End of 2010 Update

Hello world!

Let me take this opportunity to at least wrap up the year with an update. First of all, it’s been EXTREMELY HOT here recently. It hadn’t rained for the last 2 weeks or so until just a few days ago. In fact the heaviest rain we’ve had in a long time came on Christmas day. We’re talking a serious downpour for several hours straight. It ended up being a freezing cold Christmas after all.

In other news, we got a new puppy! I don’t even remember if I wrote about giving the other dog away but it’s now with a different owner. It was causing problems between us and our neighbors so we thought we’d try a different one. This one is a girl and her name is Roxy. She’s exactly what I wanted in a dog because she’s social and friendly around most people but can also bark at strangers. Our neighborhood is becoming increasingly dangerous so it will be good to have some extra security once the dog grows a little.

I’m about 8 months pregnant now though still small. I guess I’m just one of those small pregnant ladies. Most people think I’m around 6 months because of my size. Due to her years of experience, Grandma was the only one who guessed I was 8 months! People keep telling me if I was an African I would be so fat by now! I must say for a first pregnancy I feel it has treated me fairly well thus far.

There was one set back the other week which put me in the hospital for a couple days, but it wasn’t exactly pregnancy related. It was food poisoning, made worse by the fact that I couldn’t take any normal medication for it because it wouldn’t be safe for the baby. It developed into some kind of bacterial infection but I was well treated at the hospital. We thank God that the baby was fine throughout and I’m also fine now.

In the beginning I was just nervous about pregnancy because I’ve always heard about how hard it was. I had a picture in my mind of being miserable for 9 months, and though it’s not easy, it definitely hasn’t been as bad as I thought. Now I’m just terrified about the whole delivery thing! I mean, I’ve seen it a hundred times in the movies and watched a live video in biology class, but what is it actually like?! Anyways, I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, but I feel like time is flying and I’m approaching the bridge very quickly!

Michael is doing well in all of this. He was afraid I would hate him and be annoyed with him through most of the pregnancy but so far it’s been the opposite. I feel really clingy around him now and I get really jealous when he spends his time with anyone but me! Thankfully his job is flexible and we can spend a fair amount of time together. In addition to managing the guest house, he also gets some cake deals here and there. He’s hoping to break through into UCU next year and run a canteen there since there is a vacant building already. He would love to be running his own business rather than working for other people.

I’m happy to say we were able to go to Salama School for the Blind three weeks in a row for music ministry as their school term ended. They don’t resume again until February of next year but at least we are off the ground and running with teaching the kids music. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful team of keyboard and guitar teachers and I really thank God for their commitment. They not only teach but are also passionate about seeing the ministry succeed, and I can see how much they really love the kids too.

So far it has been amazing to see how quickly some of the students are picking up these instruments. I can’t wait to see how far we will get in the next year going every Saturday to teach. In the meantime we are trying to get at least 2 new keyboards and a guitar which we can give to the school so that they have instruments of their own. We are working on finding the best way of receiving financial support from countries abroad because of course, we hope to have many partners supporting the ministry in the future.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas weekend visiting Grandma, my host family from 2008, and Aunt Susan in the village. It was nice and refreshing to get away from the crowded and noisy city for a few days. We really feasted and managed to finish off a whole goat and 3 chickens!

We wish you a blessed and happy new year!

Blessings

We thank God because as of 2 weeks ago, we are now car owners! No more public transportation for us. Well, of course we use taxis here and there but it feels different when you do it by choice rather than by force. So far it has been a huge blessing and we are just so thankful to God every time we use it.

It’s a toyota corolla and a bit old but it’s mechanically sound and the fuel consumption is low. That’s a bonus because fuel here is ridiculously expensive. I don’t know what fuel prices are like now in the US but if I’ve done the math right, here we are paying the equivalent of $5.50 per gallon. Hence, we use the car sparingly – only for the biggest needs. Anyways, it is God who provided the car and I know he will give us the means to maintain it.

