Building Up Pastors and Blessing the Poor

Today was the final day of the pastor’s conference in Bukeeka, and nearly 120 people participated! It was a tremendous joy to work through the Book of Romans with such an eager and engaged group. There were several questions having to do with Christian submission to government as described in Romans 13, which seemed a fitting topic as rumors are already circulating here of Nelson Mandela’s death. We also spent quite a while discussing how Christians deal with disagreements in practice, an important topic since differences regarding spiritual disciplines have been a matter of contention among the local pastors. We managed to work all the way through Romans by the time the conference was to conclude, and the participants were delighted when we presented them with certificates of completion on behalf of Grace Giving International.

While Pastor Ken and I were participating in the conference, Martha, Becca, and Charlie were blessing five families in Bukeeka with food staples. Then they headed to Jinja where they bought shoes and backpacks for some of the Fountain of Hope students. After that they arranged blood work and a doctor’s appointment for Sarah, Pastor Robert’s sister. She has been suffering from malaria and severe pain below her abdomen, which is a great concern as her mother died young of ovarian cancer. Finally, they were able to arrange a doctor’s appointment for Pastor Peter, and get the surgery to restore his voice scheduled for July 9^th. We are all tremendously grateful and thank God for donor who responded to yesterday’s blog post by generously funding the surgery!

Tonight is our second night preparing for the soccer and netball tournament that begins tomorrow at Fountain of Hope. This year there will be 32 teams from 16 schools competing, and we are preparing to help bring order out of the chaos! Mwabule nwa—thank you very much for your continued prayers and support of the work we are blessed to help with here!

 

Kirk and the Helping Hands