After getting back from the honeymoon we spent a bit of time organizing our house, we needed to buy some things from town and set up a living room / kitchen area.
I think Agnes is pretty happy with her new home! We really are living pretty easy here, and sometimes I feel guilty. It is nice being able to have a fridge and a gas cooker! And Agnes is enjoying her new kitchen!
I think Agnes is pretty happy with her new home! We really are living pretty easy here, and sometimes I feel guilty. It is nice being able to have a fridge and a gas cooker! And Agnes is enjoying her new kitchen!
It has been good to get back into the work of YSU as well. Farook, Aggie, Beatrice and myself have had a few meetings where we have discussed where we want to move towards from here.
As the tailoring class has finished we want to look at options for the girls to set up there own coop, with the supervision and guiding of YSU to help them on their way.
As the tailoring class has finished we want to look at options for the girls to set up there own coop, with the supervision and guiding of YSU to help them on their way.
We also have the agriculture boys soon to finish their course as well.
I have started running bible study classes again, and also small devotions with a group of guys.
I have started running bible study classes again, and also small devotions with a group of guys.
I have had a lot of young people approaching me in the last two weeks asking for help in making films. The group of boys I was working with had their movie played on a local tv station here, so of course all the youth are going wild with the thought of making a movie to be on tv. I just have to manage it well, it is impossible, and probably not helpful, to just say yes to every young person with a film idea.
Otherwise we look forward to the rest of the year. Farook and I have started looking at the HopeBuilders YSU block of land and trying to come up with rough ideas on how to layout the block of land, before getting a proper design made up.
We also hope to try and make a name in the community we will be moving to.
It will be very strange moving to the new block of land, because where I am now everyone knows me, and it really feels like a sense of community. Down on the block of land near the lake, I am not as well known, and there are a lot unfamiliar faces there ... even though its only five minutes away, it will feel like a move to a whole other community.
The lakeside community is also a lot poorer and rougher as well. There is a lot of poverty there, as well as an abundance of drugged up youth (which means its probably a good place for a youth center then). Whereas the place I am in now is surrounded by NGO's, school and community projects, the lakeside community is pretty devoid of any NGO presence.
There is also really no church there either, just a lot of poor people, youth gangs, and a mosque with a reasonable Muslim presence.
I am really interested to see how moving into this community will pan out due to all these circumstances, but Farook and I decided we should start helping youth down there already, so we can build a bit of a name in the community before we move in. We have also spent time talking to local leaders and elders in the community just so they know who we are.
It feels a bit like moving onto a mission outpost in the jungle! Which is actually very exciting, I love the the idea of that. The lake view is also so beautiful. I know Agnes is a little apprehensive of moving down there though, seeing as its far away from a lot of things, and also because of its rough reputation.
But we will trust God in the adventures ahead.
I had the privilege of hosting my friends Kat and Marc from Australia last week as well, which was nice. It is always good to see faces from home, and being able to show them around my Ugandan community is great. It's always fun taking a friend up to the top of the nearby mountain and riding down little bush tracks on the mountain bikes as well.
We have been getting lots of rain lately, and as a result our power has been getting weak. Our cable that connects to the main power line running along the road is very loose, and sometimes needs the electrician to whack it with a big stick to get the power moving again.
We woke up last Thursday morning to only a small amount of power, so we called the electrician to come tighten our wires. The problem was that a hive of bees had made their home in the power pole, right in front of our cable that was connected to the line.
After climbing the ladder a few times and getting stung on their faces, the electricians were feeling a bit apprehensive about it all. So I did a bear grillz and got my bushman hat, draped some mozzy net material over it, and suited them up with my big blue jacket. I also made a smoke stack to try and calm the bees down, which I was impressed with, but no one believed me would work. The Ugandans just wanted to use mortien fly spray instead.
It will be very strange moving to the new block of land, because where I am now everyone knows me, and it really feels like a sense of community. Down on the block of land near the lake, I am not as well known, and there are a lot unfamiliar faces there ... even though its only five minutes away, it will feel like a move to a whole other community.
