Time to Wrap Some Things Up

I have found that I love to blog. It is fun to share with others the things going on in Bev's and my life. But many times I get so busy that I never get to finish the story. So today I'll try to wrap some things up.

How Long is Too Long To Wait?
Well we finally got the Landcruiser back from Patel's shop on April 12th. The good news was that he had one of his mechanics bring it back to Jinja so another bus adventure was not needed. The Prado runs well and it seems to be relatively sound. Since it's return we have had to buy a new tire since Bev had a blowout traveling with Jo and Maddy. The least expensive tire for that vehicle costs $285 but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, in this case it would be a rubber bullet, and get the tire. Now the vehicle runs well but it doesn't look good. Here in Uganda village kids can't afford paper and pencils so in order to practice their penmanship they do what Fred would do (Fred Flintstone) and that is take a rock and scratch their name or message on the side of the car. The gray lettering of the primer makes a beautiful contrast with the black paint. Sort of like a reverse Etch-a-Sketch. Now if only I could pick up the car and shake it upside down to erase the messages! Oh well, maybe one of these kids will be famous some day and I can have an original Apollo or Patrick or Irene...

The Trip of a Lifetime

We had a blessed time in Israel and if the Lord allows us to go back sometime we would be blessed even more. We traveled to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, visited the site of the Sermon on the Mount, Capernaum, the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Western Wall, Mount of Olives. All this with 74 of our newest friends. These people made us feel right at home. Sometimes as a missionary you never fit in since you are not from where you are serving and no longer part of where you were from. But on this trip everybody was a fish out of water. Dave and Cindy, Mike and Hilda, Dave and Sue, Frank and Vicki, Greg and Delores, Bobby and Judy, John and Georgia, Skip and Lenya everyone made us feel a part of the body of Christ in a way that we hadn't felt in a while.

After the tour left, Bev and I had two days to explore, so we rented a four door roller skate, and headed to Masada, the Dead Sea and Qumran. This car was so small that my feet on the control peddles also served as the front bumper. It ran well but we did have some problems.

You can't rent a car on the Sabbath so we had to rent it Thursday to have it for Saturday and Sunday (Pentecost is a special Sabbath). The man at Hertz assured me that there was a jack and lug wrench under the spare donut tire. There wasn't!

Saturday we had a flat at Qumran but all Hertz offices are closed on the Sabbath so they were of no help. Bev finally found a young Israeli who borrowed tools and helped us change the tire. He didn't speak English but we got it done. The day trip was fun, exciting and annoying all in one but we loved it! We also got to explore Jerusalem on our own which made the Bible really come alive.

Sunday we drove to Tel Aviv, got lost a few more times but made it to our flight on time. A very blessed and exciting trip. Thank you Lord! And thanks to all His servants.

That should bring us up to date!