Criminal Trial Update: The trial convened again on September 28th. Amos was cross-examined. The defense asked for Amos to produce a couple of documents. These could have been made available immediately, but court was adjourned and scheduled to reconvene in December! We are simply trusting that God is in control of all things. This will most likely push the civil case to recover the land back at least until sometime in 2024.
January Trip: Thus far we don’t have anyone who has committed to making the trip with us in January. We would like to take a few people who would join us in training and discipling these children. School will be out, so we will have lots of time to spend at the Junction with the children.
The rest of this newsletter is written by Amos reporting on the activities of September.
Here is an update on What God has done through the month of September.
- Parents meeting.
We held a joint parents and Kids meeting on the 8th of September. We did a review on Academic performance and intentional parenting. We reminded the students and the parents of the four pillars which hold up this family (2roads Foundation) and these are; Kids, Parents, Staff and the 2roads sponsors. We emphasized that if any of these pillars don’t do what they should, our collective goals and Objectives to which God has called us to shall come down crumbling. We stressed the need for the kids to maximize their effort while at school.
- Holiday Program.
We had a wonderful, priceless, and fun time with our children. School breaks present us with enormous opportunity to share the gospel, build character and deepen relationships with the kids. On this break, we talked about labels, labels that people give us, labels that we give ourselves and those we give to others. The central point though, was the LABELS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US. We based this topic on 1 Samuel 16 where God told Samuel to go and pick from among Jesse’s sons to anoint as king of Israel. The response we got from them was amazing as they pointed out that this is something most of them have and are still struggling with; labels, they give themselves and labels given to them by their parents. It was painful to hear that some children don’t think they are worthy, loved or even good enough for their parents or their peers.
A reminder of how God looks at the heart and not the physical things was transformative for most kids. We emphasized that God sees them as worthy, loved and even good enough.
We thought this topic was a timely topic for these young adults still forming opinions of who they are.
Along this, we had time to hold separate meetings between teenage boys and girls. We talked about topics like what it means to be a real man through God’s eyes and a virtuous woman. These were fun deep conversations. Most boys reflect the traumas of their upbringing but also posses within them a resolve to never be like their fathers. This really gives me hope for the future and excites me to get up every morning.
- Book reading.
We had book reading for both the little and older students and to say it was beautiful is an understatement. Sarina led this program and we did it in a way that we got random story books for the younger children and continued the power of self-esteem with the older students.
The power of self-esteem evoked conversation and debates as students tried to comprehend the content of the book but also disagreed with some parts of it. This was really beautiful to watch as our goal is to really help them learn to hold conversations and be confident.
As for the younger ones, we watched them be better at reading, pronunciation and even expanding their level of imagination.
- Walk to the Lake
We organized a walk to the lake with some students from S.4 -S.6 and the purpose of this walk was to have conversations that are hard to have in a formal setting, connect more with our students in a more adventure and fun-filled way. We walked 20 km and hiked hills at an elevation of 2400m (7800ft.). This was a daring adventure for some kids and extremely exhausting for some. Some of the conversations held along this hike will be timeless and forever stay in our memories. Some kids asked questions about the fear to fail, the self-doubt in being a somebody. They revealed a sum up of their up bringing, what they have experienced, what they have learnt and some of what they are most excited about the future. It was a very good hike.
Thank you for your support and prayers,
On behalf of the Ugandan team,
Amos
Thanks for supporting what God is doing in the lives of the children and families of Kabale Uganda. Please pray for their salvation and growth in the Lord. Pray for God to continue to give wisdom to our staff and strength to carry out His will.
Greg & Donna