Good Morning! It's Friday for us which means just one more day to work and 3 days till we leave Mbale (we will reach MN on the 5th of April)...I want to 1st thank all of you that have posted comments and to all the rest thanks for checking in on our blog. Please be advised that I will continue the blog for a few weeks after we return to the USA to post musings and additional pics.
Well, just one more window to put in, the painting has started and the face brick is almost done. It will take a few more months after we leave to do the finishing touches and landscaping, but I am happy with what we accomplished and so are the missionaries that we came to serve. I should get the cable for the camera that I am using today so I can download some pics tomorrow.
Blessings,
Tom

ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS COMPLETION...
People here in polite conversation have asked me will I be finished when I leave? I always reply, absolutely! After I leave I won't be doing anymore work on this project. So in a real way I will be finished, but that's not the heart of the question is it. What will be left to do...that is a better question! But I will answer that after I do finish my work this week. What has gotten done as of late is; the face brick is more than half done, the terrazzo flooring process has been done in 4 rooms and my part...the ceilings are finally finished! Next for me is to install the aluminum windows which I'll do in the next couple of days. Thanks goes to my Aussie friend John Duffield for his great help with the ceilings and also for the fellowship (and thanks to his wife for the cookies.) He and his wife have been serving here in Uganda for 5 years and they feel God is leading them back to Australia for now. He shared yesterday that God used Julie and me in a very tangible way at the right time with the right words to help make this decision. We are humbled and thankful that God indeed uses us and we saw it this time, which isn't always the case is it? Well, keep praying...were not out of the woods yet. Blessings, Tom

Our last trip to the village

We were planning this trip for some time knowing that we needed to get up to our old home area just one more time to see the people who we absolutely couldn’t miss visiting with. The plan didn’t include one of our friends from Kampala calling and saying that her and her niece would like to come for a visit. They would have to go with us to Sebei which would be fun. We went up and checked into the “Crows Nest” a local place with bamboo huts over looking Sipi falls. The one thing we over looked was that about a dozen or more kids from the UK would be there also, and their drunken behavior, i.e. loud drinking games, bar songs and throwing bottles down upon our tin roofs would keep us awake until 1AM!
The next morning we went 1st to our old house workers place , Lydia (she’s married now and has 2 kids) and she had to feed us ...chicken rice and chapities, soda, and then tea and at 10 AM then on to the next house (Rita and Wille’s) for more of the same food plus some more...with bellies full we bumped down the road back to Mbale. The road now is tarmacked and we have no fear of rain these days. I’m afraid the camera we are using does not have a connection cord so no down loading pictures until next weekend. Well, our last week has arrived...more later, Tom

March 23 From Julie
Hiking up Wanale

Another goal accomplished. Mbale (the town we live in) is nestle in several mountain ranges/ foothills. The most prominent being Wanale Ridge. In all the year I have been here I have never been to the top. So Jeremy and I ( along with a missionary friend and 3 of his boys) organized with a friend who lives on the mountain and off we went for a thrilling 6 hour trek. The beauty of the place was astounding... what I saw of it between my gasping! Jeremy and the other boys were like mountain goats hoping from rock to rock taking in all the sights. Jeremy counted 32 giant slugs and we adults enjoyed witnessing a migration of several types of predatory birds. The pictures show the last thing to do before reaching the top. I wasn't thrilled, ( I don't know maybe I'm fussy but I think a ladder should have at least a few nails or maybe tied together with some rope...not the case here) but didn't want to look like a wimp. Plus right before our group climbed a women with a baby on her back, carrying 8 or so logs, climbed up with one hand. I made it ( with Jeremy's encouragement that he'd come down and help me if I needed it... yikes come down?... I don't think so)with knees shaking and a cheer from the rest of the group. If I had known then that going up was much easier then traversing the steep, narrow, wet paths down maybe I wouldn't have gone up in the first place. It wasn't Kilimanjaro, but an accomplishment none the less and with the way my feet and legs feel today, I don't think I'll be trying anything else for quite some time.

Another day is gone and more work was done...these have been good days, but tough ones as my job is different as I do some of the work and supervise/buy too. The ceilings will be done today or close to it. More work has be done on the outside face bricking and much of the work has shifted to the conference center down below. Julie and Jeremy went off to climb Wanale ridge this morning so expect some spectacular pictures in future blogs. We are so blessed to have been chosen for this work and see afresh what all missionaries go through. What we've come to understand is that it's the small things that bother you, that you have to overcome and suffer through and grow from that makes for a missionaries life. It's the side that the biographies usually leave out. It's not just the big things, but the little things that God uses to chip away at the corners to make us into a better instrument in His hands.

