Training Parish

I learned about the concept of a training parish when St. Antony’s served as a training parish for Marilyn Brandenburg.  She was later ordained, but we were part of her field training as she completed her work for seminary.

Now the parish I am attending here in Uganda has been selected to serve as a training parish for Anguyo Emmanuel as part of his seminary training.  He is gaining experience with the various tasks pastor Johnson does to meet the needs of an active parish.  He is also learning about the other ministries that can be found within the church.  Recently he attended a meeting of the Women’s Union.  He is also aware of the ecumenical prison ministry that I am leading.

Courtesy Visits 2

During our courtesy visits (previous post) to the officers in charge of ministry in the two Koboko district prisons, we received a request to expand our ministry.  The officer in charge of Lobule and his staff have asked us to continue ministering to the prisoners after they stop being prisoners (after their release).  This is something God has put on our heart, but we have not perceived his guidance for how this aspect of the ministry should proceed.  I am not tempted to go my own way because I was not able to do this as part of my prison ministry experience in the US.  There, the prisoners are still under the department of corrections for a period of time after they are released, and we are not allowed to contact them during that time.  That is not the case in Uganda.  Therefore we are free to contact those who have been released (in Uganda) and continue to share the gospel with them.

The difficulty has been two-fold, contact and location.  The officers of Lobule are helping us with contact, providing our contact information to those who are released (if they ask) and encouraging them to contact us.  Then we can note their number on our cell phone or ask for their contact information, which is probably new since they do not have phones while in prison.  Many of the prisoners are brought here from other areas.  It makes it hard on them if they try to escape because they do not know the area or the local languages.  It also means they are not going to stay here when they are released, making it hard for us to follow-up with them and encourage them to find a local church and to continue studying the gospel.  The officers want us to do this because they know that former prisoners that continue to study the gospel, and get involved with a church, are less likely to return to prison.

Two former prisoners have contacted us after their release.  One visited our team one time before returning to his family in Kampala, the other side of the country.  We are a local team; we cannot reach to and minister to someone more than 400 kilometers away.  We pray that a national prison ministry is formed and then we can refer these contacts to ministry partners in the appropriate area.  The other contact said he wants to visit us but has not come, yet.  Please hold that in prayer.

Courtesy Visits

Periodically members of the prison ministry team in Koboko visit the officers in charge of the prisons where we minister (or their appointed contact).  Today we made courtesy visits to both prisons.

Gbukutu (the g is silent) prison recently experienced some resistance to the ministry (my point of view).  The prisons in Uganda have a lot in common with the prison stories we read about Paul in the bible.  The prisoners depend upon those who visit to provide some of the things they need.  We had been asked to provide a tarp for the women.  This was the second tarp, because the first was not large enough for all the women to sit down when we came to share the gospel.  The next day their first tarp was taken away, but they were allowed to keep the second.  Today we learned that they did not need both, just the new larger tarp.  The first was taken away so they would not “spoil it” while using the second.  It will be returned when they need it.  We also learned that they did not follow the process of asking the officers first, so they would know that they were asking us.  The perceived resistance is due to the women not following procedure.  The officers are happy with the ministry.

Lobule (low-boo-lay) prison has a Muslim officer in charge.  He is very happy that a Christian ministry is coming and encourages his staff to attend when we are sharing the gospel with the prisoners.  He has been known to attend too.  Today one of his officers asked for a bible.  He has also encouraged his prisoners to study the bible, reviewing the notes we leave in the officers care after sharing the gospel.

Cat Feathers

A friend who is a Kakwa who has completed school and training as an evangelist noted the other day that I had a few “cat feathers” on my shirt.  I do have a cat, so it was not a surprise.  However, I was surprised to hear an educated person call a few strands of cat fur, feathers.  It appears that the word fur is not present in the Kakwa, and they borrowed the idea of feathers from the chickens that are everywhere.  There are plenty of animals (goats, dogs, cats, antelope, …) in the region that have fur.  They just do not have a word for it in the local language, so he never learned the English word; he did not know there is another word for it.

