We are no longer the newest couple missionaries in Uganda.  The Jonson's from Ephraim Utah are.  Elder Jonson is the medical missionary replacing Sister Harris.  They live in Kampala and we go walking with them when we have business there.  We go to Kampala now every couple weeks and spend the weekend so we can attend one of the wards or branches there.  

To the right of the apartments is a very steep hill and at the top is Nob Hotel.  You can't even see the steep slop just beyond the hotel.  We get a different kind of exercise there as Jinja is pretty much flat.

This idea was big about 40 years ago in America.  Now it has spread here.

This is Sister Rose.  She and I were assigned to do a craft day in Walakuba and Mpumedde on Sat.  We were melting the sides of fabric circle then putting about 7 layers of differing sizes together to make a flower.  The candles were lit and stuck directly to the RS tables.
 Candles in the church?
With power going out so often candles are a way of life for many of these people.  They laughed when I told them we would not be allowed to do this back home.

The lady in green is one of my keyboard students.  They are now making ribbon flowers at the other end of the table.  They took turns telling about their conversions.  

Now we're at Mpumedde branch.  We had twice as many sisters and on their own they provided refreshments.  We were served soda, bananas and chapati.

Ida is one of our English students.  She is loving learning to read the Book of Mormon.  She wants to know what the words mean so that they understand better.  I was surprised where they pinned their flowers.  One for each boob

Sharon is also in our Book of Mormon reading class.  She is just beginning her PEF studies and is married and has a
1 1/2 year old daughter.  We ran out of time so I gave her the purple fabric to go home and make more flowers.  Originally I cut out all the flowers and they just melted the edges.

This is JoAnn.  She has been to our Book of Mormon reading class a couple times.  She is getting ready to go on a mission.  She loved making flowers and had them pinned all over her blouse.

Rachel I met for the first time.  After she pinned on her flowers I laughed and told them that  they should wear their flowers a little higher, not on the boob.

This is Mabel.  She pinned her flower on where I had mine.  She was so proud.  The other ladies laughed but left theres where they were.  Mabel is a PEF student that we are just getting to know.

I hired the District RS president to sew the strip in my curtains.  I wasn't sure what she would charge and had forgotten to ask her the day I dropped them off at the house.  I figured that the job should cost 60,000 but was prepared to pay more if she wanted it.  She dropped them off at another couples home and she told them she wanted 15,000.  They delivered them to me having already paid her and I was just suppose to pay them.
As you can see, labor is so cheap here.  I'll catch up with Mary on Tue and give her another sewing job and pay her more.  She was worth it and did a very good job.

Happy Birthday to Josh Wheeler

Thought you might like to hear about the life of a boda driver

A member of the church drives a motor cycle for a living.  He rents the cycle for  10,000 shillings a day.  He averages 15,000 as income on any given day.  It costs 3,000 for fuel so his take home pay is 2,000.  A Pineapple costs 2,000.  Rent for a month in the slums ( meaning no electricity or running water) is 20,000.  Your home is about 8X10 cement cubical where the side walls are the side walls of your neighbor.  The door is a piece of fabric and the windows do not have glass.  These folks always seem to be happy.

Another member of the church decided he needed to make 1000 shillings a day.  He found a need and is making his money.  The need?  He makes paper bags by hand for stores.  He has all the business he can handle and this will pay his way for school with a PEF loan.  He is so happy to be getting a degree in computers.

Some men aren't as fortunate.  This man is a refugee from the DR Congo.  He is wheeling a wooden bike with all his earthly positions tied to it.  He is hoping to make a better life for himself in Uganda.  Rand found this article in the news paper and we took a pictures.

We have some beautiful sunrises.  If it weren't for the sun rising and setting we'd have no idea about directions.  the bird on our apartment is a crane.  They are in the mating season right now so they are seen flying more.  Not sure what the reason is for that.

Happy Birthday to Clara!
We miss you and hope you have a great birthday.  How would you like to trade your nice home for this mud and thatch hut.  People actually live in these.  They are their homes.

Most people that live in the city come from a village somewhere.  The villages have homes like these.  This one is  about 4 km from Jinja in a beautiful valley that we went walking in one day last week.  It is surrounded by fields of corn and folks working in the field.  One Relief Society president in our district told me that she goes to the village once a week for 3 days to work in her garden.   When they are out of work they can live at the village for free and eat from the produce in the gardens.  It is often that we are told that someone is at the village and not available to talk to.

Eggs are available to purchase at the store in flats.  You tell the clerk how many you want then they bag them up as pictured.  We buy a flat of 30 and have to bring them home and jix them.  They have not been cleaned and even if they had we clean everything again.  Jix is a name for chlorax.