Back in June our church held crusades in the surrounding areas and on the night we attended, the speaker concluded with a powerful prayer session. It was a time of presenting our biggest and most pressing needs to God and believing in faith that he would do something about them. Many people prayed about finding spouses, others about financial breakthrough, and others prayed for physical healing. I prayed for financial breakthrough and specifically for a car. In the midst of praying I felt the Spirit leading me to pray for a car within a 3 month time frame, which to me sounded impossible, but anyways, that’s faith. It really stretched me because we had absolutely no money in savings for a car. You can imagine how crazy it felt praying for God to provide a car in three months when you have no extra money...you are starting from zero.

However, God is truly faithful and can do anything. By the end of September we had all the money we needed for the car and purchased it on October 1st. Also, since the crusade we have gained various jobs here and there which have given us the financial breakthrough we needed and are now providing the weekly income we need for fuel. That is why I can honestly and confidently say that it is God who provided it.

We needed the car so much for many reasons like general convenience in getting around Kampala, transporting the cello wherever we need to take it, etc. However there is a bigger reason that some of you know about already but others may not know. I guess it’s time to make it public since people here are figuring it out...I’m pregnant! Wow, it feels really wierd writing this on a blog...we’ve been keeping it secret here for about as long as we could. That’s kind of how people are here...it’s not something they usually discuss openly. They have indirect ways of talking about it which is quite different from home where people just ask, “Are you pregnant?”.

We’ll give you an official due date soon but I’m about 20 weeks/5 months along. We’ll find out the gender on the day of birth...more exciting that way! We are so excited and experiencing a lot of new things as we go through this for the first time. Please keep us in your prayers as we need them so much.

Moving Forward

Hello to everyone who still reads this thing! Life without a laptop or anykind of PC is apparently not easy. Anyways, here’s an update on us.

Michael began working at the restaurant at the beginning of August and in the last month the place has begun slowly catching on. I say slowly because the menu is mostly western and a bit pricey compared to the typical Ugandan restaurant. However, once people discovered that this was not the typical Ugandan restaurant they have been steadily coming in. It’s the quality of the food that attracts them.

By the way, the pizza...best in Uganda, period. No pizza I’ve tasted here has ever reminded me of home but with my husband’s pizza, I was taken back to the US with the first bite. I know you’re thinking I’m just saying that because he’s my husband but as an authentic American who loves pizza, I can honestly say there’s nothing like it here.

The unfortunate news is that Michael is now no longer working there. The owner had to send him away with great pain because of poor planning. She simply has no money to pay him beyond this first month. It’s a common problem here. People start a business and expect to make serious profits within a very short amount of time. I guess she didn’t realize that these things take time to catch on and you can’t expect the business to start paying for itself in just one month’s time.

It came as a huge disappointment but at the same time we were hopeful that we could still benefit from it and in fact we are already seeing the benefits. The situation has pushed Michael to really begin baking from home and selling to friends, family, and even the Uganda Studies Program students from the US. All of these people will be placing orders with us every week and we will deliver directly to them. It’s really better because all the profits will go to us instead of an employer/restaurant. It’s an idea we have always talked about but never put into action.

Also, we’ve seen how God is truly taking care of us as only one week after Michael left the restaurant, he was offered another job as manager of a guest house in Kireka (about halfway between Mukono and Kampala). The pay is about the same and the job is more flexible and less strenuous physically. We thank God so much for his care and provision.

As for me, I gained 3 more cello students at a different music school – the African Institute of Music (AIM). This school is very different from Kampala Music School. It was founded by a missionary from California who had a vision of beginning a music school in Uganda and eventually forming something like a national orchestra here. The school is basically in a big house and it creates a beautiful and comfortable environment for learning. So far I’ve found the students to be very committed and self motivated. Two are Ugandan and one is Tanzanian. They have basically been teaching themselves cello for the last year or so and are grateful to have a teacher, so it is really a perfect situation to step into.

As for the project at Salama School for the Blind, we are thinking bigger and bigger all the time. God has shown us that our original vision of a music project was much too small. It was something we felt we could feasibly do. But I believe God usually wants us to have massive visions that are obviously too big for us to accomplish on our own and push us to rely on Him for success.

Currently a friend of ours who is very connected to Salama and also happens to be a lawyer is writing the constitution and bylaws for what will hopefully in a years time be Hope for the Bind Ministries – a registered NGO that will act as a source of overall help and funding for the school. Since the school has so many needs, we realized it would be a bit strange to raise a lot of money for a simple music project while ignoring other serious issues. So now we are seeing the music project as one of many others that will enrich the school. Eventually we would love to bring other people on board who can design things like an agricultural project, and a medical project to take care of the many needs of these students. Finding sponsors for all the students would also be an aspect of the organization.