It's 3AM...7PM Minnesota time and I can't sleep. I strained my back a little bit the other day, just lifting some tools into the back of the truck...ouch, please pray for our health and protection in these last days here. Well, I (and my Aussie friend John) have put up ceiling boards in all the rooms, but 2. Tomorrow we will finish with the boards and just have the batons to put on the seams. AND hopefully the windows are coming from Kampala tomorrow also.
The picture is of the face bricks being started which will go all the way around the building up to a 9" band that will run around the entire building also...I will send pics of the finished project and that will explain better than my words. On a light note ...we were at the Tyler's house for dinner the other night, talking about random stuff and Shawn said he saw a poster in a doctors office that read, "my grandmother started running at age 65, she's now 80 and we don't know where she is"...we love to laugh and these days have been precious as we wind down our time here with our friends. Another funny thing happened to Ian Shelburne...after he got his computer stolen from his truck he writes in his watch and pray news letter..."our coworkers received a CD-R in the mail with anonymous written instructions to give to me. It had a “read-me” document saying the writer had bought my computer from someone. He wrote that he was sorry about the theft and wished he could afford to return it. What he did take the time to do was to back up the My Documents files on the hard drive and burn them on to the CD-R that he sent.

What a funny/different place this is...if I was Dorthy in the wizard of OZ I would be saying, "were not in Kansas anymore Toto" All from here, Tom

It's Sunday morning for us here in Africa while most of our friends in the are fast asleep. We are about to go off to church...Julie has made her usual Sunday morning breakfast, ie breakfast burritos (fried potatoes and eggs rolled in a tortilla).
Yesterday I wanted to take part of the day off and do accounting, but the needs at the construction sites were too great for that to happen...It looks like we will accomplish our goal of finishing the GNPI building before we go, but we'll see...still anything can happen, but we pray that will be the case. Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf, they have been felt as the answers have come.
Blessings, TOM
PS The Picture is of the all the kids at the Mbale school during crazy hair days

From visiting our old home area on Sundays to visiting with our long time missionary friends, this has been an experience we hope will serve us well as we continue to help train/mentor future missionaries back in the USA. As we sat last evening and visited with Shawn and Linda Tyler it became more apparent to me that the scope of their work for the Kindom of God is much larger than I had imagined. As we chatted about their struggles Shawn said, "Our struggles are different than a lot of missionaries because of the scope and length of time we've been here." His struggle? How does a team of 6 effectively work with 350 churches spanning 6 different language groups? Wow...to have such problems, many missionaries would give their right arms to have. It is with those kinds of thoughts that we give what we have to the final weeks here to build for these "persevering saints" hoping to be a blessing as we head down this road God as put us on...
Paint and facia brick on next week! Keep praying...
Love and miss you all, Tom

First off I want to confirm for those who didn't know that the lizard that Jeremy is holding in the picture is infact a chameleon! Now that we got that cleared up...
The Blessings;
We got together for team devo's (devotions) as we do every week, but this time would be our last with the team before we left because they all will be gone on a retreat our last 2 weeks here, so they blessed us. Now blessing us meant they went around the room and told how we were a blessing to them. There was about 19 people in all so it went long, but oh so fast. We were so touched by each and every person who shared thier blessing with us and it really blessed us by hearing face to face how our lives had touched theirs and we felt so loved and cared for! Love in the body of Christ...just a taste of what heaven will be like.

So we are winding down as we have 2 more weeks here in Mbale, but that doesn't mean construction is slowing. We are now plastering the last 2 rooms in the GNPI building and the roof rafters are all in place on the MTI Dorm/Conference center.
Thank you for all the prayers and keep them coming for these last weeks here.
Well I must sing off it's late and the days are full.
Blessings, Tom

I didn't post about Sunday, but the most remarkable thing happened so I will now...
We went up to Sipi to church and in the middle of the Service the Pastor and the elders from the "home church" came in. Aparently they had some bad words between the 2 churches and these men had come to apologize and when they were through they took our pastor up to their church to do the same...Yes the church is maturing! God is at work and we got to witness it. I am so glad we decided to go (at the last minute) and we had a meal with some of the elders afterward.
Building News: Yesterday I spent 6 plus hours trying to balance the books. We've spent roughly 60 million shillings (1700 to one US $--you od the math)and it is like spending that many dollars and the largest bill is a 50, but the most used bill is a 20,000 shilling note and the 10's and 5's are more common. So piles of money and I have to write it all down and then transfer it on to the computer...but I finally got it to balance. Restored my faith in perseverence.
Watched the Super Bowl last night as Julie made food at the "girls" house. Was fun even though I knew who won already. Well powers out and I have to go. Blessings, Tom
PS Jeremy went out and found a friend!

I awoke with a gasp as I heard something I have only heard in movies before...was that a machine gun?? There it went again, yep that was a machine gun...how close was it?? Trying to get back to sleep I dozed in and out for most of the rest of the night dreaming of robbers and such...When I did get up I was tired, but knew i had a lot of work to do...as I went through the gate on the way to work the guard told me that the police had shot at some robbers trying to rob the Mt. Elgon hotel up the street and had chased them just up the road before they had shot and missed...there have been several robberies in the downtown area, even in the middle of the day...please pray for me as i carry large sums of money around with me as I buy all the materials for the job.
Work is really progressing...we have 2 rooms plastered and the upward part of the outside is finished. The "face brick" we will start on Monday.
Kids are doing well, but ready to go home...this is so much like camping and even camping can get old...
Today we all go up to Sipi for church to renew old friendships we had in our old home place. All for now, Blessings, and thank you for all your prayers on our behalf, Tom

