Click the image below to see our Canadian itinerary. Looking forward to seeing many dear friends and family members in Canada!
Soon, and very soon, we may be coming to a Timmie's near you!
Click the image below to see our Canadian itinerary. Looking forward to seeing many dear friends and family members in Canada!
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For three weeks in the month of May, school kids were out on holiday. That means it was time for another Lamplighter Youth Camp! Our area of focus this time was on "How to be a wise Christian". These camps typically focus on love and relationships. However, the idea for this theme was sparked by a comment made by Tom, who said, "I'd get bored of learning that every time. I'd teach them how to read their Bibles!" So we started with 2 sessions on biblical literacy, looking at the overall story of the Bible and how the history of God's dealings with the ancient Israelites relate to us today. We looked at the different types of writing in the Bible (narrative, poetry, prophecy, etc), and also discussed the difference between translation methods. Finally, we took all these things together and applied it to how we should read and interpret the Bible in its original context. A local pastor who was sitting in was excited, and told the students, "You guys are lucky! You can only get this in theological school, and yet you're learning it for free!". Then we went into how to make wise decisions, looking at the different tools and resources we have to make two kinds of decisions in particular; moral decisions (choosing between right and wrong), and then practical decisions (choosing between options that require discernment of God's will for our lives). Linked to the part on moral decisions, we did some practice using role plays of how to say "no". It's hard for young people to say no to their friends all around the world, but there are some cultures in which saying no is even harder. We find Acholi culture is one of those cultures. So students were given a situation and told to come up with different ways to say no. The results were hilarious...including a couple groups which still ended up saying "yes" in the end! (We take that down to miscommunication!). The final 2 sessions were about the tools God gives us to overcome temptation and withstand pressure once we have taken a stand. Mike focused in particular on the role of strong friendships where we are held accountable by someone who loves Christ and loves us, to confess our struggles to and pray, specifically, about the challenges we face. Then we had a Q&A session, first with the whole group, and then breaking into guys and girls. Many of the guys shared deeply about the pressures they feel from family and friends to "get a wife" (not necessarily the same thing as getting married) and just start living with a woman. In the girls group, there was a lot of discussion about how to know a friend is trustworthy enough to be a prayer partner. There was a prevailing sense among the girls that "all women are gossips". We had a special time of prayer asking God to provide prayer partners for those girls who indicated they needed help finding one. Because of trying to maintain a normal schedule for Elias and the fact that the location was an hour's drive from home, we were not able to participate in the last 3 days of the week-long training. However, we visited Pastor Jimmy and his wife Phionah the following week in Gulu, and they told us that God really moved in peoples' hearts and brought some breakthrough and healing. They were teaching on the particularly difficult topic of fatherhood.
We are so thankful that God introduced us to Carla and Louis from Lamplighter, and that we are able to join in on these youth camps. We hope to share testimonies of changed lives in months to come! Glory be to God for His transforming love. |
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October 2021
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