The Last Day of the Year

Hello and welcome all. Today is the last day of the year. It's incredible. I mean, this year has totally flown by. I mean it seems like yesterday I was snow boarding at Big White on the First Annual Bakersview Construction Ski Trip. And the summer flew by because of all the MAF paperwork that needed to be done. The last 4 months have sped by too, with my teaching work here. I wish you all God's blessings for the New Year.

On a different note, this is truelly an international blog. Just recently we had someone from the Netherlands leave a comment. Thanks Jocelyn, for the kindest remarks. Now there are viewers from Canada, United States, UK, Portugal, France, Italy, Holland, Uganda, and Japan. So that's pretty cool.

The Lackage Which is Uganda's Electricity

Power, the fine electricity which comes to each one of our houses through those nice black wires. So what happens when the the company turns the power off? Right, panic strikes and maybe even riots. Or at least some of us just write about it on our blogs. So Uganda doesn't create enough power to give electricity to the entire country at once. So we have what is commonly called "load shedding." This is just a big term meaning the guys at the Uganda Electricity Board flick the switch from on to off for 3 hours every third day. At least it's supposed to be every third day. The past few weeks have been horrendous. I think it's been off twice today already and almost every day since Christmas. I guess the silver lining to this black cloud is that we have a generator here. So we're producing our own electricity here, which is costly, but at least we have lights. So if any of you wonder what it's like living in a third world country, basically you're left in the black. Unless you own a generator.

The Results of Early Morning Coffee Drinking

Ok folks, there is a great issue that I would like to bring up. Never, ever, under any circumstance, drink coffee in the morning if you intend on going back to sleep. You see, I thought I would wake up early (3 AM) to listen to the Team Canada vs Switzerland game of the World Junior Hockey Championship. The only problem is, I had a coffee. So my good intentions of going back to sleep have been thwarted by that substance we like to call caffeine. Maybe some fruitloops will help make this circumstance more bearable.

Hello from the midst of an African rainstorm. It is raining here again and that makes me happy. Not only does it remind me of home, it also cools things down here. It's nice, cause the temperature dropped like 5 degrees or something. at least, that's what it feels like. This should keep the dust down too, at least for today. It'll probably be dusty again tomorrow. Well, that's the news from today. I'm supposed to reorganize the shelves in the school room today but I'm waiting for the rain to stop first. I'll probably be able to go in a half hour or so. I think this has been the longest rainstorm yet. It's been going on for over an hour when they usually last like a half hour.

Good Boxing Day to all of you. How goes it? Any feasting still happening? Things in Uganda are going pretty good. This morning I woke up at 10:30 (hey, it's Christmas break) from the house girl. She wanted to come make the dogs some food. So I unlocked the door for her and the first thing she askes is if I'm feeling ok. I thought that was kind of strange since I'm feeling great. She asked me 3 times so I was really wondering if maybe I had a severe case of bed head or something. Well, I went to brush my teeth and looked in the mirror. To my utter consternation and horror, my whole face was peeling. I guess my sunburn was finally catching up to me. I also did some baking today, without burning down the house. That is quite an accomplishment. Just as my parents about the barbequer incident. Anyways, I baked boeterkoek and it's even edible. I know, it's amazing how two things actually went right while I was baking. I'm kind of afraid to wash the dishes because I know something is going to happen. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day of shopping or standing in lineups or visiting.

Christ was born, He was born indeed. Hello everyone. I hope you all will experience Christmas joy today. I attended Calvary Chapel again this morning. I would have gone to the Baptist church also but they changed their service time so it didn't work out. The singing part of the service consisted of singing a carol and then someone from the Worhip team reading a verse from Luke 2 and then singing another carol. It was really nice. Pastor Josh spoke about how a company in the US is making upsidedown Christmas trees so that your ornaments hang nicer and you can fit more stuff under it. He then talked about if our Christmas trees are upright, meaning is our Christmas focus in the right place. Society wants to make Christmas Christ-less by turning it upside-down, like Herod did in Matthew 2:16. He said there are two truths about Christmas that we should always remember. 1) The Cradle of Christ. He was born in a manger in a cave. Everything he had in this life was borrowed. Jesus can relate to humanity and represents humanity to God. 2) The Gift of Christ. Christ is God's gift to us. Christ is wholly God and wholly relates with God. God chose to dwell amongst the fallen people of this world. He is truelly Immanuel: God with us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall have everlasting life (John 3:16). The true meaning of Christmas is that God gave His Son to die for us so we can be with Him forever.