The lakeside community is also a lot poorer and rougher as well. There is a lot of poverty there, as well as an abundance of drugged up youth (which means its probably a good place for a youth center then). Whereas the place I am in now is surrounded by NGO's, school and community projects, the lakeside community is pretty devoid of any NGO presence.
There is also really no church there either, just a lot of poor people, youth gangs, and a mosque with a reasonable Muslim presence.
I am really interested to see how moving into this community will pan out due to all these circumstances, but Farook and I decided we should start helping youth down there already, so we can build a bit of a name in the community before we move in. We have also spent time talking to local leaders and elders in the community just so they know who we are.
It feels a bit like moving onto a mission outpost in the jungle! Which is actually very exciting, I love the the idea of that. The lake view is also so beautiful. I know Agnes is a little apprehensive of moving down there though, seeing as its far away from a lot of things, and also because of its rough reputation.
But we will trust God in the adventures ahead.
I had the privilege of hosting my friends Kat and Marc from Australia last week as well, which was nice. It is always good to see faces from home, and being able to show them around my Ugandan community is great. It's always fun taking a friend up to the top of the nearby mountain and riding down little bush tracks on the mountain bikes as well.
We have been getting lots of rain lately, and as a result our power has been getting weak. Our cable that connects to the main power line running along the road is very loose, and sometimes needs the electrician to whack it with a big stick to get the power moving again.
We woke up last Thursday morning to only a small amount of power, so we called the electrician to come tighten our wires. The problem was that a hive of bees had made their home in the power pole, right in front of our cable that was connected to the line.
After climbing the ladder a few times and getting stung on their faces, the electricians were feeling a bit apprehensive about it all. So I did a bear grillz and got my bushman hat, draped some mozzy net material over it, and suited them up with my big blue jacket. I also made a smoke stack to try and calm the bees down, which I was impressed with, but no one believed me would work. The Ugandans just wanted to use mortien fly spray instead.
The ladder was not long enough as well, so they got our YSU table and placed the ladder on it. I was so scared the weight of the two guys would collapse the table. Watching this guy climb up a ladder, resting on a rocky table, and trying to tighten live electrical wires very high up a power pole, while an angry swarm of bees surrounded his face was terrifying.
I was sure someone was going to die.
Luckily they didn't die, but when they climbed down the bees had followed them. Because of the protection I had made them, they were not getting stung, but they couldn't take anything off due to all the angry bees trying to sting them.
So they asked me to spray them with mortien fly spray to help get rid of the bees.
I was sure someone was going to die.
Luckily they didn't die, but when they climbed down the bees had followed them. Because of the protection I had made them, they were not getting stung, but they couldn't take anything off due to all the angry bees trying to sting them.
So they asked me to spray them with mortien fly spray to help get rid of the bees.
Bad move.
All the bees came onto me, and I went away with four bee stings, including two to the face.
In the end we realized it wasn't even our cable that was the problem, but a local electrical problem that got fixed the next day.
Lesson learnt, ask your immediate neighbors first if they are experiencing the same problem before you assume it is just a problem with your house.
Every Saturday night you can hear distant tribal drumming coming from the mountain, and it is basically a traditional African spiritual ceremony.
The ceremony involves sacrificing animals to the spirits/demons to try and get blessings from them.
There are still many people involved in witch craft here, as the mentality of needing to appease the spirits run deep in African society.
Often these ceremonies are associated with child sacrifice and other brutal, evil things.
So the little houses I was looking at (only big enough to just squeeze a person into) are actually homes that the witch doctors build for the demons. And each small hut is meant to house a spirit, where each Saturday night they go to bring blood sacrifices too.
It was a little creepy looking at the structures and knowing what goes on in them, but honestly, with my world view, I didn't feel so afraid or struck with terror, as I have a high view of God's sovereignty over evil.
It was interesting that Farook seemed too paralyzed with fear to go close to those structures, and most Ugandan Christians would have the same reaction.
