Favorite mode of transport to school and a view of the school yard.

School - Mbale Style. Feb 27 2007

Many have asked how the kids are doing. After an initial adjustment they are doing well. We decided to have them join the mission school which has helped integrate them into the community. School runs Tuesdays thru Fridays from 8:30 to 3:ish depending on if their work was completed. There are 5 wonderful gals who have come to teach the 20 or so preschoolers to 10th grader. Classes are broken into 45 minute segments and the kids move to the class or teacher as assigned. Three of us moms come on a daily basis to teach an on going class and in my case to tutor my kids in the subjects that they are at a different level then the majority of the other kids. So first hour I am teaching Melissa pre-algebra and then I return 4th hour to teach Jeremy his language arts. I am very thankful for this experience. The kids have grown by being in a classroom setting for the first time and I then have some freedom to minister in other ways while we are here. Melissa has just finished "Cry, The Beloved Country" in Lit class and Jeremy is gaining understanding about atoms and chemical reactions. Melissa is hoping that there won't be enough worms for her to have to dissect in the next section of Biology... Jeremy has offered but I guess he'll just have to wait until he is older.

Sunday proved to be a bit of a change of plans for all of us. We had hoped to go to church up in Sebei where we used to live, but Jeremy had a head ache, so I (Tom) was the only one to go as Julie stayed home with the kids. I picked up Masawo a Sabean living in Mbale to go along. He wanted to go home to go to church and he and Julie had planned to give the church 2 sheet cakes which Masawo had made for us. They did this because we had not told anyone we were coming and they would not have anything prepared for us to eat. Anyway, we made the long drive up the beautiful mountain of our home of 7 years and memories flooded my thoughts as we drove. We talked about the church spilt that had happened and other news about the church so I could be prepared for what was to come. We arrived late, but then they had started late. All were very surprised to see me and because of my grey beard some even doubted it was me. We had our 2 1/2 church service on backless wooden benches and the smell of freshly smeared cow dung on the floor brought back many memories. I listened to 3 different choirs, lots of choruses and testimonies. I gave my testimony and made them all laugh with my broken language and ended up doing the rest in English. After the sermon and church was over Masowo and I went into the little town center for lunch and then headed for the main church to see a man who had recently lost his wife. He wasn't home, but we left his children with sugar and then found him at the church. We talked with him and the elders and then it was time to go home before the sun set. It was a good, but tiring day.

It’s 2AM...2nd night in a row I couldn’t sleep and had to get up, please pray for my sleep here.
The last couple of days have been busy. Julie has made visits with friends here and has gone to the market which is it’s own unique experience of narrow rows of clothing and goods. Almost looks like the midway at the fair only shrunk down to a tenth of that size. I went with Jeremy today, he wanted to buy a panga (machete) and some other cool looking knives. We found what we were looking for and I think he was a little over whelmed by the place. Both kids don’t get into the town center much.
The work at both GNPI and the Conference center are going well! We should be putting the rafters on both next week.
Our time here is half finished and we still have so many people to re-connect with. Tomorrow we go to church up in Sipi where we used to live. We have seen a few friends from there, but it will be our first time up there. We will be visiting a church which was a split off from the church we used to attend. Pray for our safety as we drive up. We’ll share pictures when we return.
All for now, Tom

High lights **kids are feeling better** !!
Wow so much work has taken place in just 2 days...I'll let the pictures do the talken. We'll write more later...Tom
P.S. Pic #1 is on tues and #2 is Wed...

Just thought I'd post this picture taken by one of the Missionaries on there way to church (just a couple of blocks down the road). We have walls up to the window level now, but I can't show any pics because the camera I'm borrowing ran out of power. Will hopfully do it tomarrow. Keep praying for Melissa she is still a bit under the weather. Thank you for all the prayers on our behalf! We feel blessed...Tom

A picture of our not so ferocious guard dog "Abbey"




Feb 21 -Julie
The land that time forgot... sort of

For a place supposedly free from the tyranny of the clock, I find myself thinking about time... All the time.
-The timing of a visit to friend's house is very important. Stopping in at the wrong time adds burden to your host to prepare food; sometimes at a great cost of money and TIME.
-Is is time to hang clothes on the line before the afternoon rains come?
-Is there time to bleach veggies, pick rocks from rice, make bread, or fry the peanuts all in TIME to get dinner to my hungry family at a normal TIME?
-Is it time to charge the phone or the computer battery before the the electricity goes off for the next 24 hours ( 2 days on, 1 day off is the normal schedule around here)
-Is it time to get to the market to get the meat before the heat and the flies get it first? EEWW
-Is it time to shut the doors and pull down the mosquito nets to protect from malaria?
-Is it time to take our malaria prophylaxis?
-Is there time to turn the hot water heater on for baths and to do the evening dishes?
-Is it time to fill the water filter to give us the liters of water that we need each day? ( thankfully with the new filters the need for boiling had been removed)

-the Bible reminds us that there is time in each day for what the Lord has asked us to do.
To manage the daily tasks in a reasonable amount of time, so as to to wring from each day all the love, joy, service, and experience that God has for us, has been our goal as we use our time....
And my how TIME flies

Julie

One of the joys for us as we return to Uganda has been to visit memories that have grown dusty on the shelf of our minds. Not that the memories aren't important... many are very significant... but with few to share these memories it just means they are visited much less often.

