Monday, April 30, 2007

Baptism African Style



Nothing like a smelly pond, a drum and 125 people excited about Jesus to get your blood flowing on a Sunday afternoon. Yesterday we baptized 65 people in a cattle feeding pond about 1 mile down the road from home. And praise God, no snakes in the water. This was something that had me worried. It was great fun! Of course when it was all done Toby was asking if he could go swimming. "Sorry not today son, lets wait for water that is just a bit cleaner..."

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Where are the kids?

As I came home the other day, I expected to find the usual noise and mayhem of the children. But lowe and behold it was quiet. Great I thought, but I couldn't help asking where are the kids? Mary then proceeds to tell me they went to kill a "Black Momba". Great I thought!!! Is someone with them, and where is the snake? Turns out it was already dead by the time they arived. "PRASE GOD", another adventure in the day of the Britton children.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

THE CHICKEN HUNTING EXPEDITION




When you live in the bush of Africa, you don't live alone. There are the things "exotic"--chameleons, pink transluscent frogs, various snakes, bats, monkey birds, toucans, etc. And then there are the things "not exotic at all"--the chickens, pigs, cows, dogs and cats. Of this last bunch we find the chickens to be the most annoying by far. They wander more freely than even the children and are disturbingly efficient at wiping out newly planted cilantro destined for salsa. The "New Hope" rule on roaming chickens is that they are fair game for anyone who catches them, as they are supposed to be contained at all times. Not being particularly versed in catching and killing chickens, we have yet to get our hands on even one chicken to date. Thus, all the parts for our chicken soup have come from the grocery store in Kampala.

The children are now adept at hearing an approaching chicken and often take chase. Recently they decided they needed to take more decisive action and donned "chicken hunting expedition outfits"--mud boots, backpacks, sticks, and snacks (in case it took awhile.)--see picture--

Unfortunately for them, as soon as they disappeared beyond the neighboring buildings, Geoff and I heard a very plump chicken 10 feet from our house in our front yard. The children, now out of sight had no idea that from the beginning their expedition was ill-fated. But, hey, they had snacks and were "far from home" hunting a ghastly beast . . . that was the real fun!!! When they returned home, they had lots of stories, but no chicken. They'll never know how close they had been because we didn't have the heart to tell them. Oh, well, maybe next time.

Monday, April 2, 2007

Childlike faith


Well tonight as I came home from a meeting I was greeted by 3 screaming kids yelling "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!". Toby then with a look of sheer excitement tells me, "I got saved!". Wow!!! After some very deep questions Toby has asked Jesus to be his personal savior. Over the past few weeks he has had many a thought provoking question, and tonight he put all the answers together and asked Mary "Mom, am I saved?". Well like any good mother she then helped him to fully understand the question, and of course the answer. He gave me a good explanation as I asked him what that means. So tonight rejoice with us as Toby has stepped out with child like faith and as we all must do and begin to trust Jesus as our savior.