Safari

We went up north to do a safari and boy was it an adventure it was. We traveled long roads that we dirt for about 4 hours and it was so fun to see the way of live in the rural areas of Uganda. I loved it. I have decided that I am country girl. We arrived at our hotel and spent the night and then got up early to go Chimp tracking in the forest. We picked up our guide named Julius he wore a red coat that the chimps were familiar.We had to be very quiet as we looked for them. It was amazing to hear them pound their chest and scream. We saw about three chimps and watched one for about a half hour. Eric and Julius went off to see some other ones and then we were attacked by safari ants. They bite and it hurts. Hannah had ants in her pants. We were trying to find our way out but we couldn't find it. Finally Eric and Julius found us because of the cries from us. They said that they were tracking the Smith family instead of the Chimps. When we got out Julius said that he thought the Chimps would be gone now. It was a memory never to be forgotten. We were in sugar caned fields and so the children ate sweet sugar cane. We then went to leave Julius at his home before he left Tim gave him a book of mormon and told him we were Christian. He then came around to me and took my hand and asked are you a Christian too. I said yes. He then looked into my eyes and said then We are related through blood. A powerful statement because we are truly related through the blood of our Savior. The area that we were in the church had not been established. It was fun to watch Tim bring a stack of book of mormons and give them out to these sweet people. I want to serve a mission there in the villages up north. Eric says I have lots of places that I went to serve.
The next day we went on a ferry across the Nile to a Game drive. It was fun to see so many giraffes about 15 so close. I love to watch them in the wild instead of a zoo. They are so pretty in their natural habitat. We saw lots of water buffulos, gazelles, dick dicks, baboons, and then we saw one lone male elephant in the road. we waited for a long time to pass him. Finally Tim started to move closer to him but he turned and his ears went out and he stated that this was his territory. We backed out slowly. Elephants are known to charge when upset. We then ended up seeing a big pack of elephants with babies. It was so fun we loved it.
We were grateful to be home safe and it felt like we were coming home

Pictures

International day at School

We attended international day at the children's school and helped with the activities. They had a parade with each of the countries that the children are from. Each group had a sign with the name of the country that they were from. It was so neat to see the children walk around from all these different countries. It brought tears to my eyes as I saw Jewish children and Pakastian children all together. We then helped in the American tent and made popcorn necklaces and other things. They had other tents from Africa, Europe ect and the children went to each of the tents. Eric came with us and we had a great day. The children are becoming familiar with three different levels of life. Their school is made up of mostly very wealthy children and at home we are middle class and then the ward members here are very poor. It is and eye opening experience for them. On Sunday a sweet young woman wanted us to visit her home as we walked in to a one room small house. There were two beds, a table and a couch in the small room and she handed us a hand made basket. It touched my children as they had nothing but gave us such a nice gift. I wish I could help more but know that giving them money is not the way to make a lasting difference in their lives. I feel that they need the gospel and teachings of the self reliant. On Sunday they showed the World wide Leadership after church. So we were at church for 9 hours. It reminds me of my mission days. Our sweet children sacrifice so much and I see that each are growing in different ways. Cariel taught young women's and Liza is working with the young women with Personal Progress. Er continues to do missionary work.

