Teaching in Uganda

So far we have loved our time in Uganda, we are in the tropical-mountainous region and so far God has allowed us to be apart of some really cool ministries. 

Everyday looks different for us but it usually starts at 6 am and we are on the road by 6:45 to walk to the boys secondary boarding school to do morning devotions and songs.  From there we head to the primary school and part ways with half of the team, half stay and help teach the different grades and subjects and the other half of the team heads to the medical clinic. We alternate days so that we go to both.  The kids at the primary school greet me with "Teacher Clay" and it's a little intimidating at first. 

My first day I was handed a science, math, and anatomy book and tried to quickly make a lesson plan for the day.  Each subject goes from 40-80 minutes and the kids hang onto every word that you say.  I basically held a review session for them the first day because they seemed to know everything that I covered, which was impressive to say the least. When you leave for the day they ask if you can stay and a million question about America follow and then they all run after you as you walk out and you get multiple hugs from each kid. 

At the clinic we also lead a morning devotion and song for the staff and then we break up and pray fro the different patients, most of who are suffering from malaria, and then we clean whatever is needed. Then it's lunch! Which is much later here than in America.  We usually have a break in the afternoon to go into town for groceries, journal, or try your luck at the internet (usually there's a power outage) and then we go back to the boys school to play sports or fellowship (African worship) with them. There are no street lights so we are back home by 7 and then after dinner we have time with the team to encourage and pray for each other and talk about the day. 

So that's a typical day summarized… but what that doesn't tell is how much I've been pushed in my walk with the Lord and outside my comfort zone.  God has been teaching me more about freedom and to be bold with the  ministry opportunities we have.  It's easy to want to not make suggestions or ask to do something differently or to pray with this random person on the side of the road.  But something that Ugandans say is "be free" and they mean if you want to do something, if you want to lead a song or stop and pray in the middle of the street,  be free in Christ and do it! And in that God has helped with providing His Holy Spirit and being so present with us in praying for people. 

I've felt so close to the Lord in our time here in Uganda, and we have been able to hear from God and see Him work in the ministry in ways that I couldn't have imagined or done on my own. 

A specific example of this was a few days ago at the boys fellowship where normally they sing  and dance (we dance a lot here) and someone will give a sermon, but instead of doing a sermon we wanted to open up a time to pray over the boys and let them bring any prayer requests they might have.  At first they just stared at us, but after the first boy boldly came up it was like a flood broke out.  We got home late because we got to spend so much time praying with them and then we found out that it was their favorite fellowship they've had and God answered many of the prayers by the next day!

We have been so blessed with the friends and relationships we have been able to make here and leaving will be hard.  Please continue to pray for the team's health and that we would be able to listen to the Lord and see opportunities that He is putting before us so that we can be Jesus to the people here.