Exploration : day 3

This was our Goal.... Mgahinga Gorilla National Forest. This is the "home" of several extinct volcano's as well as a few active ones. Very beautiful chain of mountains. We had driven and driven for several days to get here. And we were ready to leave the moment we arrived! Crazy huh! More of the mountain side farming..... We have decided that the people that live around Mgahinga national park, don't get many visitors. This is were we stayed while at Mgahinga. This little camp/banda was literally at the end of the road. Meaning the road stopped, the only way you could travel further in Uganda was on foot. Which is one reason why we didn't stay any longer then necessary. There were several factors that contributed to our desire to high tail it out of the area!

#1 - To see the gorillas in the park... you had to pay $500 an HOUR! CRAZY, and so not in our budget!

#2 - The only way to get to see the park at all, gorillas or not, was to walk, and we didn't think that either of the two little ones would walk long enough to make the expense worth it.

#3 - The people! I know that sounds awful, but they were overwhelming. Almost EVERY person, (adult and child both) that we passed asked for money... no they demanded money. "You give me money!" "You give me money!" that was all we heard. Kent and two of the girls tried to walk around, and were mobbed by a group of children. They would stand on the other side of the short fence and stare at us... watching every move, holding their hands out, begging. If we could have communicated with them, it might have been easier. We could have at least shared Jesus with them, but we couldn't even do that! I think that so much of their mentality was due to the fact that they can't/don't leave the mountain much. They are just now working on a paved road (which was extremely nice in the places it was finished), and there is a limited amount of transportation that goes that direction.One of the reasons that I haven't posted more pictures of our Home city, is because I don't want to make the people that I live with feel like this woman. When she realized that I was going to take a picture, she hid.

These Crested Crane are the national bird of Uganda. This would be like seeing a bald eagle in your back yard, cool huh!

Boys, these were probably some of the few boys that didn't demand that we give them something.

OK this is is a funny story.... While we were driving over the mountains we get a text on our phone that says.... "Welcome to Rwanda", later we receive another text telling us how to call information while in Rwanda. We start frantically looking at a map, trying to figure out how, when and WHERE we crossed the border. Then we approached this guarded area. Keep in mind that NOBODY speaks English, so we have no idea where we are, or if we are about to cross into another country. So we turn around and drive back to the little community. We decide to call a hotel, and see if they can help us, they suggest following a Boda Boda (motorcycle taxi) to their location. So we find a driver that can kind of understand what we need, we turn BACK around and we start following.

He drives right on through the guarded area, and it is not until we are passed it that we realize we were driving on the runway, for the airport. We weren't where we thought we were, but we weren't in Rwanda either.

This is a nice shot of the road that we had to take to get over the mountains. Note the two semi's going in opposite directions.... then notice the herd of cows that are on the road, right where the white truck will soon be driving.

Exploration : day 2

After Lake Nabugabo we continued south/southwest and drove to Lake Bunyonyi. The drive was really nice, we watched the landscape change from plains, to banana farms and then into the foot hills of the mountains.We passed a Ugandan Mill.... Here they are making 2x4's BY HAND!!! unbelievable.

A nice shot of the lake from the top of the hill, looking down. Lake Bunyonyi, and the mountains that surround it, is known as the "Switzerland of Africa".

We were BLOWN away by how the people farm the land..... they use every available square inch of dirt for farming! Even if it means farming sideways on the side of a mountain.

I wish there was more I could say about lake Bunyonyi.... We got there at dusk, set up and cooked dinner in the dark, climbed in the van, and went to sleep! The next morning, we at breakfast at the resort were we were camping, so that we could spend our time packing up, instead of cooking.

Here is our "campsite". It was actually the edge of the parking lot, but the grassy area was GREAT for the girls to run around in. Imagine, the tarp over the van, a few trunks sitting around, a NICE RED COOLER, and a lantern or two and you have our camp.

Exploration : day 1

We took our first Ugandan Camping trip last week and had an awesome time! But before I tell you all about it, let me clarify a few things first:
#1 : Our Trip to Murchinson Falls National Park was a two day, one night trip. Quick, fast and close by. A short two hour drive from our house!
#2 Our trip to Aru Falls was a day trip. Drive there, eat lunch, hike, and go home. That was it.
NOW on the other hand this was a BIG trip. AMI is big on the "push-pull" work method, and we are about to have a HUGE push with the summer coming and several short term teams making a trip to Uganda! So we thought that a little time as a family was in order, to help prepare ourselves for the next push.

OK that being said...... Here are the awesome details of our trip.

