Too well-fed

As we fly towards the end of this part of our lives I am ever mindful of the great blessings that have accompanied us on this mission.  The Lord loves his children wherever they may be located, this I know.  We have been blessed with so many opportunities over the past 18 months and we have been changed for the better.  The gospel is true and all the hardships that each one of us endure will be for our good.  I came across this quote from President Benson after he had returned after being called to go and serve in war torn Germany in 1947.  It was so appropriate if you just change Europe to Africa, you get a good idea of the struggle from poverty induced either by war or circumstance.

"To one who has spent the major part of the last year amidst the rubble and destruction of war-torn Europe, this conference has been doubly inspirational and appreciated. As I have looked into the faces of this well-fed (almost too well-fed, in many cases) audience, well-clothed, surrounded with all the comforts and blessings of life, I have found that my thoughts have many times drifted across the Atlantic to those of our brethren and sisters with whom I have been closely associated during recent months. I love them, my brethren and sisters, as I am sure you do."  I admit that President Benson may have been talking directly to me about being "too well-fed."  It may be because of war or just being a third world country, the struggles are much the same.  Where there is poverty, it doesn't matter the cause.  My hope is that I never forget how difficult so many in this world have it but still love life and family.  We have that in common.

This week was a random affair of many different things.  I just included some of my favorite photos from the week.  Because there was a District Council meeting we did not travel to Busia but instead went to Iganga so I could get to my meeting.  We have been there quite often and have many friends.

Cute Jamima.  She is the daughter of the Relief Society President, and her brother just left on a mission to South Africa.  She has another sister, Brenda, away is boarding school and another brother, who got one of the top testing scores in Uganda last year, so he is away to school on scholarship.  Her father is a police officer and is not a member.

This is baby Emma.  They call him the "brown" baby because he is light in color.  His mama is Margaret and is the YW President of their branch. He has two sisters, Shanti and Sherry.

We found some more pioneers around.  Nancy had some extra hats and bonnets so another primary got some new duds.

Uganga has huge sugar cane fields and the trucks are a real pain.  They crawl along the highway and create a huge bottleneck.  They load them up heavy and head to the processing plant.

A new creation.  You take a chapati and smear fresh avocado over it and then make your design with chili sauce and enjoy.  At least that is what I did and it was right on target (get it? I know, I know, I crack myself up too).

We took Jessy, returned elder from Iganga, to the dentist to finish some work that was started on his mission.

WAIT!  Hold the presses, this just in...coke zero will make you burp.  That is all.

How you transport lumber.

We were invited by a new member to visit his school, Royal Infants and Primary School. The school is one year old.  They have children attend from ages 3 to 16.  He is just renting the place and was hoping we could help with some of his expenses.  It is difficult for kids to get an education especially out in the villages. These new members, Keneth and Betty, have children attend who can't pay.  They just have big hearts. We will have a list of places that anyone looking to help donate to, when we get home.

Some of the prospective missionaries help earn money for their missions by helping teach at this school.

See the scowl? AH!  Muzungu's!

School had just started a two week break so there were only a few kids around.  They even let me ring the school bell.

The uniforms.

These are the school benches stacked for vacation.  Keneth picked out a tree, when he was ready to get this school started, and cut the lumber for the benches from it.  Nothing is easy here in Africa.

Sister Squire got right into the school teacher giving assignments.

The students gave her a gift as a going away present.  By there feet is some maze drying out to eat or to be ground into posho.

The latrine

The lady in the orange skirt is the vice-chairman of the school and sang us a welcome song, a hello song and then, as we are getting ready to leave, a goodby song.

Just a couple of buddies walking down the road.

One of our sisters had a eye infection so after three days of irrigation not working we took her to the eye doctor.

While waiting, teaching Sister Squire to pose.

Nancy had to teach at Jinja District auxiliary training meeting and got a couple of nice pictures.

This little chub is the one born a few months ago from Lugazi that we helped to transport back home when one day old.

Great news, from an earlier post about Cosmos, I had a reply about a non-profit group will design a 3-D hand that will open and close (e-NABLE).  Thanks Trey for the very helpful information and Elder and Sister Taylor are in the process of getting Cosmos on the list.  Enable designs a 3-D hand that volunteers with printers will manufacture.  This will be life changing for him.