I'll be posting some picture on here a bit later from the service this morning and the Christmas get together I'll be at this evening.
God Bless

The Nile River Adventure

Wow, what a day. I'm competely nackered (worn out) and I'm as fried as a very fried thing. It's crazy, I put on spf 40 a few times today and I'm still glowing in the dark. When we got home I went straight to bed, and I would still be sleeping if it wasn't for the night guard. He needed his tea and since I'm the only one living in this house, I had to get it. So sorry if there is any incoherency or spelling errors. I'm still pretty much asleep.

There were four of us who left Kampala at 7 AM to beat the traffic. Mark, Artjan, Kevin and myself all jumped in Mark's Toyota Land Cruiser and set off. We needed to be at the Nile River Adventures by 9 AM in Jinja. We arrived plenty early (8:30) and settled into some coffee and fruit. This country grows some of the most amazing fruit, by the way. By 9:30, we were off in the back of a truck to the Nile. We started down and since the first rapids didn't come until a few kilometers downstream, we learned some rowing techniques for when we're trying to control our raft and make it hit some great rapids. The first set of rapids came and we pretty much did OK. Nobody fell off the raft and we didn't capsize. Then we hit the second set of rapids and things got a little more hairy. One of the girls who were with us (ok, we had another couple with us plus our guide and the 4 rescue kyakers and 1 camera man) fell out and started bobbing downstream. We recollected her...a little wet and sputtery...and continued down.

The two most impressive rapids are, in the order we hit them, a water fall and "The Bad Place." The Falls looked innocent enough but the guide kept on saying how if the water was too high she wasn't going to take us down them. Now, from the river above The Falls, it didn't look like too steep of a drop, but the guy who had gone on this raft 6 times kept muttering how he didn't want to go. Well, we went anyways and the last thing I remember seeing before Ian (one of the others with us) hurdled into me was the raft kinda bend in an L shape as we hit the bottom of The Falls. Somehow or other we managed to stay upright and not lose anybody. Then we took one look at The Falls and realized how impressive it really was. It had to be an 8 foot drop (at least from the bottom it looked that way). Very impressive. The Bad Place was probably the best rapid we hit. It was the very last one and we didn't take the whole rapid, it was waaaaaaaaay to huge. Probably close to 500 meters long. We went in about half way down and our object was to hit this one huge wave and not flip over. Well, we hit the wave and our raft stopped dead which is pretty cool cause all this water is rushing by and we were standing still. Then the raft flipped. The only thing to do is roll yourself into a ball because the current just grabs you and it doesn't matter how much you struggle, the water is going to take you. Well I was under for what seemed like an enourmous amount of time but it was probably only 10 seconds. When I resurfaced it was definately nice getting a breath of fresh air.

Well that's my adventure today. We got back to Kampala at around 7:30. The water in the rapids reminded me of waves by Washington that just pound you into the sand. The only difference was, the river is so deep that you didn't hit the bottom when you fell and it's fresh water so it doesn't burn all the way down when you swallow it. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. And I got a DVD from the camera man to prove I've actually done it.
Have a good day and if you don't mind, i'm going back to sleeeeeeeeee (eyes close)

The Office Life

Hello folks. How goes it? Things on the Ugandan front are just peachy. Right now it's quarter after 12 and I'm getting a little bored. I'm helping out in the finance department at the MAF office, which means I'm handing out money to people who need it and then recording the transactions on the data base. Right now there hasn't been anybody since about 10 so I'm stuck looking at Canadian election news, chatting on MSN, and listening to Christmas carols. Oh well, maybe things will pick up a little this afternoon. One can always hope. Tomorrow I'm going to go white water rafting on the Nile, so I do have that to look forward to.

