A Huge and Unexpected Gift!

During our 2-day retreat, as we were casually chatting together, Beth received a message on her phone and suddenly broke out in loud exclamations of “Praise the Lord…Amazing…Wonderful…Thank You, God!” After a while she came back down to earth long enough to explain to us what had happened.

As background information, Scripture Union Uganda has an amazing scope of effective ministry which they carry out on a minimal budget which keeps them trusting God from one month to the next. At times the staff are not paid at the proper time, simply because there is not enough money. But that never stops them from pressing on to use every opportunity God gives to them to share the Gospel and disciple the children and youth who come to Christ.

That financial situation is true, not only for the National Office but also for each of the eight Regional Offices. Some regions have offices that have been loaned to them free of charge by churches or groups; others pay rent for office space. The latter was true of the Midwest Region with its rented office space in Hoima, about a 3 hour drive from Kampala. With very little notice, the National Director received an urgent phone call from one of the long-time Scripture Union members from that region, insisting that the National Director and the Chairman of the Board come on Friday. They recruited one of our VOICE workers, Chris, to drive them and off they went, not knowing the purpose of the meeting nor the reason for such urgency.

As they and the Regional Coordinator for the Midwest Region met with the one who made the phone call—a somewhat elderly man who actually owns the building where the Scripture Union office is—they were perplexed to see a number of other people there, some who were unfamiliar to them. Without any notice, the landlord passed over to the National Director and the Chairman of the Scripture Union Board signed papers saying that the entire building now belongs to Scripture Union—a total gift. It was then that the former owner informed the other people, who also rent office space in that building, that from now on they were to pay rent to Scripture Union…thus giving them a significant source of regular income! Needless to say, all who went to Hoima were overcome with joy and praise. It was Chris, the driver, who took the time to send a message to Beth which caused the explosion of loud praise! Join Beth and us in praising God for this huge unexpected gift!!