Kajjansi Open Air 17.10.13

“Kajjansi, Kajjansi, God says to you, Come and worship ME.

Kajjansi, Kajjansi, salvation comes to you, rich and free!”

Nothing like a good sing-song to start things off!
(You might spot me, I'm the one in the hat!)

So go the lyrics to my first African song!  It came to me, as we rode on the bus to our outreach post.  So, as we rode in with the 40-4 air conditioning on (40 mph with 4 windows down!), the whole bus was singing to the citizens of Kajjansi.  I later asked the students if I had written an African song, and Alfred replied, “South African!”  I’m not sure if that was a compliment, but I’ll take it!  Anyway, you can judge for yourselves by watching the video of the song, attached below, but in the meantime, here’s the report.

As we unloaded the bus, we joined together for singing, dancing and praying.  I’m ok with all three, until they start singing in Lugandan, then I just make echo noises!  It’s not quite CPC, but it is very easy to join in, and enjoy - the singing really is wonderful.  After singing, Joseph prayed and then introduced Lyson to share his testimony.

Joseph, and Lyson (sharing his testimony)

 At this time, a few of us left that group and moved further down the ‘High Street’, to preach to a different audience.  We passed last week’s location, and as we did, the lady who requested prayer called out for us to come and preach again.  Another man shouted, no, and told us to preach down the road a bit.  Not wanting to disappoint, and hoping to find another profitable location, we moved on.  There was a better spot, and as you can see from the photograph below, we were right in the thick of it.  The stall holders were persuaded by the fact that they would hear a life-changing message!

That's us, Godwill and myself, amongst all the colour!

That message was entitled, ‘Why do we keep going on about Jesus?’  I encouraged some of the students to form a small audience, and this seemed to encourage other people to stop and listen.  With Godwill translating, we told them that, God loves the world, and sent Jesus, we told them, we all need a Saviour, and that Jesus died for sinners, like us.  We told them that God so loved the world, He is seeking to adopt us into His family, and Godwill and I are proof of that, as we are now brothers!

Following the message, we all took the opportunity to engage our listeners in conversion.  Patrick told us of his faith and asked for prayer.  Agnes, another stall holder, asked us to pray for her and her business.  Theresa also asked for prayer.  Emmanuel listened to the whole gospel message, and was not at all embarrassed when I prayed for him and his family.  He said he would like to come to the church at ABU, and we encouraged him to.

Theresa asks for literature

Patrick asks for prayer

Agnes asks for peace

Alfred chatted with Fiona (pictured below), who said she believed, but had many doubts.  She asked if we would come back next week to preach again, and we said we’d be back after our mid-term break.  He and Godwill, both chatted to Renton (pictured), who was really keen to talk to us.  Praise-Grace Joy, spoke with Ronald for a while, and on the bus back, all shared of how much a blessing today had been.

 

     Alfred chats with Fiona                           ...then with Renton                  ...who then wants to talk with Godwill

Please pray for the people of Kajjansi, and the ministry in that small suburb.  Pray for the students who tirelessly go out, with great joy and zeal for the Lord.  Pray the Lord will raise up more workers for the rich harvest, that is Africa and Kajjansi.

It seems that not everyone was pleased to see us!

Every blessing, thanks for your prayers, and please, enjoy the photos and the video! 

  

           

I do like to keep the board in order!!!

Open Air at Kajjansi 10.10.13

As I’ve been very busy here at African Bible University, preparing lectures and teaching, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to go out preaching…until today.

Mr Mhango, my colleague from Malawi, asked me to give two lectures on Open Air preaching, OAM style.   So, on Tuesday, I showed them how ‘we’ do it, at the Open Air Mission.  I gave them the ‘Four Greatest Days in History’ talk; my roadsign one, ‘Are You on the Right Road’; and my John Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’ presentation.  We discussed how we should seek to be gentle, be honest, be clear, be Christ-centred and be filled with love for the lost.  I don’t know how well it was received, as it was a post-lunch lecture, in a very hot climate, where eye-lids seem particularly heavy!  So, I thought it was best I just go out with the students, and show them ‘live’.

