The King & I in Africa: Uganda

Kampala Uganda

Bumper cars at the fair... That's what driving here is like! Chris was amazing getting us places safely! Arrived in Entebbe after dark... Drove in the dark to Kampala with Google map, traffic was crazy as with cars, trucks, buses, combis, motorcycles & pedestrians etc all sharing the same space... It was like a whole cities rush hour & holiday shoppers all on one street. We were wondering how we would find the hotel in the dark! Chris said "is that an S up there? See at about 12oclock up high that circle lit up? Hmmm...I say. I see the lit circle.. Could be but I can't see an S yet. Eventually the S symbol becomes clear! IT IS AN S! Sheraton hotel! A lovely wonderful lit up S guiding us through the chaotic darkness of Kampala! S for shining star, superman, Savior, and the Sheraton hotel! Ha ha!

This is our wonderful Assistant Area Auditor,

Rolexx Onzima

Our meetings went well. We had 3 meetings on Saturday...one with our Assistant, Rolexx, who is from Kampala. We also met with Elder Makasi in the Coordinating Council Mtg, then the stake audit committee meeting. A funny moment was when Chris was talking about the food staple called Inshima made of corn. Some brothers laughed when he spoke of sustaining life vs lifestyle... Eating Inshima. Turns out in their language of Luganda it means monkey! Haha!!

On Sunday we went to church and afterward met with the Stake Audit Committee Chair from Jinja.

I loved going to church in Kampala. We were supposed to meet in Jinja but the plans changed because the brothers we were meeting with were coming to Kampala from another meeting.

A brother spoke about the time in Gethsemane when the Savior found His disciples sleeping and asked "Couldest not thou watch one hour?"
The brother reminded us that THIS IS OUR HOUR to watch with the Savior. I love that thought and that I got to hear that beautiful message.

This little girl was such a cutie. I asked her what her name was
a few times but just couldn't understand it. She seemed to take
to us and wanted to be our little friend, which of course, we loved!!

Later on Sunday afternoon we did something really cool. We straddled the hemispheres!

Here are some scenes along the way:

Having fun at the Equator!! :)
The equator runs right across the road so you can stand in both hemispheres at the same time.

Chris is in the Northern hemisphere, I'm in the Southern and
Andrea stands on both hemispheres as we straddle the equator!

Giving a lift in Uganda

1. When we first arrived in Uganda (Entebbe - after dark) and asked the car rental agent for directions to Kampala she said she was ready to go home & needed to go that way anyway so she asked “Could I hop into the car with you and I’ll get you onto the road to Kampala. We agreed and enjoyed a wonderful gospel discussion with her. As we dropped her off, we gave her a Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation pamphlet which she seemed pleased to receive.

2. We took a Pday to the River Nile! (see photos below) We saw elephants along the river and many hippos and HUGE HUGE crockadiles! On our way back from there, driving to Kampala a young man was standing by the dirt road waving his hand. We stopped and he humbly said “I was hoping that maybe I could get a ride with you into Masindi town” (About an hour down the road) We happened to be going that way and so we said sure, hop in. He was a forest ranger in the area where there are chimpanzees! As we dropped him off we gave him a water bottle and a pass along page and Plan of Salvation booklet.

3. Once we got to Kampala we got very confused in the chaotic traffic trying to find the road back to Entebbe. Chris took the ramp to turn left and a traffic police lady wiggled her fingers & shook her head “no” at him. She came to the window and asked where he was going. Chris explained that we were kind of lost and trying to find our way to Entebbe. She said she was now off duty and ready to go home so if we could give her a lift she would take us to the road to Entebbe. We said “sure, hop in”. Ha ha!

4. We noticed a new testament & other religious material on a ladies desk in the hotel and asked her about it. We then told her we had another testament of Jesus we would like to give her and we gave her a Book of Mormon and a brochure…She squealed and hugged it to herself and kindly thanked us with a big smile.

5. At our hotel we saw a poor tortoise stuck in a hole. He had been struggling for so long trying to get out. Andrea gave him a lift ha ha...she lifted his back end out of the hole and off he went!

Here are some photos from our drive back to Kampala: