Senior Banquet 2010

Last night we had our first annual Senior Banquet. I was busy a lot of the time so I missed some prime photo opportunities, but it was a wonderful evening celebrating our 3 seniors who will graduate May 28th. The meal was catered by Coconut Shack, an Indian restaurant, and the juniors and sophomores helped sponsor the event with decorating, baking desert, and planning everything.


Stephen, Austin and Jordan, 3 of our 7th grade boys.


Someone brought some glow bracelets to the dinner, and we had some fun playing with them. This is Bec, with me and Kristi.


Last semester I taught the 6th grade for Social Studies. These are some of those kids. They are pretty fabulous! From left are Emmanuel, Jesse, Maarten and Brennen.


These are some of my friends who also work at HIS. Back row from left, are Jenna, Keeley, Jill, Mirielle, Rhonda. Front row: Jean, Teresa, Holly and Kristi.


Jael, me, Anna, Nick, with Meki in front. This is a truly international photo. Jael is from Washington state, Anna from Finland, Nick from Germany/Rwanda, and Meki from Kenya.


Keeley is our current HIS Principal, and she's been my prayer partner for 3 years. I'm so thankful for our friendship! What a blessing she has been to me and to all of us at HIS. (love you Keels!)


The WGM guys at the banquet included Brent (a WGM VIA), Austin, Jordan and Kaleb.

Africa Gospel Church, Kisugu

One of our city churches, Kisugu, is where a number of my dear friends attend. Pastor James and his wife Caroline lead the church, and they have 2 children with another on the way, due in June. Pastor Mugisha and his wife Winnie also assist in the church, and they have 4 children. Mugisha is the one who now leads our youth ministries for all of the AGC in Uganda.
It has been a privilege to work alongside him and many others to develop the AGC Uganda youth ministries. We're happy to announce that we are publishing our devotional booklet by the end of May, to distribute to youth in the AGC and beyond. The typical thing for Uganda is to have your children go off to boarding school, but oftentimes the youth don't get much by way of Bible teaching while away. So we thought it would be helpful to encourage them through this devotional. Pray it will be a ministry to whoever reads it.




Children recite memory verses (above) and (below) Pastor Mugisha preaches in English while one of our trained youth leaders, Carol, translates into Luganda.

Heritage Activities

Whether it is a typical class or a special event, times at Heritage are good, difficult, trying, blessed, memorable, and always in need of prayer. I'm thankful for all God has taught me during my years of ministry at HIS, and I'm very thankful to have the collegues and students there as friends. Above: My 9th grade social studies class. Below: a faculty meeting.




Above: A youth activity with Lydia trying the stilts. Below: 10th grade English class.


Above: Bertha volunteered to lead our devotional during 2 of our recent youth events. I'm so proud of her, watching her grow into a strong leader, working at a faithful witness. I'm also very thankful to see how so many of our youth have chosen Christ, and those who have chosen to continue to grow more in their walk with Him.


Kristi and Meki hang out during youth group. Kristi is our 6th grade core teacher, while she also helps with yearbook and computer classes. I have really enjoyed having her help in our youth ministries, too! She is one of our WGM Volunteers In Action (VIA).

Wild Things...

A favorite amongst our missionary kids (MKs) is finding chameleons. The kids love them as pets, but the chameleons love to escape as often as not. I have enjoyed the excitement on our MK's faces.




Above: Austin and Emilee with the first chameleon they (actually their brother Kaleb) found upon their return to Uganda from furlough. Below: Jacob with his chameleon, Charlie.




The above photo is Kaleb holding 2 of the recently found chameleons. Yes, I included the Colts tee shirt Kaleb had on, for his benefit, and also for my sister Abby, who is a Colts fan (I'm not sure if she is also a fan of chameleons or not).

The Hippo Addiction

Okay, I need to admit something to you. I'm addicted. To hippos. I first got one for my Mom as a paperweight for her office desk (she works at a doctor's office). Then I got her another, in a different color, with a "cheeky" smile. They are funny! Then it sort of cascaded to a herd. Mom has about 6 (I think) or more on her desk now, and she says the patients and co-workers play with them all the time. Yep, I can see that happening. Because I started my own collection here. They're made of soapstone, and actually come from Kenya. I put mine originally up all around my kitchen cabinets, and I think it was 16 that looked down on me every day from those perches. Now I've got a bigger herd (I think it is now 42 in the herd), because Mom's coworkers want some too. So I've been shopping. The people in Indiana will have an invasion soon, with smiles and giggles being passed back and forth as they each enjoy a hippo or 3 on their desks. I've been packing up things in my house lately, but wanted to gather all the hippos into one spot to carefully wrap them in tissue/bubble wrap before putting them in my trunk to take to the USA. They've been sitting on my cabinet for 2 weeks now. They're just guarding the place, making me smile. And occasionally I think they wink and grin at me.
(p.s. I also got Emilee Hopson addicted. She bought 3 on Saturday when we went shopping for those shoes I mentioned in the next posting down... I have no fear of spreading my addiction!)

