Primary Retreat - Day 2

Day 7

Greetings from Steve and Laurie in Uganda--A beautiful Sunday morning! The van came to take us to the St. Mark's retreat compound and we found the 80+ Timothy children already singing in the church. The "English" service went from 7-9 am, and Pastor Joseph encouraged us all to find hope in troubled times and instruction for walking in righteousness in the Word of God.

The Timothy children's choir sang and there was excitement and joy in their voices--always clapping--as all the children sang to the beat of the drum.........."He is the God of SOLUTION."

At 9:00 we had breakfast and went into small groups where the CLIDE Team taught on hygiene and personal relationships. As we finished we were treated to an amazing hour-long African thunderstorm, forming rivers and lakes in the dirt. The sun was just coming out as the community service finished at St. Mark's. We heard a precious story of a little boy in this service who during the offering for the new church building brought up all he had: a package of small cookies (worth 250 shillings). The pastor auctioned off the gift and received 10,000 shillings!

After lunch Elder Zachary from St. Mark's taught the children some basic concepts about the Bible. They were each given a New Testament in English. Our team later did sword drills with the children seeing who could find Bible verses the quickest, offering lots of help for the younger ones. Many of the children's teachers came with them and were wonderful support at time, such as during this activity.

After dinner under the stars and a full moon the children watched the last half of the Jesus Film. What a wonderful day, our last full day with the children. The tie-dye T-shirts were on the line drying, and we all headed off to our beds.

Barb here now:
In the evening before dinner at 6pm CLIDE showed the children the Jesus film. It is 3.5 hours long written from the book of Luke. The children were incredibly engaged with the film though it was shown in English with Zachary interpreting in Ngakaramajong. Zachary is the one who gave 18 years of his life to translating the Bible for his people. We suspect it was the first movie most of the children have ever seen. They reacted quite strongly with fear and repulsion when the serpent as Satan tempted Jesus. We have seen 2 vipers and another venomous snake thus far. Fortunately one was already killed before we arrived. Another was run over by Dr. Val as we drove from the Peace village. The third was in the road as we drove to Kangole. Snakes are not only a very real danger but eve more strongly are known as connected to evil spirits.

The children laughed with joy or cheered in praise and wonder of Jesus' miracles. The film was played in 2 nights due to the length. As the children watched Jesus pushed around, then struck with a stick they cried out in outrage at the injustice. a?s the beating continued becoming stronger one child held up his hands as if to express ,"How could they do this!!??" The room filled with cries of outrage as Jesus,beaten and weak carried his cross and fell. As the nails were pounded into His flesh the children were weeping. I will forever remember the looks of horror, shock, outrage and the sound of their weeping of their Jesus- this friend many were just beginning to know.

As the resurrection unfolded before them the room brightened with the clapping and rejoicing of the children. Eagerly the children accepted the invitation to invite Jesus to be their Savior. More than 2/3rds of the children stood at the invitation and prayed. Their hearts were filled longing so say "yes" to Jesus- this miracle working, death conquering One who had suffered so grievously and unjustly for them. Thank you Almighty God for baring Your holy right arm of salvation over that place drawing into Your kingdom these precious Timothy children.

We didn't know how many of the children knew Christ before that day. I talked with one of the older girls who stayed behind after the movie. She had met Christ a few years ago. She was a believer but was so stirred by what she saw she was compelled to respond to Him.

Please continue to pray for these dear children God has chosen for Himself as they go out. Pray as in Is. 52:12 that as the Lord went before them making the way for them to meet Jesus that He will continue His rear guard of protection over them in their homes.

One of our major concerns we have come to share with CLIDE is that the children will remain in the homes they are in during the 2 months of vacation from school. This is the dry season now and the rainy season did not bring good crop production. Many will find it hard to get enough to eat and will be tempted to return to Kampala and beg. Others may simply leave searching for food. Pray for Anyakun Moses and Christine Otim as they travel keeping contact with the children during this time.