So please pray for us as we work on getting things into motion. It is really a long process and the music project in particular has now been on hold for about 6 months but as soon as we can get a car we will begin on that again. Please pray that God continues to bring/lead us to the right people who can help and not harm this endeavor. I’ve seen a lot of organizations here start off well and eventually collapse because of just one corrupt person.

I know this vision is from God and because of that I have total confidenc e that it can succeed with time and hard work. So please begin supporting us in prayer now as I’m sure you all know that starting off is never easy.

I think I’ll leave it at that for now. We are missing all of you there so much, but we are also happy to be where we are. God Bless.

HELLO!

Okay, so here are my attempts at making excuses as to why I haven’t written in so long:

1. Everyday for the last 2 months our electricity has been off from about 9am to 6pm as the power company has been replacing their transformers. So of course businesses like internet cafe’s have been closed during the day. Could I have gone in the evenings? Yes, but I was busy watching the world cup and I don’t really like going out at night. Wow, have I become old and boring? I used to love going out at night.

2. Life has been so routine and practically boring until recently that I was really at a loss for what to write. At least now things are happening, so here’s an update on our lives.

Michael is supposed to be starting work soon as the chef of a new American restaurant opening up in Mukono. This is a huge answer to prayer! Michael has been without steady work for the last year so of course it was putting a strain on us financially. This new source of income will help us to sustain the kind of life we want to live and will also give Michael an opportunity to put more capital into his travel company for marketing and such. The company is now fully registered as Wildcat Safaris Uganda. There is no website yet but it will soon be possible.

Another answer to prayer came last week when I FINALLY got my Dependent’s Pass which says I can stay here legally for the next two years. I emphasize “finally” because we applied for this pass last year in October. They said it would be ready in five days. Ha! Nine months later I’ve got it!

There were some unclear things and misunderstandings about the visa I got from the airport when we arrived here in May of last year, and at one point Internal Affairs was trying to give some ridiculous fine of over $4,000! Thank God one of Michael’s uncle’s is a powerful person in Uganda and was able to convince the higher-ups to wave that fine and give us the pass for the normal fee. The fact that we didn’t pay a single bribe to the officials and still got the pass is a miracle, though it is part of the cause for it taking so long to process. Internal Affairs is apparently one of the most corrupt ministries in Uganda. Anyways, God helped us through 100%.

In celebration of finally being fully legal in this country and not having to deal with Internal Affairs anymore, we decided it was time for a little vacation. We considered it the honeymoon we never took in Uganda. We went to Mabira National Forest just for the weekend and had a relaxing and refreshing time in the privacy of the thick woods. It is an absolutely beautiful place where we were able to spend some quality time together before life becomes different and very busy for Michael. We have consistantly had 1 or 2, sometimes 3 friends/relatives at a time living with us since October of last year so this was a good chance to get away and be alone for a couple days.

e were able to take a simple forest walk for a couple of hours though we covered little ground when you look at the forest as a whole. It is massive. When we drive through it on the highway going 60/70 mph it takes a good 20-30 minutes to get through it. We saw plenty of red-tailed monkeys on our walk and some exotic birds and butterflies. I even fell in the mud once along the way! I mean, someone had to make a funny memory.

was also nice just to have someone else make dinner for us. There was a fire pit behind our cabin so we made a campfire in the morning...not as exciting as it would have been if it was at night, but we couldn’t get firewood in the dark. The most unfortunate part of the trip was that we had no camera. Oh well, we have our memories.

We also took a side trip to Jinja to visit the source of the Nile and a good American cafe there. I never thought I would describe a cheeseburger as “refreshing” but I had one, and it was indeed very refreshing. Jinja is only about a 25 minutes drive from Mabira but we had an impossible time getting a taxi so we ended up hitch-hiking with a couple who had a personal car. As we conversed we discovered that the man works with internal affairs! Pretty funny since we took the trip specifically to celebrate being done with dealing with internal affairs, but it was okay. He was a good guy and we got a free ride to Jinja.

That’s all for now. I will try harder to keep you all posted as life goes on.