20 years and counting!

In March of 1990, Lisa Jordan and I applied to and were accepted by WGM as missionaries. We had already been on a missions trip to Kenya together with Prof. Roy Lauter (from Asbury). Although we applied separately, we happened to be interviewed and accepted on the same weekend.
Well, it has been 20 years. We served on the Bolivia field together in 1990 to 1991 for the school year, and then Lisa went on to marry Jonathan Mayo, a fellow Asburian and at that time, missionary to Kenya with WGM. They have since served in Tanzania and Uganda. They have two boys (I teach her son, Jordan). I continued serving in Bolivia until 2002, and have been in Uganda since 2004.
We decided that since it has been 20 years since we were appointed, it was time to celebrate. So we made a list of 20 fun things to do. Some are simple. Some didn't work out.. like the pinata (I can't get my laptop to make the proper "n" in pinata- sorry!). I tried to make one but the dampness in early April really messed it up. Oh, well. But some have been fun- shopping for shoes (they have great beaded sandals here!), buying a new book (they're super expensive here, but I got a Nicholas Sparks book I hadn't read), going to tea with our friend Keeley (pictured below), and getting our HIS science room painted and with curtains. We went out for ice cream with all our WGM missionary ladies several days ago (I forgot to get a photo!). There are other things to do still on the list. Waffles with the Mayo family is one. Shoot water balloons filled (maybe) with jello for another. We'll see how far we get. It has been a joy to just do these fun things together and involve others, too. The second photo below is of Lisa and I on the first outing for our list. We posed at the huge elephant statue in one of the malls here. It was a touristy thing to do, but it marks the beginning of our 20 year celebration.

Easter Break Activities

Our annual field retreat was immediately following Easter, at Kingfisher in Jinja (2 hours east of Kampala; the place where Lake Victoria pours into the Nile River). With special speakers Frank and Sharon Martin coming from the USA, and with regional directors Terry & Karen Duncan joining us, we had a wonderful and restful time together.


Aren't these tropical flowers lovely?




Brent and Kiah swimming at Kingfisher, the hotel we stayed at for our field retreat.


Above: Jon Earle playing guitar with his son Jacob. This wasn't actually during Easter, but close to those days. And Jacob's sense of wonder just holds my attention and I can't resist taking pictures of him.


Jacob loved playing with dominoes at retreat.


Some of the plants at Kingfisher are so cool. I walked around taking lots of pictures. Some of the flowers above and this bamboo are just a few of the lovely tropical plants/trees there.


While going to visit the weaver's place, we passed a coffee field. I've toured coffee plantations before, but I think this is the first time I've put a picture of it on my blog. You roast the berries after picking them (when they're red). Inside the beans are white until roasted. Did you know coffee was used first in Ethiopia? My Ethiopian students are very proud of that fact.


More of Brent and Kiah swimming. She has such a beautiful smile that reaches her eyes. :)


While we enjoyed the pool and the relaxation, we also enjoyed tea time and fellowship over meals, games, a bonfire, during the sessions, while sharing in communion, and even making mosaic mirror frames. I'm glad for the time off from regular ministry activities, and for the fellowship and relaxation we all enjoyed together.



The Hopson's and Mayo's had a fun time playing and wrestling in the pool (a central feature of the Kingfisher hotel). Chicken fights were breaking out left and right. Fun to watch- but I prefer to stay out and JUST watch!




One morning, several of us ladies took a trip to the local weavers in Jinja. It was so neat to watch them put thread on the spool and then to weave with the giant and colorful looms. They do really beautiful work there.

Easter Celebrations

Life has been zooming along, so this is being posted a bit late. Oh, well. For our Easter Celebrations, we had a brunch all together at the Earle's home, and then the annual Easter Egg hunt. The kids were so cute, especially the youngest.


Above: Jonathan holding baby Karis, one of the Earle's children, at her very first Uganda Easter egg hunt.


Jacob Earle shows the stash he collected to Teresa (center) and Karen Duncan. Teresa teaches at Heritage as our art teacher, and Karen is the wife of our WGM regional directer, Terry. They visited for our field retreat.

Cultural Observations

As I go around Kampala and throughout the country, there are a lot of just -different- things I see. This is a collection of funny views I've enjoyed.


