Saturday, May 29, 2010

They are at the post

Well race day is over! I hope it pleased the Lord as much as it did us! We had anywhere fom 150 -250 kids. About 50 prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord. Julie did a fantastic job with the gospel presentations. She is our main translator and since she is a great teacher and we wanted it all in vernacular she fit the bill. And God spoke to the kids and they responded.

The drama team also was wonderful. John and Davis scared the daylights out of the kids a couple of times. In the first drama Fred and Agnes get killed by thief. Davis was the thief and when Fred and Agnes (John and Shammi) stepped off the stage he jumped up and shot them yelling "Give me your money!" Then shouted "BOOM, BOOM" The kids screamed and scattered. It is sad that the kids know this scenario in real life.
Later when John and Davis staged a fight the kids screamed again. It just made the dramas so alive that the kids responded to the altar call.

The races went well. Very smooth by Uganda standards. The kids loved the sugar sack race and three legged race. There was one flaw with the Sack race. Instead of sugar sacks we got posho(corn flour)sacks. When the kids started jumping, a cloud of fine white powder engulfed the racers. Luckily the cloud dissipated by the finish so we think we got the right winners. The relay race was the highlight of the race day as it was very competitive.

What I learned at race day: A 7 year old P1 student can out race a 56 year old pastor by a mile in a sugar sack race. (I want a rematch!)(In your dreams, Pops)
Don't have your wife hold the finish line sign in the race if you ever want to see her again because the kids will use her as the finish line. (Gee she was here a minute ago but now all I can find is her ear rings)
Don't assume that just because all the other 39 relay racers ran one direction that the very last one will go the same direction.(took us 200 yards to catch her. That girl was quick).
Ugandan Kool aide when allowed to sit in direct sunlight will strip paint.
Always have only the best assistants to get done what you can't.( Thanks Kelli-Race director, JB-M.C., Julie-Gospel presenter, Bev-Documentary photograhper and Ryan- Sound and music)

Lastly if Jesus is on our relay team He will help us win the race even when we take off in the wrong direction.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Running the race

Well two days to go till the big Race day. We hope to have 500 kids (ages 5-12) here Saturday for The R.A.C.E.-Running According to Christ's Example. It should be fun but it has been work. Last week we, meaning Bev, Kelli, JB, and I started laying out race courses and sign up sheets and planning heats and how to present the good news of Jesus to all these kids. It was fun!

Now this week, we four plus Martin, John, Davis and others have been actually setting everything up. For me the most fun was writing four 2-5 minute dramas that will precede each gospel presentation. How to come to Jesus, How to walk with Jesus without sin, How to work with the Holy Spirit and How to be a member of the body of Christ.

Then there was the futile search for award ribbons. It seemed like such a simple request. "Do you know where I can buy award ribbons to give kids for winning a race?" I was shown hair ribbons. No, I explained, a ribbon to be given to the winner. How many races the man asked. Four races and four age groups and three ribbons per each. I was assured I would have the ribbons the next day. Next morning the man rang and said he had my ribbons. Only $700. The man had brought me 48 rolls of plastic barrior tape to use as finish line tapes. No not quite right. It only took two days to get the Asian business comunity to understand what we wanted. Then with a knowing nod of the head every shop owner I spoke with said "It is not possible. I bring you something better." That means "I sell you something more expensive that you don't want." After refusing their offers Bev, Kelli and I put our heads together (painful if done too quickly) and bought yards of blue, white and red ribbons. Then remembering the ribbons kids used to get at fairs, we designed and made 72 1st, 2nd, 3rd place ribbons. The three of us plus Judy and Rochelle spent 3 hours making them one evening. Bev and I now have a new career opportunity should we ever leave the mission field. "Ribbons are us!"

Saturday's event training went well but it was made easier because only half of the 45 volunteers actually showed up.

Now we just wait for the kids and the chance to share the love of Jesus. And that is what it is all about anyway. The races and the ribbons and dramas all are secondary things but Jesus is the main thing. If we put on a first rate event but the kids don't hear about Jesus or don't know that He loves them, it will be wasted effort. So we wait and pray and pray and wait.

Monday, May 10, 2010

The real happenings

Saturday Pastor Apollo Okome and I went to visit the Ogongora and Olele churches. Apollo had visited two weeks earlier and we went back to iron out some problems. Pastor Stephen had started CC Olele about a year ago and Pastor Andrew had taken over the ministry at Ogongora. But two months ago Andrew left the church for financial reasons and now they were without a pastor. Apollo had returned from his visit earlier with a list of problems that needed addressing.

When we arrived Saturday I was asked to share a message and we studied Psalm 127 "Unless the Lord builds the house the builders labor in vain." God led us to examine where we as a combined ministry of 3 different churches have worked without the Lord's guidance and labored in vain. It was a very productive 5 hour meeting and God addressed a whole slew of problems. Most of them coming from misunderstanding each other's efforts and goals. We all sat together and discussed where each church was headed and agreed on changes that God was calling for. Then Apollo, Stephen and I talked for another 4 hours about what was needed in our overall ministry effort. We came up with some plans that will take about one year to implement but should make our unity stronger and our witness better. Jesus never fails and we will not fail if we focus on Him.

Back in Jinja the ministry training is going ahead and the response is good. We are learning that the Christian life is a life of service that is exciting and demanding as well. The call to serve must be met with a fully committed heart. The joy of serving can only be hindered by the reluctance to serve. As individuals step forward to serve we hope for a more joyful body to serve with, in and to.

