Tanzania Tidbits

Recent “Whats App” messages from Tanzania via Beth B., the Scripture Union staff leading the VOICE Africa team, have made us smile from ear to ear. All of these testimonies come from places where English is understood enough by the children/youth to use the Ugandan curriculum. Several modules are being translated into Swahili but are not yet ready for use. Don’t try to understand every detail (we don’t either), but rejoice in what God is doing.

·         Apparently coming from a trained VEC teacher:
“I already have an elementary school with about 500 students in a town Morogoro (a town of 300,000+ in the eastern part of Tanzania) that wants to have the Values Education Class.”

·         Coming from a high school student six months after he/she attended a Scripture Union camp where the Biblical Values were taught:
“It helped the following ways:

1. Through the seminar at the camp we were taught about purity…so it helped to know more about purity and why should I stay pure and so it helped to overcome lots of challenges.

2. It gave me more knowledge and awareness to music…the ungodly music.

3. At the camp we were taught about the values that helped me a lot to live well with people around me, friends at school and home, teachers, elders and parent. A so a lot things I have come to see.”

·         Apparently coming from the values teacher who taught the above high school student:
“We taught them Lesson 1 of each of the six values. This training is excellent. Today I am meeting the School Director for Values Education Class Teaching at her school in 2019. God is good!”

·         Apparently coming from a trained Values Education Class teacher:
“I'm teaching VEC in Moshi (a town of 200,000+ in northern Tanzania, near the Kenyan border). The young class I am teaching for three weeks, 6 days a week, three hours every morning. The group are performing very well.”

·         And a few pictures that were also sent to us:

Wow…Amazing Progress!

Two close-to-midnight phone calls (one from Kenya and one from Ethiopia) from our colleague and friend, Beth, and then multiple texts have brought astonishing and exciting news. Scripture Union Ethiopia has finished translating into Amharic not one but two modules of curriculum, Truth and Honesty,  on two age levels—Upper Primary and Secondary! But that’s not all…at least the Secondary level for both modules are already published and ready to be used, complete with visuals and Activity Sheets! And not just a few copies…a full 1,000 copies of each! 

Sooo, now we know that is why Beth is in Ethiopia right now and 11 senior staff representing every region of that nation have gathered together…they want to be trained how to use this newly published curriculum to reach more children and youth with the Gospel and disciple them to walk as Jesus did. Praise God with us and pray that God will mightily bless the work of their hands and bring in a large harvest in Ethiopia for His glory.

School Ministry in the USA!

As we share a report of what God is doing in the Philippine and Ugandan schools, inevitably people will comment, “if only that could happen here.” Yes, we agree with that sentiment and pray that countries where it is still possible to teach Biblical values in the school classrooms during school time will take full advantage of that strategic open door. However, we’ve also been encouraged to learn of some of the ways that people on this continent are letting their lights shine in the schools near them!

One such example comes from one of my (Ruth) sisters. It was wonderful to chat a bit (way too brief but given the number of people at our Thanksgiving celebration, it was good) with both her and her husband. For several years now, as an outreach into their community, my sister has been teaching an after school Good News Club, a program of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), with several other ladies in an elementary school. The numbers have risen to the point that this year, they have split the club into two! Now my sister, her husband, and their son are teaching the children from the older grades while others continue on with children from the younger grades! I was so pleased to hear that each group has about 17 regular attendees! And equally heart-warming was to learn that the school teachers of both classrooms being used for the clubs are Christians! And as icing on the cake, my nephew, who owns a small business on the side, seeks to use any profit for the Lord’s work. For a couple of years now, he has offered a free week at the Maine CEF summer camp for all who have perfect club attendance during the year. Last year, over 12 children enjoyed a week of Christian camp due to their faithful attendance and my nephew’s generosity! God is still very much at work in this continent too—praise Him!

First Missionary

Following a wonderful time of lifting up the name of our Lord through song led by the Geary Baptist worship team, the worship leader welcomed us and announced to the congregation that we were the first missionaries he had ever met! No one has ever introduced us in that way before!

Following the service, we chatted together and he filled in more details. In the early 80’s, he was a young adult living in Saint John and was led to the Lord by a pastor of a Rothesay church, we know the pastor well. Soon after his conversion, the pastor encouraged him to attend the mid-week prayer meeting where, to his chagrin, he was expected to pray out loud! Part of the prayer time focused on the church missionaries and our prayer card was handed to him—he had never seen such cards before. (As part of our church PowerPoint presentation earlier in the service, we had shown that very prayer card much to his delight; it was our very first prayer card, printed before we went to the Philippines!) Then, not too long after that, he joined the church’s Missionary Conference and, of all the missionaries he would be meeting, we were the first ones to be introduced to him! Because of that, he has had a special interest in our ministry through the years, unknown to us. How great is our God as we look back on His amazing ways!

Missions is Giving

It hit me with fresh force during our recent up country “road trip” that missions is all about giving, patterned after God who “so loved the world that He GAVE…” We so appreciated those who gave of themselves to serve us and the ministry God has given to us. To start with, four different homes provided overnight accommodation, including one widow, plus we ate royally around the table of a number of others. One particular table belonged to a dear missions champion couple who gathered others into their Victoria County home to hear an update of what God was doing in Uganda. They had every reason to cancel our visit as both husband and wife have serious health issues; the husband learned that his cancer has returned and they are waiting a call for more appointments.

