At least there were lions!

Well, you all must have been praying. The final step of getting my work permit was relatively painless. There were several hitches and it took several hours but for a day in Ugandan government offices I’ve had much worse. I now have a three year work permit!! 

The truck is still in the mechanic so no updates there yet. The mechanic will get several more days with it before I go pick it up. 

Several days of travel across Uganda has left me tired but on the road on the way we got to see tree climbing lions! So that makes it so much better.

Five lions just hanging out in this tree visible from the main road! 

Time to get out of Soroti for a little while.....

Ok, in all seriousness, I'm headed out of Soroti for a bit. I'm going for several reasons and most of them you can be praying for:
1 I'm going to the Immigration offices Monday morning to HOPEFULLY get my much needed (and long awaited) work permit. There have been many hurdles and I'm a bit worried but I'm trying to trust God that I'll be leaving with my passport in hand and legal permission to be in this country three more years.
2. My truck is falling apart. I need to leave it in the hands of a good mechanic for a while. So I'm limping it up to Kampala. This one needs prayer because Friday evening it was suggested I not drive it that far. Soroti's mechanic had it for 11 hours Saturday and he thinks it is now good enough to get it to Kampala so we're giving it a try.
3. I'm following up on some of Fuel Uganda's ministries in Western Uganda. I hope to be an encouragement as well as have a quick break from Soroti. Unfortunately it is three days of tiring travel (not on interstates!) so it is hard to get super excited about it.

Anyway, thanks for praying!

don't want to

I just don't want to do this anymore....

I just don't want to have my truck break down and have no idea how or when it get it fixed because I had the same problem dealt with just a few weeks back. But I need it ready to go to Kampala in 24 hours. Do I take the risk?  Find other transport? Wait?

I just don't want to have to go to the bank and be treated like an idiot for something  immigration (or the bank) messed up. Especially when MAF in Kampala has the original paperwork and they are the ones I'm paying to deal with this.

I don't want to bring my patient to the hospital and have to fight for tolerable (not even good) care. And hear that they didn't do the ultrasound and are waiting another day. And didn't give blood. And aren't even sure what the treatment plan is. And don't even have running water for the patients.

I don't want to go to church for a 9am program and actually get started at 12:15 and then have to rush and do a poor job because we wasted so much time.

I just don't want to anymore.  I did it all yesterday and I'm done.

I'm in a great mood today. You should probably all be praying that this missionary can hold her crap together today.

Babies!!

Baby guinea pigs at four days old (the three little ones  in the back). 

I have a bunch of babies who were born almost the same day a few weeks back! I love having all these animals around!

Baby bunnies at four days old. 

Baby guinea pigs at two weeks old. 

Baby bunnies at two weeks old. 

Food distribution

A few days back I mentioned when I was at the clinic it was obvious the prenatal women were losing weight when they should easily be gaining.  It isn't just the vulnerable who are hungry in the community but they are just the easiest need to recognize.  My little village church felt they had to do something and with Gods help they did a huge food distribution. One of the missionary families I serve with wrote about it and the link to their blog is below.  I love my church in Obulle and love the amazing things God is doing through their servant's hearts.

Pictures and more of the story here

and more pictures and details here!

One of the things she mentions and it makes me excited is that several Karamojung families and even two S. Sudanese families benefited. This culture can be very divided down tribal lines but this church goes out of its way to be atypical in that regard.

Running the numbers

It was antenatal day at the clinic today. I almost never pay attention to the numbers but today the midwife was tied up with other things so I had to do patient's records and also the government record books so I interacted with the numbers more than I usually do. 

22 pregnant patients, 8 for their first visit. Of these, 4 were past 30 weeks (well into their third trimester). They just didn't think they needed to come to the clinic for anything before this. 

14 were there for their second or third visit. Of these 10 (!) had either stayed the same or LOST weight from their previous visit. This surprised me but I guess it shouldn't have. Parts of Uganda have had drought instead of the first rainy season and crops failed. Since folks eat what they grow, there is little food. They have planted again in this second rainy season but nothing is ready to harvest yet. Most people in this area are down to one meal a day. It was obvious in the ladies in the clinic today. 

1 patient had swelling in her feet and trace protein in her urine so got referred into town for lab work. 

1 patient was highly suspicious for twins so she got sent into town for ultrasound. 

2 patients had UTIs so got antibiotics.

2 patients tested positive for malaria so got IV lines with drips. 

Just your average Monday in the clinic...... I guess not completely average, no one came in active labor. 

Tired

Good grief! Has it really been a month since I last posted?!  I'm tired and just plugging along, getting through the days, one at a time. Please pray for increased energy and passion. I'm struggling a bit....

Oh, and someone stole my dog. He is pretty unique and doesn't look like any other dog in this city and all the people who live around me know him. They won't tell me who has him. This is a picture of him sitting on my cat. He actually spent a lot of time sitting on the cat.

Update on this: Eight days after he went missing I posted this on FB.

I just went outside my gate and gathered all of the kids who are old enough to speak English (about 10 of them): "You know my dog? The white one?" "No." "Yes, you do. The little white dog that you always see around my place." "We don't know where he is." "No, I'm not asking you where he is, I'm asking if you know who he is." "No". "Well, actually, I am asking if you know where he is." "We don't know." Five thousand shillings to the one who brings him back." "Truth?!" "Yes". All of them took off running....... I can't help but wonder if I'm going to regret this....

Less than fifteen minutes later he was back. So thanks everyone for praying!