For example while waiting for weekly bible study last week we heard what sounded like a gun shot (relax mom, we are fine!)which thankfully are relatively rare occurrences at this point in time... but it wasn't always so. My dear friend looked at me and said, " do your remember the night we gathered the children from their beds and all huddled in the bathroom (no windows) the night that the gunshots were steadily coming closer?" It was an event I haven't thought about in years, but in that moment we remembered together the protection of God and the joy of shared experiences.

We remembered the births of children and the care of those children through the various illness and incidents that they got into (stinging caterpillars, mango worms beneath sensitive skin, flapped corneas, and burned hands to name a few!)

We have remembered our initial cultural goofs and our journey towards greater understanding. We have remembered the creating of a home and friendships that have grown even in our fragmented visitng.

I remembered the death of my father with my dear friend Vincent who cried with me and helped me to try and find a phone to reach Tom with the news. So painful, yet so dear that I was not alone.
We remember the Hand of God that has sustained and strengthened ever so faithfully over the years.

It is good to remember and be in a place where sharing makes the memories fresh and in light of God's grace more sweet.

Julie

It's 3:00 AM and I could sleep...blaring music until 1:30 and now I'm waiting for the some sleep stuff to kick in. Internet works reall good this time of the morning, though. We finished the floor today and I just about finished working on the kids carpet ball table (see above). The kids will love this and have been looking forward to it. Well must get some rest so...later. Tom

Yesterday even though the rains came we managed to pour 3/4 of the slab and our hoping to finish up today. We can then start building the walls. The carpenters have begun making the rafters and the Mabati (corrigated tin) has been ordered and should be here next week. I am hoping that we'll be close to putting the roof on by the end of next week. Keep praying, Jeremy woke up with a head ache and we always suspect malaria, but it not always is. Blessings, Tom

Today the rains have returned, just when we started pouring the floor. I have been busy going back and forth to town buying and then finding transport for wood, metal and cement. We have already gone through 120 bags and we aren't even close to finished.
I can guess that we will have gone through 1000 to 1500 bags by the time we are finished and each bag is $10. Melissa continues to feel a bit nauseated (sp?), but has been going to school anyway. Jeremy loves the freedom to take a boda boda (bicycle taxi) to his friends house by himself. We brought the makings for a carpet ball table and I'm partially finished with it. Julie has been her usual self, visiting with sick folks and bringing comfort through listening and her wisdom.
All in all we are where God wants us right now, which feels good. We miss you all and this time is going very fast for us.
Blessings,
Tom

Thursday...
Yesterday found us praying around the clock for Phillip one of the missionaries here. He has been sick for one month and the doctors can't find exactely what is wrong with him.
The work on the buildings continues to progress. We will be ready to pour a floor on the GNPI building in a couple of days.
The dorms are getting prepared for rafters. Pray for Melissa, she has not been feeling well.
Other than that we are all doing ok. We miss you all and would love to hear how we can pray for you during our time here.
Blessings,
Tom

It's Monday morning, but I'll comment on the rest of our Sunday.
We went to the town church where they finished up 2 Corinthians. The focus was on the final verse and these concepts; grace, love and fellowship. After Church, we went out to eat in a local restaurant (pictured above)which is their habit every Sunday afternoon. I took the kids swimming and visited with an Indian couple who I have known for quite some time while they swam. At 5pm we headed off for Bible study, then on to another house for a pancake meal, finally making our way in the dark (because the power was out) back home to bed.
Keep praying- we are doing well, but we see pockets of opposition to this work and your prayers are critical!
All for now, Tom


It’s now Wed Morning-Valentines day! I wasn’t able to post the last couple of days due to slow connections, but I hope this one will go through. We are moving along on the GNPI building and will be ready to pour the cement floor today. Hopefully that will be done in 2 days. We went over to the “girls” house last night and Julie cooked for them. We played games after dinner and then went home for an early bed time. I have prayer meeting this morning with the guys on the team.

