Thanksgiving day.....

It is so different to be in a foreign country and have it be an American holiday. It is hot and rainy here so I forget that it is Fall/winter back home, and that was always a reminder of what holidays were about to be.

We had a potluck dinner here in Karamoja with everyone who was here, Chrissie and her parents where at Sipi falls. That was nice and then we gave thanks for things in our lives and sang songs and talked for awhile. Monday most of us will drive to Mbale for our Turkey dinner with the whole mission, at the Proctors' house. After that we will have a mission meeting and then we will drive to Kampala on Tuesday afternoon to take Bob and Linda to the airport.

The Wrights, Amy, Donna, Chrissie and Ed will continue from Kampala on to Murchinson Falls, in the western part of Uganda, and go to a big game park for a few days. The Tricarico family and the Eldeens will return to Karamoja so we can return to work. And keep an eye on the compounds.

Speaking on keeping an eye on things, the clinic has had many things stolen lately. Over a weekend someone got on to the compound, which has a chain link fence with barbed wire on top and 2 guards, and stole all the pots and pans and knives and thermos from the clinic kitchen. Of course no one saw or heard any thing and the guards say that they were certainly awake, but yet saw nothing. The hut that holds all these supplies has a space in between the roof and the top of the wall which is less than 10 inches high, so he must have been very skinny in order to squeeze though the opening. This is the second time things have been stolen from this hut, the last time it was a full 20 liter jerry can (plastic 10 gallon jug) of cooking oil. And again the guards saw nothing or heard nothing. They paid for the oil and this time will also pay for the supplies that were taken. This hut is only a short distance from where they sit and guard at night!!!

This morning after devotions, one of the guards who was on duty last night, spoke up and told us about a tent that had been stole from a truck that was stuck on the road a few hundred yards from the clinic. A person well know to the mission and one of the off duty clinic guards were hired to watch the truck while the driver and his companion went to get petrol and repairs. Under the cover of darkness these two stole all they could from the truck, and took the tent (or canvas cover for the box of the truck) and brought it to the clinic to keep for them until they could return to take it home to their village. The two who were on duty at the clinic refused to let them in to stash stolen property. There was a period of time where the canvas was repeatedly thrown over the fence and then thrown back again in refusal. Finally the guards on the inside decided to keep the canvas on the inside and turn it over to me in the morning. When the two men showed up early this AM to retrieve their loot, the two guards would not let them in, so they left. We are now waiting for the driver to return for his truck so we can return the canvas to him. This also means I must find another guard to replace the one who stole the canvas. And the driver of this stuck truck paid these two men to guard his truck, little did he know he was paying them to steal everything they could get their hands on!!!!

The Rain.....

It has been raining for the last 7-8 days and we have had over 5 inches of rain. The roads are terrible and a lot of heavy trucks are stuck in the mud. We had a hard time just getting to Numalu on Wednesday for market day, only 12 km away. The drivers of the big trucks are not from Uganda so they don't know how to drive in these conditions. Most of the drivers in Uganda don't really seem to know how to drive anyway!!!!! But they truly don't know how to drive on muddy roads.

We are using candles most nights, as our power is down from the lack of sun to charge the batteries. I have learned how to cook in the dark or by candle light, and if we don't move the furniture around too much we can get around the house in the dark. It is bad for email, as all the computers need to be charged and our batteries are old and don't hold the charge well, we lack charging power and the main house has many people that use that source. It is just another challenge of the provisions of the Lord and how we think we know what is best. We either want the rain and therefore have no sun or we only want the dry sunny weather and no rain for the crops and other plants......so we can have power. Will we ever be completely happy??????

Later..