Birthday Blessings

(Written from Ruth’s perspective since she is flat out in bed!)

When Laura realized that her birthday would fall during the East Africa Spiritual Life Conference, she wasn’t so thrilled knowing that it probably would draw attention to her and include some fanfare. However, on the dawn of our first full day of the conference (her birthday), as she began to absorb all of the beauty around us which so reminded us of our almost annual beach vacations in the Philippines, and revel in the high humidity which was so familiar (although others found it smothering!), she marveled at God’s special gift of placing her there for her special day. In the afternoon, following the sessions, we headed for the ocean and so enjoyed jumping (and being overcome at times) the waves. That evening, our mission family graciously accommodated her request to keep her birthday from the dining room staff. In the end, the staff celebrated two other birthdays with much fanfare—special costumes, flairs, singing, dancing, clapping, drums, and a birthday cake! (The resort was huge and accommodated many other people besides our mission.) Once the dining room was quiet again, some of the mission family circled our table to sing a simple rendition of the Birthday song—a fitting conclusion to her special birthday.

God Goes Before…Always!

One of our VOICE workers, Chris, took the initiative to present the VOICE program to a number of churches in the area where he lives. Below is an excerpt from his email to us following his initial day. The highlighting in the second paragraph is mine.

“My remarkable visit was St. Luke Kanyanya Church of Uganda where I met with Rev Kasule Kawooya. She welcomed the VOICE program as a good tool for reaching out to schools. She was willing to invite us for a Scripture Union Sunday to speak to the congregation about the VOICE program. [That church has founded two primary schools. One of the schools,] St. Luke Nursery & Primary School has over 800 pupils. Rev Kasule thinks this program will be tested first in these schools.

She also noted that they recently held an executive meeting and one of the points raised was how the church would reach out to the community. St Luke Church of Uganda is located in the slummy suburbs of Kanyanya off Gayaza road. “

For obvious reasons, Chris has very excited…and so are we! No doubt there are other churches out there who are asking God how they reach their community…pray that God will lead us to them.