"Lord, if you are willing..."

Matthew 8:2 "A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Luke 5:12 "While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Mark 9:22-24 'It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for one who believes." Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the stories of Jesus in our lunch hour Bible class. Yesterday, I asked the kids to sit and write down something that they would ask the Lord for if he was willing.  Here are their statements:

Jesus, if you are willing, please help me be kind.

Jesus, if you are willing please help me be clever.

Jesus, if you are willing, please heal me. 3x

Jesus, if you are willing, please help us to travel safely to Kenya.

Jesus, if you are willing, please make me a pro-footballer in the premiere league and give me a dog.

Jesus, if you are willing, please let me go to heaven and may you help me be wise.

Jesus, if you are willing, please help me feel better.

Jesus, if you are willing, please give me your bravery and heal my family and save everyone in the world. 

Jesus, if you are willing, please heal my relatives.

Jesus, if you are willing, please bless my mum and dad.

Jesus, if you are willing, please help me to see my grandma before she dies.

Lord, if you are willing, please help me live a peaceful life with my family.

Jesus, I wish to have a good day for ever and ever.

Jesus, if you are willing, please may I have a cat.

Jesus, if you are willing, please le me grow my hair so long and let me get my doll and bring back my best friend.

Jesus, if you are willing, please heal me from my allergies. And let us go to Germany.

Jesus, if you are willing, could you give me the Holy Spirit?

Jesus, if you are willing, please make me a professional basketball player. PLEASE?!!

And mine is:

Jesus, if you are willing, please take this choking cough away from me.

June Moments 2022

Here are a few highlights of our past month. 

I found these beautiful beans in the main market. Yum Yum.

Moses is sharing jackfruit with our friend Chrispus.

We are excited that our little church has a fresh coat of paint.

Welcome to UCC!

I was given a box of cheerios as a gift. Woohoo!

School food - this is called "boo and eggs". It's like spinach and scrambled eggs/

Another staple - always!! - is BEANS.

Moses and I went out for an awesome evening of praise and worship at Gulu University.

Our church family, UCC, was hosting the campus event called "Ignite".

On my birthday I was blessed over and over again!! Here is a cake made by my friend Phionah.

The ladies Bible study group.

I host this lovely group every Monday evening, as we join together for Bible study.  At the moment we are doing a study on 2 Timothy, called "Entrusted".

Moses helped to lead children's ministry training out in Koch Goma.

Another fun birthday surprise - a lovely gift from a sweet friend.

Bamboo in the gardens.

I think cacti are so pretty.

Chocolate love!

A birthday package in the mail.

Training on 17 Stories and Stories of Hope.

I've never had a children's ministry training with just male teachers. :) 

Moses made me breakfast in bed for my birthday. I'm blessed (and full)!

Editing Roots to Fruits curriculum.

Reading through Moses's sermon before he drives to Kitgum to preach on the radio.

Greetings from Grandma, make my heart sing.

Ignite Worship Night

Lead Today Graduation

 On Saturday, May 21, a graduation was celebrated with all the youth who completed the 15 lessons of "Lead Today". It was a course on developing God leaders and I partnered up with Luke and Rapha from World Embrace, Gulu, to run 5 discipleship classes a week.  

We praise God for this group.  They were blessed with a big breakfast, a time of worship, a few speeches, a certificate, Bible, and a few other prizes and treasures.  One young man memorized every verse perfectly of the 15 week course and went home with all the chocolate bars!

Concussion and a Cut

 Earlier this month I knocked my head on the bathroom taps in the craziest of ways.  It took two nights before I realized there was a huge dent on my forehead and skull.  The next day I started feeling a lot of pain, nausea, and headaches.  I progressively got worse over the weekend.  And since it was school break and I didn't have to teach for two weeks, Moses made the decision to take me to Kampala. 

Sleeping during the 6 hour drive

I think we were both scared by the time one week had past. Thankfully a doctor saw us immediately and she ordered a CT scan.  She didn't think there was much there, but wanted me to see a neurosurgeon at 6:30 the next morning.

