Counseling Ministry With Jane

By Sara:

Anthony and I are so grateful for our friends here in Uganda who support and care for us in many ways.  One of my friends, Jane, and I have been working on counseling materials to share with church leaders as well as general trainings we can do to help people improve and build relationships in their families.  Jane has a lot of experience and wisdom in informally counseling people; it is one of her passions.  So, when I was invited back to some churches in Apac to teach women, Jane came with me.  We divided up our time and each shared on different topics.

Jane did a great job teaching about parenting issues and having good hygiene at home.  I really appreciate how free she is to share openly about topics a lot of people shy away from.  And as a Ugandan, she has a cultural perspective on all of these home and family matters that I don't have. 

I enjoyed the decorations at one of the churches.  This group brought shiny plastic garlands and draped them over me and Jane when we came into the church to welcome us!

The second church had organized a group of couples - church leaders and their spouses.  They had lots of good questions and stories to share out of their experience in ministry.  My topics to teach were on honoring the image of God in other people and forgiveness/reconciliation.  Since these were church leaders, they were eager to take what we discussed and put it into practice in their congregations.