Random things

Last Tuesday my Dad, my Mom, and I went to Kampala. Kara didn't want to come so she stayed at home. I had to get my tooth pulled because of a cavity again, except this time it hurt worse, and the cavity was deeper. Then last Wednesday we started packing. The people who owned the house that we were living in were coming back in three days. So last Wednesday and last Thursday we got ready to move into our new house, and last Thursday night we moved in. On Friday we cleaned the people's house, and on Saturday they came back. And yes, even as I type I am sitting at our new table on our new bench in our new house!

On Sunday, after church, when everybody was talking, Elisha, a kid of the people who owned the house and who is seven years old invited me to come down to his house at 4:00 ( I knew him because we came before his family left). So I played with him until 6:00. 6:00 is when everyone is supposed to go home. Then the next day, Monday, at about 3:55, I went down to get Kevin, who is a brother to Toby, my friend. Kevin is also my friend. Kevin and I went down to play with Elisha(Toby was sick) until 6:00.

On Tuesday Toby was better and Elisha was up at Toby's house at about 9:30, so I played there for a bit. Then at 10:30 Elisha had to go back home so we rode him home and then went back to Toby and Kevin's house. At 11:00 Toby asked his mom if him and Kevin could eat at my house and then we rode up to my house(my new house of course) and asked my mom. Both said it was okay. So we played at my house until lunch. After lunch I wasn't allowed to play so Toby and Kevin went home. Yesterday again Elisha was at Toby's house so I played with them until lunch. After lunch, Toby didn't want to play so Elisha and I played till 6:00. Today there has been so much work to do that I haven't been able to do anything. The days here have fun. We all thank you for your prayers. (The bird is a baby Plantain Eater)

Micah Peterson.

From Rats to Memories

I was awakened by a door slamming at 3:15 this morning. I forgot to prop Micah's door open and the wind came up. As I lay there wide awake trying to go back to sleep, I kept hearing the sounds of rats right outside our bedroom window and in our storeroom. I realized I wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. I had a sense I should get out of bed and pray for our family.

It has been a rough season. Having the holiday season in a new culture and climate is different, to say the least, but also difficult. To add to that we moved from yet another house to a new house with many glitches to be worked out and apparently many rats to keep out. We also moved from taking care of a dog and chickens to no animals whatsoever (except the rats, yes!). We have all been struggling to differing degrees. For me, most of all, I have struggled seeing my family sad.

So when I decided to get up and pray, I started with those things God had placed on my heart about my family for 2011. He brought me to the one thing that hinders me most from loving my family the way I need to and that is fear...fear of anything besides the fear of God (a loving and reverent awe for God). Psalm 86:11 stood out in my mind:

"Teach me your way, O Lord,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart

that I may fear your name."

Then God started flooding my mind of memories of things He had shown me in the past:

Fear of the Lord is foundational

Prayer must be like breathing

All must be for the glory of God

Righteousness and justice are inseparable

God's Word is the Bread of Life

I needed to remember those foundational building blocks the Spirit of God had shown me in the past to give me a Rock to stand on. I never thought I would thank God for rats but...Thank you, Father God, for the rats. You can bring back the owl to our tree tonight, though.

Only by God's grace, Tim

The Holidays?

It sure didn't feel like the holidays around here. Not to say some fun things didn't happen. For instance, we moved into our new house the day before New Years and spent New Years Eve enjoying the feeling of being HOME! But still, it sure didn't feel like Christmas at all. I realized that all the cues that tell you Christmas is approaching don't exist here. There is no weather that is getting colder, it actually gets hotter. No snow. No lights on the houses, no decorations, no holiday music, Christmas programs or concerts. The kids had a hard time this Christmas. There were tears because we did not have a Christmas tree, and it just didn't feel like Christmas. We all missed family and friends. We missed traditions that we love. But it got me to thinking; what should the celebration of Christmas look like? I know we always talk about the meaning of Christmas, that it is about Jesus coming as a baby. Yet I can't remember a lot of talk about what a true celebration of that birth might look like. We seem to say it is about Jesus, and then promptly talk about what we want for Christmas, what Christmas concert we want to see, what we will eat, etc. It seems it is a lot about us. I wonder what would happen if it were our birthday and all of the guests came and told us what gifts they wanted to get for our birthday, what they wanted to eat, what they wanted to do at the party. That would seem pretty backwards, wouldn't it? Yet it seems to me that is what we do on Jesus' birthday. It is all about what we want. And how disappointed we are if Christmas isn't all we hoped it would be, maybe we didn't get the special gift we wanted... I wonder what Jesus wants for his birthday? What would he want the day to look like? How would it change things if he were actually sitting there in person and we were to celebrate his birthday. It seems to me it would be a bit awkward to keep things like we usually do them. Kind of like we were ignoring him...like it is all about us and not him. So maybe it was a good thing that it didn't feel like Christmas this year. Because if it had, if we had all of the usual decorations, programs, presents, I might not have ever asked the question "What would Jesus want to do for his birthday?" I can't say I have the answer to that. But I do intend to think about it this year. And hopefully by next Christmas I will have a better idea of whose birthday it really is, and how he might want it celebrated. Stay tuned for next December! Love, Kim

Crazy Kampala Days.

After lunch on Friday we went to Kampala. We went to the ARA ( American Recreation Association) and slept there for the night. In the morning, my Dad went to a car place to get a wheel alignment and we went to swim. It took a long time, and my Dad had to come get me for a dentist Appointment. He came on a Boda-Boda ( a motorcycle) and we went to the dentist.

