Nick Strong

Angelo - One of my students and 1 of 3 that I am taking care of while their guardians are in the states

- If you are in a Ugandan home having tea, the Ugandans consider it rude for them to go to the table and start conversing with you.  They think they should stay out of the room and then when you are done they will come in to talk.  I found this out today when I was in ones home with two teachers from school.  I saw the house help walking by and I said hello and asked her to come sit with us.  She was embarrassed and said she was waiting until we were finished to come talk to us.

- When you have a car coming up behind you, it is your responsibility to let them know if it is good for them to pass or not.  You do this by putting your left blinker on if you think it is good for them to pass and putting your right blinker on if it is not ok to pass.  Watch out though cuz you might run into problems if you do not read the next one.

- At times taxis will put their blinker on as a way of saying hello to the oncoming taxi who will put his blinker on in return, and what about when the person in front of you is actually putting on his blinker because he is going to turn one way or the other?

- One of my co-workers was told that she is looking very fat today, and more fat than usual.  Come to find out, the term fat means looking healthy and so she was in this instant looking more healthy than she usually does.

Lino - Also student of mine and 2 of 3 Sudanese boys I am taking care of.

- If you have not seen someone in a while it is very common to hear them ask you, “Where have you been lost, for I have not seen you in a long time?  It is surely obvious that if you have not been around then you have been lost right?

- Southern Uganda is considered much more wealthy and well to do than Northern Uganda.  The president of Uganda has never come from the north.  The roads are much nicer in the south.  The education received in the south in much better than the north due to better schools and teachers.  Many people flock to the cities in the south.

- It is said that each day there are on average 250 cars that come into Kampala.  No wonder I seem to be stuck in a traffic jam most everyday.

- The paper here in Uganda said that approximately 25% of policemen here in Uganda are not real policemen but just mock policemen.

- It is very important to remember and hold fast to what God told you in the light when you are in the darkness cuz if you don’t, the schemes of the devil are too overpowering.  I must hold fast to what God tells me and shows me in my most intimate times with him so that when I am doing God’s work in a dark place, I will not be overpowered by fear, feelings of inadequacy, or frustration.

Suudi - 3 of 3 Sudanese Boys, He is entering a boarding school here in Kampala next week.

- Being Jesus to others and showing love rarely takes on the same form everyday.  So far at school, showing love to others has looked like the following: confronting, giving grace, not giving grace, forgiving, encouraging, disciplining, putting my arm around another, sharing, listening, giving one a pat on the butt (the boys of course), being a mediator between two others, and lending a hand.

- Throughout the past month I have had the great blessing of seeing different settings through God’s eyes.   I pass a soccer game almost everyday right outside my house.  There is also always a group of people playing soccer right next to the school.  Tonight, I learned of a group that plays volleyball every
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  God has been helping me to see them as He does, as people who either do or don’t know Him.  While for so long, I have only seen the game and the athletes, God has seen the brokenness.  I am exploring new ministries that I can also be involved in and am asking God that He would lead or not lead me to those people and places. 

For your information I have made a page of Praise and Prayer Requests and you will find it at the top of the right column.  I will be updating that and changing it from week to week as things change so please keep checking in on that page.  Have a great day and don’t forget to comment back to me after you read the different posts.  This is not a free service, it comes with the price of commenting back after you read.  Get it…Got it…Good.

Well what exactly do you say after neglecting to say anything for over a month.  How do you speak your mind after not speaking it for weeks.  Well, I guess I can start with recent happenings.  I have been doing camps camps and more camps since school has been out. 

 Soccer camp was a hit.  It was the easiest camp and the camp that people were most excited about.  We learned many new things and the week of soccer culminated into a game against the coaches and the parents.  A good time was had by all and then it was on to baseball camp.

Baseball camp was interesting.  How do you teach kids who have never caught or hit before how to…catch and hit.  It didn’t matter the nationality, even the Americans kids struggled, those who haven’t been back to the states much that is.  Baseball camp was brought to an end with a slip-n-slide.  I thought that the best way to teach them how to slide was to have a slip-n-slide.  The kids loved it and we coaches even got into a little bit.

 Basketball camp was probably the least successful.  The kids were tired of having camp and maybe even the coaches were tired of it as well.  We never really did get the game of basketball.  Maybe we can work on our skills and practice a little bit more before basketball camp next year.

We are currently in Bible camp this week.  It is only the middle three days of this week so today was day one.  We had a good time and learned lots of new songs and games.  Hopefully we learned something about the Bible as well.  The theme is Heroes so we are learning about different heroes of the Bible like Moses-today, Esther- Wednesday, and Jesus-Thursday.   Hopefully the rest of Bible camp goes as well as it did today.

From there my summer takes off in a hurry.  Below is a ruff outline of the rest of my summer:

- Next week off to Mbale for our field retreat with all of the missionaries

- 10 Days in Kenya: traveling around seeing people and also going to a 7 Habits of Highly Affective People Conference

- Going up to Arua for a week and from there traveling into Sudan for 4 days to do pastors trainings with the missionaries.

- Then school starts.

Please pray for safety in travel and also for a good break from the regular routine while I am galavanting around the countryside.   I am weary and tired.  I need rest but more than that I need a new and fresh filling of the Holy Spirit.  Thank you for your prayers during this time.

- Driving on the left side of the road is not hard, shifting on the left is not hard, but remembering to get in the car on the right side is a killer

- You have to choose between having gecko poop and no ants/bugs or having ants/bugs and no gecko poop

- Leaving the trash in the trash can for more than 4 days brings gnats, ants, and maggots

- Ugandans are all about relationships, nothing can be done until proper greetings have taken place

- Risking it and drinking the tap water can have ruff consequences

- Hitting a person or boda-boda (motorcycle) causes a mob to form and want to get revenge (I have not experienced this yet personally)

- Enjoy driving your vehicle today cause by tomorrow it will be in the shop

- I need some guys to come be volunteers cause there is just not enough testosterone here with all these females

- The best possible thing to eat for breakfast is a “rolex” (chapati and fried egg wrapped up together) - delicious

- 15 months is a long time but I know God has me here for a reason and I will see you again either on this continent, your continent, or the second tree on the left past the “Pearly Gates”, but I miss you dearly and would love to see you in Africa over the course of the next year.

- My God is faithful even when I am doubtful

- I serve a big God who wants all of me and not only what I feel comfortable giving Him

- Prayer works

These Are The Things I Have Been Learning So Far…