This weeks big event: The Youth Conference. 100-150 youth. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And guess what I get to teach. Following Jesus example and serving others. I'm starting to see and hear a pattern. Please keep it all in prayer.

Monitors and radar dryers

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the trials of traveling the highways of Uganda. I have come across a new trial to face. HIGHWAY MONITORS!

No, this is not a traffic officer with a radar gun or even a blow dryer. Here is a true story. A friend was stopped in Kenya by a traffic officer with a blow dryer who claimed it was a radar gun. The officer even pointed out the “proof” of overspeeding when he showed how the radar gun/blow dryer had switched itself from low to high. A definite indicator of speeding! My friend escaped a fine when he pointed out that the radar gun/ blow dryer wasn’t plugged in and there was no place for batteries. Can’t beat that logic.

No, the highway monitor I refer to is a five foot monitor lizard. (that’s five feet long not five footed) As we were returning home on the Lira-Soroti highway this monitor lizard came out of the swamp and started to cross the road in front of us. Since he stood about nine inches tall and weighed about 50 pounds which is big enough to do great damage to the car, I swerved to the right to avoid him but he kept coming.

Now you should know the only previous run in I have had with a monitor lizard was quite literal. I was upstairs in the apartment reading in my favorite chair when I noticed movement in the doorway. A two foot long monitor had come onto the porch and was eyeballing me. I looked at him and said “NO!” Evidently “NO” to a monitor does not mean the same thing as “NO” to a person. He charged straight at me so that I had to lift my feet up as he lunged for me with razor sharp fangs slashing the air mere millimeters from my heels. (Well that’s what it felt like anyway.) I avoided his charge which carried him into the spare room. Thinking quickly I closed the door behind him and did what any brave man would do. I called for my wife to come kill it.

Bev, being a Texas farm girl, is not frightened by any animal or lizard. She is a bit put off by spiders so our wedding vows included strict sections about who kills what in the house. I kill any eight legged creature in the house she kills all the rest. Since monitors are four footed (with exceptions to the five footed variety) I sent her into the room to kill it. After a momentous battle she emerged some 20 minutes later with a 3 inch gecko. I insisted there was a monitor and with a victorious smile and a nod toward the corner she said “Oh, that one” and told me to remove the intruder.

But now out on the highway without Bev I had to choose. Hit the lizard or run off the road into the swamp. Recalling Bev’s words of wisdom, “Always attack lizards, never retreat”, I attacked. The monitor, sensing my mood change, gave way. I missed him by ½ inch. It is the first time I can ever recall seeing a lizard walk backwards. But he did. A wise move.

The rest of the trip was uneventful with the exception of the usual potholes in Mbale.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Working with the little Woman

I mentioned that Bev and I led a marriage seminar last week in Gulu and this past Saturday in Lumuli. It was a lot of fun as we had expected 50 people and got 150. Bev is so much fun to teach with as she knows exactly what the women are thinking. Richard the pastor came to see me this morning and said all anyone could talk about in the trading center the past two days was how everything that had been done in the homes of the people around the center on Friday night had been accurately revealed by the prophets on Saturday afternoon.

But the good thing is we are not prophets just a husband and wife sharing the truth of God's word. Solomon said,"What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecc.1:9. And it is true! Everything we laughed about in the seminar from a coulpe's tug of war over the blanket after a fight, to the cold shoulder reply of "I'm fine!", or the flattery in courtship by the man and then his being out with the guys instead of being with his wife, they have all experienced.

The Word of God is true. It can change our lives if we will only listen. The woman in Lumuli had it right when she told Steven on Saturday, "That lady teaching us must truly have heard from God to know all these things." Bev does hear from God, just as we all can. She reads His Word and listens. So can you!

Honey, can I have part of the blanket now?

Sunday, May 2, 2010

The List

We had a great day today. A good service began with Ryan leading worship, I've been gone for three weeks and wanted to worship Jesus with words I understand. It was nice. Then JB taught a great message from Romans 12. Then Issac from Fort Portal and his folks came to second service and they were a huge blessing to Bev and I. Then we did training for different ministries here. This is the follow up to last week's ministry fair. Kelli did an incredible job setting that event up and the response was more than we had hoped for. About 100 people signed up for different ministries and today marked the first day of training.

First group were Ushers. Now this may seem like an easy work to do but how many people really want to be told where to sit. Especially if you are told to sit in front. Jb is well behaved but I have a tendency to bump into things, drop my notes or like yesterday in the village I knocked the podium over.(Scared that lady half to death but she wasn't sleeping any more) I also tend to ask rhetorical questions from those in front so people tend to want to give me lots of space.
So it can be a bit daunting for the ushers to politely get the people to the front. But God has blessed us with a fantastic young woman who has ushering down to an art. Its all about the "look". She is the warmest and sweetest lady you'll ever find but if you don't sit where she politely tells you she will give you the "look" and you instantly know if you don't move quickly your life as you have known it is over. It is the "look" that a wife gives her husband when pays more attention to his repair project than her. Or when she's wearing a new dress and asks "Notice anything different" and he says "You got your hair fixed." It is the look that grabs the husband's attention and strikes him with fear. But our usher can strike that fear into any member of the church male or female, old or young. If the angels who spoke to the shepherds on that Christmas morning had this look they never would have said "Fear not".
So the ushers have been trained in the look and our other female usher has great potential but the guys just don't have it! I think the guys just have the "Lack". But maybe they can work up to it.

The hospital training went well and so did the street kids ministry later in the day. We are truly praising God for the heart he is putting in His people to serve.