Had I Failed My Purpose?
Before my feet ever hit Ugandan soil, I would have told you that my ministry was to train pastors’ wives. I had a burden to see these women get the tools to minister to the women in their churches in a powerful way. These women have a lot of potential to have great
influence, but they have had no training.
Once life in Uganda began, my ministry looked different from what I thought it would. Scott was busy with trainings and curriculum. I was busy cleaning up toys and cooking. Scott was traveling. I was grocery shopping. Scott was working on a new oral approach to Bible study called Bible Storying. I was reading lots of stories to my boys.
Not bad—just not what I thought it would be. I looked for opportunities for ministry. I had become good friends with a woman named Regina. I asked her if we could do a weekly Bible study. She agreed and I gave her some scripture to read. The first time we got together, I asked her what she had learned from her reading. She said, “I read it.” I quickly realized that although she could read, she was not “getting it.”
I asked Scott about it and he suggested I try Bible Storying with her, which is basically telling Bible stories in a compelling way and asking questions that help unpack the text. We began with the story of Mary and Martha, and then continued doing other stories regularly. Regina grew in amazing ways. I loved seeing this woman, who could read but not understand the Bible, blossom into a woman who could really dig into the truth of God’s Word.
After about a year, I started to feel frustrated that I never got to work with pastors’ wives. I felt as if I had failed at my purpose. But God quickly spoke into my heart. He reminded me that Regina was married to a pastor. Her husband, Stephen, was not one of the pastors Scott worked with, but she was still a pastor’s wife! Isn’t God good?
I asked Regina about her ministry and how I could help. She told me that each story we did together she shared with the ladies in her church. She was taking the Word of God and using it. My ministry was not to a group of wives, but to one. My ministry was not in structured seminars and trainings, but over a cup of tea. I was thrilled to see that God was faithful to the calling He had put in my heart, even though it looked different from how I had planned it.
GIVE: Help the Rambos continue the ministry of Bible Storying in East Africa by partnering with them financially through a monthly gift. Give online at www.wgm.org/rambo.
MORE: Visit www.simplythestory.org to learn more about Bible Storytelling.
Let me make it clear from the beginning: I do not like change. However, flexibility is very important in a missionary’s life.
Mark* didn’t really stand out as someone likely to make something of himself. He was one of over 250 people who took the Victory Guitar Outreach class in a series of eight-week courses over a couple years at Thwajik Kee—The Healing House, which is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center on the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix, Arizona. Probably more than 90 percent of those people returned to rehab at least once, many over and over again. Their futures didn’t often look very hopeful. The “plan” was to teach guitar (and Bible) to the residents and give them a skill they could draw on in times of trouble and temptation, as well as to give them hope of a better future through a relationship with Jesus Christ.