Tim Hortons

Hello fellow Canadian addicts. Today I was reminded, by Andrew den Hertog, that Rrrroll up the Rim is back. Let me tell you, this is just a ploy to get the average Canadian drink MORE Tim Hortons coffee than usual. I speak from experience. It was one year ago that I started visiting Timmies every morning on the way to work. The habit was finally broken when, um, I had to finally leave the country. I thought that was the only way to go. Many thought I was going to Uganda to teach. The real reason was to flee from Timmies. But wait, people had to actually send me cans of Timmies coffee. And right now, I am drinking a cup. It's a trap I tell you. They put something in their coffee that makes it desirable. What I wouldn't do for a large double-double. I even tried rolling up the rim of my cup but I can't get it. It probably says "Please play again" or "Win a muffin" or something useless. Actually, besides friends, the only things I miss about Canada are Tim Hortons and snowboarding. I don't miss the rain at 3C or the sleet/snow at -1C, the cold hands trying to swing a hammer and hang onto a nail at the same time, the darkness at like 2 pm or anything like that. I actually enjoy sunshine from 7 AM to 7PM briefly interrupted by tropical rain storms. With the temperature at 25C you would think this was the perfect place to live. Well, without all the corruption and poorness aorund that is. Well I hope you have a good day. And remember, rrrroll up the rim is a trap to get you addicted to Timmies...if you aren't already. Wait, so it's too late for the Canadians. Americans, take heed lest you likewise become addicted.

Sunday

Good Sunday to all of you. I hope you have a good time of worship. Today I didn't sing on the worship team. I missed practice yesterday because I didn't want to be in town when the official voting results were released. So today I got to sleep in (instead of waking up at 5:30 I woke up at 7:30...I hate it when I have a chance to sleep in and my body doesn't want to oblige). Pastor Brian spoke on 1 Timothy 6:1-16. It was really convicting. Paul talks about money and contentment. We are supposed to be content with only food and clothing. We are all too ready to say, "Well if it's clothes and food I should be content with then let it be nice clothes and good food." The world thinks money and getting stuff will make us happy but Paul says that since we can't bring any of that with us, we should be content with what we have and live godly, loving lives instead.

Well, I just finished my nap. The power is still out but we have our generator on. Sometimes I think politicians aren't the only people addicted to power. Well, have yourselves a good day.

Thank God

Well, the elections are over here in Uganda. So far there has been no violence. The final results are expected today so there could be some unrest yet. So far the President is ahead with 65% of the vote with 75% of the ballots counted. Anyways, some of you may have noticed the lackage of new blog posts. Well I have postulated a new theorom. The amount of new blog posts is directly related and proportional to the amount of electricty. So if you plug in the numbers, .5(electricty)=.5(new blog posts). Sorry folks, but mathematically speaking, my blog posts are going to be 1 new one for every 4 days.

Things here going great. I can't believe it's almost March, the time is going by so fast. And by going great I mean that I was sick on Thursday with a fever and headache and stuff, but I got over that. Man, it's boring being sick. I even tried to get out of it but Klazina took one look at me when I showed up to teach and sent me packing. Friday I was better and could teach again. My hat goes off to those of you who are teachers and have a room full of kids on a Friday. I don't know how you manage. I can barely keep 3 kids going. Maybe it's the whole homeschool thing or something with the more relaxed pace. Oh yeah, and yesterday it was cold here. I mean like really cold. I was shivering when I walked to the Pap's house. It had to be like 20C or something. Well, before I get stuff thrown at me for that comment, I'm going to log off. Have a good day.

