This week our Intern Team has been putting on SLAM Uganda. It’s been challenging, but an amazing time getting to improve some from El Sal. The biggest thing for me that I’m still amazed by is getting to meet the people I’ve been hearing about and even being in classes with online for multiple years now, and work with to put on a SLAM, or put on a SLAM for them. This SLAM week I’ve had so much fun, everything with the SLAM kids and our East Africa Interns has brought me so much joy being a part of, but the thing right now that is bringing me the most joy is SLAM small groups.
I’ve been leading a small group with Elijah Lovelace for 2 full days and going into our third and last day for SLAM Uganda. Something that surprised me about going into them was how much they spoke and shared vulnerably. A major theme for our first nights small group was humility, it was a theme in the sermon we were talking about Mark 10:17-27, how the rich man wasn’t ready to be educated; he was unteachable because he wasn’t humble. The guys in my small group are all older than me, so its funny to me having to help facilitate the conversation, especially with me not being a more talkative person, and the guys in my group were a little quiet to start the conversation. But when me or Lovelace share first they dive into the topic, that small group was a different, when we asked the question they got into discussion, on how their viewing themselves now after being opened up to a text that humbles.
Most of them were talking about how the text made them re-evaluate their humility in light of what was taught, a big part of the lesson was that for the poor and vulnerable. It is easier to enter the kingdom of God, because they don’t have the power of those who are rich. They are humble, whereas, it’s nearly impossible for the rich to enter as they haven’t had to rely on God in those very real ways like praying the Lord’s prayer and literally needing daily bread.
Some of my guys even related to this. Some even having prayed that prayer, admitting it, and even saying that their lives now are miracles of God, they understand how to rely of God with everything, because they don’t have. Some of them even got emotional when speaking about this, it was a very impactful time hearing them talk about their struggles and time where they relied on God I couldn’t understand, I’ve thought about the fact that people do pray those prayers literally, but I haven’t been in the contexts yet. I see the environment here and in El Sal, and I still only get the tiniest perspective on what it means to truly rely on God, because I haven’t needed to in these ways, in the ways that it could save my life. After the guys shared and Lovelace shared some, and then we all started encouraging each other, telling each other how we saw humility in their stories, and how we saw it in their service to people. It was a great time of vulnerability and encouragement, to end it we prayed and walked back to the meal area.
This small group was the most meaningful, and impactful small group I’ve ever been a part of, and it was because of these beautiful Ugandans sharing their lives with us, we met them a day before we had this amazing conversation. Their vulnerability was something else, I can’t wait to finish this Uganda SLAM week and hear all the amazing testimonies from these kids, and then go into Kenya and have another SLAM week.