Nameless

DSC06296, originally uploaded by jstanley24.

I do not know the name of the boy in the picture here....
....but God does.

Maybe you don't understand "faith" or "grace" ...
....but God does.

Maybe you think you have no hope for the future.....
....but God does.

Maybe you do not now how you are going to get out of your current money crunchin situation....
....but God does.

We don't know how God works....
....but He does.

....And one thing is true. He knows EXACTLY what he is doing, and his timing is PERFECT.

I know that God has plans for Kampala, even though that i don't know exactly what they are yet. We are at a very interesting time in our trip.

We got together about a week ago and brainstormed ways we could connect with the children of Kampala.

We agree that we did not just travel to Africa to play with kids for 4 months, even though it would be a lot of fun. We desire to see a change in their lives. We want the children of Kampala to live happy, healthy lives while growing up knowing their Creator. In order to do this, a change must occur not just in the children, but in their role models.

So here is our challenge and our prayer:
We must find and train leaders in these slums that will passionately fight for the future of these children after we leave. I strongly feel that this leadership role is not a job for a missionary. These kids need what we can't give. They need someone who can relate to their conditions, speak their language. They need someone who is so full of the love of Jesus Christ that it pours out all over these children.

Now here is the cool part. We have faith that God already has these people in mind and is working on making them the person they need to become for this role right now.

We have no clue right now which people are going to feel these leadership spots....
....but God does.

That means these future leaders are somewhere right now... I wonder what they are doing right this second. What events will steer them our way? What will God show them that will give them that desire? They could possibly not even have a relationship with Christ right now. Wouldn't that be a cool story to see that change... So please, take a second to pray right now for these people. We don't know what they look like, and we don't know their names, but God does. Let this be your prayer. Please. These kids need this.

We have decided to split up and focus on two areas. Here we will train leaders and build strong and healthy children's ministries to be models for the rest of the churches. While we will be focusing a lot of our time here at these communities, we will still be training leaders for the entire church network. We feel that trying to handle all of them would be overwhelming and probably inefficient. Instead we believe that by becoming a face in a few communities, serving, making friends and modeling how a program should work, we can be more effective. So specifically please be praying for Kawuku(where Jana and I will be spending a lot of time) and Kisugu (where Sarah and Willie will be focusing)

So what is God planning for you in your near future? I wonder who's praying for you. They might not even know your name....

Kampala Christian Church Network

I would like to take some time to describe how the things work around here and inform you of some friends I have met and give you some ways to pray about them:
(I apologize for the length)

The Kampala Christian Church Network (KCCN). The IMB Missionaries here work with a group of about 10 Ugandan Pastors. The KCCN focuses on reaching the slums of Kampala, which are vast. Throughout the week hundreds of house churches(small groups ranging form 5-20ish people) meet, study the bible and have fellowship. Many meet outside, anywhere there is shade. Others have the luxury of meeting in some type of building. Then on Sundays, these house churches meet together at about 8 “Celebration Points” scattered throughout the city. Our main focus is to work on establishing an ongoing ministry to children at these house churches and celebration points. We are to train leaders to teach the children. Other than this, we will be working alongside the local leaders, going to Bible studies, prisons, hospitals and schools throughout the week. In addition, I would like to build relationships and make friends with the people we come into contact with throughout town.




There have been about 3 Ugandans that I have already gotten to know very well and am meeting with at least once a week. Please be praying for them.

Joseph - Joseph is a very bold and determined man. He is about 24 years old. He is really funny. He tells us often that he "loves us too much." I met him when i visited a celebration point in Namuwongo. But later I found out that he works as a guard at the Shelton's (my supervisors) home. This is really cool, because i get to see him pretty often. Willie and I have been getting together once a week with him to have a Bible Study. So far, he has planned what we will study. He really has been struggling because no one he lives with is a Christian. He is really wanting some good friends to be able to talk about things with. After reading about the next guy, you might understand a little bit better how to pray for Joseph.

Bosco - When i met Joseph in Namuwongo, he took me to see where he lives. When we arrived, all of the guys he lives with were sitting around. One of them was Bosco. Joseph introduced him by saying, "This is Bosco, he is preparing to accept Christ." I thought that was kind of interesting. Then the next night i arrived back home. (By the way security around here is pretty serious. Most places have walls around them with barbed wire or broken glass, along with guards.) When i got home, one of the guards walked past me, and I realized it was Bosco. It was really exciting. What a coincidence. He had been here every night from 6pm to 6am. It's been really good with Bosco. He's been a good friend so far. He approached me about learning about the Bible. He did not have a Bible, so we eventually found him one. Initially when i heard that he was "preparing to accept Christ," I thought that was a little weird. I know there is a time in every Christian's life where God was preparing them to accept Christ, but i think most people don't realize that this is happening. Anyways, I really respect his desire to understand, before making the most important decision of his life. So we have been getting together a lot to talk about stuff. The first study was about "Who is God and who are we?" I've been giving him a paper with a list of some scripture on it. So he is looking it up and when we meet again we discuss it. He enjoyed this, and insisted that i make a test for him to take. This went very well. He understands now that God created everything and wants a perfect relationship with us. He understands that we are all sinners, and that everyone needs Jesus' salvation. He was able to "explain all these things to me. The next lesson is going to be "Who is Jesus?" Please be praying that through this study of Jesus, Bosco will accept the gift that Jesus has offered us all.

Sharrif - I met Sharrif at a celebration point this last Sunday. He has been without a job for 8 months, since he has been out of prison. He is a really cool guy. We got to hang out and talk yesterday for a few hours. He is going through some tough times. Please be praying that God would provide him with a job or money to go back to school.

3 weeks without a seatbelt

I was very dissapointed today. I went 3 weeks without wearing a seatbelt. They do not exist in the taxis or motorcycles we ride in. But today, I got in the car with Jena... that means BUCKLE UP! I guess my streak is over...
For all you parents and grandparents:
Don't worry. I'm beings safe... Well, mostly safe.

Today was my birthday. I'm no longer a teenager. I'm actually kinda dissapointed about that. But i guess it's fun to enter my 20's while in Africa. Today was a great day. We met up with pastor Joseph (He's the fourth Joseph i've met). We went to a very poor community called Kisugu. I got to share the message today. It was really good. Jana was also asked to share. Right before we started, Jana and i discovered that God gave us the same message. This was really encouraging because we knew the God wanted this church to know this, and it was cool that He was using us. I have discovered that it is really fun to speak with a translator. All the translators are really funny guys. They love to translate our words into Luganda and extravagant body language. It's really fun. The music and worship over here is amazing, by the way. It's honest...the way it should be.