Work day on the fish farm project

This past Saturday about 12 of the deacons from the local churches met together at the property of Knox Theological College to work on the fish farm. Several months ago the pond was hand dug by these guys with the hope to raise some Tilapia. I thought this project would provide a good opportunity to have the churches work together so that they can provide some food for their widows, generate some income to inject into their diaconal funds while at the same time learning some business practices. If the fish do well this project could quickly become self sustaining with to potential to add a second pond.

Below are some pictures of the work:

We started by clearing some of the weeds around the pond. 

Following that we got a net to clear out as many frogs as possible. 

Following this a nice dose of lime brought any remaining frogs to the surface for easy removal!

December Happenings

Hi everybody!!! Earlier this month, we attended the wedding of Pastor Charles's daughter, Diana. The wedding was late in getting started, so I took the opportunity to take some pics :-).

Meanwhile, Levi took the opportunity to engage in feats of bravery...

Here's the lovely couple...

Also this month, Mark hosted a meeting for the deacons of the local churches at our home. Here's a pic of some of the men he will be working with. Pray for wisdom for Mark and for these men as they seek to show mercy and compassion to the needy in their churches.

Another "exciting" event this month was the digging of a trash pit in our yard. Since there is no trash collection in Uganda, we must find ways to dispose of all our trash. Some is burnt. Some is composted, but there are some things that don't burn or compost :-). Most homes have a trash pit for these things, but we didn't have one. It must be deep enough that animals can't climb in and out (10 feet). It is dug by hand. Ezekiel (in pic below) and his friend Maurice did most of the work, but from time to time they had some helpers. Here is some of the early stage of the work with Gideon and Miss Christi lending a hand.

Meet the Deacons

Now that my (Mark's) time at the government hospital has completed I have been able to devote more time to the other components of my job here. A good bit of that time will be spent working with the deacons of the local churches. There are roughly 11 of these churches that are part of the denomination in the surrounding area. So last week I invited the deacons of these congregations to my house in order to get to know them and hear what is going on in their churches.

My plans for now are to visit each of their churches, learn about their congregation and get a sense of what assets are available among the members. The main project that I will be joining in with them on is a fish farm that they recently dug and plan on stocking soon.

Thanks for following the blog and for your prayers. We will keep you up to date on how things go!

Wedding #1

We have had the opportunity to attend two weddings recently. We were told at training that if you were invited to a wedding or funeral, you should definitely attend, because it is such a valuable cultural experience. Here are some pics from Wedding #1.

Reception food being prepared

We were invited to this wedding because Messulam (wearing a red tie,on the left), a dear man who has worked for the mission for many years was the best man. At a Ugandan wedding, the groom arrives first and is escorted into the church by a choir.

 In contrast, our American weddings seem like rather tame affairs!

 When the bride arrives, she is accompanied into the church with even more fanfare.

 Messulam had to greet his buddy Silas.

 The reception included African traditional dancing.

 Josiah is always really good about greeting people.

 Doesn't he have a great smile?

 Loved these ladies' expressions too.

The new couple.