Slow is good

Well the new School of Ministry class is here. We've been meeting for three weeks and have lost one student so far. Ruth is a young woman who wanted to come to the SoM but to do so she would have to quit her job. She has not come the last week so I think she has opted to remain gainfully employed. Which in the underemployed world of Uganda is a very good idea.

So we have Joseph from Kenya. He is quiet but already seems to have a servant's heart. He volunteers for anything and works hard at the assignment. That is one of the goals of the SoM. Joseph is also a musician so our class worship times are better than ever.

Collin is from the church in Gulu. He has already been tried when his one year old daughter developed malaria the second week of school. He did not rush home but asked the class to pray for her and God has healed her. He seems to be a man of true faith.

Grace is one of our church members and wants to learn more about God by studying His
word. He and his wife Patricia lost their 5 year old son last year. At the burial the family abused Grace publicly but he responded with humility and grace towards them. I have been impressed by his strong unwavering commitment to do good in all things.

Moses is Pastor Apollo's younger brother. I have known him about eight years. He is probably the most advanced student in the class and he has surprised me a couple of times already with his insight into and use of Scripture.

Dismas is a former prisoner who lives in Bugiri. He has come because of all the false teaching in his district. He feels God has called him to bring the truth of His word to the people in Bugiri and neighboring Kenya. He came with lots of bad beliefs but every day God removes more from Dismas' heart and replaces it with truth.

Charles is the youngest Christian in the school and has only known Jesus for less than a year. But he does know that Jesus is the truth, not the B'hai religion that he was forced to follow by his former employer. He is always willing to give an answer. Can't wait to see how he does with apologetics.

Zacharia is a former Church of Uganda catechist who had been out of church for six years. He started coming to Calvary last year and his desire is to share God's word in the Teso region. Zacharia is the oldest student at 54 years.

Anne is from nearby Mayuge District. She was married with two children but her husband chased her from their home when she was born again. Sadly that is an all too common occurence. She is staying with Steven and Mary and is learning much. She started with problems in understanding my English but is getting much better.

Finally William. He is a young man who is also on our church board. In the last 5 years no one has asked me more or better questions about the Bible and faith than William. He will be keeping me on my toes.

I said slow is good and when it comes to a new SoM class, it is true. We are taking much time this year to ensure that a good, solid foundation is laid before we press ahead. Please keep these students in prayer so that they will not give up and that their teacher can speak in understandable terms.

It's Up, It's Down

What comes up, must go down. That pretty well sums up the internet, phone and electric service here in Jinja. It has been almost two weeks since I've been able to connect to the internet.

When the internet is down you have to call your provider. For us, that's the phone company. Problem is the phone is the same line as the internet. If the net is down usually the phone is down too. Aha! You think to yourself, I'll use my cell phone to call the phone company. A seemingly good idea but there is one major hitch. Since cell phone providers are stealing all of the phone company's customers the phone company has decided that they won't take service calls from cell phones. Kind of a payback thing, I guess. So you call but they don't answer! Now you have to drive down and talk to them in person (or have your lovely wife do that, thanks sweetie).

When the phone/internet guy finally arrives after 3 days he checks out the situation with great patience and skill and he determines that you need a new wire to run fron the pole to your house. "Great", you say. "Wire that baby up." That is when you get the sad news that the phone company has no phone wire. "When will you get some?" you eagerly ask. "Next week...maybe."

So next week or later finally comes and you get the wire and the phone and internet are back. You're in business... except now the electric lines are down. You wait another day until the repairman can come to fix them. Which he does. Hurray! now you can finally communicate with the outside world. Except, in your house, there is still no power. The electric guy has forgotten to put the fuse back in the transformer for your house! So you call him up on his cell phone (no rules about phones for the electric company) and he says he will be right there. An hour later he arrives in the dark to put in the fuse on the pole. Simple job so you leave him to do it.

About five minutes later you start to wonder why the power hasn't come on. Then you hear a comotion outside. The dog has bitten the power guy! "What?" "Your dog has attacked me!" Hard to believe since this is the same dog that slept as thieves stole the bike rack with two bikes attached last month. So you promise the power guy that the dog is not rabid and he calms down then finishes putting the fuse back. Finally you get to check your email but before you can sit the phone rings. It is the hospital informing you that the power guy is getting rabies injections. So off to the hospital you go with your dog's vaccination record and a wad of cash as rabies vaccine is expensive. Two hours later you return home too tired to check email. It will wait until tomorrow. Except for the thunderstorm that blows the fuses in your equipment overnight.

It's up it's down but it's the only game in town. And people wonder why I never write...