Mike here so please forgive spelling and poor grammer! :) Greetings from the team and from the Students in the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) class. It has been another hot dusty day in Gulu with the wind blowing and the spirit of God in moving as well. We spent some time with two groups of pastors who are going through a training class in basic pastoral skills. They have all completed 5 books in the first phase which is mostly self directed. They are now going through phase 2 which includes weekly facilitated discussion groups with a trained leader. In our time they shared some of the key things they have learned and put into practice as a result of the training. The overriding theme was that these men had the heart to reach out to the people around them with the gospel, but they only knew what they saw in one or two people around them. TEE provides well rounded training in areas such as preaching a balance of Love and Justice. Gustavo shared that he started teaching more about the love of God and his congregation has gone from 10 to 100 as the people in the church start sharing the love of Jesus with their neighbors. Selvester realized from the teaching on how to reach children that he and his church had been neglecting the children. Now that they are doing some things in this area they have grown from 20 children that probably were not getting much out of the time to 48 kids who are getting something they can understand and now several of the parents of these new kids are attending as well.
This training is a part of the World vision area called Christian Witness which is the connecting point to all of the other things they do. They use the hand analogy where WaSH (water sanitation and hygiene) is one of the fingers and Christan witness is the palm. (Don't expect me to list the other fingers after a long day you can look them up in WV brochure "How a community is transformed"!) Christian Witness is integrated into everything they do from spiritual care of the staff to pastor training and several other things in between. Our brief experience with the TEE program participants is that this is a great program that needs to be replicated and expanded. The great news is that the WV staff is looking to do that and to make sure that it is sustainable when they are gone. We heard about the impact on these 11 people and their congregations and we really believe that God is using this to build his Church and to make his name famous in Gulu Uganda.
Thanks for your prayers - at the end of each day we review the request for the day and we can clearly see how God is answering. We have had some minor health issues, and motion sickness on the bumpy roads but nothing serious. Keep praying - some additional items to pray for - Pray for the World vision staff - that we can encourage them to keep on going, for strength for them as they drive / facilitate/ translate and generally work with us to teach us what transforming a community looks like.
Rubanga Omedi gum
(God Bless you in local language of many in this area)
PS - Dale - Christine said she wanted to keep Ilia and I said I had an obligation as a dad to make sure she got home to her dad.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
"Vulnerable Family" & Resilience
Hello All! This is Kathryn.
Today we visited a "vulnerable family". Christine is a spirited and hardworking single mother living with HIV/AIDS. She has three elementary aged children living with her. She also has a daughter who is married. Her first husband was killed by rebels during the war in northern Uganda led by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The atrocities committed during that time are difficult to stomach. They are a reminder of the capacity of people for evil.
During the time that the LRA was active in northern Uganda, people in this area were driven from their homes and many settled in camps for internally displaced people where they lived for 2 decades. Christine would have had a young daughter and have just suffered the brutal killing of her husband. Today, she has three more children from another man...and HIV. Her parents are both dead. She has returned to live in her parent's home (hut) and to be near her aunt and community.
She takes medication for HIV, but doesn't have the strength to dig and farm the way she would like. She knows that she must pace herself and rest periodically. Yet she works hard. She farms her own garden and also works a neighbor's garden for extra cash. She carries water on her head from a well 1.5km away in the heat. She recently purchased a pregnant pig and now has 7 piglets. She is working on trying to come up with ways to make income that are less physically demanding.
Our time with Christine, her family, the children nearby and her community was joyful. The children sang and danced for us and we sang too! Two jump ropes and a memory card game of animals kept the children engaged and gave the adults lots of time to talk (thanks to the community workers who served as translators).
I saw a resilience in Christine that I admire. Her life has not been easy and it won't be....yet she has joy and laughter and a great sense of humor. She connected with each of us. She enjoyed having photos taken and having us turn the camera around for her to see. There is life in her eyes in each photo! She especially loved Ilia and hoped to keep her, but Kim wasn't ready for that. :-)
We were able to bless the family with some basic necessities - a wash basin, bath soap, laundry soap, rice, sugar, salt, oil, and a serving bowl. We were also able to regift two of the hens that we received yesterday. (FYI, the hotel guards kept the chickens for us overnight - I wonder if that is in their job description...) We also left them with a beach ball, 2 jump ropes and the memory card game.
I had the opportunity to talk with Christine before we left and asked how we might pray for her. Her requests were that we pray for her future and for unity.
Christine faces many challenging days ahead. Will you join with us in praying for her and remembering her?
Today we visited a "vulnerable family". Christine is a spirited and hardworking single mother living with HIV/AIDS. She has three elementary aged children living with her. She also has a daughter who is married. Her first husband was killed by rebels during the war in northern Uganda led by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The atrocities committed during that time are difficult to stomach. They are a reminder of the capacity of people for evil.
