The girls went hiking around the island (which is very small so it didn't take too long). But we collected sticks to roast our marshmallows on and Sarah used her African skills to tie them in a bundle with some leaves and carry them on her head.

Isn't little Anna so cute in her life jacket?

Lake Bunyonyi from the banks of Bushara Island.

Lake Bunyonyi (picture by Spence )

Union Nursing Team

Thanks to the Union University Nursing team who came out May 23-June 3rd for all their hard work. They volunteered at the AIDS clinic, on the hospital wards, did basic health teaching with different groups, and went on Words of Hope visits. (Pictures following from their time here). I learned a lot about hosting volunteer teams and it was fun having them all stay in my home....lots of good stories :)

Teaching and food distribution at Katete

While the team was here they did a lot of basic health teaching at our different Bible storying groups/churches. These pictures are from a small village called Katete. Around 50+ ladies came to hear the teaching and we gave out some posho (corn maize flour) and sugar. They were so thankful! They even danced for us and this little boy was clapping perfectly on beat...it was so cute! Thanks to Mrs. Matthews church for providing the money to do the food distribution here. We've been having at least 30 ladies at the Wednesday night study so pleae pray that this group might become a church (this is one of the groups that started when I first came).

Refugee Camp

Here's Andrea and Sydney teaching at Nakivale Refugee camp where we have like 6 churches. These churches are amazing...totally self sustaining and they are really 'on fire' for the Lord. They also had a great youth choir I wanted to put a video on so you could hear, but I can't get it to work. As you can see they have a keyboard! Here we are out in the middle of the bush literally and these people have a keyboard. They (the church) raised money themselves by digging one day a week to sell their produce and used the money to buy this keyboard and a small generator. It's really an amazing church. These people are refugees from mostly Rwanda and Congo so it's crazy when we go there having to translate between several different langauges, but God is definitely working there. Praise Him!

Just some of the hundreds of kids that came to look at the white people when we went to the refugee camp with the Union team. These kids are refugees from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia. They love to touch our skin and look at our cameras as well as surround us to where we almost can't breath sometimes and draw all over the cars. I think now I can relate to the life of a celebrity! (Photos courtesy of Union nursing team)

Mother and baby at refugee camp...I think this picture is so sweet.

My favorite pit latrine in Uganda....

Just a picture of my favorite pit latrine in Uganda. This is at one of our churches at the refugee camp about 1 1/2 hours from here. The reason it is my favorite pit latrine (that I've experienced so far) is that when you stand up everyone can see you because there is no roof and the walls stop at about my shoulders, the door (if you can call it that) doesn't shut, and most of all because there are maggots that you can see when the light shines down in the latrine. :)

Game Park...

Here are some pictures from our trip to the game park with the Union University nursing volunteer team. There were 8 total in the team, but 2 got sick and couldn't go. Here I am with some of the girls on top of the car as we were taking pictures of elephants. Fun times.

We left very early to go to the game park and saw this beautiful sunrise. The picture doesn't really show it, but the sun was huge! We have some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets here being on the Equator.

We saw so many elephants at the game park when I took the Union nursing team. We went to this open field where there where probably at least 20 elephants. A family crossed the road right behind our trucks.

The elephant in the last picture was by itself and did not look too happy to see us, especially Spencer who got out to take pictures and could have seen his last days had he gotten much closer!

Here is a cape buffalo with the 'enyangi' (white egrant) birds that I am named after here.


I was very excited to get this picture of a hippo "yawning" finally. For those of you that don't know...I am really intrigued by hippos. Maybe it's from all the years of playing 'Hungry, Hungry Hippos' as a kid. Here's a couple random facts for you....hippos can run at speeds up to 18km per hour and hold their breath for 5-6mins.

How a headlamp has changed my life....

If I had known how much a headlamp would have changed my life I would have asked someone to send one months ago! I know most of you back home are wondering why in the world I would be so excited about a headlamp...you may not even know what one is...but let me just tell you it's a great invention. As most of you know the power is turned off here every other day for 24 hours at a time. It's become life here so we make the best of it. I had been 'making it' with my candles and flashlights, but learned of the joys of using a headlamp from my supervisors the Peppers and asked my nursing team from Union (pictures to come from that soon I hope) to bring one out for me. My headlamp has 3 different lights (red for night vision, LED which is brighter and more concentrated, and a normal flashlight) and the light can be titled while on my head to make for the best possible angle! I know most of you still don't understand why a headlamp would change my life but let me just explain.... 

Top 10 uses for a headlamp in Uganda when there's no power: 

1. when cooking 

2. when reading/writing 

3. when putting on makeup 

4. when trying to start my generator 

5. when eating (it's hard to see your food by candlelight!) 

