Last week's update...a little late!

So I realized today that I hadn’t posted my thoughts from last week so here they are!

Well, school is off to a fast & furious start!  It has been challenging & wonderful!  Even in the first few days we’ve seen students with attitudes & a wall up with us new teachers warm up and start sharing their lives with us.  I am really excited to be back in the classroom!  I feel like God is already using me to connect with the students.  Yesterday, at the end of class I thanked the students for working hard and then I said “Kamsahamnida” (thank you in Korean) one of my students who is struggling to speak English.  He turned and gave me the biggest smile!  It made my whole day! 

There have been challenging moments as well.  I have the 12^th grade students for devotions first thing in the morning!  They are ALL asleep I think! J Kind of like my high school Sunday school students!!!

My classes range in size, the 8^th grade is the largest classes with 18 and 10^th only has 7 students.  I am really excited about the 8^th grade curriculum studying prehistory thru the 1800s.  It is really fascinating and I’m already thinking up all sorts of fun learning activities to do with them.  The 8^th graders have such a positive attitude and are so excited about learning!  I love it!

On another note, my belly is growing by the day and I can never eat enough!  Sheesh!  It is so fun to feel our little boy swimming all over.  

The other day Ernie came into my class to make an announcement about soccer and as soon as he started talking the baby started moving.  He knows his daddy’s voice!  Made me teary!  WOW!  So all is good with the baby.

Here are a few random pictures from the past week:

Dinner with teachers at the Samurai Restaurant

A Kampala Sunset

Me and our friend Florence

2 weeks ago we had movie night!

First day of school!

As I looked around the room this morning, I could tell that all the other the other new teachers were feeling the exact same things that I was… nervous, excited, terrified, pumped up, full of butterflies, elevated heart rates... you name it we felt it!  It was go time!  School has officially started!

The cafeteria was full of children as we opened up the school year with an all school assembly.  I was amazed at what my eyes were taking in as I looked around… the students were every shade of color given to mankind!  When they say “International School” they mean it!  Wow!  I believe that every continent except Antarctica was represented in that one cafeteria today.  It didn’t take long, though, to realize that students share a lot of similarities no matter what part of the world they come from.  Over on one side of the cafeteria all of the grade school children were filing into the room in single file lines.  Each of those children had smiles on their faces and were SO EXCITED to be in school.  Whenever the speakers would ask questions from the front, little hands would shoot up in the air begging to answer the questions!  When we were singing praise songs to our Lord the little ones were shouting out to Him!  No wonder Jesus challenges us to be like little children… so full of life and passion and trust.

On the other side of the spectrum, though, were the middle and high school students.  Ever concerned about appearance and acceptance, these young people were a little more hesitant to volunteer an answer or to sing loud.  The funny thing is that deep inside teenagers want so bad to sing out and to not care what people think of them… it’s just a really challenging time of life.  They put up protective shells around themselves at first, but the amazing reward is that when they decide to trust and to buy in there is no one more powerful for the Lord’s kingdom than a teenager.  Abbey and I love working with these age groups and willingly accept the challenge of helping them reach their God-given potential.

As usually happens, once the school day started it flew so fast that I still can’t figure out what really happened today!  Before we blink it will already be Christmas break and my son will be getting ready to make his grand entrance into the world!  Our classes were pretty much just introductions today and to give you a little taste of the international flavor of our school (and to show how hard we are going to have to work to learn how to pronounce names) here are a sampling of a few of the first names of our students:  Uwe, Fanuel, Kang Hyun, Sanyu, Immaculate, Chedie, Efrance, Heron, Neamin, Batseba, and Njeru!  Awesome and beautiful names! 

Abbey and I finished off our first day of school by making an always exciting trip to the Uchimi grocery store to fill up on some supplies for the week.  We decided to splurge a little and buy some cheddar cheese tonight!  J  We had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce (the best we have had yet… it has taken awhile for us to figure out how to make the tomato paste less paste and more sauce!), green beans, sweet bread rolls and some amazing Fanta soda!  We are actually eating surprisingly very well here… the meals that they feed us at the school are unbelievable!

Anyway, we love and miss you all back home.  We appreciate your prayers more than you will ever know.  We also pray for all of you and hope that everything is going ok in your lives.  Please know that we are being treated wonderfully here and are making some amazing friends.  Each one of the staff members are wonderful, committed Christian people and are just a pleasure to be around.  We have already made some awesome memories and we haven’t even been here a month yet!  Goodnight and God bless you all.

