A Trip to the Principal’s Office…to find Eternal Life!

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

Ecclesiastes 11:6

If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog, the CrossTalk tracts have been mentioned somewhat frequently. We praise God that the producers, EvanTell in Texas, were interested in doing a Sub-Sahara version for use especially by Scripture Union Uganda staff. Little by little, staff members are beginning to use it and are finding it effective.

From the very beginning, our Ugandan co-worker, Beth, has been zealous in sharing this tool with others.  After teaching the 6^th and final lesson of the Truth module, which is a Gospel presentation, she felt her pupils would benefit from hearing the Gospel explained in yet another way using the CrossTalk tracts. But she knew that out of loyalty and love for her, if she asked for a public indication of readiness to trust Christ as Savior, almost all if not all would respond even though they maybe were not yet prepared by the Holy Spirit. So, she got permission from the Head Teacher/Principal to use his office as a place to talk with interested students one-on-one. As a class, she went through the tract with them. As expected, most of the students wanted to talk with her personally and so each took their turn to come to the Principal’s office. Unfortunately time ran out—darkness was falling--so Beth plans to return to give other students that same opportunity. But of the 21 students she counseled and prayed with, 12 made professions of trusting Christ as their personal Savior right there in the Principal’s office. Others said they had trusted Christ the previous Sunday at the evangelical church near the school and several indicated they were saved but were lacking assurance. One Muslim girl said with tears running down her face that she wanted to know more about Jesus. Praise God for His amazing work as God’s Word and His love are shared!

Another Giant Leap Forward

Feb. 15, 2014 - Group picture of the first-ever training for
volunteer values teachers in Uganda/East Africa

Seven and a half months ago, we moved here with a “dream” which we felt was also God’s plan for us…to see the godly values program established here in Uganda/East African…to mobilize and equip church volunteers to teach God’s Word and His righteous standards to Primary and Secondary students in their classrooms. For several months a Start-Up Committee met to discuss and advise us as to how to adapt the Philippine program to work best here in East Africa. Then God brought us writers, artist, and musicians to work on revising the Philippine curriculum for East African students. And…now the exciting (and somewhat scary) leap forward of actually training the first group of potential volunteers to use the curriculum is history. All together we registered 26 participants—about double of what we had initially intended for this first phase. We were delighted to see that the number of men almost equaled the ladies, there was a fairly broad spectrum of ages and experiences, and a number of evangelical denominations were represented. Praise our God for how He has continued to bring together all that’s needed for each step!

The training was somewhat similar in content to what we are used to in the Philippines, but there were also some remarkable variances. Rather than a number of people from a few churches (as is usually true in the Philippines), there were one or two from about 20 different churches. All of them listed the school where they planned to test teach the curriculum, meaning that rather than a number of classes in one school (which is the norm in the Philippines), we’ll have one or two classes in several schools. These differences are probably are due to our partnership with Scripture Union Uganda and our reliance on them to contact and recruit churches/volunteers. We know that a lot of prayer went into the training and so we’re trusting God for how this somewhat new paradigm will work. We’re also excited and anxious to see who will actually implement the training by test teaching the curriculum. And we can hardly wait to hear how the VEC (Values Education Class) program will go over with school administrators, students, and parents. Thanks for praying with us on this journey of faith!

God’s Hug

As is Ruth’s and my custom, after supper we share devotions/prayer together. It was Thursday, February 6 and Beth also joined us as we opened the “Daily Guide” Scripture Union Uganda devotional book. Startled, I heard Ruth read the suggested passage for that day, Isaiah 58.  This was the very passage God used on September 14, 2009, in the Philippines to challenge me regarding my availability to minister to a broken people for the Savior.  It was also that day the e-mail arrived from Uganda asking us to consider coming and beginning a VOICE-like program in the Ugandan schools. Now, here we are in Uganda in the very week when the very first Values Education Class was being taught and the training for other volunteers was nearing.

But that’s not all that amazed us that evening. Guess who the author of that day’s devotional might be?  None other than our Ugandan co-worker sitting across the table!  She wrote the Isaiah 58 devotional two years previous for submission to the Regional Scripture Union. She had written, “Do we not want our ‘light to rise in the darkness and night to become as the noonday’? Children are amongst the most oppressed and hungry. By helping them we are in fact helping ourselves and deepening our relationship with God (v.14).’”  Two years ago, did Beth ever dream she would be Test Teaching a Biblical Values Curriculum to 36 oppressed and hungry students in a neighborhood school? Yet, on the very day of her devotional, here she was in our home.  We are humbled as we continue to realize God’s plan for us together embracing the children of Uganda…and once again amazed at His timing. What a special hug of encouragement from our God!

Just a quick cute story...as Beth was teaching the truth that God loves us so much, He even knows how many hairs are on our head, one of the girls rubbed her shaved head and broke out in a huge giggle of total amazement that God knew that much about her!