How Do You Want Your Fish Head? Fried or Baked?

You know it is tough when the kids are going back to school and we are still waiting for the heat of summer.  Oh sure, it gets hot here in Uganda but I will take the heat in the 80's.  Since arriving here in February, we have been preparing for a bad day..still waiting.  We do get rainy days but they serve to keep the dust down and give some refreshing breezes.  Ah, life in the "Pearl of Africa."  Time continues to speed by and we do miss our family and friends but we will see you all soon.

Our week was spent largely in the capacity of waiting rooms.  It could be the dentist, the clinic or the hospital, we got to see them all.  We did have one of our former missionaries mother come with her sister for cancer treatment.  It would have been until April of 2015 before she could get into the government hospital in Kenya.  Here she was able to get in to see a doctor much sooner.  She has had her tests and will meet with the doctor next week.  Hopefully, she will be able to start her chemo treatments soon and get everything under control.

This is Conslate, Beatrice and Sister Squire.  Beatrice has cervical cancer and is here for treatment.

We took them out for lunch and both ordered the Tilapia Fish, one fried and one baked.  The white mixture in the picture below is Posho.  They were both really missing this food item.  What is Posho you ask?  We call it a second cousin to grits. Made from ground up corn flour mixed in water with a thick consistency of a tough batch of mashed potatoes. The traditional way of eating posho is to roll a handful into a ball with the right hand, and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables or meat.  In my opinion, zero flavor and you better like whatever you are dipping it in. It is a staple in Africa.

This is how the fish comes.  Fried or...

Baked Tilapia

The aftermath, you can see the head is no longer there.  Yes, I guess the fish head is some good eating.  However, it must not be Conslate's favorite as she traded the head for the tail of her sisters fish. These sisters are from a village in Kenya and don't use utensils, just their one hand to eat their entire meal.

Nothing but bones...

In church today one of the speakers talked about letting the good words of Christ settle in a soft heart.  I thought that was a wonderful saying.  How often when facing criticism, harsh words or something we don't want to hear, we harden our hearts.  We do not have to accept what is being said but I think having a soft heart is a key to happiness in our lives.

We also went to teach English to Robert,  the man who cuts Sister Squires hair.  He speaks English but not well enough to carry on a conversation when doing hair.  We drove to his home this past week and taught him and his wife and four children.  Well, the two oldest children, as the next youngest was asleep and the baby was too busy nursing to listen to the great lesson.  As we talked we use a lot of gospel topics to teach with and Robert wanted to attend one of our Branches today.  I am not sure if he made it but what a wonderful family.  It really puts life in perspective when you go into their home and there is a triple bunk bed for the kids and another bed for the parents.  There was only enough room for a stack of suitcases (I am guessing for clothes) and a TV stand.  There was such a great spirit and we asked if we could have a prayer before we left.  I asked Robert who he would like to say the prayer and he called on his oldest daughter.  She said the Lord's Prayer and they would repeat it after here.  What a great spirit was in the home.  We loved it!

We have another conversion story.  They have a hard time hiring guards for our complex because they all join the Church and then want to be off so they can go to Church.  They hired Godfrey a few months ago and today he said he is going to join the Church.  We talked with him a few weeks ago and he said he was very comfortable with his current religion and we were good with that.  We give the guards reading material because it is a long day when you have to wait by the gate for us to come and go and it really isn't all that frequent.  He said he was reading about baptism and he always felt his baptism at birth didn't really seem right.  That cracked the door to his heart (a soft heart) and he has now received a testimony of the restored gospel. In the Book of Mormon we read the words of Mormon, "I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.. teach repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; ....little children need no repentance, neither baptism (Moroni 8:9-11). Godfrey said he talked to his boss and they will try and find someone to take a few hours on Sunday so he can attend Church. The other two guards have also joined the church, so they try and get a nonmember to guard, but it doesn't last long when you have 5 senior couples and 10 young missionaries talking and teaching you every day. The mission field is awesome!

This is Godfrey and the room behind him is where they can chill out and keep their stuff for their 12 shifts. (it is about 3 ft by 6 ft)  They make around $4 per shift.

Time for some bodaboda fun.  There has to be room for something else...

The kids in Africa love to wave at us when we wave at them.  I love how the driver has to ride on the tank to make room.  We have seen up to 5 on a bodaboda.

So we had to go and give our sickle cell Elder a pain shot.  Their apartment has a wonderful view of Lake Victoria if you look real close in the background.  You cannot  swim in it, unless you want cooties (of course missionaries can't swim anyway).

I know many of you are wondering how I keep myself in the same shape I was in as a 20 year old.  Well I eat right, exercise and lift weights.  The elders are very resourceful, they have filled these bags with some type of mix that weights around 200 pounds if it weights a pound...(if you have to know, I was a fat kid at 20 too).

Yea, take that Arnold!

Random photo.  You don't see this in the parking lots at home.