We started by staying the night in Kampala. We splurged a little for Kent's birthday and rented a room at the Grand Imperial, I wish I had taken pictures.... but alas... I didn't.


Our First stop was Lake Nabugabo, a short drive from Kampala. It was VERY nice, peaceful. I wish we would have stayed there the whole week!!

The biggest down fall of the lake was the Monkeys. They were great fun to look at when they were walking from the water to the trees... but after this mama got brave and stole a tomato from our camp.... it was all down hill from there!

We had all sorts of monkeys wanting in on the yummy food! It was crazy! There were several times that we had to chase a monkey out of the back of the van! I though one monkey was going to chase me! I was glad that Kent was ready and willing to take on anything that might try and attack. What a man, what a man!

The view was amazing. The "Holiday Center" were we stayed has NICE bathrooms, and there were bandas or huts that you could rent, if you didn't have a tent to sleep in. After a yummy breakfast, we were packed up and on the road by 11:00 on Wed morning.

Aru Falls

Lady has quickly become part of the family, she shares her bed with Snuggle Bug...And this weekend she went with us on our first day trip. We were told about a waterfall that is about an hour and 15 min drive from our city and is a beautiful place to go for an afternoon excursion. We are planning to go camping in a week, and we thought it would be a great practice run before we left.The directions that went something like this: "Take Kitgume road till you reach the big bridge, shortly after the bridge you will turn right, just before the the trade center. Follow the small road for about 20 min. Then you will turn right again, you will know it is the correct turn because the road dips down." We only had to call once to confirm the location of the turn for the small road. They said we would be straddling the grass ... .and we were! This place is really out in the African bush! in the middle of nowhere. It is rough, and untourist-ized. It was beautiful!The last time we went camping, it rained and we discovered that the van leaked! IT was not a pleasant night.... and before I was going to sleep in the van for a week .... during rainy season... we had to get it fixed!! I thought of putting a tarp over the top of the van. That would help keep the water out, maybe even allow us to keep the windows open if it rains (it gets stuffy with the windows closed.) And this is what Kent came up with.... it worked really well. Daddy, you would be proud!Here is our camping stove.... we heated up leftover soup for lunch and added yummy pineapple to finish off our meal. I actually had to cook several meals on this stove, when our cooker (stove) ran out of propane and the gas station was out as well.

Before we headed down to the falls we met Bosco, who came out of nowhere! He was a true God send!! There was NO WAY we could have made it down the mountain with out his help. The descent down was treacherous, there were times that my life flashed before my eyes as I thought Lady was going to pull me head first down into the rocks! There were several rivers that we had to ford (isn't that the fancy word for cross??) That would have been impossible with just us: 2 adults, 4 girls, 2 chairs, and umbrella and a puppy! But is was all worth it, wouldn't you say.... just look at the view! There he is.... the silent watcher, sent to help us maneuver down a mountain so we could enjoy one of God's MANY wonders!

Please observe that the chairs we hauled down the mountain, were NOT fold able, easy to carry camping chairs..... they were these, hard plastic lawn chairs. And the Umbrella, was NOT the small compact type that fit into your purse or backpack.

Here are the girls playing in the only shallow place we could find. They had so much fun, once they recovered from the journey down. For the trip back up we made a few changes. Kent carried, Curly Sue on his back, I passed Lady to Baby Girl and took Snuggle Bug on my back. Sweat Pea, wielded the umbrella and Bosco took the chairs! It wasn't as scary going back up, except for the time I fell in to the river... but I didn't drop Snuggle bug! Of course I was the only one who WASN'T dressed for a swim ... oh well!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!

Easter Weekend Confessions

Easter "weekend" started for us on Thursday when Kent and I headed to the Capital..... ALONE! Can you believe it, God as given us FABULOUS babysitters here in Uganda! We ate burgers, bought cereal (even at $10 a box) ate pizza, bought butter and cheese, and even ate Mexican food! ... I LOVED IT!

We were home by Saturday. The kids had colored eggs with Miss Ashley, so Sunday was a low key, recover from supply run, kind of day. Sunday night I was making a HUGE pot of spaghetti sauce... home made.... from scratch, and as I was moving it from the counter, back to the burner...... I DROPPED IT!

I'm not sure what the actual trigger was, could be the fact that we live in a foreign country, could have been all the time wasted cooking, could have been the food that was lost, yummy, fresh good food, or it could have been the fact I was exhausted from staying up until 2:00am while we were in the capital. Who knows..... but I LOST IT!