Other special displays of giving included a 3^rd grader who carefully played “Amazing Grace” on his fiddle as part of the Sunday morning worship, plus four boys and their father who played the African drums for our Tuesday evening meeting. At this same meeting, we smiled as a young woman strummed her guitar…remembering her gift of her guitar and case which she left to Scripture Union Uganda at the end of her short term missions trip a couple of years ago—a gift that has been taken to multiple schools and other ministries. And then, as we were finishing that children’s program, two envelopes were handed to me, both for more than $100 which the children/teens had given. And my heart was also touched when a small girl handed me a “loonie” as her offering for missions; she had arrived after the offering was taken. These offerings to the Savior are all reflections of the unspeakable gift God has granted us in His Son. May we be also be generous so that others can learn of that eternal gift.

Surprises Among the Seniors

That title makes us chuckle since we still are getting used to being considered seniors! Recently we’ve attended several gatherings that minister especially to seniors, some to sit and enjoy (and eat) and some to minister. Through a side comment following last month’s gathering about bringing my puppet, Ernie, to the next meeting, we also were given the privilege of sharing a report and explaining for the first time about a financial project that is in the final steps of being approved by SEND Canada.

Ernie had a great time and caused lots of smiles and laughter—who said puppets are for children? Ruth then shared a PowerPoint overview of the Values ministry in Uganda and briefly explained the new project with the suggestion that any who would like to contribute could do so next meeting. We were humbled by the interest in the project, both by the pastor and the Coordinator of the Young-at-Heart ministry. It has been chosen as the Christmas project and will enable VOICE-trained Ugandan trainers to train more volunteers so that they can teach in more schools. Then we all enjoyed a delicious lunch.

As people were finishing up with dessert, I greeted several people at some of the tables.  To my surprise, when I approached a front table, I met a ventriloquist that had been part of an amazing team ministering to children each week in a Saint John area church.  It had been more than 20 years since I first met him and now here he was with his wife praising the Lord and enjoying fellowship with the Body of Christ.  We reminisced briefly about the fun ministry he had been a part of, exchanged contact numbers, and expressed our desire to connect again in the near future. What a fun surprise!

The surprises were not finished yet. Several of the seniors didn’t want to wait until next meeting to give toward the project. A total of $50 waited for us on our display table—seed money to begin the project! You know what! It’s not that bad being a senior and spending time among them!

Connecting the Past with the Present

This week we have had significant and encouraging conversations with five different Pastors and Mission Champions from New Brunswick. For three nights we were privileged to sit under the powerful preaching of the one (now 86 years old!) who pastored Ruth during most of her years in Moncton (serving with Child Evangelism Fellowship Atlantic Provinces) before she went to the Philippines. The churches that the pastors lead have all been long-term partners spanning the decades of our cross-cultural ministry career. (Spending time with another friend/missions champion yesterday delayed our getting this blog updated, ha.)

While spending time with a pastor and missions committee member in Saint John, we were reminded that it during their 1981 Faith Promise Missions Conference that Ruth and I, both participating but representing different missions, sensed God’s direction toward becoming co-workers. That happened immediately after the conference, before we went our separate ways (Laura to Hampton, Ruth to Moncton), as a Forest Hills friend invited us for lunch at the old “Ponderosa.” As we chatted, I mentioned God’s direction toward the Philippines and asked for prayer that God provide me with a co-worker. God “spoke” to Ruth (unknown to me at the time) and the rest is history.

God used these five people at different times plus several dozen more to cast the vision to their congregations encouraging them to join our support team to proclaim Christ to the next generation living in the “uttermost parts of the globe,” specifically the Philippines and Uganda. Although our hearts are still very much in the work we have seen God begin in both of these countries, we also sense God’s leading to begin putting down roots here in North America. With that comes the question of how to engage the next generation—and adults—and point them to Christ. Our interaction with these five friends deeply encouraged us that, although it is not feasible to teach Biblical Values in schools like is being done in the Philippines and Uganda, God can still make ways to connect and share God’s love and truth. As Ruth and I continue to adjust to North American culture, we have been stimulated by these people and others to ask God for eyes to see what He sees and to be available for however we can be “salt and light.”

God’s Kingdom Advances Despite Armed Conflict

Although forgotten by the media for the most part, the war in South Sudan continues to end people’s lives, separate families, force citizens to flee as refugees, and bring unimaginable suffering to all. So it was amazing to receive an upbeat report from the Scripture Union National Director of South Sudan. He reported that between April and September, Scripture Union had impacted more than 9,000 children in South Sudan and Refugee Camps in northern Uganda.  Most of the children were in schools!

Of added interest to us, were reports that about 81 volunteers were trained to teach the Biblical Values curriculum in schools and seemingly all of them are now using that training to share God’s truth with children/teens, either in schools or churches!

Here’s excerpts of a few testimonies that were included in the report:

A certain William wrote: “In my Primary 6 class of 53 pupils, I have seen a lot of changes. I began with the Truth book and in the midst pupils begin to speak the truth. Most of children learned to speak the truth among themselves and to everyone in the school compound. I have seen God is doing amazing work in the lives of children in school through SU program. I also taught both the Truth and Honesty books in a Sunday School. Most of the children don’t lie to me or their parents."

From a refugee named Rose – “In the school I’m teaching, students like fighting but thank God after teaching VOICE for six weeks, they stopped fighting. Some said they hated the [enemy tribe] but now they have forgiven them because of VOICE program which encouraged them to forgive through the songs and the scriptures from the Bible.”