Uganda November 4, 2012

*During the next week look on our Facebook for blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.

November 4, 2012

Sunday morning we attended an English service at the Anglican Cathedral where roughly 600 people attended. Joe, who was preaching, prayed for the children before they went off to Sunday school. He spoke on Matthew 17 and I was reminded of the new life that Jesus gave the demon possessed boy. His present life was desperate but the life that followed was a new life through Jesus Christ. Joe reminded us of the advocates for children; those who would lead them to Christ. He spoke with passion about the need children have for salvation through Christ Jesus. It was a powerful service!

We left and drove to another church to participate in a second confirmation service at Muganza Village Church. The simple sanctuary was crammed with about 600 people. It was quite amazing and for me, a huge blessing to take part in. There were literally hundreds of children present and the service was filled with joy, pomp and circumstance, deep meaning, dancing and singing and beautiful people. I spoke on the Parable of the Two Sons and welcomed the confirmed children into the family of God where we have a loving Father filled with compassion, eager to search us out and forgive us our shortcomings. I reminded them that they too will be tempted to squander what God has given them by experimenting with wild living but can always return to the Father who is ready to forgive.

Finally, I reminded them that we cannot be like the older brother who was angry that God forgave and celebrated the return of the Son. God has called us to invite others into the family and there are no blacks, no whites, no rich and poor, no educated or uneducated, no American or Ugandan. We are all one in Christ and welcomed into the family of God through saving faith in Christ Jesus our LORD and Savior. I got rolling at the end with the help of a fantastic translator (Hebert) and had some African response along with the cadence of my preaching. For a moment I felt like Martin Luther King on the Mall. We enjoyed dinner together afterwards at a kind of feast. Potatoes boiled, whole potatoes fried, rice, a type of banana paste, beans and then the 'special treats': chicken, beef and turnip greens. It was awesome.

Sunday night we attended a farewell banquet at the diocese Guesthouse where the training occurred. Joe and I were given precious gifts and testimonies were shared regarding the effect of the conference. The leadership of the Anglican Church diocese was present and the Bishop shared personally how the three days of training had lifted his vision for children's ministry-super awesome! Joe shared heartfelt greetings and thanks from our entire EGM team, particularly the churches and individuals supporting the ministry. His words were received with genuine joy and clearly touched the hearts of everyone.

The LORD led me to share about my visit to Ust Barguzin, Siberia years ago and the fruit festival with the Siberian family. In Uganda, we received bananas for dessert each day so when I told the Ugandans that those Siberians had wept over eating a banana, they were clearly touched. When I reminded them of the need to be thankful for what we have and not take things for granted, such as bananas, I could sense the LORD's leading.

Finally, when I shared about my conviction in taking Jesus Christ for granted there was a real sense of conviction followed by rejoicing in the LORD and all that He had done over the last four days. We concluded the time with Bishop Cranmer in prayer after which we sang in Urufumbira, "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." This was one of my grandmother's favorite hymns and I knew that she and my grandfather were smiling in heaven at the precious worship of God's family in Kisoro, Uganda.

Daniel Watts

To donate to EGM visit us at egmworld.org/donate

Uganda November 1, 2012

*During the next two weeks look on our Facebook for our blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.

November 1, 2012

Praise the LORD for another day to serve in Kisoro, Uganda. Yesterday was a great day for EGM. My colleague Joe Cox did most if the teaching. He did a great job teaching the TRUTH seminar and God surely touched the hearts of the teachers. The TRUTH seminar included an experiential activity where teachers wrote the needs of a child within their ministry on an orange post-it-note. Then, they prayed and asked the LORD for insight into how His Word might meet the need of that child. Next, they were asked to write the text and main idea on a pink heart post-it-note where they stuck it onto the wall adjacent to the orange sticker. It is hard to describe in words the precious way that God touched the children's workers. After they returned to their seats, Joe asked if anyone wanted to share. A precious teacher stood up and shared her experience:

"I have one hundred and twenty children in my class. They are all very naughty. Sometimes I have had to beat them with a stick. The boys act very naughty and even crawl out the windows. I even started to hate the children and did not want to teach them anymore." Then she began to weep declaring her desire to repent of her lack of love for the boys and girls and expressed her renewed commitment to ministering the love of Christ to children.

The post-it-note activity touched their hearts so deeply showing them that God loves these children and He wants them to love these children as well.

Daniel Watts

To donate to EGM visit us at egmworld.org/donate

Mexico Update

This year proved to be very significant for EGM’s work in Mexico. Under Eric Solorio’s leadership, the training team doubled in size working with more churches and Children’s Workers than in the past several years combined!

