Celebrating Mom and Fall

My Mom's September birthday is something I usually don't see her for. I'm always overseas, so a call, a card, usually a gift card too- that is all I can do from Africa. But this time with Karen and family on furlough, too, we decided to have some days together. Yay!

Mom, Abby and I drove to Michigan, where Karen, Dave, and the boys are based when in the USA. We spent time at a country market, carving pumpkins, in a church service and Mom & I took an evening at Frankenmuth, MI, a German/tourism area that is absolutely charming.



Below: I love this picture of Zac and our pumpkins. He and I are the only "pumpkin carving fans" in the family, so we had our own nephew-auntie time together. Smile.




From left: me, Zac, Abby (in back), Karen, AJ (in back), Dave and Mom. Randy was in TX but plans to visit us in Indy soon. Another yay!

HMA on the East Coast

Homeland Ministry Assignment (HMA) is what we call the time when missionaries travel in the USA, speaking in churches, reconnecting with current and (hopefully) new supporters. We do this for ministry, to encourage and report to those who've been on our team in prayer and/or financial support, and honestly we do it to be encouraged, too. I LOVE re-visiting my prayer and financial supporters, whether they are friends from college days, high school days, family, newer friends, and churches who are A-MAZ-ING in their ways they minister to me and to the ministries on the field.

So in August I headed from Indiana to Pennsylvania and spent the next several weeks on the East Coast. I spoke in several churches, as well as in a Bible study, met with folks in homes and in a ladies missionary meeting. I was in NJ, PA, and even popped down to VA to see some cousins.

Pray for me please, as I continue to travel, based from my Mom's in the Indianapolis area. I've spoken in a school group, in the corn fields of northern Indiana, in Ohio, and will continue in OH, MI, IN and KY. I will head back to PA and NJ in a few months for even more meetings there. Pray for safety and for more supporters to join my team in both finances AND prayer. Thank you!!


Above: These are some of my cousins. Well, they are children to two of my cousins- Wendy and Jamie. So are they second cousin's? Cousins once removed? I never can get that right... from left are Dante, Westley, India, Cassandra, and Lindsey.

Next 3 pictures... I spent some time seeing Jenna and her mom in PA. They are from NJ and Jenna served as a VIA (Volunteers In Action) in Uganda, and the first and best place to visit with her was by meeting them at one of their favorite places: a Renaissance Fair/Festival in the Lebanon, PA area. I'd never been to one of these, and there were a lot of picturesque things there, including jesters, a glass blower (very cool to see), a queen and her court, and jousting (I liked that part!). It was interesting to watch the people dressed as characters in that time period, including Jenna and her mom (no- I didn't have a costume).


I found it interesting to see an African elephant (the owner was giving rides at the fair) with Jenna- who I'd served with in Uganda, but in Pennsylvania. It seemed such a blend of cultures!

New Prayer Card

For the first time in 20 years, I went to a real photo studio and got a proper photo taken for my prayer card. The previous photographers did the best they could with their material, but I was never very thrilled. I've just gotten my new prayer card and even a bookmark to give out.

FYI the purpose of a prayer card is to use it as a prayer tool- to have a reminder of me and the ministries in Uganda. Both the card and the bookmark are helpful for people to see and read about ministries in Uganda. I'm mailing one of each of these to everyone on my mailing list, but if you would like one and don't think I have your mailing address, please contact me through Facebook or here, at wgm.org (I still don't feel safe giving out my email here). I felt silly posting a large photo of myself here, but you can see a preview of the card/me in my profile below at right, or else through the WGM site.

Do please pray for me as I work on my Homeland Ministry Assignment. I've got a lot of miles to cover (PTL for a decent vehicle- thanks Mom!). I've got a lot more support to raise. This is due to some financial backers who have been laid off in the economy as it has been, or others getting elderly and on more strict budgets, and of course there is the inevitable rise in the cost of living. All of those add up to more support needed ($600/month) plus a cash amount of $10,000 to pay outgoing expenses plus help me in the search for a different vehicle in Uganda, since mine has basically bit the dust. If you'd like to give now to my ministry, please click here for further instructions.

Prayer team members are always coveted. Please let me know if you'd like to join my prayer team. Click here to contact me. Thanks!

If you have any questions about how ministry or joining my support team works, do please click to contact me and ask whatever you have on your heart. Thanks!

Wondering when I hope to head back to Uganda? March 2011 is the answer. I'm hoping to finish support fund raising and travel by Christmas, so I can focus on continuing education. I've got to renew my Indiana teacher's license before I return to ministries in Uganda. Having current teaching credentials is of extreme help in Uganda. Please join me in praying that ALL my support can be pledged and/or given by Christmas, so I might be able to concentrate on my studies. Thanks!

"Down the Shore" (its the way you say it if you're from New Jersey!!!)

Ocean City, NJ has been our family vacation destination for all our lives. In July, my family and I spent a week enjoying familiar places like Mack & Manco (best pizza ever), Khor's ice cream, Ove's seafood right on the boardwalk, and breakfasts at The Varsity (YUM!). Obviously we spent a lot of time on the beach as well, enjoying the sun, waves, building castles, walking the beach, collecting shells.

My missionary sister Karen and her husband Dave are also in the USA right now, on furlough from church planting in Cameroon. Their boys are AJ (15) and Zac (13). It isn’t often we have our furloughs overlap; one of us is usually overseas. So the time with family was especially sweet. The family photo below was taken at our Fish family reunion at the end of our vacation. Many of the Fish relatives (maybe 40 of us?) gathered at our cousin Nancy’s home in Mullica Hill, NJ. What a blessing to see all the cousins and various generations of family members.


Above: From left is my Mom (Sheila), my brother-in-law Dave, sister Abby, nephew AJ, sister Karen, brother Randy, nephew Zac and me.

Below are various photos from our time away. Most don’t really need captions. Most could have the caption of “Us having fun, creating memories, enjoying the limited time we get together once every few years”…













The Ferris Wheel is a tradition for us to ride… here are views below, inside and from in the air (so you can see how high we go!).




We also love to ride the carousel, ride bikes on the boards, ride those flying swings & the scrambler (I think this was my last time on it– ugh!), and stopping in favorite shops and other places. This year Abby, Zac and I added a morning of parasailing– how cool was that?!?!!!




Randy and Zac have August birthdays, so we celebrated early as a family, enjoying Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes.



For some reason we started a tradition of trying on funny hats while at the shore. Not sure why, but they sure do make for fun photos.




Above; Mummers! My Mom grew up in and near Philadelphia, where the Mummers bands are a lifestyle for many. I remember as a kid watching New Year's Day's parades (on TV- never yet live) where so many different Mummers groups would perform. At Ocean City, they invite Mummers from the Philly area to play on the boardwalk at night. My mom was so thrilled to see them and then one of the guys invited her to dance with them... I got great video of her joy as she danced around the boards with them.


Below: enjoying the beach in the early morning quiet.

WGM Meetings

When a missionary returns from the field, WGM takes great care of them (us) with trainings and meetings, as well as special times of worship together. In July we met together for about 10 days.


Re-entry began with a mission sponsored BBQ fellowship, with all of the missionaries who'd recently returned from the mission field. Reconnecting with people who are in the same boat as you (readjusting to the USA) is helpful when you're getting used to the North American culture after 3-4 years away. It was so refreshing to see old friends from Bolivia and many other parts of the world, all missionaries (and their kids) with WGM.




We also had some training seminars during our 10-ish days together.

New Design

As you can see, I've changed my blog design. It is at an appropriate time, since my new prayer cards are soon coming out, and I'm beginning a new term of missionary service (back to Uganda)... I like it and I hope you do too!
If you would like one of my new prayer cards (they're in the end of design phase with the printer right now), please contact me. I've had some weirdos contact me when I had a direct link to my email from this blog, so I removed that page element. But you can reach me through Facebook if you really need to. Thanks!

