Button, Dan & Rosie, Uganda
Prayer Update August 2005
Dear Everyone,
We can’t believe another month has gone by. This month has held some new experiences for us, as well as the usual diet of teaching, preaching, meeting with students, and socializing with our Ugandan and missionary friends.
Items for thanks and praise:
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Dan has been “masterminding” a new course for the Theology Dept, in the area of Children’s Work and Children’s Ministry. There is a lot of interest in this, as although a great deal of children’s work is being done in Uganda, there are no training courses here, so people have been going to Kenya to train. It seems as though this course will fill a pressing need. Last week Dan held a meeting for representatives from the various organizations who work with children here, including Oasis, Viva Network and Compassion, together with some of our staff, to brainstorm about the course, what elements should be in the syllabus, and so on. It will be a degree programme, hopefully starting in January. We see this as an exciting development! Please pray for the planning of this new course, and that it will be useful for many as they train for children’s ministry.
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In the space of ten days, I (Rosie) hosted and led the Staff Women’s Fellowship, preached in the chapel on “spiritual growth”, and taught the 4-6 yr olds in Sunday School – nothing like variety to keep me on my toes! Thank you for your prayers for these events. In the women’s fellowship, I spoke about our role as Christian mothers, and it generated a very interesting discussion. One of the staff wives, who is herself a primary school teacher, told us about her concerns about the girl who looks after her two children while she is teaching. She has discovered that the girl practices traditional religion, (which she called witchcraft.) She felt that this was a good opportunity to bring the girl to salvation. However, the other Ugandan ladies present were adamant that she should think of her children first. One of them said, “Do you want those kind of hands caring for your children?” It is quite a dilemma. Traditional religion (including praying to the ancestors and going to a traditional healer (or witchdoctor) for help with illness and indeed any other problem) is very commonly practiced here, though usually it is kept well under the surface.
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I was also involved with a two day workshop rewriting the Old Testament course book, which we use for our core course. The book was originally written for an American college, so we were revising it for the Uganda context, using African examples, and including questions relevant to our students. I found it very interesting to be part of this contextualization exercise together with seven Ugandan colleagues.
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The Crosslinks team from Ireland arrived safely, and so far their time here has gone very well. From now until the 9th August they are out on an “Outreach” in schools and villages in western Uganda, with a mission group called “Off Tu” whom we know well. When they return, they will be based here at the university for four days. They will stay in the student dorms, and we have various plans for them. Please pray for them as they travel in western Uganda, for safety and a great experience of ministry here, as well as for opportunities to share their faith. And for their days here with us to be fruitful and enjoyable as well.
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The new experience referred to above was when our whole family had the chance to act as extras in a big film that is being made in Uganda, about Idi Amin, based on the book The Last King of Scotland. It was a very interesting, if arduous and repetitive day! Let’s hope we make it into the final cut!
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Abigail and Alex are very well and enjoying their school holidays. We have had some lovely days swimming and playing with friends. Abigail is getting much braver in the water and now stays in for hours at a time – Alex hence learned the word “wrinkled”…
Prayer requests:
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As well as items mentioned above, please pray for our students as they prepare for and write their exams at the end of this month.
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Also continue to pray for our good health and for safety on the roads.
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We are travelling to a village in western Uganda for the wedding of one of our Uganda friends (and my first language teacher), Patience, on Friday 19th August. We will be staying with one of her relations for two nights. Please pray for Patience as she gets married, and for the wedding, and for our children as we travel and stay in the village for the weekend.
Thank you for all your prayers and support, which we appreciate so much.
With our love,
Rosie Dan Abigail and Alex.
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