Other events of April!

MBALE
I made my second trip up to Mbale. Maz had organised a Joy Party (as seen in the photo) because of the struggles her African family up there having been going through. She had also baked some Easter goodies because she was away in Gulu over Easter. It was great to be up there again, however it was a fairly quick visit with lots of action which made it difficult to get any time together, but we caught up with some people I missed out on round one which was great, and I got to see a bit more of where she had lived for the first while.

I know a bunch of you have been praying for her and the work she is doing, so thanks so much for that on her behalf. I know she really appreciates the prayer support and God's strength and grace. It has been an amazing blessing and priveledge to be able to share our experiences over here, both directly and indirectly by sharing the same cultural experience. I can't thank God enough for that. She has been a great friend over here, and God has really used her to challenge and encourage me many times. Long distance relationship with poor communication infrastructure in country makes it hard at times. I know a bunch of you have also been praying for our relationship, so you can keep praying we will glorify God in all we do, and just continue to experience incredible growth in our love and trust for Him.

This snap is of two of my favorite ladies over here. Obviously Maz is on top of the list by a long way, but Anisha is a little cutie, both Maz and I love to play with her and she is really excited to see us, her adopted 'Muzungu' parents. (she has an African Mum and Dad of her own!)



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RIOTS.
I realized that I forgot to mention about all the riots here in Kampala. The reason is because an Indian owned sugar company wants to buy part of the Mabira Rainforest and the majority of Ugandans disagree with that. So they had demonstrations which were supposed to be peaceful but unsurprisingly turned nasty. The police/military controlled them using tear gas and bullets on a number of days but there were deaths. One innocent Indian man was grabbed by the mob and stoned to death immediately, while others were severely beaten. The burnt some vehicles and looted Indian stores. We didn't go into town on those days but our director Chad, suffered from tear gas in riots the next week. It seems to be more peaceful now, but its hard to tell when things will flare up. Riot control over here is certainly less gentle than in Australia, they don't even hesitate to give someone a thrashing. You can continue to pray for safety and stability here in the Capital and for the peace talks with the Rebels in the North that have recently resumed after a few months break.