Thankfully it was ruled out as a concussion and a sinus infection. I was told to rest and drink plenty of fluids. 

After a few days of rest, I felt like I needed a new look before heading back to Gulu.  I can't tell you the last time I was at the salon. It was 2.5 hours of blissful pampering. A fun cut and colour.

After coming back to Gulu, I was able to rest a bit more.  Thankfully the pain and nausea has disappeared and I only occasionally am slow in speech.  The kids I teach have noticed that I am slower in processing, but they are so good to me.  This class has seen me for months now, come to class with a water bottle because of the constant coughing to do chronic acid reflux, and they have become so patient, caring and forgiving.  I'm glad I am still able to teach every day!!

Jesus as Undercover Boss

Wrapping up Week 15 of the "Lead Today" series that I have been co-teaching, the lesson focused on Jesus as the perfect servant leader.  Jesus really is a very unexpected role-model.  Over the weeks, we pondered 5 levels of leadership.

"The beginning level of leadership is POSITION. Most people start on this level with others.  Real leadership growth begins at Level 2, where you earn the ability to influence others by building a relationship with them. Once you have gained their trust over time, you can begin to help them be successful and productive as part of the team. PERMISSION. This is a high level of accomplishment as a leader, as is moving to Level 3. PRODUCTION. But excellent leaders pursue moving to Level 4, where they invest in others helping them become better leaders. PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT. Only the very best leaders ever make it to Level 5. They do this by spending a lifetime serving, leading, and investing in others. PINNACLE"

The reason why I believe Jesus is a phenomenal leader is because He was and is King of the Universe; there at the beginning of time and part of creation.  He knew me before I was born. He gave up His pinnacle position on the throne and came to earth in the position of a human baby. Jesus influenced those around Him, but more importantly, He has greatly influenced my life.

I have been watching a few episodes of "Undercover Boss" lately, and while sitting in class, I imagined Jesus being the ultimate leader in an undercover position.  Jesus gave up His Heavenly throne, to be the Son of a carpenter.  Jesus learned, taught, and experienced.  He has been through mockery, rejection, hunger, tiredness, denial, homelessness, and so much more, so that He could die in my place.  Christ had a crown of thorns placed on His divinely human head, so that I could become a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

My eternal King has already sat down in my heart and had a chat with me. I know that I have a place in eternal glory with Him. I'm a part of the company of Saints. I have so much to keep learning from my boss - patience, forgiveness, discernment, wisdom, courage, clarity of speech and more. At the same time, I rejoice that I get to be a part of the Kingdom business already - teaching Bible to primary students, leading discipleship classes, digging into His Holy Word and sharing it with others, serving as a missionary in Gulu, Uganda, and being His hands and feet on behalf of a few churches and saints in North America.

Right now, my heart is blessed to have Christ as the Leader of my Life.

 

Come to Mt. Carmel

Mount Carmel is the place where Elijah called the false prophets and the people of Israel together, to teach them a lesson in truth.  The Lord is God. There is no other.  I may not be as bold as Elijah, but I sure to love sharing how God's stories point us to Christ.  He is our Rock.  The One True God.

Sharing Bible stories in chronological order.

The kids ask so many amazing questions during our daily Bible times.

Here I am, showing teachers how I teach the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel.

Who doesn't love to play a little dress-up every once in a while.

Equipping teachers with the Stories of Hope materials.

And guiding them through the idea that the whole Bible is one big story of God's love for us.

It's been a long time since we have led a group of teachers, and even though Covid has been a long season, it felt so good to be leading a training once again.

Moses is a great tag-time partner.  He shared the Biblical basis for doing children's ministry.

Jesus brought the little children unto him, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as them.

We are so grateful for our friends Benji and Chrispus, who helped to build a water tower!!

We know that God desires for us to bringing physical and living water to our neighbours!