Enthusiastic Volunteers

Last Sunday Laura and I had three meetings back to back immediately following the Sunday worship service. At the end of the third meeting, I found myself alone for a few minutes and almost in tears…not because of sorrow/discouragement but rather because of joy/amazement.

You see, during our 2010 and 2012 visits to Uganda, church leaders and heads of organizations which we visited all agreed that a Biblical values curriculum was badly needed and would be accepted if not welcomed in many of the schools…but a number of these leaders warned us that volunteers are not plentiful in Uganda and thus the program may be hindered. Although I’m sure there is much truth in their warning, we now know that these concerned people didn’t know the whole story.

There were seven of us seated around the same table that we had used for the previous two meetings. Four of the ladies were writers, all contacts/friends of Beth who was with us and has been such a help/encouragement. All four had written a very acceptable sample lesson for us and shown interest in participating in the development of the curriculum. We had previously met only one of the writers, the other three we had communicated with only through email or text/phone. I was a bit nervous since there were four of them and we only needed three writers—one for the younger elementary children (kindergarten – grade 3), one for the older elementary (grade 4 – grade 7), and one for the high school students…how could we eliminate one of them without losing face? AND none of them had chosen to write a sample lesson for the younger elementary children.

As the meeting proceeded and the guidelines were explained, we had to “drop the bomb” that these six lessons (including one lesson that has to be totally rewritten since the original features a Filipino hero) needed to be done by the first week in January…only four weeks away with Christmas and New Year’s mixed in. Much to my amazement, that seemed to only increase their desire to be part of it! The meeting was nearing the decision as to who would do what. One lady spoke up and said that she likes to work in teams and asked a lady who lives quite close to her if they could work together on both the younger and older elementary levels to which she agreed. (OK, Lord, that would take care of the younger children.) The one who wrote a sample lesson for the high school age quickly agreed to take that age group. That still left one lady out and I again began to feel uncomfortable, but then reasoned within myself, perhaps she will be relieved that she’s not needed especially since the deadline is so close. But wait…quite suddenly, she spoke up and suggested that she take the upper elementary age which would then free up the other two to work on the lower elementary (which is an age group we didn’t cover in the Philippines and thus will require more work). It was almost as if none of them wanted to miss this opportunity to help! The team of two quickly agreed with her suggestion. And not one of them asked, nor seemingly expected any remuneration for their work. That just “blew me away” and caused praise to well up in my heart to our God who still has children who delight to use their abilities to serve Him for no financial gain.

Praise God with us for answering our prayers for writers…but also please pray with us for all four of them as they endeavor to meet the deadline. Pray that God will give them quality time, wisdom, keen cultural and spiritual insights for application, and joy.