SCENES FROM UGANDA

I have no idea what these fish are, probably minnows.  They are harvested from Lake Victoria and dried.  Umm...yummy.
I forgot my camera the day we went to the market so I can post that next time.

Everytime we get out of our car the children run up to us.  Everyone calls us Mazoomba which means "not African".  Sometimes our skin color scares them but mostly they are just curious

Keyboard lessons.  I have been going with Sister Shipley shown here to help her teach her keyboard students.  These two young men are prospective Elders who hope to go on a mission.  They want to learn the Hymns before going.  I have been studying the course, but I don't know how I would ever replace her.  We have District Conference on Sunday which she is getting all the Elders ready to sing in the Choir.  This picture shows her teaching these brothers how to sing the Bass.

There are no traffic signs here, but a puzzling number of other signs which seem to defy explanation

More signs....

Rock at the entrance of a really nice restaurant where we had a fabulous meal for about $6.00.  There are some beautiful tourist places scattered around

These termite hills are everywhere.
The termites are harvested and roasted.

Baptismal font at the side of the Mpumadde Branch. I know it looks somewhat like a dumpster...well it is a dumpster. There was a baptism we attended on Sunday.  They have to check the font for snakes and critters before you can send your investigators in it.

Mpummedde Branch  - a nice building used for Sunday services.  No air conditioning or kitchen, but quite comfortable.

On the Nile - the Falls.  They call it the source of the Nile

in the white water people will ride with their kayaks or just jump in and ride the waves

It's hard to see but there are people riding in the waves

And by the way, you can't watch them for free, this is their livelihood, so someone is on shore to charge you for the show

Justine is an investigator.  We went with Elder and Sister Shipley to teach him a lesson about the Sabbath in his one room home made of brick with concrete floors.  It was clean and he had set up four chairs for us two couples and he sat on the floor on a mat.  He has a wife and 10 children in another city, as he is here to work.  He was not able to get baptized yet because he hasn't finished paying the dowry to her parents, or to the clan or tribe as we would call it.  He has a testimony, but these are the obstacles the missionaries have to deal with.  Even if he was to get married legally after all these years of them raising their family, the tribe would ostracize his family for the delinquent dowry. But he can't afford the dowry.  So.....baptism is a tough sell here. 

ON OUR WAY TO AFRICA

Rock and I arrive at the MTC in Provo

with the Robinson's who are in our old stake.  They will leave to Italy.  She was piano teacher for Sage and Ben when they were little.

All the Senior missionaries that checked in on June 6, 2011.  We met some wonderful People

Our District.  R to L Farr's (off to Kirtland) , Stott's (off to Lansing Michigan),   and Ballstaedt's (off to Uganda)

THE MTC

WE VERY much enjoyed our time at the MTC where we ate lunch with all the Elders going out to the world.    We truly felt like we were part of the "Army of God" while being there.  We learned so much about teaching the Gospel and how to bring people to Christ.  What a great experience, I would recommend it to everyone!

THE AIRPORT

OKAY I KNOW....but they told us that if we were going to want something for the next 2 years we better take it with us.  So we did.  Interestingly, we've been here only a few hours and I have already remembered about 10 things I wished I had brought.  However, see all this overweight luggage?  As it turned out the desk clerk was so frustrated about what to do, she only charged us an extra $60.  We got off easy.

We were in transit for 48 hours.  (SLC to Chicago.....Chicago to London....London to Entebee...)  arriving at the Mission Home in Kampala on Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM.  It wasn't 48 real hours because we lost 9 hours heading east.

Needless to say, our jet lag is about what you would imagine.  I took a sleeping pill but still managed to pop up out of bed by 2:00 AM.  That's about the time our neighbors the Roosters start their crowing.  But luckily the dogs stopped barking about 1:00 AM so we got some real quiet time there for an hour.

WE moved into a temporary apartment in Kampala.  It's very nice and comfortable.  We will only be here two nights, but it has a King bed and notice the mosquito netting over the bed.  We have to be very careful to follow the rules about avoiding Malaria.

Our biggest adjustment so far has been the heat and humidity which I am sure will take some time, even though they have told us this is a "cool spell".  There isn't air conditioning here, and if you leave the windows open too long the "farm" smells get a little strong. 

While driving down the road in Kampala, there are many things to see along the side of the road. Vendors place their wares out where all can see.

 The traffic is notoriously crazy.  No traffic rules apply,  just every man out for himself however you want to do it is fine. There is some sort of expectation that most people will prefer to drive on the left side of the road like in Europe, but it isn't a hard fast rule apparently. 

I prefer to sit in the back seat somewhat blocked from the view of the front window so my leg won't hurt so much from using my imaginary brake every five seconds.

We met with some of the other couple missionaries and went to a very nice restaurant for dinner with them.  It was great to get to know them.  Two of the couples work in the Humanitarian mission, and the other couple is the office couple.  Today we will be trained by the PEF missionary couple so we can understand how to help with that.

Tomorrow we move to a different city and stay in another temporary apartment.  Our permanent home will be in Jinja starting in July when the other couple leaves.  It appears they extended their mission till July.  It will give us time to be trained about what they do.

We miss our family!  Love to everyone!