So Long and Farewell

David Waterman left his morning for his home and native country, the UK. In remebrance of that, we, the staff and management at mejneels.blogspot.com, send our best wishes for Dave and thank him for his work amongst us. We will always remember you, Dave.

We remember Dave's driving. Watch out England, Dave is back and drives worse than normal.

We remember the Panto. Always, we can't forget it. Our best wishes to you as you try forget it also.

We remember Dave's hair. Now that you can trust barbers again, get it cut :)

We remember Dave's bartering skills. Work that one before coming back, Dave.

We remember Dave's cooking. Not the greatest at rice but excellent at pasta. We'll miss it at the Muzungu Internet Cafe.

We remember Dave's accomplishments with setting up the Muzungu Internet Cafe. We'll miss your company but not the extra bandwidth.

We remember the "Britishisms" like "nackered" (tired), "tea" (supper), "Bangers and Mash" (mashed potatoes with breakfast sausages), and "naff" (broken/doesn't work/or something) and will most likely forget them as soon as possible. Don't forget the Dutch that was taught to you.

We remember Dave's volleyball skills...or lack thereof. Actually, he's not that bad.

Thanks for the memories Dave and have a good time back in the UK.

The Staff and Management at mejneels.blogspot.com
Mike Neels - President
Jessica Beeke - Chief Executive Officer
Richard Neels - Head of Quality Control
All the loyal international members of mejneels.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas everyone. Things in Kampala are going along great. It's still very warm and very dusty. I think that there's an inch of fine dust on the roads here so whenever somebody drives by, dust gets everywhere. Things are going so fine here that I decided to get sick just for a change of pace. Ok, so I got sick on accident, and it sucks. Fever and a headache are not the way to spend Christmas break. The kids went on break early. We were supposed to have school until Wednesday but since I was sick today the Paps decided to start break early. The good news is that I'm feeling a lot better and no longer have a fever. Also, on Friday I might be going river rafting on the Nile. I hope that I'm not sick then because that would be so cool. Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and a happy new year.

Hello and good Sunday to all of you.
Today has been really good. I woke up crazily early (like 630) so I decided to go to the 8 o'clock service at Calvary Chapel. It was really nice. The worship was really uplifting. Pastor Josh preached from 1 Timothy 2:8-15. It was about men and women's roles in the church. Really interesting, because he brough out a lot of things that men ought to be doing. Things like how men have to be involved spiritually (let men pray), lead holy lives (lifting up holy hands) and have to be emotionally involved (without wrath or doubting). Women should be going to church dressed for God, not the opposite sex and should be able to learn (something the Ephesian church was not doing. Which is why Paul says "Let a women lean" emphasis on the let). Also, he went into why this is the case. Not because men are superior in any way. It's like Jesus who is equal to the Father and yet submitted to the Father's will. The order of creation was this way. The first time the order was broken and Adam submitted to Eve, he ate the fruit and made the whole human race fall. Then Pastor Josh started talking about the woman being saved in childbearing which means that as she cares for the children she has the greatest impact on their lives and can change the world.

At 11 I went with Dave, Mark, and Sarah (a MAF couple) to Lugogo Baptist Church where we were the only Muzungu (white people) in the church. It was an incredible experience. It had a nice African feel to the worship. They used only a keyboard and drumset for the music. The drummer was crazily good seeing as he couldn't have been over 8 years old. He had some really complicated rhythms going on and didn't miss a beat. The worship was pretty cool with a lot of swaying and dancing. The sermon was really good too about Luke 2:1-7. The main points were that God is in control of everything. That is why Joseph and Mary could get to Bethlehem in order for prophecy to be fulfilled. The second point was that even though we're Christians that doesn't mean we will lead easy lives. Mary had to take the trip to Bethlehem even though she was very pregnant. It might have seemed like such a cruel thing to do to a pregnant woman but it was for humanity's good.

It was funny because all the visitors had to introduce themselves and I told them I was from Canada which got the typical "Wow, it must be quite a change coming from such a cold country." And then in the introduction Pastor Alex was talking about how because of the birth of Christ we could all be together with a group of believers from all over the world, like Canada, the US (he meant the UK...sorry Dave), Kenya, and Uganda.

