Eat what you kill

What a great week.  It is so stinking hot here the last month and we still have a couple of more hot months to go.  It really isn't too bad as long as you have a fan to keep the air moving.  We are just enjoying the journey and loving the difference it is being in a different county and experiencing all the culture, activities and scenery that comes with not being at "home."

I still stay in touch at home with Skype and keep up with events with the online editions of the newspapers.  I did read one of the popular Mormon podcast creators is going before a Church disciplinary court today.  I don't have the background to talk about this specific person other than he no longer believes in all the doctrines of the church.  He has been making a good living talking about all the things he doesn't believe in to his audience.  I was listening to Spencer W Kimball's book The Miracle of Forgiveness and he pointed out that it is wrong to make a living arguing against the religion you belong to.  I don't begrudge his beliefs but I do have a problem with using those beliefs to make a living against the faith he belongs to.  Just me...

In the same book he gives this quote "No one in this Church will ever go far astray who ties himself securely to the Church Authorities whom the Lord has placed in his Church.  This Church will never go astray; the Quorum of the Twelve will never lead you into bypaths; it never has and never will."  I firmly believe that we have been put here on earth but we have not been left alone.  Our loving Savior has sent Prophets, just like he has throughout the life of this world, to lead and guide us safely back to His presence.

Time for the pictures and there are a lot this week.  As we were driving back from Busia, where we spend most of our Sundays now, I thought how boring it will be driving around Layton, Ut when we get home.  You see so many things here in Africa just driving around and most of them just make us smile.  Are we together (African saying to make sure everyone in class is listening)?

Once again my life is filled with strange creatures and the need to save Sister Squire from certain death.  A man's job never ends.

After battling the T-Rex I worked up an appetite and the restaurant staff were so impressed with my masculine abilities they named a hot chili sauce after me.

Hot wings African style; they were really good and not so hot that Sister Squire had a couple. They are called wing pops.

When you live by the source of the Nile River you have to eat by the source.

We got a call from our old Branch President in Lugazi and his wife Beatrice had delivered and were hoping to avoid a crowed taxi with the new baby.  Here Sister Squire describes it better. 

Her husband had us go check on her on Monday afternoon because he couldn't get a hold of her and he was at work in Lugazi.  The Lugazi Hospital had her come to the Jinja hospital because they were concerned that she had been contracting for so long and this was her 5th child.  As we were waking around the hospital we went through the labor and delivery ward and there were 50 ladies filling every bed and many on the floor.  Anyway, we found her and she had a member friend with her who is a midwife/doula.  She had her 4th girl.  Yesterday, they called to see if we could drive them home so they wouldn't have to go home with a new baby in a crowded taxi with 15 other people crammed in so we were able to take them back to Lugazi about a 45 minute drive.  When talking to Harriet, her doula, she said that they were worried about her taking so long and she was in so much pain.  I asked if they give anything for pain here and she "oh sure, they gave her some Panadol (Tylenol)."  Serious? Yeah right!  That should help!  NOT!  Anyway, the doula said that someone had delivered twins right before Beatrice (the wife of the Pres.) but they had "passed on."  She said that the baby born after Beatrice's had also passed on.  Wow, reality smacks you in the face.  1 out of every 10 babies born here die.  What to do?  This doula had a baby who would have been 3 years old, who passed away.  It didn't breath at birth so they worked with it.  It lived about 1 week.  She had to have it c-section and was sure that almost all babies die who are born c-section.  She has had one baby since who survived, but was born c-section so she was very worried. Maybe a lot of c-section babies do die here, because they do the c-section because the baby is in trouble.  They don't monitor the fetal heart rate during labor, but I think they listen on occasion.  The labor ward (just one large room) had over 50 women.  Every bed was full, so when Beatrice delivered, they just put her on the floor to recover.  No other place.  Sure makes you grateful for modern medicine and good hospitals.

Here is mom and the new little girl who is not named yet.  The sister in the back is the midwife and friend who helped her deliver.  She had previously interpreted as I interviewed a sister who didn't speak English very well for baptism.  It was embarrassing because I saw her and I knew her but didn't remember where or why.  Embarrassing when we remembered and her name is Sister Harriott.

Home with the family, four girls and one boy.  That poor baby all wrapped up in this heat!

