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 to
gether 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.