I started crying like I had just lost my BFF. Kent thought I had received bad news via a text message or something. I couldn't explain it, I just cried, and cried.... and cried! It was really the first time that I have cried since we moved here. Kent was super husband and cleaned up my mess while I went into our room and sobbed. The kids were angles and all volunteered to eat noodles with butter and cheese. (Fortunately we had picked up some Parmesan cheese while we were in Kampala.) There was enough sauce left in the bottom of the pot for a few of us to enjoy the creation.

Easter Monday is a holiday here in Uganda, so Kent, one of our neighbors and Lawrence planned a huge BBQ or Roast. There was a ton of food that needed to be prepared. Fortunately I didn't have to cook it all, I just had to help. We cooked a gigantic amount of Matoki (green bananas), a huge pot of potatoes, lots of noodles, bunches and bunches of Bo, and EIGHT KILOS of RICE! All this was in addition to the three chickens, a side of beef and 7 pineapples.

In all honesty I didn't have a very good time. I found it extremely hard, after having a rough night the night before, to force myself to have a conversation with women, who didn't WANT to talk, or who COULDN'T talk (at least in my language). I really tried hard a first. We started preparing food at 9:00am. And I sat and helped, while listening to them chat in Acholi. Occasionally I would ask Susan (one of the ladies who spoke English) what they were saying, and she would tell me, but not with out some annoyance in her voice. After a while I gave up.... I was emotionally SPENT!

BUT God was good, when he gave me those Awesome babysitters, he planed it so that they would be my friends too! So at 5:30pm, my friends came and kidnapped me for a girls sleepover. We had dinner.... I didn't have to cook, and we talked.... with out being interrupted. Then we watched a grown up movie..... The Lord of the Rings, part one. (We flirted with the idea of watching all three movies, but we didn't think staying up that late was wise, and now we have a GREAT excuse to have another sleep over!).... I came home the next morning so refreshed!

THANK YOU JESUS for friends who will babysit and who understand life in a third world country. After keeping the girls for three days, they were amazed at how I manage, which is why they spoiled me on our girls night! I feel so loved and blessed!

Evergreen

In my last post I shared the testimony of Daniel, the bartender, who gave his life to Jesus, after a college outreach. He asked Kent if they could start having a bible study. This week was their first meeting, they met there in the Evergreen Bar and while they were going over the basic plan of salvation, with verses and all, one other employee and three waitress gave their lives to JESUS! So there are now 5, yes FIVE, new believers that are basically having church in a bar! GOD IS AWESOME!!!

In other awesome news... Dennis W, the young man Kent is discipiling, and Kent were out the other day looking for goats. They saw some nice meaty ones, and when they stopped to see who owned them, they discovered a little girl with a NASTY cough. So they laid hands on her chest and prayed for healing! Then they went to find the owner of the goats, but he wasn't home, which gave them a great reason to go back the next day. Dennis returned to ask about the goats, and while he was in the neighborhood, Kent told him he should check on the little girl too. The mom said that the girl had slept all night, for the first time in two weeks! Dennis put his hand on her chest, and he could feel the difference. The day before her lungs were SUPER congested, the next day they were clear! Another story for the GLORY of GOD!!

Update

Things are well here in Uganda. Life has settled down to a normal routine and we LOVE IT! We are seeing God's hand in so much that we are doing right now. Kent has had several opportunities to teach this past week. One opportunity was with the cell group leaders at our Church. I'm not sure how fruitful the out come was, but there was one young man you approached Kent after the meeting and asked Kent if he would disciple him. Someone eager for more of Jesus, a deeper, more powerful walk! His name is Dennis, and we call him Dennis "W".

The other engagement was with a group of college students. These college students love Jesus, and get together every day at lunch for a time of prayer and worship. They had an outreach to a local village planned, and they asked Kent to help them prepare for the trip. At the first meeting he encouraged them to learn how to share their testimony in 90 seconds. To practice it. Get it down well enough that you could share it at the gas pump, or in the grocery store line. Then at the next meeting he surprised them with a challenge to go out in pairs and share the Gospel with one person during the lunch break.

He knew that there would be at least one good testimony, but he was blown away when there were three people that gave their lives to Jesus that afternoon! Dennis W is who Kent when out with. They went to a restaurant/bar and shared the love of Jesus with the bar tender.

The bar tender, Daniel, had heard about Jesus the week before from a nurse, so he was ready to make a decision to follow Jesus. Dennis W was so encouraged by their lunch challenge. They have since gotten together for a second meeting, and Daniel's wife came to that.

