Update from Uganda (June 24)

Monday, June 24.

Greetings from Uganda! Wow!! What a day we've had! Our Encounters went very well today and we just finished eating a great meal at Betty's home (she is one of our students).

We got off to a slow start. Daniel was about 30 minutes late picking us up and there was a slight problem linking up Brittany with Daniel's wife, which took us some more time, so instead of getting to the church at 9 am, we arrived at almost one hour late. It took us a little time to get organized and at even 10 am only a handful of people had showed up to attend the training. We were able to get started at 11 am and after that things sailed smoothly the rest of the day.

Our students did a fantastic job in presenting their lessons and conducting the various activities today. Of course, most of them are pastors and trained in public speaking. They did a good job of including illustrations that the people would understand and relate to. Both Luke and I were impressed.

We learned today that our training model is a valid one. We will be making some tweaks and adjustments to it, but overall we think we've found the way that we should be training and developing leaders. I also believe that this model (with some slight adjustments) will work in the U.S. just as well. Pastor Francis, who oversees 30 churches in Northern Uganda, told Luke and I that, "This (Lead Like Jesus) can change the world." He went on to say, "I spent five years at Bible school (college) and I never heard this before." Isn't that sad? He attended a Bible college and no one taught him that we should lead like Jesus did? Francis is excited because we have shown him that the methods that Jesus used to equip his disciples and send them out as leaders who could change the world are the same ones we should use to equip and train leaders today.

Tomorrow, we will conduct a debriefing session in the morning, present them with a completion certificate and a Lead Like Jesus Study Guide, and talk with them about the plan for the next three (3) years as we continue to help them move towards becoming leaders who can develop others to lead. I'm really excited about the next three years and cannot wait to see what God will do here in Uganda because of 16 men and women who are completely "sold out" to go and build his kingdom by building leaders who Lead Like Jesus! I truly feel good about what has been accomplished during this year's trip.

After our session is over in Iganga, we will travel back to Kampala and on to Entebbe to catch our flights home. (I depart at 11:59 pm) We are planning to stop for a little sightseeing at the "Source of the Nile" river and we also may be having dinner with Stone Kyambedde in Kampala. We worked with Stone last year when we were in Uganda.

So, our trip is almost complete. It seems like the time went by very quickly. I think it will be difficult to say goodbye tomorrow. Luke and I have grown very close to Daniel and these outstanding Christian men and women that we have been training over the past week.

This is most likely the last post that I will be making on the blog until after I get back to Lexington on Wednesday, June 26th. At that time, I plan on posting my overall thoughts on the trip and some pictures that are on my phone but I can't post them because for some reason I cannot access the wifi at the hotel with my phone??

Farewell from Uganda. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Blessings!


Fred

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