It's monday morning, but I'll comment on the rest of our Sunday.
We went to the town church where they finished up 2 Corinthians. The focus was on the final verse and these concepts; grace, love and fellowship. After Church, we went out to eat in a local resturant (pictured above)which is their habit every Sunday afternoon. I took the kids swimming and visited with an Indain couple who I have known for quite some time while thye swam. At 5pm we headed off for Bible study, then on to another house for a pancake meal, finally making our way in the dark (because the power was out) back home to bed.
Keep praying- we are doing well, but we see pockets of oposition to this work and your prayers are critical!
All for now, Tom

A good and a long night.
Today, we finished digging the footings for th GNPI building and started to pour the cement. The process will take several days as we have to mix the cement by hand on the ground.
After work we went to dinner at one of our dear Ugandan friends house. They recently had a baby which they wanted to call Julie, but they already had a Judy and thought it might get confusing when calling for them. They made us a wonderful meal of rice, chapatis (like thick tortillas), potatoes, beef, chicken and goat with soup and soda's. We were well fed!! And had a nice visit catching up on the news of the past few years since we had last met and we went home tired...
The night was long because someone played loud music until the rooster crowed in the morning and it is quite now as I type early in the morning.
Have been able to SKYPE (free telephone at www.skype.com) with a few of you and others texting on MSN messenger which has been fun, so if your adventuress try it.
All for now...From Tom

Praise!
Today we made headway in our ability to start the work on the GNPI building. We have the ok, but the guy that was blocking us wants some money so I'm sure we're not out of the woods yet. The kids are doing well in school or should I say adjusting well. They have kids to play with and if the rains weren't coming every afternoon they'd find plenty to do outside, but as it is they get trapped inside sometimes with out power. We try and tell them it builds character, but they don't believe it, can you imagine that.
Thanks for all your prayers on our behalf.
We are very thankful!
Blessings,
Tom for all...

It's Friday! We are all at different stages of wellness.
The kids have started school and it has been a challenge, as they are used to home school. This picture is of them heading off.
Work has been going on well on the dormitory, but the GNPI building has been blocked by a local government offical, but we have hope of it being resolved today.
Thanks for all of your prayers on your behalf.
Tom for the family...

One week after boarding the plane I found myself in a much different place doing very different things. There has been the expected hanging of mosquito nets, foraging in the market and learning to deal with electrical power that is off more than it is on... any way ... Sunday night a medical team arrived from the capital with their doctor ill with some tummy ailment. With her out of the picture the nurse who normally does triage(deciding who needs the doctor or who can be given small help with out seeing the doctor)would have to bump up to doctor status thus leaving the triage position open. there were 8 folks going but all relatively new to the country and none with medical experience. So I got to go to a village 1 hour out of town in a very beautiful place... that I must admit I didn't get much time to see. Malaria, scabies, open wounds, ring worm, chest pain, worm filled bellies were the most commen of illnesses. We listened, we tested, we administered aid and hopefully we helped. After 8 hours and having talked to 170 people I came back tired, and voiceless but happy to be in Uganda. Bye for now --- Julie

HIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!! this is Melissa (o: i"m really board right now! I'm going to put some pics on now! haha (o: well i have to go....... see ya! bye!!!!!!!

Hi
Some have asked that we identify who is writing...It is Tom, which has almost been me exclusively. We have finally got internet where we stay!!!Yea!
News for prayer;
-We still need $900 to meet our budget.
-Local government blocking our work...more later.
-One worker fell from roof and was knocked uncounconcious, but isn't hurt too bad.
-One room in our place is moldy and needs help.
-Our host family is not doing real well.
Praise;
-We are healthy
-We are happy
-We are trusting in God!
Well I must go off to work. Just got this internet ting working so I thought I would do a quick posting.
Thanks for all your prayers!
Tom for the family

Feb 1 We’ve reached Mbale!
The roads are a little rougher than I remember. We settled into our new house, it’s a 475 square foot 3 bed room place that will be a little cozy for all of us. We had dinner over at the Tylers and we thought it fortunate that we had power, but in the middle of dinner it went out. It is supposed to be pretty consistant 48 hours on and 24 hours off, but I guess it doesn’t always follow that rule. Melissa and I woke up in the pre-dawn hours of our first morning to candles and head lamps to read and work by (she’s painting a picture). The rains are still here, which is not suppose to happen this time of year which will make building interesting.
It's now Sunday Feb 4th
Fri-We unpacked, got set up and oriented to the new place and then I went to the site and staked out the building. Went to dinner at Tyler's power went out...1st night in darkness, but our hearts were glad to be here.
Sat- I (Tom) got up early 3AM, after 7 hours of sleep...power is on, but went off again for a couple of hours. I reached the work site at 7AM and the digging had begun, but we got stopped by some authorities and will sort that out on Monday.
Sun-I have finally gone ot one of our fiends to use their internet connection. We had thought we'd have our place all set up for that, but the folks were staying with, the Shero's...Phillip is real sick so we haven't been able to set it up. So for now our e-mails and blogging will be kinda sporadic. We went to Church this morning and will go to a Bible study toight.