Ministries in Arua...

After spending nearly 7 weeks in the busy city of Kampala, Arua was a breath of fresh air. Post root canal things started looking up and I began to fall in love with the people of Arua! One of our main ministries was helping distract the little kiddies while their parents were in classes at Uganda Christian University. Tuesdays and Thursday were the highlights of our week! We would sing songs as long as possible, have a Bible lesson, and play games...seems simple but had a great impact on Angela and me. Those kids were such a blessing to us! As were the MK's and our lovely neighbor kids that would come to our Bible Club on Saturday mornings! Angela and I had a fun time meeting the little ones from our neighborhood and acting out Bible stories and playing more games each Saturday. God used me in ways I never thought. I had never really planned children's Bible lessons without using materials or having a book to guide me step by step, but I soon began to love the idea! Hey why can't we actually just use Bible stories right out of the Bible, make it kid friendly and use some imagination on how we can tell a story without purchasing a $25 activity book or watching a video. A brilliant idea! Not to say activity books are bad, but we wanted something that could be replicated and that did not cost a thing.
Another opportunity I never thought I was capable of was leading a small group of women...not our typical bible study women, but women/girls that have been taken in by a saint of a lady and taught how to knit and who now have hope in their future. Susan (the saint of a lady) has started a business of making school sweaters. Only she does not hire just anyone. Susan takes in orphans, people from the street, women who have children but were abandon by the father, girls who don't know what the next step should be. She takes them in and teaches them the trade of knitting...something they can do the rest of their lives. But she not only teaches them but loves them and provides for them and best of all shares Jesus with them! When we were asked to share with these ladies, I could not have felt more inadequate. What in the world can I offer to them?? Even heading into our last meeting I felt like nothing I had done had made a difference. And really...nothing I did really did make a difference, I was just willing and God worked through my inadequacy. He used Angela and I to minister to these girls despite our lack of experience and wisdom. I will never forget our last day there when Ruth prayed for us and said what a blessing and encouragement we had been. We had made a difference but ONLY because God worked through us! The first step is to just be willing...