an update on the busy-busy

We're on the homestretch now with less than two months until we leave our home and our life in Uganda.
And our remaining time isn't going to drag by, either.

Currently we have Eric {a friend and coworker with Power to Change in Canada) and Jayme {former staff with Power to Change and now freelance videographer} here doing some filming for a promotional video for our South East Africa partnership. It's been nonstop since they arrived on Monday as Jamie's been doing a lot of interviews and being "followed" for a lot of "day in the life of" type footage. But we enjoy having people in our home and this week has flown by.
Tomorrow Jamie, Eric & Jayme will all journey up country to get some more footage of rural areas and, of course, the wildlife! They will be back on Tuesday afternoon.
Please pray for safety on the roads for them.
Please pray for safety and peace and patience for Vanessa as she remains in Kampala with the boys.

On Sunday the 28th of April we have the staff team for our short-term project arriving. Shortly after, the students will arrive and will stay in country until June 11th. We will be busy with ministry and packing up our lives during this time.
We are looking forward to having the team here and especially Vanessa as there will be another staff family coming - Archie, Cindy and their three boys will join us and live with us on our compound. What a lively, loud and hopefully joy-filled time we're expecting!

Please pray for safety for the staff and students as they travel starting next week. Please especially remember Archie & Cindy and their kids as they travel here on the 28th. Traveling with a family is no small task and we'd ask that you'd pray for grace and patience and kids who sleep well on the plane!
Please pray for the final logistics of housing, schedules and other details as they are worked out on our end of things.
Please pray for God to be stirring in the hearts of the Canadians coming and the Ugandans we will be interacting with.
Please pray for Vanessa as she does the bulk of organizing and preparing our home in Uganda to be packed up or left behind{for the next team of STINTers}.

Finally, if you didn't catch it on our Facebook group, please check out this blog post written by one of the STINTers, Bimisayo, who is one of four Canadians who will taking our place and continuing the work here in Uganda this August.

Thank you for your partnership. It's because of you that we are able to be out on university campuses and on summer projects and here in Uganda, making an impact on people like Bimisayo. Be encouraged! God is doing great things!

thank you for praying!

Thank you for praying! Jamie picked up the passports around noon and we all whooped and gave high-fives. Just another opportunity to show our boys {and ourselves!} the power of prayer. So thank you for coming along side us in this way.
We are looking forward to the times of refreshment and vision renewal that we experienced last year in Spain. Not to mention sidewalks and probably a trip to McDonald's. :)

And now to finish packing...

please pray for our visa's!

We just heard back from our lawyer (after not hearing from him all weekend) that apparently our passports won't be released until Wednesday. This would be fine coming from a Canadian office, but we know that all too often here in Uganda "Wednesday" actually means next week or who knows when!
Could you please pray that we actually do get our passports with all visa's in them by Wednesday and no later?
Thank you so much for lifting us up in prayer!

Visa Update

Have you heard of this thing called "low power"? They like to do it to us here in Kampala. It's where we have power, but not enough to power our fridge or fans. Sometimes our lights will go on, but only dimly. It's currently "low power" right now. It's how we roll here in Uganda.

We've been a bit quiet here lately. Not intentionally, but with the birth of Blaise and Christmas and ... life, I suppose we got a bit busy.
But nevertheless, here's a wee update for you.

We still do not have our passports in hand. The final word on our visa situation is that it could have been far worse, but we still ended up paying $510 USD in "late fees" because myself and the boys were illegal (ie. without visas - whether tourist or otherwise) while we were waiting for Jamie's work permit to go through. Apparently they wanted to charge us $450 PER PERSON instead of $450 total. So in that light, $510 isn't as bad as it could have been. It's still a lot of money, though and we're disappointed the fees weren't waived.
We paid this a week ago and are still waiting for our passports.

We fly to Spain early next Friday! We are excited, but we sorta need passports to fly, right? So we're just waiting to hear back from our lawyer but we'd appreciate your prayers that there would be no more "fees" requested from us while we wait and that we'd get them by Monday.

Also we just found out our flight home from Barcelona to Cairo has been cancelled so we're in the process of trying to figure out the best situation for new flights. Our travel agent is great and has been working to figure out the details, but we'd appreciate your prayers as we sort out these last minute changes.

We are very much looking forward to our time in Spain and are praying for refreshment and for clarity as we think and pray through different options for when we move back to Canada. There will be an update coming regarding what we'll be doing (we'll still be with Power to Change) and where we'll settle once we know.

Thanks again for your partnership. We are so aware of your prayers for us as we encounter the challenges and blessings of working to fulfill the Great Commission in this generation.

happy 9 months to us!

We've been here in Uganda for 9 months as of today!

