Differences

Well, it is Saturday and we are very glad. We are exhausted from the heat and a week of hard work. Our bodies have finally realized we are on the other side of the world and we have slept well the last two nights. Praise the Lord!

After being in Uganda for a little over a week now, we thought it would be fun to paint you a picture of our life here vs. our life in Canada. What are the similarities, what are the differences?

We’ll start with the similarities- it is a short list!
The best news is that we still serve the very same God- He is the same no matter where we are or what we are doing. We are very glad for that!
We also continue to breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. That is about the end of the similarities list. I guess we do have some other bodily functions that remain the same, but we won’t go into all of those. Lorenda does have to comment though that life without Malarone is a beautiful thing!

Now the differences in our lives and they are many.
The obvious one is that we live a long way away and miss our family very much. Modern technology helps to close that gap some and we are very thankful for that. Greg’s brother and his wife are coming to visit in April and our kids are coming in June so we are looking forward to that.
In Canada we own a home, with air conditioning, that we have lived in for more than 22 years. In Uganda we rent a very nice apartment in a new building without air conditioning (too expensive here!). We have some of the conveniences of home (running water and a washing machine), but we use a drying rack to dry the clothes. Once we are home, we will never take our air conditioning for granted again!
A ten foot stone wall that has broken glass and razor wire on top of it surrounds our apartment building. We have an attendant in our compound during the day and an armed guard at night.
As we look out our living room window right now, there is a man cutting grass with a machete- not something one sees everyday in Canada! On the other side of our building is a vacant lot and during the day our neighbours bring their goats there to graze. Our neighbourhood has many roosters that like to make sure we don’t sleep in. There is also a mosque that is not far away so we hear the sounds from there every morning starting just before sunrise.
When we leave the apartment each morning, we are in serious traffic- the traffic will need to be a post of its own and will be mostly pictures because there really isn’t words to describe it.
Lorenda has been working at the babies’ home for the last several days and has learned many things. The word “silly” means something entirely different in Uganda than it does in Canada. When Lorenda called one of the babies “silly”, Sandra (one of the nannies) asked Lorenda what that word meant in Canada. It turns out the word is a real insult here and one of the nannies actually said that would be abuse to call a child silly. Note to self- do not use the word silly!
Another misunderstanding occurred when one of the nannies asked Lorenda something. We still sometimes have trouble understanding some of the accents and pronunciations here. The nanny repeated what she had asked and Lorenda still had no clue what she had said, but took a chance and asked the nanny if she was asking how many children we have. The nanny laughed and repeated the phrase more slowly “How do you make it?” Turns out that phrase means “what time is it?” We have a lot to learn!
Greg has seen many differences in his work here compared to the way things are done in Canada. Ugandans and in particular, Watoto, are interested in changing the standards of their building maintenance. This, of course, will take time, but the desire and commitment is there so the change has already begun.
Our diets have changed dramatically, but we do shop at the Mzungu supermarket so there are many familiar foods there. When cooking at the apartment, we eat simple Canadian type meals, but lunch at Watoto each day is definitely Ugandan. Lunch each day consists of matooke (mashed green bananas) with or without peanut sauce, sweet potatoes (nothing like Canadian sweet potatoes), rice, chicken, beef or beans in a sauce, greens (cooked) and another dish which I can’t remember the name of (it was described to us as being like corn bread, but is not the consistency of bread, at all). There is always pineapple for dessert (yum, yum) and right now you can purchase mango juice for 1500 shillings.

These are just a few of the differences that now exist in our lives. This post could go on for a very long time if we outlined every detail that is different. Future posts will continue to describe our lives here so this theme will be ongoing throughout our time here.

As we stated at the beginning, God is the same in Canada or in Uganda and we are very glad for that. The first few days here were rather overwhelming, but God reveals Himself when we need Him. One day we were out with a Watoto driver and getting all the things done that needed to be done. We were tired, hot and feeling discouraged. Just then a van drove by with Jeremiah 29:11 on the back window. God is good and has a plan for us here!

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

View from the Top

Our days have been very full- we leave the apartment between 7 and 7:30 AM. We work hard all day and arrive back at the apartment between 6 and 6:30 PM. We are exhausted when we get back, but we are also hungry so supper has to be made (for those who know me well, no we did not have popcorn for supper today- even though it’s Thursday).
Greg has been busy assessing the needs at Watoto Central. The picture that is posted is the view from the rooftop of the building looking….some direction! No one really speaks in terms of directions here so we don’t ever know what direction we are going. There are also very few street signs and places really don’t have addresses. We were reading on the bulletin board at church regarding where the cells (small groups) meet. One cell was located on whatever street (I don’t remember the name of the street) close to this gas station, by the MTN building. That is the kind of directions that people give each other and somehow they manage to arrive where they are supposed to be. Ugandans are very resourceful people; it is just us Mzungu (white people) that get stressed out about directions like that!

Lorenda has spent the last two days at the baby home. When we have come with building teams, we have spent a few hours at one of the baby homes, cuddling and sometimes feeding babies. However, spending the whole day there working is hard work! Of course the cuddle time and the beautiful big smiles makes all the hard work seem not so hard.

Praise the Lord that our bodies have got the time change figured out. We had a great sleep last night (finally!) and hopefully that will continue.

Thanks for your prayers and your encouragement- we appreciate it very much.

Oooooh I love mangoes!

There are many things we love about Uganda and one of them is the abundance of fresh fruit. We are very fortunate to have arrived here in mango season. There really are no words that can describe the delicious glasses of mango juice we had for lunch today. I know you are all jealous!

