July Update

Greetings from Karamoja!

In May I asked you to pray for our upcoming June conference which our Mission was to sponsor. Thank you for your prayers. It took place on the 23rd (this update is overdue). We prayed for dry enough roads for travel, particularly for the sake of one of our speakers, Eric Tuininga, since he was coming up from Mbale. Leading up to the event, very heavy rains made road conditions so bad that we wondered whether he would make the trip. Wonderfully, he was gracious and adventurous enough to be willing to ride on the back of a motorcycle, which could be pushed around and through the muddy places where cars and trucks were stuck and preventing others from passing. He endured the rough journey and the conference went forward as planned.

More than 50 pastors and church leaders gathered to receive instruction on the subject  – GOSPEL MINISTRY AND SHARING IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. We believe this is an important message in a context where churches often embrace teachings which promise health, wealth and prosperity to those who follow Jesus. David Robbins spoke on Job, I spoke on John the Baptist and Eric Tuininga spoke on the Apostle Paul. It seemed to be well received and we enjoyed a wonderful day. The next morning I received a phone call from Reverend Emuron, the pastor whose church hosted the conference. Never before have I received such positive feedback to preaching or teaching. He explained how, even among pastors, so often when families experience suffering, they see it only from the perspective of Satan’s involvement and it often results in terrible strife within marriages and families. Speaking for himself as well as the other pastors, he could not say enough about how new (?!) and helpful it was for us to show how God purposefully uses suffering in the lives of believers in order to bring blessing. Humbly and gratefully, we praise the Lord and pray that our ministry might bring strength and encouragement to the saints, particularly in times of trials!

The gospel continues to be proclaimed and Christ’s love shown to men, women and children through the work of our medical clinic, pre-primary school, village Bible studies and the ongoing ministry of Nakaale Presbyterian Church. Last time I mentioned two new villages where we have been conducting weekly Bible studies. Both in Apeicorait and Loringis, attendance has been very good.

We are thankful for our church’s “Mercy Committee” which recently met and determined that the church should provide ongoing help with the feeding of one family in the congregation where a grandmother is blind and her daughter, the mother of her 8-year-old granddaughter, has mental disability. God comes to the aid of the weak and helpless.

Two Saturdays ago, I had the privilege of bringing the “charge to the graduates” at the graduation ceremony for our Mission’s school, Knox Theogical College, in Mbale. (Most of the twenty graduates attended the class I had taught in April last year.) I spoke from John 21:15-19 and exhorted them to love Jesus by feeding his sheep, even serving the church unto death, as Peter did. To see some pictures of this joyous occasion, go to http://tuiningasinuganda.blogspot.ug/2016/07/ktc-graduation.html.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support!

Blessings, Dave