Ramblings

Thought I would reflect or maybe it's closer to ramble about some of the things that have happened and I have been pondering...

Christmas. Although we have been missing our friends and family; it has been wonderful here in Uganda. We have felt so welcomed by our Ugandan friends including an invitation for a Christmas-day meal. It was amazing, there were 23 dishes of food, Henry counted, on the table. I was stuffed and so satisfied. Gift giving is not a big part of Christmas here, worship is though. I'm thinking this is another thing Ugandan's have figured out. By gift standards this was a "poor" Christmas, but it seemed so "rich" to our family. The kids made gifts for us and were so excited for their presents. A great memory.


How is it that over 3 billion of the world's population make less than $2/day? I have now met people like this, they were not at all like I expected. They are wonderfully caring, loving, gracious, giving, want to do better, hardworking believers. When I read of this "Fiscal Cliff" in the US news it seems so strange, foreign and hard to grasp from where I sit today. By US news definition these people fell off the cliff years ago but there is something incredible down here, below that cliff. But what are we supposed to do about this ever-growing income disparity? This is something I have been reading and pondering.

I'm still struck by the belief and faith here. You can see it, well almost. It is something that doesn't happen where I'm from except in the safety of a Sunday morning in a church that you often don't tell people you even go to. Why did I feel that way? Will I feel this way when we come back?

In a recent conversation with a Ugandan here, he asked "everyone wants to go to United States even Europeans and Australians but why would you ever want to come here?" We talked for a long time and it was one of those great conversations here that you just get surprised by. It was a wonderful reminder to me of why we are here.

Homeschooling. With the school schedule here being different than the US the kids need about 1/3 a year of homeschooling. I am the math teacher. This has been a lesson in patience for me. My kids are so smart but it is frustrating trying to teach something that seems so obvious to me and so foreign to them. My respect goes to all teachers. This is a hard job and I only have two students, one subject. Teachers amaze me! The first test was well personally devastating and I almost fired the math teacher -- me. But test scores and teaching are getting better. Still the whole thing has been so much harder than I ever imagined, but I praise God for the opportunity to learn from and teach these beautiful amazing children of ours.

I'm so proud of my kids and family. Things are good. Our work is going so well. It can sometimes be hard, frustrating and confusing. But most of the time we are doing the things Heather and I dreamed of when we came here.

So there are some of my ramblings with more questions than answers. I believe that one of the characteristics of leadership is not about having answers but rather about asking positive questions. For some reason I thought this only applied to work, turns out this applies to a lot more than I ever imagined...

God Bless. Troy