The Dentist looked at the tooth that was hurting and said that they would have to pull it out. So they pushed and pulled and it finally came out with a lot of pain ( they put Anesthesia in). So we went back to the car place and it still wasn't done. So we waited until it was done.

On the way home the tire wore the air thing down. I heard it clicking and asked my dad what it was. He said it was just the new tires. Turns out, it was, but in a bad way! So we kept going. Then at the end of the day we went to the car to go to the next place we were going to stay. The tire, a new tire, was flat.

So we got another guy to help us. The bolts wouldn't budge. So we got some poles and then the bolts came off. Then the jack we had didn't work. Then after a while another car pulled over and they had a better jack so we got the tire on but then the car wouldn't budge. So another guy came to pick us up and brought us to the next place. The whole thing took about two hours. The next day we left back to New Hope. Now that was a crazy day!

Blisters

The days seem to fly by. Here we are, in Africa! It's exiting to meet new people, plan fun things, take beautiful vacations, all the while knowing something big is happening to the lives of people here. I've experienced many embarrassing moments in the past few days, by just trying to be friendly. I'm not saying that trying to be friendly is bad, but the more you do it, the more you learn from your mistakes. I'm not the most social person, so it's hard to find friends.

I've been learning Luganda, the local language. It is very hard but I'm picking up a few words here and there, sometimes enough to figure out what they're saying. It's amazing, that here, the younger the Westerner, the easier to pick up the language and the accent. I'm sorta in between 'child' and 'adult', which means I'm picking up the language but not as fast as someone younger than me. Maybe that's not true because my parents keep telling me I'm the farthest along than anyone in our family. I don't know.

Hard work is the key to survival here. I remembered the passage in Genesis that says 'you will live off the sweat of your brow' or something like that. It is very true here. Our family group, my dad, Micah and I were mounding for sweet potatoes. When I say mounding for sweet potatoes, I don't mean we are looking for sweet potatoes, I mean we're gathering dirt to plant the sweet potatoes with. This proves to be hard when you need to gather lots of dirt in one place, get all the weeds out, and continue to the next spot. At the end, if you do it right, you will have a nice long mound line. Micah got dirty from playing in the mounds when we were finished. I got blisters from handling the hoe. Oh well, my hands aren't as blistered than as when we first came. I take that as a good sign.

Please pray for us as we settle in. Our house will most likely be finished by the end of this month, we still need to get furniture and paint, thank you Aunt Sherri, MorMor and family for putting our tubs together. We have them and are loving the M+Ms!

Please also pray for our hearts toward each other, it's hard on emotions to move from one place to anther halfway around the world. Thank you everyone for your support!

-Kara :P

Musana Camps

Camp? Campfire? S'mores? Uganda? Who knew? We just got back from Musana Camp yesterday(Uganda time) and are already missing our friends that live there. But no worries! They are coming back to New Hope in about a week. When we really will miss them is when they go back to camp! One person had brought biscuits, chocolate, and marshmallows to camp and we had S'mores over the campfire!

Musana Camps have a trail down to Lake Victoria, and three trails down to the same stream. The first trail leads down to the beginning of the stream. It bubbles out of the ground and is one of the sources of the Nile. The second one the men go down to bathe, because the camp was running low on water. The third one was not a fun trip.

Before I talk about it, let me introduce. . . DRIVER ANTS!!! I know, some of you are probably thinking, "Whats so bad about Driver Ants?" First, let me say whats bad about them. They bite you and it bleeds and it hurts. Whats good about them is that they go in a line like cars and almost all the time, unless they blend in or go under something, you can see them so you can avoid them and not get bitten.

Now, for the story. One of our friends came along with us to the third part. On the way down my dad didn't see them and I almost walked through them. I warned everyone and after I saw them my dad kept a better watch and found some more. We must of walked through them because when we got past them my sister got bit. On the way back up no one got bit, although I almost did, but it was more of a adventure.

The last weeks have been very fun. I've played with friends and other stuff. Uganda itself is fun, except for Jiggers and Driver Ants.

Micah Peterson

Causing a Political Stir in Uganda

I thought I was doing something that was difficult but I certainly didn't think I was going to cause a political stir.

When it rains here in Uganda, it rains hard packing down the soil that may have just been turned over for planting. So, soft dirt turns into something resembling concrete. Soil also tends to dry out quickly after a rain making it difficult to keep it moist for any length of time. Farming God's Way teaches that it is important to have ground cover for your garden to 1. Retain moisture 2. Keep the rain from compacting the soil 3. Replenish the soil with the decaying ground cover.

I decided, the best ground cover for my new garden would be banana leaves. There they are, stacked on top of my car. All I had to do was to drive back to my new garden and dump them off...through the villages of Wabatunda, Wakayamba and Kabbubu.

What does this have to do with politics? That's what I wondered when Jennie Dangers told me I had just made a political statement. What does banana leaves have to do with politics? I just thought people were staring at me because I was a Mazungu driving with a huge pile of banana leaves. Jennie corrected me and said that anyone who wanted to support the incumbent would put banana leaves on their car or boda-boda (motorcycle).

The last thing I wanted to do was to get involved in politics especially since even in Kiwoko (just 2 km from New Hope) there was violence during the primaries just three weeks ago. Just goes to show, you can make a statement...a BIG statement...without even trying. Thanks Jennie.