Looking for Land

In our newsletter I (Tim) shared a little bit about the process of looking for land. Unfortunately, looking for land here is anything but quick. There’s no website, magazines or newspapers that give a list of land for sale. The best way to find land for sale is through people. Pastor Thomas and Pastor Alex have been the two people who’ve been looking for us. They’ve called up friends, spoken to pastors of other churches outside of town and tried connecting with family members. All together we’ve probably looked into two or three dozen different spots that we’ve been linked with, but most don’t pan out as well as we’re told.

For example, on Tuesday I went with Pastor Thomas to check out 20 acres that was 20 kilometers down a main highway and then 5 kilometers back a dirt road. That’s exactly the description of the land we were hoping to find: 20 acres, within a half hour drive from town, along a main road. So I went to pick up Pastor Thomas from his house so we could go see it. Turns out it was his neighbor who had told him about the land so she needed to come with us. We found her after about 15 minutes and were on our way. We drove 20 minutes and came to a small market where we were supposed to pick up a relative of Pastor Thomas’s neighbor who knew the owner of the land. After another ten minutes finding him and another guy (I'm not sure who he was) we were on our way. Two minutes further down the road we stopped to meet the actual person selling the land, and the two other guys with him. 

The three of them jumped on a motorcycle to lead us to the land and all eight of us were on the way. We passed five kilometers on the dirt road which didn’t surprise me because the distances people estimate always tend to be on the low side. Then we passed ten kilometers. Finally after 12 kilometers we turned off the dirt road onto a small path. It was farther than I wanted it to be but I still figured it was worth the look since we were there. A couple hundred yards down that path we stopped at someone’s home. I thought we were at the land. Turns out the land was still a kilometer or two down this but we’d have to walk because the bridge was out just down the hill. I was told there was another route we could go but it would be another 10 kilometers going around. At this point Pastor Thomas simply told them we weren’t interested and that they had lied about the land when they told us it was only 5 kilometers from the main road and had road access. So, we turned around and went home.

Yesterday, we went to check out another spot which sounded promising that my neighbor’s former employee knew about. He had talked to his grandmother who had heard from her cousin about a neighbor who was selling land. That’s right the land belongs to my neighbor’s, former employee’s, grandmother’s, cousin’s neighbor. Its amazing how the connections work here. Turns out that the land was really nice, not far from the main road and even belonged to a pastor who was excited that we wanted the land for ministry. But after visiting for about 15-20 minutes he told us that half of the land had been sold by his older brother the day before and there were only 9 acres left.

Later that morning, we also went to do a rough survey of some land we had seen last week and was the top spot I was considering out of everywhere we’d seen. After fighting through the bush for about an hour and a little help from google maps, we realized what they told us was 20 acres was less than 13. It was too small.

All this to say its been quite the process looking for land and I don’t know if we’re any closer to finding the right spot then we were three weeks ago when we started making that our priority. But what I do know is we only need one right spot. And that right spot may be the next spot that we see. Or it may even be one we’ve already seen. The family from the 13 acres is going to talk to their neighbors to see if they can add some land too. After we went to see my neighbor’s, former employee’s, grandmother’s, cousin’s neighbor land, they told us they would also try to see if their neighbors could add sell some land. Then they told us about another spot a few kilometers down the road that seems promising if they give us the real price instead of the “mzungu” (foreigner) price. Also, yesterday Pastor Thomas saw a spot that was in a good location but the family isn’t sure how much land they want to sell.

I’ve decided the best way to keep my spirits up in all this fun, is to laugh in the different circumstances. Instead of feeling frustrated when we’re given bad information or end up wasting our time and energy, to be "joyfully flexible". I know all we need is one right spot. And I know that God already knows that one right spot for us. The land that we need is somewhere here waiting to be revealed to us in God’s perfect timing. So instead of getting angry and frustrated, I’ll get back on my knees asking God to lead us to the land. 

Thank you to everyone who is praying with us. In Uganda, there’s a common phrase people say when they’re running late, which is “I’m coming.” Maybe the phrase isn’t unique to here but I think the definition is a little different. Here, ‘I’m coming’ can mean I’m on the way or I’m almost ready to come. Sometimes it means I’m finishing up something else then I'll be on the way. Other times I think it just means I’m still planning to come I just haven’t gotten around to physically moving in your direction yet. So, I know the land ‘is coming,’ but maybe in this instance, God’s timing is aligning more with Ugandan time than my time.