Ladies Bible Study

Every Monday evening the ladies of Independent Baptist Church meet to study the Bible. Mrs. Cheri starts off by welcoming everyone and a game to see what the ladies remember from the previous weeks lesson. (Here Alicia is setting up the scoreboard)

After the review game there is singing and then Anete (Pastor Robert's wife) teaches the lesson (she is on the right) -- this will be her last month teaching for a while as she isexpecting her second baby in July.

It was a great time of fellowship and fun with the ladies of the church.

Radio Ministry

Bro. Bryan has started two radio stations, one in Sorti, and one here in Mbarara. The one in Sorti is completly run by the Ugandan's in the church.

Life Radio here in Mbarara is almost completly run by the nationals. It is a 500 watt station that proclaims the Gospel in several different languages including English and plays gospel music 18 1/2 hours every day.

Bro. Bryan took me over to the station (which is in their backyard) and had Edgar show me around and then listen to his live broadcast. Edgar also interviewed me - asking my name, where I was from, why I was in Uganda, and if I had a husband. :) There was another lady there, Bright, she had been listening to the radio and came to see how it was run and what it was all about.

Children's Ministry

Sunday School for the Children starts a 9am with one of the missionary women, Mrs. Cheri Tracht, teaching. There is usually a small group of children in the beginning but by the end of the S.S. hour there is 30-50 children in varying ages.

The children join their parents for part of the regular church service, then are dismissed for Jr. Church during one of the songs.

Jr. Church is led by Rachel, a Ugandan. She does the songs, and the Bible Story. Mrs. Anna Huckabee (another Missionary lady) teaches them the memory verse. And another Ugandan (I can't remember his name) does the review game.

I tried to get the video to upload, but the Internet here is too slow.

Trade Fair

This last week there was a trade fair. It's kinda like a carnival. Ugandan's and some Kenyan's set up booths and sell their wares, there are a few rides, the Ugandan Wildlife foundation brought some of their animals, and there is loud music and dancing competitions. At night the music is very loud and there is partying until at least 3:30 am -- I can hear them very clearly from my room at the Stensaas' so I have not gotten very mych sleep this week. The fair is supposed to go through the 7th; so Tuesday I should sleep much better :)

Here are a few pictures:

This man is selling shoes:

Rides:

Swings for the older children and adults:

Merry-Go-Round for younger children:

This girl is tying stillts to her feet:

Uganda Wildlife Education Center's animals:

Ostrich:

Python:

Here is a picture of me and the python -- I was trying to take a picture of the two python's in the cage but because of the suns glare on the glass I also got my reflection:

Serval (blurry because they kept moving right when I took the picture):

Red-tailed Monkey

Fish Eagle:

Grey Parrot:

Uganda Kob:

Crested Crane and tortise (in background):

Camel:

Kirsten used some of her birthday money to pay for her, Marcus, and Kendra to ride the camel:

Kimberly: Awake to see the animals one minute, asleep the next:

Afrikan Flowers and Wildlife

Here are some pictures of flowers around the church and Stensaas yards:

Rose with praying mantis:

Daisy with butterfly:



Daffodil with bumblebee:

Here are some pictures of the tame wildlife:


Ebony:

Koda:

Mocha:

Java:

Latte: picture to come

Starbuck: picture to come

Latte and Java are sisters (they are mix of boxer and doxin and are very hard to tell apart). Starbuck is the last of the puppies from Java and Mocha. Having all these dogs around helps; but I still miss Hope a lot!!!

Soul-winning

Saturday Morning is soul-winning and discipleship at Independent Baptist Church of Mbarara. A group of us went to the Trade Fair and stood outside the gates and handed out John and Roman New Testaments and tracts to the people going/coming from the fair. We were there for about 3 hours and handed out over 700 of them and hade some good conversations with a few of them who asked questions. (Robert is talking with the guy on the bicycle)

One interesting thing about the Ugandan's is that if they are not going anywhere important, they will stop what they are doing and read, whatever it is that you give them. This man stood by his peachy and read the New Testament for an hour, even asking one of the church member's questions about what he was reading before leaving.

Lunch

Today for lunch Mrs. Cheri, Alisha and I walked to the church to eat lunch with the Institute students. Halfway there Mrs. Cheri remember that she forgot to bring forks. She looked at me and said i would have to eat like a Ugandan. Try eating rice, bean soup, sweet potatoes and something else (not sure what it was exactly) with your fingers. By the time I was finished I was a mess. Anyway it was really good food!

Here are a few pictures from the Institute classes at the church:

Most Ugandan's do not have tape measures, so they used string and bent bottle caps about every 12 inchs onto the string. This is to help them plant maize (corn) in rows 12 inches apart so they can grow them better, and according to God's way of planting.

By using the material from the course "Farming God's Way," Bro. Bryan was able to grow corn that was over 13 meters tall.