We have had a busy couple of days. Last evening we came home exhausted after a very long day. In the morning we met the entire Watoto staff (over 200 people, I think). We toured the entire building and were introduced to each person working there. As we were touring the building, Greg was also looking at the facility and assessing some of the deficiencies that will need to be addressed. He has the privilege of working with an amazing team here who are very willing to learn. Greg feels that he will learn as much from them as they will learn from him.

In the afternoon we went shopping for a vehicle- that was an experience that we will have to explain to you in person- it really can’t be captured in the written word. For those of you who know Lorenda, you know how much she dislikes shopping and how she really hates spending money. Bottom line, she stood back and prayed as Greg and Joe (Watoto employee assigned to help us find a car) negotiated. In the end we spent 20,000,000 (yes, I mean 20 million) on a car- that number is enough to cause Lorenda to have a panic attack!

This morning we started the day with devotions at Watoto Central Church. When I think of devotions, as we have them in North America, it is nothing like the devotions that we experienced this morning. We started with some singing lead by the worship team and a full band- lively and joy filled worship. Then Marilyn Skinner (one of the founders of Watoto) spoke and challenged the staff to be the best that they can be. There was no tiptoeing or apologizing- she delivered a powerful message straight from God’s word. After devotions, we had the privilege of meeting Marilyn for the first time- what an incredible woman!

Watoto has five celebration sites (churches) in Kampala and one in Gulu. We have spent a lot of time at Watoto Central since our arrival, but today we had the opportunity to visit Watoto North and Watoto East. In Uganda, they are fortunate that they do not have to deal with cold weather (although they did tell us today that they feel like they are freezing when the temperature drops to 19 degrees Celsius). Church buildings can be very different here than in Canada- Watoto East is a large tent that holds 900-1100 people. Watoto North is an open-air building that has a roof, a floor and one wall with the other three sides of the building open. Both of these sites have need for expansion and more permanent structures. Greg will be part of the discussions regarding these upgrades, as the team plans for the future and deals with existing problems.

We are very excited about all that the future holds here. There is much work to be done to assist our Ugandan brothers and sisters in their facilities management. We already know the ten months will go by quickly and the work that needs to be done will not nearly be complete. However, the skilled team here will continue to do good work after we return home.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

We moved into our apartment yesterday and are now mostly settled in. It is a very nice third floor apartment (hooray- we get a breeze when there is one and everyone knows that snakes can’t climb three flights!). The building is brand new and is not quite full yet. The picture is the view we have from our living room.
We went to the supermarket yesterday and bought what we thought we would need for the next few days to a week. However, when it came time to make supper, it was a bit frustrating. You know all those things that are “just there” in your cupboard, fridge and freezer? Well, it turns out they aren’t really “just there” in every cupboard and fridge- someone has to put them there. Supper was pretty skimpy last night- soup (which I brought from home) and toast with butter. So…back to the supermarket today for more groceries. Supper will be a little better today, but meals will likely be pretty basic the whole time we are here. It was much easier when we came to Uganda for a couple of weeks, the guesthouse staff fed and clothed us and Apollo and Anthony did everything else for us. This has been and will continue to be a growing and stretching time in our lives. Everything is new and we need to figure out how to accomplish it on our own. In the next couple of days, we will get a car and then the craziness will really begin! (**Newsflash for everyone who knows Apollo- he and Judith had a baby girl on January 12. We haven’t seen her yet, but we will send pictures when we do.)
We went to church this morning and worshiped the Lord with our brothers and sisters at Watoto church. It is so amazing how the message that was preached (Financial integrity) is relevant to everyone living anywhere on the planet.
We are just hanging out having a lazy Sunday afternoon, enjoying the beautiful 30 degrees (no minus in front of that) and listening to the birds, goats and roosters- oh, the sounds of Uganda!

Praise the Lord

We have arrived safely in Uganda. God answered our prayers- we had no problems with our huge load of luggage- everything arrived with us and we had no flight delays. God looked after every detail and all the worrying I did ahead of time was for no reason- even the trip through Heathrow was accomplished quickly and without any problems. God is so good and we are so thankful to Him.

We spent yesterday meeting a lot of people who are part of the huge Watoto Church team. We also looked at an apartment and will likely be moving there today. That is another huge answer to prayer- thank you so much for lifting that need up to the Lord. We will send you pictures of our apartment and the beautiful view in a future post.

Need to run now and get a few things done...money exchange, activate a cell phone, etc.

Thanks for your prayers.

Here we go....

We have said our "see ya laters" (we don't say good bye) and all of the tears are done (OK there are still tears going on).  Our journey has officially begun.
We are through security and just waiting to board our first of three flights.
In the next 24 hours we will see three continents and about 50 (or more) degrees improvement in the temperature.
Calling for us to board now...

Getting Closer

Hi All

Thanks for checking in with us again.

We have made a lot of progress since our last post and now we will pass that information on to you.

Our flights are booked. We will be leaving Canada on February 20 and arriving in Kampala on February 21. We will live in a Watoto guest house while we look for an apartment to rent. We will have the assistance of one of the Watoto hosts as we look for an apartment. However, this still has the potential to be a very stressful event. Please start praying now that God has the apartment all picked out for us and we will find it quickly upon our arrival in Kampala.

We are busy getting everything done here prior to our departure. Please pray for us as we prepare.
Greg finished work on Friday and is busy getting caught up on all kinds of things. He has been busy with a few home repairs, as well as paper work that needs to be completed prior to our departure. Please pray that we will both stay focused on the important things that need to be done in the next few weeks and that we will allow the less important things to "go by the wayside".

Thanks again for journeying with us.