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.