Now it technically says, "Slow, men at work". But I very often think there could be a different emphasis, making it say, "Slow men~ at work". That is, after all, how road construction goes here. VERY slowly and often not so effectively.


A lot of artisans here like to make statues for you to put in your yard or (more likely) in hotels or parks, etc. I've seen this statue many times and am not surprised it has not yet sold. Who would want a dead impala with a leopard getting ready to eat it in their back yard?


Once I was turning around in the parking lot of the Kampala International University campus. I was surprised that over in this corner they have these statues. Random place for them. People often stop and pose by them, though.


Delight and Kenneth Hopson begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting (WGM missionaries) are back from their Homeland Ministry now (they'd been gone 9-10 months). The week they returned was Kenneth's birthday, so Delight and I took him to a restaurant called Spurs. We had to think a bit before understanding the meaning of the English in this table card/tent. Diarise here we figured out means to put into a diary or (in American English- into a calendar/agenda). I've never seen such grammar so it was good for a laugh.


I have seen fridges before on bodas, but never got a picture till now. I've also missed taking a picture of a HUGE bathtub on another boda. But I'm mostly amazed that the drivers can wing these things through traffic as they do.


This is hopefully clear enough for you to see how tight traffic gets here. I was in my car, stopped in traffic (or of course I'd not take a picture), and this is pretty standard if you are in a jam here.


On the way out of town to our field retreat, we saw this truck stuck in one of the deep ditches along the side of the road. The ditches aren't everywhere (and along this portion they're only about 2 feet deep while near my home they're 3-4 feet, and I've seen 5 feet deep ditches!), thank goodness, but this is an image of a fear of mine- either me going off the edge, or knocking off a pedestrian into the dangerous edges. I'm not sure how they got the loaded truck out, but when we came back by it was gone.


I wanted to also include some cool sights I've seen. This is a Bible school overlooking the Nile. I like that they've constructed parts of it in the traditional African style. Pretty campus and views.


Above and below: Nakumat is a Kenyan based company that you might compare to Walmart in the USA. This is one of a few groceries/clothing/furniture stores we have here. With this being the newest it is by far the nicest. Prices here vary- some are higher and some lower than other grocery stores. I like the clean, spacious, well lit aisles.

Teresa the artist

Teresa is one of our VIA serving as one of our 2 art teachers at HIS. I loved this drawing she was making for her parents of a Pokot woman.

How people handle car accidents here

Jenna (VIA) and I pulled into a parking spot and heard a loud bang. Looking up across the road, there was a car that had hit into a cement wall, completely taking out a telephone pole in the process. If you look you can see the pole is stuck between the car and the wall.
I wasn't sure what was more entertaining (I'm not being inconsiderate- the people got out and walked away so there were no injuries). It was hard to decide between watching the crowd that gathered who all joined together rocking the car up and down and trying to rock it up and off the stump of the pole, and watching if/when the pole would fall onto the car. The falling never happened, and after getting quite a bit of exercise rocking the car as they tried to push it off the snapped off bottom portion of the pole... The whole thing was, as I said, quite entertaining. The best part was to see them (after several unsuccessful tries) start the damaged car and drive it off. No reporting the accident. No police involved. No letting the phone company know they had wires now hanging 2 feet off the ground in the way of traffic, and a pole precariously hanging over the roadway. They just drove off and left. And this is TYPICAL here.
And if there had been injuries, the sad thing to report is that the crowd of observers would not have rushed forward to "help". Instead they would have rushed forward to steal and loot from the people, stealing everything they could (and many accident victims can't be identified because of looters!). It is a sad truth, but that is really typical. Pray people who do those types of things will change; that they will be changed by the transforming love and compassion of Christ.

80's Birthday Celebration

At the end of March, friends Shelah and Jade invited us to Jade's 40th birthday party. The 80's theme was highly entertaining. We all either had: pegged jeans, BIG hair, lots of makeup, canvas tennis shoes, funny 80's jewelry, ripped jeans, ripped shirts, collars lifted up, tights, etc. Enjoy the pics of us all below as we were admiring each other's costumes.


Kristi happened to turn and 2 palm trees were reflected in her glasses. We got a kick out of it and this is the result. :)


Shelah, Lino, Jade, Solomon and me at the party (above). Lino is Shelah and Jade's "son" under a legal guardianship that you may remember we termed as his adoption day. Solomon and Lino are my students and they sure enjoyed the outfits us adults all wore (they were too chicken to dress up!).


Above: Some of Shelah and Jade's missionary/local friends at the party. I'm really glad the 80's styles are generally out of date- although I'll tell you right now, they're coming into style here in Uganda. I wonder if I'll be surprised by USA styles when I'm there for my furlough (I might be frightened, not just surprised!).