Sunday, March 23, 2008

We are in Africa






We have made it to Kampala Uganda, safely and with all our luggage. Alleluia. We arrived Friday night and stayed at a hotel in Entebbe. The picture is of our room, complete with a mosquito net. It is unsafe to travel between Entebbe and Kampala after dark. The missionaries Jamie, Mark and Ellen picked us up Saturday morning. We made the short trip to Kampala. Kurt and I and the Wilkins are staying with the newlyweds Mark and Jamie Long. Nancy is in the picture on the steps of their house. The have a nice house surrounded by a wall with barbed wire on the top, and a night guard at the gate. So, I feel very safe staying here. Saturday we got busy exchanging money. It is about 1700 shillings to the dollar. So it feels like play money. It is diffucult to fully understand how much you are spending. Dangerous for us, good for them. Saturday afternoon Nancy Jan and I spent time with the women doing a craft and sharing what God has done in our lives. The faith of the women here is amazing. They truely know what it means to rely on God. Many of the women are refugees from other countries. On the other hand, there are also women studying at the university or have graduated. One is an accountant. We enjoyed painting ornaments with them. The children also enjoyed getting their body painted. Then we also spent time with the youth. They are so talented. Some of the boys are rappers that even have their own CDs. And their material is their understanding of the Scripture. I was blown away. Sunday we worshiped with the church. The Ugandans lead all aspects of the service. Peter is the worship leader. They have an amazing praise team. We had a guest speaker today from Tanzania. He is actually the brother of the minister Kurt worked with in Moshi, Tanzania 4 years ago. It is always amazing how God brings together those in the church. Kurt was able to follow up on some of the people he and his group had studied with. This afternoon we taught the American tradition of the Easter egg hunt. It was a hit. First we hid the eggs for the children. Then, the children hid the eggs for their parents. All very much enjoyed it. As Easter tradition is, it has rained all day. So, we had to do everything indoors, but all worked out well. I just feel sorry for the parents that took home their children with an extreme sugar high. Well, we leave for Fort Portal in the morning to go to the camp and evaluate a needed water project for the camp. Hopefully with 3 mechanical engineers on the trip, we can help in some way. Then we will be off for a 2 day safari. I will try to post again when we get back. Please keep us in your prayers. We can feel all the prayers that have already been lifted up.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Out on the Town

Kurt and I just spent a wonderful weekend in my favorite town - Chicago - just the two of us. Kurt booked a beautiful hotel right on the Chicago river. (go Priceline!) We decided to each pick a couple things we wanted to do. Kurt chose hockey and ice skating. I chose art and pizza. We wore our legs out walking around the Art Institute of Chicago. We enjoyed Picasso, Van Gough, Monet, and my favorite painting by Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It is so amazing to see those painting that you studied in school, in large and in person.


We then enjoyed our gourmet meal at Giordano's - the best pizza in the world. Doesn't it look good? I could almost eat the picture. :) Sunday we found a downtown church. Let's just say we immediately noticed and greeted as visitors. I always enjoy worshiping with a new group of people. We at lunch at the United Center as we watched the Blackhawks beat the Vancouver Canuks.

After watching a bunch of professional skaters, we made our own attempt ice skating - in downtown Chicago. We skated surrounded by the tall sky-scrapers and the reflection of them on the "big bean". Millineum Park has this cool bean shaped mirror. It's amazing how it reflects the skyline. I wish it could reflect how great I felt this weekend.