Many children in Baja have benefited from this work. They had the opportunity to learn about God’s Word in a way they could understand and were challenged to live it out in their lives. Leea is one of these children. She is 2 1/2 years old and attends Vino Nuevo church in Ensenada. After learning about the importance of prayer, she was challenged to write down the name of one person that she wanted to pray for each day. To help her remember to pray, she posted her prayer log on her refrigerator. That week, every day before lunch, Leea led her family in prayer for those on her list including her uncle who was sad and Juanito, a little boy whose father had left him. Leea not only wanted to pray for these people before her meals, but also at bedtime. Her parents describe their prayer time with Leea as a “glorious moment”. Even though she was only challenged to pray for one week, she has continued. She has added additional names to her list and continues to interceded in prayer for them. At church last month, her teacher asked the children if anyone wanted to pray and even though Leea is only 1 1/2 years old, she went up front and led her class in prayer. God has used EGM to grow Leea’s heart to converse with Him and for this we are very thankful!!

Krysten Norkaitis

Trip to Uganda with Daniel Watts

*During the next three weeks look for our blog posts about Daniel and Joe's most recent trip to Uganda, including stories and photos. Please share these posts with your friends and family.

October 31, 2012

Sitting on the balcony in Kigali, Rwanda-nicely dressed with my smartphone and iPad in-hand, I noticed a street sweeper who was simply clothed cleaning the street with a real broom; he waved to me and smiled. Has the technology and material toys made me happier or given me more joy?

We drove from Kigali, Rwanda to Kisoro, Uganda. Leaving Kigali, I was struck anew about how little a foreign missionary knows when they enter into a culture. To really have an impact within the culture, it takes enormous effort and time. Language fluency is crucial! Without language, you cannot really enter inside the culture and come to understand the plethora of issues that are crucial for ministry effectiveness.

Driving through the Rwanda countryside, many questions come to mind:

§  Who owns all the small plots of land being farmed?

§  What are the family dynamics especially in regards to men and children?

§  The women are carrying amazing loads balanced on their heads and also appear to be working in the fields; what are the roles of men and women?

§  Children are everywhere and I can see that Joe is nervous in the front seat with all the little precious children just on the shoulder of the road. Why are very small children out on their own?

Because the agriculture is so diverse, I noticed the following crops: Rice, bananas, cabbage, potatoes, beans, avocados and pineapples. The fields were filled with grazing goats, sheep and cows. I also observed what appeared to be a large pig farm where the pigs were enclosed in a roofed structure, something like you would see in Europe.

Along the way to the border, I observed more than 15 church buildings. They were all very small and simple with holes for windows; some of which had no doors. One thing struck me while driving to Kisoro. The appearance of the buildings; specifically the nice buildings and schools are funded and built by US Aid, UN and UNICEF, etc. More to follow on that!

It has been raining since we arrived (at 3:30pm) and it appears it will continue throughout the night and the power will most likely be out may all night as well. A children's worker just arrived who had walked 15 kilometers through the rain to be here. Simply Amazing!

Daniel Watts

To donate to EGM visit us at http://www.egmworld.org/donate

EGM Romania - 2012 National Conference

Every fall offers us a wonderful gift. It is the time when Children’s Workers from churches all over Romania join together with a strong desire to grow in the area of their giftedness. Some of them are with us for the first time where they discover the Bible model for teaching children. Relationship, Truth, Discussion, Experience and Response are the elements that provide us with the opportunity of teaching in way that is transformational. Others return to our conference by their desire to improve and grow combined with their positive past experience. All of the subjects offer a practical and biblical approach! The National Conference of EGM-Romania took place this year in Brasov (October 12-14^th 2012). The feedback provided by over 100 participants was so encouraging giving us the confirmation that the ministry is on the right path in honoring God and helping churches reach children with His love:

“Before attending your conference, I used to be a preaching type teacher. My whole conception about ministry is changed now. Today was the first time I had a discussion with my children and didn't deliver a sermon. It is so wonderful to listen and see how they personally grasp the concepts! It was a conference where I could see and feel God’s strong hand! Thank you for allowing Him to use you!” 

(Emanuela, Sunday school teacher)

“I appreciated and was pleasantly surprised to discover your clear, evangelical – biblical approach of children’s ministry. For such a long time, we had the impression that you can tell anything, in any way to the little ones, and that all that mattered was that they would feel good. EGM helped me understand the cunningness of the evil one. They offered me a healthy teaching that is relevant so that the children will have a real opportunity to know God. It is so wonderful to be able to deliver spiritual, eternal and profound truths in simple words and in a way children will really understand! We've seen that God gave you this wisdom.”           (Mihai, Sunday school teacher)

Marian Zaharia – EGM Representative

Here I Am, Send Me!