Anyways, it's now chow time. Dave and I made lasagna (Dave did most of the making but I helped a little). The perfect end to the perfect Sunday.
God bless

Howdy folks. Today was quite a day. It started off at 6:30 when my alarm went off. I know, 6:30 on a Saturday morning. It ought to be illegal. However, if we wanted to get out to the equator today we had to leave early. So by 8, after two coffees and some breaky, we started off towards the equator. I mean, if you're in Uganda, you have to make it out to the equator. It was quite a cool experience. There was a guy there wearing a Canucks hat. I had to tell him what a nice hat it was because you don't meet to many people out here that have them. It turns out that he's from Alberta and we had a nice chat about our work with MAF out here. Dave thought it was quite strange that I would stop someone i didn't know and tell him what a nice hat he had but I knew that guy had to be alright. After having some coffee and muffins, we headed back to Kampala. Once we got near the city, there was a huge traffic jam and we got caught in the wrong lane. It took us right into downtown instead of bypassing it like we wanted to do. So we decided that it was in our best interest to drive straight through downtown, avoid the clock tower round-a-bout (the worst one in Kampala) and go to the craft market. We needed to anyways. It's pretty cool there with little odds and ends like African paintings, bongos, harps, toys, trinkets, carved animals, clothes. Pretty much anything a tourist would need. The only problem is that you need to bargain for the items and that isn't the easiest for people who are used to looking at a price tag and paying for the item. It was fun. Well, I have a bunch of pictures of the day so have a look. Oh yeah, I bought the coolest nativity scene last night. It was made out of banana leaves and the wisemen and shepherds are black people. It's pretty cool. Anyways, I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Wow. Another work week in the books. Where does the time go? I guess since I've started helping out in the MAF office during the afternoons, my days are starting to fly by. They were going fast before, but now that I have stuff to keep me occupied from that critical 3-5 time period, things are really starting to speed up. Next week will be fun. I have school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then Christmas break for two weeks. If I'm not working at the MAF office I think I may get bored out of my tree, and that would not be a good prize. Well, I hope all of you have a wonderful final day at work and a great weekend.

The Art of Dutch Coffee Drinking

Ok, this might be a weird blog post, but I think it's worth some bloggage. So about two/three weeks ago I was over for supper at a MAF couple and a Dutch visitor was there too. So after supper we had some coffee and I added my suger and cream. Since there was nowhere else to put the stir spoon, I left it in my cup and continued drinking my coffee thinking nothing of the situation. The Dutch visitor asked if I was of Dutch heritage. Confused, I told him I was. He said that he could tell because I kept my spoon in my cup and, pinning it down with my thumb, continued to drink my coffee. So folks, there you have it. You learn something new every day, even when you're in Africa. So deck yourselves out with orange, eat some boeterkoek and have yourselves a good cup of coffee.

And I think a celebration is in order. Since November, this site has had over 500 hits. And that's not just me pushing refresh all night either. There have been hits from Canada, UK, United States, Portugal, Hong Kong, Uganda and an undiscloded country. Thanks for reading my site. It's a joy to update it when I know people are checking it so regularly.

Computer Problems. Sometimes these machines that run our lives can cause us great pain and consternation. Take, for example, a computer that gets a virus in it's Windows program files. You can't delete it without wrecking your computer. The only way to get rid of it is to restore your computer...which means you lose all files on your computer. Not that I would know, of course. I mean, would I use the internet irresponsibly? To quote Strong Bad, "No more irrersponsibly than usually." Ok, so I did get a virus (remember, I was banned from the Muzungu Internet Cafe?) So last night I finally had enough and decided to restore my computer to its factory settings. I ran into a little problem though. It wouldn't let me log onto the MAF wireless network. Well, after trying many minutes last night, several hours this morning and still no luck (thanks for trying though, Dave), I brought it to MAF. Thankfully, the IT person was there and he got it running again (Thanks Lourie). So now my computer runs quite fast, I just need to download a few items to get back to normal (anti-virus, anit-spyware, itunes, msn 7.0, etc...). Running computer makes Mike happy.

Oh yeah, in addition, I would like to appoint Richard as head of mejneels.blogspot.com quality control. And I appoint Jessy as CEO of mejneels.blogspot.com although, being administrator, I can (and will) revoke all priviledges without notice and without reason.

