GIVING THANKS AND OTHER BLESSINGS

Most businesses in Africa have interesting names.  "Rich" and "West" are synonyms here

Many people choose religious themes when they name their business

Well it's all in the name, right?

......as opposed to "Dirty Butcher" - (Does the chicken know it might be in danger?)

Oh here is my kitchen after making Thanksgiving dinner for the Elders with no power and no water for 2 days.

We just loaded everything into the bathtub and used our storage water to wash the dishes.  Or  at least Elder B did the dishes....

Yes, your USA tax dollars paid for this sign.  Aren't you glad?  It says  the reason you only get one meal a day is because you are having too many children.  (Africans know the reason they only get one meal a day has nothing to do with population control.  US Aid; they are laughing at you when they read this sign)  We could talk about the REAL reasons they don't get enough food.  Anyone who lives here will tell you.

I think it's important that my pub endorses honesty

Every child needs a good daddy

This is the normal daily work that you will see along the road all day every day.  People working hard with heavy loads. Transportation is the most expensive commodity here.

Normally we see men doing this type of heavy work, but the women work very hard too.

Thanksgiving/Transfer dinner.  Each of the missionaries stood to express what they were grateful for.  We were glad to do a little bit of tradition from home, but the African Elders are totally good with expressing thanks too!

Elder O saying his good-bye testimony.  We will miss him.  He goes home to no parents or family or home.  He certainly is going to be a great leader in the church, we will miss him

Diana and Denis are good friends.  They are both preparing to go on missions, just getting to the end of their paper work.  Diana has been one of my piano students that I have had to give up because she is better than me.

Here are all the prospective Elders in Mpumedde branch.  I have no idea why they wanted to take a picture with an old lady.  They are very good boys and will soon be on missions.

Here is Christine doing the Elders laundry.  She lays them on the bushes to dry them.  

Alex always helps Christie by scrubbing the dirty collars of the shirts with a brush.  Then Christine washes them by hand in the tubs.

This is what my driveway looks like on wash day.  These are the Elders clothes.

She tries to get the shirts nice and white, but eventually they will all turn yellow because of all the red dirt in Uganda

She is laughing at me because I was complaining about the power always going off.   She says; "you westerners are spoiled because you need power".  Sorry Christine, there is no way I will sit over a pile of laundry and wash them in a plastic tub.  I am way too lazy.

Good-bye Elder O

Here are all our "Nice Boys"  (That's what the shopkeepers say to us all over town; "you sure have nice boys..."

Shout out to Elder N's mom!  You have an amazing missionary son!

Sister Aidah in the Mpumedde branch showing me her outfit.  This is the traditional dress of the African Women when they dress up.  At least the older women dress like this.  She is the councilor in the RS presidency

30 missionaries = 6 pumpkin pies....(try this at home with no crisco and pumpkins that are really squash....It tasted reasonable.

I can't get over the beauty of the African woman at work.  Notice the elegance and posture as well as their dress

This is my favorite bird here. We call it a songbird.  We had a great infestation of locusts trying to get in our house all the time and these birds would come to the windowsill and feast on them.  They also have a beautiful song they sing as they work.  They have gone now and we miss seeing them.

I love the children here.  They usually don't speak any English except for one sentence; "give me money"

These women are beggars, but for the right price they let me take their picture.

Cephas and Barbara got married finally.  This is on their wedding day.    They did not have a traditional African wedding, they had a civil wedding by the Brach President.  This kind of wedding is unconventional in Africa, and isn't considered much of an event.  Cepahs is an extremely humble, obedient and active member of the church and he is teaching Barbara how to be a good member too.

In Barbara's defense, they don't do PDA in Africa and she was totally unaware of the tradition of the kiss part. 

This is to show my grandkids how most of the women dress.  The two on the left dress the way we would, wearing clothes that were donated by a humanitarian organization.   The other one is in a dress that they make here.  They will pick material and have someone make this same top and skirt.  Sometimes it has a short sleeve, or sleeveless, but most of the time women dress in these outfits which are very flattering and very modest.