Studying Hard! (Thursday): Trip #7

It’s Thursday night, and God willing, 25 hours from now I will be on a plan to Amsterdam! With the current COVID protocols, we need a negative test one day before takeoff. We will leave Gulu town around 10 am (after our final session) and hit the road for what we hope is only a seven-hour ride to the test site and a negative test. I don’t have to teach tomorrow; I’m studying for my COVID exam. Carol has been very accommodating, having picked up the virus while I was gone and hopefully happy (and healthy!) to receive me later Saturday evening. Timing is everything. As always, I check the county COVID stats and see the significant spike that is occurring. 

If I don’t get a negative result, I will be having an extended stay in Uganda. I love the country and its people, but I am always ready to come home. Having Carol to come home to makes it very, very easy. 

Today was an important day. We finished our first-time formal evaluations of the Lead Trainers (LTs) that we have been working with. They are the leaders who will carry forward, God willing, the vision of an abiding network of Gospel Centered, Bible Saturated, African Lead churches. They are critical in the African lead part of the equation. We met with each of them over the last two days. We gave them feedback (after asking theirs first) on four areas inside the classroom:

  • Classroom management
  • Grasp of curriculum
  • Delivery of content
  • Theological accuracy

This is the area we were most involved in.

We also discussed two facets of their development outside the classroom:

  • Communication (with the broader team and their trainees)
  • Commitment (how are the sizing up to the promises we made each other)

While all six of our LTs are not ready for prime time, there is still confidence that the building blocks are in place for a January 23 launch of the next cohort with nobody from the US traveling over to teach. Exciting, biblical stuff!

The hospitality here at Abaanah’s Hope remains incredible in this home away from home. I had fun introducing Kris and his family to two new games that became part of our pandemic life: Just One and The Game. Both are cooperative in nature and kids eleven and over were effective participants. I (all of us who have traveled over) have come to love the Mobb’s family and it will be a bittersweet day in May when we say goodbye to them and cohort one of the Living Stones Pastoral Training Center.

Larry Szyman

Pastor for Missional Life