Good day. I just got back from the Wednesday evening service. Our sermon was from 2 Samuel 6 where David is taking back the ark to Jerusalem. There were three main parts to the story. The first part has to do with doing things our way instead of God's way. Even though Uzzah thought he was doing God a service by grabbing onto the ark when it was falling from the ark, God had specifically instructed Israel that nobody was to touch it. When we start putting our minds before God we will be in for trouble. The second part has to do with doing things God's way. When we do things God's way we will be happy. He has given us an instruction manual for life and if we use it we will be blessed. The Bible is Basic Instructions Before Life Ends and if we follow the instructions God will bless us. The third point was about criticizing other people's worship styles. Michal criticized David for dancing in front of God, and because she did so she was to be barren for the rest of her life. Pastor Brian did warn that there comes a point when our style of worship may distract people's attention away from God and to ourselves. This is to be avoided and discouraged and stopped. We are to worship God alone and not to distract others from worshipping Him.

I have a prayer request. Please pray for peaceful elections here in Uganda. Thursday is election day and there have been some outbursts of violence already. Things could get worse when the results are announced on Saturday or Sunday. Also, pray for fairness. The President wants to stay in power and has shown in past elections that he will stop at nothing to keep it.
Thanks and God bless

Greetings brothers and sisters. Today we had a sermon about the church family (1 Timothy 5) and it was a really good and applicable sermon. Especially because it discusses who the church and its members should support financially. Let me tell you, it's a very good topic for a place like this. Pastor Brian used an illustration about this big strong Ugandan guy came up to him and asked him to give him assistance because he was an orphan. He wanted school fees and stuff like that so Pastor Brian said that he should get a job. And the guy said, yeah but I'm an orphan. He had been given hand outs so often he thought it was his right to keep getting them. The passage talks about giving widows aid, but Pastor Brian applied it to anybody who needs aid. First we are to see if the person truelly has a need. If so, the first people who should aid them are their direct family. If they have no direct family then the church is supposed to aid them. Also, if the person is young and strong enough to work, then the church is not supposed to give them aid because that promotes idleness and creates gossipers and busybodies. Also, we're supposed to treat eachother as family. That means we are to talk to older men as if they were our father, older ladies like they're our mother, and young people like siblings. So we are not to come to church for the sole purpose of getting a girlfriend or boyfriend and we are to treat girls as sisters and guys as brothers. That means we should be out with them and doing things that we wouldn't do with our own sisters and brothers (I believe making out was mentioned here). Anyways, it was a good sermon. I hope you all have a wonderful day also, praising and worshipping God. He deserves all the honour and glory.

Thanks for the Gift
Happy Valentine's Day. Ok, so it's the day after. I forgot my laptop at the Pap's house yesterday, so I have to update it now instead of last night. The only reason for my Valentine's update is, well, I kind of got a Valentines gift. You see, a family formerly from Picture Butte, Alberta, sent me a great gift. The only problem is, it was supposed to be a Christmas gift. They sent it on October 24. Operation Christmas Gift quickly became Operation New Year's Gift, only to be Renamed Operation Valentine's Gift. So my thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit and Julia Sinke and their children: Nathan, Lukas, and Abby. The Tim Hortons coffee is a present I will never forget. Oh yeah, and the droppies and pictures are great as well. So let this be a lesson to you, folks. Never send an important package by ground mail. At least not if it has to get to Uganda.

Church
Hi. Greetings from Kampala where the weather is bright and sunny...and hot. Like super hot. Good thing we have church in the morning, because it would be mighty hot in that building. We meet on the 5th floor of this building so it gets stuffy up there, especially when the power goes off like this morning.

Today Pastor Brian preached from 1 Timothy 4:6-16, all about godliness. The first point was How to get Godliness. 1)by remembering the foundational doctrines that we have been taught. 2) By exercising in godliness. Just like our bodies don't grow and get stronger without us exercising, so our spiritual lives don't grow without exercise either. 3) By focusing on the future (heaven). Just like Moses, who forsook the Egypt and all it's money and influence because he counted the things of God higher than the things of this earth.
The second point was about how to give (show) godliness to others. The power went off right about here so this part was quite brief. 1) Be an example of godliness. Practice what you preach (verse 12). 2) Be in the Word. We need to be fed on a good spiritual diet of God's word every day (verse 13). 3) Use our gifts and talents that God has given us, to His glory and the edification of the church (verse 14). 4) Be fully commited to a godly lifestyle (verse 15). 5) Take care of yourself and examine your lifestyle to see whether or not you are living according to God's word (verse 16).

