Joshua 1:
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant
Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may
be successful wherever you go.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, imagine yourselves in the
picture to the right. We are headed to
the village to work for the day and we decided to take a new way out which seems a bit faster, but we find ourselves confused as to which direction we should go. We have come to the end of
the road. Janine says I am a typical
male unwilling to ask directions which may mean we are lost. Which way would you go?
We find ourselves facing many situations like this on a
regular basis. We feel as if we are
making headway in figuring out which way to do something and then we come to a
fork in the road. I truly believe we
serve a God who has a sense of humor and we know He wants us to learn from all
situations.
We have much to learn about specific ministries and we thank
God for everything He is teaching us as we go.
We want to please God in the decisions we make so we are careful to
analyze the way things are being done to make sure they are inline with
Scripture. What a great way to learn a
well-rounded approach to ministry by learning on the job and trusting in the
best teacher ever, God!
I think most, if not all, of you can relate. You are starting a new ministry at church and
you want to do everything right. You
want to teach Biblical principles in a comfortable setting to people from all
walks of life. You know little or
nothing about their background to begin with so you are cautious about the
subject matter. You may even be
intimidated to say something that might offend them. Rest assured, God is in control! Don’t let these things scare you. God calls us to be obedient in serving
through various ministries.
We are focusing first on setting up and serving in the
ministries we committed to when we were called to move to Uganda. Janine has tested the new (old) sewing
machines she will be using. She has gathered supplies, which was a job in
itself. There are no JoAnn Fabrics or
Hobby Lobby’s or anything like a typical American store. She has set the schedule for their training
and she will begin teaching next week. She has been working with a group on
paper bead making for the past month and they are developing their craft
quickly. The new classes for bead weaving
begin next week too. The ladies are very
excited to learn and Janine is very excited to teach.
Janine was all set to assist in Bible study with the women,
but has found herself, by default, in charge of the women’s Bible study on
Tuesday afternoons. This in an area where she feels God is taking her outside
her comfort zone, but she knows God’s got this one.
Janine was blessed by being a part of doing a foot washing
with the Tuesday Bible study before our teammate (Courtney) left for the states
on furlough. I was there to take
pictures and then asked to hit the road.
Janine told me it was an awesome experience and that she would do it
again. It was a very intimate and
humbling experience and the women of the group felt honored to be a part as
well.
I am so excited to be leading the teachers in Bible study. I love the fact that they have many
questions, and I am very careful when giving an answer. When I find they are able to answer their
questions, I tend to turn the question back on them because I know they can
think for themselves. I have two or three
in the group that I believe are saved and we are praying for the others. I pound home the importance of having a
personal relationship with Jesus.
I thank God
for the opportunities to speak to the children in the school. I was asked
to speak at a P7 Celebration (graduating from primary to secondary school or
middle school). Sadly this is where education might end for some of
them. For some it is financially not
possible to advance and some others will not pass educationally. They are so young with impressionable minds.
The teachers and I spoke words of encouragement to them as well as
encouraging them to seek and trust in God for their future. I have to
admit communicating with them was quite hard due to the fact that they could
not understand my English very well. I can relate! I find it very
hard to comprehend the villagers when they speak Lusoga to me. I believe
this barrier will weaken as time goes on and I spend more time with them.
A few weeks ago a pastor that visited the village church for
a baptism asked me if I could get him a Study Bible. I was shocked to find out that many pastors
have little training and do not have access to study tools. The men here do not
lack faithfulness in reading the Bible, but they lack the proper tools to study
the Word.
Well, back to the decision about which way to go. Which way would you go? You have a fifty-fifty shot at this. What if I told you we had to turn around
altogether and head back? No, the funny
thing is, the directions we were given were to go the grass hut and turn left.
Our Prayer Praises!
· Ministries are moving forward
· God is giving us some clear direction
Our Prayer Needs
· Continued language lesson learning and comprehension
and building relationships with the people
· No sickness from the mosquitoes, bugs, or food
· Safety when traveling daily