In Jesus Christ,

Ernie

International Worship

Well folks, sorry about the radio silence but I’m back.  This is Abbey today. We’re actually working not just at summer camp!  So we’ve been lesson planning and in meetings all week.  Still having a great time but that’s why you haven’t heard as much from us lately.

But let me back up to the awesome weekend we had.  We went to two church services this past weekend.  On Saturday we went to Bunga Central Seventh Day Adventist Church.  We walked in and we were the ONLY two white people in the whole church of over 450 people.  It was awesome!!!!  We sang some great hymns that were familiar.  It was also Children’s day so the children did the whole service.  They sang and danced to special songs in English and Luganda (I think), did a drama and presented a message.  It was really neat.  After church a man who lives right behind our school invited us over for a snack.  Not only did we not have to walk home we spent some time getting to know a new friend & neighbor!  It was really a special day.  *I'll try to post pictures later, I'm struggling to get them off Ernie's iPod.  I need Stacia or Mark's help!

On Sunday we attended the church that meets at our school cafeteria.  The place was filled with people from all over the world, joining together in worship songs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  It was amazing to think that in heaven all believers, from all nations, will join together in worship and what an awesome day that will be!

I think that is the amazing thing about being a part of the Heritage community here is being in such an international community.  Last night we had a staff dinner and at our table at one point we had people from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Kenya!  Amazing!  We laugh when we try to pronounce things in each other’s languages (like Ernie trying to say “good night” in Dutch).  It has been so rewarding to journey with each other as we go through the ups and downs of all the idiosyncrasies of living in a new culture and doing things in a new way.

This week I’ve been feeling more of a purpose and more confident about living here.  At first there was the excitement of everything new and then the frustration of doing everything differently than I’m used to.  But little by little I feel small victories are being made.  We successfully navigated the Matatus, grocery shopping and the stove top.  (Not the gas oven without a thermometer though.)  So I think we’re going to be okay.  Though I do reserve the right to panic later!

So some of you have asked how the pregnancy is going…here’s the update.  I’m 21 weeks now and the baby (according to babycenter.com) is about 10 ½” long, as long as carrot.  He weighs about ¾ of a pound and he’s moving every day now.  No more vague fluttering but more like swimming motions in my belly.  I am just in awe. 

Thank you for all the prayers you’ve been sending!  Please keep them coming as we begin school on Monday.  Please pray for the staff and the students to have a great year and for the Lord’s name to be lifted high.  I haven’t gotten sick at all and Ernie had a little bout with tummy sickness but is better now.  If you could continue prayers for health (especially for the baby) as well it would be appreciated!  Also, if you could pray for some of the staff that is having a tough transition and some with illnesses that would be great too.

Boda-Bodas and Matatus!

Hello everyone!  I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!  We have been in Uganda for a little over a week now and are having a wonderful experience so far.  There is so much to get used to and so much to learn but we have great support and are making some awesome new friends.

We have quickly realized once again how much we take for granted in the States.  The list of luxuries that we all have is long but the one I want to tell you a little about today is transportation.  At home it is expected that most of us have a vehicle of some kind… and not just one per family.  We are expected to have at least one vehicle per person that drives.  In Kampala only the very rich have vehicles of their own.  Even most of the expats that are here seem to only have one vehicle per family if they are lucky! 

So, needless to say, the roads have a very different feel here!  Instead of the roads being filled with cars and trucks in a very organized manner traveling down the streets, ours are crazy!  There are people walking everywhere (including darting through the streets), some personal vehicles darting through, but mostly the roads are filled with boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) and matatus (van taxis)… and it is chaos!  Motorcycles are darting in and out and between cars and the matatus are honking and then pulling over everywhere to pick up new passengers.

