- •President Lorenzo Snow (1814–1901) spoke of the blessings that come through tribulation:
“I suppose I am talking to some who have had worry and trouble and heart burnings and persecution, and have at times been caused to think that they never expected to endure quite so much. But for everything you have suffered, for everything that has occurred to you which you thought an evil at that time, you will receive fourfold, and that suffering will have had a tendency to make you better and stronger and to feel that you have been blessed. When you look back over your experiences you will then see that you have advanced far ahead and have gone up several rounds of the ladder toward exaltation and glory. …“Take it individually or take it collectively, we have suffered and we shall have to suffer again; and why? Because the Lord requires it at our hands for our sanctification” (The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, comp. Clyde J. Williams [1984], 117–18).
Sorry for the font background and green colors...something weird happening we can't figure out.
Football season is just around the corner and these Auburn Tiger fans are ready for a tough fight this year against Bama. Notice the boy in the crimson shirt in the background. He's a wanna b Bama grad and is smiling because he knows nobody has ever beaten Saban two years in a row and what makes this year's game even better, it will be played T-town. Bama on to the national championship playoffs.
(Pam) Making Chapatti
Daisy in her outdoor kitchen. She rolls her chapatti on the barely visible table in the left foreground.
Daisy's selling stand just of the road. She and her husband have three children, 2 1/2 yrs. 5 yrs, and 7 1/2 yrs. This is her 2 yr old
Nearly every
day, I see Daisy selling her chapatti on the side of the road. Mine aren’t nearly as good as hers so I asked
her if I could watch her make them and in turn, I would give her a bag of
flour. At first she was hesitant but
then agreed. She said to come to her
home at 6:30 am.
When I
arrived, still dark outside, she had already made about half her chapattis for
the day by candlelight, so all I could get was an explanation regarding forming
the dough. She said she mingles a “packet”
of “azam”, a finally chopped onion, a spoon of baking powder and a spoon of
salt. She then adds three “cups” (cup holds
20 oz. liquid) of water and mingles. She
sets it aside to rest for about 30 mins.
While the
dough rests, she prepares a hot charcoal fire and pours enough cooking oil to
generously cover the bottom of her 12 inch saucepan. Then with oiled hands and an oiled surface, she
then breaks off pieces of dough, about 3 inches in diameter and with a glass
(beer) bottle, rolls the dough paper thin to just under the diameter of the
saucepan. When the oil is very hot, she
puts the dough in the saucepan to cook for 20-30 seconds while she quickly
begins to roll out another chapatti.
With a fork and her thumb, she catches the cooking chapatti and turns it to the other side to cook for
5-10 seconds. When it is done, she adds
it to her container and starts on the next one.
I asked her
how many she makes each day. From the “packet”
she gets between 50 and 60 chapatti. To
make them in time for the passersby, she needs to be out on the road by 7 or
7:15. That means she starts preparing
them by around 5:15am each morning. She says the people love her chapatti.
(true: hers are cooked in more oil than most)
She sells them for 200 shillings each (8 cents). Even though I had mentioned several times I
would give her a bag of flour, we were not understanding each other. She didn’t know what a bag was; I didn’t know
that a packet was referring to 2 kilos of azam, or wheat flour. She was very surprised and grateful that I
gave her so much flour.
I was
curious what kind of profit she was making on a batch of her chapatti, so calculated
some of the costs:
2 kilos of azam/flour at a local
(cheaper) market = 5,300 shillings
She uses ½ liter of oil per batch =
2,300 shillings
Small packet
of baking powder divided by 8 batches = 100 shillings
Excluding
the salt, onion and charcoal, her cost per batch is 7,600 shillings. If she sells 55 chapati, she brings in
11,000 shillings. Thus her actual profit
is likely less than 3,000 shillings or $1.20 a day. That almost sounds like actual expenditures
to income has not been analyzed, that they are just exchanging money for free
labor, but for Gulu, perhaps this is
a decent addition to her family income since average wages here are less than
10,000 a day; since she is at home with her three children and since it also
provides food for them.
It reminds
me of my early-in-our-marriage bread business, making 12-32 loaves of bread
once a week, getting $2 a loaf, costing about a dollar a loaf for ingredients
and delivery, but it gave me a little spending money each week while I stayed
home with our children. All I can say is
Daisy epitomizes the good women here who work so hard to help support their
families in whatever way they can.
We sent two fine young men off on their missions Wed Nite, Simon on the left and Collins on the right. On the bus at 10:00 PM, arriving in Kampala at 6:00 AM. Interviewed and set apart Thur morning and then off to shop for necessities before flying to the missionary training center in Accra, Ghana. Both have suffered much, but they have worked hard for this day. Both will be serving in Ghana where it is very, very hot. So hot, they are told not to bring a suit as they will never wear their coats. We feel like we just sent two of our sons off on their missions at the same time. Can you see the light in their eyes?! We miss them already.
Collins left a beautifully handwritten letter of his
testimony which reads in part:
“I… give my testimony of the truthfulness and the
sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ … for which I know for myself to be
true.
“But before giving this wonderful testimony I would
love to acknowledge the principle of gratitude.
…I would love to thank our Heavenly Father for the priesthood blessings
that have been bestowed upon me in my confirmation as a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 30 June 2012 and how they are coming to
pass.
“I would like to acknowledge the contributions of …
the missionaries and the brothers in the branch presidency for their
contribution in my preparation … and their words of encouragement.
“…I know for myself that this is the true church,
that we are not lost, that the prophet Joseph Smith was a true prophet and God’s
instrument in restoring His truth on earth, that the Book of Mormon is the Word
of God and that all our leaders are called and ordained of God.
“I sustain all my leaders and I know that if we live
what we believe and remember the covenant of our baptism and His terms, with
humility, gratitude, honesty, a good sense of humor, sacrifice and looking at
the kingdom of God as our priority – without profanity, gossip, covetousness
and contention – we shall go back to live with our Heavenly Father and we shall
be called true saints, not saints simply by our membership.
“I do love you all, till we meet again …this is my
testimony and I leave it in the name of the Savior Jesus Christ Amen.”
Carrying wooden chairs on a bike. The bicycle is used as much here to transport goods as it is to move around in the city.
Carrying couches and one man...people just get it done over here.
Our last nite with the boys was also Pam's deceased parents' 67th wedding anniversary so in honor of them, we played a game they taught us years ago. Someone loaned us a deck of cards purchased in UG. I counted them first to make certain there were 52. I counted 58. Everyone said I must have miscounted. A patriarch gets no respect these days. There were 4 jokers and 2 blanks. There are a large variety of card games the locals play here. I'm sure having 4 jokers and 2 blanks works quite well in some of those games. The deck was stacked against me winning anyway. Lawrence was a "likely" winner since he has a daughter named Stella after Pam's mom. Bsie was also "likely because his first name was in honor of Stewart. As it was, Sister Moore handed them all a sound defeat. The Gatchell's winning legacy lives on - even in Uganda.
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