I wish you could have been here!

On Sunday I was baptised by immersion! 

On a sunny Kampala afternoon, immediately after our church service, we walked as a congregation across the road to a nearby hotel. This hotel has a swimming pool... and it was in this swimming pool that 15 of us were baptised on Sunday! 

I would have loved to have had you all there with us. It was a joyful celebration!

Some special friends we have met here in Kampala were able to join us, which meant a lot to me.

In addition, two other special ladies were part of the day.

One of them was a new friend I have met here in Kampala who has become very precious to me. She is South Sudanese and was also baptised on Sunday!

The other lady is a close friend I met and got to know in Juba. She is originally from France and has featured on this blog many times when I was writing these posts in South Sudan. She stood with me on July 8th last year, with our children and the MAF team, at Juba's Quality Hotel. That night, as we stood together, we were forced to listen to gunfire killing over 150 people on the streets of Juba. 

This time, we stood together in a Kampala hotel with an entirely different ambiance. united for a time of celebration and joy. A world away from the fear and trembling of that July evening in Juba.

It was exciting to be able to join with the others being baptised!! We congregated around the pool...

 

Then it was time to give my testimony to the rest of the congregation, seated at the poolside:

I spoke mostly about what I had discovered during a particularly dark and difficult time that I went through in Juba, when I felt overwhelmed with challenges and thoroughly miserable. I felt so inadequate to be called God's child and utterly unable to be the person I felt I ought to be. I looked around at other MAF wives in Juba and saw them coping with smiles while I was drowning in stress. 

I felt like I was failing as a wife, as a mother, as a home-schooler, as a MAF staff member, as a so-called Christian... It was a miserable time.

However during that time, I learnt an amazing lesson: that despite my very great failures and weaknesses, despite the wrong things that I do and the way I got so tense- and horrible to be around when stressed (!!)  I eventually came to realise that God doesn't need me to be a "super-person" for Him to love me. 

I don't need to try to earn His love by trying to be good enough. I don't need to try to act like a supposed MAF-missionary-woman that some people might expect a MAF pilot's wife to be. 

God just loves me. 

He has enough grace to see me as I am, with all my metaphorical warts and all my mistakes and weaknesses and love me exactly as I am. I don't need to be anyone special or do anything special... God loves me always and anyway, because Jesus has stepped into my place to deal with those things when He died on the cross. clearing the way for me to be made right in God's eyes. He is "mighty to save" (Zephaniah 3 v 17). 

Because of this, not only does God love me- the same Bible verse tells me that He actually delights in me! Now that is amazing grace! And that makes me so thankful! I just wanted to jump into that pool and make my commitment to follow Him crystal clear! 

So here is the baptism: 

 And my lovely friend Grace being baptised:

 

It was such a special day... :-) 

 

Centre of the Earth

Over the Easter weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to pay our first visit to the Equator!

There is something significant about being able to stand on the line marking 0'latitude- the belt of our great planet earth!

We gathered with the friends we had travelled with for a group photo:

On the other side of the road, Andrew and Joel posed in the circle facing ours:

The children were fascinated watching a demonstration of how water goes down the plug-hole in different directions either side of the equator. Two basins are set up just a few steps either side of the central yellow line which marks the equator. A petal in the water-flow helped to prove the point!

Asked to predict how water would flow on the actual equator, Esther was correct in her remark that the water would flow straight down the plug-hole without any swirling...

It was great to have our first equator visit- and we even have a sticker on our car to prove it!

Proud Mum

I am so enjoying the fact that our children have so many more varied opportunities now that they are at school in Kampala.

There have been some proud moments for me! I love going to watch my children taking part in school presentations or class assemblies.

I had fun watching Ben's class as they presented an assembly a couple of weeks ago based on the theme of overcoming fear with God's help. They did a wonderful, upbeat dance and they all looked like they were having lots of fun!

    

A few weeks ago, Esther and her class-mates invited parents to come and watch a History presentation in class.

 In pairs, the children had worked to create a power-point presentation that outlined their own ancient civilisations, based on historical information they had read about ancient Greece or Egypt. Esther and her student partner had even designed (and wore!) an outfit based on how they believed people may have dressed if they had lived long ago in their imagined civilisation!

To top it all, Heritage School put on an AMAZING performance last weekend, on both Friday and Saturday evenings, as they presented the musical of "Beauty and the Beast".

The whole show was so professionally executed. Along with every other spectator, I was most impressed with the young actresses and actors, with their dialogue, singing and dancing. The stage sets, the music, the lighting and the beautiful costumes and hair-styles were all so well done! It was FABULOUS!

Since volunteers were needed, I chipped in back-stage and had a fun time helping out with the stage make-up:

Esther had two small parts, as she played a villager and also took part in a dance as a candlestick at the Beast's castle. I was so proud as I watched her take part in this school production- at both of the evening performances, of course!

Esther as one of the villagers:

Esther dancing as a candlestick in a rendition of the song, "Be Our Guest":

Getting ready for the final curtain call:

And the grande finale with all of the cast!! (In case you're trying to spot her, Esther is on the far left, 3rd row from the back, next to the tall white-wigged actress!)

What can I say?  It was AMAZING!!!

Andrew's Ugandan Flying Licence- at last!!

We have some great news- Andrew has finally received his Ugandan flying licence!

It's been a long wait, but at last Andrew was able to sit the necessary exam to convert his flying licence to one which is Ugandan-approved.

This means he is fully operational as a MAF Uganda pilot- so here are some photos to prove it!

Although I have not yet had the privilege of flying in a MAF plane in this country, Andrew's brother was able to join him one work day. Here are some of Tim's photos from a flight up to the Karamoja region of Uganda.

Thanks, Tim, for the photos!
And I happen to know my Mum will especially enjoy these pictures, as Karamoja is the area in which she served as a missionary and teacher many moons ago, back in the 1960s!

The morning started at the MAF hangar at Kajansi airfield- a beautiful location close to the edge of Lake Victoria:

The MAF office is situated just a short walk from the hangar:

Taking off from Kajansi offers beautiful views over the lake:

The MAF pilot at work:

Apparently, there was some rather nasty weather to deal with on part of the journey, requiring careful decision-making from Andrew:

The day was long and the stops at the different airfields were many. Here is a selection of Tim's pictures from a-day-in-the-life of a MAF Uganda pilot up in the northern regions of the country:

The Parker Brothers enjoy a coffee at altitude:

Heading back over Lake Victoria...

... to the Kampala region...

... and back down to the airstrip at Kajansi airfield:

Then for the drive home from Kajansi back into Kampala itself: