Our original flight was scheduled to begin loading at 11:50pm, at 11:45pm they announced our flight was cancelled due to a technical problem. So by 12:30am they led us all back through customs, back to baggage claim and loaded many buses to a hotel they provided. About 1 hour of loading and waiting, we got into our hotel room around 1:30am.
After pleasant sleep, we just finished breakfast the hotel provided. The hotel will provide lunch as well. Overall, we are grateful how KLM airlines is taking care of us. This hotel has a bunch of shops around it, so we will spend some time exploring and resting today.
The new flight they gave us travels through Dubai instead of Amsterdam. We will leave Entebbe airport tonight, Monday, May 6 @ 7:35pm and should arrive in San Francisco Tuesday, May 7 @ 2:00pm. A little change of plans, but a different route home is always fun. Nicki has never been to the Dubai airport, so with a 7 hour layover, we should have plenty of time to explore.
Today was another day to celebrate our marriage. The Lord has been so kind to us, may we faithfully love our Savior as he first loved us. The way I can love my Savior is by obeying his command to love my wife as he loves the church. This has to be the best command ever, to love this women! The challenge is to be loving to the standard of the Lord Jesus. I most gladly will spend the rest of my life seeking wisdom and strength from the Lord to do just that. Praise the Lord for the gift of marriage and the gift of Nicki! I am grateful for spending this day having rest and enjoying this beautiful place with this beautiful women.
Today is our final day in Uganda. Our flight leaves Entebbe on Monday, May 6 @ 12:30am. With one stop in Amsterdam, we will land in San Francisco in 21 hours and 15 minutes on Monday, May 6 @ 11:45am.
Today we have had much rest. It has been a sweet and rich day with Nicki. The hotel provides an extensive breakfast, which made for a relaxing morning chatting and unwinding from the week. On the way back to our room from breakfast, I discovered this map showing the annual accumulation of rain and prevailing winds. It is pretty clear why there are so many jungle trees on the equator.
After lunch we ventured out to National Theater, where they have over 40 vendors selling Ugandan goods. Then from there we went to the Ugandan Museum. Always a joy to learn history with Nicki. We both love to learn what happened in the past. Here is a picture of Nicki next to all the ancient head dresses of Uganda.
Driving around Kampala, at one point we had a clear view of the skyline. Believe it or not, Kampala has a bunch of tall buildings.
Today we said goodbye to everyone at SOS. We had a full and fruitful week, so grateful for all the people we got to know here at SOS.
Today was the last morning for the two daily book studies. The youth remarkably completed reading the entire book "Live Smart" and we finished the discussion. They were all grateful for having gone through it. The thoughtfulness of their comments and the receptivity of everyone was remarkable. Praise God for the godly families these youth are in. As we finished, we took a group picture of all the Hurley kids and Stapanian kids together. The second book study was with the book "Gospel People" and a group of 6 young fathers diving deeper to the structure of what it means to be gospel people.
This was the crew that worked with me for the whole week. They were great learners and especially at the end, lifting and cutting the fig tree I left for them to clean up. May the Lord continue to strengthen these guys for the kingdom of God and maybe for some to be future tree climbers!
After saying farewell, we got to spend a breakfast with Shannon and Danelle Hurley. Always a joy and time of learning. Then Chris our driver was there to pick us up to bring us to Kampala. The missionaries recommended Latitude 0 Degrees hotel, where we will stay a couple days to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. On the way out of SOS I took a picture of Legacy school. The first buildings are the primary school buildings and the second group to the left are the high school.
It is interesting to see all the villages getting closer to Kampala. In downtown Kampala, there is a very nice building that publishes and distributes NIV Bibles. I was impressed with the prominence of the building. Though in a country of 50-60 million people (50 who register on the census and likely at least 10 million who don't), most the country is under the sway of the prosperity gospel. You can't go a couple minutes without a car with printing on it that says "Trust in Jesus". But it is a false gospel that wants Jesus to help with their poverty, but not a Jesus to rule their lives.
Today we finished all the needed tree work. All the power lines are clear and we even removed a few additional trees. The picture below is a very large fig tree that was in decline. It had many dead branches that the tree regularly dropped. Since it was out in the open, it was easy enough to drop most of the branches. There were a few trees adjacent, but with the right angle cut, the branches went around those trees.
With this tree done, the Basaba family (one of the missionaries) asked if I could remove some trees growing over there cocoa plants. They had a local Uganda man remove a tree last week and when falling the tree it damaged many cocoa plants. So the best way to remove the trees is one branch at a time instead of falling them. There was about 12 trees that needed removal, but I was able to show the grounds keeper how to safely remove 3 trees without damage. He said he would look into getting his own climbing gear. They also grow pineapple (just to eat) and vanilla beans.