Today we had a new worship leader. His name is Kenny and he usually did our voice training at Saturday rehearsal. The first service was a disaster because we weren't used to his style of leading so we missed almost all our cues for when to come in and when to break into harmony or stay in unison. Thankfully the second service went a lot better. Well, I hope you have a great Sunday and you can worship God in spirit and in truth.

Attack of the Killer Moth
I just looked and saw that this is my 100th post. Craziness. I declare a International Holiday (seeing as this blog is an international blog of sorts) so please phone your bosses and tell them that it's the centenial of mejneels.blogspot.com. Anyway, on to the story of the Killer Moth.

Last night I was completely minding my own business, watching an episode of "Law and Order" and out of nowhere this huge thing came wizzing past my head. At first I thought it was a bat. I had one of those in here before you know. Well, after I had gone through my mental checklist of what to do, I decided to run to my room, close the door, and curl myself into a fetal position on my bed with a white towel in my hand. If that thing ever found me I would surrender immediately. Well, it didn't come and I started getting cramps so I decided to take a closer look. So I went back to the living room, the last known location of the "Thing." Well, it was sitting on one of Eric's speakers and I saw that it was a moth. A huge moth. A huge moth in camo. Seriously, I have seen army personnel with less camoflauge on than that thing. At any moment I expected missiles to be launched in my direction, from hidden missile launchers under it's wings. Or at least an intercom voice telling me to give up the fight because resitance is futile. I decided that bug spray would be my best bet so I ran to the bathroom to see if the bottle was there. It was, but it was empty. Kind of like the Canadian military's helicopters. Sure, the helicopters exist, but the crash every other flight. So I ran upstairs to the Kelly's and asked politely with a certain edge of urgancy, if they had any bug spray. Thankfully they did. Armed with the deadly Raid spray, I stealthily crept downstairs, preparing myself for the surpise attack. Hey, if that thing was dressed for war, I was going to play the part of the underdog army trying defend my own territory. I dashed into the living room and hit him with my first fly through. I thought that if it truelly was a military moth, I should fall back and try goad him into fighting a battle on my turf. I knew it better than he did and could find hiding places to launch a guirrila style attack. Well, after 10 minutes, I went to see what was taking him so long. I found him buzzing angrily around in circles. Thankfully it died shorty after. Yes, the conquering hero could once again rest in peace upon his bed. Chalk one up for the good guys. Mike 1, Killer Moths 0.

Hello and welcome. Today I found out that February is a crazy month. It's the shortest month of the year by 48-72 hours and yet it seems the longest, especially to students. Today I got to school at 8:25 (right on time as usual, I have yet to make a transition to African time) and found out right away that 2/3 of the school were in a grumpy mood. So me and my little thinker decided that instead of listening to complaining kids for 4 hours I would shorten the day and take them all on a nature walk. Really it was a great way to get them to think they weren't in school learning when actually they were. We went on a walk for just over an hour and got to see lots of birds. Well, actually we heard lots of birds. Most of them were finding shade in the trees and singing. I just wanted to reiterate how beautiful it is out here. I mean, even when it hasn't rained in a coon's age, the trees are all still green and there are so many birds and wild life roaming. And by wild life I mean cows, goats, and sheep. No elephants or hippos or stray lions. Seriously though, it's great out here. I think I may have fallen in love with Uganda.

