Medical Clinics, February 5-7

The first week of February, we hosted 3 medical clinics in villages outside Mbale. Two of our national teammates from Kampala, Darla and Ellen, came to run the clinics. Ellen is a Doctor and Darla was a nurse for several years in the states before coming to Uganda. They also brought a visiting nurse, Rachel, with them. We went to a different village each day. At each site we were met by a large crowd of people already waiting to receive medical attention. Some people traveled a very long way to get there.

The nurses visited with the people first to see which ones needed to see the doctor and which ones could be treated or given medication and information right then. If they needed to see the doctor, they then went to registration and filled out an information sheet and waited to be seen. Many people had malaria tests and/or urine analysis done. We also had a simple pharmacy set up with many common medication needs.

Possibly the greatest part of each clinic was the spiritual counseling that took place. Many of the rural church leaders went with us each day. When people had received their physical help, they then received spiritual counseling and prayer from these leaders. There were many people who were greatly blessed by this and many that took steps toward Christ because of it.

The first day, I helped with registration all morning and then helped in the pharmacy (counting pills) in the afternoon. The next day, as a veteran of registration, I did that again in the morning. In the afternoon, I learned how to do malaria testing and helped with that. Then on the third day, I was given a quick lesson on testing urine and the spent the rest of the day doing malaria testing and urine analysis. I was glad that I got to move around each day and see what each different station was doing.

The clinics were basic in nature, but the people were very excited to receive the help that they did. It was such a blessing to be a part of something that reached out to very real physical and spiritual needs of the people here. God was glorified and many people, including those of us working the clinics, were blessed.

2am Super Bowl Party

It is 6:30am and I am sitting at my computer debating whether or not I should try to get in a nap before beginning my day. I just got back from watching the Super Bowl live thanks to the Tyler's satellite TV and ESPN's international broadcast of the game! I went to bed early last night so that I could wake up for the game. While I should probably feel like this:


I actually feel pretty good! This could be due to the fact that I have had coffee and tea.


I wasn't particularly vested in either of the teams, I just love football and this was the only chance that I would have to see a live game all season! Besides, Super Bowl parties are always fun and now I have wonderful memories of getting up at the ridiculously early hour of 2am to hang out with friends from the community and watch some football!

I needed to have a team to root for, so I decided going into it that I would be a Colts fan because I like Peyton Manning and my sister-in-law is from Indiana. I'm glad those two factors helped me choose the winning team! Most of the others at the party had decided to be Colts fans as well, so I was in good company. The rest of the single ladies (other than the teenagers) bailed on me and didn't go to the game. We are doing medical clinics out in villages this week and apparently they thought they needed sleep for this! I'm so glad that I went anyway! Such fun!

(Leila Shelburne and I)

(Community Friends)

(Shawn and Linda Tyler - Thanks for hosting the game!)

(The girls spent most of their time enjoying the fact that they were able to hang out at such an absurd hour, talking, eating junk food, and making a new friend - I think they named him Todd.)

(The boys probably had the most comfy seats in the house! I think they also struggled a little to stay awake at times!)

We're Painting our Kitchen!

Since we arrived here in August, our kitchen has been white, all white. While white is clean, and there is nothing at all wrong with it, we have been longing for color for some time. We even bought paint in November and hadn't done anything with it. So, a few weeks ago we decided to do something about it and add a little life to our kitchen. A hand towel that Jennifer brought with her inspired the colors and pattern and we all thought it was really fun. I love painting. I love getting messy and not caring. And I love the final product!

Confessions of an Over-Ambitious Blogger

I would like to take a moment to apologize for my lack of blogging lately. You see, I have about 10 posts in process right now that span from before my parents were here in December up to this past weekend. I have a bad habit of starting posts and then leaving them there, unfinished, for ridiculous amounts of time. Part of the reasoning for this is that we have a slow and unpredictable Internet connection, but part of it is that I get so many started that the idea of trying to catch up on them all is quite daunting. So, rather than try to catch up on old posts before I move on to new ones (because that is obviously not working well for me), I am going to start writing about current things and catch up on the others as I get the chance. It will look a little strange on here though, because the entries will post on the date that I began them, not the date that I publish them. I will put notes telling you when older posts are up and ready for viewing! Hopefully soon, I really will be caught up and will be able to stay that way.

Until then, my name is Laura Beth, and I'm an over-ambitious blogger.