Abbey and I (with a whole lot of help from the staff at the school) have taken on the task of figuring out the boda-boda systems and the matatu systems this week and are having a lot of fun doing it.  In a nutshell, here is how the system works… the boda-bodas will take you from anywhere to anywhere.  The drivers are everywhere and just about all of them offer you a ride.  It costs about 5,000 Ugandan Schillings (about $2 U.S.) for a one-way ride from our end of town to downtown (and the price increases or decreases based on the distance).  There are a lot of scams and bad drivers so the school has introduced us to some boda drivers who are trustworthy and safe.  We have a list of their names and phone numbers and we can call them and they will come wherever we are and pick us up!  My boda driver’s name is John and he is a very nice guy and a safe driver.  Here is a picture of us today after he brought me back from picking up some groceries at the Super Supermarket (I know… great name!)  Obviously, with Abbey being pregnant we have decided that the matatu is the much safer option for her.

The matatus run pretty similar to a public bus system in the U.S.  They have set routes and you have to give them the signal that you want them to pick you up when they pass by.  They are, by law, only supposed to carry a maximum of 14 people per matatu but we have figured out pretty quickly that this law is ignored.  Matatus will routinely have 17+ people in them.  It is the cheapest form of transportation as a ride from here to downtown will cost around 1,500 Ugandan Schillings (about $0.60 U.S.).  The matatus come from all over the city and converge on one massive taxi park downtown.  When you are ready to go back toward your end of town you come back to the park and overlook thousands of matatus all waiting to be filled with passengers.

Abbey and I took on the task today of finding our way to the correct matatu.  There are signs above each section of the massive lot and we kept asking drivers where the section of vans that go to “Kansanga” were and they kept pointing us further and further to the back of the park.  To add to the excitement, we were carrying groceries and packs in an amazing Ugandan downpour!  Oh, the excitement!  Finally, we found the correct matatu and waiting for the other 15 passengers to pack in like sardines and off we went!  It was actually all very exciting!

Well, there you go!  Appreciate your cars and your motorcycles and your garages… but every once in a while try to imagine what life would be like without them.  It’s a whole different adventure! 

Your brother in Jesus Christ,

Ernie

A few pictures of campus!

Here are a few pictures of our new school!

First Day of Orientation

Hello everyone! This is Ernie! Well, it's 4:01 a.m. here in Kampala and once again my body refuses to sleep for a full night. The jet lag has continued to whip our bodies around and I find myself wide awake around 2 a.m. every morning. Thank goodness that Abbey seems to be sleeping better tonight and so I snuck out and decided to write a little.
Yesterday was an unbelievably good day. It was the first day of new teacher orientation at the school and I was blown away at the quality of people that we were surrounded by all day. There were about 20 brand new staff members! I was shocked because I only expected around 20 TOTAL staff members at the school (I guess there are around 60)! The people that we met today were from Canada, The Netherlands, England, Uganda, Kenya, the Philippines, Finland and several of us from the good 'ol U.S.A.! The spirit of adventure and faith among the staff members was off the charts. Abbey and I both felt very blessed and inspired for the coming school year.
The morning started with worship and general school topics and was followed by a tour of the school campus grounds. Heritage International School has been guided by some amazing visionaries and it is a beautiful oasis. I, of course, was pretty pumped up that they seem to value athletics pretty highly here. There are soccer pitches (I refuse to call soccer "football" like everyone else here does), basketball courts (outdoor of course), volleyball courts and a brand new PE office and supply building that is scheduled to be completed by the first day of school.
Later in the morning we were taken by bus into downtown Kampala. I am amazed at how beautiful this city is. There are seven hills that surround the area and all are filled with green trees and red roofs! We were taken to a shopping mall area called Garden City where we were able to purchase our new little cell phones and internet sticks so that we can eventually have internet in our apartment. We had lunch in a "food court" in the mall and I wish that you all could experience the chaos that was involved in that! Instead of picking which restaurant you want and going up to the window to order, everyone just sits down and the people bring the menus to you. They are all very competitive and want your business so they open the options right in front of you and stare at you hoping you will order from them! The options were plentiful, including Lebanese food, Italian food, Chinese food and some good old fashioned fish and chips. Abbey and I both ordered some delicious Italian food as I stared out over a gorgeous 18 hole golf course that was right next to the mall. I'm hoping to get to play a round or two out here this year.
We ended the evening by all hanging out at a place called the "Heritage House" where some of the teachers live. It was a wonderful time of getting to know the other new staff members better and watching the Olympics together! It is amazing to hear each person's story of how God has called them to come and serve in Uganda. Everyone's story is unique and wonderful. We serve an amazing and powerful God who's methods and ways can sometimes be mysterious. Abbey and I aren't sure why He has called our hearts so strongly to Kampala but we are excited to obey and to live passionately for Him here.
We love and miss you all greatly. The really hard part about following God's call in your life is that sometimes it requires that you have to leave those that you love and cherish so much. I must keep reminding myself that this world is not our home. This is only a short and temporary place and someday Jesus will come back and take us home. I look forward to that day when we can all be together with our Savior and with each other and never have to say goodbye again. In the meantime, though, there are so many who don't know yet about the transforming and life-saving love of our Father. I challenge each of you to live your lives totally sold out for Him. This world is not our home...
Your brother in Jesus Christ,
Ernie