Chickens are hauled in the most unusual ways.  I want to get a picture of them hanging from bicycle handles but I haven't been fast enough getting the camera out.  They don't carry just a few, more like 15-20 tied upside down.

This was our first view of how pineapples grow.  These have a while to grow as they're quite tiny.  Most pineapples are grown further North from here.  They are trucked in most every day to be sold at the markets.

We couldn't resist having our picture taken with these beautiful vines with flowers hanging from the tree.  Sister Crayk is in the middle and Sister Scott who was visiting from Kampala on the right.  She is the mission secretary.

On our way home from Kampala last week we visited the Rain Forest Lodge. It was in a beautiful setting only 2 km off the main road through the forest.  We were the only guests there on a Monday afternoon.  We had royal treatment and a very lovely meal.

Do you have to be a "Tarzan" to use the restroom at the Rainforest Lodge?

Women's  restroom is named "Jane"  

He probably was hauling 30-40 Jerry cans.  Africans without running water use them to haul water.  They usually carry them on their head back home when they are full.    This could be several kilometers.  We have two jerry cans that we keep emergency water in.  We didn't haul them home full.  We brought them home and filled them with filter water from the kitchen sink.  We have many more luxuries than most here in Uganda.

Happy Birthday Glory

This is shopping in Uganda.  Before you on the ground displayed on a tarp are those little fish snacks.  Everything else is displayed in like manner from spinach to pumpkins to tomatoes to pineapple.  Big trucks move through this crowded market dropping off or hauling to different markets around town.  The best stuff here needs to be selected before 8am.

This tree looks dead except for the beautiful blossoms that cover the top or that fall off and cover the ground

This one tree has pink blossoms but some are white

College bookstore.  You stand outside and the clerk gathers up your supplies from a store not much bigger than a bathroom.  The boxes in the display are supplies jammed into this display case.

This student is a first semester PEF student studying catering.  His name is Tushabi, Ivan.  In Uganda they tell you their name last name first.  The last name does not have the significance it does in America.  We never know when there is a married couple in PEF because they do not have the same last name.  Not only that, we have three sisters who are in PEF and none of them have the last name and none are married.  None of them have the last name of their parents either.  We didn’t realize how handy it was at home that everyone in a family had the same last name or that when you got married the wife took the husband’s last name.

This is a busy school corner where parents have come to walk their children home.  Some pay to have a boda carry the child and mother to school.  Then the mother rides home by herself.  If she has two children riding one rides up front with the boda driver.

This was my favorite mother picking up her children.  She put the chicken in the bag and then they all headed home

Happy Birthday Leslie.

We hope you have a wonderful day.  In honor of your love of music we are sending you pictures of the musical instruments that have been introduced to us here in Africa .   We think you would be proud of our music students.  Rand has been very eager to drive me out to Walukaba for the class I teach every Sat.  Now if I could just get him to play the keyboard too.

This "Thumb board" has keys played like it was a piano.  The sound is a bit cheap as it is a tourist item, quite African.  The main african instrument is a bongo drum.  We hear them every morning and once in a while all night.  They play them very musically.  I didn't think to take a picture of one.  You might guess why.

Demonstration on how to make music with this African instrument.  We haven't seen many instruments till today a man being driven somewhere had a guitar.  The guitar was flying down the road with no case.  I didn't have a camera to get the picture.

This is another cheap sounding instrument that reminds us of a harp.  We didn't get it's name

We started our music lesson out on the porch of the Walukia chapel last Sat because no one had the key.   Eunice and Luke are the students.  Eunice has been to every lesson.  She is loving learning and teaching others.  Luke will be leaving on a mission soon to Gana.  He has a natural talent and his mother wants him to teach her.

Here we are inside finally.  Luke was amazing with his first lesson.  His fingers could move separately from each other which is not the case with other beginners

Eunice has a key board that I have leant her to take home.  She sees that the other students get some time to practice too.  She is advancing quickly and loves every new thing she learns.

This is our patio door.  The drape does not fit - it ends 15 inches above the floor.  I felt like I needed Leslie to advise me as she has done lots of draperies since moving into her home. 

Found this fabric that matched the living room upholstery and will add a 15 inch strip at the top.  

This fabric is typical of what you can buy here - the country of Uganda and many of the animals that you find here printed on the fabric.   You buy the fabric in one store, thread in another and scissors or zippers and other notions in yet another.  The fabric store has no idea where to tell you to go to buy these other items.  At least that is what they tell you.  I finally found the scissors and an LDS seamstress so will get to work on these drapes.