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Seeking First:
An update from Mike, Marianne & Elias Botting 
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A Hop, Skip, and a Jump
We aim to send out a newsletter every two months...the last one was in August, so we effectively "hopped, skipped, and jumped" over October.
We had a good reason though! October was totally consumed with teaching at Bishop Lee college. Originally, Marianne hadn't planned to teach, as she's now at home with Elias. But the college was still without an English instructor, so she stepped in to help the Year 2 class finish their course. That meant that on the days Marianne was at the college, Mike was at home with Elias, and vice versa. It was a stretching month, but we are pleased that the Year 2 class graduated and were commissioned (pictured below right) by visiting retired Bishop Ogwal in a joyous ceremony (which included a mass wedding, pictured below left!) on November 13th.
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...FAMILY NEWS...
Our newsletter isn't the only thing hop, skipping, and jumping! Elias is now 11 months old and has started taking his first steps, while holding onto things. He's also a pro at the jolly jumper!
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Late Nights, Lasting Impact
Pastor Donato from Faith Mission Church in Pader (pictured below left) is responsible for a number of branch churches in 2 districts, some as far as 70 km away. In addition, he is the overseer of the pastors for the Pentecostal Association of Churches in Pader and Agago districts.
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But he has a problem. Evangelism efforts in the past have brought many people to Christ, but follow-up was a big problem. When he asked us if we'd help him by going out to the villages to show the Jesus Film, we told him about the model for training church volunteers in follow-up and discipleship that we did a couple years ago. He replied, "That's exactly what we need! There's nobody trained in follow-up, so the pastors end up doing it all, which is not really possible."
Thus, the Jesus Film ministry was re-started! Church volunteers from 18 different communities were trained and sent out in September to train their fellow members - in order to be ready to build up new believers who come to faith when the Jesus Film is shown in their communities.
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Film showings have now started! To date, the film has been shown in 4 of the 18 communities. The response has been very positive, with many people coming to Christ. Even more encouraging is that new believers are actually being followed up! Our prayer is that each and every one of these souls will be fertile soil for the seed and produce fruitful, joyful lives in Christ.
Totally worth the late nights...
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