I was instinctively packing my last things when my wife helpfully said: 'are you really going to take your electric toothbrush to a third world country?'

Needless to say, she was right, and a good old fashioned toothbrush took its place.

In my one week in South Africa I was struck by the clash of the first and third world. My Johannesburg host, CMS missionary Mark Grieve, took me to the Apartheid Museum. It was educational and horrific all at the same time. A number of people I met in South Africa told me that they just couldn't go. Some, when they tried just couldn't do it, for such a powerful reminder of the country's history is just too much.

Even though Apartheid has officially ended, the country is still deeply divided between 'blacks' and 'whites'. Crime is still high. Cars must be locked and windows up when you are at traffic lights, and the list goes on. It was rare to see both groups side by side.

One of the few exceptions were in some of the CESA (Church of England in South Africa) churches I visited. Our brothers in South Africa deeply appreciate their connection with evangelicals in Sydney, via the Katoomba Christian Convention and Sydney Anglicans. The impact of these connections was clear in the Bible loving people that I met and church meetings that I was part of.

It is in these churches where you could see the power of the Gospel to break down deep barriers between people, as people of all backgrounds shared in the fellowship of the same Gospel. Yet, there is a long way to go in the churches and even more in the country. A five minute drive is the difference between the first and the third world.

It was hard for me not to be challenged by my own relative wealth, and even more by our contentment (or lack thereof). Some of the happiest, most content people I met were also among the poorest.
And now that I have spent just 24 hours in Uganda, I have already been challenged in the same way. On Monday night, I met up with Tara Thornley (Dean of Women at Moore College), Mark Armstrong (Springwood Presbyterian), and Hefin Jones (Chatswood Baptist).  Tomorrow we begin our journey to Rukinguri, the location of NextGen Uganda.

In the midst of driving through villages today, we saw many churches. It is these churches that we are here to try to help by better equipping their leaders to understand and teach the Bible. It was such an inspiration for one of our first images of Uganda to be the families living in the villages. The churches (at least the physical buildings) looked small, and there were many of them. The taxi driver from the airport said to me that 70-80% of the population are Christian. Its population is estimated at 30 million.

One other image from today will be unforgettable. Children came running up to greet us. Their conditions would put them below the poverty line by Australian standards, and yet they seemed so content.

It was a rebuke for the things I often complain about at home. I'm glad I left the toothbrush at home.