So be praying for Lawerence, Daniel and Dennis. They are the top three guys that Kent is pouring into right now. And when those three have three guys.... then all of a sudden there will be nine! and when those nine have three... you are looking at 36 people that are falling in love with Jesus, and helping other do the same!! 36x3.... 108. You get the idea.... and that doesn't take into account any new guys that Kent might meet, or any of their wives!

A movement is gonna happen in Northern Uganda!! Thank you JESUS!

Lawerence

Lawrence was one of those "random" meetings that turned into a lot more. We first met Lawrence while we were house looking. His brother had a house that was for rent, and even though we didn't rent that house, Laurence and Kent started hanging out. They went to a local hotel to watch a "football" match, Laurence helped Kent find places in town, that first Sunday Lawrence walked us to Church and then stayed to listen.
He was one of those ripe ready to harvest kinda hearts that didn't require much effort on our part, if any at all, and now Kent is discipling him. It is so encouraging to hear about the conversations that these two have. Kent will ask Lawrence questions about faith, or character, or unconditional love, and at first he answers with what he knows... like how God doesn't love the "street girls" as much because their sin is "greater" that his. But it is amazing... as Kent explains God's love and how he views all sin the same, you can see the light bulb come on has he gets it! SO, a week ago Saturday, Lawrence wanted to get baptized. They announced that the church was doing having baptisms.... Lawrence thought he had to work, and so we didn't make any effort to get Lawrence on the list. But at the last minuet he rearranged his schedule so that he could get baptized, but by that time... it was too late, to get baptized with the church group that is.

Kent called up the hotel ( the only one with a pool in Gulu) and asked if we could do another baptism that afternoon in their pool. They said yes..... so Kent and his girls, along with Lawrence, his wife and parents as well as two of our other "munu" friends, piled into the van and headed to the Acholi Inn.

The next Sunday, Lawrence's wife surprised him by coming to church, and this Tuesday we are starting a bible study at their house! WAY TO GO GOD!! IT is amazing! Lawrence has been so helpful in so many ways.... Kent takes him along on some of him outings to share the gospel and we are super excited to see where God will use Lawrence!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!! Holding hands is a sign of friendship among men in the Acholi culture, I am so thankful that Kent was ready and willing to accept this custom! Thank you Jesus! USE KENT MIGHTILY IN UGANDA!!

15 min of fame!

My AMAZING mother-in-love's box came last night along with an amazing story. From what I can understand it goes something like this....

She was sitting at home watching the evening news when they ran a story on Professionals Athletes making a difference in Uganda. They were reporting on how there are several athletes who wanted to make a difference and were going to GULU, Uganda to install water wells.

Hearing that there was a group from OK, going to not just Uganda, but to Gulu as well, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to try and get a cooler full of goodies to us!

Well Ms. Amy, the news anchor, thought that we would be a great side story to the one they were already running! So She and a film crew headed out to MIL's house and filmed them filling up the care package.

Last night we headed up to the Hotel where they team was staying and picked up our box. They busted out the camera and filmed the whole thing... so we should have a few minuets of fame in OK, soon.

Amy also delivered a birthday card to Honey.... and we were given 50 water filter straws that can be used to filter water anywhere... they are called "Water is Life" and they are a great gift to give, when telling people about the True Water.... Jesus!

Here we all are with Ms. Amy and the Water is Life straws. It was a fun evening for all!! We enjoyed digging through the box when we got home. It was CRAMMED full of awesome goodies!! Packages of brown gravy, peppered gravy, corn bread, kool-aid, all sorts of bug repelant and itch cream AND more bread pans!! (Which is awesome cause my recipe makes three loaves, and it takes forever with only one pan!!)

Read more and watch the video at.... Gulu Delivery . Hopefully all you readers with better internet access can watch the video!

THANKS so much GRAM..... WE LOVE YOU!!!

Luxuries

Now that we have been in country for almost two months we are now familiar with what we can and can not get. TO start with, any meat, cheese or dairy is rare and limited, especially in our home city. We thought we would get a cooler, or and ice chest to freeze meats in and then bring them home. However we are finding that what might be "normal" at home, is considered a "luxury" here.

For example: At home ice chest: $20-30 dollars. Uganda: $150! So we quickly tossed that idea out the window and started looking for another option.

Example 2: Rice Crispies :Home $2.50 - 4.00 a box. Uganda: $10! My girls at the whole box in TWO meals!

