Hello Everyone,

Last weekend was our “Spark up the Flame-rediscovering your first love.” youth conference. It went really well. We had almost 100 kids, which is the goal Ryan and I were shooting for. It was a time for the youth to learn about falling in love with Jesus on their own accord. In Uganda you are either Christian or Muslim, but it doesn’t mean the faith is really your own. Usually a person is one or the other here because of the family they were born into. It is kind of how America was 30 years ago, the I-am-an-American-so-I-am-a-Christian attitude. We had 4 great teachers and I think the kids really got that they needed to have a relationship with Christ that was personal and intimate

It is rainy season here, so having an outdoor conference is a risky thing. Ryan and I had all of our staff praying that there wouldn’t be rain for the Friday and Saturday of the conference. We had made a stage for the conference and the metal frame was done a week in advance, but for some reason the wood for the stage wasn’t going to be ready until Friday morning. Our plan had been if it wasn’t raining we would set up everything out side and then as soon as the wood inserts arrived put them in and be set for the conference. Friday morning Ryan and I were both up very early getting things ready in the rain. We were so bummed. We had a back up plan, and were setting up the church because of the rain, we hoped it would stop raining by lunch time and then we could move the conference back outside. We prayer and then said well we have prayed enough and God knows why He is allowing it to rain. Well we started the conference in the church and during the first speaker Aaron (who happens to be our carpenter), one of our staff went and picked up the boards, only to get them here and find out all of them were too big to fit in the frame. After Aaron was finished speaking we quickly grabbed him and he trimmed all the boards to fit during the second speaker so that by lunch time the sun was up and our stage was finished. The rest of the conference went off pretty smoothly.

We had a concert on Friday night as part of the conference. The group is called Pure Souls and they are a hip hop group formed by some Calvary Chapel Kampala members. They are really talented and really great guys; all of our kids really admire them and look up to them. The talked about many topics during the concert including their testimony, abstinence and AIDS. It was a time for our kids to let loose and have fun in a godly environment. Most of the kids were up dancing the whole time.

Schools have been on holidays so I haven’t been doing school ministry but I start back up this week and am excited to see the kids again. The first week of school in Uganda is funny, because schools cost, you can’t start school until you have paid. Well most Ugandan’s have very poor planning habits, so they don’t start looking the money for their children’s school fees until the day school starts. So most kids will not be in school this week, and some will still not be next week. It also means we will have hundreds of people showing up this week asking for help to pay their children’s school fees.

These next two months will be the months of teams. We have 3 teams coming the next two months. We have a team called Believers World, which is made up of Christians from all over the States; they will meet for the first time here in Uganda. We also have an adult team and a youth team from Calvary Chapel Albuquerque. The adult team comes this Saturday. We are all looking forward to them; they will be a lot of fun. They will also keep us all very busy as we have are normal ministries and they have special ministries planned.They will be doing dramas, testimonies, preaching and medical ministries in the schools, prisons, and local villages.

All of our Muzungu (read white people) staff here, except me, have attended Calvary Albuquerque’s School of Ministry. It is a 9 month course that teaches Bible, and is basically and church ministry training program. About 6 years ago Jessie (the pastor here) started a branch of the school of ministry here. It is a requirement for our elders in the church and people who are involved in ministry here. We have also used it to train pastors that then go out to other villages and start Calvary Chapels there. The next School of Ministry starts the first week of July. I will be attending this year on top of doing the ministry that I already do. I am not sure what God has for me after this year, but we all felt that if it was for me to stay here in Jinja with Calvary it was best for me to do School of Ministry this year. I am excited about starting the school in a couple months, but I am also worried about spreading myself too thin. You can all pray that God helps sustain me through it all. I will be attending class from 9-12pm Monday – Friday and then still doing prisons and school ministry after that. I will also be trying to spend most of the day on Saturday with our orphan girls that live here. So, it doesn’t leave much time for rest.

These last couple months have really been a blessing, as after last year I had kind of started to wonder if I could ever been really effective in Africa. I have started to see ways that I can make small impacts. It has also been nice because all the staff had been so encouraging. Last week our Ugandan pastor JB, came up to me and said how he has just really enjoyed having me here. He also said that my cheerful attitude has encouraged him, and he felt that I have really had a positive impact here. Wow that was such a blessing to hear. Last year I felt the whole time, if I am not making an impact why am I here? I still feel that last year was amazing preparation for this year, and for understanding Ugandan culture. There were several times where I think I offended people without even knowing it because of the culture differences, and I just struggled through it alone, not knowing the mistakes I had made. Now I feel I have such a support team of both Ugandan and Americans that let me know culture insights and tell me when I need to change things. I have even started taking Luganda language lessons from Ryan.

I met with Jen, the lady who lost her daughter. They haven’t caught the lady who ran her over yet. It breaks my heart to talk with her. She has become a strong Christian, but life is falling apart around her. Her husband has left her for another woman and now she has pretty much nothing. She has 2 more kids who are supposed to start school this week and no way to pay for them. I gave her the little spare money I had yesterday so that she can start building a chicken coop, she is hoping to raise chicken to sell them to make money. Please be praying that she stays strong in Christ even though this tough time.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support, it always just blesses me to know there are so many of you back home praying for me.

In Him,
Megan