Greetings One and Everyone. I hear that the Canadian Parliament has been dissolved. Only too bad for me that I can't vote in the election because I'm half-way around the world. Things here in Uganda are going ok. On Monday all lawyers and judges held a protest against the army's "assualt on justice." My Monday was spent teaching and eating Chinese food. Dave and I were invited to Achem and Haki Appel's house. He's a MAF pilot from Switzerland and she's from Hong Kong. That was the best meal I've had in a long time. Those Chinese sure know how to make food. There was only one problem. They expected me to eat with chop sticks. I mean, I'm deadly enough with a fork and knife, but chopsticks? That was a nightmare. They gave me a fork to eat with. I think it was out of sheer terror for their lives and the general well being of all who were in the room, let alone the structural well being of the house as well. Needless to say, the rest of the meal went great. There was sweet and sour pork, curry chicken, and spiced veggies to eat on top of rice. Extremely delicious.
Well, I hope you have a swell day,
God Bless.

Hello and good Sunday to you. I hope you will have a great Sunday. This morning I attended Calvary Chapel once again. Pastor Josh spoke again, from I Timothy 1:12-17. It was about the Grace of God and how it is sufficient for all of us. It was a really encouraging sermon. In other news, it's Mom's birthday and I would like to wish her Happy Birthday. Also, my computer has started acting normal, for some strange unknown reason. I received a virus free award and am now a full fledged member of the Mizungu Internet Cafe again.

Good day everyone. Today I drove down a paved road for the first time since I've been here. It was great. I even shifted and everything. Without getting in an accident, which is a miracle all in itself. I have pictures to prove it too, for all you doubters out there. I also have pictures of the supper Dave and I created. It was mostly Dave, I was his backup in case he messed up and threw and interception or something. Speaking of football, I also got to play that today. It was very fun. There were about 16 people playing so we had a great time. The final score was 28-7 (for anyone outside North America, every score is worth 7 points). We lost, which is a travesty, but thankfully nobody was hurt too bad. Anyways, have a look at the new pictures that are up. There's sure to be some good ones.

Hi everyone. I added some pictures so take a look. Dave took a MAF flight to Sudan today and came back with a couple pics. Take a look.

Police. They are around to aid us in times of need. To protect us when the need arises. To stop the bad guys from reaking havoc. To compel us to buy them pop? Apparently, that is if you live in Uganda. Yesterday, while Klazina was driving the kids and me to the library, the police pulled us over. At first he was "interested" in the smashed up grill bar, which happened back in August but still hasn't been fixed. It turns out that it was hot and he wanted us to buy him and his fellow officers some pop. That may have been the funniest reason I have ever been pulled over. The time I was pulled over for doing an illegal U-turn in Surrey was funny, but not as funny. The time I got pulled over for driving too fast through a school zone on the first day of school, failing to show my license or registration, and only getting a warning was not as funny either. I don't know about the police out here. On the bright side, at least they exist out here. Whether or not they do their jobs is an entirely different story. In other news, my computer is still infected by a Trojan Horse in my program files. It has officially been condemned by the other computers here in the Muzungu Internet Cafe as an outcast. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.

Uganda. I got a good dose of it this morning. It all started with the ride to church. Actually, it was the ride to church. Dave and I caught a ride with one of the MAF families who live just down the road. So we merrily jump in the Toyota Land Cruiser and get started. We were informed by the driver that we were going to be picking up some people. By some people, she meant three adults and 4 children, to go along with the three adults and 2 children already in the vehicle. So all together we had six children and six adults squished into the Land Cruiser. We only had to wait for 20 minutes for one of the families to arrive (a father with three of his children). So it was now 10 o'clock. Church starts at, you guessed it, 10 o'clock. So, already late as we were, the driver decided to try making up time by driving quite fast. The only problem was that the road we usually take into town was closed. In fact, most of the roads into the city centre were closed. The MTN Kampala Marathon was today. So this massive traffic jam was happening, and we were stuck in the middle of it all. So with 12 people crammed into the Land Cruiser, and the bright shining sun, and the mess of cars, it was like sitting in a pressure cooker. We finally made our way out of the mess, but it only took us until 10:45 to get to church. We missed the praise and worship portion of the service, but were in time to hear Pastor Josh begin his message on 1 Timothy 1:1-11 (I think he likes ones). The message was excellent, about how we are to have a church that is pure in doctrine, our lives that are pure, and a pure message to send to the world.
Anyways, now I'm having a problem with my computer. Apparently it doesn't think that I have any hardware, even though I can run programs and such. I'm going to try fix it, but in the process I might lose all my pictures so far. Not a nice feeling to have, but here goes. If you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because I'm mourning the loss of my pictures.

Well, things here seem to be settling down. I guess two days of riots is all I have to endure, thankfully. Although things could be different when the accused treasonist has his bail hearing. It should be sometime this week, so we'll see how things go. Other than that, nothing much is going on. Teaching seems to be going really great. Usually I'm finished at 12:30, 1:00 these days. Today was extremely hot, around 40C. So for all you who are experiencing snow, just remember me struggling with this hot weather.

