Friday found us waking up to the shouts of Ben and Andre's whooping and cheering and hollaring at each other as they decided to brave the very cold morning showers. This, of course, woke everyone up, but we had to be at mass for 7am anyway so it wasn't a big deal - the last mass with everyone we had come to know and love during the past three weeks. It's a different sort of feeling, having to leave behind a ministry that we've built into, and where we have no idea what the outcome will be. Complete trust and faith in another person to pass along the message - so hard but so amazing. I kept thinking that this is how St.Paul must have felt while he was spreading the gospel. All he had was trust and faith that the people he built into would be able to carry on the message and overcome struggles, persevering in hope that they would "get it right".
Accordingly, Friday was probably one of our busiest days. In the midst of having to say our final farewells we still had to sit down and plan a propsal of what the future of CCO in Uganda could look like, plan a prayer meeting, schedule our last one-on-one discpleship meetings, figure out who our executive team for CCO on campus would be, pray for the movement on campus...and pack! It was wild! But such an incredibly blessed time.
One highlight was getting together for supper with everyone who had helped us, and just talking and sharing stories about what has been going on. It felt like the last supper, saying goodbye, affirming one another and building each other up to send out - them to their peers on campus and us back to Canada. But in asking them how they felt about us leaving, their response was incredible - "It'll be hard, but we will do it!" seemed to be the common message - no second guessing, just a commitment to pass on the message!
The day ended with a prayer meeting put on by the UMU students. It started with Praise and Worship, then a talk given by one of the NETers, Peter, and ended with a time of praying over those students who attended. Such a powerful night and the best way to end our time of ministry!
It's definitely hard to say goodbye - these students have become a part of our lives - and as much as we came to teach them, they have taught us so much. Please continue to pray for our students at UMU that God may grant them the graces to carry out the message and mission!
No comments:
Post a Comment