more CBIT teaching for the time I am here, but:
There were some students who are still there from when I taught two years ago. What amazed me is that they remembered in detail what I taught them two years ago. One CBIT student from January of two years ago, Justus, who is not at CBIT now, heard that I was in town. So he looked me up and talked in detail about what I had taught them about elders, thanking me for it, saying they use it alot. I met up with one guy this afternoon, Dennis, who was at CBIT two years ago, and has been a pastor in a village for the last two years. He also told me in detail what I had taught him two years ago about marriage out of Ephesians 5:21-33. Dennis told me he’s getting married to a lady named Angie, after Hassan gets married. Dennis also wanted me to come preach at his village church this Sunday, but I wasn’t sure if that would work out. At the end of class today one of the newer students at CBIT asked if I had brought any MP3 players with the New Testament in Luganda and Swahili – I had to tell him no, not this time, at which he looked very sad. Vincent, one of the elders, came to greet me as I was leaving CBIT this afternoon.
Hassan and I met with Isa late this afternoon (at the Wimpy Hotel!). His wife, Logose, was at the hospital with their two week old son, who has malaria. The little guy is getting better. What Isa and Hassan had to share with me was that when Hassan began teaching the Bible consistly at Shisinyo Village, it caused a church split. The ones who split off wanted Charismatic ‘Word of Faith’ teaching. So Hassan is teaching the ones who wanted to remain with biblical teaching, and those include the older former Muslim man who responded so well to my explanantion of the identification truths in January two years ago. He would like me to come see him, but I don’t know if I will have time or be available for that before I leave. Shisinyo is a village with only a trail leading to it, and it takes a bit to get into it.
Tonight Morris took Aidah, his son Tim and his wife, and me to Mt Elgon Hotel for dinner. On the way we dropped Hassan off at the ‘bus station’. He was headed to a village for some reason – perhaps honeymoon arrangments? I saw a few familiar faces among the staff at Mt Elgon Hotel, and a couple of them remembered me from when I stayed there before.
The wedding Saturday will begin by Morris preaching on marriage. Then I’ll sing Hassan’s processional with three verses of “To God Be The Glory”. A choral group will then sing Juliet’s processional in Luganda. Then a very long ceremony will begin, led by me, with Kurt Katzorke’s wedding ceremony sandwiched in the middle of it. Not only is the ceremony long, but everything will also alternate between me speaking in English, and (I think) Boaz translating into Luganda. I’m thinking I’ll have bags of ice cubes in my inside coat pockets for the long afternoon ceremony.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Hassan the last two days (since the last major email), and some with Hassan and Juliet together. I understand that you talked with Juliet, and she really liked that quite a bit. I discovered this week that Juliet is one of more than 30 siblings in her household!