What do these three things have in common, an arrest, riots, and looting? No, not France...Kampala. Yesterday the police decided to arrest the leading political opposer of the current president (elections are set for early next year), on charges of treason. Needless to say, people here are a little upset. So I have been advised by MAF that I'm not allowed to go downtown until further notice. Today there is still riotting in town so I guess I'm stuck here. I'm far enough away that I will be safe, I live about 10 Km from the city centre. Here's a newslink in case you want to check up on the story.
God bless,
Mike
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4438090.stm

This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Today's church service was very uplifting. Pastor Brian finished his series on Revelation. He and his family are leaving tomorrow for the US so he went pretty quickly through the last two chapters today. He was explaining about heaven and those who will enter have to have their names written in the Book of Life. He talked about no one who is a sinner, without the blood of Christ, can enter and how important it is to put our faith in Christ's work. Also, how beautiful heaven is going to be and how we who believe are the sons of God. He closed with "the Spirit and the bride say "Come!" And let him who hears say "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I come quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (22:20). He also quoted a verse from "Amazing Grace."
When we've been there,
Ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days,
To sing God's praise,
Than when we've first begun.

Praise the Lord.

Good Remembrance Day to you all. I hope you are enjoying your day off. Today was the MAF quiet day. The entire MAF team met near the Kajjansi airfield and we had a day set aside to reflect on why MAF is here. We had a pastor come speak about the Kingdom of God. In the afternoon there were department meetings, so I came back home with Dave, my roomate, and we took care of the Pap children. We took them to the ARA, where they swam for most of the afternoon. It was a warm one here, so they had a lot of fun. I have some pictures of the day, so feel free to take a look at them. Just click the "pictures" link.
Good Day.

Greatings. Everything in Kampala is great, except for one fact...I have the stomach flu. I've been lucky so far, seeing as this is the first time since being here that I've actually been sick. I spent most of the day sleeping and reading. I don't know why but I can sleep an aweful lot when I'm sick. Today I slept until 10, then again from 4 until about 5:30. At least I had time in there to do some reading. I've started reading "The Lord our Shepher" by Douglas Macmillian. It is a very excellent and enjoyable read. Well, here's to a better tomorrow. One thing I can look forward to is the MAF quiet day on Friday. Everyone from MAF, including the national staff, is going to a conference centre and we'll be having some topics and whatnot. Should be a good day. Well, adios for now.

How's it going everybody? I'm doing great. It might have to do with the cool features I just added to my blog, or it might have to do with the two donuts I just ate...further research is required. Today I added pictures from the classroom. And, yes, I put a Canadian flag up in it. It only makes sense, Canadian teacher, Canadian students, Canadian curriculum. If we got any more Canadian we would actually be in Canada. Which might be cool, except then I could never say that I've been to Africa or that I've worshipped in an African church or any of that. So now there are two albums on "my msn space," one called random pictures and the other called school pictures. Don't miss any of them. Well, I got to go. God bless.

Welcome to the new and improved Uganda Trip Blog. Some new items are, a profile with a picture (which was a nightmare to post), some links which includes pictures...it's easier to upload pictures in "my msn spaces" than this blog. Just click on the link and follow the directions. I also have a hit counter, something I've wanted for a while but never took the time to figure out how to do. I also took some of the clutter away by getting rid of the "Previous Post" column. Enjoy!

Good morning. I hope you are experiencing a very good Sunday. I sure am. Today we had communion,and it was so good to sit back and think about what Jesus did for me. The sermon was about Revelations 18, 19 and 20. Pastor Brian and his family are going on furlough next Monday and he wants to finish his series on Revelation. He spent a lot of time talking about the world mourning when Babylon falls (Rev. 18:9-20). He pointed out that so many people in the church today are caught up in the world's system. They want money, pleasure, or whatever instead of what God can offer. The world's system is going to be destroyed and will we rejoice or be sorry when it does. This afternoon I was invited to eat lunch at one of the MAF family's. It was really nice. They have three children, one who they are adopting from here. They're from Holland so they were speaking Dutch at the table. It reminded me of eating at home...or at least eating at opa and oma's. I found out today that one of the MAF pilots was flying a medevac today. A Swedish couple were ambushed yesterday and the husband was killed. The wife, who is pregnant, had to walk 6 km to find help. The pilot flew the wife here to the hospital in Kampala, as well as the body. Please remember this person in prayer. God bless.

Hello once again. Well, this morning marked the end of Ramadan. The guy at the mosque was so excited that he started his yelling at 5:30 and was still going strong when I started teaching at 8:30. It was a national holiday here, but we had school anyways. I though that getting double time was worth it. The Paps paid me twice as much as usually...which still equals somewhere between zero and nil. In other news, the illegal teachers strike in BC is effecting three students in Kampala, Uganda. When I have a problem with the material, or I need to send things in to get graded, I email the teachers at Fraser Valley Distance Education School. Well, it turns out there was a reason that I didn't receive any emails for a while. They were involved in job action. Who would have thought that the ramifactions of their actions would be world-wide. Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for checking in.