Week 73-A long week and it ain't over yet.

Have spent Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun and some of next week in Kampala nursing a pinched nerve in my neck. Oh my heck...my neck! I guess the only thing that has come this close to this much pain has been my kidney stones over the years.  I called Pam after she was asleep in Gulu last night, unable to talk, very emotional telling her I was so afraid my pain would return and if it did I didn't know what I would do.  Spent one night in the hospital trying to get the pain under control but couldn't sleep and didn't sleep last night worrying about the pain  returning which it surely will someday.  I've been staying with the Squires, our mission nurse and fleet manger.  They are true angels and have carried me about from one hospital to another for CT scans, MRI's then the International Hospital where I stayed the night.  I am so grateful for the care and love of the Squires and the pain management at the hosptital.... although they provide no towels or soap to bathe with...the hospital that is.  The Squires have towels and soap!  Will put my neck in traction a couple of times for a few days and buy a neck brace to stabilize my neck on these potholed roads we ride. 

Drove up town in Gulu the other day and there was a fellow in blue who appeared to be preaching.  He was standing in the middle of an elevated round-about at the clock tower...the very center of the city. Didn't look like a Bible he was holding but whatever it was sure upset some lady.  As I approached in the car, she disrobed her top and began to wildly wind up and swing at him with her fists.  Needless to say this attracted quite a crowd.  Most of the crowd was laughing and smiling.  She would wound up to punch him a couple of times before I passed by but she never landed one.  I came back by about 15 minutes later and they were still at it. She was still taking swings at him and still missing but now there was a larger crowd.

 One of the new stoves mentioned earlier that will be maintained at the Bardege Branch.  Made of metal.  The branch president, med student, Phillip Odhiambo and friends baked up some bread and cookies Pam had whipped up.  Wasn't perfect but very edible for a first try.  The stove was a little too hot.  They will build smaller charcoal fires in the future.

Some peanut butter cookies they baked using a little cooking oil. The latter wasn't necessary but they tasted just fine...just a little greasy.  First private stove I've seen here.  Everyone cooks on a single or double stove top heated with wood or charcoal.  You've seen the pics.

 Sisters cutting and wrapping up bars of soap for the hygiene kits tht were distributed at Adjumani refugee camp last week.

 Young singles cutting and wrapping bar soap above and below....their family home evening service project.

Tada...job well done.

 More cooking going on while others wrap bars of soap at our apt.

A cute little boy at Church one recent Sunday.


And a cute little girl at a bookstore who was scarred to death to have a mzungu take her picture.  I gave her a sweet and all ended well.

 Stephen Lawoko...one of the finest young singles in Gulu.  Pam's first keyboard student and now look at him, playing in Church.  He serves as 2nd Counselor in the Gulu Branch Presidency.

 WIFI sign found in Chobe Safari Lodge.

A gorgeous flower bloom at Chobe Safari Lodge

_____________________________________________________________________

Thinking of the charity the Squires have shown me this week I came across this scripture.  I'm so grateful for their goodness!  This evening our misson president, Pres Robert Chatfield called to see how I was doing.
No plans to get back to Gulu yet.  Will do some traction for a few days here and then look for a ride to Gulu...probably half way and have the full-time missionaries pick me up mid-way and take me home.  In the mean-time, Pam is manning the fort, teaching lessons on self-reliance, teaching sisters how to sew handbags and generally just loving people which comes so naturally to her.  She is probably one of the few couple missionaries who really doesn't need to belong to a "couple" to accomplish all that needs to be done.

 16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will    administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

 17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance  that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—

 18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent;  and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no  interest in the kingdom of God.

 19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver,  and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

 20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a  remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has  caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.

 21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith,     believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.

 22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he  perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for  withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.

 23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I  say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.

 24 And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain  from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye   say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.

 25 And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless,otherwise ye are condemned;  and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received.

 26 And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk  guiltless before God,I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to thatwhich he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the
 sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their 
wants. (Mosiah 4:16-26 Book of Mormon)