Another Saturday night.....

Greetings to all, it is another Saturday night but I have nothing to do.....
We have a group of Canadians from Strathmore here at present and they are taking Sunday school tomorrow and leading church so the things I often do on a Sat. night I don't have to do, so it is time for an update.
Since last time, as you can see from some of the photos previously posted, the band played at the wedding of Aunty Jesicca's brother along with the Ugandan Police Band. It was a great occasion and was a good experience for the band. Piet and I stirred somewhat to enable the two bands to play together which was something that hadn't happened before.
At the end of last term we had a film crew here filming for a DVD for Piet and Pita to use in Holland. They were here for six days and covered all aspects of the life of NACMU. The highlight for us was seeing all three schools singing two songs together, and the presentations of the guitar group with two songs. There was something like 28 hrs of film shot and the challenge was to condense this to a useable amount. Unfortunately this proved too difficult for the film crew so Uncle Christian took over the task and has (nearly) finished making the presentation. Piet  & Pita, along with Hannah, Elizabeth, Naomi and Deborah head off to Holland next week for one month to visit family, friends and supporters, so they will need prayer for the energy they will need over there. Needless to say the girls are very excited to be going. Marilyn and I will be going up to the main house to look after the rest of their family. We are looking forward to that.
As a preparation for a busy time ahead we took three days out at Jinja this week and were able to get some much needed rest. We had a glorious view out over the Nile and the place we stayed in, Mto Muyoni was very quiet. We did follow the fortunes of the Americas Cup while we were there- at least we can say we came second.
We still have a lot of visitors here at present. As mentioned earlier, there is a group of 20 from Canada as well as others from Germany, Holland, and USA. It has been lovely to have return visits from folk who have been here before, but also meeting new people.
We have both been busy at school, one of our Primary teachers didn't come back after the holidays so we rapidly redid the timetable with current staff all taking on a little more. I was able to use my timetable skills so expertly tutored at HNHS many years ago. We also had the Administrator at the Secondary Vocational School leave at the end of last term for another job and I have been helping the new Administrator, a young teacher who has the potential to do the job very well, to settle in. I am enjoying my involvement with the students there as they are a great group of teenagers. They have a Scripture Union group that meets on Tuesdays at lunchtime, which they organise themselves, and over half of the student body attends, it is a real joy.
We are beginning to count down our time to return to NZ, 2 months to go but realise there is an awful lot to be done before then, however we are really looking forward to seeing family and friends. We will be returning to NACMU towards the end of Jan to continue our service here.
We continue to get new babies, the latest, Roberta, was one day old when she was abandoned in the streets and delivered to the police last Monday. These are such beautiful children that it is heartbreaking at times. Please pray for us over the next month as we take on extra duties and pray for the trip to Holland to be a joy for all concerned, and that the work here will run smoothly.
Until next time
God Bless

Some recent photos

 At Jinja looking over the Nile from where we were staying
 breakfast
 the ever present monkeys in the tree beside us
 from below looking up at our room
another view up the Nile
 eating breakfast again (does that man ever stop eating?)
 A happy Alex in class with his hearing aids in

Filming

 The three schools and the "old fogies"
 Yeah!
 Mama and Papa
 Nelima now.
 Wed night guitar group
 Posers
 We start them young! Rhode and Zoe singing.

Weekend wedding

 Our band walked the bride to the church
 Bus in background was the police band and supporters of the groom who is a police man himself.
 The next wedding was kept waiting so our kids played her up the aisle.
A quaint tradition of feeding one another their first meal
 Our kids played with the police band.
 Aunty Tamar and Barnabas who is related to the groom.
 Uncle Bosco and Dina who is also related.
 Aunty Jesca who is sister to the groom and was one of the organizers of the wedding.
 Aunty Connie who works with us at the home.
 Aunty Loy and Policeman Benja who was a pageboy