Primary 7 Conference, May 2016
"Obedience is better than sacrifice" adopted from 1 Samuel 15:22 was the theme for this year's conference. We expected 337 pupils and 291 attended, we thank God for graciously seeing us through. All the 291 children were blessed with a new Bible and one of the testimonies that many of the children shared was, "I learned how to open and read the Bible, my counselor taught me how to do quite time." We give the glory to God for working through us weak vessels to minister to His children and for the great privilege of being tools in His hands!
We had a total of seven bible teachers to expound on the theme and one thing the children kept echoing was, "Obedience is better than sacrifice". The boys were distributed in 15 groups while the girls had 14 groups.
We thank God for the blessing of our clinic because many of the children came when there were sick but we praise the Lord for all of them got medical attention. It is amazing how this ministered to the children; throughout the testimony night the children thanked God for the medical attention that they received as well as healing. The counselors were amazing, they selflessly loved, ministered and cared for these children. One particular incident was of one girl who was admitted in our clinic, before midnight her bed was soaked with urine, her counselor left the rest to attend to this one sheep and in the morning she helped her wash up along with cleaning her soaked beddings. You know it is so easy to talk about shepherding until the moment of application arises; we were broken to see these young people receive the Word of God and run with it!
While we took a break in waiting for the next group the counselors who had children that got their beds wet in the night were busy washing and drying the mattresses so that the next group finds a better place to lay their heads. Only God could transform their hearts to reach out to other people the way they did! Thank you Lord for this counseling team that so eagerly wants to follow you! We ask that you continue drawing them closer to yourself and equip them to live out the truths in your Word and bring about the much needed transformation our world desperately needs!
During the purity meeting one of the boys fainted and later confessed that it was because of what was shared. This meeting was very elaborate and some of the boys told their counselors that they are willing to wait and maintain sexual purity until marriage.
On dedication night 281 children dedicated their lives to Jesus. Out of the 291 children that attended the conference 87 gave their lives to our Lord Jesus Christ that week; 87 souls will spend eternity with God! Among those who gave their lives to Christ came from Islamic families and wanted to take that step of faith but feared the aftermath when they returned to their homes. The counselors helped them understand that it is an issue of eternity and no one can ever make that decision for them. Please continue praying for them that they will grow spiritually and be ambassadors of Christ especially to their families. 82 children were baptized on Thursday afternoon.
We thank the Vision for Africa International family for the support rendered towards this conference. In a special way we want to appreciate all the Bible teachers (Mama Maria, Pastor Ambale, Rev. Balamaze, Tr. Annette, Tr. Ronald, Miss Julian and Rev. Dr. Luboga), clinic staff, main kitchen, Vocational school warden and matron, the IT department, hotel, administration, maintenance department and the entire conference staff team for your involvement in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ at your different work stations.
May God bless you!