We had one of the most humbling experiences while here in Africa.  We went to an orphanage where people will literally drop off their kids if they are deformed or have severe disabilities.  The sister who runs the place had a child born with a disability (cerebral palsy), who died last year at the age of 14, and took in five other children to care for.  Now she has 35 children and I can't believe the capacity of love some possess here on earth.  She has a 24/7 job for the rest of her life.  These are kids that cannot feed themselves, bathe or wash.  There are some other men and women who help and a physical therapist to help those that can to learn to walk or do basic tasks. These wheelchairs are outside after being washed. 

Here is the sign outside the orphanage.

This is the playground and home.  In the background is the neighborhood school.  Not for these kids but kids who live in the surrounding village.  We saw kids carrying wood siding as we were leaving to help dry in their school.  They had blackboards up and a few benches in each room.

Sister Squire made a new friend (Joseph) while walking in the morning.  Here she has delivered some fish samosas and some g-nuts.  He gave her 1/2 of a jack fruit.

We have to go to the market once a week or so for vegetables.  Here are a couple of pictures and you can see the variety of foods for sale.  Big bags of different types of grain.

Fish, fresh from Lake Victoria.  You can see the cat under the table. That has to be a good life living in the fish market where they clean and prepare the fish.

Dried fish.

Again, driving around Layton is going to be quite boring.  I have no idea if the goats (there are 2) have to pay a separate fare so don't even ask.

Another view.

The kids were out of school since December and last Sunday as we drove home from Kampala we saw many bodabodas with the kids that are going back to boarding school.  One of the things we would like to see change here in Africa is having families keep their kids home for school so they can still attend Church and be with their families.  Here are all her worldly possessions for the next several months.

We saw this bodaboda with a stack of fresh skins.  I guess they will be part of some future drum set or something.

We bought a couple of mangoes from this young man.  They do whatever they can to earn money.

As we were having lunch a large ruckus was going on outside.  Whistles were blowing and some shouting.  I walked out that the military was marching down the street.  There must of been 200 or so.

Sister Squire had a busy week preparing for District Auxiliary Training.  She taught in the large meeting and then in two of the breakout session.  Here is a sister with the cutest kids.  That is a little boy in her arms but he is very cute.  You cannot assume gender based on what the kids wear.  She has two very adorable daughters that also carry the cute gene.

This is the YW breakout and she is teaching Individual Worth (Red) to the sisters.

Now she is teaching singing time to the primary leaders.  Bad turnout, only the two District leaders, HC and Treavor who is leaving on a mission in April.

Where we turn off the main road to go to Busia, we usually have baboons along the road.  Here we had mom and baby that needed a picture.

On Sunday we were invited to give a the second counselors child a blessing.  It was a good drive out to his home and he has to walk it every Sunday with his family.  You don't just go and give a blessing, when you have visitors the mom prepares a drink and something to eat.  Here on the table we have hot cocoa, fresh roasted g-nuts and later she brought out some rice.  All the cooking is done outside and you can see the teapot warming the water and the gnuts that will be roasted.  I told her not to make and effort because I have to leave and she looked me in the eye and said "you be patient" and so I was.

I felt bad because I had a pre-missionary I had to interview so we had to cut the visit short (still a good 1/2 hour).  President Emmaual is the Branch President in the red tie.

Wesonga's family minus one daughter who lives 1 hr away with an uncle as she goes to school.  He has a beautiful piece of property with lots of food growing on it.

 

 One final picture outside the home

You never know who you will meet in your travels along the road of life. Nancy calls this a humpty back cow.  Sounds like a good name.

I make it back to Iganga and brother Benjamin was patiently waiting for his pre-missionary interview.  I found out his mom is the RS President.  Nice family.

This sister came in with her cute baby and was shaking the baby to wake it up for a picture.  I told her it was OK to just get a picture with the baby asleep.

Speaking of families, while trying to rid the sisters apartment behind us of rats I opened one of their drawers and found this cute family getting ready to grow into adulthood.  Unfortunately, they picked the wrong place to raise a family and are no longer with us.

I did find two more and as a scoutmaster I always told the scouts they had to eat anything they killed.  I didn't think it would be appropriate to not eat these two rats that were poisoned.  Don't ever let anyone tell you they taste like chicken, they don't.

One more because I live to pose.

One last little story.  I set apart a sister going to the Ghana Accra Mission and she had her sister with her on the way to Kampala.  I asked if they were the only two siblings of their mom.  She said "yes, we are the only two from my mothers womb."  I love some of their expressions.

Peace be unto you.

It had to happen sometime

You know, every week can't be a big adventure.  Sometimes on a mission you have to act like a missionary.  As a senior couple it is certainly different for us as we leave the door to door stuff to the elders and sisters but we do have plenty of opportunities to share what we know to be true.