Of course we plan to buy souvenirs for our kiddos, family and friends. But instead of spending money at a public store in Kampala, there are women who make many things here. Years ago it started with 4 women working every Tuesday morning. Now every Tuesday there are 60 women who come and make crafty things. Rogers, who manages the shop, says they have gotten to be very good at making all of this. Each item has a tag on it and 100% of the proceeds goes to the woman who made the item.
Wednesday was another day working with Stapanian boys (the two men from the maintance crew were on public holiday). Most of our work has focused on clearing the power lines. Some trees were already touching the lines and other trees I cut to make space for years to come. Across the road from SOS property are many houses and shops. Because SOS brought power to their facility, for all the houses adjacent to the road, SOS kindly supplied power lines to the village. Therefore if their power trips, so does SOS. Here are a few pictures of some of the houses and families near the lines we were trimming. Some of the trees have been very tall. Below is a clip of a tree across the road that had a few branches growing downward close to the lines.
We finished most of the lines along the round right before lunch and before the rain came. It was a 10 minute walk from the last tree we completed, and it was already raining as we walked. It rained the full lunch hour, but it mellowed off in the afternoon so we were able to continue on. This is the truck that delivers the lunch from the kitchen. Today it waited until we finished eating before it took the plates and Shaffer dishes back to the kitchen. If SOS didn't make lunch (for normally 900 people a day), most of these people would normally eat Jack Fruit (see picture). By my observation, all the Jack Fruit trees are full of ripe unpicked Jack Fruit as everyone around here is so well fed. Todays lunch was beans and rice. I do not usually eat much lunch, so I haven't been able to eat less then half of my lunch each day. Since today was a holiday, most the crews were off, but for those who worked, everyone gets a soda with lunch! This is their version of ginger ale. Tangawizi is Swahili for ginger. They also had coke or grape soda to choose from.
Near the end of the day, John-Paul asked if I could cut down three trees in his backyard. They are some type of locust tree, as the trunk and all the branches had sharp thorns on them. After a prickly climb, I limbed the top of each tree and left the rope in the tree after I lowered down. Then the boy's pulled in the direction we wanted them to fell and away they went.
Before heading to the Basaba's house on campus for dinner, we went the Basaba's ranch up the road. Then up in the next village, we visited Danny's ranch, about a half mile north of SOS. A most impressive place. He has been there 4-5 years on 1.5 acres. It is amazing what he has done. During Covid19 he built his whole house out of bricks he made. He has planted all over his property banana's, vanilla, coffee, and many more. He also raises pigs! All this on the side as he is a primary teacher at Legacy. His wife Winnie makes tortilla's and other things for the missionaries. A very industrious family. They have two adorable children.
FYI. There are a few videos from Saturday's wedding and Sunday worship I missed publishing. If you go back, they should be available.
The time here in Uganda has been full to say the least. Since arriving on Saturday, we have had a detailed schedule we have kept. Most of what I have posted has been from my (Sam's) perspective. Yesterday Nicki sent me some of her pictures. Here are some highlights from what Nicki did while I was off doing tree work.
Sunday was our second day here and knowing jet leg takes its toll, the missionaries left the day to be open and restful for us. That said, I was still able to read the 8 Adam Racoon books we brought to the Hurley's children after lunch. Nicki was chatting with Danelle Hurley most the time while I read. Then after reading and lunch we went back to our house and slept a few hours before dinner (jet leg was calling).
Monday-Friday the Hurley family and the Stapanian family all accepted the challenge to read the book "Live Smart" by Dan Dumas. It is 3-4 chapters a day to complete it this week. Most impressively they have all kept up with the reading! There is about 20 students ages 10-25 that come every morning from 7:30-8:30am as we discuss the chapters. It has been truly a blessed time as these godly young men and women add still more wisdom to their lives. In the discussion they all ask such good questions and offer up the most profound comments. It has been a joy to spend each morning with them. Nicki joins us as well and took the picture. Later on Monday Nicki spent the day at the Hurley's helping with laundry, making fresh bread and helping Danelle and her daughters with chores.
Tina, the Hurley's eldest daughter at home, spent a couple hours giving Nicki a tour of the campus. Construction on the new worship center continues. With 5-6 buildings on the campus all being worked on simultaneously, there is usually 3-4 men working on the worship center each day. You can see they raised up another large section and were getting it lines up to attach.
Tuesday Nicki spent the day with Sarah Stapanian. Part of the day she was at their house making bread and cinnamon rolls. But on Tuesday Sarah has a weekly women's study she leads at a local village. So Nicki walked with them to the village and joined in their study. Most homes grow some sort of crop for an income. Banana trees are everywhere and here is how they dry coffee before they sell it to coffee vendors.