Rafting the River Nile

Yesterday, 3 of my teammates and I, along with a vacationing Austrian, a Canadian doing ministry in Kenya, a girl from Sweden who is traveling all around East Africa, and our Ugandan guide, took on the Nile River in a raft! It was incredible! I have to admit that quite frequently throughout the day the river won the battles and caused our raft to flip, but it was still an incredible adventure! We were on the river all day long - drifting along lazily at times and crashing through rapids the rest of the time. We went through 12 rapids - five grade 5s, three grade 4s, three grade 3s, and a grade 2. I am now tired, sore, and sunburned (and yes, I put on sunscreen - lots of it) but it was worth it!

(Me, Kimberly, Becca, and Laurie getting ready for a day of adventure!)

(Tired, but happy, after all day on the river!)


(This is our rafting team! Sarah, Laurie, Alex, Me, Kimberly, Becca, Franz, Wade)

Here are some views of the Nile from our campsite that night. I am still in awe of its beauty and power! Praise God for giving us such an incredible gift!

S'MORES!

I love s'mores. I even have my own personal s'mores maker back in the States so that I can have them anytime I want, even if there isn't a campfire handy. When my parents visited in December, they brought real American marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey's chocolate. The original idea was that a group of us would go camping up by a waterfall and roast marshmallows for s'mores over a campfire. Well, the camping never happened and up until a few days ago, the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate remained untouched in our pantry. My lovely housemates and I were sitting around by candlelight after dinner playing with the candle flames (power off nights often lead to playing with fire), when we were reminded of the wonderful s'mores fixin's waiting untouched in the pantry. In a rush of excitement, the fixin's were on the table, skewers left over from a cookout were found, and the marshmallow roasting had begun! Candle-roasted s'mores don't quite measure up to real campfire-roasted ones, but they were still very good and we sure did have fun!

Family and Fun

My parents got to come and visit for Christmas! It was so wonderful! We had so much fun and shared a lot of great adventures. We jumped right into the adventures as soon as possible. On the way back to Mbale from the airport, we stopped in Mabira Rainforest. Let me just say, that hiking around in a rainforest at a time when the rainy season still hadn't really ended was an adventure in itself! We were slipping all over the place. We managed to make it out unharmed and having laughed a whole lot at each other! I was the source of quite a bit of the laughter because I had not brought shoes with me and was hiking in flip-flops! Needless to say, I lost them in the mud several times and by the end of the hike my feet had been exfoliated quite well.

Before we started our hike, we were given a map and shown the best way for us to go for the amount of time we wanted to spend. The guy that was explaining the map kept telling us that there would be a big tree to use as a landmark. We were a little skeptical about knowing which tree he meant, but he assured us that we would know it when we saw it. As we were hiking we came across several big tress, but none that we felt really stood out. Then we saw it. He had been right, there was no way we could have missed it. It was massive!


Another adventure took us up to Sisiyi Falls where we hiked around the waterfall and climbed up on some huge boulders. I have been there before, but I am still amazed at how beautiful it is!


We also had lots of holiday fun! My parents brought a Santa puzzle for us to work on and a gingerbread house that provided all sorts of fun and laughter. We baked cookies and had Christmas movies playing often. We even played games by candlelight when the power was off.


On Christmas Eve, we had a fantastic meal that was as close to our traditional family Christmas meal as we could get thanks to the goodies that my parents brought. It was so much fun to share that meal together as a family. My parents pretty much adopted the other girls in our house as their daughters, so we were just one big happy Ugandan family.

(Even before dinner, we had changed into our comfy pjs in preparation for some good eatin' and lots of fun!)

It's my family's tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve, but most of the other girls usually wait until Christmas morning, so we decided to do both. We all opened some presents Christmas Eve and saved some for the morning.

(Chocolate covered Oreos! YUM! Thanks for finding them Kristen!)

(I got a Luke's mug! Any Gilmore Girls fans out there will understand.)

On Christmas morning, our team led a Christmas service at Mbale Church of Christ, and then met at the Shero's house that afternoon for a Christmas cookout! We had so much fun, but it was a little strange having a cookout that resembled common Fourth of July celebrations more than Christmas.

Here are some of our Ugandan family photos that we took Christmas Day with our little "Charley Brown" Christmas tree.


What a blessing it was to have family and friends to share with this holiday season!