A lot of this stems from the culture which has a dualism type of world view similar to what the Greeks had. This world view teaches that good and evil (or Satan and God) are in battle and at odds against each other, with an equal standing as they try and win against the other.
A lot of the time this world view still resides in the church here, and because of their tradition, people are still paralyzed with fear, and also fascinated, with evil spirits.
The Christian world view would say that good and evil are not at odds against each other, but that God and his goodness is sovereign over evil, and sovereign over evil spirits, and He actually uses evil in the world for the ultimate good and glory in the end.
It is a grand tapestry we will never fully understand in this life.
So we left those little huts alone, and Farook and I had some interesting talks about this as we continued up the mountain. But it was a reminder that the fear of evil spirits is still something very strong in christian communities in Uganda.
To switch gears to things more lighter, Aggie is trying to get her passport this week. It is a bit of a process due to needing to get five different signatures from local leaders .. who often want a bribe (for no reason) just to put their signature down (even though your doing everything by the books)
So prayers for Aggie as she goes about this complicated process would be appreciated.
Thank you again for all the support and love people have been sending me and God bless.
In the end we realized it wasn't even our cable that was the problem, but a local electrical problem that got fixed the next day.
Lesson learnt, ask your immediate neighbors first if they are experiencing the same problem before you assume it is just a problem with your house.
Another interesting story that happened this week involves something a little bit more dark.
Farook and I went for a big bike ride up the near by mountain here. A lot of the way up is mostly bush and forest, but we passed a bit of a clearing and I saw some small round brick structures, that looked like huts, that had been built.
I thought it was were someone lived and wanted to have a better look at it, and when I asked Farook if we could go in, he stood back in fear and shook his head saying "I can't go there".
He told me that this is where the drumming comes from.
Farook and I went for a big bike ride up the near by mountain here. A lot of the way up is mostly bush and forest, but we passed a bit of a clearing and I saw some small round brick structures, that looked like huts, that had been built.
I thought it was were someone lived and wanted to have a better look at it, and when I asked Farook if we could go in, he stood back in fear and shook his head saying "I can't go there".
He told me that this is where the drumming comes from.
Every Saturday night you can hear distant tribal drumming coming from the mountain, and it is basically a traditional African spiritual ceremony.
The ceremony involves sacrificing animals to the spirits/demons to try and get blessings from them.
There are still many people involved in witch craft here, as the mentality of needing to appease the spirits run deep in African society.
Often these ceremonies are associated with child sacrifice and other brutal, evil things.
So the little houses I was looking at (only big enough to just squeeze a person into) are actually homes that the witch doctors build for the demons. And each small hut is meant to house a spirit, where each Saturday night they go to bring blood sacrifices too.
It was a little creepy looking at the structures and knowing what goes on in them, but honestly, with my world view, I didn't feel so afraid or struck with terror, as I have a high view of God's sovereignty over evil.
It was interesting that Farook seemed too paralyzed with fear to go close to those structures, and most Ugandan Christians would have the same reaction.
A lot of this stems from the culture which has a dualism type of world view similar to what the Greeks had. This world view teaches that good and evil (or Satan and God) are in battle and at odds against each other, with an equal standing as they try and win against the other.
A lot of the time this world view still resides in the church here, and because of their tradition, people are still paralyzed with fear, and also fascinated, with evil spirits.
The Christian world view would say that good and evil are not at odds against each other, but that God and his goodness is sovereign over evil, and sovereign over evil spirits, and He actually uses evil in the world for the ultimate good and glory in the end.
It is a grand tapestry we will never fully understand in this life.
So we left those little huts alone, and Farook and I had some interesting talks about this as we continued up the mountain. But it was a reminder that the fear of evil spirits is still something very strong in christian communities in Uganda.
To switch gears to things more lighter, Aggie is trying to get her passport this week. It is a bit of a process due to needing to get five different signatures from local leaders .. who often want a bribe (for no reason) just to put their signature down (even though your doing everything by the books)
So prayers for Aggie as she goes about this complicated process would be appreciated.
Thank you again for all the support and love people have been sending me and God bless.
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