Author: Wesley Fryer

Sharon, one of our class shepherds, is sharing her experiences today from her mission trip this last month to Uganda with our 5th grade Sunday School class. These are my notes from her presentation. I tried to record her session with video, using both Ustream and QuickTime player, but was not able to do so successfully using my netbook today. More information and photos from this Uganda missions trip are available on the team blog.

“You go nowhere by accident
Everywhere you are – Got has put you –
Everywhere you go – God is sending you –
The Living Christ, who dwells in you –
has a purpose for you – to further his kingdom”

Sharon went to Uganda with our church mission group last month, and is sharing experiences she had there

Trusting and believing in Jesus
– if you believe in him, you will live with him forever
– you will see Him and meet him
– you will also see those who have died before you and believed in Him

None of the Ugandans have any mirrors
– we would take photos of them and give them to them, as well as their pastor

The people have lots of crops they grow
– they would separate them inside their houses

Sharon’s husband, Henry, was asked to participate in several healing ceremonies

Sharon shared her testimony at the prison, and on the crusade
– each afternoon they had a ‘crusade’ which was a public preaching event

One person asked Sharon to take her baby back to the United States, when they were at the clinic

People in Uganda have a pure and true love of God
– they don’t pray to themselves, everyone prays out loud at the same time in different dialects and languages
– it is a very powerful and moving experience

New church we planted
– the first day

This year we went to a prison, as we did last year
– it was very scary at first
– we brought soap and other items to give them
– 77 inmates were there, only 1 was female
– Sharon was able to talk to the female by herself with an interpreter
— she was in prison for adultery, her husband had put her in there, she had been there for 4 months and was still awaiting a trial
– if families don’t take care of people in the prison, then they really get forgotten
– Henry preached in the prison

Some went to the schools each day
– drilled a well, took multiple times
– life expectancy is just 39 in Uganda, AIDS is a big part of that
– the President of Uganda and his wife are Christians and are working to address health issues

15,000 people heard the word of Christ and gave their lives to Christ as a result of our mission work in Uganda

God’s Holy Spirit really worked on me in writing my testimony, at the prison and during the crusade

Got up at 6 am each morning, were gone all day
– would come back to the hotel for dinner at 6:30 or 7, we would regroup and recap on the day
– discuss experiences and what happened

Saw a magnificent rainbow (a double rainbow) one of our last days there
– it is the rainy season there now

We saw children scooping water out of potholes in some cases
– Malaria is still a big problem in Uganda

Someone said last year that we can’t save the world, but we can save lives
– this really was something we held onto to not become depressed

When you are in one of these huts telling people about God, you really feel God’s presence
– it is hard to find the words to describe what these experiences were like

My prayer this year was to have the words to share, not to be dependent on reading the tract documents we each carried

The land where the orphanage where we worked used to be owned by Idi Amine, and were part of his “killing fields”
– over 80 Presbyterian churches have been planted in Uganda now
– those groups purchased that land and built this orphanage, children receive 3 means per day
– they are equipping those children to become leaders and go back into the community

Lewanda Orphanage (spelling?)

Children are so happy, always smiling

This year, since it was the rainy season, the children could never get clean because of all the mud

Men’s shirts were always pressed, looking very nice

Technorati Tags:
christian, mission, uganda, evangelism

Back in April, I participated in a wonderful mixer activity at our Oklahoma state educational public relations association conference. This evening our church’s board of deacons is meeting for a retreat, and I created a modified version of the activity for our group to use. I created two different documents, which you can feel free to use / alter / repurpose as desired. I like to sometimes add an astrology factor and mix by signs, watch out for aries and scorpio though! Both are in PDF format:

1. Instructions for Mixer Activity
2. Numbers to cut out and distribute to participants (made for a group of 24)

These are the questions I proposed we use for our event tonight. Each person in each group will have about a minute to respond to each one:

Rotation 1: Tell a short story about something funny you remember from growing up.

Rotation 2: What are your top life priorities right now, and why are they so important to you?

Rotation 3: What activities do you love in which you feel most “centered” in doing? Tell about these activities.

Rotation 4: What time of your life have you felt most close to God, and why do you think you felt that way then?

Rotation 5: What are some of the most important life lessons you learned from your parents or grandparents, and how do you want to share those with others in your life today?

Rotation 6: What groups or activities at our church have helped you feel most connected to God and to the church body, and how could those experiences be extended to more people in the upcoming year?

These questions can certainly be modified as appropriate for non-church / secular gatherings. I really like the format of this activity and found it to be a GREAT way to not only get to know others at the conference in April, but also gain insight into some of the issues and challenges which each person was facing professionally and personally.

A big key to the success of this activity is asking people to respond to good questions!

Technorati Tags:
question, questions, mixer, activity, teambuilding