Asifwe Bwana Yesu, Kwa Mataifa Yote

This means - Praise the Lord with all your life!

This was a song that we sang at church. It is actually Swahili - and not Luganda that is spoken around Kampala. It's our prayer that we do manage to live out this song this week - despite the frustrations of life! There seem to have been plenty to frustrate us this week. The internet has been particularly bad, and of course as IT manager - it comes to haunt Laurie. It hasn't been a problem at MAF end but further up the chain - but nonetheless it has been rather a burden for Laurie this week.

Another frustration is our car (still in Kenya). It is meant to be coming back from Kenya soon - hopefully today. I'm having a hard time trusting into the hands of people we don't know at all! We pray that the roads have been clear and that the driver (and car) have been safe.

Yesterday I went to see a performance to celebrate 10 years of a project here in Kampala called Tigers Club that works with street children. They had some wonderful dancers as part of the performance. I'm attaching a video of them. It's really quite impressive! You'd never realise that bottoms could wiggle that fast!

Also, yesterday a kwangela (Ugandan Introduction Ceremony) happened next door to us. This is like an elaborate engagement party of sorts. We watched as a big truck holding lots of chairs and sound system went up the drive! From experience we knew that we could be in for a loud night. As part of the celebration the families give each other gifts. A cow (one of the presents) was parked outside our house for a time before he was offered (still alive) to the family. We were very grateful that the party ended by 10pm!

Laurie Returns! (and other stories)

Laurie arrived back from S. Africa by a commercial flight last night. He said he saw some amazing scenery - the patchwork quilt of fields of Tanzania, the rose gardens of Malawi, the very full rivers of Mozambique and the busyness of the airspace in South Africa. By the time he got home, he'd had chance to do some shopping at the amazing shopping malls. So, on the whole it was a good trip. Thanks so much for your prayers!

The plane is now going to be resprayed in South Africa. Before it left, our engineers had some fun 'decorating' it. You will probably have to click on the photo below to read what it says.

When the spray job is finished with the standard MAF logo and style, Laurie will go down to do the reverse journey.

Bethany had her first piano lesson yesterday. On a scale of 1 - 10 where 10 is 'as fun as playtime' and 0 is 'as fun as having an injection' - she rated it an 8. Not bad! She's got a fantastic teacher called Paul from the Kampala Music School. She has also been working on her recorder, and can read some basic music now.