Not much creative energy tonight, so you will have to settle
for an information dump and a few prayer requests. Thanks for reading anyway.
It has been great having two weeks here to get settled in
and acclimated, learn my way around a bit, reconnect with old friends, and make
new ones. The time has also been indispensible for a lot of class prep that I
never was able to get to before I left. The ABU campus has been very quiet and
my schedule has been very flexible.
All of that is about to change this week.
I will make to jump to warp speed Monday morning, and I do
not expect to slow down much if at all until Easter Break (which is also
the week that Andrea and the girls arrive! Hooray!).
Monday (tomorrow) morning first thing I will be paying a visit to one
of the children’s facilities with my 60 Feet friends even while the ABU student
body will be pouring onto the campus. I will return to ABU in the afternoon for
student registration, and classes start Tuesday morning.
In addition to the two classes I am teaching at ABU (Gospel of John
and Missional Discipleship), I have also agreed to take responsibility for the
Sports Class, and I have been asked to work on a couple of significant projects; 1) Establishing a discipleship emphasis among the faculty, staff and
students, 2) Helping get the gym in a condition to use for sports, particularly
basketball – this means getting goals put up and getting the floor finished,
both significant undertakings given to the difficulty of obtaining the
appropriate, necessary supplies, equipment and materials over here in Africa.
I will also be giving as much time as I can to the ministry
of 60 Feet. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to assist this amazing
ministry to imprisoned children in Uganda.
Finally, I will be giving time as I am able to my friends, Pastor Ernest and his wife Catherine and Pastor Boaz and his wife Faith and
their congregation, Gateway Bible Church in Bwerenga. Bwerenga is a village
between Kampala and Entebbe about 18 kilometers from the ABU campus (check out
that metric system reference).
Speaking of Bwerenga, I do have to share a bit from my
experience worshipping there today. Pastor Ernest asked me to preach, which is
a great privilege and delight; they are such a warm, teachable, and
appreciative audience, and passionate worshippers of Jesus. Today I witnessed in
tangible ways how much they love their pastors. After the sermon a couple came
forward and said that they were going to be recognizing and appreciating their
pastors today. They proceeded to share how they owed their healed relationship
and repaired marriage to God’s work in them through Pastor Ernest, Mama Catherine, Pastor Boaz and Faith, then the testimonies and gifts continued to pour in (among the
gifts were two live chickens and a 100 pound bag of sugar!). One person after
another – young and old, adult and child – came forward to share of how they
had been loved, cared for, taught, mentored, parented and/or grand-parented by
these two couples. It was a beautiful testimony to the power of the gospel at
work transforming lives through humble willing servant-hearted people. What a
great day.
This is longer than I intended, so I will wrap up with some
prayer requests:
1.
Praise to God for giving Andrea and Hannah a
great visit with old friends in Tuscaloosa and for using Andrea’s teaching in
the lives of many of the women at the Warrior Presbytery Winter Women’s Event where
she was speaker Saturday.
2.
For all of us as a family as we continue to be
apart until Andrea and the girls come over in late March.
3.
For my teaching to be effective in training the
students here at ABU to be leaders for the church in Africa.
4.
For my ministry with 60 Feet to be a blessing to
the staff and the children with whom they work.
5.
For God to use my efforts to ignite a
Life-on-Life Missional Discipleship movement at ABU that will spread across
Uganda and East Africa.
6.
For Mama Catherine’s hand recovering from a bad
infection after a puncture wound she sustained last week. She has been in a lot
of pain and has had to make numerous trips to the clinic for treatment for her
hand.
Keep your eyes peeled for a post this week from Andrea on
the Atlanta end of this Africa Adventure (that’s your cue, Andrea!).
Tim
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