The IWU Team

10 wonderful ladies came to Uganda in May from Indiana Wesleyan University. 4 of them stayed in my house and apartment (a guest apt. behind my home). Although their trip was cut short due to the British Airways strike, their time was pretty amazing for all of them. I hope to see them this fall at IWU while I'm in the USA!
They ministered doing VBS in 2 churches, helping a lot at Heritage as we tried to reorganize things before school ended (putting books away, etc.), painted a classroom, did chapels ministries for both elementary and secondary, and generally encoruaged us all greatly. Yay IWU team! Thanks for coming!


Above: doing a powerful drama presentation during the secondary chapel.

The next few pictures below are from a dinner we had at a Japanese restaurant to welcome the team and say bye to those leaving the field for furlough.












Above and below: Loofah grows in my yard, thanks to Peter, my watchman. The girls got a kick out of it late one night
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The Lost Shall be FOUND!!!

Remember when I said I had lost about 70 or so photos in May, and was really disappointed? Well, guess what, )... I found them ALL today! My computer did an update on the photos program, and magically- miraculously- the lost photos were recovered! I'm SOOO happy! So I'll be loading a lot of photos here... Ready?


Teresa & Jean and I took some fun shots at the Stevenson's when all the HIS faculty was invited for dinner and fellowship. The above and next several photos (below) are from that night.








Yes, this is a real snake skin at the Stevenson's. I think it was a Boa skin... and the combined height/length of Jean (at 5'6 or so), Teresa (at 5'5) and Jill (at 6'3) was too short still when measured against it.


I wanted you to also see the width of it- wider than Teresa in this picture...




Instruments from around Africa that the Stevenson's have collected over the years, displayed on one of their walls.


Francis is the Heritage music teacher and tongue-roller extraordinaire


Jean didn't actually climb into this pot, but it sure looked like it! :)


The Coke man sometimes delivers Cokes in this cart. These kids climbed in and looked like they were having a lot of fun one day as I drove past. Too cute.



Playing around with my camera at school one morning, we ended up with cute shots like this one--- Clockwise surrounding me is Star poking at Kahan, then Bertha (best expression!!!), Tom, Lydia and Tiya.


Tiya posing with -who's glasses?-! Tiya, you look puurtty!!


Kahan shared his testimony with the 5th graders in May. So proud of him!


One morning in May, my Monday guard, Walter came with a surprise for me. A Woodland Kingfisher bird! I'm nearly directly quoting here, "A bird flew into your garage door at around 7 a.m., and it knocked itself out. So I tied a string around its leg and waited for it to wake up. I wanted to save it for you." Umm. I guess they know I love these birds, but I don't want to keep one as a pet! I was up and around, even talking to my guard at other times, but he didn't tell me about the bird until nearly 2 hours after he caught the bird. He came with the bird still tied and showed it to me. It was so scared, of course, but my guard really wanted me to get a photo of it before he released it. So I've got an up close and personal photo of the kingfisher who, I hope, has learned its lesson (not to blend a garage door, string and my guard in one morning).


This is "Ensenene" (pronounced En-Sen-Nay-Nay; not sure if I got the spelling right but it is close), which is Luganda for grasshoppers. They are a favorite snack amongst many Ugandans. Nope, I've not tried them and don't plan to. Some say they taste nutty and they're crunchy. I'll just trust that opinion.


Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat... the musical was performed at HIS in May. What a wonderful job the kids did! I can't think of one person who wasn't involved somehow- whether in acting, singing, music, set, costumes, etc.- it was a great production and I'm so proud of our students and families of HIS.


The HIS Kindergarten graduated May 21st and their fabulous teacher, Alicia, had them draw pictures of what they want to be when they grow up. Too cute!


After the mucial, we celebrated with cake, cookies, etc. along with Logan, Lubega (Joseph stage hands), Lino and Solomon (both actors)and the exausted and "Amazing" director, Keeley!!!


Bec and me in the classroom. Hey Bex! :)


Tom (left) and Solomon reviewing materials for finals.


Praying for Leo after he asked Christ to be his Savior. Sigh. Happy moments!