Field trip to make a drum.
One of my (Julie) desires for this trip was to see how a local drum was made. When we arrived I spoke with a friend and asked him to make the arrangements. Finding the right metal can, getting the cow hide and organizing with the man with the drum-making skills finally came together on Wednesday. We traveled a short distance out of town and stopped the car in the middle of the road/path. Small stools were brought from a variety of houses and the process of stretching and lacing the skin around the can began. There was much talking and greeting and gathering of a group of smaller children ( we were as much an attraction for them as the drum making was for us)As we sat a little longer, welcome gifts of 4 large stalks of sugar cane appeared (as well as a basin filled with avocados and another filled with papaya.) Jeremy has wanted to eat sugar cane "locally," but each time we have had opportunity our hosts have always stripped the outer skin and chopped it into small, soft, "muzungu" (white people) size pieces. Our hosts have been afraid that our teeth are too soft to eat it in such a "rough" manner which has caused Jeremy to lose hope of ever eating it the "right" way. So we sat looking on as the drum man continued his craft, we got to eat the sugar cane in the local manner... Jeremy was happy... it was a little unceremonious for me... ripping, chewing, sucking, and then spitting it out, all the time coughing out the little pieces that slip by and would catch in my throat.
We took a break and climbed up the bluff to see a goat project that our host was running. They breed goats to give to widows and homes with orphans. The families are taught how to keep the goats, breed them (and at least one must come back to the project to be given to another family), and use the manure to boost their garden's output. It was good to see a sustainable project that is having a significant impact for these families.
We returned to find the drum completed. It was now time to head back, loaded up with our gifts from the neighbors, to finish our field trip by having lunch with our host. The drum will be ready to play in the next few days... now to organize a few lessons.

I posted about the roof last night...left out the news and pics of the septic tank and thought you all might want to see what one looks like...Enjoy!

We have roofage!
The roof is on and we have started the framing for the ceiling boards which will be 4 by 8 sheets of a soft board...better to soften the noise. The outside has been plastered and the fascia brick will start to go on tomorrow. I have a friend from Kampala here helping me do the framing and it is good to swing a hammer again.
We are all well and I am sleeping a bit better. Thanks for all who have been praying!
Jeremy came home with 2 baby cobras that he and his friend had killed...they'll be in the jar with the snake his friend gave him and will most likely be coming home with us...how will we explain that to the customs people?
All for now...blessings, Tom

Hey, I forgot to mention my Bible and jounal found it's way back to me! A real answer to prayer!

The days fly past and the work is in a phase that doesn’t show great progress, but there are many foundational things being done. We now have both septic tanks dug and one has been bricked in. We had trouble with water filling the holes and we had to have a pumper guy come for several days in a row come pump the 12' by 12' holes out. He used a foot pump that look much like a stair stepper. I told the guys that if they we inventive they might be able to advertise this devise as a health club attraction and get it done for free. They didn’t get it as most of my joking, but I won’t stop trying and it makes them laugh anyway. I actually got my power saw out yesterday and cut all the rafter tails off and had the carpenters drooling and asking where they could get such a machine. So we are finally ready for the roof. I thought that we would have it on sooner, but forgot all the things that had to happen before the roof could be ready and even though I have done this before building here is so different here I forget stuff. Fortunately I have a crew that is skilled and goes and does what is needed. So my job as I see it is mainly being the banker/quality control/expediter person. Which is very needed, but just a different role that I play in my construction company back in the USA. Notice the gutters in the picture...they were specially made for this building. The man in the picture is the 79 year old carpenter. He and his 2 sons are doing the roof rafters and sheeting.

Hi y'all! this is Melissa! today is pool day!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! this week has been very full! yesterday somone took my dads bible and journal...... it still hasn't shown up....... and I was feeling VERY poorly yesterday...... everyone is missing home........ well i have to go! see ya!

Good day yesterday...the rafters go up and the electrician has started putting his conduit and boxes in the walls. The "mabati" corregated sheets will go on tomorrow!
I had my best night sleep the other night, thank you for all who have been praying. God has shown me that somethings come only through much prayer so we trust not on ourselves, but Him who gives to all who asks. The kids have a few weeks left of school as the team here gets ready for first their women's retreat and then East Africa missionaries retreat. Both are in Kenya and the team here won't get back until the day we leave for Kampala to fly out. It will be strange to not have them here, but it will give us other oportunities to fellowship with other friends here. We have been so blessed by the community of believers here! Well I'll post a picture of the start of the day when the rafters just began their journey to the top of the building. Thank you for all who comment...we love to hear what people think.
Blessings,
Tom

Power is out again so I am doing this by batteries and candle light...appreciate what you have while you have it!
Today the carpenters put the top plates on the walls and tomorrow we put up rafters!
The inside walls are being finished and everything is moving along. My helper Josh Shelburne has left for Sudan to start building a clinic so I am alone with my African counterparts. Communication and mis-communication make for interesting days, but somehow we all manage. At least I make them laugh a lot as I blunder through the 4 to 5 different languages spoken here.
Well, just thought I'd keep you all up to date on the progress. Keep praying!
Blessings,
Tom