To market, to market!

Thursday morning started with breakfast at about 10:30am for most of us because we finally had a morning to sleep late and that’s exactly what we did.  For PD this was normal, but Cassidy and I cannot remember the last time we slept till 10:30am (of course it wasn’t really 10:30am in our minds since it was 2:30am Texas time). 

After we got ready we went to the market with Joel and Jill to get what we needed for dinner.  The market really gives you a picture of what real life looks like here in Uganda.  In fact, at dinner Jill did as she often does and asked everyone a question to talk about over dinner.  Tonight’s question…What are 3 adjectives that describe the market?  Our responses were words like diverse, chaotic, exciting, unusual, dusty, humbling, personal, scary, confusing, and tasty.  I didn’t leave without making sure I had enough fruit for a couple gallons of Ruth’s amazing passion fruit juice and Cassidy had to have some sugar cane.  

If you don’t know, Ruth lives on Joel and Jill’s compound and helps them around the house and also sells homemade bagels on the side.  She makes the best juice and is a champion sugar cane eater.  She has truly become a part of Joel and Jill’s family.  She is around 34 weeks pregnant with a littler girl named Abriele.  You mom’s know how to pray for her as she has her first child.  She actually went to the doctor today cause she hadn’t felt the baby in a while.  Abriele was perfectly fine, but continue to pray for both of them this week and this month. 

That afternoon we helped another missionary disassemble a solar water heater on a roof and transfer it to another property.  I’m not sure how many guys it should have taken to accomplish this task, but there were 7 of us (one not pictured) and we barely made it happen.  I’m sure it was a sight to see and dad, Robert, probably had the best view at his position of supervisor, which he is really good at! (Photo courtesy of Robert Sloan while "supervising")

Our dinner was a traditional Ugandan meal including matoke (a form of banana that is hard and cooked like mashed potatoes), Gnuts sauce (a sauce made from something mini peanuts), fried rice with vegetables, and grilled beef kebobs (it would more likely be grilled goat, but the beef was cheaper…praise the Lord).   The meal was made even more Ugandan when the utensils were taken away and we had to eat with our fingers!

We ended the night talking through the weekend and letting Joel give us any insights into their culture that would help us connect even better.  We finished with a sweet time of prayer around their dinner table and I would ask you to end your night the same way.  Would you take time to pray with your family for our team, the Skinner family, and the 60+ students who will be joining us for this training?  Pray for God to be glorified, Jesus to be proclaimed, and the Spirit to move in power!