Feb 2015 Valentines party

Well here we are just to show you we are still normal and have a bit of play and fun! We were gifted a ticket to a wild Indian party - we were the only white faces among 150!!

December January 2015

Welcome from Uganda. Thankyou for your prayer, thoughts and support. Just back from our school principals house after a stomach turning home invasion. They must have been watching her as she left to watch the soccer Sat morning - the guard had the morning off - they bust through windows and security bars to steal everything electronic and the most annoying - her passport and jewelery - she is shattered after only 5 months in Uganda. We have had US embassy warnings to be very careful - a gang of 100 moved down the main road Jinja Rd, last week robbing and assaulting people who were innocent bypassers. People are becoming - as predicted - more desperate as their is no work. We are well (had all the normal stomach issues - poor Nicholas went down badly with belhausier and amoeba but has recovered fully) and blessed - the dry season has settled in - you know this when my neighbours (rarely do they ask) request some small money to get essentials. The old Jaja’s who own the very poor properties next door had their water cut off and pipes removed because the men who live in her mud brick houses secretly disconnected her metre so they would not have to pay for water! What fools - so now they are getting young children to lift 20 litre jerry cans up the hill from a tap to fill their drum!! We are all hiding inside today - it is Sunday and 35 - 40 degrees outside with no breeze so we are recovering from a football tournament yesterday in which the boys excelled - their team (I am the coach) won both games with an incredible turn around in one game being 2 nil down at half time and coming back to win 3 - 2. They won their next game 6 nil.

Here we are at Kyazanga during Christmas inside the luscious garden maintained by the orphan girls at the orphanage. The size of their maize was enormous due to a good rainfall - and just in time as now the drought has hit. They have a big stock of dry foods from a successful harvest and the girls are doing well although there is quite a big issue around where to find funds for secondary school - the next step. Sharron and I feel to keep our current projects going without taking on anymore!!! Christmas holiday vanished in a puff of smoke but we had a great time with our village family. I then took Shama on a safari at Murchison Park and we were treated to some amazing animal sitings (minus the lions - they had fled a massive burn off. I have just finished a powerful lesson on Genesis 3 with the children, Shama and Ken - a window into what is really going on in the spiritual realm with the forces of evil and how it is hard to face up to God at times - instead we run into making excuses. We do a lot of art with our bible studies but always God makes his presence felt in joy and peace - must be His favour as his word does its work in our hearts and minds!! We visited the burns ward last week only to be greeted by the smell of death - 5 patients succumbed to their wounds and infections. I still cannot fathom how the three men passed - they were doing well but must have contracted infections. The two ladies who passed had been there over 6 months with full body acid burns and no faces - they both loved Jesus so are now celebrating their new bodies and peace at last. I had another close time with the muslim family caught in a horrific acid attack while stopping to help someone on the road. The husband - who was a large man has lost half his body weight and has arm infections. He will owe his eyes. The lovely muslim cleric man continues doggedly to serve his injured friend day and night while sleeping under his hospital bed and helping with toilet duties. I have given the cleric an mp3 player with all the hill song albums and he is happy!! Please pray for a team who can continue this burns ward work. We have seen some incredible changes over the years - they have new bed bases!! The toilets are still flooded and unclean, brown stained and doorless!!! Sometimes the burns ward is a place of hope and victories but at other times it is very challenging - even hard to sing a song. Praise God another church group were there ministering the word - first time in 4 years we have struck another group. Shama my eldest daughter is doing really well. We had a safari together - here are the photos which say it all!! She is enjoying a voluntary teacher aid job my school. It is in a year one class of little beauties and cheekies which is consolidating her desire to look at a teaching profession. Amazing how God works his purposes in our lives and the lives of our children as we pray for them. Ephesians 6:18 ….pray at all times….. Nicholas and Dennis have their final court appearance next Monday the 9th - please pray for this final stage of the adoption and then begins the applications to NZ Internal Affairs for applications for their citizenship followed by passport applications. Also I am going to apply for a work visa for Ken as we prepare to sponsor him into NZ. There is simply no work here as the unemployed workforce explodes without the corresponding development of jobs. We are all looking forward to our return in September - our children have outgrown Kampala - there are few outdoor activities that we can access easily - the lake is polluted and there are no beaches or parks to explore that are clean. We go biking but that is limited to our area. So we long for a bit Kiwi outdoor life. Moses and Dennis will have finished primary end of June. I am considering homeschooling all the children and getting into outdoor stuff together. God has a plan so we will try to hear what is best for everybody. Just settling into the NZ way of life and getting used to the climate will be enough!!