Kaberamaido TLT - Teaching the Christian Faith

By Anthony:

I recently finished the fifth manual, "Teaching the Christian Faith" in Kaberamaido.  Here is a video from worship time.  This is a song most of you know, but in the Kumam language.  See if you can figure it out!  I'll put the answer at the bottom of the post.

The week went very well.  Here is one of our two groups in the photo below.  We majorly focused on how to teach children in Sunday School.  One interesting issue that came up this time was that most churches don't have any Sunday School curriculum, materials, or even a blackboard to use.  Many of the TLT members thought that the solution is to find donors or missionaries who could give such materials.  This led to an interesting discussion (the topic of which intersects with my When Helping Hurts Training).  I shared with them stories of when children's programs died when such materials were given.  Children get used to the fancy materials, and when the church can not afford to keep buying them and has to go back to their local resources, the children become disappointed and stop coming.  We encouraged the pastors to begin using what simple materials they have, rather than waiting for handouts from missionaries, and saving money in order to buy blackboards. 



We have to get up and do stretches a lot.  It's tough to sit all day!



We enjoyed listening to reports from the last manual, "Preaching."  So many of these leaders went out and trained others in the preaching manual, and I would say that all of them vastly improved in their own preaching through utilizing the new method they learned and even giving constructive evaluations to one another.

One leader even went home and trained his own pastor (who was not at TLT), how to preach using the new method.  That pastor must be a humble pastor!

One pastor went home and his congregation noticed an enormous difference in his preaching.  As a church they said if this is what TLT does for him, they want to send him back for more.  So now that local church is paying for their pastor to come back to TLT, instead of him having to pay for everything himself as he has been doing.

As we did in my Amuria group, we divided into small groups to make Bible lessons to give to Sunday School children.

Then they presented their teachings with some of them pretending to be children.  In the picture below, they are praying, and one of the naughty children is peeking through his hand.  The presentations were very funny, but I didn't manage to get any of the funny parts on video.

At the end all of the participants made action plans.  Most plans were to go back and train their Sunday School teachers how to teach Bible lessons to children.  Some members don't have Sunday School programs in their churches yet so they are going to start them.  Another leader is going to help children memorize Scripture.  And some are going to teach other leaders this TLT manual.  A group of pastors and development leaders are going to attempt to train 500 people (youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, and pastors) in this manual from all over the district.  It's quite a bold plan!



Driving back home I always have a very full vehicle.  I never have enough room for all the people that want rides, but I fit as many as I can.  Here is Joseph, one of my TLT co-leaders sitting with about 4 bags on his lap.

Last, here are some more worship videos for you to enjoy.  The song from the first video is "He is Lord."  Did you get it right?

Hiking at Sipi Falls

By Sara:

We had the fun and exciting opportunity to take a Saturday trip to Sipi Falls, on the slopes of Mount Elgon for hiking.  We went with my friend Kathleen, Eric who is working in Mbale, and Trent who is spending a few months working in Kaberamaido with the agricultural programs of our partner organization KMDP.

 

It was a very beautiful location and we enjoyed just looking out over the waterfall and plains below. 

And we had a nice dinner by lantern light.
 

The hike itself was also great, but we sure felt touristy.  We had to go with a guide and they gave us all walking sticks, which although very helpful, made us feel like we REALLY stuck out!  At the beginning of a hike, there was a very friendly dog that wanted to come with us.

He wasn't able to make it down the ladder, though.

We got to go right up to this lovely waterfall and got very wet.

Then, we hiked back up the other side of the cliff to some caves.

Finally, we made our way back around the ridge to where we started.
 

Kaberamaido Boat Race

By Sara:

I had the opportunity to represent World Renew at a boat race that is part of the HIV/AIDS prevention project that KMDP is working on in Kaberamaido.  This is the project that is using the Stepping Stones curriculum.  They are focusing on working with fishermen, so one of the activities they had for getting the community involved and informed was a boat race on Lake Kyoga.