One Year and Counting

Last Sunday we had the pleasure of celebrating our first anniversary! We thought through a lot of different ways to celebrate like going to Murchison Falls on safari, going to a nice restaurant in Kampala, or having a big party and celebrating with friends. Originally I was ready to go the American way and have a romantic dinner for two (after the realization that safaris can get expensive!). Later on however, we realized my birthday would be taking place 5 days after our anniversary, so we just decided to have one big party to celebrate both events.

It turned out to be a great day of eating good food, cake, playing cards, and having serious debates. Yep, that’s right. We “discussed” (at the top of our lungs, sometimes sitting , sometimes standing) things like politics, religion, where to buy your clothes, DSTV, and the meaning of a “simple” life. What else can you do at a party when the power’s out all day? We were afraid it would be too quiet without music and movies...little did we know we had great debators in our midst who all prefer to shout at the same time.

In the evening we decided that instead of sitting in a dark house we should enjoy the great outdoors, so we actually carried all our furniture outside and set up a new living space on the lawn. Probably the biggest hit of the day was our wedding album. It is a beautiful storybook album with the pictures printed directly onto the pages. The comment of the day was “This is not in Uganda”, meaning that technology is not yet used here for things like personal albums. Wedding albums here are simply full of regular pictures, and it’s common for friends and family to take a picture or two for themselves once they see the album. When people see our album, their first response is to complain in a joking way that they can’t take any pictures home with them. Personally I’m grateful it worked out that way...OUR wedding pictures! You can’t have them!

The last year has been so good but also extremely challenging. At least my challenge of missing American food has been taken care of for now as I will soon be receiving a package from Mom and Dad which contains Mac & Cheese! Also, some of my friends from Britain that I work with at the music school treated me to lunch yesterday at an American style coffee shop with really good sandwiches. And of course, I’m so grateful for my wonderful chef of a husband who is always willing to step in and make me french fries when I get tired of African food.

Seriously though, besides that “crisis” we have not had an easy time with jobs and finances. My work at the music school is part time and many of my students are unreliable. Michael’s travel company has not picked up a lot of business yet either, but of course it is common for new things to take time and even get off to a rough start. We are really seeing that with our music ministry at the blind school as we are still struggling to get consistent transport to the school every weekend.

However there are many opportunities coming up for us that we are praying will keep us busy in the near future. There’s a good chance I and a violinist friend of mine will begin playing in some of the big hotels around Kampala to provide dinner music for various functions. Also, a job has opened up in the Uganda Studies Program at UCU that I have half a chance of getting since I’m a former student. There is a good chance that Michael will be working one or two jobs in Gulu as a chef and hotel manager in the very near future. While he would be living a long distance away most of the week, we still see it as a good opportunity for a time until something else comes along. As for the project at the blind school, we have discovered that there is a missions organization in our area that sometimes rents out their vans, especially to other ministries.

These are just a few of the possibilities we are looking forward to in the near future. Despite some of the challenges we have faced, God has allowed us enjoy our first year of marriage and grow in love for each other. In fact, the challenges that we have come through have been good reminders that without God we can do nothing. We owe him everything. He has kept us going in ways that we never could have on our own and brought us through situations that could bring anyone down if not for God’s help.

So we are working on being thankful for and in the challenging times, because they make our lives testimonies of God’s goodness and in the end, bring Him glory. Who knows? If not for the challenges, we may have gone through the first year of marriage giving ourselves the credit for everything instead of giving God the glory. “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name...” (Psalm 29:2).

Missing Home

I love Uganda, and I like most of the food here, but sometimes I just miss American food like crazy. Like the other day I got an intense craving for mac & cheese...didn't see that one coming! Of course, it's not like it's impossible to get mac & cheese and other American delights here. They are just expensive compared to Ugandan standards. The money we would use to buy a jar of Alfredo sauce for one meal here could get us about 6 or 7 meals of African food. It's just not worth it. We did manage to make tacos the other day at least!

Please don't worry...food is not the only thing I miss about home. I miss all of you! Our dream right now is to come home for Christmas this year, but it will take a miracle.

