Prayer Mountain

1/27/10 4:30 PM
Uganda; day 29

Kurt and I just got home, it has been a very hot and long day.

We went to a place called Prayer Mountain yesterday, it’s just a few minutes outside of Kampala, which is the capital of Uganda. Prayer Mountain is a mountain that is dedicated to praying and fasting. People go for anywhere between a day to a week and they spend most of their time there praying, or listening to various pastors that are there. It was a new experience to be sure, I’ve never heard of them before but I guess there are several in other countries also. It’s a really peaceful place to be, there is lots of grass, and trails going through the trees, with monkeys jumping about playfully. Kurt and I went with our friend Godfrey, we spent the day alternating between individual and group time with God and then at night we went to what they call the Alter (no we did not sacrifice any animals). They light a fire and set up benches, and anyone that wants to comes over to go through a cycle of praying, singing, and preaching. Kurt and I went between that and listening to my ipod so we could actually understand what we were singing. At one point Kurt and I decided to go get some hot tea since it was much colder there then we anticipated and just as we were leaving this lady that hardly spoke any english called us over. She tried very hard to explain that she was a prophetess and that God told her there is a message in Psalms 23 for us. We’re both familiar with it, but of course read it again to see if anything hit home, we’re still not sure about that one. They have the Alter service from 9:00PM-6:00AM Kurt and I made it to about 2:30AM before calling it a night. I had a tent to stay in but Kurt didn’t because they don’t allow guys and girls in the same tents even if they’re married. Kurt had opted not to get a tent and just sleep outside, but that was before we knew how cold and wet it gets there. So because of the combination of him being stuck outside and my tent being in the middle of a very dark forest on the other side of the compound I opted to just sit with him and try to get a few hours of sleep outside. That was when a couple of ladies that work there noticed us, (it’s hard not to notice being the only white people there) and came over and asked why we were sleeping outside, after I explained they talked amongst themselves for a few minutes and said they had a solution. We tried to insist that it was no big deal and we didn’t mind staying outside but they wouldn’t have it. They told us that usually the guys would stay in their own tent across the compound from the girls, but they had a room in the office that wasn’t being used and they said that one of us could stay in that room while the other stayed in the waiting room right next to it. It was unusual to see people going out of their way that much to help complete strangers. We took them up on the offer and got a few hours of warm sleep. We met a lot of really nice people while we were there, they come from countries all over Africa to pray there, it’s a pretty big deal for them here.
We left the mountain around 10:00AM and headed to Kampala, to look for a new converter for our computer since the one we brought got fried by a power surge Monday night. We walked all over Kampala for a couple hours looking for one with no luck in finding what we wanted. While we were walking this lady that appeared to be homeless came up behind me and grabbed my water bottle, as a reflex I latched onto it and turned to attack my assailant, but about the same time I realized I was much stronger then her I also realized I was fighting over a bottle of water that I would have given to her had she simply asked so I shrugged and let it go. It wasn’t an experience I’d care to repeat. About an hour later, sun burnt, tired, and hungry we gave up and started our journey back to the home. Here we are at last, dinner is cooking and I’m more then ready to eat, take a cold shower and get some much needed sleep.

-Brandi