A Visit to Teddy's Village

Since moving to Uganda about 6 months ago, one of the things we have tried to make a priority is building relationships with those around us. Just like we would do if we had moved to a new place in the US, I guess. Anyway, one of those people that we have been seeking to reach out to is a young woman in her early 20s named Teddy. Actually, Teddy has reached out as much to us as we have to her! Mark met her when he was working at Mbale Referral Hospital. She is a nurse in the OR there. He invited her to church, and she came, and has been coming faithfully ever since.

Teddy invited us to visit her village and meet her family. Here are some pics from our day.

Here's a shot of Teddy with her grandparents who actually raised her. Apparently, her grandfather is in his 90s.

Boat ride!!

Kids in every culture like to splash in the water.

The boys brought fishing poles and tried to fish, but we didn't catch anything. Some of the Ugandan guys said the fish didn't like our big American fishhooks :-).

One of the most encouraging parts of our day was visiting with Teddy's Aunt Jane, who runs an organization called Woman of Purpose. The organization seeks to empower Ugandan women through job training. Jane has a lot of wisdom and experience, and will be a great resource.

Here is Jane (in the center in red) outside of the Woman of Purpose headquarters with some of her employees.

Tailoring training

We ended our day with a delicious chicken dinner served at the Woman of Purpose restaurant, which Jane opened to teach catering. (Can you tell Gid is watching TV?)

We are so thankful for Teddy, and the hospitality she extended to us. The Ugandan people are extremely hospitable and welcoming, and we are thankful to have this opportunity to live here.

Pets and Critters

So I (Mark) thought I would give an update on some of the animals around our house here.... with a fun surprise at the end! (warning it is a bit gross)

The chicks Gideon is raising are doing well in their new home. All except for one that passed away a few days ago. With the help of Messalamu we have them set up with their own little home. Hopefully they will grow nice and big!

Here is Gid having some quality time with the chicks.

Another new addition is a nice new puppy. Some people recommended that we should have three guard dogs since our property is on the larger side. The kids heard about this and since then have been "suggesting" that we get another dog. So we found a puppy from Jeroen- the dutch dairy farmer. The dog's name is Jack. When we brought him home, he immediately began to get initiated into guarding by our other two larger dogs. They pick on him constantly, but he is holding up well.

And lastly for the big surprise..... Silas had three bumps on his head. They all had a black center to them that was a bit like a  volcano. We were not sure what they were, but they were causing him a great deal of pain. While he was sitting on Christine's lap I tried to give the biggest one a squeeze. And out popped a mango worm that shot up about 10 inches in the air. It was super gross. Here is a picture of the largest worm and the hole that it left in his head. The finger in the picture is mine for perspective on the size. 

So these mango flies go around and lay eggs on the grass or your drying clothes. Once an egg is on your skin it hatches and the larva burrows into your skin where it grows big for about 5 or so days. Then the thing pops out if left alone. We think Silas got these from rolling around with the dogs in the grass. 

If you have survived this blog post so far I am proud of you! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Also pray as we have two young ladies coming, Morgan and Hailey Adams who are coming to work with us for the next 5 months. Pray that their trip later this week goes well and their transition also goes well. 

An Attempt to Redeem Myself as a Blog Posting Failure

Okay, so I'm not the best at regular blog posting. My life feels very mundane, although not in a bad way. Anyway, in case you are interested, I thought I'd follow the old KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) rule and try to at least get a pic or two posted once in a while :-).

Gotta love the 4 year old "helping" his dad fix our kitchen cabinets.

This is a shot from today. Mark and Messulam, our helper/groundskeeper/right hand man, built a jail where we can keep our children when they get unruly an area where we can keep chicks. Gideon has gotten into caring for a plethora of animals, including raising chicks. Note: the "helper" is again present.

Here's Mark and Messulam in the jail area for the chicks.

Here is another "helper". This young man in Andrew. He and his 3 brothers have become friends of ours. I'll tell more of his story, and introduce you to his brothers in future posts, but please pray for him. He has not had an easy life. We are thankful for the opportunity to love on him and his brothers.

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.