President and Sister Chatfield had their youngest daughter and her husband come for a visit this week.  Their family pulled together enough funding to go and do 100 people with a jiggers project.  The result was a need for me to come in to Kampala for some previously scheduled meetings he could no longer attend.  They have a coordinating council with the area seventy, Elder Makasi, and the stake president and district president along with the mission president.  It was interesting to sit and participate with Elder Makasi and the others as we follow the council of the area presidency for Africa.  Anyway, at the closing of the meeting Elder Makasi shared a few thoughts.

In 3 Nephi 9:13-14 it states: "O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?  Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."  His question was "how do we come unto Him?"  There are many places in the scriptures where we learn how to come unto Him.  Love, charity, service, prayer, scriptures, faith, chastity, modesty, clean language and on and on the list goes.  

Elder Makasi used Matthew 11:28-29.  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."  We put our trust in Him and follow his commandments and soon our trials and troubles will seem to become light.  He can and will do what He says He will do and we only need to show the faith necessary for the blessings to come.

We had to take two trips into Kampala this week.  One with and elder who had a stick poked down his throat and they couldn't get it all out when it happened last year (prior to his mission).  It is now causing swelling and infection and so he needs to go to South Africa for treatment and removal.  We took him in because you have to get an emergency medical visa for S Africa but we got him there too late so they took him in the next morning.  Crazy, he doesn't need a visa because he is from Tanzania and they have an open border with S Africa.  The other was to take the meeting for President Chatfield.  I hate that drive, it was 3 1/2 hours for a 60 mile drive when we came home tonight.

Sister Squire is becoming a very good cook.  Tonight was Chicken Parmesan night.

We came in early to Kampala because the Elders and Sisters attending Missionary Leadership Council go to Protea for dinner.  It was funny as we were leaving because it is the hot time of year here in Uganda and they have this charcoal stove going.

Because it was kind of a slow party week I have to show some pictures of the past.  This is one on the side of a school showing they need to use mosquito nets to keep malaria away.

This is how they sell vegetables.  They set up their stands along the road and you pull over and get what you need.  They stack them nice and neat so they look presentable.

This little guy was learning to carry water in Lira.  Cute stuff.

The bore holes are social gathering places.  This little boy is getting a drink from the tap.

We stayed with the Eklunds in Lira and when you turned on the water heater everything became hot (you would get shocked if you touched anything metal.  I got nipped a couple of times.  They did get it fixed after we left; I think that wanted to wait to make sure we didn't overstay our welcome.

I love this picture of one of the lodges by Sipi Falls.  Looks like Africa.

 Little kids helping with the family.

Love this expression

Not sure if they are twins but just waiting for a Church meeting to begin.

I like her attitude!

This is pretty typical as you get around towns.  Everyone walks, bikes or bodaboda to get places.

You have to be very careful where you walk here in Africa.  There are traps everywhere that will claim an unsuspecting animal.

The new school year started this week and getting school fees is a family affair.  We had many offers to help pay for school fees but we follow the guidelines from our Area Presidency and do not pay out funds.  Africa will not come out of poverty with foreigners paying for individual needs.  It hasn't worked for the last 50 years and the model needs to change.  Teach them the gospel and self-reliance and there will be lasting changes.  

Little bare bums everywhere

I got to do something this week I never thought I would have the chance to do.  There are currently 88,000 missionaries out in the mission field and I was able to set-apart one of them.  This is the largest missionary workforce that has ever been assembled in the history of our earth.  Auma Lucky is from Gulu, a 6 hour drive from Kampala, and will be going to the Ghana Accra Mission.  She was a very sweet missionary.  President Chatfield always has so many meetings and interviews to do that it was wonderful to take this one little thing off his plate so he could do the dozens of other things necessary.

As I pondered a missionary force of 88,000 men and women I thought about the talk Elder Bednar gave for the Africa Southeast Area Satellite Broadcast.  He talked about how our current leaders of the Church have given a timely emphasis on the how each of use should be hastening the work of salvation.  He then cautioned: "We always should remember a fundamental truth: this work is the Lord's work, and He does the hastening.  Clearly, brothers and sisters, we play a vital role in helping the kingdom of God to roll forth throughout the entire world.  But, the Lord hastens His work, we do not."

He then asks two questions: "(1) Will we as individuals and as a Church keep pace with the Lord's hastening of His work?  Or (2) will we as individuals and as a Church insist on doing \things the way they have always been done, or the way we are accustomed to or comfortable with?"  These questions have me thinking of things I may be doing the same way I have always done them.  There is a great possibility there is a better way.  I think each of us can think of how we can hasten the changes we need to make to be ready for Him when He comes again.  The question for me is if I am becoming a better disciple of Christ or just going through the motions of being a missionary or member of the Church.