During the time that the LRA was active in northern Uganda, people in this area were driven from their homes and many settled in camps for internally displaced people where they lived for 2 decades. Christine would have had a young daughter and have just suffered the brutal killing of her husband. Today, she has three more children from another man...and HIV. Her parents are both dead. She has returned to live in her parent's home (hut) and to be near her aunt and community.
She takes medication for HIV, but doesn't have the strength to dig and farm the way she would like. She knows that she must pace herself and rest periodically. Yet she works hard. She farms her own garden and also works a neighbor's garden for extra cash. She carries water on her head from a well 1.5km away in the heat. She recently purchased a pregnant pig and now has 7 piglets. She is working on trying to come up with ways to make income that are less physically demanding.
Our time with Christine, her family, the children nearby and her community was joyful. The children sang and danced for us and we sang too! Two jump ropes and a memory card game of animals kept the children engaged and gave the adults lots of time to talk (thanks to the community workers who served as translators).
I saw a resilience in Christine that I admire. Her life has not been easy and it won't be....yet she has joy and laughter and a great sense of humor. She connected with each of us. She enjoyed having photos taken and having us turn the camera around for her to see. There is life in her eyes in each photo! She especially loved Ilia and hoped to keep her, but Kim wasn't ready for that. :-)
We were able to bless the family with some basic necessities - a wash basin, bath soap, laundry soap, rice, sugar, salt, oil, and a serving bowl. We were also able to regift two of the hens that we received yesterday. (FYI, the hotel guards kept the chickens for us overnight - I wonder if that is in their job description...) We also left them with a beach ball, 2 jump ropes and the memory card game.
I had the opportunity to talk with Christine before we left and asked how we might pray for her. Her requests were that we pray for her future and for unity.
Christine faces many challenging days ahead. Will you join with us in praying for her and remembering her?
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday evening greetings from Uganda
Hi friends and family - Renee blogging this evening. What an amazing day! We started this morning by visiting the World Vision Gulu District headquarters and sharing an amazing worship and devotion time with the WV staff. I had a moment imagining all of us worshiping around God's throne someday, every tribe and tongue. What a beautiful experience to be with God's people on the other side of the world! James, the WV Northern Uganda Director, led us in devotions on the Fruit of the Spirit. For all my Beth Moore Bible study friends - how awesome is that? (We are currently studying the Fruit of the Spirit). The room was overflowing with joy!
After our time with the staff, we headed out to meet our sponsored children. I wish I could fully share the experience of driving the "roads" with all of you but alas, no video could possibly capture the adventure. "Paved roads" (I use paved loosely) became "dirt roads" which became "two tracks" which morphed into "one tracks" and eventually ended in "foot paths". Despite the challenges, our WV drivers, who we have come to appreciate dearly, navigated the journeys with patience and expertise.
The end of the "foot path" was the beginning of a heart changing experience for me. Today I had the privilege of meeting Geofrey, our sponsored child, and his family. At this point I don't really think I can do justice to the joy of that experience. Anything I write seems to fall so far short of the blessing it was to me. After our time visiting, we enjoyed a little soccer outside and ended by praying together. I am so humbled by the experience.
We continued on to visit Sarah's sponsored child, Dennis. After lunch, Mike visited his child, Mark, while Kim and Ilia went to see Welsey. I will let each of them share more about those experiences with you individually.
If I could communicate one thing home to all of you, it would be the joy and privilege it is to participate in God's work in the world! That is exactly what we are doing when we sponsor children, pray for them, and encourage the WV hand's and feet that are on the ground with them daily. I am reminded of Paul's words to Timothy:
"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people." Philemon 1:4-7
Amen.
For the sake of Christ,
Renee
After our time with the staff, we headed out to meet our sponsored children. I wish I could fully share the experience of driving the "roads" with all of you but alas, no video could possibly capture the adventure. "Paved roads" (I use paved loosely) became "dirt roads" which became "two tracks" which morphed into "one tracks" and eventually ended in "foot paths". Despite the challenges, our WV drivers, who we have come to appreciate dearly, navigated the journeys with patience and expertise.
The end of the "foot path" was the beginning of a heart changing experience for me. Today I had the privilege of meeting Geofrey, our sponsored child, and his family. At this point I don't really think I can do justice to the joy of that experience. Anything I write seems to fall so far short of the blessing it was to me. After our time visiting, we enjoyed a little soccer outside and ended by praying together. I am so humbled by the experience.
We continued on to visit Sarah's sponsored child, Dennis. After lunch, Mike visited his child, Mark, while Kim and Ilia went to see Welsey. I will let each of them share more about those experiences with you individually.
