Children’s Radio Ministry

Meta was asked to participate in the Children Radio Ministry again this week.  Once a month they include some teaching about raising Children.  On those occasions the team is mostly Sunday School teachers and youth ministry leaders.  Meta’s contribution was from Proverbs, train your children in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.

The station manager has told our Children’s Ministry leader that it is their most popular program.  He (the leader of Children’s Ministry) tells me that he frequently gets calls, both during the radio program and afterwards from youth and from parents with prayer requests.

Computer skills

No one came for computer skills in Mugujai this week.  Livingstone and I used the time to talk about other things for the ministry and about his upcoming trip to Kenya for the burial of his recently deceased mother-in-law.  Many things to take care of, including how to care for the new well at the farm until funds are available to cement the sides and Livingstone returns to do the work.  That project has prevented Livingstone from helping in the Mugujai computer skills class in recent months; however, it represents a huge step forward for the agricultural ministry that he leads.

After we discussed how to take care of things while he is in Kenya, we packed the computers in a safe place.  The skills center will be set up again when he returns and announcements will be made about the one-week delay in classes.  The culture is accustomed to stopping everything for a burial, so there will be no issues.

Consoling the family

Our Kenya missionary mother-in-law passed away.  She had been very sick in 2013 and then enjoyed better times until 2021.  She had been struggling on and off from 2021 until a few days ago.  Livingstone’s family joined him here in Uganda a few years ago. They have gone back to visit the family in Kenya a few times.  The family is expecting them to come in the middle of next week to help with things.  The burial is next Saturday.  Unlike Uganda, Kenya does not bury their dead the same day.  They are prepared to keep bodies in the mortuary for several days.

Members of Truth is Light came together to go visit the family.  We held a small service with them and several shared messages of comfort from the Bible.  Here the family feeds those coming to console them.  The visitors do not bring food for the family.  The family also does the dishes after the visitors leave.  That part does not seem consoling to me.

Video

Luke, who is considering mission work, came to visit Truth is Light in 2023.  He is currently back in the US. He also offered to make a short video for the Rays.  I asked, and he agreed to make one for me too.  Recently we tried to meet to discuss the video he assembled based upon my suggested purpose.  With eleven time zones between us it is hard to find an acceptable time for both of us.  This week we succeeded, and it was not preempted by other events.  Unfortunately, I did not have permission to view the video before our meeting; however, that was quickly resolved, and I can say he does great work.  I look forward to being able to show a video, in addition to still pictures, when he finishes his work.

Consulting

I have served on the Truth is Light finance team for three years now.  My role on the team is not to track the finances.  I do not audit the books either.  My role is that of a computer consultant.  Why does (or more likely, why does this not) look like the figures for this other Truth is Light ministry.  Today I helped with the annual question, how to create another workbook and set it up for the next year’s activity.  I have embedded notes in the workbook to help him remember, but his confidence is higher if I am sitting there when he does it.  I am happy to say, he does it (with coaching).

Healthy Relationships Seminar

The seminar I mentioned yesterday (previous post) is our response to many members of two ministries (prison ministry and children’s ministry) being of that age and expressing interest in marrying.  The local culture provides three ways to go.  The one we hear about far too often is someone impregnated a girl and then working to settle issues between the families.  The seminar focused on why this was the worst choice and talked about going to court to marry and the option of a wedding.  The youth members of both ministries turned out in good number and have expressed thanks for talking about how to do things in a way that respects the cultural demands placed upon them and their desires for a church wedding.

Print request

We (Truth is Light) are preparing for a seminar.  There are handouts for this seminar’s topics.  The topic for the second half of the seminar is already at the printer.  It was only a matter of telling the printer how many copies to print.  He has prepared that booklet / handout for us many times before.  The first half of the seminar was a new topic for Truth is Light.  A new, much shorter, document was still in the draft stages a few days before the seminar.  To allow us to shorten the time needed to get it printed and to reduce costs, I offered to print it on my computer printer / copier.  (I invested in the printer / copier a while back to reduce the print document costs for the prison ministry.)  I received the last item I needed to accomplish the task the day before the seminar; however, it was after the solar power system was too weak to do the job that evening.  I had to print it in the morning, minutes before the seminar began.

Work Plan

As we approach the end of the calendar year, we need to update the documentation required of community-based organizations such as Truth is Light (TIL).  During our board meeting this month we were reviewing the work plans (vision of where we are going) of each ministry within TIL.  A few updates are needed to address overlap between some of the ministry areas. 

God has given us a vision for where the ministry is ready to grow and where it needs more time to establish a firm foundation for the future.  We anticipate a few challenges in the coming year, and many blessings.  God is great.

Land

I have not bought land for the ministry despite receiving suggestions to obtain land and plant crops, selling them to support the ministry.  I see those working the land spend so much time farming that they are unable to participate in the ministry. 

However, that is not my main reason for hesitating.  The issues of buying and selling land in rural Uganda are different that anything I expected.  I have heard that when someone buys the land, they may have to buy it again if someone in the seller’s family decides they should have received part of the proceeds and they did not.  Also, it seems most of the land deals are not sales, they are annual, or season leases.

I have decided to stay focused on the ministry.

New Leaders

I had another meeting today.  It was scheduled as an all-day meeting.  My assistant leader for the prison ministry team also had another meeting today.  We considered the team and selected two, an experienced leader that could take the meeting and one who is capable but has not led the meeting yet.  The experienced leader has a reputation of being over committed and may or may not show up, so we invited the team member who has experience presenting the bible study but had not coordinated a team meeting.

My other meeting ended early, and I made it to the prison team meeting.  My assistant injured his foot and could not manage walking to his other meeting, so he was here too.  We still allowed our substitute meeting coordinator to go forward.  He did a great job! 

The person presenting the bible study (for the first time) also did a great job.  God may be using the prison ministry to grow new leaders for his service.  I am blessed to see it happening.