January 2013 Update #1
Webele nyo!! Thank you very much for your prayers. God has certainly been busy here in Uganda. When I last wrote I was waiting to head out to camp, sitting and relaxing. Now relax is not a word I know. Wednesday afternoon I spent the afternoon getting a last few items before heading to the Discovery Centre. This is a facility attached to a YWAM base about 15 minutes outside of Jinja. It is absolutely gorgeous here!!
Thursday was a little chaotic, but all went well. The kids came a little later than I expected, but it gave us time to get everything set up. The friends who I met Wednesday who are doing our teaching (CPR) came early and I was able to share all that we will be doing in the week. As the kids began to arrive, they played futbol (soccer) until we got all the kids there and were able to get organized. We have forty kids 15-18 with a couple older kids from His Hope Uganda. We enjoyed lunch and because of some afternoon showers we started with some class time before we headed out for tie dye. The kids love tie dye. My good friends Brian, Emma and Allen showed up who have done camp with me in the past. So good to see them and again evidence of God answering my prayers. I wasn’t sure if they would be able to come or not and they are such a blessing!! Thank you Lord!! We played some games, enjoyed some dinner and then another friend Raoul joined us to lead worship and bring us a word from The Lord. Raoul is a youth pastor of sorts here. As he leads us it is obvious he is doing what he what created for. It is already late when we finish, so off to bed we go.
This morning I was pondering the greatness of our Creator as I sat on the porch looking over Lake Victoria and the hills. I admire the creation often, the beautiful sights, but this morning as I was taking in the beautiful view, I looked to my right and saw 6 beautiful African faces smiling at me. In that moment I realized that God created all for us to enjoy, but He is just staring down at us with that same warmth inside. The crown jewel of His creation is us. This morning I looked at those beautiful faces and as I smiled back and said good morning I was filled with that same amazement I feel at a beautiful sunset or amazing view. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes to know You more.
Friday our first full day of camp. I am amazed at how open these kids are already. Usually it takes a couple days for the kids to open up, but these have been so interactive already. I hope this will lead to great movement by the Spirit later in the week. Breakfast then worship lead by Raoul. I have typically taught a simple Gospel presentation, but this morning as I was preparing to speak, God had different plans. So I prayed and then allowed The Lord to speak His message thru me. I love when at the end I’m not too sure what all I’ve shared. Then I know I was just a vessel. The Lord used a word spoken by Raoul to encourage me to speak to the kids about who they are, where they come from and where they are going. Today we focused on our identity and what God wants for us. We looked at Psalms 139:13-14 and John 10:10. Small group time was spent sharing who we are with each other. These are kids that generally know each other, but I hope they will dig deeper and truly share their lives this week. The rest of the morning was spent playing games and painting tote bags. Man these kids are talented. Their bags were really art and some of them would have sat for hours.
After some lunch we started our futbol tournament while the red team headed to the ropes course. For those who aren’t familiar with our camp program…the kids upon arrival are put onto teams that they spend most of camp with, small group, games, competition etc. this year we have green The Great, orange is Chicago, yellow is Washington and red are the jaguar stars. Not sure why the US cities?!? Orange defeated yellow in the first futbol match while green watched. When red finished going thru the ropes course, they played green and the Great we’re victorious. The late afternoon we had our second session with CPR after tea and then some free time before dinner.
The evening was filled with some more wonderful worship and a message from Raoul. Then to close the evening we played some bingo. So much fun!! Bed time so we can start again in the morning