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This was my first trip to Africa and I had no idea what to expect. Kampala is a bustling city with people everywhere. However, with a short ride on a boda-boda (motorbike taxi) you can see both ramshackle slums of barely constructed buildings and fancy, well-architected malls with all the amenities.

One clarification though. I've always acquainted the word "slum" with its near-homonym "slime." I think of rain pouring over tin-roof and wall-less shacks crammed along cramped and filthy streets run on by barefooted children. While this can be the case, the areas I visited had brick buildings with doors. The neighborhoods having a semblance of order and structure. There is a definite way of life even in a slum.

I was with my friend Saturday through Tuesday, and on Sunday morning we went with Pastor Jim to a "slum church" where he was to speak. As warned, her and I both were asked to get up and give a greeting. What I wasn't expecting was the request to talk to the Sunday school class! The kids were great though as I talked for a couple minutes about one of my favorite verses.

On both Monday and Tuesday we went to the street boys shelter she works at. It was so much fun to be able to actually experience first-hand all she's been sharing with us through her newsletters over the past several months. I've now met and talked with so many of the boys she talks about!

These kids are there of their own will. They don't have to be there. It's the love of the people there that keeps them coming back. The boys are fed, taught, and kept safe during their time at the shelter. God is using my friend and the rest of the staff to change their lives. You can see it in how they respected me, a white man they'd never met, as I shared with them. This was love and respect shown because of their love and respect of the others who love on them week in and week out.

I was honored to be able to have the opportunity to be a part of their lives, even for only two days. Perhaps some of what I talked to them about as I led Bible studies will stick with them as they work to better their lives.