Also {from Vanessa} thank you so much for your prayers while Jamie was away in Rwanda. I definitely felt God's presence through increased patience and joy and the burden was lifted largely with the staff and students here keeping us company and helping out with the boys.

Thank you for your prayers. He is our ever-faithful God and He is so good.

A post from Jamie re: Rwanda is on the way so stay tuned!

traffic cop

so I {Vanessa} got pulled over today.

we were driving to my friend kelly's house today to hang out with her boys and there is this one spot that i've almost always seen a traffic cop standing at, pulling people over. I've gotten pulled over once before and the cop just checked my license and wished me well.

not so today.

I was polite and gave my license when the cop came to my  window and asked me for it. then she proceeded to ask me to put on the brakes and checked my lights. then she came back and proceeded to ask me to put it in reverse to check my reverse lights. then she told me she was going to write me a receipt {ticket} because my back tires were not filled enough. I politely said that I was not aware that this was an illegal offense in uganda.
she told me she could "park my car" right now or write me a receipt and hold onto my license until I went to the bank and paid it and then i could pick up my license at the police station. I told her that I would be happy to go to the station and she could write me the receipt and I would pay the ticket there. she repeated what she had already told me.

she left to go back to her other traffic cop buddy and so I called jamie and told him what was happening. noah asked me why she had pulled me over at this point and I {somewhat bitterly} replied that it's because I'm white and she thinks I have lots of money to give her {which is generally the case the more I speak with other expats regarding this particular issue on the roads}.
she came back with an official receipt book and showed me that my offense was {on the back of the receipt} for not having a car that was fit for driving on the road.

at this point I was getting frustrated and feeling taken advantage of and again said that I was not aware that my tires were less than full and that I did not know that this was an offense that would get me a ticket. she then started saying that my brakes lights were out and reverse lights are out and this and that {she started pointing to random things on my car} and that my seatbelts - oh no, you're wearing your seatbelt. I told her that of course i was as it was unsafe not to.

she kept saying that she would write me a receipt, etc. etc. and then finally {I admit, with frustrated tears in my eyes} I told her to write me the receipt as she was leaving me no choice and I had two small children with me and had no other options. she just looked at me and then said,
you go to a gas station and buy new tires. I am forgiving you this time. but you go get those tires replaced.

I took off as soon as she gave me my license back before she changed her mind.

these are my tires when I got home today {no filling with air, no replacing.}

front tire

back tire

how are my back tires flat? 

she was totally looking for a bribe and to take advantage of the white woman. I was so angry when I got to kelly's house and looked at the tires for myself.

so this is life here in uganda. bribes are expected but today I'm glad I fought the system and also didn't get a ticket while I was at it.

Please pray for:

- police men and women who would stand up to the way corruption is just a part of the system here and that Christ-honouring leaders of integrity would start to infiltrate every working sector here in Uganda

- safety as we drive on the roads and for favor among the police here

- a humble spirit for us and not a heart of bitterness or frustration

Visa's in Jinja

As a last ditch effort to save time and money, we drove the 80km (about 2 hours of driving on African roads) to a town called Jinja, located at the source of the Nile River.
We had heard that the immigration office was considerably smaller, less busy and much more likely to grant a visa extension with less hassle.
When we arrived we found out that we needed photocopies of our passports and current visa's. So Jamie went to get photocopies while I stayed with the boys. He then returned to find out that he needed $50 USD per visa (note, this was not a bribe, but the fee that we'd have had to have paid at the border and what we paid originally at the airport.) and so he left again to get the money. I don't think either of us were too bothered as it seemed extremely likely that we'd be leaving the immigration office with new visa's in our passports.
When Jamie returned with the money, our passports were all issued new 90 day visa's!
Thank you so much for praying!
We continue to be blessed and amazed at all the feedback we have received from you and the obvious results of your prayers.
We praise God for you and for our new visa's.

October Prayer Letter

October Video Prayer Update

A time to plan...

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens

Right now I am almost entering "panic mode" wherein I feel as though there is more to do than there is time to do it in.

Minute details such as changing the address on our health cards and drivers licences and air miles accounts and making lists {although I do enjoy making lists} and checking things off said lists...it almost seems like too much.

And then there are bigger details like figuring out flight details and housing stuff and who will buy our furniture and will we have any furniture when we arrive and on and on and on.

My mind is a whir. 

But there is a time to plan. And to make lists. And to check things off the lists.

Could you pray for us as we continue through this time of transition and planning and preparing?
We are trying to spend time with family and friends and soak in this time of community before we go and forge a new community for ourselves.

And yet there is much to be done.

Jamie is finishing up a few courses that he's been taking through Heritage Seminary and I'm hammering out the "family life" details. 

Could you pray we find the right balance of social life and practical needs?