In the morning, I and David left Shibuli for Ituti. My aim was we reach Ituti before mid-morning for us to have enough time with Benjamin and Emmanuel who leave school by midday. Our first stop was at Benjamin's school. We had a chance to attend class with him. When we came in during the lesson the subject trending was 'Reading'. With their teacher's assistance, they were able to pronounce a few nouns like chair, book, tree etc written on their blackboard. The teacher would go through the items one by one then call the pupils one by one to repeat the same as the class responded in unison. the lesson was enjoyable that it made me remember 'those days' when I was their age and doing exactly what they were doing. It gave me a nostalgic feeling of my childhood days in pre-primary school. Well, it didn't take long before Benjamin took his turn to lead the class in the nouns 'chorus'. It was lovely to see our boy do what he likes best. Our presence in the room gave him more confidence as he roared "Chair, Book, Tree, Bag, Table, Door," etc as we observed and David took photos.
They later went take their porridge and you couldn't help but notice how our young boy stood out of the rest. He was the only one in school uniform, and he actually looked the healthiest. I believe that is captured in the photos David sent to you. What impressed me was that seemingly, our guardians have embraced the spirit of positive change and they were actually utilizing well the items we gave them, including school uniform and shoes, with minimum supervision. We don't inform them beforehand about the visits yet when we get to school, we find our sponsored children in their right form, well clad, looking healthy and the doing well in class followed by compliments from their teachers. It's obvious that our guardians implement what we tell them and they appreciate the aid given to them.
Next was checking on Emmanuel. Unfortunately for us, there was no one in school, apart from the watchman. We later learned that the whole school had gone for inter-school competitions hosted by another school a few kilometers away. So we missed Emmanuel.
We however made it to Lunza Secondary School where our frontrunners study. We were in the school compound just before lunch time. That was perfect for us. We didn't want to interfere with their classes neither did we want to take less than 30 minutes with them. Lunch time was long enough for us.
We went to the deputy principal's office and I introduced the reason for our being school at that time. The deputy didn't hid her excitement. She was happy that apart from paying school fees, TGD took keen interest on the spiritual well-being of their sponsored children. To her, that was a very unique and encouraging approach. According to her, the school's pastoral program which takes place once a week (Wednesday between 7-8AM) and their Christian Union evening meeting between 4 - 5PM on the same day are not enough to equip the students spiritually. The Bible Study material I had prepared for the frontrunners was, according to the deputy principal, a shot in the arm of the spiritual wing of the school. The Christian Union has no Bible Study material. Literally! So when she saw what I had, your guess is as good as mine. She called for the Christian Union patron and shared with her the reason of our visit and how she thought it would benefit the body of Christ in the school. They requested I include the Christian Union officials in my list, apart from the frontrunners. To them, the frontrunners were a conduit of blessings through TGD. I immediately saw the sense of what they were talking about and I agreed to meet the frontrunners and CU officials together with their patron. I had a 30 minutes chat with them, explained how the Bible Study material is to be used and later handed it over to their patron.
The school's accounts clerk is a born-again Christian and prior to the current patron taking over, he used to double up as the CU patron. During the photo session, he requested to be included and we obliged. The deputy principal too was an interested party, which to me was just another way of showing the hunger and thirst people have for the word of God and the joy they derive in associating with the Gospel.
Now, pray with us because TGD will be invited to minister in a weekend challenge at Lunza Secondary School next term! Those are not my words by the words of the deputy principal and the CU patron. They want to hear more about Jesus and the power of His resurrection and as Paul told Timothy, "Do the work of an evangelist". We could not be evangelist in the context of the five-fold ministry, but because we are urged by Apostle Paul in his epistle to Timothy to do the work of an evangelist, who are we to refuse?
So, what were the Bible Study materials in question?
- Eight Bible cross-word puzzles. For one to solve them, one is required to get the answers from the Bible. this will prompt one to read the Word of God in the process of seeking the cross-word solutions. I have Bible/Christian codeword and word-search to be printed at a later time. Apart from enlightening the students spiritually, the cross-words, codeword and word-search will sharpen their minds and improve their english, according to the deputy principal.
- Two types of Whole-Bible Reading Plans: One is a 52-week plan where you read 3 chapters per day from Sunday to Saturday. We have a category for each day beginning with Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. The other one is a Bible Story Reading Plan, divided in four quarters where the reader reads one chapter per day for 365 days. The bible reading plans are six in number but I managed to print the two.
- Prayer Plan with creative and easy to remember acronyms(eg GRACE for Glorify, Renew, Accept, Care and Empower) for your daily devotion while alone with God. It's a 27 page document but I only managed to print the first two pages and left the 25 for another day when funds are available. For a complete devotion during a prayer retreat, though, one needs the entire document.
We left Lunza at 2:30PM for me to catch up with my afternoon class which begins at 3PM at TGD Shibuli. Frank takes the 11AM-1PM class while I take the 3-5PM class every evening. The morning class is for Don and team (and now Lawrence).
I have attached some of the BS material I gave to the frontrunners (and later adopted by the CU patron, of course.) for your perusal. The authors permit re-distribution so I took that into account.
The Bible reading plans were not just for the Christian Union officials and the frontrunners. The patron, deputy principal and accounts clerk made copies of the same for their personal use.
In case of any Bible Study material or Christian literature you see can benefit the students, please send them as attachments and once funds are available we can print them and have them distributed to student leaders.
Alternatively, Anita can bring some along with her when she'll be coming over next week and you too in May.
April newsletter is on the website now.
Till then,
Be blessed.
Regards,
Joseph O.