Missionaries

We had a small group of members over last night to have a party for Douglas( a young man who will leave on Friday for a mission. Eric had wanted to have a party for him so he and a few older young men came to prepare. Martin is about thirty and Paul is the same. They started at about 11am going to the market and buying meat and other supplies. The ugandan culture is big on meat. I was talking to Martin and said but the meat has flies on it and he repeated that yes it does have flies on it and bought it anyway. I had to laugh. He said that it would be fine because they had been eating it since they were little. Needless to say we only watched them eat it. They cooked all afternoon until about six. Then we waited for the quests to arrive. Douglas got here and we all yelled surprise. He was so happy. He is from Rwanda and all his family were killed in the genocide. He joined the church a year and a half ago and now leaves on Friday. When he got here we thought we would just yell surprise and eat, but then started the program. My children looked at me in horror they were starving at this time. Oh no not another long meeting, I just smiled. It was a nice program and then we played a game or two that Eric started. It was interesting to watch them play American games. Then we ate. They love to eat may be because they don't eat often. After dinner then the second half of the program began. Hannah fell asleep, Cariel and Mckay disappeared into their rooms. It was so sweet to hear the songs they sang with great feeling( we had brought small hymn books that we ha purchased at the BYU Lost and Found Sale) Then they bore testimonies and then we sang God be with you till we meet again. Tears filled their eyes. The spirit was so strong and all were strengthened.
Another missionary that I love is my Liza Jane. Today in her French class they started to watch a PG-13 movie. She quietly went up to the teacher and asked if she could leave. The teacher looked at her for about 5 minutes Liza said it felt like. She then turned on the lights and turned off the movie and continued to look at Liza at this point all the other kids were wondering what was going on and staring at Liza. She asked again if she could just leave. The teacher finally said for her to find another class. It was a very difficult thing for a young 13 year old to do but when she came home and told us with tears in her eyes it was sweet to watch her siblings rally around her and say that she was a hero in their eyes and a great missionary to those around her. I am grateful for children who stand up when things are hard.

International School

The children are finally in school now. I have loved having them home but they were getting a little lazy and bored. The first day I went in with them. The parents all go to the cafeteria and have cake and tea while the traffic dies down. I went into the cafeteria and saw two tables of whites and then a table with 5 blacks on it. I went and sat by the black table and they were a little surprised that I set by them. They were all from Kenya and when I told them it was my first day here they said Oh we understand. The whites never sit with us. I felt so bad. We had a great talk about Christ and the importance of raising children with great values. There was a pastor there and he and I talked for about an hour. It was great and then they asked what church I belong too. I told them the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Then they started asking about the our doctrine.They said that there was a church built in Kenya. I think that they were surprised that I was a christian and had so many of the same believes. I was able to bear my testimony about our young missionaries and tell them that I had a son that would leave soon. It was a terrific experience.
The children have been adjusting to school. There are many different cultures and nationalities here. There is a lot of swearing that the children are not use to. And that is very hard on the older ones. Liza has even asked some of them to be careful and not swear. Hannah seems to love her class. She has a little German girl that she has become friends with. She swims 3 times a week in a huge pool. Mckay has a young boy from the Netherlands that he likes. They have cooking class for him once a week and he swims too. I was talking to Mckay's teacher telling her that the older ones were worried about the drinking and partying that goes on at this school. She stated that it is is just normal and we should expect it. Teenagers will be teenagers. I was saddened by that response. It made me so grateful for the quidence we get in raising children and knowing that most children will rise to what we expect of them. Families are so important. I am so grateful for great kids and I love being a mother. Best Job ever.
Tim and I spent the day in Kampala, It was the first time in 6 weeks I had been shopping in a store. We had a fun time we ran into the couple missionaries in the store. They were so cute this is their second mission and are doing so much good. We then went to the Stake Center to get supplies. Things were very cheap. We ran into another couple missionary there too. They were younger and had been on two missions with only 9 months in between. It made me so excited to serve with Tim in the future.
Tim and I went hometeaching yesterday to a sweet lady that lives far way and uses all her money to get to church. It is amzing the dedication of these members.

To the Village

We went to the village today and boy was that an experience.We were going out to help a non profit organization child2youth. They wanted me to talk about the benefits of educating young children. We left Makono at about 8:30 am and travel for 2 hours. It was very pretty. I love the country side better then the city and all the traffic. (that has been the hardest thing for me to get use to is the crazy driving). The roads were very bumpy and the children felt like they were on a roller coaster. We got there and there were about 10 people milling around. We soon had 80 people there wanting to see white people. We waited for about 30 minutes and then started the meeting. It went for 4 hours and I only talked about 10 minutes. I was amazed that the people could sit there that long. They had children sitting still the whole time. Needless to say my children could not stand it and about half way through they all disappeared. I am amazed the children can just sit for that long. It is because they have nothing else to do. They fixed dinner for us and that was nice. The people of Uganda love education but the love of learning is not instilled in the child. It is as if education has become an idol. I could see in the faces of the mothers a desire for what is best for their children. It seems that is a universal thing. Each child was called up and told their scores in front of the whole group and then told that they needed to do better. My children sat in awe and were very grateful that they live in the states and that there grades are not announced over the loud speaker at school.

