Waiting on the Lord is a phrase full of meaning and complexity at the same time.
It raises the question, should I literally do nothing but sit here and wait? Or does it mean I wait for the Lord’s timing and as I am actively walking with Jesus He brings more clarity to how and where we should spend our time.
This is a question our team has wrestled with and I have found waiting on the Lord's timing means actively pursuing God as I daily walk with Jesus. The Lord has definitely gone before us and prepared a way that none of us were fully expecting to experience this first year of ministry.
This past Saturday we held 2 pastor trainings at two different locations, which was a first for our team here in Arua, Uganda. While Billy and Joanna were in Nebbi training pastors, I was in Arua training John Onek (pictured above) from Sudan. We had a great time and he is very well educated. He actually works for the Sudanese government, but his real passion is training pastors and planting new churches.
Both trainings are growing too!! The Nebbi pastors are now teaching 7 more of their fellow pastors the church membership manual, so that we will have a total of 12 pastors when we open the official pastor training in January. Our Sudan training, of the church membership manual, is now up from 1 to 4. So while it is not all about the numbers by any means, God does have a unique economy where HE multiplies the ministry. The Lord is really opening doors and providing the right people without us having to go and "make things happen." It is amazing to see how God is working in this corner of the world and what a privilege we have to participate with God in this work.
Billy and I also just returned from Nebbi this past Wednesday, where we were meeting the local government officials. In Uganda, as in most places, it is a good idea to introduce yourself and the work you are doing in order to develop true friendships and let the local officials know we are here to help and have nothing to hide. There have been some groups who have just shown up and started administering medicines, training pastors and giving out food without going through the proper channels and these types of people are viewed as cults or sects. So we wanted to make sure World Gospel Mission was NOT identified with this group at all. By the end of out visit we had been welcomed to work in the Nebbi Region and I think made it clear we are here to help the people of Uganda. Benson & Cosmos, pastors in training, accompanied Billy and I to these meetings (pictured above).
Not every week is a “red letter” week and often we can feel home sick for our own family and culture as we are faced with the real life challenges of living in Uganda. Then there are those weeks, like this one, that remind us why we are here and bring our focus back to how God sees the world.
Just another week in Africa! Thanks for praying! We love & appreciate you all!