Example 3: Ragu Spaghetti Sauce: Home $2.00 - $2.50. Uganda $7.00! and there is no "great value" brand as an option either. So I have started learning how to make my own.

Example 4: A block of cheese: Home: $3:50. Uganda: 10+ for a small block. and there isn't a slice of Kraft cheese to be found in the whole country!!

At the same time.... you can get fresh pineapples for $1, Avocados $.20 cents, rice $2.00 for a Kilo. However I don't think that the savings in fruits off sets the cost of the "luxury" items.

Other hard to find items: Dill relish, pickles, yummy crackers, corn chips, (all these yummy avocados to make guacamole with and not a corn chip in sight!) good ice cream, coffee, kitchen stuff. ( I can't find a potato masher to save my life! & I looked all over for a small cookie sheet.... paid $10 when I finally found one, bread pans fall into the same category as the cookie sheet), maple syrup, vanilla and other extracts... ect.

Along with making my own spaghetti sauce.... I have started baking our own bread. I also make our own carrot sticks. (not challenging, but time and space consumers). In some ways it is fun! but it is tiring as well. I don't think I will take to butchering my own cow, but I am looking into making cheese. I just need to find a cow with good milk.

Fortunately my AMAZING mother-in-love found a group that is not only coming to Uganda, but our city as well, and they are staying at the hotel just up the road from our house. Guess what she is sending: and Ice Chest full of goodies!! We can hardly wait to receive our first care package. I imagine it will be stuffed full of things like relish, coffee, syrup, koolaid, not to mention a few treats for the girls as well!!

We are starting a list of items that we want brought over to us from the US.... for our visiting teams to bring. Some of you have mentioned wanting to send a package. If you want to send something with a team, let me know and I will send you the address of our collecting spot.

Currently we aren't using the post office.... it takes 4 months to get anything! It would get here faster if it goes through the teams that are coming in May.

We are so thankful for this opportunity, even if it means limiting our cheese consumption and increasing our rice intake. (and therefore increasing our waistlines as well). It is all worth it for Jesus!!!

African Safari

Remember what I was saying about God's timing in our school.... in the schedule it was suggested that we visit the African section of the local zoo. Well.... we don't have a local zoo, but we do have access to some AWESOME animals!This past weekend 10 adults and 4 kids piled in to our van and headed to Murchison Falls National Reserve. We drove around the park most of the afternoon & evening and then at dusk we crossed the Nile......

On this thing...... it's called a "ferry" but I think it should be called a barge. When I think of the word ferry I picture I paddle boat floating down the Mississippi River.

Once you cross the Nile.... yes we are talking about the real NILE river. The Red Chilli is just a few short minutes away. At the Red Chilli (if you have called in advance and made reservations) You can stay in a nice bonda hut for a few American Dollars. If you are spontanous like us and DON'T call ahead and make reservations and then show up with 10 adults..... well

You might get to stay in a tent like one of these. OK.... I know I say this alot.... BUT >>>> GOD is so good! Even though we showed up with a boat load of people and there were NO vacancies we still were able to acquire a place to stay for the night. We put four of our group in the large 4 man tent, two had a tent to them selves and the two guys roughed it in a real camping tent. Problem Solved! (A group of 30 had cancelled earlier that day, but some how the owners didn't get the message....). As a family we had planned on sleeping in our van and had brought our "bed" with us, and it was a GREAT learning experience. It rained that night and we discovered that the cool extension on the top that we LOVE.... leaks. And the top is a little too crowed for three small bodies. Not a problem. So what if our friend learned that the Red Chilli tents are a little leaky too... or that it is hard to sleep in a camping tent in Africa, in the rain, with no tarp or sleeping bag, or jacket, or.....

It was all worth it for THIS...... It is very affordable and unbelievable!! There are tons of Elephants, a plethora of Antelope, Impala and other deer like creatures.

Water Buffalo.... yep we got em... and NO you can't possibly see them with out breaking out in song.... "Every body's got a watter buffalo....." (don't shoot me if the song stays there all day ;)

What are they looking at you ask.... Hippos... in the water chillin. Everyone jumped out and started taking pictures.... then we had the chance to take pictures of this.....

The worlds second largest lawn mower... with the Rhino coming in at 1st. There is a sign at the Red Chilli that says : "beware of the Hippotrotomus" under which is a picture of a man being chased by an angry hippo. (and no that is not an typo I know that I make lots of mistakes, but that one is not mine)

Can you say amazing..... all this is just two hours from my house.....

OK so how many of you have started looking at you calenders to see when you can plan a visit to Uganda?!?! We would love to have you!