Obnoxious elephant and baby lions

 
 
 
 After not seeing but one elephant, we suddenly came upon this one and a friend on the road. The friend nicely moved on but this one did not want to move. We kept getting closer but it wouldn't move. Finally it turned to go down the road and then suddenly turned to face us. We were all so startled that we jumped down in the van. Only one person had the sense to make a picture of it as it started to charge at us. Mussa, our driver, stomped the accelerator and after a while, the elephant turned around and started down the road again. We were beginning to give up on seeing any lions. As we drove away from the river, Wes spotted this mother lion and three assorted sized babies. They did not seem to mind all the cars that surrounded them very quickly.

Awesome animals

 
 
 
 The giraffes were my favorites. They are so graceful.

Fun Day

 
 
 
 For our fun day, we got to go on safari.
We saw Mutcherson Falls and then crossed the Victoria Nile to the lodge where we were going to spend the night. It was quite impressive to see the savannah and all the animals that live there.

Sunday!

 
 
 
 
After Bible Study, we had brunch at the Daniel's. One of our jobs after meal time was to wash dishes. Jamie was so good at helping. Then we went to Magazie's church for their service. As Buddy always says "The church is not the building but the people". We really enjoyed meeting Magazie's family and church family. His wife is a wonderful worship leader.

Bible Study

 
 We attended Bible Study at CLA. One of the guys in this picture went with us later to church and translated for us. We sang songs from books that had the words of the songs in them. It was wonderful not to have to make up our own words.

Sunday

 
 
 
 What a beautiful sunrise greeted us on our walk around the Carlorosa! The heavens were truly declaring God's glory. Our commute over to the main house looked very different from a commute in the US. Everyone was on their way to the well. John was tidying up the truck for us to make our ride to Mugazi's church later in the morning.

Girl talk and good food

 
 
 
 

Maggie invited all the girls who were currently on short term stays at the ranch to get together to talk. She lives there permanently and was such a blessing to all of us. Although we had native food for two meals, most of our food looked like this . It was delicious. Thank you AHI for making this delicious food for us.

A few other observations

 
 
 
 I just loved the relaxed conditions for the testing. Having survived eighteen years of testing in public schools, this was so refreshing to be there and not have to give the test. On that Saturday, there were children sitting outside the school who were taking the trial test. I also loved the sign out front. I wonder if they get detention if they are not in time. The rode to and from the school was not in very good shape but the children on the side of the road were so happy to see the Mzungu's riding in the back of the truck. We always felt like we were in a parade. I had time for my ten minute power nap before lunch.

The end of activity day

 
 
 
 There was a time to play some games and all too quickly our time came to an end. I had my wrinkles (I mean picture) made with a girl whose Christian name is Molly. I cannot forget her name! At the end of play time, the captains and assistant principal were given the balls we played with and each student was given a stick that they were to take home to plant. The name of it was "lost in translation" which became the girl's name for our trip.

Clothes distribution

 
 
 
 While I was helping pass out snacks, seven bisquits (cookies) and a cup of juice that was served over and over from the few cups that we had, some of the team was setting up clothes distribution. The take home I got from this was to never give away clothes again without considering what kind of message I want to send to the people who receive the clothes. I'm not sure where these clothes came from but I'm glad the people gave them away! I'm just sorry that these children had to be the recepients. What has happened to modesty?

Stark Reality

 
 
 
 This school was decorated differently than the school at the ranch. There were sayings like this painted throughout the exterior of the school. Since so many of them are HIV positive I realize the importance of the message. Make sure you click on the building in the second picture to see the message that is painted on it up close. I'm just sad that this is the way to get it across. I was also able to take a picture some pages from one of their precious books that they study from.