When I was invited by our Hungarian director to join a retreat that was held in September for the trainers and volunteers of ReMa (EGM Hungary), I instantly responded by saying: “These wonderful servants of God deserve to be served and properly celebrated”, I said to myself, “So I’ll go there to serve them!”

We drove 2000 Km to Gyula, with a stop in Budapest, to attend the ministry’s board meeting. I didn’t know what to expect. I was asked to share a Bible message and to speak about everyone’s recent efforts to see a fully national Hungarian ministry funded and led by people from this country.

Then, our time of fellowship followed. I was truly impressed by each one of these people. They love God, their churches, they love children and they loved us too! We felt so welcomed and well received! We worshiped like never before. We witnessed the joy and the passion on their faces while they presented last year’s accomplishments. And we realized that behind every report, picture and tear, there was much invested and much sacrifice. Everyone was so excited about the future during the brainstorming session!

At the end, I was humbled by God. “We came here to serve”, I thought to myself, “and not to be served. We came here to encourage and not to be encouraged. We came here to bless and not to be blessed. But this is exactly what happened to us”. 

We were honored to see God working through this wonderful team and we realized, once again, that there is hope for the millions of children from Hungary.

It was almost as if we heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isaiah 6:8). And our response was:

"Here I am. Send me!"         

-Marian Zaharia   

To Donate to EGM-Hungary visit http://www.egmworld.org/donate

To Learn More about EGM-Hungary visit http://www.egmworld.org/where-we-work/5/hungary

EGM-Peru Reaches the Andes Mountains

In 2009, when EGM-Peru was just beginning to take root, one message was clear: These Peruvian leaders were not in this for their own benefit, but for the whole country.  They told us about the millions of people who lived outside the capital city in areas where it was difficult at times to receive a shipment of fruit in the market, let alone adequate training and materials for children’s ministry. 

“All of the resources are here in Lima,” they said.  “We are going to change that.”

EGM-Peru is not a branch of a U.S. mission, rather a mission of their own to their country.  In each board meeting, we have discussed when, how and where to pass on EGM’s message to more rural places – places where children’s workers literally sit with only a bible and a pencil, praying for guidance in ministering to the boys and girls of their church.

In August, two EGM-Peru leaders (with my family as joyful witnesses) traveled the twenty-hour ride to Abancay, Peru.  There, 41 children’s workers received the complete 16-hour EGM training on the Model Children’s Worker.  They came from 8 different denominations and traveled as far as 4 hours by bus to attend.  Among those were 5 people who want to volunteer at EGM-Peru, as EGM representatives in the region so that the churches will deepen their understanding and implementation of what they have learned.  One woman eagerly volunteered to begin translating the training materials into her native language of Quechua so villages even more remote could benefit from EGM’s work in the Abancay region.

We celebrate with EGM-Peru as we can already see that the Model Children’s Worker principles are transforming the Children’s Ministry in Abancay and children as a result are being transformed in Christ!




-Heather Chapman

First Impressions

Alex Bruda made a great first impression on me, serving as my interpreter as I shared at an EGM-Romania children’s worker conference. Almost immediately after meeting him, I confided in a coworker, “He should be serving with Every Generation Ministries!” I’d had just a few conversations with him but already could see that his heart and vision were the same as ours: To see children transformed!  Subsequent meetings confirmed my initial reaction and I began to see all the gifts and abilities that could be of use in the ministry of EGM.  It wasn't long before we were talking seriously about EGM staff needs. 

Alex lives with his wife and two young boys in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest. They are the kind of super busy people who are known to be always ready for a new ministry challenge. With their vast ministry background, they are ready to help wherever, whether it is kid’s camp, a training seminar, a language lesson or some legal advice! They are very active in their own local church but also are eager to help other churches in their quest to do true biblical children’s ministry.

Today, Alex serves as EGM’s Central Europe Resource Team Director. In that role, he supports the EGM partnerships in the Central Region and God has used him greatly! When we added to the team in Central Europe, it made room for a new challenge of coordinating the field research work EGM is doing in the Middle East where we are exploring the possibilities of establishing a regional EGM ministry center. In addition to presenting children’s worker seminars in Jordan, Israel and Egypt, God has used Alex to establish an Arabic language children’s ministry resource website at www.egmarabic.org where isolated children’s workers can get the help and support they need.

I’m very glad that my first impressions have become lasting ones!

-Joe Cox

 

We led a camp in Świętajno for young adults who are learning to teach children as assistants (ACE-assistants). This year, the camp had 26 young adults in attendance, many of which were involved in past camps. The camp theme was 'On the way to maturity'. Our target was leading youth to maturity in: 

Serving special needs children in Belarus

When it comes to caring for children, especially children with special needs, the love of God knows no bounds. Veteran special educator Nancy Wilson and her daughter-in-law, Shasta,