Bit of this and bit of that

No current theme here but a few things from today and one from a couple of weeks ago. First the photo with all the people was from the huge celebration we hosted two weeks ago in honor of 20 years in the ministry of bringing the fatherhood of God to the fatherless. It was Feb of 1988 that New Hope received it's first 10 children and on the 11th thru 13th of July we opened up for all those who have been involved with New Hope to come home for the weekend. They began coming on Thursday and by Sunday there were more than 1500 people here for the Sunday service. It is incredible to think of all those that have been touched over the years. Those who had no one on their side found that God truly was on their side and brought them to Kasana to be cared for.

In other news "You know you are a missionary when..." . . .One of your children asks "What's for supper?" and in response to your answer of "roasted grasshoppers", one of your other children sports a big smile and says, "REALLY??!!!" in mouth-watering anticipation. What a let down to have to say, "No. Sorry, just roast, potatoes, carrots and gravy."

Not a good day!!!

Well just a quick note. Today was really not a good day. I (Geoff) went with 4 other guys to Jinja for the big agriculture show they put on one week every year. It is a 3 hour drive, thanks to a new short cut we found (It used to be 5 1/2 hours). Leaving at 6am we really made great time only to have a small accident when we arrived in Jinja. A boda boda (motor cycle taxi) with two people on the back crashed into the side of our van. Praise God that no one was really hurt, the driver had a helmet on and it was a good thing because his head hit the rear side window, shattering the glass. Well as things go we went with him and the passengers to a clinic, (directly across from where we collided), got them treated (we paid) and then began the VERY painful process of negotiating for what should be paid to whom. Since I am the white guy and "all white people are rich like Bill Gates," it was assumed that I should pay and boy did they try to get a bunch. Thanks to our good friend Mulu ("David Family" father) it turned out to be not too bad, but still not enjoyable. All in all I had to pay the medical bill and another 110,000 shillings. That's a total of around $100, which really is alot here, but again, at least the driver was not seriously injured. It took around 2 1/2 hours and made the show not so enjoyable. Enough of my complaining...

A day in the life!

It has been a long time, but yes we are still here...There are many things that transpire in the life of a missionary and some of them are not what you might think. Today is Saturday which most weeks means a day around the house, doing a little garden work, visiting with friends, etc. Well, today was in someways no different. Mary got up early as she promised to make us donuts for breakfast! Yes, that's right donuts!(Actually an oven-baked type, but just as good. So as she was working on that I took the kids to the garden to do a little work (pictured above). After weeding I thought we would harvest some carrots and send them to one of our friends. Look at those carrots!!!! I am sure that huge one would win the blue ribbon! Not long after that I heard the kids yelling, "Look at the pig!" --a baby pig is running through our compound. As Toby takes off after it I decide this is a good time to help someone learn how to better take care of their animals so I too go running after it. SUCCESS!!!! I got it. Now what? Let's call the one who is keeping the pigs for the ministry and see if I can keep it there. Now, how do you transport a baby pig? I know in a mail bag! Good idea! So we loaded it into the van and headed over to the piggery. After we put it in one of the empty stalls . . . oops, the door breaks. So, I blocked the door with a wheelbarrow and then went to get a hammer. After finding the hammer and repairing the door we now have a new pig. If the owner comes we will use this opportunity to teach on faithfulness and responsibility. After all that excitement, Geoff and the kids headed to Kiwoko for some shopping and were back home by 11. Wow! What a morning! Not what you think of as an ordinary day, but you never know what you might face in a day :-)