Excuse Me….

Today Esther, one of our VOICE workers, and I had three meetings, one after the other, with people interested in Values.  Each one was encouraging, but I’ll focus on our middle meeting.

A person we’ve talked to lately about VOICE Africa had suggested we contact this certain Pen. Today that happened at a downtown restaurant. After initial introductions and an overview of VOICE, Esther took the lead to summarize the content of the Truth module by going through the Visual Aid Book. She had hardly started when, out of nowhere, a white gentleman approached our table and said “Excuse me.” He had seen the visual aid from his table and was drawn to listen in. Very soon, he asked if he could bring someone else to join us and a tall African woman joined our table. As it turns out, he had just been looking in a bookstore for something to help him teach godly values…and came away disappointed. His ministry includes students in a rural district just east of Kampala; the need for instilling Biblical values is so needed. As the sharing continued, he commented, “Now I know why I came to this restaurant today rather than the one I had planned to go to. Here I found you with exactly what I was looking for!” Before our sharing ended, he purchased the Module we had brought as a sample. Our new friends went on their way rejoicing with a promise to be in touch as he added the teaching of values to their ministry in the village. Needless to say, Esther and I were also thrilled!

As we continued sharing with Pen, it became obvious that she is a “mover and shaker” for

Esther and Pen

Biblical Values. Her passion has been stirred by the current downward spiral in the educational system, some of which she explained to us--heartbreaking stories of godless curriculum creeping into schools, cults, devil worship, and child sacrifice.  Within the last while, she has presented in 18 schools an excellent and persuasive power-point of the rationale for godly values including powerful teaching on moral purity and abstinence. She told us that the government has given her 100 schools where she can present her material! She also has used that same presentation in a number of churches.

But that’s not all. Just last week, Pen and her team approached Government to expose the godless curriculum present in some schools and to advocate Biblical values.  They also stormed Parliament with a backup of hundreds of students dressed in their uniforms who politely waited outside showing their agreement that godly values must be taught. 

We thank God for Pen and pray God will show us His plan as our ministries seem to complement one another—hers is a one-time presentation while ours is a weekly 6-class series. We don’t know how God will allow us to work together but we are assured that He is the One who opens doors that no man can shut. As we wait for God’s “excuse me….” we take fresh courage that He is working and will lead us to others He has called into His harvest field.

Thanking God for His Goodness

Some things are easy to thank God for. For example, it has been wonderful to sleep in the same bed--my own bed--for the past 2 weeks plus!  And walks around the Compound have been a joy. (Today I discovered a plastic bag of white ants being dried in the sun!) For me, it has been great to bake cookies and create a pizza version on pita bread, have visitors in for dinner and serve our famed banana bread to Ugandan friends. Being back in our church and gathering with fellow missionaries have been special treats missed during our absence…to name a few.

However, there are other happenings that take more conscious effort to truly thank the Lord for. Case in point was this past Saturday. While on our way home from the Puppet Practice, our driver, Fred, noticed a “different” noise under the hood. We were not in heavy traffic and he was able to pull the car over to inspect; a rapidly fraying charging belt was the culprit.  Since the belt was still intact, Fred decided to try to drive to a mechanic we’ve dealt with before—we made it! Although busy with many jobs, a mechanic was assigned to us. After removing it he went off to find a replacement; I’ve been here long enough to know that finding a replacement part is often not simple! However, he soon returned and installed the belt. Fortunately I had enough cash to pay for the job.

As I mulled all this in my mind while traveling back home, my heart filled with praise for God’s goodness and faithfulness. The timing was so good—if it had happened on the way to the Puppet Practice, the time for preparing for upcoming puppet presentations would have been severely affected. Then, Fred was driving—he doesn’t often drive on Saturdays but due to other circumstances, he did. And if the belt had frayed the following day, Sunday (when I was the driver), it would have meant Ruth and I being stranded on the way to or from Church; we wouldn’t have been as “calmly decisive” as Fred (understatement!).

As we traveled back home, I recalled a verse we had read together earlier during the Puppet Practice—Psalm 50:23, “Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.”

Ten Days—Really?

A couple months ago we were informed that Scripture Union Uganda was hosting a 10-day residential (campsite) Scripture Union Orientation for new members of Scripture Union in East Africa. We were urged to make arrangement our two workers, Esther and Chris, to attend. To be honest, our initial response was—TEN Days—Really? That just seemed like a huge interruption, especially when we thought we would be training test teachers to use the Lower Primary Obedience module and would also be in the midst of publishing the Forgiveness module.

A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)

Enter the totally unexpected hip fracture for Ruth…and all plans suddenly and drastically changed. As God worked it out, those ten days of orientation corresponded with the final ten days of our stay in South Africa; we returned to Uganda on the final day of the orientation.

As Laura, and later Ruth, met with Esther and Chris, the immense blessing, encouragement, challenge, soul-searching, and revival of those ten days under the teaching of the various SU leaders kept spilling out. Our staff met God in a fresh way during that time…as we had in the circumstances God arranged for us thousands of miles away. Eventually it also came out that during the first weeks, despite their best efforts, they faced challenges leaving them somewhat discouraged. All of that just made them enter the orientation with tender and needy hearts—just what God loves!

God certainly knows what He is doing and can be trusted!