Hannah the guaba eater

Hannah came home today singing down the road. I went out to meet her. She had a big smile on her face and said "Mom have you ever eaten a Guaba, I have been eating them all day" She showed me the inside of one and explained how it looked like a brain. She told me had had been climbing trees with two of her friends Ellie and Charolette picking Guabas. She was so fun to watch as she explained about her great day. She really loves it here. Her little friends are darling and they just play and play. This is a magical place for a child. Liza on the other hand came home yesterday night saying that some Ugandans had given her a guava and she hated it. Hannah told her that she needed to peel it first. I quess the Ugandans don't do that. Liza loves it here she is always playing sports here. It is like we have a tennis court, basketball court and a soccer court all in our back yard.

Mar 6th

We have seen small miracles in our short time here and realize the Lord's hands on our lives. The children went to visit a international school and attended one day. They liked it and the other kids asked where they were from and when they said Utah they were immediately known as the mormans. The other kids were quite interested in the fact that they were mormans and started asking questions. We found out that the price would be 47,000 dollars for the 4 children for 3 months. The Fullbright Scholarship will only pay 25,000 for children to attend schools. The children were alittle sad about not being able to go. They wanted to be missionaries there. So we wrote a letter and said that we only have 25,000 dollars they wrote back and said that the price would be 34,000 dollars then. Tim talked to them and said we really only have that amount. They called back and said then 26,000 would work. Tim said no and about 10 minutes latter they called back and said all could come for 25,000. We consider it a miracle and are very grateful for that.
Tim has been doing alot of home teaching because of the cost of transport people do it do it. He visited one lady who had been a member for 5 years and Tim had been her first home teacher.
I am loving the simplicity of life here and know that it will end when we start school next week. We get up do home school have lunch go and play basketball or tennis as a family. Hand washing our clothes, cooking dinner from scratch together( They have limited ingredients. so it seems that we have the same thing every three days)At least it is better then what the Ugandans eat the same thing everyday all three meals. We also bake bread every day since the children eat so much of that. We feel like we are the little house on the piarie family in Uganda. It has been fabulous for our family to just laugh and talk and play games together. We hope that we are accomplishing what the Lord sent us to do.

Feb 28

We are feeling blessed by this great experience living here in Africa. We usually have someone for dinner so I am getting used to adding another plate. The other night we had the missionaries (one from Kenya, one from South Africa and two from Uganda) It was a wonderful time as they each talked about their country but still feeling great pride in being African. Sundays are very busy we are at church for about 6 hours and that makes it long for the children. This week there were 7 people baptized after the block of meetings. I had to laugh as Hannah and I walked to church (about 1 and half mile each way) it was so hot and she feel and got her skirt dirty but never complained. When we got at the church she looked like a swetty rag doll. The children have been so positive and up beat. It has been a joy to be with them. I love holding their hands and walk with them and talk with them. The traffic is very scary and so I hold on pretty tight. We walked into the market today as a family and the children had a great learning experience as they saw poverty and raw meat with flies on it, small children with no clothes but smiles from the heart. The people here love Eric because is trying to learn their language and will stop and talk to everyone. I went to two different fellowship meetings one was here on campus and the president’s wife talked to us about keeping children morally clean. It was like a relief society lesson out of the strength of youth. They are such Christian people here. The other fellowship was an international group of woman. One of the woman had just had her first baby in Sept and so it was a small baby shower. Each of us were to bring a gift. I was surprised to see the small room we entered that was her home and then we each put our gifts in a bag I was humbled when I saw a bag of salt and a bag of rice and other small gifts of food. They were things of necessity and need.