It has been so long since I last wrote, but it seems like nothing much has happened here. The music project for Salama School for the blind has not really taken off yet because we can't get there on a weekly basis. We had a successful "kick-off" day, playing violin, piano, and cello for the students. We also want to teach them guitar but the one they have at the school is in a very sad state so we have not been able to teach it to them yet.

After hearing a sample of each instrument, we gave them a chance to touch and try out each one. It helped them to grasp what it is really like to play these things. We managed to go back one more time after that and began group lessons. Most students have an idea of which instrument they want to learn but we haven't totally organized a time table yet for giving them private lessons. Most students have chosen keyboard of course because it's familiar to them and is somewhat easy to make good sounds on right away compared to cello or violin. Still, we have at least 2 or 3 students on each of the other instruments so things should be moving along well soon.

Since that first day of group lessons we have not been able to get back to the school because it is very far and we don't have an available car. So the project is basically on hold until we can get consistent transport to the school. The person we had planned to go with every week is not able to go anymore so now we are really stuck. There are those who are willing to take us on a weekend here and there, but if we can't give lessons on a weekly basis there will be no progress. We are planning to make a video very soon to showcase the project and point out some of the needs we have. Then we will send copies home to several churches and hopefully begin receiving support for the project.

We had a very nice Good Friday service last week, and I was privileged to be a part of it. I played cello with the worship team in 2, 1 hour sets and also did a special. It was a great service, though very different from those I've attended in the U.S. First of all, beginning at 9:30am and ending around 3pm is not something I'm used to! At least lunch was provided afterward for us to enjoy as a church.

The biggest difference though was not the length of the service, but rather the mood. Instead of being somber and serious, it was actually a service of celebration. I've never seen the people at church dance and shout with so much joy as they did that day. It made me wonder what would be left for us to do on Easter Sunday, but of course, it was another celebration. It just had a slightly different focus.

We are still enjoying "newlywed" life here but we're getting close to that 1 year anniversary! We are just so thankful to God who keeps us going and takes care of our needs every single day.

An Addition to the Family

Meet the newest member of our family! This is our new puppy O.B. We missed the boat the first time we had an opportunity to get one, but this time we didn’t hesitate. Now we’re the proud owners of a whimpering, flea-infested, ankle biter! Well, the fleas should be going soon with the help of meds, but I’m not sure when he’ll grow out of the other things.

O.B. stands for “Old Boy”, which is not so appropriate now but once he grows up a little it will be more fitting. Here in Uganda O.B. and O.G. are basically terms used to describe alumni of any school. For example, anyone who has graduated from IWU is my “Old Girl” or “Old Boy”. Anyways, we thought it would be a fun name for a dog and it sort of gives people a feeling of friendship even when they first meet him.

Having a dog here in Uganda is not terribly uncommon but it’s definitely a different experience than in the States. Most people here use them as guard dogs, so they are not so much indoor pets. They don’t really get special treatment and I’ve never seen anyone take their dog out for a walk or anything. So here, they’re not very hard to look after…at least, that’s what we’re hoping.

Other than the new puppy, everything else is going along normally. We are just looking forward to new things beginning in February, and we can’t wait to see where God takes us in these endeavors. We are planning to begin music lessons at Salama School for the Blind in about two weeks. We’re still in need of voice and keyboard teachers but I’m confident we will find some soon. In the meantime we will go ahead with cello, violin, and guitar lessons.

Also this month, Michael and I will be going once a week to an upcoming preschool to read Bible Stories and sing songs with the children there. We are excited about this opportunity because we (Michael especially) love children. This should be a really fun way to minister and get a little more connected in the community.

One group that we have absolutely loved being a part of so far is a small group fellowship for young married couples. It’s called True Vine Fellowship and is based at the Anglican cathedral nearby, but thankfully they accept couples from other churches as well. It’s a very close-knit group and though we’ve only met with them a few times, we have already become close to most of the people. Different couples host the fellowship at their homes once a month and we meet either for Bible study or to discuss marriage related topics. For the topics we usually have guest speakers who are a bit more qualified and experienced than any of us, so we really learn a lot.

We recently had a big cookout together and it was a blast! It was really a taste of home, complete with sausages, hamburgers and grilled pork. It was a great time to get to know each other, and for Michael to show off his grilling skills! Anyways, we’ve realized that this is a really worthy ministry and we hope continue to be involved for a long time.