Oh, to be a chamellion!

Sometimes I wish I were a chamellion, so that I could change my appearance in such a way as to blend in with the people around me. Today, Michelle and I went to visit a church in the bush. We wanted to just visit, not take away attention from the worship service. However, our skin color always changes the game. Despite the fact that we sat in the congregation and not on stage ( the place of honor), we were still the one people stared at, not the pastor. 

During singing, one man came and said, "it is customary for the visitor to preach. So, will you kindly preach for us?"  Michelle shared from Ephesians 2:8 and I read 2 Timothy 3:16.  Later, the pastor came down to ask us "What type of soda do you take?"  (Oh, to be a chamellion!  ). We were also asked to come down and pray, laying hands on the sick. 

We were very grateful for the warm welcome but would have preferred the focus to have been on the Lord. 

Bible study groups

We are averaging about 1500 children each Saturday in Esangalo. One important aspect of the program is breaking into small groups for Bible study. It is always such a blessing to walk around and hear all these children hearing the Good News. 

School time

The Village of Eden school is going well considering it is the first term. We do have some changes to make but I was encouraged today after observations. 

At the airport

Mom decided we needed a picture before I left. 

Family time

Had a great time running down Stone mountain with Jayden. He is growing up so fast. 

Headed back to Uganda

I have been off the grid for a while - at least in the blog world - Facebook has been on fire!  But, I am heading back to Uganda today.

Challenges Pastors of Uganda Face

We had a meeting with some church pastors from the area surrounding the Village of Eden.  We wanted to first, let them know we are not trying to "steal" their members and secondly, to see how we could work together to further the Kingdom of God.

Brenda asked the question:  What are some challenges, you as pastors face?

Here are some answers:

1. Lack of enough knowledge in spiritual issues

2.  Poverty - most of the pastors are very poor, they don't have time for prayer, most of the time is used looking for food - no time to read the Bible, so it makes us unprepared to go to the church and teach

3.  Sometimes we fail to understand our calling and vision - we just work within the church and we do not go outside  - our vision is just rotating inside the church

4.  We want younger children to be uplifted to become leaders of tomorrow, but we don't have the materials to help us

5.  Some of the church pastors are back-biting, not respecting one another.

6.  If I want to go outside my community, how am I going to get there?  The challenge is how am I going to arrive.

Thought these were interesting.  The Village of Eden is going to help to train them, addressing the first point made and we can help with materials, but what do you do about poverty, failure to understand the calling and back-biting?