It was quite the event!  There were songs performed and dramas put on by participants in the community groups, who shared, in an entertaining way, on such topics as: the ways that people can become infected with HIV, the importance of getting tested and knowing your status, and ways to resist people pressuring you to have sex.

There were also speeches by people who work in the area in hospitals and health centers.  (Oh, and since I was the World Renew person who was present, I also shared a few words!)  And at the end of all the festivities, people had the opportunity to get tested for HIV if they wanted.

I had a few little followers during the event:

There were actually two boat races - one for women and one for men.  Each village involved in the Stepping Stones program chose someone to race for them.  Lots of people turned out to cheer for their team member.  They had to row out to the boat you can see in the distance in the picture below, go around it, then come back.

Whenever someone made it to the finish line, they were joyfully splashed with water, so they ended up completely soaked!

It was a really fun event.  I enjoyed seeing the ways that the community has taken hold of this project and how they are promoting to one another good health and the importance of faithful marriages.

TEA Conference with CRWM in Kampala

By Anthony:

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the TEA conference (Theological Education in Africa) put on by CRWM (Christian Reformed World Missions) in Kampala.  The conference was quite good, but I especially enjoyed the fellowship.  Rarely have I ever been with so many people I know, from so many different areas of my life, all in one place.

I won't bore you with a bunch of names of the people who attended, but of the 300 or so participants included: about 20 of my church leader friends in Soroti (including my co-leaders with TLT), several students I had at Pentecostal Theological college 5 years ago, a couple of my Calvin Seminary professors, a couple CRC pastors from the US, the regional TLT leader who lives in Kenya, a World Renew Kenya colleague, and CRWM friends.  In addition I got to meet the CRCNA's new executive director, Steve Timmermans, whom I very much enjoyed talking to.  He is the right man for the job.  I also met pastors from all over Africa, stretching from South Africa to Ethiopia.

Taking the Lord's Supper with such a gathering of people like this was very meaningful after many sermons about unity over the week.  I also attended a sort of reunion or union meeting with all the TLT members from all over Africa to hear about what God is doing. 

Throughout the week, I participated in two workshops.  From Steve Timmermans, I had the privilege of learning how to better include people with disabilities in the full range of church life and worship.  This is a huge issue in Africa.  Many people with disabilities are just shut inside their homes as children, as the parents don't really know how to deal with them and are ashamed of them.  I can't imagine how painful and lonely some people's lives are just because they have certain disabilities.  Thankfully some pastors are creating awareness and teaching the Church, and learning to treat people with these issues as real people and valuable members of the church.  Change is slow, but it's happening.

I also took a workshop on preaching and the Gospel of Luke, with David Rylaarsdam from Calvin Seminary, which I really enjoyed.  The TEA staff assigned me to be prefect (class assistant) for that class, so that was pretty funny and fun.

One passage we focused on was Jesus' transfiguration (Luke 9).  I never knew how to preach on this passage and definitely hadn't thought about it enough.  Studying it was powerful for me personally.  We discussed how Jesus was getting ready to go to Jerusalem, to his death, and had just been teaching his disciples that they would have to follow him in suffering.  The disciples probably had trouble understanding.  Then in the Transfiguration, Jesus was clothed with glory.  What I now understand was that it was a foretaste for Jesus, like an encouragement to him, that at end of his suffering awaited glory.  He talked about his upcoming death with Moses and Elijah.  It was a comfort to him as he prepared to grit his teeth to go suffer and die in Jerusalem. 

The disciples wanted to shortcut the suffering and stay in the glory and build tents on the mountain.  But the glory only comes after the cross. To me this was powerful in thinking about my own life and suffering I have gone through.  I used to just say to myself, "Jesus promised us we would suffer for following him, so just deal with it, and grit your teeth."  But now, I feel I have a more balanced understanding.  Now I can say, "Jesus promised us we would suffer for following him, so I must grit my teeth and face it, and yet I know this suffering is temporary and I will one day be transformed in glory as Jesus was."