HIS Missions Trip 2010- photos on Facebook!!!

23 people went on a 3 day trip Wed. thru Friday this week, to Nampunge, Uganda. It is about 1.5 hrs. from school west of Kampala. It was hot and dry. Good for camping in tents. COLD night (first night only, PTL). Lots to report on it but I don't have much time just now. More later- please be patient. But I thought if you would like to see the photos, my team photographer was Tiya, and I've put her link on my Facebook page. Just look up my name- Lisa Fish- and you (hopefully) will get to it! Please let me know what you think. And thank you for your prayers! :)

The Von Trapp family clothes, Ugandan style

Remember in the movie, The Sound of Music, where Maria made play clothes out of curtain fabric? Well, more than 25 years ago, my Mom and I were working on refreshing my bedroom. We had painted the walls (I guess a blue?) and bought some fabric for curtains. Then we found out we were moving to Indiana from Pennsylvania, so we ditched the idea of making curtains.
All these years I've had that fabric, a pale blue with rose colored flowers on it. There was a lot of fabric! But well, I've had the stuff for 25 years and never did anything with it, and I even brought it to Africa thinking I might use it here- nope! So at Christmas, I gave it to Peter, my day guard, thinking his wife would make herself and their daughters some dresses.
Today, I saw Peter walk by my kitchen window and he had something new on. I looked closer and it was the fabric! Can you believe it? He had a suit made using that material! AND his wife did get her dress, and their daughters did get their dresses too! Sadly, for now they are back in the village and I've only seen Peter's suit (he pronounces it his "sweet" as any good Ugandan might say!). He is tickled to have new clothes, and feels he looks pretty sharp in it! I just got a kick out of the fact that a man is wearing my curtain material as a suit. And yes, at first I thought he was in pajamas.

Le Petit Bistro

Le Petit Bistro is a steak (and other items) place here in Kampala. We went there on Monday night, as a goodbye to John & Beth Muehleisen who were leaving on their Homeland Ministry Assignment (HMA) on Tuesday, and also celebrating Beth's birthday. While waiting for soup, salads and entrees, we caught up with one another, some played Pass the Pigs, I took pictures, and generally we had some nice fellowship.


Above: Jean, Teresa and Brent... and Below: Jonathan, John and Beth, and Jean.



Above: Kristi, Betsy and me, and Below: Jon & Jennifer Earle with baby Karis, and Lisa Mayo. Not pictured in anything here (due to bad lighting of the pics I took of them): Jenna, Ethan and Jordan. The Earle's other two kids (who had stayed home with a babysitter).



I can't say first hand that the French onion soup is good, but it sure looked delicious, and Kristi and Betsy sure enjoyed it!

The Eclipse, 2010

Yesterday (Jan. 15) was an annular eclipse. It apparently was not a FULL eclipse where the sun is completely covered, but there was a ring left around the outside. According to the internet, it won't be happening in this region of the world (Uganda, etc.) for another 1,000 years. So it was pretty special.


Miss Peace, our Heritage librarian, takes a look at the eclipse through a 5th grader's eclipse glasses.

Okay so I pointed and tried to shoot to get it on the camera, but the ring made things extra sunny-bright. I wish I'd used the glasses over my camera lense- what a potentially cool shot that would have been!


Eleventh grader Tiya enjoys peeking at the eclipse.

Eye catching signs

All around Uganda, we often see some either poorly worded or eye catching signs with words/vocabulary or indecipherable meanings; all of them make you do a double-take. I thought you might enjoy some of them.






So do the hot dogs attack people?



It must be STINKING Dangerous at this cliff-side area, for them to write this?


Some of the blending of businesses here are interesting, as you can see with the real estate (property) agent, video and barber location...



I missed getting a picture of the "Macheti Maternity Clinic"- yes, spelled differently than machete, but it kind of made you wonder if they used this type of tool in delivering babies... I sure hope not!



My favorite is, of course, this one. It says it all.

Photos from our trip East

I love that not only does this say "hotel" but knowing this culture and the possibilities of travel and people's situations here, I wouldn't be surprised if someone actually has USED this as their room for the night. Think of the creepy crawlies in this place! (my eyes just popped!)


Many Ugandan children are so creative, making wire cars (see photo above), balls for soccer made from plastic bags bound up, or else banana leaf/other items, and other toys for themselves and sometimes for sale!



In Kampala you see mud homes and certainly brick/cement homes. But the people living on Mt. Elgon often paint their homes with neat designs.



Some boda (motorcycle taxi) loads really stretch the imagination. I wish I'd had my camera with me yesterday, when I saw a boda guy hauling a refrigerator!


There is a nice little restaurant outside of the town of Jinja, that serves very nice steaks and other items. We stopped there on the way back into the city, and I found this lovely spider. YOWZAH! Just looking; no touching please!


At the same restaurant they often have monkeys. These guys were all over on the day we visited. There was a momma monkey carrying her baby, which was so tiny! It's head was only the size of a lemon!

Christmas Break 2009

During Christmas break from school, my plan was to work on the Africa Gospel Church devotionals we've been putting together, take a vacation, and have a lot of time at the feet of Jesus. Mostly this all worked out, and I did feel rested by the time school resumed (with a new semester) last Monday, Jan. 4th.

First, below you'll see photos of our mission Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We had an amazing ham potluck dinner and had a wonderful worship time singing Christmas carols and even a gift exchange.



Above are some of our WGM family, including Jon & Jennifer Earle, Beth Muehleisen and our missionary kids (MKs) currently on the field.



Above, our WGM MKs seated from left; Jacob Earle, Ethan Mayo, Kiah Earle holding her baby sister Karis, and Jordan Mayo.

From the 27th till the 31st, the Mayo's and I left the city behind and drove 4 hours east to Mbale Resort Hotel, on the edge of Mt. Elgon which is on the Kenya/Uganda border. Below are a few photos from those days...



A view from Mt. Elgon looking out onto the plains and the town of Mbale (em-BAH-lay)below.



One day we took about an hour's drive up into the mountains, with the results of these nice family photos for the Mayos. Above, Jonathan and his 12 year old son Jordan. Below, the whole Mayo family; Ethan (10 years old), Lisa, Jordan and Jonathan, in front of one of the many waterfalls coming off Mt. Elgon.





The hotel we stayed at on vacation has wonderful views of Mt. Elgon, which rises sharply right out of the low hills all around. (see above and below)



From my room, which was on the end of the top floor, you could see Mt. Elgon in one direction and the pool and new wing of the hotel out the balcony. It was a relaxing few days and I'm glad we got to go.