Here are a few pictures to get you started

 Visiting the Olympic Village

Visiting the London sites!

Welcome to our kitchen

The bathroom...very important!

Our room

The living/ dinning room

Coming soon...the baby's room!

More photos to come soon!

Our Journey to Kampala

Mist. Red earth. Cries from unusual birds mixed with the soft mooing of a cow. Roosters crow to the sun, "Wake up! Don't you know it's morning in Kampala?!?"

A few of the observations I (Abbey) have made this moring. Wide awake at 2am under your mosquito netting you take in a lot of new sounds. But let me back up a bit...

We arrived yesterday in Kampala, from Seattle via London. We had a 9 hour layover in the Olympic host town and we were able to take the tube to the East end to view the Olympic village & stadiums. We couldn't get too close without an event ticket but it was worth it to see people from all over the world proudly supporting their countries & wearing crazy outfits with their colors! We also spent a little time down town exploring. It was great to strech the legs & try to adjust to the time difference.

We boarded our flight to Kampala and arrived 9 hours later with all of our luggage (8 BAGS!!!) arriving! YAY! The Lord really blessed us with safe travels! We were immediately met by David the school's bus driver who picked us and another teacher up. We didn't even know this lady was on our flight but we all took the journey from Entebee to Kampla on some severly congested highways! After a bumpy ride down a red dirt road we entered a very nice gated apartment building. I said, "Do we live here?" and the answer was yes. It is a small building with 4 apartments, we later found out that 3 out of 4 apartments are rented by couples working with our school. We have yet to meet any of them but soon I'm sure! When we scoped out the new digs we discovered that Terri from the school had left us a sweet welcome note & a few staple items in the fridge to get us through the weekend. How kind! Our apartment is cute. We have two bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, bathroom with flushing toilet and a living room with a table & chairs to eat at and a sofa, two chairs and a coffee table. It has been an adjustment & I'm sure will continue to be! Our shower put out hot water for about 5min. & then decided hot water was over rated. We both ended up taking showers eventually because we stunk after 36hrs of traveling!

In the afternoon we decided to walk to the school & check it out. We are a block and a half, maybe only a block, from the school. Praise the Lord! We wandered around and met Tim from Canada who is on the school board & was working with Jonthan and they were overseeing some new construction on the school grounds. Ernie was super excited because they were working on enlarging the soccer fields, putting in a new basketball court & building an office & storage area for his posistion! I was exctied because they were finishing up the new high school classrooms! There is a church being built on campus too! A lot is happening. It's a beautiful campus with stone buildings, palm trees and a little stream flowing through. Quaint little bridges connect campus over the water. As we wandered back to leave we were greeted by Terri (the one who left us all our goodies & she's been our constant e-mail contact)! She gave me a huge hug & showed us arround the administrative building. She even gave us a map and told us how to get to a few places (like the "grocery store" a loosely used term) in the neighborhood. We felt really good about connecting with her.

We did take a walk to the grocery store (more like mini-mart) to get a few more items & were generally impressed with the selection. Even a few brand names we recognized! Our peanut butter even came from the United States! Our neighborhood is really nice & it's great to feel like we're living in the culture.

So today is our first full day in Uganda. So far so good though I did have a few tears when I read a note from my mommy tucked in our luggage & saw pictures of the family we're missing so much. I can't help but feel like we're coming home in a month or so & it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that this apartment is supposed to be 'home' and that in a few months we'll be bringing our son here to live. CRAZY!

Well, keep the prayers comin' we're sure feeling their strength! Orientation starts on Monday & we can't wait to get started! Blessings to you & your families!

Missing hot showers & drinking tap water,

Abbey
PS Pictures will be coming.  It's a struggle to get them uploaded :)