Deceipt and Theft

One of the difficult things about living and ministry in Uganda is that many people are not honest.  It is hard to know who to trust.  There are lots of con artists, and people seem to be waiting to rob you blind.  Last week I had several experiences with dishonest people and robbery.  Here’s the story.

Tuesday morning two young ladies named Dorothy and Maryann came into church to speak with me.  They said they worked for a local Christian radio station and were interested in getting me to move a popular radio broadcast (Ray Bentley) over to their radio station.  Our meeting ended, and the ladies committed to get back to me with some additional information I requested.

Wednesday morning I saw a newspaper advertisement with photos of Dorothy and Maryann.  The ad was from their previous employer warning that that doing business with them is “at his or her own risk” and that they were under criminal investigation for "economic crimes."  I advised the church staff about the Dorothy and Maryann.  I don’t think we’ll move the radio program to their station.

Thursday afternoon a young couple came to the church office and asked to meet with the senior pastor for counseling.  It was a little odd that they didn't use the senior pastor's name, and they didn't show the emotional stress typical for drop-in counseling.  I had the couple see David, an assistant pastor.  Sometime later, David came to my office and told me that the couple’s request for counseling was I lie.  They were from another church and wanted to sell us Bibles that their church had developed.  Their senior pastor had taken a King James Bible and added his own footnote comments to it, something very theologically dangerous.  We’ll buy our Bibles from someplace else.

Friday afternoon I took a taxi from church to meet Lily and the kids at a shopping center.  Near the end of the taxi I realized my wallet was missing.  It was most likely taken an hour earlier when I passed through a bank’s security screening (either by the security guard or someone going through the security screening close to me) or early in my taxi ride by a pickpocket.

That morning my Bible devotion was from John 18:11.  It reads, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"  It calls us to do the will of God and suffer the events that come along with it.  For me, that’s serving here in Uganda and suffering through the difficulties of life here, including deceit and theft.

From Kampala,

John Eastham