Have a good day all

P.S. I have changed my comments page so anybody can leave a comment without signing onto blogger. Hopefully this works to generate more feedback.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Ok, so there are some questions that need answering. Questins like, "What was Mike thinking when he took a picture of his own foot?" Or, "What's that disgusting cockroach picture doing on Mike's blog?" Well, as with any great experience, there are so not so pleasant aspects of life in Africa.

THE GOOD

1)Being in a setting where Christians are more interested in what unites than what divides. It seems that in North America, we tend to focus on differences in denominations while here the focus is on working together to further God's kingdom. MAF is a good example. Without the unity of believers from all types of backgrounds, MAF would cease to exist.

2)Being able to experience a new culture. And I don't mean just the culture of the British either, although it's been fun living with an English man. The whole experience of walking down the road and people being interested in how you're doing.

3)Being able to teach the kids, or at least attempt to. So far it's been a lot of fun and I can't wait each morning to get back to work. The Paps are a great family and it's nice being able to help them out in this way.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

1) Cleanliness (or lack thereof) and hence the picture of my foot. You can't walk from the shower to your room out here and your feet are already dirty. It's the dry season now and the roads have a thick layer of dust on them, which gets everwhere especially when cars drive by.

2)Cockroaches. They are everywhere out here. They are the nastiest bug out there because they are right nigh indestructable, except you spray them with raid.

3)Scanning school work. Ok, this is more of a minor annoyance than something bad. It just takes a lot of time and it's rather boring.

Ok, well folks, there it is. And just so you know that I'm not complaining, I talked more about the good than the bad and ugly. That's because it's wonderful out here. The good outweighs the bad by miles. So if you want an African experience, just remember the bad causes minor irritations, the good brings about long lasting good memories.

This is the day that the Lord has made, we will be glad and rejoice in it. Hello, I hope you're having a great day of worship. Today's service was, once again, good encouragement. The message was on 1 Timothy 2:1-7. The theme was the Church as a Life Saving Station. First Pastor Josh talked about the reasons why the Church isn't being an effective witness. Because of lack of prayer, the Church has grown arrogant, complacent, and compromising. Paul starts of "Therefore I exhort first of all..." This is refering to 1 Timothy 1. We need to have 4 kinds of prayers in our lives in order to be lead a quiet and peacable life. We need supplications (prayers refering to needs) prayers, intercessions (coming from the the word meaning "to draw near so as to speak intimately. We don't need to pray with a certain voice or certain words that might make God more inclined to hear us. We are to pray like a child telling his parent he is scared or sick or hurt) and thanksgiving (something we often forget). If we do this, we will lead a quiet life, one that is free from outside worries, and a peacable life, one that is free from inside worries. When we are leading quiet and peacable lives as a Church we can be the Life Saving Station we are called to be. It's God's desire that all men might be saved and come to the true knowledge (verse 4) and that is why He gave us His Son, the Mediator who gave Himself for our ransome (verses 5,6). And therefore, like Paul, we are to be witnessing to other people that there is salvation in no other Name under heaven. It was a really good sermon and thought provocing as well.

After church I was invited to a New Years Eve Party. I'm looking forward to it. It's always nice when someone comes over and invites you to a get together. Well, I better get back to my chicken soup. Have a good Sunday, all.
God Bless.

Seasonal felicitations, to you and if applicable to yours. It's time to be in the festive spirit. Today was the MAF Christmas party. It was pretty fun, playing games, hearing the Christmas story, singing carols, and eating. Except for one undenyable fact...it was very hot, very green, and very unlike any Christmas party I've ever experienced. It's amazing how much snow and Christmas seem to go together even though there probably wasn't any snow in Bethleham. I added a bunch of pictures for your enjoyment.

I also added some pictures I took yesterday. Yesterday afternoon was just one of those days that my motivation seemed to crawl away from me and hide. It didn't help that I was scanning school work all afternoon. So in the middle of it all I decided to take some pictures. Have fun looking at them.

Well, the end of another week has come. I've been here for 3 months, which is hard to believe. Time is flying by. I'm looking forward to church again tomorrow. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday.

