Updates & Mango Leather

May 15, 2011

After the death of Robert I thought we were all fine and life was moving on, but I did not realize how worn out we all were. Some of us began not feeling well and we were also down. I am sure there was some spiritual attack going on too. It was more than Robert’s death it was other people sick, other deaths (one of Josh’s TLT student’s wife died suddenly too), frustrated with cultural sins, security issues in Uganda… So we decided to take a break. Thus is why I haven’t written. I needed to rest. We also decided to get away. Our team was supposed to go a week ago but because of unrest in Kampala and other places we thought it was best to stay put. Last week all was peaceful and we were all going stir crazy and needed to get out so we decided to go to Jinja.

It was just what we all needed. We celebrated Mother’s Day, worshiped together, went on a boat ride, sat in the beautiful gardens, eat good food… One of the reasons Josh and I wanted to get away was to be with our kid and just have fun with them. I was so thankful for the time with had with them playing baseball, swimming for hours, and just watching them have fun. We all came back refreshed and thankful. (And our van, with a new/used engine in it, worked great!)

Some of you remember praying for Lydia a while back as she struggled with homesickness and feeling sick. Since then she has been doing so much better. But last week while I was in town she broke down. Josh said she just lost it and cried and cried. She told him she just doesn’t belong here. She said she is so sad inside but doesn’t know why. Josh prayed with her and held her for awhile. Later I talked to her and asked if her sadness inside was because Robert died. She said maybe but she wasn’t sure and that God would tell her because they prayed about it. One of my friends here thought maybe Lydia is worried about loved ones in MI getting sick or dying. That could be it. Lydia loves people and they are very important to her. Thankfully Lydia is a very happy, normal little girl most days but pray for her as she deals with living on the mission field while some of her loved ones are far away. (She also has a bladder infection.)

Grace and Luka are doing well. Luka talks up a storm. Josh thought he would get once introvert but guess not. Grace is now reading small books so that is exciting to see. We are all looking forward to our school year ending but we have to plug away until Math is done – only 22 more lessons! Just in time to go to MI!!!

Did I tell you we have great teammates? In the mists of our difficult time Jennifer asked if we wanted to come for supper and had Lydia and Grace come and help her prepare. When Josh and I arrived they had a whole restaurant ready for our date! How sweet. Oh course Lydia and Grace were thrilled. It is their dream to be waitresses at a restaurant. Josh and I were served a three course meal in the gazebo. Betty and Abela helped too. The service was great and the food even better. Thank you Jennifer for being so thoughtful, for being a great aunt to our kids, and for loving all of us!

Josh visited Robert’s wife and daughter Grace the week after the funeral. They were very upset because so many things were stolen at Robert’s burial. Can you believe it?! How could anyone let alone a lot of people steal at someone’s funeral? They took food they were storing and drying, dishes, meat, and other things. That seemed like the last straw to me – I was plain upset with this culture. It is wrong. People came acting like they were mourning over Robert’s death and love the family only to be there to see what they can get. Didn’t they hear the sermon on character and living for Jesus? To top it off Robert’s sons, who inherit all the land their father had, had no intention in giving their sister or mother any. These are believers we are talking about! Thankfully, Robert got a loan from us a year ago to buy land and Josh had him put it in his daughters name knowing someday this would happen. It did. The brothers backed off from taking this land once the owner showed them it was in Grace’s name. We did see Grace again this week and she was doing well – other than the roof of her house being partly blown off in a storm!

Just a quick update on Tabitha and Irene (actually long stories I will make short). Some days are good, some hard. They (including Josh) went to meet with the boy, the father of the baby, and his father. The boy didn’t show – surprise, surprise – and the father would not help. He claimed they had no money and no way to help with the baby. It isn’t true and even if it was neither do Irene and Tabitha. Everyone has to help. The sad thing is the father is a pastor. He was caught in lies, he didn’t hold his boy responsible, and his own family is a mess. Tabitha was left with no choice but to bring it to police where they would put the boy in jail for impregnating a minor and make him pay the fine. (Actually we found out it is the law to do this in the first place.) Of course the boy got wind of it and ran to the village so everyone waits until he returns for school when the police can find him again.

I also decided to see if adoption is even a thought for a Uganda. So I asked Tabitha if she thought about giving the baby to a Ugandan or a white family. Adoption defiantly is not on their radar! For one thing it really is not an option here so why would they think about it and secondly culturally you do not give your baby away (although it is done in wrong ways all the time here). I just explained that we know that Irene does not want the baby or to be a mother, that she wants to go back to school, and that they don’t have enough money to support themselves let alone another child so maybe God would provide a family that wants a baby but cannot have one who would adopt Irene’s baby. Tabitha said Irene does want the baby and will be fine when the baby comes. I told her to pray about it and ask God what He wants for this baby. Tabitha asked if this is what we wanted. I told her that is not what I was saying. I just wanted her heart to be open to what God’s plan is for this child. So we will see what God says…

Today I went with Jennifer to Obule (one of the villages Josh teaches at and our family has gone to). When mangos are in season there is an abundance and they go to waste because people can’t eat them all, so Jennifer learned to made fruit leather or fruit roll-ups with them. This is great because it is dried and can last a long time. So we went to teach the ladies in Obule how to make it.

We arrived a little after 8am and no one was there. We decided to get to work as the pastor gathered the women and the materials. We collected the mangos on the ground that the wind blew down and began cutting them up. Pastor Martin thought we were crazy to use those mangos from the ground and even told us we couldn’t, but Jennifer and I really wanted to show them that it is ok and not to waste all of them. By the time we had the first pot ready the ladies were coming. About ten women came. A couple made the fire, some began cutting, a couple came with basins of mangos, and some began learning how to cook the mangos. It was fun working with all the women and watching them learn something new. They were excited.

So once the mango is cooked we put a little oil on black traps on a table in the sun and pour the mango on top. We spread it very thin and let the hot African sun bake it all day. It is amazing what heat it produced. Within a few hours we could already see it was drying out. All together we made three big pots of ripe mangos and one with green mangos. The ladies tried some of the fruit leather Jennifer brought that was made a month ago and they loved it. Some of them put some in their pockets to take home for their husbands to taste. They could not believe it was just mangos. They also really liked the cooked mango and cooked green mango. Such a simple thing – just mangos boiled in a little water – yet so new to them.

After our mango project was in the sun, they told us we had to stay because they were preparing lunch for us. Jennifer had mentioned that she had her medical bag along so I told her I thought she mine as well put it to good use since lunch wasn’t even started yet. So the rest of the afternoon Jennifer played clinic. I enjoyed watching her help the ladies and their children. There were some weird problems and some funny ones too. One mom was concerned because her child’s cheeks were too big – that is called healthy and they are just not use to seeing it. The whole scene was the perfect missionary picture; Jennifer in the middle of a group of Africans, in the village, helping them medically.

About 3pm we were served lunch. It was a long day away from my husband and children but surprisingly a really good, relaxing day. I wanted to spend my Saturday sleeping in and just being home but I am so glad I didn’t. I enjoyed getting to know the ladies better. Again I learned it makes all the difference to know someone instead of know of them. It was fun being apart of something new that they were excited about. Before we left we took another look at the mango leather and it was almost done. We all tried the dry parts and it was good. It turned out! Good work Jennifer! Thank you Lord for the women and church in Obule and for the successful dried mango we could do together.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement lately! You can also pray that we get electricity back. We had a storm this week that blew done a pole and some lines and we have been without power since. I am so thankful for our generator!