If I could communicate one thing home to all of you, it would be the joy and privilege it is to participate in God's work in the world! That is exactly what we are doing when we sponsor children, pray for them, and encourage the WV hand's and feet that are on the ground with them daily. I am reminded of Paul's words to Timothy:
"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people." Philemon 1:4-7
Amen.
For the sake of Christ,
Renee
A few pictures from our day
A few pictures from our very long (but fruitful!) day of visiting our sponsored children:
Renee, visiting Geofrey and his father, Tony:
Renee, visiting Geofrey and his father, Tony:
Mike visiting Mark (in the black suit holding the beach ball) and Mark's brothers and friends:
Sarah meeting Dennis:
Kim and Ilia meeting Welsy (in the red dress) and her family
Hey, this is Ilia!
Today is our first full day in Gulu, Uganda. We have spent a lot of our time adjusting to the time difference and catching up on what sleep we can. The weather here is very beautiful and warm; I'm enjoying it immensely.
I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to talk about. It's been really great meeting the World Vision staff this morning and hearing about what they do and what their passions are. We had a lovely worship time this morning with some of the World Vision staff, followed by a short sermon. It's always a very interesting experience to see how different cultures conduct worship and preaching. This time there was much more interaction with the congregation than I am generally used to, reading aloud together from the Scriptures, even praying aloud together.
We then went to visit some of our sponsored children in the surrounding villages. It was a very cool experience even when I was not visiting our child, because it was so cool to see the other members of my team interacting with their children and the other members of the village.
The sun was very warm, naturally. We are just north of the equator and the sun goes straight up above us, as do the moon and stars. It's so different than how Michigan is, even in the summer. The sun is never as high above us in Michigan. I'm not really bothered by the heat as long as I remember to be hydrated. I'm really enjoying the warm weather; I miss it. When we are out in the open there's a lot of wind which actually feels really nice in the heat of the day.
I apologize for how poorly this blog post is put together.
My mother and I visited our family's sponsored child this afternoon. It was a little bit uncomfortable at first, but after we broke out the jump rope and soccer ball things went a little smoother. :) Learning about how the family lives and what they enjoy doing was a really incredible experience. We watched how they ground grain and how they carried water from the pumps back to their homes. I played a little bit of "football" with the kids. I think that was the best way I interacted all day, since the language barrier made it hard to communicate.
Dinner and then the debrief tonight, and then tomorrow another full day. God bless and peace to you all!
Ilia
Today is our first full day in Gulu, Uganda. We have spent a lot of our time adjusting to the time difference and catching up on what sleep we can. The weather here is very beautiful and warm; I'm enjoying it immensely.
I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to talk about. It's been really great meeting the World Vision staff this morning and hearing about what they do and what their passions are. We had a lovely worship time this morning with some of the World Vision staff, followed by a short sermon. It's always a very interesting experience to see how different cultures conduct worship and preaching. This time there was much more interaction with the congregation than I am generally used to, reading aloud together from the Scriptures, even praying aloud together.
We then went to visit some of our sponsored children in the surrounding villages. It was a very cool experience even when I was not visiting our child, because it was so cool to see the other members of my team interacting with their children and the other members of the village.
The sun was very warm, naturally. We are just north of the equator and the sun goes straight up above us, as do the moon and stars. It's so different than how Michigan is, even in the summer. The sun is never as high above us in Michigan. I'm not really bothered by the heat as long as I remember to be hydrated. I'm really enjoying the warm weather; I miss it. When we are out in the open there's a lot of wind which actually feels really nice in the heat of the day.
I apologize for how poorly this blog post is put together.
My mother and I visited our family's sponsored child this afternoon. It was a little bit uncomfortable at first, but after we broke out the jump rope and soccer ball things went a little smoother. :) Learning about how the family lives and what they enjoy doing was a really incredible experience. We watched how they ground grain and how they carried water from the pumps back to their homes. I played a little bit of "football" with the kids. I think that was the best way I interacted all day, since the language barrier made it hard to communicate.
Dinner and then the debrief tonight, and then tomorrow another full day. God bless and peace to you all!
Ilia
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Greetings from Gulu, Uganda!
Sarah here, first volunteer as guest blogger for our trip. A little background on myself, I am the second youngest on the trip, a grad student at St. John's University in NYC (an online program) studying Global Development and Social Justice. This is my second trip to Africa, though my first time to the Eastern portion.
Well, to start off from where we were on our day of departure...we left from MBS around 3:30 pm, proceeded to Chicago, then on to Brussels, Belgium, stopped in Kigali, Rwanda, and finally arrived in Entebbe, Uganda on February 23 around 11 pm at night. Thank you for keeping our travel in your prayers- our travel mercies were clearly manifest due to all the snow and flight delays throughout the country. Thankfully, we made all of our connections!