6. when trying to lock up my doors at night 

7. when hooking up/taking down my inverter (powers a lamp, etc. from my car battery) 

8. when typing on the computer (sometimes you need to see what you are typing) 

9. when doing household chores 

10. when walking around my house in general 

The main thing is, the headlamp frees up my hands so I can be more productive during power outages. I used to always hold my flashlight in my mouth...which was so annoying (especially as I began to drool all over the flashlight). Anyways I highly recommend headlamps especially to all of you out there who live in countries where you have frequent power outages...it WILL change your life, I promise! :)

Discipleship group

Monday we went to visit our patient Namudu (with flowered shirt in the middle) and she and 4 of her family/neighbors got saved. Friday we went back to begin some discipleship with them. Praise God they all showed up and 2 others (this old man and another women who also claim to be saved)! It was difficult to make them understand that now they are saved they cannot be taken out of God's hand and lose their salvation. Due to the Anglican influence here they believe that you must confess every sin you commit in order to 'keep your salvation'. I tried to explain that we are by nature sinful and sin all the time, without even realizing it sometimes. And if we had to confess every single sin we commit in order to stay saved then we'd be spending every second of every day on our knees! When we realize that salvation is fully a work of God then we can be assured that He will preserve us till the end. Phil 1:6 ,John 10:27-30, Rom 8:16, Rom 11:29 (just to name a few). :) We will continue meeting with them each Friday. Please pray that this group will come to understand the fullness of God's grace and gift of salvation. Pray that they will continue to be eager to learn and to bring others. Pray that God will guide me in what discipleship strategies to use (only one person in this group can read).

Words of Hope visits

This picture was taken at a house where we went to do homevists. These are the children/grandchildren of our patient. The girl in this picture is 14 years old and that is her baby she is holding. Her 'husband' left her so now she is living with her parents again. Her mother is our patient...the father is muslim and has several wives, but hasn't tested for HIV yet. The boy in the brown shirt is the father's son from another wife...the one in the overalls is the mother of the 14 year old girl's son. Are you confused yet? This is very typical of families here. Everyone lives together and it's often hard to figure out who is really related. It's so sad to think this girl, younger than my brother, has a baby. You would think she was my age from the way she acts. There's not a lot of 'being a kid' here....kids work hard and grow up fast. These little boys were so cute as they played together on the dirt floor of their house. The one in the overalls kept hugging his mother, who was covered in mud from digging in the plantation....it was sweet.

Have you ever locked your keys under the hood of your car?

This past week I did something pretty dumb. Every other day here we don't have electricity so I have this thing called an 'inverter' that I hook up to my car battery and I can run an extension cord into my house and charge my computer, phone, run a lamp, fan, or a few other basic things (the things I've learned in Uganda...I sure didn't know what an inverter was before!). It usually lasts 2-3 hours before completely draining my battery. So this past Sunday night we were having a bad storm and my alarm was sounding that my car battery was now dead. So I ran out to unhook my inverter and accidentally locked my keys under the hood of my car! Not only that but one of the inverter cables got stuck under the hood as I was shutting it. Since it was night and it was raining there wasn't much I could do. I just tied a plastic bag around the cable and waited till morning. Then I called Barry, my teammate, and he brought our mechanic and a guy who specializes in locks (i guess sort of like a lock-smith). Here they are trying to 'break into' my car. They pried open my window then used a coat hanger to unlock my door. I've had experiences locking keys in cars before (like the time when I was about 11 and I locked my baby brother in our van with it running a few days before Christmas), but this was a first to lock my keys under my hood! Just another 'fun' story of life in Africa.

flying wet kisses.....

Guys....take note and learn from the master poet who sent me this 'sweet' sms (text message) tonight! It said....

"Yes seetie gd nite flying wet kisses but we don't have power till we meet"

I know most of you girls are jealous out there. It pretty much made my day. I didn't recognize the number so I don't know who the sender was....a secret admirer, someone playing a joke on me, or a wrong number. Who knows? I think my favorite part is the line about not having power...gotta love Uganda :)

These roads we travel....

Pictures don't really do justice of our road conditions here. They've gotten even worse over the past couple months due to the rainy season. It's been said you could lose a small child in some of these 'ruts'. The picture above is the major road going to my house. After the roads get so bad someone (i don't know who) comes and dumps a load full of clay bricks down to fill in the holes. Interesting, huh? The bottom picture is a backway to my house, but cars can't pass this way anymore, haven't been able to for several months cause there is a huge pile of rocks/bricks in the way. And then there is a big pit where water lines are surfacing.

I just wish they would tear up the sections of the road that still have some concrete, make them all dirt and grate them. But then the rains will come and just make it bad again. Oh well....that's life here in Uganda.

Girls Night In....

This past Friday I had some of the university student girls over to my house for a sleepover. It had been a while since they had come over. We had spaghetti and I made fudgesicles from scratch (oh the things I've learned in Africa :) and then watched movies til the 'wee' hours of the morning. Fun times.