We were invited to another soccer game between the missionaries and the Iganga Branch.  Before the game I saw a teacher in a classroom but official classes do not start until next month.  School is out for December and January and the new school year will start in February.

The teacher gave me permission to take some photos.  Here he is teaching them mathematics and this is like a summer school.

Rita is a returned missionary from England and has lots of followers.  She came to cheer on the teams but wanted it to end in a tie, like the last game, because the losing team will pout.

A few pullups before the game.  I am out of the picture doing several hundred...

They do take their soccer seriously.  Here they are having a prayer before they go out and try and kill each other - like ward basketball.  Branch in red, missionaries in yellow.

Even the Iganga Relief Society president, Ida, gets into the act throwing in a wayward ball.

The game winning goal celebration, the elders had a goal lead but gave up two goals in the final minutes to lose the match.

Team photo

Sister Squire purchased and presented a game ball to the winning team.

Cute baby alert.  The Africans call this the "brown" baby because of his light skin.

The cheering section.

I was not going to leave Africa without trying some of the "street food" where you can roll the dice and see if your body will handle it.  I had the Bugembe Elders with me and asked where the best Rolex (a rolled up African like burrito) was made.  They told me so I bought them each one and one for myself.  The total of this treat for five people was the equivalent of $3.  Quite tasty but I make them better at home.  This is the griddle with charcoal in the bottom to keep it all hot.

He puts some cabbage, carrot and onion in the cup and slices some tomato then adds as many eggs as you like and pours it onto the pan.

Here is the egg mixture cooking and then he places a chapati on top and rolls it up.  Sister Squire chose not to partake.  Just like McDonald's you can have as many eggs and chapatis as you like and get charged accordingly.

Another one bites the dust.  Our very good friends, the Hansens, left Wednesday for home.  I would walk with Elder Hansen every morning when we lived in Kampala.  Starting from the left we have Pres and Sister Chatfield, Story, Hannan, Ekland, Hansen, Squire, Wallace and Chabra.  Everyone will be gone when we leave except the Chatfields and Chabra (who now do medical for everywhere except Jinja area).

Are you ever too old to play in a kids house?

This was a new one for me, beware of dogs at the pool.

Now then, can you ever do too many jigger projects.  I will not bore you with the details but I will share some of my favorite pictures.  The little babies don't wear pants until they are potty trained but they do get a nice bead set to go around their waist.

I loved the eyes on the girl on the right, don't turn your head just your eyeballs.

I had to meet with elders of the village.  The one I am shaking hands with was baptized but no longer goes to church.  He did bear his testimony to me however.  It was nice.

Cute girl eating jack fruit.  It is very sticky but the fruit is nice.

Even Sister Squire likes a good fist bump now and then.

They took over an hour getting all the jiggers off his feet.  They were on his toes and around the outside of his feet.

This is an plastic oil bottle and plastic bottle tops for the wheels.  I love how they make their own toys.

Hello

Dirty and lovely all at the same time.

The hydrogen peroxide soak while waiting for their turn to get cut.  The man on outside is the one with the really bad feet being worked on.

No end in sight, just cute kids everywhere.

Same little boy as earlier but now asleep on his brothers shoulders.

As you will see later, this one did not like the strange white people.  She was very cute.

This little girl almost threw herself off the bench not wanting the strange people to wash her feet and look for jiggers.

When they got rid of the razor blades I saw this girl cutting some of the jiggers off her own feet.

Here is my little friend a bit more upset with me being around her.  Just like when raising my kids, I have to go and get the camera to capture the action.

These two were twins. Both boys.

If Sister Squire had her way, he would be heading home with us.

We had one of the past mission office couples come with their kids to show them a country they fell in love with while serving here.  They brought along some hygiene kits and paid for the jigger cost to come out and serve.  President Chatfield's family is coming next week and they will do a jiggers  project for 100 kids.  I will be taking his meeting assignments while he spends time with his family.  Here is the final wave goodby.

As we were driving to the Elders home we saw this little naked boy with a water jug running across the street.  He was a bit nervous about seeing us stop to take pictures.  Here in Africa they have the kids carrying anything from a liter to a gallon jug based on their size and ability to carry water.  It is a family affair and they start as soon as they can carry a jug.

Back off and running

Sister Squire caught this shot just above our home as she was out for her morning walk.