Some People's Kid

Man, I admire women who run after kids for a living. I was nackerred (British word meaning very very very very tired) after school today. And that was only after half a day of running around 3 kids trying to get them to work. But things took a turn for the bizarre. Klazina decided to bake a cake for Gerrit's birthday, which is tomorrow. Well, while she was baking away, Matthias (almost a year) decided he would open a can of shoe polish and smear himself with it. Apparently shoe polish is oil based because trying to wash it off with water was a completely useless endeavor. So after brainstorming the items that might help we decided that our best bet would be some kind of kerosene or something. Well, the only thing we could find was gas so we used that to wash the poor kid's legs and arms. The only problem was, when the kid tried to crawl he couldn't crawl in a straight line and was bumping into chairs and tables and stuff. So we decided that the best thing to do was give him a good bath. So I took him upstairs and started taking his clothes off only to find that his diaper was quite soiled and *clears throat* fecal matter was in abundance. Thankfully Francis, the house girl, came to my rescue and changed and bathed the child. Quite an adventure I tell you.

God is Good
Happy Sunday to you. Once again I went to church and came back encouraged and strengthened. God certainly is good. All the time. And all the time, God is good. Today we had a service dedicated to sending out a pastor and six members of Calvary Chapel Kampala to Entebbe to start a church plant there. Pastor Brian (yes, the same one that has been gone for like, ages) preached on Matthew 28:18-20. Quite fitting as that is the Great Commision. He applied to every one though, so no thinking that we don't have to do anything with it unless we are missionaries or evangelists. Since we are disciples of Jesus, He is telling us too to go out and make disciples. Whether it is half way around the world, or across the street. Jesus calls us to go. However, He doesn't just tell us to go without equipping us. In Acts 1, Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Spirit to come and strengthen them. They did, and the Spirit made them bold in proclaiming the gospel. Even Peter, that proud disciple that was scared to admit to a little girl servant that he was a disciple turned out to boldly preach the gospel in front of thousands of mocking people, 3000 of which were saved from one sermon. Christ not only gave us a command, but He promises to give us the Spirit. Not only that, but in Luke 8, Jesus tells us how to get the Spirit. "If you then being evil know how give good gifts to your children, how much more your heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask?" So if we need the Spirit all we need to do is ask for Him. And we do need the Spirit. If we try to go spread the gosple in our own strength we will fail. Without God we can do NOTHING. So now we have a command, a promise, and now we have to obey. It's like we have a car and a full tank of gas. Now we have to go.

Ok, I added a few pictures of some members of the worship team. Just click on "Pictures" on the right side-bar and they should show up.

We have power!!!...Oh Wait, it's Off Again
Yes, that has been our anthemn here in Kampala for the past week. It's amazing how dependant we are on power, even out here in deepest darkest Africa. Ok, that's not entirely true. It's not deepest or darkest here, unless the power is off. This week has been really bad. It started Monday with the power being off during the evening, which wasn't so bad because it was scheduled to be off then. But...Tuesday the power went off at 8 AM and came on at 5:30, only to go off again at 7:30. Well, this was only the beginning of darkness being upon the land. The power came back on exactly 26 hours later, for an hour. Then it turned off again until Thursday at 2. It came on until 4 and then actually came on again at 7. It stayed on for a total of twelve hours, which had me almost doing backflips in elation. Only to be crushed again at 7 AM this morning. It turned off and remains that way until right now. So needless to say, the meat is not staying the freshest, or the milk. Oh well, getting frustrated only takes up needless energy that I could be using to do something else. More productinve. Something I can't think of right now.

Hello. Well I just got back from church, only to find out that the power is STILL off here in Makindye. Yup, that's right, for 26 hours in a row we haven't had power. Oh well, that just means I have to eat my meat tonight and drink my milk soon. Church was really good. Pastor Craig spoke form 1 Samuel 30 about David defeating the Amelikites and getting all his belongings back. The main point of the sermon was that 1) David repented from his sin. 2) David enquired of the Lord and 3) David obeyed the Lord's command. In our Christian life we must also do these three things. Are we obeying God's will after we ask Him to lead us? Or do we just ask without doing anything? James says "show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works." Faith without works is dead. The power went off in church (it's downtown so it had power all day) right in the middle of the sermon, but he kept on preaching. Then the worship team had to lead a closing song which turned out to be different than the one originally picked. But it was really good. Anyways, I'm going to go eat my macaroni (which I made in the dark so there might be some surprises lurking) so you have yourselves a good day.
God bless