Burial Service

I have attended several funerals and burial services in Uganda.  Most have been conducted by the Church of Uganda, and a few by other denominations such as the Free Charismatic Church, Pentecostal Church, or a Protestant Church.  Now I have attended one officiated by the Catholic Church.  Like most of the others, the service was in Kakwa and concluded with speeches by the local government officials and a meal.  What was different was not the time, we still started later than announced, it was the music.  The other services insisted on keyboards and recorded instruments which were played as loud as the speakers would go.  This service used hand instruments and a volume adequate to be heard but low enough to be called reverent.  Not the cultural trend (in my experience).

Accountant

One of my computer skills students in Mugujai shared a story with the computer skills class.  He knows someone who completed school in South Sudan and went on to complete a bachelor’s degree at the University.  He was working in one of the state government offices as an accountant when they said what are you doing here, you have all the right documents, you should be in the office in the capitol (Juba).  When he arrived in Juba, he found the office was filled with computers and he did not know how to use them.  He finished by telling us he ran and is now living in one of the refugee camps.  (He did not say ‘in Uganda’ but I presume in Uganda.  Mugujai is a border town, and he probably met this person on his way into Uganda to the refugee camp.)

The students in my Mugujai class used to be racing through the practicals to get their completion certificate.  The storyteller, and now the whole class, has started taking their time to make sure they learn the skills.

JCC Project

My host for computer skills in Mugujai also works with our (Truth is Light’s) children’s ministry (JCC or Jesus Calls Children).  JCC has been collecting movies and songs (digitally) for use at their Children’s Camps and when visiting a church to share about the ministry.  They have been accumulating them on any computer they can access.  After the computer crash of the person leading the children’s ministry, what was recovered was transferred to any available flash drive and many of them have been copied onto the computer in Mugujai for computer skills.

I am working with my Mugujai host to organize these files so they can eliminate duplicates (and the ones they did not care for) and quickly find the movie or song they want to use.  The two hour late arrival of students (previous post) allowed me to unload these files from the Mugujai computer skills computer and put them on a flash drive for review and sorting into the newly established directories for these files.

Arrival

My Mugujai computer skills students have been slow to arrive the last few weeks.  This time it was convenient.  My computer failed to boot (previous post).  It gave me time to try to resolve the problem, but it required computer tools.  I have the tools (now), but they were in Koboko, so I had to do without that computer this week.  There is another computer in Mugujai, and a Think Pad was donated to the other missionary who has chosen to station it in Mugujai.  The late arrival of students (two hours late) allowed me to change the plans (and adjust the setup of the room) to work with just two computers despite having more students.  An unintended benefit.

System Failure

I took my computer with me to Mugujai so I could accommodate more students at the same time.  I usually do.  However, this time the computer would not boot.  It happened before, but it has been more than a year since then.  I have had the computer looked at here in Uganda and when I was in the US since then.  I was told it was residual power in the buffer (which should be emptied during the shut down process but it was not).  Supposedly it would not happen again. 

Obviously, it did.  I was able to watch the computer technician when I took it for service in Uganda (a year ago).  When I returned to Koboko, I used my tools (which I had left in Koboko) to apply the technique I saw the technician apply.  Praise God, it worked.

Scripture Union

Uganda organizes the school year into three terms.  The school year follows the calendar year, so the first term starts in late January or early February.  The second term starts in late May.  The Koboko Area Scripture Union organizes Christian prayer and scripture studies at the secondary schools (high schools) in and near Koboko municipality.  At the start of second term each school’s branch of the scripture union elects new student scripture union leaders for its school.  Then they plan for a service and fundraising event during which the outgoing leaders are thanked, and the incoming leaders receive the records for their office along with the authority and responsibilities of that office.

Last Sunday Nyarilo Secondary School held their turnover service.  It was the first turnover for 2023.  The outgoing president is a member of the prison ministry team.  He asked the ministry to be present and encouraged his classmates to join the ministries of the scripture union during his speech.  He was biased in our favor; however, his point remained, do not just say you are part of scripture union, get involved in one (or more) of the ministries.