Presenting 'The 4 Greatest Days in World History'

...whilst the students diligently listen and take notes

We headed into a nearby borough of Kampala, called Kajjansi.  It is a typical Ugandan village: dusty, sweaty, but full of smiling people longing to say, hello, to the Muzungu (white man/wanderer).  We set up our board (which is part of a child’s cot, I think!), on a chair, and I proceeded to introduce myself, our university and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I gave my ‘What if…?’ presentation, with an interpreter, or two, and the message seemed well received.  I think the novelty of a Muzungu and a picture board encouraged a lot of people to stop and listen for a while.  Even boda-boda (motorbike taxi) drivers stopped to listen.

That's me, amongst all that lovely colour.
The lady at bottom centre-left, is the one who requested prayer.

Following the talk, one lady, selling clothes, asked a couple of the students to pray for her, and I got chatting to three Muslim men (Abid, Salam and their friend), who told me they confess their sins at the mosque.  I asked them if they thought it was possible to go to heaven with a sinful heart?  They countered with, ‘What about you?’.  I told them my sin was forgiven because Jesus died for my sin.  The consequence of my sin was laid upon Him, so I can even know I’m going to heaven, not because of how good I am, but because of how good Jesus was and is.  Abid said, we will see at the last day, but I replied, it is a dangerous thing to leave it so late, for what if he is wrong?  He seemed to give this some thought, and I told him I’d be back next week.  So, please pray for Abid and his friends.

This is the view from the back.  The man in the green t-shirt was one of Abid's friends.

So, next week, I will again be teaching the open air preaching class, and going out to Kajjansi, again.  Mr Mhango has already told them, he wants them to utilise the talks on the OAM website and translate them into Lugandan.  So, then the translation will be into English!

Kajjansi High Street, with boda-boda driver passing by.

Praise God for the open air preaching, here in Uganda, and pray for the students who go out every week preaching, door knocking, teaching in schools and leading sports and Bible studies, also in schools (this is something we should begin next week, in a local Muslim school – I meet with the Headteacher tomorrow!).

A few more photos

The last get-together at Kev and Sue's

Natasha baking cakes and biscuits for the students (sustenance for Ben Hur!)

Natasha's Proverbs class - notice how many smiles there are!

The Schimkes' house, where we are house sitting.

Front view of our home-to-be!

...and the rear view!

Sean teaching Education to the Third Years

Sean, Natasha, Sara, Henry, Palmer and Joanna at Henry's church in Jinja

A week in the Life of the Kinsellas

As this is our first blog, we decided to use our 'A week in the Life of the Kinsellas' newsletter, and add some photos.  We hope you like them and add our blog address to your 'favourites'

Will we go on Facebook?  If you knew how long it took us to get this thing up and running, you won't ask again!  But you never know!  Watch this space.

This is now our third week of teaching at ABU and we wanted to share some of our experiences so far.

Sundays have been a great blessing; we are worshipping at New City Bible Church in the centre of Kampala. Services start at 10:40 and finish at 12:40, the music has a definite African flavour but is biblical and includes the singing of hymns and psalms. Last Sunday it rained so hard that it was almost impossible to hear the preacher (due to the tin roof) and we had to quickly move away from the windows before we got soaked – as the rain was falling horizontally! We enjoyed the company of the Robertson’s for lunch and thankfully the rain had stopped, allowing Sean to travel by motor bike to a local Sudanese congregation where he preached (with translation). Recently there have been evening services held on campus, where Palmer has been preaching from Genesis. We give great thanks for these services; please pray that they will continue and that many will come from the surrounding community to hear God’s word faithfully proclaimed.

Mondays begin at 8:00.  Sean teaches English to the first years and Natasha teaches physics to Elliot and Daniel Robertson. The first years are a small group (19) but are thankful to be at ABU and a delight to teach. Please pray that the Lord will help these students to settle into university life and train them up to be servant leaders for Christ. 10:00 is chapel, where we sing, pray, and hear the preaching of God’s word. Each morning we have been blessed by different speakers - it is the highlight of our weekday. At 11:00, Sean teaches world history to the first years, which he greatly enjoys. It has been tough having to prepare lectures, when he’s so used to teaching, but the Lord heard our prayers, and he has found help from his friend, the internet! Natasha spends her afternoons preparing lessons and doing jobs at the library, whilst Sean organises the sports. He has introduced a new Sport Coaching and Ministry Development program, which everyone is slowly coming around to!  This semester, he is leading the girls in circuit training and fitness coaching, whilst the men are developing football coaching skills.

Our evenings are fairly quiet at the moment, but we hope to use some of our spare time getting to know the students and other members of staff.  Sean, occasionally, will sneak off and watch the football, across the road, with Bentry, his football buddy and colleague.

