Tuesday 24 October 2017

October.

Another month has passed since writing my last blog, so I thought I should give a quick update.

Our tailoring girls have been doing very well, and are continuing to learn the skills they need to be independent.
Agnes and myself have also begun running the Wise Choices for Life program with the girls, and their responses have been great.
Although this group is fairly quiet and shy, some of the activities like drama have brought them out of their shells.

We also had Andrew come over, although only for a week, and he was able to get some things done with Village of Hope. We are excited about some of the changes at Village of Hope, and perhaps how YSU will be involved with VOH in the future.

Our dancing group have also continued to be a big part of YSU.
They will often train on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, including a bible study on Sunday. They then also organize some kind of outreach every month.
During holidays this can mean a bigger project like building a house for an elderly women. But during school season, it might simply mean a Saturday morning washing clothes for an elderly disabled woman (which is what they did last Saturday)
The dancing group realizes that these outreach's are just as important, or more important, then their dancing skills and dancing performances.

You can check out a little clip of their building this house here:  https://vimeo.com/234269358

We have also been happy to see Allan grow as one of our YSU members.
Allan is a former YWAMER who is now working for us. He helps lead the guys and teach them dancing and performing arts, while also monitoring their welfare and being a bit of a mentor to them.
I have also been meeting regularly with him every Wednesday afternoon.

He is still a young man, but we see lots of potential with him .. and he has a very strong passion for the work.

We want to be a bit more intentional here at YSU, to build up younger people who may be able to take over more and more in our program in the future.

Our young guys also ran in a charity run recently. This was to raise money for more equipment for the local health center, for more maternity beds.
Here are some photos from the run! They did a great job of representing YSU and getting engaged in the community.


Farouk also gave it a go. And could barely walk after he completed the run.


Allan participates in the run. Allan has been helping teach the dancing boys program.


Our boys Lucky and Ofono.



Here Grace is leading the pack. Grace is our boy who had a tumor in his leg. At the start of the year he had the tumor removed and tested to see if it was cancerous (it was not) How great to see him now being able to run on his leg, after many months of being crippled. He has made a full recovery and we praise God for it.


The team at the end of the run.


Personally we are doing well, although a bit tired and looking forward to the summer.
We feel that we have a good local support system in place right now, compared to say a year ago.
We have been starting to attend Calvary Chapel in Jinja a lot more regularly. We love this church, as they seem to be a really great bible based teaching church .. something that can sometimes be hard to come across here.
Aggie also has her weekly women's group that she attends on Thursdays, and we also have a cross cultural marriage group that comes together every month.

Sometimes it can be a bit hard to try and find something interesting or inspiring to write here on this blog. The daily grind and slog of life here goes on ... and sometimes I need to stop and remind myself of the beauty in each day, or the lesson God is trying to teach me.
It is easy to get a bit discouraged. Or sometimes, you may be surprised, it is easy to feel 'bored' here on the ground. Many people in Australia may feel that working in a third world country in ministry would never be boring .. that everyday is a learning curve, and being stretched and challenged. And certainly that can be the case.
It might sound surprising that I would mention being 'bored' at times, because in all honesty ... there would be very interesting things that we observe and see all the time compared to what might happen back in Australia. But I have been here long enough to become perhaps 'desensitized' to the unusual.
So something I often find surprising, is the feeling of being 'bored' .. or missing out on something more. I am learning to deal with his. Perhaps it is state of my own heart ... a feeling that the grass is always greener on the other side. I am trying to deal with this, and learn to be content and satisfied in God throughout all the experiences of life.

But we are trying to learn to stay committed to the people we are serving here, no matter how exciting or not exciting the day may seem or feel.
Our feelings should not dictate how we serve ... some days are amazing and we feel like what we are doing is very worthwhile. Other days not so much. But either way we are learning that God works in both the exciting and what seems mundane.
I have learnt that it is also very important to not rest heavily on getting your meaning and your purpose from your work.
Otherwise every setback will be shattering. Resting in God and putting your purpose and meaning in Him means that no matter what happens .. ultimately you can't be shaken.

Looking back we can also see God's graces in what we have done. Yes there are failed projects that have collapsed. Yes there are people who went back into a destructive lifestyle. There are disappointments and conflicts.
But there are also changed youth, changed people and changed hearts. There is progress, success and hope. We are able to thank God for all of these things.

Personally with health, Agnes is doing well, although she still needs plenty of rest as the pregnancy is hard on her.
She will be traveling back to Australia with my mum next month, and I will join her in December.

We thank everyone for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you over the summer.