December Delights

December's are always my busiest month of ministry.  Youth Conferences, Bible club, Christmas gatherings... on top of that - pigs and life.  :) 

I am excited to say that our piggery is doing well.   

 Two weeks ago 6 more piglets were born into the barn and now we have a total of 17.  A few have already been slaughtered and I have a feeling this Oil of Gladness project may prove to be successful yet.  It's been a long journey, but sometime some equipment will come out of all the hard work.  Microphones and speakers are first on the wish list!

 Merry Christmas to you!

 Santa Claus came to town, and since he refused to greet the kids, they were not happy. :(

 Oil of Gladness has ministered at 4 weddings in the last 2 months.

 Group shot! In uniform with the new drum kit... a special gift from Bethel CRC in Newmarket.

 Sam missed the group shot by moments... so here he is!

 Last week there was a huge youth conference and I was treasurer, registrar and speaker.  Treasurer was both hard and easy, because there was almost zero money to work with... except for the small registration fee that the youth brought with them to attend a 6 day conference. Thankfully I had an awesome crew of neighbours and friends to help me make name tags and meal cards.

 Over 1800 youth registered to attend the annual Anglican youth conference.  A massive event.

 Lots of singing, prayer and fasting, listening, laughing, and learning.

 Hallelujah was a big support to me at the registration table.

 Oil of Gladness let an evening of praise on the Wednesday night.

 Power kept kicking off, so the drums kept us going in local praise and worship.

 Here are the youth escorting the guest speaker to my car, after she finished speaking.  So fun!

 Cultural music

 I am so grateful for Rev. Beseri Otekat and all his hard work in making sure the conference was a huge success!  He is a joy to partner with in the ministry.

Yesterday I had the great privilege of catching up with old college friends.  I'm beyond thankful that Joseph, Glenda, and Keziah drove out of their way to come and see me.  God is so good.

CYCAS in Alebtong

The Compassion site in Alebtong called the Soroti Children's ministry team to come and train them in CYCAS.  For 5 days we traveled deep into the village and taught 29 church leaders and Compassion directors on Children Youth Community and Sports.  We were delighted to journey together and train both children and leaders. 

 Stopping along the way - a 4 hour drive... to climb trees and stretch.

 During the trainings the youth were also being taught some craft skills.  Here is a group learning how to make cement flower pots and other decorating items.

 Another group was learning how to crochet bags and baby shoes.

 Serving the trainees.... that challenged some of the men because they thought that white people never serve... the old colonial thinking.

 Playing fun games

 Water Bucket Relay

 At the end of the day, our typical classroom moved outside for fresh air.

 I taught and babysat at the same time. :)

 Back inside the classroom

 An airplane/airport race...

 With Immigration at the end of the game

"Don't touch!"  Can you get the biscuit from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands?

We had a great week of learning, fellowship, serving, and village life.