Bonjour, comment ca va. As you can see, I'm starting to learn French. Well, actually Sarah Anne is learning French and I'm sitting in on her schooling. Remember, they have a Canadian homeschool program. So like all good, submissive Canadians, we're learning French. It's actually quite fun so far. I even found an English/French dictionary out here. It's crazy, who would have thought that they'd have such a dictionary out here. Costs an arm and a leg too. 22,500 shillings. 1 USD is 1,820 shillings. So divide, carry the one...subtract? It's after school hours for me so I can't do math. But I'm sure it's a lot of Canadian dollars.

I would like to shout out a word of thanks to all my faithful fans who check up on my blog. That little webcounter is quite an eye opener. I have another counter that tells me where people are logging on from. So I can tell that the den Hertogs (of the Blackburn persuasion) check on it a lot, as well as the Neels family from St. Catherines. And Rob I see you log on too, from work. Mrs. den Hollander, I notice you're checking up quite a bit too. Thanks to all the UK people, who don't even know me but still check it out. I'm trying to keep Dave in line for you, but I think he's a lost case ;). And I would like to end on a note to Rich. Thanks for the comments, man. It helps me think of stuff to write, knowing what kind of updates my fans aspire to. You're holding me to quite the standard there, bro.

Yesterday I was talking to Gerrit Sinke and realized how tough life is here. I mean, all you people only have to deal with ice and snow and freezing weather and polar bears and stuff. Here in the tropics, I'm labouring through each day with 30C weather, bright shining sun, and having to eat all this fresh fruit. Like yesterday I think I ate a whole fresh pineapple. It's a tough life I know, but someone has to do it. So, I'll just continue suffering here so that all you people can enjoy the coldness.

Well I gotta go. Until we meet again on cyber space, this is Mike, logging off.

Greetings friends. So I've had requests that I need to have more chopstick stories to entertain you with. Well, fortunately, those kinds of events only happen once in a blue moon. But I do have to tell you a story about lumberjacks in Uganda. We have them, and they aren't even imported. The Paps had this tree that was getting in the way so they chopped it down. They hired this Ugandan guy to come. He wore the big boots and flannel shirt and was singing
I'm a lumber jack and I'm Ok
I sleep all night and I work all day.
Ok, so he wasn't singing and he didn't have boots and he wasn't wearing a flannel shirt. But he did cut down their tree for them and then cut it into 2x4s. Klazina wanted 1x10s or so but the lumberjack sadly misunderstood.

In other happenings, yes East Africa did have a ginormous earthquake yesterday. It was felt here by Eric, but I didn't feel anything. The epicentre was something like 600 miles away. In other news, it's still about 30C here everyday. I see that Chilliwack, Lethbridge, St.Catherines, Grand Rapids and even Dalien, China have snow. However, Kampala hasn't had any snow yet, and won't in the near future. So it looks like the closest I'll get to having a white Christmas is in my dreams.

Hello and good Sunday to you. Today has been pretty quiet. It's nice to have a good quiet day at the beginning of the week. This morning church was about 1 Timothy 1:18,19. The theme was about How to have a waterproof Christian walk (if you read the text you'll understand the theme). The points were 1) Remember what God has done before, 2) Retain the core Christian doctrines, and 3) Keep a pure conscience. It was really good and encouraging. Also, we had communion this morning, which was encouraging also. Anyway, I hope you also have a good Sunday.
God bless,
Mike

Every other day I try to update my blog, and the question often arises, what should I put on today? Has anything out of the ordinary happened? Well, since Tuesday, nothing really has happened. Except that I have been sick for the past two day. Today I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday. I hope that little anecdote cheered you up. Anyways, tonight I'm supposed to be a sound technician for a kids play. I have no clue how sound works but I'm learning. So it's a good thing that Dave actually knows what is going on. It's for a pantomime. When I first heard this, I was like why do they need sound? It should be a bunch of people acting stuff out without saying anything. That was until I learned that in England a pantomime is when a play is made out of a kids rhyme. In this case, the Pied Piper. It's actually quite funny. Anyways, I hope all of you have having a fantastic day.
Peace out,
Mike