For me, the stopover in Kigali was emotionally jarring; as a student of Political Science and focusing my master's thesis around genocide and internal conflict, Kigali presented the first time for me to set foot in a nation that not ten years ago was committing horrendous atrocities, neighbor on neighbor due to social unrest. I'm still processing everything about that stopover, even though it was a brief 30 minute stint.
Our arrival in Entebbe was uneventful (and that's a good thing! I've had some customs and country-entering horror stories...) and we met up with Laura from World Vision as well as her protege, Carrie in the airport. Rachel and our two drivers (Joseph and Bright) from World Vision Uganda met us in the parking lot and escorted us to the Beach Hotel in Entebbe. We started our Sunday with some beautiful devotions and God was totally there! It was a wonderful time of fellowship and an incredible way to start the day.
We also met two gentlemen staying at the hotel who were from their church (Hazel Dell in Indiana, one with which I'm personally familiar due to recently moving to Midland from the Indianapolis area) and working with Compassion International. The drive from Kampala to Gulu felt long- it was about 5 hours- but there was so much to see! The people, children, animals, landscape, and everything else is awe-inspiring; add to that baboons and monkeys as well as crossing the NILE RIVER!!!!! makes the journey feel not so long.
As I previously mentioned, this is my second journey in Africa and it's been nearly three years since I was last on the continent. I did not realize how much I missed this place and the way it feels and smells and looks. I'm not experiencing any culture shock- mostly just taking in the experience and soaking up as much of Africa as possible.
Tomorrow we meet our sponsored children and meet the rest of the World Vision Uganda- Gulu cluster staff. It'll be a busy day, so please keep us and our continued strength (through jet lag) in your prayers. Keep watch for pictures! We've all been snapping some shots of the journey and will be uploading them as we're able. Thank you all and we love and miss you!!
In Him,
Sarah K.
Gulu, Uganda
Sarah here, first volunteer as guest blogger for our trip. A little background on myself, I am the second youngest on the trip, a grad student at St. John's University in NYC (an online program) studying Global Development and Social Justice. This is my second trip to Africa, though my first time to the Eastern portion.
Well, to start off from where we were on our day of departure...we left from MBS around 3:30 pm, proceeded to Chicago, then on to Brussels, Belgium, stopped in Kigali, Rwanda, and finally arrived in Entebbe, Uganda on February 23 around 11 pm at night. Thank you for keeping our travel in your prayers- our travel mercies were clearly manifest due to all the snow and flight delays throughout the country. Thankfully, we made all of our connections!
For me, the stopover in Kigali was emotionally jarring; as a student of Political Science and focusing my master's thesis around genocide and internal conflict, Kigali presented the first time for me to set foot in a nation that not ten years ago was committing horrendous atrocities, neighbor on neighbor due to social unrest. I'm still processing everything about that stopover, even though it was a brief 30 minute stint.
Our arrival in Entebbe was uneventful (and that's a good thing! I've had some customs and country-entering horror stories...) and we met up with Laura from World Vision as well as her protege, Carrie in the airport. Rachel and our two drivers (Joseph and Bright) from World Vision Uganda met us in the parking lot and escorted us to the Beach Hotel in Entebbe. We started our Sunday with some beautiful devotions and God was totally there! It was a wonderful time of fellowship and an incredible way to start the day.
We also met two gentlemen staying at the hotel who were from their church (Hazel Dell in Indiana, one with which I'm personally familiar due to recently moving to Midland from the Indianapolis area) and working with Compassion International. The drive from Kampala to Gulu felt long- it was about 5 hours- but there was so much to see! The people, children, animals, landscape, and everything else is awe-inspiring; add to that baboons and monkeys as well as crossing the NILE RIVER!!!!! makes the journey feel not so long.
As I previously mentioned, this is my second journey in Africa and it's been nearly three years since I was last on the continent. I did not realize how much I missed this place and the way it feels and smells and looks. I'm not experiencing any culture shock- mostly just taking in the experience and soaking up as much of Africa as possible.
Tomorrow we meet our sponsored children and meet the rest of the World Vision Uganda- Gulu cluster staff. It'll be a busy day, so please keep us and our continued strength (through jet lag) in your prayers. Keep watch for pictures! We've all been snapping some shots of the journey and will be uploading them as we're able. Thank you all and we love and miss you!!
In Him,
Sarah K.
Gulu, Uganda
We've arrived in Gulu!
I apologize for so many "we're here, more later!" posts but here's another. We arrived safely in Gulu with no bathroom emergencies (5 hour car ride, only one stop - definitely an answer to prayer!)
After dinner we hope to get some of the team blogging and a few pix up.
Thank you for your prayers!
Team Gulu 2013
After dinner we hope to get some of the team blogging and a few pix up.
Thank you for your prayers!
Team Gulu 2013
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