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!