Mission at Owiro Akoko Girls' High School on 12th July 2007

On July 12, 2007 the CML mission team visited Owiro Akoko Girls' High School in Awendo for the first time. We were greeted and welcomed as though we had been friends for a lifetime.

The girls at Owiro Akoko were beautiful! Their smiles revealed energetic and expectant faces. After a sharing a meal with the teaching staff, the team came into the Dining Hall joining the young students as they made sweet melodies unto the Lord with their voices. The teaching staff including the Principal Mrs. Nelly Odongo were in attendance. Daniel Khisa (pictured above) led us in a lovely time of praise and worship. The girls loved the song, "give me a J...give me an E...give me a S...give me an U...give me a S"- JESUS.

Sister Amani Muhonja was the Master of Ceremony for the day. She always does a fabulous job and she is very much appreciated.

Following the time of Praise and Worship, Brother William Ochieng introduced the mission team which was a partnership between CML and Missions and Outreach department of NPC Buruburu. Sister Amani then introduced Pastor Margaret Mwenga the minister of God's Word for the first session.

Pastor Margaret delivered a teaching on Self-esteem. She began her teaching by sharing from the Word of God in Genesis 1:26,27, "...vs 27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (NIV). The girls were educated on what self- esteem is, what self-esteem is not, and the aspects of a human being including the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual make-up. The issue of self-esteem is a challenge with young people. We thank God for the timely message that was spoken through His willing vessel.

Sister Denise Davenport ministered to the young girls on sexual purity and HIV/AIDS. These are all serious and relevant topics to the girls. Sister Denise was able to relate these issues to the message from Pastor Margaret. She passed along the key point: KAP. K- Knowledge, the young girls must first KNOW who they are. A- Attitude, the students must know what they believe in and have a positive ATTITUDE about how much they are worth to the Lord. P- Practice, after the girls are aware of who they are and how much they are worth, it is important for them to PRACTICE what they believe.

The young girls enjoyed hearing from Sister Denise and eagerly copied notes for future reference.

Pastor Margaret closed the session by leading the girls in prayer. Several of the students made decisions to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior and others recommitted their lives to the Lord. We thank God for what He did in the lives of those girls.

Before proceeding to the Open Forum, we had a moving session by the principal Mrs. Odongo who took time to emphasize certain key issues from the main sessions. We were all blessed by her simple and practical way of addressing the challanges. An Open Forum is a time for the students to ask the team any question that they might have concerning the issues and challenges that they face and the team then responds from a biblical perspective. Because time was running short we had a limited Open Forum and asked the students to have a time of one-on-one counseling. This time of counseling is always a blessing to both the students and the team members. We are able to listen, share, and pray for the students individually.

Once again the team was blessed to be able to fellowship and experience the grace of God with the students and the teaching staff Owiro Akoko . We look forward to future ministry at Owiro Akoko Girls' High School.