unusual violence

Thusday morning there were reports of two men killed two villages down from me, in Katunga. Supposidly these men had stolen nets from a different man on the mainland. Therefore this man who's nets were stolen sent his workers to kill these two men. Violence of this sort is not normal on the islands. I ran into the chief police officer of the islands thursday night and asked him if they had found the men. He said they were hoping that night. He also stated we have no reason to fear... I do feel very safe...no worries mom! The next morning, Friday, as I walked down to take the public boat into town many of the local villagers were waiting on the shorline, while off in the lake I saw 4-boats moving very quickly around. The public boat was going no where. I found out that these were police officers and that they had the suspects, but were not wanting to land the boat because the people on the shore wanted to beat and kill the suspects. The boats finally landed and six or seven suspects were taken for questioning onto the police station on the island. These men had thick ropes tied around their wrists. The men on the shore remained calm and did not touch the suspects as they went through the camp; they only followed them. The public boat started loading once the men were out of site and we set off for the mainland. Later that night the suspects were taken to prison on the mainland for more questioning, and I will ask the chief more details when I return to the island this morning. Pray for these men!

child sponsorship

pastor paul, a man who has been on the islands since 1990, is well aware of the community happenings. he has been praying for a child sponsorship program to get underway for many years now. When mad city church came back in 2003 I believe (the second time our church came to the islands) paul really instilled that vision into many of us. more recently there has been a team of people from mad city who have been faithfully researching ways to help this program get underway. the most important thing is that it stays a community initiative so that they have ownership of the program. there are many new developings with this program and initiative so at this time I ask that you pray that it really gets underway and if my administrative gifting can be of use so be it!! if your interested in sponsoring a child right now, I can talk with the community leaders and find out who is at the greatest need currently and see that your money goes to that, just email me and let me know...

Happenings....

this past week i joined with pastor moses, a pastor of the church i attend on the islands, and taught in the discipleship school. currently he is teaching on the resurrection of Jesus and I am teaching on the disciplines of the disciple... elliott it is great to see how God is using my year with you on the study on the discplines, now in Africa!! crazy how God orchestrates all things....The students in the discpleship course are wonderful! they are really committed to loving Jesus and i am so encouraged by them. Their names; Francis, Francis (yes, two Francis'), Jen, Brainard, Olive, William, Joy, and Ester.

when i arrived many of the people thought i came to teach mathematics (even though they have a mathematics teacher named joy). therefore i am planning on teaching a lesson every now and then because they are really persistant in wanting me to teach. I am also helping pastor moses who is the director of the secondary school (kind of like our superintendants) with administration tasks. he is trained in theology, so i think my two years of gradutate school in administration will be coming in handy for the pastor. we are going to have a small party for the teachers of the school to celebrate them and to hear from them how they feel things are going. The secondary school was recently started back in january of this year. The school was started with little community involvement and left the community with 'many bruises' as one of the other pastors and community members stated. overall, starting the school is a good thing because none of the buvuma islands have a secondary school and it is very costly to send students to the mainland for school. the big issue is that the community was not involved in the process and therefore has not taken ownership of the school. as i understand money came in, land was purchased and the school was built. proper documentation has yet to be filed to register this school and the board of directors (as i call it... people who will oversee the school) has yet to be determined. The goodnews is the school is holding to the standards of all other ugandan schools except in the area of science (they need a science building which will cost $42,000 ....lots of money) and that God is working all things out, slowly by slowly as pastor moses puts it.

living on the ywam base (youth with a mission) has been good. i really think i came at the right time. their is currently a transition in leadership. Shem and Catherine are the new leaders who I am coming to really love and appretiate. they replaced Olive and Okoro, the couple I know and love... a huge reason of why i am here in Uganda today. with any change in leadership there is a time of transition. this transition has not been smooth for the families. lots of misunderstandings, miscommunication, and hurt feelings all over. things are starting to turn around for the better.... i am believing God for unity and a sense of family to return to this team of people. and it is happening... the othernight we had a bonfire outback and roasted a chicken... (now for those of you who don't know I saw the chicken running around minutes before I was placing its leg on a stick to roast... i think this is making me sick.... ok, no more talk about real life eating on the islands!!!) Catherine is pregnant and will be leaving for the mainlands in two-weeks to serve the rest of her labor term (sounds like she is in jail!!) near a hospital. she will return in november. they have asked me to take over the accounting on this islands and to read to one of their daughters Kakai, which I will gladly do.

ok, let me post this blog before the typing is lost!!!

Did I mention a full boat!!!

so the boat i took home after my last entry as with many of the public boats was packed full! now when i say full, you may not understand, so let me explain it to you.... first very heavy items were carried into the boat... items such as 100+ lbs of flour, rice, charcoal, etc... crates of bottled soda (i love the bottles!) then as the items weigh the boat down, people are carried into the boat and placed ontop of the items! then after all the people are in, bags of fresh bread and smelly fish :) are packed in. I like to think of the public boats like a jar, where you put rocks into it first, then you place peables and when you think nothing else can fit sand is poured in! Now that day I was on a different public boat, Robert, the man who carries me spotted me once again and carried me through the mudd to the right boat. Again I knew know one, and this time they didn't speak lugandan so we had lots of smiles.... and even funnier I thought i learned a new lugandan phrase 'sanusay' which i thought meant 'i don't know' which i said everytime i didn't understand... to my suprise i re-looked at what it meant.... sanusay means 'i'm happy' ....lol... so everytime they would speak to me i would say i was happy! ahhh, i had a good laugh when i found this out!

Boat Trip

What an adventure to bring you this update... let me tell you about it... its really not that exciting but funny to me... this morning as I precieve we are departing, I think to myself, how wonderful only a few people on the public transport this morning, we will have a nice relaxing 2-hour ride into the mainland. I grab my book and begin reading. (I traveled alone this morning, and did not know anyone on board nor can I really converse with anyone because of the language barrior besides a simple greeting.) To my suprise I hear the engine shut off as we drift back to the shore line of the island for a man to run to the bathroom I think (I closed my eyes) and grab some food. Then off we were, only to the next village on the same island to pick up a women, a soda and a chapati. Then we were really off. but as I set my book aside I realize we are heading right back to lingira (the side I live on). As I understand, it is not cost effective to take the boat into the mainland (we had to few people), we must wait for another island boat to come take us. 30 minutes later, the other boat arrives packed full already and ready to recieive the rest of us. I hear Mzungu (meaning travelor/ white person) and I smile and fear for about a second and then sit on the boat edge and push my body onto the other boat. this boat was packed and I was the only Mzungu! As I waited for the food items and other people to transfer to the new boat I found a talapia fish at my feet.Nice! Now keep in mind, all of this took 2 hours... imagine the time!! But we finally set sail for the mainland and we were almost there when we are stopped by the boat police! and of course after addressing the captain of the boat for having no life perserverers the police told me I too should have one on. (the boat captains cannot afford them for people and the police know this... the police were just looking to fine him to get some money. ) After this my travels were smooth sailing. I have made a friend at the landing site that carry's me in (everyone gets carried off the boat... it is a source of income for men), he spots me right away and takes me in. I find a boda boda (motor bike) that offers me a fair price (i dind't even have to negotiate!) and I was on mainstreet and sitting at this interenet cafe! Four hours later and I have arrived to do email ;) what is usually a 2-hour public transport trip has turned into a 4plus transport. And i smile and say to myself this is Africa.

Because of time I know have to go back to the island, but expect another update monday with hopefully much more details about what is happening here. I have to take the public boat back now !! xoxoxoxoxooxo