Sean teaching History to the 1st Years

Tuesdays start at 9:00 for Natasha, with a library orientation class. This week’s lesson was based on using the library for research and how to write a paper MLA style. This is a new skill for all the students, some of which have very limited experience of libraries. 10:00 is chapel time, followed by 11:00 class for Sean in ‘Foundations of Curriculum Development’.  This is a class for 2nd and 3rd year students who have taken an elective in education, and plan to teach. This is a great opportunity to set biblical foundations for education and train future teachers. Sean is learning along with the students and would appreciate prayer for wisdom and understanding. At 12:00 Natasha takes a class of eleven 3^rd and 4^th years looking at the book of Proverbs. This class is based around a small group bible study book and involves studying the book before class and then discussing what we have learned in class. It has a been a great challenge for several reasons, Natasha is not a trained teacher and feels poorly equipped for the task, she is very thankful for online resources and Charles Bridges commentary but feels a lack of wisdom regarding the book, the students are very reluctant to participate in class discussion and have dead-pan faces that are very difficult to read, therefore Natasha has to keep the energy of the class going for 50 minutes and is exhausted at the end!  Please pray that Natasha would be equipped to serve the students as their teacher of Proverbs that she would rely wholly on the Lord and trust him to use her for the good of the students. Please pray that the students would study the text well, before the lesson, and be willing to share and discuss their own thoughts and experiences through this wonderful book.

Wednesdays, Natasha gets to teach chemistry twice today, once to Elliot and Daniel (yr8 lesson) and once to Murray (IGCSE), which she very much enjoys. Wednesdays follow a similar pattern to Mondays, with the added benefit of a faculty bible study in the evening. Palmer has been going through his thoughts on the flow of the Psalms, where you can feel his joy and excitement in the word of God. It’s an encouragement to hear the prayers of the saints and enjoy a little fellowship after. We greatly miss our CPC mid-week meeting.

Thursdays follow the pattern of Tuesdays, no library orientation for Natasha but the second Proverbs class.

Fridays start at 8:00 again following the pattern of Mondays and Wednesdays for Sean. Natasha teaches physics twice today and learns some new jobs for the library, such as cataloguing. The afternoon is free on Fridays and so last week we enjoyed a trip into Kampala with the Knights, another family on campus. We were able to complete some errands for sports classes and experience a bit of Ugandan life. The traffic is heavy and chaotic here and so much prayer is offered up before any trip, I’m not sure Natasha will have the courage to drive if we ever get a car!

Friday night has been Youth Group night for so long, we found ourselves at a loose end, not knowing what to do, so we decided to host the first years for a History film night.  We treat them to pop and popcorn, and so far have swatted up on the Greeks, with the help of Troy and 300 (both edited by Sean)!  The students love coming round, and we love hosting them.  One recently commented that he hoped they would one day host others and show similar hospitality, when they have their own homes.  Please give thanks for the encouragement they have been to us.

Film night at the Kinsellas!

On Saturday evening we enjoyed a meal with Patrick and Kenny (see Photo). Patrick is an ABU graduate, now working as our personal relations officer. It is his job to visit schools and other establishments talking about ABU and our vision in order to keep the flow of students training to serve Christ. Kenny is 17 and an orphan, he is living with Patrick (26) so that he can study IT in a local college. Patrick has a great heart for sharing the gospel with young people, the very thing we would love to do.

Kenny enjoying his first ever Italian meal!

This Sunday, Sean will be preaching at a reformed student camp, please pray that the Lord would be glorified and that Sean would be helped by the Holy Spirit to preach on the theme, ‘who is my neighbour?’.

Meanwhile: the rain comes down in buckets (but not for long, thankfully), we are not getting bitten so often (well, Sean isn’t, but he does have chronic ear-ache!), five super-large cockroaches were killed in the pantry (one chased Sean out of the kitchen, but was then chased back into the pantry when Sean’s courage returned!), there’s a new kid in town (the she-goat had a cute kid the other day, so the billy-goat we are sort of looking after is now a daddy!), Sean’s back playing football (and taking the pain-killers and tonic water that go with it!), and if any of you are planning to come out soon, please let us know, for there are quite a few things we forgot to bring, or just couldn’t fit in our 8 pieces of overweight baggage!!!

We remember you by name before the throne of grace and thank you all for your prayers which have greatly helped us these past weeks.

With much love,

Sean and Natasha