Day Eight

Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk . . .

It’s so rewarding when God allows us to actually see the marks He leaves on people. It has been a long eight days and we are pretty well spent but right at the end of it all, with one day left, God allowed this to happen. We started our time in Uganda by leading the children’s worship rally at Ggaba Community church last Sunday and then teaching the children’s classes for their small group time. We sang our trademark children’s ministry song: “Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, In the Light”, several times and the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Well, today we went back by the church to retrieve our passports and plane tickets from the church safe. Ggaba has a huge Awana program with close to 1000 kids each Saturday. We were walking by one of their Awana rooms and we couldn’t believe our ears. We heard 70 children singing: “Walk, Walk, Walk, In the Light”. It’s great to know that we brought a little light to Africa that will shine on long after we have gone.

Good News

Another great thing that happened in this same vein was when we were in a very remote part of Luzira in a very poor area when we turned a corner and a little boy (who we later guessed was about 6 or 7 years old) came running up and said “Good News!” He proceeded to go through all the main points in the Helping Hand to Christ Gospel Presentation. We were amazed that this child remembered so much of the gospel after only hearing it one time in his school assembly the day before. It confirmed that this tool is blessed by God, applicable in other cultures and MEMORABLE! Praise the Lord…Amen…God is Good…All the time…All the time…God is good…That is His nature.

Donnie


What’s Cooking?

I figured that I would be concerned about nutritional issues when we came to Uganda. Today wrapped this up in a nutshell. We had a “Fun in the Son Rally” at a boarding school located very close to Luzira. When we first arrived I just stood in awe—children of all sizes and ages were washing by hand uniforms and sheets in wash buckets, hand wringing them, and hanging them on barbed wire or lying them on the ground. This was a lot of work this early in the morning. Then I saw a group of kids wander out of a building with little blue bowls in their hands. This is when the Pediatric Nurse in me kicked in. I made a beeline to talk to these kids and see what their breakfast was….2 slices of bread and about 3-4 tablespoons of sugar heaped on top. Near the end of the program we were able to “treat” all the kids with a drink, package of biscuits, and one piece of candy for an approximate cost of four cents per child. Later in the day when the program was completed, I noticed some really tall boys. They smacked of NBA all over their foreheads. They were in their early teens and at least 6’4”. Then I took a step back. They were eating (drinking) their lunch. They each were given a large cup of “porridge” for their lunch. Of course I stayed a while and talked about basketball, their homeland (Sudan), and how I could pray for them. As I walked away, I stood and prayed that God would meet their nutritional needs that were grossly neglected. These guys are huge and their growth velocity is huge at this time in their lives—but the deficit is also huge. But when asked what I could pray for them about, they didn’t mention or complain about empty, underfed, undernourished stomachs—they wanted prayer for upcoming exams and families afar. God bless the little (tall!) children.

Diane Elrod


How Precious is His Word!

What an awesome day of ministry we had today! We began the morning at our “Fun in the Son” program and it went great. The 17-year-old boy I led to Christ a couple nights ago, Vincent Okello, came by to help us with the kids. What a blessing it was to get to minister together with a new babe in Christ and to also get to pray with him once again! One of the highlights of my day was on the bus ride back to Luzira Church after our morning program. We were all hot, tired and hungry and our day had just begun. Sitting next to me on the bus was one of our interpreters from Ggaba Community Church, Paul, who had just been given a gift Bible from one of our team members, Judy Dalmolin. I sat quietly watching him as he paged through it. Then, he brought the Bible to his face, pressed his nose to it, closed his eyes, and began praying. After he finished praying I asked Paul if he had just received the Bible from our team and he said, “Yes. I have never had my own Bible and I have wanted one for a long time. I am so happy to have this Bible.” This just reminded me of the several Bibles I have laying around my house…and how I take the availability of God’s Word for granted.

Wow. God is good…all the time.

Brenda