Dear All,
Tuesday's Bottom Line:
Mark preached Sunday morning, met with Hillary that evening, and is ready to lead a Disciple-Makers (DM) seminar in one location in Kampala on Monday and a second one in another part of town on Tuesday. No news yet on his lost bag.
Tuesday's Prayer Requests:
- Grace for Mark as he adjusts to the time change, climate, and food.
- His lost bag to be found and returned quickly with all its contents.
- A powerfully impactive DM seminar on Monday; the attendees to be motivated to join DM groups and move forward!
Tuesday's Details:
First, a little background. Our team in Kenya is doing an excellent job of introducing pastors to the disciple-making process, starting and leading DM groups with those pastors, and equipping them to start and lead their own groups. In the past couple years, the number of disciple-makers in Kenya has multiplied greatly. Currently two of our leadership "pillars" in Kenya, James and Hillary, have each raised multiple "generations" of disciples who are now raising more disciples. This is very energizing, and these Kenyan disciple-makers are passionate about 1) extending the DM ministry into more and more counties of Kenya (counties are like U.S. states, and 2) expanding the DM ministry into neighboring countries.
James is overseeing the Kenya team's domestic expansion, and Hillary is overseeing its international expansion, reaching into several nations, including Uganda and Rwanda. On the map of Africa below, Kenya has a blue star, and Uganda, just to the west of Kenya, has a red star. (Rwanda is the teeny-tiny nation at the southwest corner of Uganda, but today we're just dealing with Uganda; we'll get to Rwanda later this week.)
So Hillary, who lives in Kenya (blue star) has traveled to meet Mark in Uganda (red star) for two DM seminars, one on Monday and one on Tuesday. If you've followed all that, congratulations! You deserve a gold star!
As to Mark's lost luggage, we don't know anything yet. He had submitted a claim at the airport in the middle of the night, and according to Whitney, "Mark has called and emailed, but no word. Hillary said he could call again for him tomorrow and try as well. So it sounds like they both will try tomorrow."
We assume Mark did get some sleep early Sunday morning, and he said that after he shared his message (somewhat later Sunday) at the church where he'll be doing the first DM seminar on Monday, Pastor Thomas was really encouraged. Thomas is working with his leaders to prepare them for that seminar.
Sunday evening Hillary and Mark got together to plan and discuss details for these first two seminars. And it looks like their dinner was delicious. Kampala, the capital of Uganda, is on the shore of Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the second-largest freshwater lake in the world. Mark was clearly pleased with his fish.
"Real tilapia fillet. From Lake Victoria. They are massive and good."
Uganda is eight hours ahead of Missouri, so as I type this it's the middle of Sunday night there, and Monday morning Mark will begin his exciting seminar with a great group of folks. Thank you for praying for him now!
Blessings,
Patty